Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[Ribs]

These updates usually happen immediately beforehand, presumably as they update the site’s metadata but before pulling the lever saying the releases have been announced. I would not take a title being noticed as having new assets on any day but the 14th to mean anything at all.

[jwd5275]

In addition to Mafioso, the following oop StudioCanal titles now play with a Janus logo on the Criterion Channel:
Le Corbeau
Phantom of Liberty
Le trou
Last Holiday
Small Back Room
Big Deal on Madonna Street
Pierrot le fou

[black&huge]

Pierrot is no surprise to me but very happy to see further loose proof that Le Corbeau will be getting an upgrade. And Phantom of Liberty? Thanks for posting jwd!

[therewillbeblus]

Phantom of Liberty would be great. My personal favorite of his celebrated final trio. The dinner party scene is up there with Bunuel's cleverest gags.

[Ovader]

I was checking out Criterion's Oshima page and Diary of a Shinjuku Thief is listed as part of the Criterion Channel amongst the previously released DVDs/Blu-rays. News to me but perhaps not to anyone else?

[goblinfootballs]

I was checking out Criterion's Oshima page and Diary of a Shinjuku Thief is listed as part of the Criterion Channel amongst the previously released DVDs/Blu-rays. News to me but perhaps not to anyone else?

As far as I can remember, they've always had more Oshima streaming than is out on disc. I first watched that, The Ceremony, and The Man Who Left His Will on Film on Filmstruck. I only got the Eclipse set when Filmstruck died.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Strange, though, that Diary of a Shinjuku Thief gets a page on the site but not any of the several other streaming-only Oshimas currently on the Channel.

[FrauBlucher]

They added hi-rez images for Juliet of the Spirits and La Strada. I could see these two getting standalone releases before or shortly after the boxset gets released.

[jwd5275]

Nearly all the hi-resolution images people are just now noticing (including Equinox, La Strada, Juliet of the Spirits and pretty much anything Janus has rights to) have been up on the site since the site reboot in 2018. Obviously excluding titles recently released (or re-released), as far as I can tell, the only pages with images added since then (2020 / late 2019) are for: Mafioso, Le Corbeau and That Obscure Object of Desire...

[FrauBlucher]

Not sure that is true for Juliet of the Spirits. I have always checked that page from time to time. The last time I checked, probably earlier in the year, it had one image and it wasn't hi-rez.

[jwd5275]

Try the Wayback Machine (which is how I've been checking them)...

[FrauBlucher]

I had no idea about the Wayback Machine. Really cool. Oh well. I could've sworn I had not seen those pages before.

Anyway, Roger Deakins will be interviewing Lee Kline on his next Team Deakins podcast. I'm sure will get some news out of this.
So many great Deakins shot films that would be worthy Criterion releases. I personally would love to see The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford or Coens' A Serious Man

[smccolgan]

I had no idea about the Wayback Machine. Really cool. Oh well. I could've sworn I had not seen those pages before.

Anyway, Roger Deakins will be interviewing Lee Kline on his next Team Deakins podcast. I'm sure will get some news out of this.
So many great Deakins shot films that would be worthy Criterion releases. I personally would love to see The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford or Coens' A Serious Man

Both great ideas - it’s shocked me for some time there’s not a more comprehensive release of O Brother, and I feel like Criterion could create quite a package there.

[Ribs]

The Lee Kline interview is now available - mostly a pretty technical discussion about past releases. When they discussed the idea of a 4K restoration pipeline, Kline threw out Seven Samurai as an example but it's not clear if it was literally that it's happening or if it was just an example of a canonical movie. It comes up repeatedly so I can't help but shake the idea it might be on his mind due to them working on it again. He also mentioned they are interested in doing "a Bollywood box" of around ten titles but they have been talking to experts and etc to figure out what titles would be best to include in such a thing. Repeats the release of Amores Perros as happening. He says the Man Who Wasn't There is on the schedule (and has been for a while) but they haven't gotten to it at all yet. He says Criterion is "ready" to do 4K releases but still lists the same caveats he has in the past - I'm not sure if this indicates that they're definitely happening in the near future, but it seems a little more encouraging than it has in the past.

