Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[therewillbeblus]

Contrary to others' enthusiasm, I think this is probably the weakest month of 2021 so far, but I'm also in the minority for feeling apathetic about this HHH film (The Puppetmaster, on the other hand, is a masterpiece), and thought Merrily We Go to Hell was pretty awful in a recent watch for the Grant project

[swo17]

Well I for one am thrilled by today's announcement

Spoiler

by Severin

[senseabove]

Nightmare Alley and Flowers... are two that I know only by long anticipation, so that's why I'm excited for them, but I love Merrily We Go To Hell, and that restoration clip looks gorgeous. I'm very, very happy to get an upgrade of that one from the Universal pre-code DVD set.

[domino harvey]

Can’t believe Nightmare Alley is finally coming, and like the Gunfighter Criterion saved the day from Signal One’s comic delays

[Pavel]

I also think Merrily We Go to Hell is awful, but maybe seeing it on Blu instead of a shitty YouTube copy will make a difference. And great news about Fast Times!

[dwk]

A poster at the Blu-ray forums who seemingly works for Crowe mentioned he has the Fast Time novel back and plans to publish it again. He also said that

PSS. This is Amy's preferred version of the film which means it has one slight change...the reframing of Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) during the pool house scene. This was the shot that initially got Fast Times an X rating by the MPAA...it's back in all its glory for this release.

[beamish14]

A poster at the Blu-ray forums who seemingly works for Crowe mentioned he has the Fast Time novel back and plans to publish it again. He also said that

PSS. This is Amy's preferred version of the film which means it has one slight change...the reframing of Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) during the pool house scene. This was the shot that initially got Fast Times an X rating by the MPAA...it's back in all its glory for this release.

Wow. I really hope that we eventually get a book of Crowe's journalism, too.

[DandyDancing]

Think we will get Brad's Wife soon? I'd really like to see it. It looked fascinating in the B. Ruby Rich piece on the Dance, Girl, Dance disc.

[flyonthewall2983]

I think it seems fairly apparent that Criterion maintains some kind of basic working relationship with Fox - they’re releasing Darjeeling in the UK soon after Budapest previously and I see no possible way that kind of thing was worked out years in advance. That plus this will be fully a year-plus after any other labels’ last Fox releases (discounting the MoC Fuller standalones). Plus we’re still waiting on Spellbound from Disney also.

I'm trying to get used to saying 20th Century, instead of Fox since that is now a separate company (the TV networks). To me it's more apparent that the working relationship maintained is the one between Criterion and Disney, who go way back but don't have the kind of consistency with their releases some of the other studios have.

That said, maybe we can see some Touchstone titles in the future too.

[dustybooks]

Fast Times is second only to Rebel Without a Cause as my favorite American film about adolescence — and because of that and because I was a huge fan of Crowe’s during high school, I did read the book about twenty years ago and actually found it rather disappointing. I guess it isn’t really that different from the script, but in prose form what’s special about the characters is kind of bogged down by Crowe’s dry detachment as a reporter. I get the impression that the experience itself was more important to him than recording it well, and given his history I can understand why, but I think he did the characters much prouder in the screenplay. The film is of course missing the protracted Disneyland climax of the book, but I think the looser / more freewheeling and unstructured quality of the movie is truer to the teenage experience... or at least mine!

[beamish14]

That said, maybe we can see some Touchstone titles in the future too.

I've been wondering about what the hell they intend to do finally about titles like Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Blood In, Blood Out.
The former seems like something Criterion would want given the fact that they have the original Renoir film and have put out Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman

[flyonthewall2983]

The Insider is one of my dream titles. Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State would be a nice gap left by the Bay titles, since so much of his style was Tony Scott's to begin with.

[Calvin]

I'm looking forward to Flowers of Shanghai, even considering the criticisms of the restoration. The new documentary is going to have to be very good to make up for the surprising omission of Olivier Assayas' HHH: Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, made the previous year.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I'm trying to get used to saying 20th Century, instead of Fox since that is now a separate company (the TV networks). To me it's more apparent that the working relationship maintained is the one between Criterion and Disney, who go way back but don't have the kind of consistency with their releases some of the other studios have.

