'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.2

[HistoryProf]

From private source:

"Criterion will be releasing Robert M. Young's Alambrista! (1977). I know the commercial illustrator who was hired to do the cover art which was finalized a few months back. It's a fairly under the radar title - as no one has seemed to speculate about its release. Criterion is leveraging the Arizona Immigration law as the related hot topic., ... they provided a DVD-R working copy to the illustrator."

That's fantastic news. El Norte is one of the more under-rated releases of recent years. I saw Alambrista about 15 years ago and remember it being incredibly moving...even better than El Norte. Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if the artist is all that thankful thankful, since giving inside advance info to the board that is so easily traceable to the source is probably not that great an idea

a good point good point there Jimmy Two Times.

[captveg]

Possibly, but if there's any month's releases this reasoning doesn't apply to it's January's, since there are no contenders there which would ever have been DVD only. Criterion doesn't do DVD-only reissues any more, and the one new title is a big Hollywood film already available on DVD - going Blu on it is its raison d'etre.

That's my point: all of the January releases were planned with a BD version in mind. Therefore, not delayed (or possibly moved up, such as Army of Shadows and Robinson Crusoe). But, say, a release like The Four Feathers (just a guess), has been delayed because initially it was gonna be DVD only and may now need additional time to prepare a BD release as well.

(Now watch The Four Feathers get announced for Feb as DVD only...)

[zedz]

Ah, now I get it. I actually hope this isn't the case, since it would slow down their release schedule considerably.

My pet theory is that there was a box set lined up (if not quite a tradition, a January / February box set is a regular enough occurrence) but the task of putting 'America Lost and Found' out was so much bigger than they expected (suggested by the staggered release dates, if nothing else) that they couldn't finish it in time.

[captveg]

It could be a combination of those things, or we could be way off. Who knows.

[Murdoch]

Re: the Fullers, I'm trying to save my excitement for the actual announcement, but assuming it pans out, that's one helluva way to start out the year!

Perhaps with these re-issues, we'll see Park Row as well?

Just caught this on TCM, any reason why there's no release of it anywhere? This is one of the best Fullers I've seen.

[skelly]

Sent Cinephrenic a PM last week and meant to post here - but one under the radar title that is definitely in the Criterion pipeline is Robert M. Young's 1977 illegal immigration drama Alambrista! It's a low key but solid film (a Cannes prize winner) and I think it's fair to say in the spirit of El Norte (and more timely than ever given that Arizona law etc). 1977 was a good year for Young, he also directed the prison drama Short Eyes based on the Miguel Pinero play. That one has been released on DVD in the past.

[tavernier]

Cinephrenic already posted that news on the previous page.

[dwk]

According to the OOP thread at dvdtalk, a number of Home Vision titles have recently gone OOP:
Blackmail Is My Life
Bloody Territories
If You Were Young: Rage
Kanto Wanderer
Lars Von Trier's Epidemic
Me And Isaac Newton
Pale Flower
Specialist: Portrait Of A Modern Criminal
Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
Tattooed Life
Toulouse-Lautrec And Montmartre
Underworld Beauty

Since Victim is being re-released by Criterion in an Eclipse set and we already know Criterion re-releasing Pale Flower, I imagine that some of these will also get re-released by Criterion in some form.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I hope Criterion releases those! The Fukasaku's don't look awful, but the transfers can certainly use an upgrade, but from what I remember off the top of my head, aside from the Battles Without Honor and Humanity set, the special features are usually just Sadao Yamane interviews where he discusses the film a bit. I hope Stray Cat Rock and Bloody Territories are released by them too. I've e-mailed Criterion in the past with the suggestion of either making a nice Stray Cat Rock eclipse set or a Yasuharu Hasebe set as a nice follow-up to their Nikkatsu Noir set from last year. The Seijun Suzuki's are fun but no where near as crazy as something like Branded to Kill or even Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!!, but they would make a neat set to show expose people to the point in his career where Suzuki was becoming more radicalized.

[Cinephrenic]

Perhaps a Nikkatsu yakuza Eclipse.

[Doctor Sunshine]

Seems kind of odd to be revisiting these when they passed on them the first time around and their schedule's as full as it's ever been. Still, HVe's all but invisible now so I'm sure they'd benefit from a re-branding. And even if they're mostly used to fill out an Eclipse set here an there, the transfers would be an improvement, as HVe's were always a little softer than Criterion's, not to mention how much Criterion's DVD work has improved over the years. I guess Epidemic and some of the others with extra(s) would probably go mainline. And then a giant Suzuki box on blu-ray.

[Tribe]

And even if they're mostly used to fill out an Eclipse set here an there, the transfers would be an improvement, as HVe's were always a little softer than Criterion's, not to mention how much Criterion's DVD work has improved over the years. I guess Epidemic and some of the others with extra(s) would probably go mainline. And then a giant Suzuki box on blu-ray.

