The Criterion Collection

[C.mcbraggins]

Image was planning to put out The Age of Innocence a few years ago when they had the Sony deal, but then that licence expired recently and Sony has licensed to Twilight Time. Its rumored that TT is waiting for the supposed 4k master as the Sony BD master is believed to based on an older 2k scan made for the DVD.

[llj]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Yeah, those damn "people" and their *****ing! How dare they demand a decent picture quality in exchange for their money!

I have The Passenger DVD, and the picture quality was decent enough. In fact I watched it again fairly recently and I was quite fine with it. Could it be improved? Sure. A 4K scan would do wonders for it. But I think the HD master they used for the DVD would still be accepted warmly by most fans today if it was used for the blu-ray.

[WrathOfHan]

I'm starting to think Detroit will be released by Criterion or Shout because Annapurna has said NOTHING regarding the Blu-Ray. The movie came out nearly two months ago, yet they already have Brad's Status, which came out two weeks ago, up for pre-order through Universal (unless Amazon had a say in who distributed it). I would love to see Criterion release the film as it would fit perfectly in the collection.

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by llj

I have The Passenger DVD, and the picture quality was decent enough. In fact I watched it again fairly recently and I was quite fine with it. Could it be improved? Sure. A 4K scan would do wonders for it. But I think the HD master they used for the DVD would still be accepted warmly by most fans today if it was used for the blu-ray.

Yes. I'd be enthused beyond words if the HD master used for the DVD was utilized for a BD release. As it stands, that DVD is nice enough that I won't be livid if a BD never surfaces. Disappointed, sure, but not gnashing-my-teeth angry or anything.

Not to upset anyone, but I truly believe that some folks should worry more about the movies they watch than whether something was struck from 4K or not. I love my Blu-Rays and all, but I still watch VHS on occasion (when a movie on that format was never released on a digital format). Funny, but I can still become immersed in a good movie when it's on VHS!

Could it be that people who wish all their older Blu-Rays would get 4K-sourced re-releases are doing so because the movies they watch are lousy? Too many superhero flicks and paranormal-themed contemporary horror films perhaps?

I know. "TLIDR". I know.

[tenia]

Let's say it this way : there are already plenty enough of good (or even better) movies that are released on BD through beautiful restorations to keep busy the utmost majority of people already. So if a movie like The Passenger was to be upgraded only a minima, I'm quite sure one should be able to find another good movie to watch and which has been restored.
Like Blow up. Or L'eclisse. Or actually most Antonionis.

Also, becasue these movies usually are with independant licensors, not all markets get them on BD (sometimes not even on DVD) so the missing markets will have to deal without them anyway !

But as a whole, there are plenty enough of wonderful releases of very good movies or masterpieces to miss out on some of them which sadly are stuck on dated masters. In the end, you just have so much free time anyway, you know.

[hoytereden]

I've been trying to track down and watch some plays that were made into films and it's been frustrating that some of these were prestige films with big names attached and yet haven't made it to DVD let alone Blu-ray.

Death of a Salesman (1951) Fredric March
The Glass Menagerie (1950) Kirk Douglas
Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) Robert Preston
The Iceman Cometh (1973) March again along with Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan

Out of these, the only one I've seen on disc was the last one which was released by Kino.

Are these in some kind of legal limbo or is it just that there's a very small market for these? I know they're not everyone's cup of tea-I was wondering myself if I was ready for a nearly 4 hour watch of Iceman but the performances were so compelling that I was hooked. I remember Criterion's box set of The Golden Age of Television teleplays that might make the possibility of one of these I listed get a release. It's a shame that in order to see Death of a Salesman I had to watch it on YouTube.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by tenia

Let's say it this way : there are already plenty enough of good (or even better) movies that are released on BD through beautiful restorations to keep busy the utmost majority of people already. So if a movie like The Passenger was to be upgraded only a minima, I'm quite sure one should be able to find another good movie to watch and which has been restored.
Like Blow up. Or L'eclisse. Or actually most Antonionis.

Also, becasue these movies usually are with independant licensors, not all markets get them on BD (sometimes not even on DVD) so the missing markets will have to deal without them anyway !

