Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[Finch]

Arsenic and Old Lace is one I'll happily skip. I think it's a rare underwhelming performance from Cary Grant and the film overall, apart from Raymond Massey, is a key example of why Frank Capra leaves me indifferent.

[FrauBlucher]

Finch, I feel the same. Not one of my favorite Capra films for sure.

[therewillbeblus]

I'm not sure I've ever had such a drastic whiplash in reaction to a film between viewings. The first time I saw this I recall enjoying its wacky antics, but this last watch I hated every minute of it- with the exception of one half-laugh in its final moments. You'd have to pay me a sale Criterion price to get me to consider watching it again

[swo17]

I like it but it would have been much better with Karloff in the Massey role, as on Broadway and in a subsequent TV adaptation. Actually, if the latter could possibly be presented as an extra, that would be a nice package

[ryannichols7]

I'd forgotten about this newsletter clue, which someone eventually decided meant "Brilliant Car-rear"

that's some Il Sore Possum level stuff right there. I stand by the original guesses personally - I believe this would be Polan's final unreleased newsletter clue.

[jwd5275]

god, finally! it's an old laserdisc title and definitely had a newsletter clue ages ago, should certainly come from Criterion. I'm guessing they put it off in order to do a new 4K restoration for it, so hopefully will be worth the wait. would love to see it make the jump from DVD straight to UHD...

I believe the poison bottle clue that was suspected to be for Arsenic and Old Lace was actually for Guitry's La Poison which came out shortly afterward. However maybe this is Il Sore Possum territory too...

[domino harvey]

The newsletter clue was not for Arsenic and Old Lace, but I appreciate the reminder of how much frustration and stress that thread used to bring me!

[domino harvey]

The newsletter clue was not for Arsenic and Old Lace, but I appreciate the reminder of how much frustration and stress that thread used to bring me!

[swo17]

The newsletter clue was not for Arsenic and Old Lace, but I appreciate the reminder of how much frustration and stress that thread used to bring me!

The newsletter clue was not for Arsenic and Old Lace, but I appreciate the reminder of how much frustration and stress that thread used to bring me!

The rare double clue!

[FrauBlucher]

Here’s hoping the Newsletter Clues returns with a vengeance. \:D/

[ryannichols7]

Here’s hoping the Newsletter Clues returns with a vengeance. \:D/

I agree, I miss them a lot. they even did them before Polan!

in other news, Mira Nair mentioned on Instagram a few months ago that she wished for Salaam Bombay to join the collection. today, Kino Lorber added it to their "while supplies last" list. while I already own the BFI edition (and it is good), and I know I'm one of the only boosters on a fairly anti-Nair forum (or at least it was when Monsoon Wedding was released), I'd still love to see what Nair and Criterion could cook up for this film. the Mississippi Masala edition is easily one of my favorites of the year so far...I'd say more importantly, Nair should get back to directing films like these three!!

[Matt]

Nair should get back to directing films like these three

Dream project: she returns (with screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala) to the Jhumpa Lahiri well and makes a Short Cuts-style feature out of some of her best short stories.

[ryannichols7]

Nair should get back to directing films like these three

Dream project: she returns (with screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala) to the Jhumpa Lahiri well and makes a Short Cuts-style feature out of some of her best short stories.

that would be truly fantastic. I haven't seen The Namesake in awhile but I do think it's better than some of the things she's done lately. Taraporevala is so key to Mississippi Masala and I'm glad Criterion recognized this with their edition

[FrauBlucher]

The two summer announcements are always the most exciting for me. Usually there are boxsets of some kind, or some really big titles for the Oct, Nov releases. And maybe even we get a pre announcement announcement this week.

[Elizabeth Corday]

Is it true? We are gettingThe Heroic Trio set?!

[ryannichols7]

The two summer announcements are always the most exciting for me. Usually there are boxsets of some kind, or some really big titles for the Oct, Nov releases. And maybe even we get a pre announcement announcement this week.

as speculated in the other thread I could only see a Pasolini box upcoming for a super-expansive, pre announcement type boxset. would be very cool but as I said over there I think we'd know something by now unfortunately.

but as for where we are with boxsets...

Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons: this literally has cover art ready to go basically, toured eons ago, is from a popular and known director who's very en vogue these days, and gets posted about on social media constantly. this would've made sense as a July release but here we are. I predict this every single month, and am ready to move on to something else (and of course, have the films on my shelf)

Early Films of Sean Baker: now with Take Out confirmed as an individual release, I think we can rule this out. hard to justify why these wouldn't be a boxset over individual releases, but maybe it was Baker's call? he never explicitly said it would be a boxset either, just that Criterion would release the films.

The Films of Kinuyo Tanaka: same deal as Rohmer basically, and a great poster too, it just came after the fact so I don't predict this coming first. we are overdue for an all encompassing boxset of an Asian director, and as much as many of us want Kurosawa or Ozu to be it, all six of Tanaka's films are in 4K restorations and Janus controls them all over here, it's going to happen, just please let it be a box instead of individual titles.

The Films of Márta Mészáros: same song and dance but the problem is that Adoption has been released individually, even using the same artist as the poster. that is a pretty big title though and her most regarded work (and I must add was the first and only Hungarian film in the collection to date), plus Second Run released it in the UK. I won't entirely rule this out like I will the Baker set, but it's definitely a lot less likely unfortunately.

Infernal Affairs Trilogy: this is now on the list, but unless they spring a huge surprise on us and don't tour these (and why wouldn't they?), this will be 2023.

Sergei Eisenstein: The Silent Years: this is kind of a joke but also totally serious? it's like the new Scorcese Shorts or Dietrich/Von Sternberg. long, long rumored and in dire need (the Kino BDs are in dire need of improvement) and now work can't be done with Mosfilm, what a letdown!

expansive boxsets for Kurosawa and Ozu: please someone bug Toho already, otherwise keep dreaming I'm sure.

and now for upgrades:

Three Colors UHD upgrade: absolutely gonna happen, probably a November title. these are massively successful, well known films and the Bluray boxset was a big seller for the label. I don't think there will be any issue getting people to pay up for another set, especially when the French one is supposedly weaker

The Adventures of Antoine Doniel: mixed reviews for the French discs but these are available in new restorations, are immensely popular, and are all out of print besides The 400 Blows (even Antoine and Collette, which they couldn't be bothered to stick on the BD), but it poses a really interesting issue of whether to do the entire box in UHD or do a Bluray box and then do The 400 Blows individually in 4K. many questions, no answers yet.

The Orphic Trilogy: does anyone know the status on these being restored? I don't see it being a UHD box but I'm sure they'd want to at least go for 4K restorations, as with almost all the other Studiocanal returns so far (poor Bunuel). I'd have to imagine this is upcoming soon, they do promote the fact that these are on the channel pretty frequently.

Sergei Eisenstein: The Sound Years: all of these were restored in 2014-2015, and as good as Criterion was with putting out Mosfilm licenses for awhile there it's infuriating these didn't get touched in the meantime, especially since Mofilm is a no go as of now.

Carl Theodor Dreyer boxset: yes I know the BFI edition exists, I own it, but are we supposed to act like it's okay that a more casual American interested in Dreyer can only get Ordet on an ancient DVD? c'mon! they have been restored, too.

Stage and Spectacle and Pigs and Battleships: anyone know about restorations on these? I know more about Nikkatsu and they have been pretty good at restoring movies, so I see the latter being quite possible. I think there's a push for Renoir's films to be restored so I wouldn't be shocked if the former already were.

Monterrey Pop UHD: look, Criterion loves to go to this well that obviously produces them a lot of gold. it would be extremely hilarious to see another release for this, and I'm sure necessary too.

anything I miss? wouldn't it be cool if Criterion had the staff to produce these all in a timely manner like Arrow and Indicator (small labels!) do? oh, wait..

[bainbridgezu]

Stage and Spectacle and Pigs and Battleships: anyone know about restorations on these? I know more about Nikkatsu and they have been pretty good at restoring movies, so I see the latter being quite possible. I think there's a push for Renoir's films to be restored so I wouldn't be shocked if the former already were.

I'd love to know more about these as well. When Eureka released blu-rays of the other two films in the set, they skipped Intentions of Murder (my absolute favorite Imamura) because the available materials weren't up to snuff. But that was some years ago; does anyone here know if there's been any significant movement since then?

[Maltic]

Sergei Eisenstein: The Sound Years: all of these were restored in 2014-2015, and as good as Criterion was with putting out Mosfilm licenses for awhile there it's infuriating these didn't get touched in the meantime, especially since Mofilm is a no go as of now.