The existing transfers from the bulk of the HVEs that have been mentioned are fairly solid as I recall, so I doubt any substantial investment in the creation of any new transfers if they are going to end up on the Eclipse line.

Epidemic has been itching for a box set with Europa and Element of Crime...and as I recall it, Element is in more need of a re-work than Epidemic.

[Doctor Sunshine]

The ones I've seen all looked good but if this happens I have a feeling, whatever amount of work they put into them, they'll end up that much sharper. Even if they're more or less ported pretty much everything is cheaper and gets better results nowadays, equipment-wise.

[kaujot]

Oh what I would give for a blu-ray of both Europa and Element of Crime.

[dwk]

I just did what I should've done earlier and checked to see if any of the Home Vision titles I listed above have the Janus Films logo on the packaging. I looked at the five I own and checked the back scans for the rest of them at dvdempire (except for Pale Flower because I can't find a scan of the back cover) and none of them have the Janus Films logo. So this isn't a case of the DVD rights reverting back to Janus Films, and, unless Criterion decides to go after them, they wont be re-releasing them. (except for Pale Flower, which we know is coming).

What is frustrating is that the Japanese films that just went OOP are all part of the Vitagraph and American Cinematheque partnership and now most, if not all, of the films they partnered up on for DVD releases have gone OOP and only a couple have be re-issued by some other company (Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 and Happiness Of The Katakuris, re-released by Discotek and Audition, re-released by Lionsgate and then re-re-released by Shout Factory.) [OOP Vitagraph/American Cinematheque titles that haven't been re-released include Black Rose Mansion, City of Lost Souls, Black Tight Killers, Ecstasy Of The Angels, and Go, Go Second Time Virgin].

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

The Wakamatsus had no choice but to go OOP when it turned out Vitagraph didn't control the rights at all to those two films. I don't know how to explain the Miike's though. I know for a fact though that Black Rose Mansion was the only Vitagraph/Fukasaku film not released by HVe, so I'm sure it's OOP due to the distribution company that released it (which may be the same that released the three Miikes.)

I know Blackmail is My Life, Fall Guy and If You Were Young: Rage were independent productions eventually released by Shochiku (which Criterion has dealt with for all the Ozus, Harakiri, Twenty-Four Eyes and several others), Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (which Criterion has also dealt with for most of the Kurosawas and most recently Hausu), but the rest are all Toei (which Criterion has never licensed from). From someone I know in passing, apparently Toei is very difficult to secure rights from for US releases and it's become increasingly rare to see a DVD company who have licensed a film from Toei. Still, I don't think it will happen, but any Fukasaku from Criterion would be great. Triple Cross, Doberman Cop and Battle Royale have no releases in the states and all three are fantastic, the third one have garnered quite a reputation over the years.

[Tribe]

For whatever it's worth, a likely incomplete list of Classic Collection HVEs can be found here.

[dwk]

I didn't know that Vitagraph didn't actually have the rights to the two Wakamatsu films. Since their name/logo is not on the packaging for the three titles that have been re-released, I would assume that Vitagraph simply lost the rights to them.

I was wondering if this could be a case of these films going OOP while Image moves its distribution over to Sony, but I searched for the two Fukasaku films on Image's website they no longer show up (although Sympathy for the Underdog still shows up and that has been unavailable for quite awhile.). So I went ahead and ordered them from Amazon.

[Gregory]

I remember right after Image acquired HVE they dabbled with the strategy of redesigning covers of HVE releases to make them uglier (except maybe for fans of George C Scott's thighs) and re-releasing them at a reduced price. It was disappointing how quickly they abandoned this.

[Tribe]

I remember right after Image acquired HVE they dabbled with the strategy of redesigning covers of HVE releases to make them uglier (except maybe for fans of George C Scott's thighs) and re-releasing them at a reduced price. It was disappointing how quickly they abandoned this.

I think they only did that for Day of the Dolphin and The Chronicles of Narnia titles. I'd be surprised if Image re-designed the covers of anything else (I certainly don't know that as a fact)...after all, that would've required Image to spend some money.

[dwk]

Image did box up three Brigitte Bardot films that Home Vision had released. They also boxed up some of the Zatoichi films. I was hoping they would release a box set of the Fukasaku films (which is why I never picked up the ones I need) but that obviously isn't going to happen.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Now that Assayas' Carlos is coming out in UK next week, any clue when/if Criterion will release their version?

[knives]

If it is coming to Criterion it will take at least a year. The movie only just now got released in the US and on the IFC bone Criterion still haven't gotten to Still Walking Police, Adj. and a number of others.

[ola t]

For those who just can't wait for the Criterion Taking Off, some screen captures from the Scandinavian DVD.

[HistoryProf]

Speaking of foreign criminal epics: who owns the rights to the Mesrine films? they look pretty damned good but I missed them in a short run here.