Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[rrenault]

Speaking of La Llorona, I feel the last 20-25 years has been a golden age of sorts for both Hispanophone and Lusophone 'art cinema', even if very little of it has broken through to a more casual audience, aside from Almodovar and Roma of course. On that note, I recently ordered the UK blu-ray of The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (an Amazon film), which probably means a Criterion UHD is imminent.

[rrenault]

On a side note, could upgrades to blu-ray only of titles that are still DVD-only still be in the cards for Criterion, such as of A Nos Amours, Dillinger Is Dead, or 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her? Or is that just off their radar at the moment?

[dustybooks]

I'm sure it depends on the film. Tales of Hoffmann and Le Corbeau would be recent examples although both had been out of print on DVD for about a decade. As far as stuff like A Nous la Liberte and La Bete Humaine... well, I certainly can wish.

[ryannichols7]

Summertime! that should've been a 4K release though. Walker was also one not too long ago. so they do still happen here and there

[Hogfather]

I Know Where I'm Going is definitely getting upgraded soon, as Scorsese recently showed the new 4k restoration on the Film Forum streaming room. I also know that The Devil and Daniel Webster, Mamma Roma, La Commare Secca, and Trouble in Paradise have also all had recent restorations that were shown at film festivals in the last few years. Other than that I imagine that any OOP DVD that has been on the Criterion Channel for a long time (Withnail & I, The Czech Films, How to Succeed in Business, Pandora's Box, Mafioso, and Z). We also know that a Solo con tu pareja upgrade is basically(?) ready, but not out for now. Criterion will probably put that one out during a slow month.

[bottlesofsmoke]

Blast of Silence is another forthcoming upgrade, it’s supposed to be have been coming since last year, maybe December this year?

[FrauBlucher]

Last Christmas Day night TCM's Noir Alley aired Blast of Silence. Eddie Muller in his opening said it's his favorite Christmas noir. So, maybe there is a connection to a December release. And hopefully Muller has contributed to new supplements.

[tolbs1010]

They better be upgrading the two Hustons. I just sold my DVD copies thinking that those upgrades will have to happen eventually.

I also think The Horse's Mouth and Thieves' Highway will get blu upgrades since the other Neame and Dassin titles have received upgrades.

Danton is the other title that I really want to see upgraded but I'm less confident about that one happening. Not sure why I think that but I'm holding my DVD for now.

[tolbs1010]

I'm also trying to get ahead of some of the 4K upgrades. Mildly pissed that Blow Out is getting a 4K so soon after the original release. I mean, I love the film and want it in 4K, but it feels like I just bought the blu ray.

Titles I'm selling because a 4K is bound to happen:
Rushmore
Blue Velvet
Dazed And Confused
Cronos
Rosemary's Baby

Gotta get those blus sold BEFORE the announcement of the 4K if you want to get anything close to $20 for them. There are many others that I would definitely upgrade to 4K but am less certain they will happen.

Home video collecting is a frustrating and costly hobby sometimes. There are some titles that I have bought in literally every format upgrade. It's a sickness. It stops with 4K.

[swo17]

Mildly pissed that Blow Out is getting a 4K so soon after the original release. I mean, I love the film and want it in 4K, but it feels like I just bought the blu ray

It came out in April of 2011

[dwk]

If tolbs1010 is in the UK, then he has a little room for complaint, as Criterion released it there last August.

[tolbs1010]

I wish I could use UK residence as a reason. I just have lost all sense of time apparently.

[therewillbeblus]

Just gift the blu-ray to someone who hasn't upgraded their system to 4K. It's an awesome movie that looks great as-is, and it's not a movie everyone has seen or owns (I have to rationalize my upgrades too, and this is the best I can do right now)

[justeleblanc]

Titles I'm selling because a 4K is bound to happen:
Rushmore
Blue Velvet
Dazed And Confused
Cronos
Rosemary's Baby

Gotta get those blus sold BEFORE the announcement of the 4K if you want to get anything close to $20 for them. There are many others that I would definitely upgrade to 4K but am less certain they will happen.

I'm not sure you should sell your Rosemary's Baby. As far as I can tell Criterion is not getting that title back. Though maybe you're thinking a 4K release from Paramount?

[tolbs1010]

I would upgrade regardless of who releases it...after I come to this site to get the word on whether or not it has been done properly. I have to believe a classic like this will get a 4K. Pearl-clutching Polanski haters be damned.

[CSM126]

Pearl-clutching Polanski haters be damned.

I don’t know what to say that wouldn’t get me banned, or at least warned. But, you know, he raped a child.

[colinr0380]

Now that Cure has been announced I wonder what Kiyoshi Kurosawa title may be next. Based on the older HvE releases I would guess that Charisma would be the safest bet, although if Criterion are listening I would love them to do a package similar to the Renoir and Akira Kurosawa pair-up of the two versions of The Lower Depths and release Séance together with the 1964 Seance On A Wet Afternoon.

[therewillbeblus]

Charisma would be wonderful- it's KK's best film not already out on blu (and maybe his best film)

[Michael Kerpan]

I'm afraid Seance was one of the few KK films that didn't work all that well for me. Not sure why.

A restored (and good looking) version of Charisma (if this is possible) would be great. I recall the old DVD as being very muddy (or something like that).

