Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[J Wilson]

I was at the Michigan event as well, and Clubb also mentioned that they had not decided whether to use their own scan of Immortal Story or another such as the upcoming Gaumont version mentioned elsewhere here. He said their own scan looked "great."

The other version of Othello that turned up is an Italian dubbed version with apparently a couple more minutes of footage than even the Cannes cut. Clubb added that their release of Othello would be one that "people would be happy with," which presumably means multiple versions, but we did know that already. Including Filming Othello would make me really happy, but it didn't occur to me ask about it.

[Roger Ryan]

...Including Filming Othello would make me really happy, but it didn't occur to me ask about it...

Darn it, I should have thought of that as well!

Rosenbaum stressed that the goal should be to put all the versions of OTHELLO on the disc. To hammer the point further, I extolled the virtues of the 1952 Cannes edit during the Q&A section. It was also suggested by Rosenbaum that the Munich Filmmuseum's edit of THE DREAMERS be considered as an extra for THE IMMORTAL STORY. As has been noted above, Clubb implied that none of the releases will be coming in 2015, but that's just as well - I would prefer they do the presentations right.

[captveg]

Predictions for Monday's September announcements:

Before Trilogy
Dillinger Is Dead (upgrade)
Knife in the Water (upgrade)
Midnight Cowboy
Moonrise Kingdom
Speedy

[domino harvey]

Beyond the Hills / 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days
Midnight Cowboy
Moonrise Kingdom
Speedy
Kicking and Screaming upgrade
Made in USA/2 or 3 Things upgrade

[ordinaryperson]

"After Hours"
"Young and Innocent"
"Mulholland Drive"
The Before Trilogy
"My Own Private Idaho" Blu-Ray
and obviously "Moonrise Kingdom"

[FrauBlucher]

Mulholland Drive
Beyond the Hills
Speedy
The New World
Il Sorpasso
Easy Rider
Pick Up on South Street Upgrade

[criterionsnob]

Mulholland Drive
Lady Snowblood
Moonrise Kingdom (Predicting the artwork still won’t be ready)
My Own Private Idaho BD
Juliet of the Spirits BD
Summertime BD

[movielocke]

Box set upgrade (Dreyer or alexanderplatz)

One two three
Inside Llewellyn Davis
Lady snow blood
A room with a view

[Ribs]

I'm expecting a light month

Inside Llewyn Davis
Barton Fink
Moonrise Kingdom
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mulholland Drive
The War Trilogy
Bicycle Thieves

[RSTooley]

I hope to god:

Beyond the Hills
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

And the rest!

Blue is the Warmest Color [Special edition]
Mulholland Drive
My Own Private Idaho [Blu-ray upgrade]
Pickup on South Street [Blu-ray upgrade]
A Room with a View

[Rolad]

The New World (with Malick's brand new cut of the film)
A Legend or Was It
Mulholland Drive
Ceremony (or another Claude Chabrol film)

Drunken Angel upgrade
The Only Sun/There Was A Father upgrade

...and it will be announced Moonrise Kingdom will be delayed until December.

[nolanoe]

I hate to be THAT guy, but September sounds like one of the most dire ones in recent months.

Surprising nobody mentioned any Fassbinder updates. I am 95% certain we'll get another one.

[kristophers]

I hate to be THAT guy, but September sounds like one of the most dire ones in recent months.

Surprising nobody mentioned any Fassbinder updates. I am 95% certain we'll get another one.

I'd be happy with that. An upgrade of the BRD trilogy would be enough for the month honestly.

Well, that and the Il Sorpasso/Midnight Cowboy double feature box set.

[Frumaster]

I am happy that someone mentioned a Made in USA/2 or 3 Things upgrade. Never bought the DVDs. Hope they come with commentaries.

Mulholland Dr would be nice too [-o<

[knives]

The current DVD of 2 or 3 Things does have a pretty great commentary. Arguably more worthwhile then the film it is promoting.

[Cinephrenic]

Makes sense that the Michael Curtiz page on Criterion and the pre-code era film talk from the Warner catalog is obviously pointing towards Mystery of the Wax Museum. Warner has just announced a bunch of their horror/sci-fi catalog and this hasn't appeared on their House of Wax disc or archive collection as of yet. What you guys think?

[domino harvey]

Makes sense that the Michael Curtiz page on Criterion and the pre-code era film talk from the Warner catalog is obviously pointing towards Mystery of the Wax Museum. Warner has just announced a bunch of their horror/sci-fi catalog and this hasn't appeared on their House of Wax disc or archive collection as of yet. What you guys think?

It's on the DVD for House of Wax. Given some other phantom pages, someone made a more compelling argument a while back that the Curtiz would be the Breaking Point, though if Criterion has access to WB's vaults for a select few titles, it seems strange that they wouldn't go for Mildred Pierce, which is suspiciously MIA from Blu-ray while WA puts out Possessed??

[Cremildo]

Arguably more worthwhile then the film it is promoting.

Than, not "then".

[bamwc2]

Predictions:

The Brood
Two for the Road
Speedy
Les Misérables
Häxan BD
The Virgin Spring BD

[lacritfan]

Speedy
Breaker Morant
Mulholland Drive
(Moonrise Kingdom)
The Tales of Hoffman
Inside Llewyn Davis

[Rolad]

So Arrow announced blu rays of The Fireman's Ball and Closely Watched Trains for the UK. Does that signal Criterion may use the same transfers for an upgrade in the near future?

[McNulty]

Weren't there rumors not too long ago that The Brood would be out in October? I could be imagining this.

[Minkin]

Weren't there rumors not too long ago that The Brood would be out in October? I could be imagining this.

Not your imagination, someone overheard a Criterion producer mention this.

I wonder if Criterion will pull a 2014 and forget that Halloween comes in October - thus release another horror slate for September.

It makes sense given that it was an HVE title and the other two from the HVE Bardot boxset are on Hulu, but The Night Heaven Fell (1958) played on TCM with a Janus logo at the beginning (it isn't on Hulu/Amazon/etc).

[jtarvainen]

I met a representative of Criterion at the Midnight Sun Film Festival held last week in Sodankylä, Finland. I asked him about upcoming releases and he mentioned that the following will be released by the company in the future:

-Chimes at Midnight
-The Decalogue: Criterion has the rights and was originally going to release this back in December, but the release has been held back so they can secure either better-quality source materials or more extra material (he didn't specify)
-The Graduate
-In Cold Blood
-The New World (he had suggested that Criterion release all three existing cuts of the film, but nothing was decided at this point)
-Two unfinished films by Orson Welles: It's All True and another film whose name he didn't remember, but which he knew starred Jeanne Moreau and had a running time of approximately one hour, so in all likelihood it's The Immortal Story, though of course that's not unfinished. These will be put out as a single release.

[dustybooks]

-The Graduate

Wow. I love this movie but that seems wholly unnecessary -- and surprising, since I imagine it's quite a popular disc for MGM/Fox.