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According to this tweet that Criterion Cast retweeted, at a screening at the Alamo San Francisco, Tom Luddy confirmed that Criterion will be releasing Godard's King Lear

Sweet. I'm assuming it's a given, but any word on including Meetin' WA?

Incredible news! Presumably they won't repeat the sickening widescreen framing of the MGM DVD

That is indeed terrific. Before Criterion released Every Man for Himself, I'd hoped they would eventually branch out to 80s-and-beyond Godard and specifically thought of this film as an ideal candidate - because it's missing an adequate release but especially because it would perhaps benefit most (among his key works) from the kind of supplements Criterion can provide to help make its richness more decipherable. Hopefully this means other late(r) Godards are possibilities, like In Praise of Love.

Cohen has been doing a great job with their 80s Godards but Criterion's Slow Motion was shockingly on-point for a label we used to joke would never touch late-period Godard

Does Lionsgate still have the rights to the 1980s/1990s Godards they released in that rather shoddy set nearly a decade ago? First Name: Carmen and Passion could stand to be rescued, since all of the existing DVDs I know of have problems of one kind of another. Not to mention they are among his very best films of any era.

I really disliked Godard's Lear, but then I only saw Breathless and Vivre Sa Vie beforehand. Does knowledge and familiarity with his earlier work make his difficult 80s work more palpable?

Nope, that wont help.

whaleallright wrote:Does Lionsgate still have the rights to the 1980s/1990s Godards they released in that rather shoddy set nearly a decade ago? First Name: Carmen and Passion could stand to be rescued, since all of the existing DVDs I know of have problems of one kind of another. Not to mention they are among his very best films of any era.

Problem is that Lionsgate got those titles from Canal. It doesn't help if Lionsgate no longer has the rights when Canal seems generally unwilling (or, perhaps, unable) to license to Criterion.

King Lear will be the first Cannon Group film in the Criterion Collection. Here's hoping that Fons Rademaker's The Assault, Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People and Christine Edzard's Little Dorrit (one of the only Cannon titles still with WB) are on the docket, too.

beamish13 wrote:King Lear will be the first Cannon Group film in the Criterion Collection. Here's hoping that Fons Rademaker's The Assault, Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People and Christine Edzard's Little Dorrit (one of the only Cannon titles still with WB) are on the docket, too.

I think it's actually the third Cannon film for Criterion (Love Streams and Powagaatsi being the others).

CSM126 wrote:

beamish13 wrote:King Lear will be the first Cannon Group film in the Criterion Collection. Here's hoping that Fons Rademaker's The Assault, Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People and Christine Edzard's Little Dorrit (one of the only Cannon titles still with WB) are on the docket, too.

I think it's actually the third Cannon film for Criterion (Love Streams and Powagaatsi being the others).

You are totally right! I completely forgot that Cannon financed and distributed the former and released the latter.

This is fantastic news, doubly so if it means (and I hope this goes without saying) the film is presented in its proper 1.37:1 academy format. At first I was surprised by Criterion's choice to present this Godard film in particular, but after some reflection it makes more sense - it is a Shakespeare 'adaptation' in some sense, it has a fantastic production backstory that I hope the set will delve into (offering Richard Nixon $500,000 for one day of shooting, etc), you have the presence of Woody Allen and Norman Mailer, not to mention Godard himself.

I'm sure the rights situation is completely different, but I also hope we'll see a definitive edition of Nouvelle vague from Criterion one day, which is another film that needs 'rescuing' (in terms of aspect ratio and even compression) on video. I dare say it might be a bit more 'accessible' to the uninitiated as well.

I would love to see Criterion track down Julie Delpy to talk about her minor role (or hell, since they'll no doubt already be interviewing her for Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald)

At least we know from that Electric Boogaloo documentary that Ringwald is willing to talk about the experience!

(I like to think of this as part of Godard's 'travellers trapped in hotel rooms' period, in which various figures are pursuing projects and trying to create meaning whilst being rather rootless. His 2 x 50 Years Of French Cinema piece feels a little similar in tone and location! But this goes through into the conference in Yugoslavia in Notre Musique and the ill-fated stand in for Europe Costa Concordia in Film Socialisme)

Oedipax wrote:I'm sure the rights situation is completely different, but I also hope we'll see a definitive edition of Nouvelle vague from Criterion one day, which is another film that needs 'rescuing' (in terms of aspect ratio and even compression) on video. I dare say it might be a bit more 'accessible' to the uninitiated as well.

I revisited the Cahiers DVD recently and couldn't believe how bad it looked in terms of compression-- I am certain a 1 GB AVI would have looked better on my TV. Tube TVs did have their advantages in hiding problems like this!

domino harvey wrote:I would love to see Criterion track down Julie Delpy to talk about her minor role (or hell, since they'll no doubt already be interviewing her for Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald)

Leos Carax, too!

beamish13 wrote:

domino harvey wrote:I would love to see Criterion track down Julie Delpy to talk about her minor role (or hell, since they'll no doubt already be interviewing her for Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald)

Leos Carax, too!

And Burgess Meredith

domino harvey wrote:

beamish13 wrote:

domino harvey wrote:I would love to see Criterion track down Julie Delpy to talk about her minor role (or hell, since they'll no doubt already be interviewing her for Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald)

Leos Carax, too!

And Burgess Meredith

well, Twilight Time was unsuccessful in conjuring him for the State of Grace commentary, so...

beamish13 wrote:King Lear will be the first Cannon Group film in the Criterion Collection. Here's hoping that Fons Rademaker's The Assault, Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People and Christine Edzard's Little Dorrit (one of the only Cannon titles still with WB) are on the docket, too.

Or Ruiz's completely bonkers Treasure Island!

beamish13 wrote:

domino harvey wrote:I would love to see Criterion track down Julie Delpy to talk about her minor role (or hell, since they'll no doubt already be interviewing her for Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald)

Leos Carax, too!

I'm embarrassed to have forgotten completely about Ringwald, Delpy and Carax! Quite the stacked cast for a JLG film.

Molly Ringwald would certainly be up for an interview, I think. She talked at length about her career in an honest fashion on Bret Easton Ellis' podcast last year.

Now is as good as a time to share its completely misleading trade magazine ad.



I love Cannon films, both for the weird output of art house like this or films by Raul Ruiz and John Cassavetes, and for their schlocky, but fun, Z-tier action films like Crackhouse.

Don't forget Woody Allen.

I remember this being awful. I guess i'll have to revisit it. I'd much rather seeing Peter's Brooks version with Paul Scofield.

vidussoni wrote:I remember this being awful. I guess i'll have to revisit it. I'd much rather seeing Peter's Brooks version with Paul Scofield.

I'd much rather a fully restored Kozintsev (+ Shostakovich) version.