Criterion's post-laserdisc Disney licenses have almost all fallen into two categories: Wes Anderson films and films Disney acquired via the ABC Pictures catalog. The sole exception is the '08 Chungking Express release; in hindsight I wonder if Disney was willing to license that because they knew they wouldn't be holding onto the Miramax catalog for much longer (they sold it in 2010) and figured they may as well wring some extra money out of it. I assume Anderson has personally intervened to make sure his films come out on Criterion and Disney seems to maintain a separate licensing policy for the ABC titles. Hopefully they'll do the same for the Fox catalog.

[John Cope]

Flowers is my favorite Hou (and one of my favorite films, period). Very glad I waited for this edition with the presumably improved English subs. Will probably still wait though for the B&N sale in July to pick it up.

[FrauBlucher]

I wouldn't speculate too hard on a post Disney buying 21st Century Fox/Criterion deal. Edmund Goulding had a phantom page way back when, as did Henry King. Criterion was most likely sitting on Nightmare Alley. This is probably catch up time

[Finch]

The Insider is one of my dream titles.

Mine too though mainly so they can give the film more contextual material and fix the colors from the Buena Vista BD.

[DRW.mov]

Think we will get Brad's Wife soon? I'd really like to see it. It looked fascinating in the B. Ruby Rich piece on the Dance, Girl, Dance disc.

You mean Craig’s Wife with Rosalind Russell? Would love to see that come through, or either of Arzner’s Crawford comedies.

[DandyDancing]

Think we will get Brad's Wife soon? I'd really like to see it. It looked fascinating in the B. Ruby Rich piece on the Dance, Girl, Dance disc.

You mean Craig’s Wife with Rosalind Russell? Would love to see that come through, or either of Arzner’s Crawford comedies.

Yes, sorry I had Cracker Barrel on the mind.

[FrauBlucher]

Can someone find a translation? The gist... Criterion signed a deal with the Hungarian Film Inst. on a 20 film deal

Perhaps MichaelB

[DeprongMori]

Can someone find a translation? The gist... Criterion signed a deal with the Hungarian Film Inst. on a 20 film deal

Perhaps MichaelB

I just used Google Translate on the article and it gave me all the info I needed. Just paste the URL and click the resulting URL for the translation.

[Big Ben]

Rough Translation but:

" Last year we signed a contract for 20 films, " replied György Ráduly, director of the National Film Institute's Film Archive, when we asked if a Hungarian film could be included in the Criterion's collection in the near future.

“Criterion has already received the materials and will start distributing Hungarian films in the USA this year, not only in home distribution, but also in some of the featured films in cinemas across the country. The films include works by Károly Makk, Zoltán Fábri, István Gaál, Márta Mészáros, as well as films such as The Witness, Stop Time, The Rebellion of Job, Psyché or the Criminal Expedition. The agreement with Criterion is the result of a 2-year series of negotiations during which we got to know each other and jointly selected the films while respecting our commitment to the films. ”

[Speakeasy]

Can someone find a translation? The gist... Criterion signed a deal with the Hungarian Film Inst. on a 20 film deal

Perhaps MichaelB

Some of the titles mentioned...

The Witness (1969)
Time Stands Still (1982)
The Revolt of Job (1983)

[FrauBlucher]

Thanks DeprongMori, I tried to translate through the regular google search thinking it would prompt me for a translation. But now I know there is a separate google page.

Rough Translation but:

" Last year we signed a contract for 20 films, " replied György Ráduly, director of the National Film Institute's Film Archive, when we asked if a Hungarian film could be included in the Criterion's collection in the near future.

“Criterion has already received the materials and will start distributing Hungarian films in the USA this year, not only in home distribution, but also in some of the featured films in cinemas across the country. The films include works by Károly Makk, Zoltán Fábri, István Gaál, Márta Mészáros, as well as films such as The Witness, Stop Time, The Rebellion of Job, Psyché or the Criminal Expedition. The agreement with Criterion is the result of a 2-year series of negotiations during which we got to know each other and jointly selected the films while respecting our commitment to the films. ”

I wonder if this will open up some Bela Tarr to Criterion. Maybe his early films.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Most of Tarr's films, including the early features, are sold internationally by Luxbox, so I'm guessing the NFI deal doesn't open them up to Criterion any more than they already were. (This doesn't mean that the NFI has nothing to do with these films—they did the restoration of Damnation, which is also part of the Luxbox catalog—but they're not the ones Criterion would have to work with to get the U.S. rights.) The NFI did post Tarr's early short Hotel Magnezit on Vimeo last year, so they do presumably have that one.