criterionforum.org

Some dates -

October 3 -
MRA will be releasing James Cameron's Ghosts of the Abyss as well as Raise the Titanic

October 5 -
Warner will be releasing Gremlins 2, but the RRP is only $15, so maybe not the same as the R1 SE

October 6 -
Roadshow will be relasing the first 3 Nightmare on Elm Street films

October 17 -
Shock will be releasing Phantom of the Paradise. Does anybody have anymore info on this?? Will it be different to the Fox release??

October 20 -
Bergman's Seventh Seal, Autumn Sonata and Virgin Spring, all $30 rrp each.
Also Phar Lap special edition.

Has anyone seen the AV Channel Dead Man? Another NTSC>PAL conversion? (though a guy from Madman Cinema insists that their Down By Law is not a Criterion port.. time to rent.)

Dead Man is perfectly fine to my eyes and ears.

For those who like to keep up with Warner Home Video howlers, this weeks new James Dean boxset states in bold on the back 'One Short Life. 4 Unforgettable Films.' That'll be hard to top.

Flixy, the EzyDVD coming soon page now only gives 'Event Titles' as first option. You can browse 'all titles' from the option at the top of the page. You should find most of the titles there - not that Umbrella have any tasty offerings in the works. Hopscotch need to get their act together - three distributors in as many months, too many titles in wrong ratio or without 16x9 enhancement. Hard 8 was a scope film.

The red tab is a security device that should have been removed at the counter when you purchased it (if it's that red tab that you mean).

I saw some new Umbrella titles today in a JB store: Boris Karloff Collection, La Dolce Vita Special Edition and a few others. I think they are still in operation.

On November 9, Buena Vista will be releasing Kermit's 50 Birthday Celebration DVDs including -
The Muppet Show Season 1
The Muppet Movie
The Great Muppet Caper
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Muppet Treasure Island

Those Keatons Flixy -

November 23rd - Madman Director's Suite
as they say - 'Three all-new restored prints!'

* Steamboat Bill Jr.
features - Down South ('31) - cartoon; The River ('38 riverboat doc.); '27 newsreel
* The Three Ages
features - The Triumph of Lester Snapwell (short featuring Buster); excerpts from Intolerance; Why They Love Caveman (shadowgraph cartoon)
* College
features - excerpt from The Buster Keaton Show; Run Girl Run (short with Carol Lomabrd); Ball Park (cartoon) Candid Camera excerpts with Buster; Sports Chumpions (cartoon)

also due 23rd Nov. -

* Land of Plenty (Wim Wenders, 2004) - (heaps more Wenders next year also from Madman)


October 5th -
* The Piano - Magna Pacific - widescreen with doco & Campion commentary - $19.95 rrp

Magna will also release Black Narcissus Oct. 5

From the looks of things, Tokyo Story has been dropped from the AV Channel site for the third (?) time.

Also upcoming are two films noir: The Dark Corner and Somewhere in the Night on 23/11, both from Fox.

Arthur Penn's hippy film ALICE'S RESTAURANT is out now at a very cheap price. [Sanity have it online for $8.95].

Hendrix fans might want to consider their options since the price for the 2-disc LIVE AT WOODSTOCK in Oz is $40-45. All up, from the US, you will pay $30-32 [including conversion & shipping]. The Oz transfer will apparently be NTSC so there is no difference. Is this is the sign of the times: international laziness? [Is the UK version NTSC I wonder?]

Yes Flixy, OAR, 16x9 enhanced on Alice's Rest. Bonnie and Cylde is OK now - just the packaging is the same as the old release.

Cover art for The Virgin Spring -

Two More Director's Suite DVDs -
7/12/05 - Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat....Kill!Kill!

DVD Special Features
- Commentary by director Russ Meyer;
- Commentary by the Pussycats: Tura Satana, Haji and Lori Williams;
- Bonus Featurette: GO PUSSYCAT GO
- Original Theatrical Trailer


15/02/06 - Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera

DVD Special Features
- Three Songs about Lenin (59 minute film by Vertov)

Flixy, Henry will be 83 min., 4x3 letterbox.

Well, then it's most likely complete, but not a proper NTSC>PAL conversion. New US version just out.

Umbrella shall be releasing a 2-disc set of Fellini's Casanova soon.

Sugata Sanshiro, Eastern Eye
Release Date: 12/10/2005



Review ACDrifter:
http://www.acdrifter.com/?page=Review&m ... 20Sanshiro

Accent have updated their site. Upcoming DVDs include -

2 More Bressons - Au Hasard Balthasar and Mouchette
Fantastic Planet - Hopefully superior to the Force release
The Beast (1975) - Hopefully uncut

Also Night & Fog, San Soleil and La Jetee.

Solaris wrote:Accent have updated their site. Upcoming DVDs include -

2 More Bressons - Au Hasard Balthasar and Mouchette
Fantastic Planet - Hopefully superior to the Force release
The Beast (1975) - Hopefully uncut

Also Night & Fog, San Soleil and La Jetee.

As much as I admire what Accent is doing, they have only released four titles over the past four months - none for the past two. Sales on the back cat. would have to be very slow (JB has most of them below cost price at any given time - a bad sign when distributor's start the cash deals). Therefore these 29 hefty titles as coming soon may be a long time coming, if ever.

Watched Rififi for the first time on SBS Saturday night, loved it!
I was going to try and find a copy of the Madman edition to save myself some money and time waiting for a Criterion to arrive from OS, though according to DVD Beaver Madman's version is pretty average.

Can anyone confirm if this is true, agreed the Criterion would be better
though is the Madman version that bad? I'm fussy but not fanatical about quality.

DVD Beaver review:
http://207.136.67.23/film/dvdcompare/rififi.htm

flixyflox
The Madman is utterly mediocre - one of their earliest arthouse titles - wait for the Criterion

Thanks flixyflox, I am in the US in January, might see if I can pick up a Criterion Rififi then.

Has anyone purchased the Umbrella Entertainment copy of il Bidone?
Just wondering if the transfer is adequate.

The BFI Il Bidone is indeed longer than the Umbrella. The latter appears to be that mutilated version that runs a whole 3 seconds shorter.

The Umbrella is excellent and I cannot imagine that the BFI looks any better. The BFI does include a 40 minute interview with Dominique Delouche that is absent from the R4. If you don't want the interview then you won't be disappointed with the R4.

Jem I own it and think it's fine, but of course the BFI version is longer and restored. If you can afford it I guess go that path, but have a look at Beaver first.

Thanks all.