But as a whole, there are plenty enough of wonderful releases of very good movies or masterpieces to miss out on some of them which sadly are stuck on dated masters. In the end, you just have so much free time anyway, you know.

I still don't agree with this philosophy but to each their own (probably because it puts the technical quality as the paramount criterion I guess).

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Death of a Salesman (1951) Fredric March

This one is apparently owned by Sony, it sounds like the kind of thing I could imagine Twilight Time releasing.

Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) Robert Preston

This is owned by Warner; on the one hand they're good about catalog titles, on the other hand if they haven't released it yet, that's probably not a good sign for a Blu release. They are still sometimes releasing newly printed catalog titles to the DVD Archive.

[MeMynonsense]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I've been trying to track down and watch some plays that were made into films and it's been frustrating that some of these were prestige films with big names attached and yet haven't made it to DVD let alone Blu-ray.

Death of a Salesman (1951) Fredric March
The Glass Menagerie (1950) Kirk Douglas
Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) Robert Preston
The Iceman Cometh (1973) March again along with Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan

Out of these, the only one I've seen on disc was the last one which was released by Kino.

Are these in some kind of legal limbo or is it just that there's a very small market for these? I know they're not everyone's cup of tea-I was wondering myself if I was ready for a nearly 4 hour watch of Iceman but the performances were so compelling that I was hooked. I remember Criterion's box set of The Golden Age of Television teleplays that might make the possibility of one of these I listed get a release. It's a shame that in order to see Death of a Salesman I had to watch it on YouTube.

If you’re even mildly interested in Japanese theatre, you might also wanna checkout Masahiro Shinoda’s Double Suicide. It’s based on a classic Bunraku play, except the human actors stand in for the puppets. The theatricality is heightened with bold and stylised sets and truly breathtaking cinematography. The story isn’t terribly novel as one might expect from centuries old doomed romances but the film is gorgeously conceived. Don’t expect it to make it to BD anytime soon but the criterion DVD has thankfully not gone OOP.

[tenia]

Originally Posted by nitin

I still don't agree with this philosophy but to each their own (probably because it puts the technical quality as the paramount criterion I guess).

Let's say that it's not much different than being able to find enough stuff to watch by just following some labels and not buying much of anything else.

I'm quite sure I could fill my movie time with just Criterion, Arrow, MoC and a couple other labels for instance. Would I miss out on some other movies ? Sure. But again, you only have so much free time to begin with.

Take November 2017 : there will be 5 Arrow UK sets (Kore-eda, Godard / Gorin, Guitry, Film noir, Suzuki), the French 6xHou Hsiao-hsien set, 4xHitchcock, some Gaumonts, some Pathés, a few MoC already, some Criterions, and now the Keaton.

I won't even be able to watch all these straight away anyway. I probably can prioritise stuff a bit differently but even so, that's probably enough to keep me busy at least a whole month. So I doubt I'll feel like I'm missing on other good movies in the meantime.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I've been trying to track down and watch some plays that were made into films and it's been frustrating that some of these were prestige films with big names attached and yet haven't made it to DVD let alone Blu-ray.

Death of a Salesman (1951) Fredric March
The Glass Menagerie (1950) Kirk Douglas
Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) Robert Preston
The Iceman Cometh (1973) March again along with Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan

Kino has announced that they will be updating the 14 DVD American Film Theater set, including The Iceman Cometh. I don't think they've announced dates yet.

I'd also love to see The 1966 Death of a Salesman with Lee J. Cobb, as well as All the Way Home (1963) with Robert Preston and Jean Simmons.

[belcherman]

Oh, and while we're discussing plays that were made into films, I would really, really, really love to see A Raisin in the Sun come to blu.

[theater dreamer]

Hey everybody, I'm looking through my collection, and trying, with great difficulty, I might add, to compose my favorite film list. Mine changes, slightly, from time to time, but my top twenty list would look something like this:

1.) Casablanca
2.) Double Indemnity
3.) Star Wars
4.) The Shawshank Redemption
5.) Vertigo
6.) Mulholland Drive
7.) Lost in Translation
8.) The Godfather
9.) Trois couleurs: Bleu
10.) All About Eve
11.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
12.) The Grand Budapest Hotel
13.) Goodfellas
14.) The Seven Year Itch
15.) City Lights
16.) On The Waterfront
17.) Fargo
18.) Schindler's List
19.) White Heat
20.) The Natural

I don't recall seeing this, recently. So, let's see your favorite films, guys and gals. Obviously, this is not just limited to the Criterion Collection.