Damn, I had been wondering about that incredible old DVD box - it would really just need an upgrade. Completely forgot about the Mosfilm problem.

[DandyDancing]

The Orphic Trilogy: does anyone know the status on these being restored? I don't see it being a UHD box but I'm sure they'd want to at least go for 4K restorations, as with almost all the other Studiocanal returns so far (poor Bunuel). I'd have to imagine this is upcoming soon, they do promote the fact that these are on the channel pretty frequently.

The restorations are streaming on the channel, orpheus might be the blu-ray master though.

[Calvin]

expansive boxsets for Kurosawa and Ozu: please someone bug Toho already, otherwise keep dreaming I'm sure.

I can't see Criterion making any move with Kurosawa until they can at least get their hands on the 4K restoration of Seven Samurai. So it's years off. And there's not really any significant anniversary coming up either, so I'm not sure where the idea has come from that they would do a new Kurosawa box set rather than just continue to release his films individually.

As for other possibilities - Criterion have restored Kira Muratova's The Long Farewell and Brief Encounters, there might be a box set or there might not. There's also a question mark over the early films of Abbas Kiarostami - some have been placed as extras with his later features but there's still a lot to get through.

[rrenault]

Sergei Eisenstein: The Sound Years: all of these were restored in 2014-2015, and as good as Criterion was with putting out Mosfilm licenses for awhile there it's infuriating these didn't get touched in the meantime, especially since Mofilm is a no go as of now.

Damn, I had been wondering about that incredible old DVD box - it would really just need an upgrade. Completely forgot about the Mosfilm problem.

Can we expect the Mosfilm dilemma to lead to Tarkovsky's films going OOP in the future, along with other Soviet era films in the catalog? Or could there still be camaraderie between Criterion and Mosfilm in the sense of "let's cooperate with one another as arts institutions irrespective of the differences of our governments". There are after all Cuban and Iranian films in the collection, so I don't see what makes the Russia situation any different in that respect.

P.S. Never mind, the Cuban and Iranian films aren't licensed from institutions based in those countries.

Saying that, I don't think Soviet-era cinema need be canceled on account of its country of origin. Beethoven and Mozart didn't get canceled during World War II. Only Wagner did, for obvious reasons.

[Calvin]

Can we expect the Mosfilm dilemma to lead to Tarkovsky's films going OOP in the future, along with other Soviet era films in the catalog? Or could there still be camaraderie between Criterion and Mosfilm in the sense of "let's cooperate with one another as arts institutions irrespective of the differences of our governments". There are after all Cuban and Iranian films in the collection, so I don't see what makes the Russia situation any different in that respect.

It's not the fact that the films are Russian, it's the fact that Mosfilm is a 'federal state unitary enterprise' which means that it's literally owned by the Russian government. Their chairman Karen Shakhnazarov has publically supported Putin and the Ukraine invasion and has said that opponents will face "sterilisation and concentration camps".

I'm not sure if dealing with Mosfilm would be covered by international sanctions but I would understand if Criterion want to distance themselves. I doubt that it will affect any titles previously acquired though.

[Maltic]

Mosfilm supported everyone from Lenin to Andropov and beyond though.

[ianungstad]

According to Deadline, Janus/Sideshow has picked up the rights to 3 titles from Cannes:

The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch)
EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)
Tori And Lokita (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)

[rrenault]

Can we expect the Mosfilm dilemma to lead to Tarkovsky's films going OOP in the future, along with other Soviet era films in the catalog? Or could there still be camaraderie between Criterion and Mosfilm in the sense of "let's cooperate with one another as arts institutions irrespective of the differences of our governments". There are after all Cuban and Iranian films in the collection, so I don't see what makes the Russia situation any different in that respect.

It's not the fact that the films are Russian, it's the fact that Mosfilm is a 'federal state unitary enterprise' which means that it's literally owned by the Russian government. Their chairman Karen Shakhnazarov has publically supported Putin and the Ukraine invasion and has said that opponents will face "sterilisation and concentration camps".

I'm not sure if dealing with Mosfilm would be covered by international sanctions but I would understand if Criterion want to distance themselves. I doubt that it will affect any titles previously acquired though.

Fun facts, just for the record: Tarkovsky was half-Ukrainian (and also had Polish and Romanian ancestry), Shepitko was Ukrainian, and Kalatozov was Georgian.