criterionforum.org

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:04 am**

Abkco is apparently now sending out little promo DVDs of the little promo blurb that's on the site about the films (w/ Al as a talking head.) To my untrained eyes and on my depressingly lo-fi equipment, it still made my mouth water. There is exactly ZERO other information on this DVD.

If anybody wants to give me a lesson in making quality screen caps with freeware, I will gladly do so (blowing up the image in DVDShrink looks terrible, but I could post those if it's any help..)

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:33 pm**

That ABKCO press release is great news, tavernier.

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:36 pm**

i'm so excited about the cd soundtracks. i paid $30 for the el topo LP on ebay and have always wanted the holy mountain soundtrack. i definitely love how jodorowsky uses music in both films (e.g. the use of the waltz in El Topo and The Holy Mountain, the psych-garage that kicks off during the story about the weapons manufacturer in HM, etc.) all of it is pretty amazing on its own and used perfectly in the films.
also excited about the new transfers, but that goes without saying. I have both of the Raro Video editions of the films and as much as I love them it's hard to watch them knowing that the new editions are on the way.

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:46 pm**

So who's releasing these?

Posted: **Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:47 pm**

Cinephrenic wrote:So who's releasing these?

Exactly! Does the press release say anything else, tavernier?

Posted: **Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:08 pm**

According to a review in this week's TimeOutNY, "El Topo" starts its run at the IFC Center next Wednesday (12/13).

-BJ

Posted: **Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:12 pm**

The IFC may be running a digital projection (i.e. a DVD), so caveat emptor or whatever.

Posted: **Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:37 pm**

See two scenes from the remastered print of El Topo here.

Posted: **Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:19 pm**

...holy moly.

Posted: **Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:04 am**

Shouldn't this thread be moved out of the Criterion section of the forum by now? The last confirmation that Criterion had anything to do with this was that newspaper article from Madison....but since then there's been pretty much zip mention of Criterion and quite a lot of mention about ABKCO. It really doesn't seem that Criterion has anything to do with this anymore. I think if there was going to be some kind of joint Criterion/ABKCO release something more definite would have leaked at this point.

Tribe

Posted: **Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:01 am**

If those clips are at all representative of the final product, I may need to eat this here honeycomb.

Posted: **Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:13 pm**

Tribe wrote:Shouldn't this thread be moved out of the Criterion section of the forum by now? The last confirmation that Criterion had anything to do with this was that newspaper article from Madison....but since then there's been pretty much zip mention of Criterion and quite a lot of mention about ABKCO. It really doesn't seem that Criterion has anything to do with this anymore. I think if there was going to be some kind of joint Criterion/ABKCO release something more definite would have leaked at this point.

Tribe

Not particularly. Klein has a reputation for being a stickler for contracts and somewhat of a hothead. I would imagine everyone involved are waiting for all the "i"s and "t"s to be dotted and crossed and staying very tightlipped until everything is official.

Posted: **Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:28 am**

If this is indeed coming out in April as a Criterion release, I think a "wacky animal" will tell us in the newsletter this week.

Posted: **Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:25 pm**

J. Hoberman wrote a somewhat amusing recollection of hanging out with Jodorowsky in the early '70s in an article for the Village Voice last week.

Posted: **Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:53 pm**

For anyone interested Creation Books is coming out with the Jodorowsky volume of their Persistance of Vision series around May. I have also been told that a limited, signed edition will be available in a few weeks.

Posted: **Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:38 pm**

Kind of a cool interview with Jodorowsky.

He always gives a great interviews.

The DVD includes three of my best pictures Fando & Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain, with two hours of bonus features including the first film I made when I was 24 years old, which was lost. The picture was a tale of Thomas Mann, a pantomime called The Tide. There are interviews, commentaries.

I am an artist. Now the pictures are not made by artists. They are made by companies and produced by multinationals. The art in the picture is lost. Now when artists make pictures, they make them for museums. But museums, for me, are cemeteries. El Topo is a western and Holy Mountain is an alpinist, about climbing mountains. El Topo is a modern picture. It doesn't get old. And Holy Mountain will be in its time in ten years ...

It's called King Shots. It's a gangster movie...It's set at a casino in the middle of the desert and all the gangsters come to gamble. In the desert they find the skeleton of a giant man as big as King Kong.

Posted: **Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:52 pm**

So, Criterion is not putting them out?

Posted: **Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:20 pm**

Nope, so I guess its about time to move this thread. Its really good to finally get some solid confirmation from the man himself, though. Where's Santa Sangre??

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:44 am**

Fantastic news over at the digital bits!