[bottlesofsmoke]

I've tried to compile a list of major classic Hollywood films that, as of now, seem inexplicably missing from region-A Blu-ray and/or don't yet have a release but seem up Criterion's alley. I tried to not let my own opinion of what is a major film influence this, since obviously I don't run Criterion. I've also left out a lot of movies that may be in Fox / Disney limbo and haven't played on the Channel at some point.

Anthony Mann: Winchester '73, The Tin Star
Charlie Chaplin: A Woman of Paris
Douglas Sirk: A Time to Love and a Time to Die
Elia Kazan: Splendor in the Grass
Ernst Lubitsch: Trouble in Paradise, The Merry Widow
Frank Borzage: 7th Heaven, Street Angel, Lucky Star
Frank Tashlin: Artists and Models, Hollywood or Bust
Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers: Every film that isn't Swing Time
Fritz Lang: Rancho Notorious, The Blue Gardenia
George Cukor: David Copperfield, Adam's Rib
Gregory La Cava: Stage Door
Howard Hawks: Ball of Fire, The Big Sky
Ida Lupino: Outrage
Jacques Tourneur: I Walked with a Zombie
John Farrow: His Kind of Woman, Where Danger Lives
John Ford: The Long Voyage Home
John M. Stahl: Back Street
Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Somewhere in the Night, House of Strangers
Jules Dassin: Thieves' Highway
King Vidor: Show People, The Crowd, Street Scene
Leo McCarey: Ruggles of Red Gap
Mark Robson: The Seventh Victim
Mervyn LeRoy: I am Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Mitchell Leisen: Midnight
Nicholas Ray: The Lusty Men, Bitter Victory
Orson Welles: The Trial
Otto Preminger: Angel Face, The Man with the Golden Arm, Saint Joan, The Cardinal, Advise and Consent
Preston Sturges: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero, Unfaithfully Yours
Richard Fleischer: The Narrow Margin
Richard Quine: Drive a Crooked Road, Pushover, The Solid Gold Cadillac, Sex and the Single Girl
Samuel Fuller: Park Row
Tod Browning: Freaks
Victor Sjostrom: He Who Gets Slapped, The Scarlet Letter, The Wind
Vincente Minnelli: Tea and Sympathy, Yolanda and the Thief
William A. Wellman: The Story of G.I. Joe
William Wyler: The Little Foxes

Winchester '73, A Woman of Paris, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Trouble in Paradise, Adam's Rib, Park Row, The Long Voyage Home, Back Street, Thieves' Highway, The Lusty Men, The Trial, and the Sturges films seem like pretty good bets because of previous releases, hints, they played on the channel, haven't been released despite being potentially part of deals with other labels, or are up Criterion's alley. Midnight and Ruggles of Red Gap are such uprising absentees that I have to suspect it's because Criterion has been sitting on them. Most of the westerns and noirs aren't premium titles, but they put these types of films out every so often, plus have done Columbia and Fox Noir series on the channel. The silent films I have no handle on, I don't know how well they sell, if they're getting restored or not, or if Criterion has much interest in releasing many silent films anymore. They've seem to have never shown any interest whatsoever in Jerry Lewis, though someone with a longer memory than me might know better. That no Astaire/Rogers films outside of Swing Time have made it to Blu-ray is surprising, and gives the faintest hope of a box set at some point. Similarly, some of the WB titles, like Tea and Sympathy, I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Stage Door or the Lewton horror films seem like titles Criterion might release, but it hard to tell if their lack of release is because they've been sat on or because WAC's strategy of releasing films is so random.

[FrauBlucher]

I've also left out a lot of movies that may be in Fox / Disney limbo and haven't played on the Channel at some point.

I wouldn't dismiss Fox/Disney. The past 3 years Criterion have released a dozen Fox films with most recent being The Gunfighter, Nightmare Alley, Miller's Crossing, The Flight of the Phoenix and The Girl Can't Help It

[bottlesofsmoke]

You’re probably right, fingers crossed. Though off the top of my head, I can’t think of a lot of Fox titles that haven’t been released, outside of the ones already listed. Maybe Fallen Angel or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?

I should have included John Ford’s Fox films too, as they were the Channel recently, but couldn’t really think of a specific title they’d be interested in that hasn’t already had a release.

[beamish14]

The Long Voyage Home has a beautiful UCLA restoration, and it’s a shame there is no Blu-Ray yet

It really is bizarre how neglected A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is. Based on an immensely popular novel that has never gone out of print, and it’s immaculately produced. It never even had a region 1 DVd release until that Kazan box set came out many moons ago

[Saturnome]

The MGM silents (King Vidor, Victor Sjöström) that I've waited for half of my life to see a release on DVD or Blu-ray are probably going to be released by a label like Kino in about 2 or 3 years when they'll finally be public domain. If that still doesn't happen (we could already have He Who Gets Slapped which is public domain, yet nothing) I'll start my own video label. I'll contact you guys for the supplements

[tolbs1010]

It really is bizarre how neglected A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is. Based on an immensely popular novel that has never gone out of print, and it’s immaculately produced. It never even had a region 1 DVd release until that Kazan box set came out many moons ago

The region B Masters Of Cinema blu is a big disappointment. Some very unnatural-looking faces and spaces. They went overboard in trying to clean things up. The extras are pretty meh as well.