The Criterion Collection

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

You are a bit new in your membership I see and I haven't posted much in recent time in this tread, I am known by the "old guard" of this tread as the Ozu nutcase

There is nothing wrong with being an Ozu nutcase

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by jayembee

The only Sturges stuck in Warner's "Archive dungeon" would possibly be The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, which is one of those Paramount titles that have fallen under Warner's distribution control.

I have to say that my mind is doing some weird twisting at the thought of Preston Sturges doing "The Matrix" with Gene Tierney (presumably in the role of Trinity). There is no spoon.

(grin) Perhaps I should clarify ... Sturges' screenplay The Matrix has never been produced, and his family refuses to release the work, even for publication. Sturges had started working on it, if I remember correctly, in 1933, when his script for The Power and the Glory (now regarded as a precursor to Citizen Kane) was made into a Fox film starring Spencer Tracy.

Darryl F. Zanuck purchased the work-in-progress in December 1946, right as The Razor's Edge, starring Miss Tierney and Tyrone Power, was starting to amass huge box office receipts. At the time, Tierney was one of Fox's hottest contract players: Leave Her to Heaven, released on Christmas Day, 1945, was Fox's highest grossing film of the 1940's and netted her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. Her subsequent film, Dragonwyck, had originally been scheduled for release in the fall of 1945 (and in fact had already been enthusiastically reviewed by the press), but had been held back at the last minute; after seeing the rough cut of Leave Her to Heaven, Zanuck had been convinced Tierney would not only receive a nomination, but would win the Oscar race. He wanted Dragonwyck to benefit from Tierney's expected Oscar win in March 1946. She lost, of course, but Dragonwyck was nevertheless a huge box office hit when it hit theatres as Fox's Easter attraction in 1946.

Somewhere I have notes regarding the subject matter of Sturges' The Matrix, but I can't lay my hands on them at the moment. I vaguely recall that the title referred not to anything scientific, but instead was a playful nod to the concept of motherhood and the womb.

And speaking of the Criterion Collection, where's The Lady Eve on blu-ray?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

Isn't Christmas in July also one of those Paramount titles under Warner's distribution control?

No. Only The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. The other seven of Sturges's Paramount titles are owned by Universal (and in fact, were included in Universal's Preston Sturges: The Filmmaker Collection DVD box set).

The reason why Paramount kept control of Morgan's Creek is explained by Blu-Velvet here.

[pro-bassoonist]

FINAL PRESS SHEET

SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS - Blu-ray

Tired of churning out lightweight comedies, Hollywood director John L. Sullivan (The Palm Beach Story’s Joel McCrea) decides to make O Brother, Where Art Thou?—a serious, socially responsible film about human suffering. After his producers point out that he knows nothing of hardship, Sullivan hits the road disguised as a hobo. En route to enlightenment, he meets a lovely but no-nonsense young woman (I Married a Witch’s Veronica Lake)—and more trouble than he ever dreamed of. This comic masterpiece by Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve) is among the finest Hollywood satires and a high-water mark in the career of one of the industry’s most revered funnymen.

1941 • 90 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.37:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary from 2001 by filmmakers Noah Baumbach, Kenneth Bowser, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean
• Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (1990), a 76-minute documentary made by Bowser for PBS’s American Masters series
• New video essay by film critic David Cairns, featuring filmmaker Bill Forsyth
• Interview from 2001 with Sandy Sturges, the director’s widow
• Interview with Sturges by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper from 1951
• Archival audio recordings of Sturges
• PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans

TITLE: SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2466BD
UPC: 7-15515-14371-4
ISBN: 978-1-60465-974-0
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 4/14/15


ODD MAN OUT- Blu-ray

Taking place largely over the course of one tense night, Carol Reed’s psychological noir, set in an unnamed Belfast, stars James Mason (Lolita) as a revolutionary ex-con leading a robbery that goes horribly wrong. Injured and hunted by the police, he seeks refuge throughout the city, while the woman he loves (Kathleen Ryan) searches for him among the shadows. Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker (who would collaborate again on The Fallen Idol and The Third Man) create images of stunning depth for this intense, spiritual depiction of a man’s ultimate confrontation with himself.

