The Criterion Collection

[Xtempo]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

1984 spine has changed to #984

What was the spine before? I guess they couldn't wait to reach #1984 to do it justice

[bradnoyes]

I'm still plowing through all my flash sale pickups and last night I watched Summer Hours. I haven't felt the need to post about every movie I bought in the sale, but what a beautiful film. Highly recommended.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

My head would explode if both those got upgrade announcements at the same time.

Since I'm about to go region free (ordering my player within this next week), I wouldn't need to be all that particular about where I'd get Pandora's Box from, as I don't see any of my friends chomping at the bit to get into Pabst or Louise Brooks. I likely wouldn't need to lend it out. Should MoC issue it, it would pair nicely with my Diary of a Lost Girl. However, if Criterion issued both, I'd double dip on Diary, and pick up Pandora's Box. There would be a great deal of overlapping on the extras, but there seems to always be one or two unique to a release, and I'd want them all (which would, of course, necessitate owning both Criterion and MoC releases for Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl). Additionally, being able to play the disc anywhere, and lend the movies out, should a friend's curiosity be piqued, would be definite pluses.

Pabst is worth double dipping on. His films need a greater appreciation in the states, even among classic film lovers. Now that TCM is having Alicia Malone host the TCM Imports segment on weekends, I'm hoping works from Pabst, Murnau, Dreyer and von Sternberg, and foreign films, in general, will get higher profiles. I'll be watching beginning this weekend to see what they do. I know films from Ingmar Bergman, Jacques Tati (God, I need to get into him, already), Jean-Pierre Melville and Keisuke Kinoshita have already been in rotation, several of which are premiers for the station.

Same here. Now that your region-free I highly recommend Studiocanal's Melville: Essential Collection. I got a copy from rarewaves on eBay new for like $50



Arrow just announced Crime and Punishment. Also, I recommend Anatahan also.

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I checked to see what I had yet to watch on the DVR from TCM's showing of Garbo's films to start the month. Conquest is one of them, along with Queen Christina, A Woman of Affairs, Anna Karenina and Mata Hari. I've got my work cut out for me, but every one of the films I've seen her in has resonated with me. The final scene of Camille just punched me in the gut.

Queen Christina and A Woman of Affairs are treats. Queen Christina is pre-Code in all its glory and proved that John Gilbert could shine in the talkies as he did in Downstairs. I had the same feeling which I first watched Camille. Ninotchka(which I need to get the Warner Blu for), Queen Christina, and Camille without a doubt IMO are the best of Garbo in the talkies.

[StarDestroyer52]

TCM does a great job showing silents especially Silent Sundays where they show many less known silents and they also show numerous of MGM's silent gems which have helped me to buy great silent titles that are available via the Warner Archive Collection, albeit as DVD(but that's better than nothing, considering it would take a lot of work to get up to BluRay quality). Generally there pretty good with silents as long as you are looking at the schedule in advance, though yes I know not everyone can do that. I do wish that many foreign films would be shown at a better timeslots than 2 AM and usually 4 AM EST to get much better exposure to the current generation of classic film fans.

[moviebuff75]

Is there a way to contact someone at Criterion for questions and feedback?

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by moviebuff75

Is there a way to contact someone at Criterion for questions and feedback?

mulvaney@criterion.com

[tatterdemalion]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I know the channel does show all those guys. Many of the films and directors you mentioned are on my DVR, or have been recently, taped from TCM. By more exposure, I meant that I'd like to see these movies played in slots where they'd get more viewership. Prime time, occasionally. Most of the movies and filmmakers I'm referring to are played on Sunday mornings, or in the wee hours of the morning where, unless a person is purposely looking for them, or they're an insomniac, they're not going to see these films. Bergman's The Passion of Anna was shown on April 1st at 3 am CT. Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-up on February 19th at 11pm CT. Pabst's Pandora's Box played at 11 pm CT. Gustaf Molander's version of A Woman's Face, one of Ingrid Bergman's films before she came to America, played at midnight CT.

I've watched TCM religiously for the last five years, looking at every single film that's being played on their schedule. I'm not proposing that these foreign films take over the prime time slots. But mixing in the occasional Bergman, or Ozu, on prime time might just spark some interest where there wasn't before simply because the viewer didn't know to look for them. I know that when I'm looking at my HBO, Showtime and Starz listings, I'll often watch a movie I wasn't looking for simply because it showed on my Directv schedule menu, and the synopsis looked interesting.

The great thing about living in Hawai'i, born and raised bruddah(!), is the Sunday Silent Films time slot starts at either 6pm or 7pm depending on daylight savings time; we don't do that here. So the foreign film spot tends to start at 8pm or 9pm. The only problem with that time slot is I have to choose between repeats of Columbo on METV or a foreign film. That's a hard decision.