[Forneverland]

Okay, weird question. I ordered a copy of 'Dr Strangelove' from Amazon, Amazon Warehouse, to be exact. It was described as being factory sealed, and I've never had problems with ordering Criterions cheaper through them. I got it today and it was sealed with all the Criterion stickers, brand new... And then when I opened it not a single booklet was in it. It was wrapped and new, but I don't know if I should contact Amazon? Has this happened to anyone before? It did not appear to be resealed or repackaged, but I bought it because of the booklets as well.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Forneverland

Okay, weird question. I ordered a copy of 'Dr Strangelove' from Amazon, Amazon Warehouse, to be exact. It was described as being factory sealed, and I've never had problems with ordering Criterions cheaper through them. I got it today and it was sealed with all the Criterion stickers, brand new... And then when I opened it not a single booklet was in it.

Someone at Criterion forgot to put a booklet in it. You could either contact Amazon for a replacement or ask Criterion if they would send you a booklet.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by Forneverland

Okay, weird question. I ordered a copy of 'Dr Strangelove' from Amazon, Amazon Warehouse, to be exact. It was described as being factory sealed, and I've never had problems with ordering Criterions cheaper through them. I got it today and it was sealed with all the Criterion stickers, brand new... And then when I opened it not a single booklet was in it. It was wrapped and new, but I don't know if I should contact Amazon? Has this happened to anyone before? It did not appear to be resealed or repackaged, but I bought it because of the booklets as well.

If you ordered through Amazon Warehouse(which I never had), it should be fulfilled by Amazon, though I don't know if they will send another copy or just issue a refund to your card or issue a gift card balance to your account. I thought Amazon Warehouse items were used items that were returned to Amazon. That could be why it doesn't have a booklet since items from the Warehouse are generally used

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by Forneverland

Okay, weird question. I ordered a copy of 'Dr Strangelove' from Amazon, Amazon Warehouse, to be exact. It was described as being factory sealed, and I've never had problems with ordering Criterions cheaper through them. I got it today and it was sealed with all the Criterion stickers, brand new... And then when I opened it not a single booklet was in it. It was wrapped and new, but I don't know if I should contact Amazon? Has this happened to anyone before? It did not appear to be resealed or repackaged, but I bought it because of the booklets as well.

You can't trust the descriptions. There was an idiot on this forum once who was selling his used BDs and thought it was ok to describe them as "factory sealed" because he had them re-sealed at a factory he worked at. It was completely dishonest.

I forgot who it was. The jerk is probably still doing it.

[jbieste]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

If you ordered through Amazon Warehouse(which I never had), it should be fulfilled by Amazon, though I don't know if they will send another copy or just issue a refund to your card or issue a gift card balance to your account. I thought Amazon Warehouse items were used items that were returned to Amazon. That could be why it doesn't have a booklet since items from the Warehouse are generally used

Amazon Warehouse is normally treated like a 3rd party vendor so you have to ask very nicely and sometimes they'll issue a credit, reduce the price of regular Amazon item to match your credit. Not always, though.

Best bet is to contact Criterion.

[Forneverland]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

If you ordered through Amazon Warehouse(which I never had), it should be fulfilled by Amazon, though I don't know if they will send another copy or just issue a refund to your card or issue a gift card balance to your account. I thought Amazon Warehouse items were used items that were returned to Amazon. That could be why it doesn't have a booklet since items from the Warehouse are generally used

Typically many times they are used, but every so often there items that were returned before even being opened. I mean the packaging even had the blue criterion sticker on the outside still and all.

[Jobla]

Here are some films based on plays that I would like on Blu:

THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS
THE GLASS MENAGERIE (1987)
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (1957)
THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS
PORGY AND BESS (operetta if not a play)