1947 • 116 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.37:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Postwar Poetry, a new short documentary about the film
• New interview with British cinema scholar John Hill
• New interview with music scholar Jeff Smith about composer William Alwyn and his score
• Home, James, a 1972 documentary featuring actor James Mason revisiting his hometown
• Radio adaptation of the film from 1952, starring Mason and Dan O’Herlihy
• PLUS: An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith

TITLE: ODD MAN OUT (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2468BD
UPC: 7-15515-14391-2
ISBN: 978-1-60465-976-4
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 4/14/15



THE RIVER - Blu-ray

This entrancing first color feature from Jean Renoir (The Rules of the Game)—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding of and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and steadfast creation.

1951 • 99 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.33:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• High-definition digital transfer from the 2004 Film Foundation restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Archival introduction to the film by director Jean Renoir
• Around the River, a 60-minute 2008 documentary by Arnaud Mandagaran about the making of the film
• Interview from 2004 with Martin Scorsese
• Audio interview from 2000 with producer Ken McEldowney
• New visual essay by film writer Paul Ryan, featuring rare behind-the-scenes stills
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ian Christie and original production notes by Renoir

TITLE: THE RIVER (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2470BD
UPC: 7-15515-14411-7
ISBN: 978-1-60465-978-8
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 4/21/15


THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE - Blu-ray

In one of the best performances of his legendary career, Robert Mitchum (The Night of the Hunter) plays small-time gunrunner Eddie “Fingers” Coyle in an adaptation by Peter Yates (Breaking Away) of George V. Higgins’s acclaimed novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle. World-weary and living hand to mouth, Coyle works on the sidelines of the seedy Boston underworld just to make ends meet. But when he finds himself facing a second stretch of hard time, he’s forced to weigh loyalty to his criminal colleagues against snitching to stay free. Directed with a sharp eye for its gritty locales and an open heart for its less-than-heroic characters, this is one of the true treasures of 1970s Hollywood filmmaking—a suspenseful crime drama in stark, unforgiving daylight.

1973 • 102 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Peter Yates, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary from 2009 featuring Yates
• Stills gallery
• PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones and a 1973 on-set profile of actor Robert Mitchum from Rolling Stone

TITLE: THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2476BD
UPC: 7-15515-14471-1
ISBN: 978-1-60465-984-9
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 4/28/15

LE SILENCE DE LA MER - Blu-ray

Jean-Pierre Melville began his superb filmmaking career with this powerful adaptation of an influential underground novel written during the Nazi occupation of France. An idealistic, naive German officer is assigned to the home of a middle-aged man and his grown niece; their response to his presence—their only form of resistance—is complete silence. Constructed with elegant minimalism and shot, by the legendary Henri Decaë (The 400 Blows), with hushed eloquence, Le silence de la mer is a fascinating tale of moral ambiguity that points the way toward Melville’s later films about resistance and the occupation (Léon Morin, Priest; Army of Shadows) yet remains a singularly eerie masterwork in its own right.

1949 • 99 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In French with English subtitles • 1.33:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown (1946), Melville's seventeen-minute first film
• New interview with film scholar Ginette Vincendeau
• Interview with Melville from 1959
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien

TITLE: LE SILENCE DE LA MER (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2478BD
UPC: 7-15515-14491-9
ISBN: 978-1-60465-986-3
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 4/28/15


ECLIPSE 42: SILENT OZU—THREE CRIME DRAMAS DVD Edition

The great Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu (Late Spring) is best known for the stately, meditative domestic dramas he made after World War II. But during his first decade at Shochiku studios, where he dabbled in many genres, he put out a trio of precisely rendered, magnificently shot and edited silent crime films about the hopes, dreams, and loves of small-time crooks. Heavily influenced in narrative and visual style by the American films that Ozu adored, these movies are revelatory early examples of his cinematic genius, accompanied here by new piano scores by Neil Brand.

3-DVD BOX SET INCLUDES:

WALK CHEERFULLY

In Yasujiro Ozu’s Walk Cheerfully, which gracefully combines elements of the relationship drama and the gangster story, small-time hood Kenji, a.k.a. Ken the Knife, wants to go straight for good girl Yasue but finds that starting over isn’t as simple as it sounds. This was the Japanese master’s first true homage to American crime movies, and it is a fleetly told, expressively shot work of humor and emotional depth.

1930 · 96 minutes · Black & White · Silent · Japanese intertitles with English subtitles · 1.33:1 aspect ratio

THAT NIGHT’S WIFE

In noirish darkness, a man commits a shocking robbery. But, as we soon learn, this seeming criminal mastermind is actually a sensitive everyman driven to commit desperate deeds for the sake of his family. Unfolding over the course of one night, Yasujiro Ozu’s That Night’s Wife combines suspense with the emotional domestic drama one associates with the filmmaker’s later masterpieces and employs beautifully evocative camera work.