I've noticed on Criterion's Facebook page the amount of complaints on reading subtitles when they do play a foreign film in prime time. I can understand where there's some form of inability to do that, but almost all are just the "I'm never going to watch a movie that I have to read while watching" type. I keep wondering if these people understand that Hollywood films are usually subtitled when shown in other countries. If the rest of the world can read while watching our films, we can read while watching theirs.

[Midnight Rambler]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

...but Klute is absolutely fantastic. Jane Fonda got a lot of crap for her anti-war activism during Vietnam, but her skills as a dramatic actress are beyond question. She gives one of her best performances in Klute, and the film, itself, is outstanding. Fonda didn't shy away from the subject matter. From a certain perspective, it's a distant relative to the Pre-code era: the general treatment and objectification of women, strong sexual themes, yet powerful female protagonists.

Klute came out in 1971; while Hollywood censorship was changing in certain ways, with the end of the Hays Code and the implementation of the MPAA rating system (Think Bonnie and Clyde's more overt, realistic depiction of gun violence in 1967, as an example), frankness about sexuality was slow to come along. It had only been eight years since Jayne Mansfield disrobed in Promises...Promises!, and even that raised quite an uproar. I would imagine the ideals of prostitution and women that were assertive about their sexuality still made the general public a tad uncomfortable in 1971. Yet, Fonda's performance is unflinching. Klute is a welcome addition to the Criterion Collection.

In addition to all that you touched on, Klute was also a huge influence on popular culture, esp. in fashion. For example, women everywhere got "Shag" haircuts and that remained THE style until Farrah came along.

[tama]

Several weeks ago I emailed CC about the discrepancy on this title about how inside the Boxset the about the transfer claims this to be a 2K scan on an Arriscan from the Negative. However after getting a copy of the older release I can see that this is the older master used for the single 2011 release that is an HD telecine scan.

The only response I got from them was this was a 2K scan yadda yadda yadda. The same verbage in the boxset. After several attempts with follow up emails explaining this isn't a new 2K scan found in the boxset and that is a error I have not been responded too since.

Attached are comparisons of the older Criterion master and the newer 2K scan that was used in Europe by SC that sounds like what should be on this disc in this set.

http://caps-a-holic.com/

http://caps-a-holic.com/

It would suck if this issue got past QC for CC and was never addressed or corrected. It reminds me of the Dressed To Kill release situation where they ignored and denied any issues with the geometry of the first 20 minutes on that disc. It took a while and pressure for them to look into the situation.

I personally will keep trying but it'd be nice if more people noticed this and also contacted Criterion about the issue.

[tatterdemalion]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Nineteen Eighty-Four is the most terrifying work of fiction I've read.

The line that gives me chills: "Power is not a means, it is an end."

The movie is a welcome addition to the collection.

I'm always looking for dystopian fiction that's on the same level as Nineteen Eighty-Four. A few of my favorites: Huxley's Brave New World, David Karp's One and The Scarlet Empire by David Parry. The latter two don't get nearly the attention they deserve for being great.

The best American dystopian novel I've read is Bernard Wolfe's Limbo. It's barely known but very well respected. It has a moment in it that has been burnt into my mind since the day I read it. J. G. Ballard (pronounced Buh-lard for those who don't know. 35+ years of reading SF will give you inane facts like this) says it was one of the novels that inspired him to start writing.

[yoloswegmaster420]

Originally Posted by tama

It would suck if this issue got past QC for CC and was never addressed or corrected. It reminds me of the Dressed To Kill release situation where they ignored and denied any issues with the geometry of the first 20 minutes on that disc. It took a while and pressure for them to look into the situation.

What do you mean by they ignored and denied the Dressed to Kill situation? According to Criterionforum posts, they found the problem on July 30 and then Criterion sent out emails saying that they would be reprinting it on August 4. Seems to me like a rapid response and definitely not a "while" like you say. I hate when people have to lie and overexaggerate about the smallest things.

[tama]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

What do you mean by they ignored and denied the Dressed to Kill situation? According to Criterionforum posts, they found the problem on July 30 and then Criterion sent out emails saying that they would be reprinting it on August 4. Seems to me like a rapid response and definitely not a "while" like you say. I hate when people have to lie and overexaggerate about the smallest things.

I'm not a member of Criterionforum. However on this site going back to July 29th of that year when the DvdBeaver review came out there was a massive response from many members pointing out the issue emailing Criterion about the issue and notice of canceled pre-orders (myself included) because of such issue and the stock response from them was all framing and color timing issues were director approved. No doubt the large number amount of emails and pre order cancellation pressured them to finally investigate. Yes it took a while. I didn't say several weeks.