There's a good story about the Eraserhead fade error that David Lynch watched their restoration ten times and didn't catch it and when it released and they pointed it out to him Lynch responded essentially "oops, guess that's how it will look now!"

[yoloswegmaster]

When they discussed the idea of a 4K restoration pipeline, Kline threw out Seven Samurai as an example but it's not clear if it was literally that it's happening or if it was just an example of a canonical movie. It comes up repeatedly so I can't help but shake the idea it might be on his mind due to them working on it again.

What does a 4K restoration pipeline mean in this instance? Also, didn't Seven Samurai receive a 4K restoration back in 2015?

[Ribs]

Just in the sense that when you’re done with one you move right onto another - not like, a formal thing, but that they only have so much time they can spend on one thing.

[ng4996]

Tooze just posted on Facebook that Criterion has a 10-film Bollywood Boxset in the works. Has anyone heard anything about this?

[cdnchris]

Look a couple of posts up...

[FrauBlucher]

The Lee Kline interview is now available - mostly a pretty technical discussion about past releases. When they discussed the idea of a 4K restoration pipeline, Kline threw out Seven Samurai as an example but it's not clear if it was literally that it's happening or if it was just an example of a canonical movie. It comes up repeatedly so I can't help but shake the idea it might be on his mind due to them working on it again. He also mentioned they are interested in doing "a Bollywood box" of around ten titles but they have been talking to experts and etc to figure out what titles would be best to include in such a thing. Repeats the release of Amores Perros as happening. He says the Man Who Wasn't There is on the schedule (and has been for a while) but they haven't gotten to it at all yet. He says Criterion is "ready" to do 4K releases but still lists the same caveats he has in the past - I'm not sure if this indicates that they're definitely happening in the near future, but it seems a little more encouraging than it has in the past.

There's a good story about the Eraserhead fade error that David Lynch watched their restoration ten times and didn't catch it and when it released and they pointed it out to him Lynch responded essentially "oops, guess that's how it will look now!"

This was really a good listen. His telling about The Lady Eve was interesting. Becker forced Kline to go ahead and restore the film without Kline having a satisfying print which he had been looking for for a very long time. He said it's good but not the best it can be. Anyone into film restorations will enjoy listening to this.

[okcmaxk]

This was really a good listen. His telling about The Lady Eve was interesting. Becker forced Kline to go ahead and restore the film without Kline having a satisfying print which he had been looking for for a very long time. He said it's good but not the best it can be. Anyone into film restorations will enjoy listening to this.

Apologies if I’m going off-track, but I think it’s worth noting Kline’s anecdote about Raoul Coutard chewing him out for getting Le Cercle Rouge’s color timing wrong is an indicator that it’ll be different once it goes back in print.

[dwk]

Isn't StudioCanal is doing a new 4K transfer of Le Cercle Rouge?

[ng4996]

Look a couple of posts up...

Oops! I can't believe i missed that, the idea is just so exciting for me.

[whaleallright]

There are so few Bollywood films from before the 1990s (especially considering India made 1,000s of features a year for much of the 20th century) that are available in the quality transfers that Criterion would probably want. There are restorations of several features by Guru Dutt, and those would merit their own set, to be sure.

[FrauBlucher]

This was Mr Insider's answer to a question about the newly announced Eve/Eva from Indicator...

Originally Posted by Kino Lorber Insider View Post
Eva, Les Bonnes Femmes and a couple of others were released by KL through Studiocanal. Both are part of the separate Hakim Brothers library SC represents, which includes Belle De Jour and Purple Noon. The whole library is with Criterion, so they may get to it one day.

The Ginsberg deal was a direct deal with him, we lost the rights a long time ago and have no current plans of re-releasing it.

[domino harvey]

That’s a different answer than he gave last time when they claimed to still have the rights to Les bonnes femmes but were waiting to see how the recent Chabrol Blus sold