1930 · 66 minutes · Black & White · Silent · Japanese intertitles with English subtitles · 1.33:1 aspect ratio

DRAGNET GIRL

This formally accomplished and psychologically complex gangster tale pivots on the growing attraction between Joji, a hardened career criminal, and Kazuko, the sweet-natured older sister of a newly initiated young hoodlum—a relationship that provokes the jealousy of Joji’s otherwise patient moll, Tokiko (The Life of Oharu’s Kinuyo Tanaka). With effortlessly cool performances and visual inventiveness, Dragnet Girl is a bravura work from Yasujiro Ozu.

1933 · 100 minutes · Black & White · Silent · Japanese intertitles with English subtitles · 1.33:1 aspect ratio

TITLE: ECLIPSE 42: SILENT OZU—THREE CRIME DRAMAS
CAT. NO: ECL192DVD
UPC: 7-15515-14511-4
ISBN: 978-1-60465-988-7
SRP: $44.95
STREET: 4/21/15

Attention Canada: ODD MAN OUT, ECLIPSE 42: SILENT OZU—THREE CRIME DRAMAS and LE SILENCE DE LA MER are available in English-Speaking Canada only. SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, THE RIVER and THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE are available in all Canada.

Pro-B

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by jw007

Hey, Polaroid, finally nice to see you back here again by the way. Hope to see more of your infectious energy here soon... there was something missing while you were away. I like your covert art mockups too. Kudos for you putting effort into making those.

Originally Posted by blu-bry

I had to stop lurking and actually post just to say "Welcome back!"

Lol thanks :P

Originally Posted by Meek12345

Also, welcome back Polaroid! I remember you posting about starting a new job before Christmas, so I figured you weren't posting because you were busy with the new job. However, I was still worried about you. I'm glad that you are back.

Yeah well the job does take up a lot of my time, some of my shifts are like 12 hours and only breaks I can get is when the resident eat lol bit intense but I love it

The more hours th better though, mean I can treat myself more haha! I have so many Criterion to catch up on!

Just happy I finally have the book and LY@M on Bluray finally!

[mrjohnnyb]

It just dawned on me that The River is the first release this year based on the New Year's Day clue.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

It just dawned on me that The River is the first release this year based on the New Year's Day clue.

D'oh. Yes, that would be "the river".
Now we just sit and wait for them to get the New World ship out of their system.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I've noticed that Criterion's special features are, in general, not as plentiful as they once were. I'm not necessarily complaining. Quantity doesn't automatically equal quality after all.

My reason for bringing this up is that some titles have only one or two relatively short interviews for extra's (The Vanishing), while others like Sword of Doom and the upcoming The Friends of Eddie Coyle basically only have an audio commentary for extra's.

What with them also switching from booklet's to leaflets as well, some titles are lacking enough in the supplements to warrant being $29.99 ($14.99 on sale) titles, but aren't.

All of this is pointing to Criterion falling on hard times, financially speaking. If they weren't, surely some of these titles with not much to speak of would be one of their budget releases.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm really not complaining. In fact I love audio commentaries in particular and I can recognise that even though they're "only" one extra, they amount to a wealth of information shared over the length of the feature film. This is all just something I've found interesting.

They're really minimising their packages and there hasn't been a great deal of effort put into cover art lately. All the more reason to support them though if they haven't been able to afford such lavish packages like once upon a time.

Just out or curiosity, does anyone agree that there are some titles that could've been one of those lower priced BD's? And if so, which do you think?

[captveg]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

Isn't Christmas in July also one of those Paramount titles under Warner's distribution control?

No, it is with Universal. Universal owns nearly all the sound era films Paramount made in from 1929-1949. Miracle stayed at Paramount because, like the silent films, there was no way the purchaser could show it on TV in the 50s.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I've noticed that

[Show spoiler]Criterion's special features are, in general, not as plentiful as they once were. I'm not necessarily complaining. Quantity doesn't automatically equal quality after all.

My reason for bringing this up is that some titles have only one or two relatively short interviews for extra's (The Vanishing), while others like Sword of Doom and the upcoming The Friends of Eddie Coyle basically only have an audio commentary for extra's.

What with them also switching from booklet's to leaflets as well, some titles are lacking enough in the supplements to warrant being $29.99 ($14.99 on sale) titles, but aren't.

