Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4

Message

LightBulbFilm · #326 Post by **LightBulbFilm** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:18 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:A long shot, but would there be a good chance that Altman's Popeye could get the CC treatment?

Why?

souvenir · #327 Post by **souvenir** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:10 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
muddycrutchboy wrote:Just a thought I was having...how about trying for a release of Sidney Lumet's The Offence from 1973?
I doubt Criterion would expend too much energy on this, seeing as it was a UA release and thus Warner Bros. should have the U.S. rights.

This doesn't follow. Warner Bros. controls the MGM library while MGM controls the UA catalog.

McCrutchy · #328 Post by **McCrutchy** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:21 pm

souvenir wrote:
The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
muddycrutchboy wrote:Just a thought I was having...how about trying for a release of Sidney Lumet's The Offence from 1973?
I doubt Criterion would expend too much energy on this, seeing as it was a UA release and thus Warner Bros. should have the U.S. rights.
This doesn't follow. Warner Bros. controls the MGM library while MGM controls the UA catalog.

Either way, you guys are probably right, a Criterion probably won't happen now that I remember who owns what. Still, an R1 DVD is a MUST

Person · #329 Post by **Person** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:22 pm

The Offence is one of my favourite films, so I'd love a Criterion edition, but I can't see it happening. MGM are more than capable of doing their own SE. All it really needs is a Connery and/or Lumet commentary. Anything more would be too much for this brilliantly ambiguous film.

McCrutchy · #330 Post by **McCrutchy** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:40 pm

I have fired off an e-mail to MGM inquiring about the DVD rights. In the meantime, perhaps someone could set up an online petition people could sign?

keeproductions · #331 Post by **keeproductions** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:20 am

muddycrutchboy wrote:I have fired off an e-mail to MGM inquiring about the DVD rights. In the meantime, perhaps someone could set up an online petition people could sign?

More power to you, but history says that's not really the way Criterion works.

Let Jon Mulvaney know you are interested in the title.

The Fanciful Norwegian · Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:08 am

souvenir wrote:
The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
muddycrutchboy wrote:Just a thought I was having...how about trying for a release of Sidney Lumet's The Offence from 1973?
I doubt Criterion would expend too much energy on this, seeing as it was a UA release and thus Warner Bros. should have the U.S. rights.
This doesn't follow. Warner Bros. controls the MGM library while MGM controls the UA catalog.

You're right, I thought the deal included all of MGM/UA's pre-'86 releases (bar the ones they didn't actually produce). But given that House of Games seems to have been a one-off I still wouldn't get my hopes up.

dekalog · #333 Post by **dekalog** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:55 pm

More Rohmer?

With Fox Lorber's Boyfriends And Girlfriends, Good Marriage, Marquise Of O, Perceval Fox, Summer's Tale DVD going oop, will there be a second Rohmer box from Criterion ?

GringoTex · #334 Post by **GringoTex** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:27 pm

dekalog wrote:More Rohmer?

With Fox Lorber's Boyfriends And Girlfriends, Good Marriage, Marquise Of O, Perceval Fox, Summer's Tale DVD going oop, will there be a second Rohmer box from Criterion ?

A Comedies and Proverbs box would be spectacular. As a whole, I prefer them to Six Moral Tales.

miless · #335 Post by **miless** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:50 pm

Of all the Fox Lorber titles I would want Criterion to release (several of which have made their way to Criterion) the number one title for me is Nostalghia. I did e-mail Criterion a long while ago and they told me that they did not own the rights (but that they were, at the time, working on Ivan's Childhood... which was months before an official announcement). I really hope that this has changed, seeming as the other two possibilities could easily result in a botched release (Koch Lorber or Kino). Kino, although a great company when dealing with newly restored titles (especially silents) has had a pretty terrible track record with Tarkovsky (sure Stalker was an import of ruscico's discs, but The Mirror and The Sacrifice are just horrendous). That's my rant, sorry.

justeleblanc · #336 Post by **justeleblanc** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:36 pm

GringoTex wrote:
dekalog wrote:More Rohmer?

With Fox Lorber's Boyfriends And Girlfriends, Good Marriage, Marquise Of O, Perceval Fox, Summer's Tale DVD going oop, will there be a second Rohmer box from Criterion ?
A Comedies and Proverbs box would be spectacular. As a whole, I prefer them to Six Moral Tales.

A Comedies and Proverbs box would be terrific, but I believe Pauline at the Beach is still in the hands of MGM World Films.
Similarly, A Summer's Tale is also in the hands of MGM, should Criterion decide they want to release the Four Seasons. If someone knows whether or not the MGM films are merely licenses or if MGM actually owns them, it may be worth looking into.

JabbaTheSlut · #337 Post by **JabbaTheSlut** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:33 am

Person wrote:The Offence is one of my favourite films, so I'd love a Criterion edition, but I can't see it happening. MGM are more than capable of doing their own SE. All it really needs is a Connery and/or Lumet commentary. Anything more would be too much for this brilliantly ambiguous film.

