Getting Criterion to release their Hideo Gosha films campaign help

[DukeTogo84]

Hello everyone,

Not sure where else to post this, but hopefully this might be the best place to do it.

Criterion. Everyone loves them. They release a ton of great films, but not exactly at the quickest pace. About 6 years ago, I discovered that Criterion had the rights to Hunter in the Dark. One of the greatest films I have ever seen staring Tatsuya Nakadai and Sonny Chiba in his best performance.

Soon after that I discovered that Criterion has the rights to Bandits Vs Samurai Squadron, Death Shadows, Heat Wave, Tracked, and The Oil Hell Murders. While it's great that these are on Hulu, these films deserve the proper physical releases.

For YEARS I've tried communicating with Criterion to no avail. Not sure if they don't see these films as money makers or what, but they are more amazing that you can imagine. At the rate things are going, I'll die, or the physical format will die before Criterion will release these films.

I'm in a desperate situation and would like any help I can get. These are the two e-mails I can find that might actually work. mulvaney@criterion.com and/or suggestions@criterion.com

Look up these movies and see for yourself why they deserve to be released. Hunter in the Dark is without a doubt a film making achievement and I would love to hear what Tatsuya Nakadai has to say about them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Via e-mailing Criterion or other suggestions at reaching out to Criterion. I hope someone can help and hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

[Moj]

Criterion's handling of practically the entirety of Gosha's filmography is definitely unjust, but I don't know what there is to do about it. They've apparently been hoarding 70s chanbara for awhile now, with no intent of issuing any releases. They've got the Hanzo Trilogy locked down too, and it's rumored they snatched the Lone Wolf and Cub films up (which is why the boxset went OOP). The release of the Lady Snowblood films give me some hope that this will change, but at best, we'll get 1 release a year while they give Wes Anderson's newest releases the deluxe treatment.

I think part of the problem is that there are so many Japanese films without quality releases. It spans so many genres, and the works of dozens of auteurs. I love Sonny Chiba's Yellow Fang, but who would release it? The works of Yasuzo Masumura, Akio Jissoji, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, etc. I could go on.

[MifuneFan]

There are hundreds, if not thousands of movies that Criterion has the rights to that will never get a physical release from them. There are many reasons for this, but one important one is whether the film has proper HD masters available (a lot of the stuff on Hulu is in poor quality). If not, that often means investing in a scanning and/or restoration process that they simply can't do with every film. Most are restorations that they license from studios, etc.., so it's not just up to them. While I'd love to get those movies on BD, I just don't see it happening, even with petitioning.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

There are hundreds, if not thousands of movies that Criterion has the rights to that will never get a physical release from them.

My guess is that someday they will break away from Hulu and look into starting their own subscription based streaming channel. It depends on if they can muster up the infrastructure for it, but as streaming grows more and more common, I imagine the process to profit from smaller demographic channels won't be so difficult.

I don't have to like it, but unfortunately the days of studios consistently tapping into their huge holdings for a physical media release are largely fading unless they are MODs.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

There are hundreds, if not thousands of movies that Criterion has the rights to that will never get a physical release from them. There are many reasons for this, but one important one is whether the film has proper HD masters available (a lot of the stuff on Hulu is in poor quality). If not, that often means investing in a scanning and/or restoration process that they simply can't do with every film. Most are restorations that they license from studios, etc.., so it's not just up to them. While I'd love to get those movies on BD, I just don't see it happening, even with petitioning.

Criterion does have a HD master of Hunter in the Dark. They even have an HD version available on Amazon to buy for digital users. That's been up for about two years I believe.

While I love all the films I mentioned Hunter in the Dark has always been my primary concern. I'd be semi content if that film were to be released.

I also believe they have a HD print of Bandits Vs Samurai Squadron which was shown in a film festival about a year or so ago. I'm not sure about Tracked, Heat Wave, and Death Shadows. I know they don't have an HD master of The Oil Hell Murderer.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by Moj

Criterion's handling of practically the entirety of Gosha's filmography is definitely unjust, but I don't know what there is to do about it. They've apparently been hoarding 70s chanbara for awhile now, with no intent of issuing any releases. They've got the Hanzo Trilogy locked down too, and it's rumored they snatched the Lone Wolf and Cub films up (which is why the boxset went OOP). The release of the Lady Snowblood films give me some hope that this will change, but at best, we'll get 1 release a year while they give Wes Anderson's newest releases the deluxe treatment.

I think part of the problem is that there are so many Japanese films without quality releases. It spans so many genres, and the works of dozens of auteurs. I love Sonny Chiba's Yellow Fang, but who would release it? The works of Yasuzo Masumura, Akio Jissoji, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, etc. I could go on.

Yeah, the release of Lady Snowblood gives me some hope. However, I'm sure they would release the Lone Wolf and Cub movies before anything else. These films have already been released a few times in different formats. Give us something new.

At least Yellow Fang got a DVD release. All of the Gosha films I mentioned haven't had any sort of release yet, which is a shame.

Don't get me started on Tenchu either. Easily one of the best Japanese films ever made, and I don't even think it has a distributor in the states.

[BobbyMcGee]

Well they released a wonderful box-set of Zatoichi and are now releasing the Lady Snowblood films so all hope is not lost yet IMO. I can easily see them releasing a Lone Wolf and Cub box-set in the near future (next year or the year after) as I think that will do well for them. As for Hideo Gosha, they released two of his films on DVD and Blu-ray as well.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by BobbyMcGee

Well they released a wonderful box-set of Zatoichi and are now releasing the Lady Snowblood films so all hope is not lost yet IMO. I can easily see them releasing a Lone Wolf and Cub box-set in the near future (next year or the year after) as I think that will do well for them. As for Hideo Gosha, they released two of his films on DVD and Blu-ray as well.

I think they only released 3 Outlaw Samurai on blue/DVD and Sword of the Beast on DVD only. While not bad films, I think those two were more of Gosha's most bland films as he hadn't quite found his footing yet.

It wasn't until 1969 where his distinct directing style really came to the forefront with Goyokin and Tenchu. He really his stride with those two and he continued to have high and lows from there.

I personally think his masterpiece is Hunter in the Dark and every time I watch my bootleg I hope Criterion will finally put a disc out. For six long years I've check on the 15th of every month to see if Criterion is finally putting in out with it's new releases. Still nothing.

The end fight in the chicken barn is such a visceral treat, that it's not easily forgotten.

[DukeTogo84]

I'm going to give this a bump in case anyone didn't see this the first time around, seeing as how fast this board moves.

[Nuck Horris]

I think I like this thread.

I think I'm going to go buy The Wolves on DVD... Why did AnimEigo let it go out of print?

Or is there a Criterion release in the future...?

[cicada88]

I want Heat Wave on Blu

[DukeTogo84]

Figured I'd give this a boost, since there still no HUNTER IN THE DARK from Criterion. They have an HD master of this fantastic film.

[DukeTogo84]

Figured I'd give this a bump. If anyone could help suggest Hunter in the Dark for a release from Criterion it would be truly appreciated.

suggestions@criterion.com

One of the best movies of all time.

[DukeTogo84]

Bump time.