All of this is pointing to Criterion falling on hard times, financially speaking. If they weren't, surely some of these titles with not much to speak of would be one of their budget releases.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm really not complaining. In fact I love audio commentaries in particular and I can recognise that even though they're "only" one extra, they amount to a wealth of information shared over the length of the feature film. This is all just something I've found interesting.

They're really minimising their packages and there hasn't been a great deal of effort put into cover art lately. All the more reason to support them though if they haven't been able to afford such lavish packages like once upon a time.

Just out or curiosity, does anyone agree that there are some titles that could've been one of those lower priced BD's? And if so, which do you think?

Hopefully this isn't the case. But over the last year or so I've also noticed some strategic marketing moves from Criterion to survive in the home video market. Obviously the Dual-format experiment was a failure and they prob. took a hit from that. The recent "bronzing" fiasco of blu-rays produced in 2010 and recall of defective discs prob. didn't help them either. The cutback on booklets inside new releases and less use of paper is prob. another sign they're trying to save money. However, in the example you stated of "The Vanishing", Criterion was able to get director George Sluizer interviewed just months before he died, so that was a major win. Overall, I see a slight downward trend, but I'd say its extremely minimal right now.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I've noticed that Criterion's special features are, in general, not as plentiful as they once were. I'm not necessarily complaining. Quantity doesn't automatically equal quality after all.

My reason for bringing this up is that some titles have only one or two relatively short interviews for extra's (The Vanishing), while others like Sword of Doom and the upcoming The Friends of Eddie Coyle basically only have an audio commentary for extra's.

I don't think this is anything new. Some titles have plenty of extras, some don't. This is even the case with the April announcement, with Sullivan's Travels and Odd Man Out being released in solid editions (and that's ignoring the upgrade of The River).

That both Sword Of Doom and Eddie Coyle are upgrades would suggest that the lack of extra material isn't reflective of Criterion's current financial state either, given that they were released in that state originally.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by jw007

Overall, I see a slight downward trend, but I'd say its extremely minimal right now.

Maybe I've been lucky, but the titles that I've bought in the last 12 months can stand happily next to any other era of Criterion's work. Sets like the Tati and Demy ones are bursting with supplements, while individual releases like L'Avventura, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World, Judex, It Happened One Night, Persona and Safe, amongst others, are as good as anything they've done before. The only thing that irks (and then only slightly) is the reversion back to pamphlets from booklets.

[Hard Times Chaney]

When the heck will we get Red Sun?

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

Maybe I've been lucky, but the titles that I've bought in the last 12 months can stand happily next to any other era of Criterion's work. Sets like the Tati and Demy ones are bursting with supplements, while individual releases like L'Avventura, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World, Judex, It Happened One Night, Persona and Safe, amongst others, are as good as anything they've done before. The only thing that irks (and then only slightly) is the reversion back to pamphlets from booklets.

I hated the dual format switch and the packagaing that came with it, and now I really dislike the return of leaflets. They feel cheap, they're hard to read and usually come damaged in some way. I still continue to support them just the same but that's my 2 cents. I think they should stick with plastic case and booklet for most all releases.

[bwdowiak]

I think, like Adam said, it has more to do with the fact that a title like Eddie Coyle didn't have much on its original DVD release. I just bought the DVD not too long ago and won't be upgrading. The PQ is pretty strong and there is no sense in upgrading for a commentary track that I won't listen to.

I don't know how it works exactly, but some time between the 2009 release and the Blu-ray release, CC either paid to include an existing commentary or arranged for Yates to record a new one. That is not evidence of a struggling company.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Hard Times Chaney

When the heck will we get Red Sun?

I saw the links in your signature..... How about A Patch of Blue for the Criterion Collection? (or anyone really!) Every time I see Sidney Pottier on TCM, he is just mesmerizing. I thought the few minutes of APoB that I saw were great... haven't seen the whole thing. Would love to have it on blu!

[Scottie]

TCM will be having a Buñuel-athon beginning at 8 P.M. EST on January 26. Films included:

Belle de Jour
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise
Diary of a Chambermaid
Viridiana
The Exterminating Angel

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

TCM will be having a Buñuel-athon beginning at 8 P.M. EST on January 26. Films included:

Belle de Jour
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise
Diary of a Chambermaid
Viridiana
The Exterminating Angel

Really wish I had TCM

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Really wish I had TCM

I do, too. Although, being cable-free saves me a lot of money each month!

[Page14]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Really wish I had TCM

TCM is the main reason I'm hanging on to cable. Sports are too, to a lesser degree, as I get the local teams on the local stations anyway ... so I don't absolutely need cable for that.