The Offence is truly one of the very best and very much The strangest of Lumet's films. And a great performance by Connery. The R2 (don't know about the other regions) dvd, that is available is OK, though. But criterionization would be welcomed by yours truly too.

justeleblanc · #338 Post by **justeleblanc** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:22 pm

New Line has been officially completely dissolved as part of Warner Brothers.

I would say Cronenberg's Crash and Malle's Damage are less likely because of it.

miless · #339 Post by **miless** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:29 pm

justeleblanc wrote:New Line has been officially completely dissolved as part of Warner Brothers.

I would say Cronenberg's Crash and Malle's Damage are less likely because of it.

I hope this doesn't mean that current New Line titles will go out of print (although I doubt Warner would want to pay to get back a film like Naked, as it would probably sell better as a Criterion release)

Cinephrenic · #340 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:29 pm

Should I remove Crash and Damage from the forthcoming list because frankly, there was never any solid rumours on these and they would have rushed to get these out if they had the rights in the first place.

arsonfilms · #341 Post by **arsonfilms** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:39 pm

Cinephrenic wrote:Should I remove Crash and Damage from the forthcoming list because frankly, there was never any solid rumours on these and they would have rushed to get these out if they had the rights in the first place.

I vote yes, unless anyone has heard any updates more recently, or from anyone who isn't a CSR at another company.

#342 Post by **Jeff** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:55 am

Cinephrenic wrote:Should I remove Crash and Damage from the forthcoming list because frankly, there was never any solid rumours on these and they would have rushed to get these out if they had the rights in the first place.

Yes. The rumor started many years ago when someone asked Image about those two titles after Image released New Line's Bodies, Rest and Motion. The Image rep instructed the customer to "ask Criterion about those titles," which was probably just another way of saying "I don't know. Go bug someone else." This was well before Image was Criterion's sole distributor. At this point, I don't see any reason to believe they're coming.

Anhedionisiac · #343 Post by **Anhedionisiac** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:44 pm

I agree it looks like Crash and Damage are pretty much out of the question for the time being. It's a shame since the Collection really needs some Elias Koteas in it...

justeleblanc · #344 Post by **justeleblanc** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:14 pm

Cold Bishop · #345 Post by **Cold Bishop** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:45 pm

Black Christmas, I'd hope. But alas its still in print.

I'm guessing Lino or one of the Christmas DVD regulars will guess it out fairly easily.

EDIT: Nevermind, somebody beat me to it over an hour ago in the appropriate thread.

Gregory · #346 Post by **Gregory** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:57 pm

Mon Oncle Antoine. Interesting that this is the only film by this director that has been released on DVD anywhere in the world (as far as I know) and this is the one they choose to release. I know the R1 Image DVD is out of print, but it can be bought in "Very Good" condition online for $20-24 shipped. I also know it's a Janus title, but I can't really see why this was a priority for this year.

Michael Kerpan · #347 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:12 am

Gregory wrote:Mon Oncle Antoine. Interesting that this is the only film by this director that has been released on DVD anywhere in the world (as far as I know) and this is the one they choose to release. I know the R1 Image DVD is out of print, but it can be bought in "Very Good" condition online for $20-24 shipped. I also know it's a Janus title, but I can't really see why this was a priority for this year.

Neither the Image DVD nor the Canadian one (from the NFB) is all that spectacular looking.

kaujot · #348 Post by **kaujot** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:52 pm

Since they got Mishima, I'd love for them to also put out Schrader's Hardcore or Blue Collar. Hardcore is unlikely, I think, since Sony (well, Amazon says Sony. DVD Savant says Columbia Tri-Star, but aren't they somehow connected?) put out the (barebones) DVD in 2004. However, Anchor Bay (And Starz, apparently) released the now OOP release of Blue Collar.

Cronenfly · #349 Post by **Cronenfly** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:34 pm

kaujot wrote:Since they got Mishima, I'd love for them to also put out Schrader's Hardcore or Blue Collar. Hardcore is unlikely, I think, since Sony (well, Amazon says Sony. DVD Savant says Columbia Tri-Star, but aren't they somehow connected?) put out the (barebones) DVD in 2004. However, Anchor Bay (And Starz, apparently) released the now OOP release of Blue Collar.

Blue Collar is a definite possibility given how many Universal titles Criterion has handled (including Two-Lane Blacktop, formerly an Anchor Bay release), and they've also taken over properties from Anchor Bay before (Two-Lane and The Man Who Fell to Earth, among others). Hardcore seems less likely to me; I think we'll have a better idea of the possibility of it and other Sony/Columbia Tri-Star owned properties getting released once we know whether Bottle Rocket is licensed directly from Sony/Columbia or whether Sony/Columbia just let the rights to that title go. It could still just be a one-off in exchange for Python commentaries like with MGM/House of Games, but one never knows for sure with these things. Time will tell.

McCrutchy · #350 Post by **McCrutchy** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:34 am

keeproductions wrote:Let Jon Mulvaney know you are interested in the title.

I e-mailed him and got a response back from someone called "Tamara" who informed me that they have no plans for a release of The Offence at the moment (i.e. the usual and customary response). Really anything would be desirable as long as it was transferred well and had some decent features. Unfortunately, it seems too obscure for many people to care enough.

MGM have not even contacted me as of yet...blah.

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