Boy have we got some great DVD news for you film geeks today! ABKCO Films and Anchor Bay Entertainment have just announced a pair of titles that we've been waiting for on DVD since Day One of this format... El Topo and The Holy Mountain! No kidding! Anchor Bay will release a special limited edition collector's box set, The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, on DVD on 5/1 (SRP $49.98). The set will contain El Topo, The Holy Mountain and Fando Y Lis on DVD, fully restored and remastered from new HD transfers in anamorphic widescreen video, with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 audio. The box set will also include 2 music CDs containing the soundtracks for El Topo and The Holy Mountain, as well as a DVD of Jodorowsky's never-before-released first film, La Cravate. El Topo and The Holy Mountain will also be available separately (SRP $24.98 each). The El Topo DVD will contain audio commentary by the director, the original theatrical trailer (with English voice-over), a 2006 on-camera interview with the director as well as an exclusive new interview, a photo gallery and original script excerpts. The Holy Mountain DVD will include audio commentary with the director, deleted scenes with commentary, the original theatrical trailer (with English voice-over), the Tarot short with commentary, a restoration process short, restoration credits, a photo gallery and original script excerpts. Fando Y Lis will include audio commentary with the director and the La Constellation Jodorowsky documentary. Subtitles on the discs will be available in English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Awesome news indeed! To which Todd adds, "Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" and faints dead away in shock. This is, you see, his long awaited Holy Grail title on DVD.

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:33 am**

Uhhh.... WOW.

That's literally everything and the kitchen sink, isn't it?

I couldn't be happier, because that's proof that, having made us wait so long for this event, they truly gave it their best effort. Although some may disagree, I don't see how anyone can say they're not getting every last thing they could want. And soundtracks, besides!

And if Criterion couldn't do it, I know of no better home for Jodo than Anchor Bay. To me, they've always been the "Island of Misfit Toys" DVD company, releasing masterworks other companies won't touch, and in lavish editions that really respect the works. The one bone I've ever had with them is their lack of captions, and that's taken care of already for these.

I guess that means they'll be in the original Spanish, which for me is a shame because my "unofficial" copies of Topo and Mountain are in the dubbed English versions. But you know what? I'll take it!

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:46 am**

Scharphedin2 wrote:Fantastic news over at the digital bits!

Boy have we got some great DVD news for you film geeks today! ABKCO Films and Anchor Bay Entertainment have just announced a pair of titles that we've been waiting for on DVD since Day One of this format... El Topo and The Holy Mountain! No kidding! Anchor Bay will release a special limited edition collector's box set, The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, on DVD on 5/1 (SRP $49.98). The set will contain El Topo, The Holy Mountain and Fando Y Lis on DVD, fully restored and remastered from new HD transfers in anamorphic widescreen video, with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 audio. The box set will also include 2 music CDs containing the soundtracks for El Topo and The Holy Mountain, as well as a DVD of Jodorowsky's never-before-released first film, La Cravate. El Topo and The Holy Mountain will also be available separately (SRP $24.98 each). The El Topo DVD will contain audio commentary by the director, the original theatrical trailer (with English voice-over), a 2006 on-camera interview with the director as well as an exclusive new interview, a photo gallery and original script excerpts. The Holy Mountain DVD will include audio commentary with the director, deleted scenes with commentary, the original theatrical trailer (with English voice-over), the Tarot short with commentary, a restoration process short, restoration credits, a photo gallery and original script excerpts. Fando Y Lis will include audio commentary with the director and the La Constellation Jodorowsky documentary. Subtitles on the discs will be available in English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Awesome news indeed! To which Todd adds, "Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" and faints dead away in shock. This is, you see, his long awaited Holy Grail title on DVD.

Limited Edition troubles me. I wonder why they'll be releasing these films for only a limited time.

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:53 am**

Erik Pflueger wrote:And if Criterion couldn't do it, I know of no better home for Jodo than Anchor Bay. To me, they've always been the "Island of Misfit Toys" DVD company, releasing masterworks other companies won't touch, and in lavish editions that really respect the works. The one bone I've ever had with them is their lack of captions, and that's taken care of already for these.

Seriously. We're essentially getting a deluxe 6-disc set, as good as we could've hoped for from Criterion, at a $50 msrp. That'll be something like $30 online (judging by the prices for the Dawn of the Dead ultimate edition, an Anchor Bay release with the same MSRP.) This is AMAZING. I've been dying to get just the Holy Mountain soundtrack. I do hope the english dubs are included...not essential of course, but it'd be nice (I know that Jodorowsky did his own dubbing for The Holy Mountain, I'm not sure about El Topo).

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:26 am**

justeleblanc wrote:Limited Edition troubles me. I wonder why they'll be releasing these films for only a limited time.

More than likely, they don't plan on keeping the soundtrack CDs in print indefinitely.

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:05 am**

Well, at least it's Anchor Bay. I'd hate it if another company with less of a pedigree, so to speak, got this particular gig.

Mark your calendars for May, then! BTW, just remembered that Anchor Bay in the UK has a SE out for the one title seriously MIA in that upcoming boxset: Santa Sangre. I wonder why they couldn't include it too.

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:14 am**

I hope they don't drop the ball like they did with recent Argento titles and will transfer films progressively.

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Anchor Bay: Alejandro Jodorowsky