[Vinyl]

I’m super stoked that they upgraded The BRD Trilogy and Do The Right Thing.

Very good news about all new 4K digital restorations. But, it is odd there is only a “High-definition digital restoration of Veronika Voss, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack”. Is this the same restoration and Why did they not do more to that film when the other films in the box were new 4K digital restorations?

After this announcement I ordered Do The Right Thing from my local library. Haven’t watched in about a decade.

[yoloswegmaster420]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

I’m super stoked that they upgraded The BRD Trilogy and Do The Right Thing.

Very good news about all new 4K digital restorations. But, it is odd there is only a “High-definition digital restoration of Veronika Voss, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack”. Is this the same restoration and Why did they not do more to that film when the other films in the box were new 4K digital restorations?

After this announcement I ordered Do The Right Thing from my local library. Haven’t watched in about a decade.

You should email the RWF Foundation and ask them since they are the ones behind the restorations. I too find it odd but oh well, I just hope that it looks good.

[yoloswegmaster420]

Originally Posted by tama

I'm not a member of Criterionforum. However on this site going back to July 29th of that year when the DvdBeaver review came out there was a massive response from many members pointing out the issue emailing Criterion about the issue and notice of canceled pre-orders (myself included) because of such issue and the stock response from them was all framing and color timing issues were director approved. No doubt the large number amount of emails and pre order cancellation pressured them to finally investigate. Yes it took a while. I didn't say several weeks.

5-6 days is a while? Jeez you might be an impatient person. Also don't put words in my mouth. I never mentioned or implied anything about "several weeks".

[critterdvd]

Originally Posted by tatterdemalion

The best American dystopian novel I've read is Bernard Wolfe's Limbo. It's barely known but very well respected. It has a moment in it that has been burnt into my mind since the day I read it. J. G. Ballard (pronounced Buh-lard for those who don't know. 35+ years of reading SF will give you inane facts like this) says it was one of the novels that inspired him to start writing.

Thank you for the book recommendation. I'll be checking it out soon.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by tama

I'm not a member of Criterionforum. However on this site going back to July 29th of that year when the DvdBeaver review came out there was a massive response from many members pointing out the issue emailing Criterion about the issue and notice of canceled pre-orders (myself included) because of such issue and the stock response from them was all framing and color timing issues were director approved. No doubt the large number amount of emails and pre order cancellation pressured them to finally investigate. Yes it took a while. I didn't say several weeks.

From July 29th to August 4th is a super fast turnaround time. No doubt Criterion were mistaken, or didn't actually look much into the issue when they initially said it was director approved. They probably just assumed since De Palma supervise, and approved it, that that's how he intended it to be. But to announce a reissue a mere 5 days after the incident is brought up is still pretty fast for any studio/label in my opinion.

I think they were fairly forthcoming in their admission that they judged the issue too prematurely based on the director approved assumption

In our haste to respond to customer concerns about the anamorphic compression on our release of Dressed to Kill, we posted incorrectly that the change had been made at the behest of the director. Brian De Palma did ask for a change to the geometry of the scan, but it was to address the distortion he saw in the image, not to apply it. Unfortunately, that change was never carried over in the final product, and the resulting discs are wrong. Therefore, we are reauthoring discs without the squeeze and will make them available to all purchasers of our release of Dressed to Kill free of charge. Simply e-mail Jon Mulvaney (mulvaney@criterion.com) with your name, address, and some proof of purchase, such as a receipt, and we will send you a corrected copy. We regret the inconvenience, but we hope that in the end all of our customers will end up with a copy of Dressed to Kill that accurately reflects the film as well as the director’s intentions.

Issues happen, but I'd say Criterion handled this one pretty well

[hariseldon]

Never understood the complaints about the reaction to Dressed to Kill. The issue was caught pre-release (originally sch 8/18), within days they had reacted/investigated/pulled/corrected and re-printed the items before most of the early pressings were even delivered. Most people never even knew there was an issue other than the fact there was a 3 week delay.

I guess they could have reacted the first hour that an internet report came in, but if that happened there would never be a single disc ever released given the overwhelming number of incorrect "reports or issues"

[zeroforconduct]

What collections would you guys like to see, similar to the Bergman and Zatoichi and Olympics collections? For me it’s John Woo collection.

Also, are we in agreement that the Olympics collection was the dumbest idea, or is it just me? I’m curious

[Doctor Jack]

Originally Posted by zeroforconduct

Also, are we in agreement that the Olympics collection was the dumbest idea, or is it just me? I’m curious

It’s just you.