The Criterion Collection

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by CRASHLANDING

These are some of the best explanations I've seen for this ongoing "problem," so thanks for sharing them. I can appreciate the perspective of the restorationists that don't feel obligated to conform to the more modern look, but I'm still not sure if their approach is any better. Regardless, we're at the mercy of the decisions by those who are spending the time & resources to restore the films and I'm still grateful for all the improvements they bring. In the future, at least I'll have a more open mind about these color disagreements, knowing there are valid perspectives on both sides of the question.

I don't think that's what it is. There are film prints of lots of old movies that are either cyaned to hell or piss yellow, and they're called rejects. The labs and the studios would either discard them (and sometimes they wind up in private hands) or send them to lesser markets if they were in a jam for prints. Go watch the restoration doc on Gone With The Wind. There were several prints that were piss yellow the second they left the lab. Rather than junk them, they sent them to lesser markets because they were absolutely slammed with requests for prints.

When you get an awful print that's piss yellow, you need to take it as just that - an awful print - and find a better reference. That quote from the interview was all over the place, and frankly it read less like a technical explanation of film restoration and more like "this one's on you, b*tches."

I still say that the best work I've ever seen come out of Ritrovata is Orson Welles' black and white film The Trial, and part of the reason that restoration turned out so well is because they only had two colors to mess with, and fortunately cyan and yellow weren't those two colors.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

Some years ago I saw a screening of the short film Chinese Fire Drill (Will Hindle, 1968) at the Filmmaker's Co-op in New York. Unfortunately, the print had faded and almost everything was red (known issue with the type of film stock used).

If Immagine Ritrovata were asked to restore this experimental film, would they look to this faded red print and make the restoration look like that? I mean, if you want your 50 year old movies to look like they were screened from 50 year old prints I'm sure it's a fine approach.

I personally would prefer that it look like it did back in the day or as the film maker intended, not as an old (faded) print.

^this.

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by SanCarolina59

Posting this here, as in all likelihood Criterion would be the ones to release these, if they did get released, but Park Circus has just listed several brand new 4K DCPs of Fox/Disney titles on there:

3 Bad Men (John Ford, 1926)
The Sea Wolf (Alfred Santell, 1930)
Cavalcade (Frank Lloyd, 1933) (from this MoMA listing, it appears it's a new restoration between the Film Foundation, MoMA, and Disney)
Pleasure Cruise (Frank Tuttle, 1933)
The Warrior's Husband (Walter Lang, 1933)
Bright Eyes (David Butler, 1934)
Asegure a Su Mujer (Lewis Seiler, 1935)
Danger, Love At Work (Otto Preminger, 1937)

They've also listed the new 4K restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound on there as well, which I believe was mentioned earlier on this thread.

There's enough newer masters of late-20s/early 30s Fox titles that something similar to Forbidden Hollywood.

For that matter, one great idea for a big box would be an updated Blu iteration of Ford at Fox.

[Warm Gun]

You know, if Criterion didn't do their biyearly sales and instead kept them at the discounted prices when most people buy them anyway, I probably wouldn't buy as many titles in a year. It's a ploy. Might just abstain this time.

[MifuneFan]

There's now a dedicated page for the Jean Eustache movies highlighted at Janus. It's titled "THE DIRTY STORIES OF JEAN EUSTACHE" and lists 12 films.

https://www.janusfilms.com/film-sets/13

[Taylor3978]

For anyone in Northern NJ looking for a physical B&N store with a Criterion section, the B&N in Livingston Mall has an excellent movie selection.

Also a treat to talk classic movies with knowledgable staff. If they were Amazon employees, they'd only have time to throw things into boxes.

B&N Rewards members (free to sign up) normally get 5% credit, but they have a promotion doubling it over the holiday weekend. So I'm not done yet.

[NeoNical]

Any recommendations on where to start with Jean Eustache?

[Darth Marcus]

Originally Posted by Darth Marcus

Hoo boy today is an expensive day. Ordered these from B&N:

[Show spoiler]

Just received $10 in rewards from B&N, so I went back and pre-ordered this:



And with that and my previous purchase, I'm officially done with this sale and caught up on the Criterion 4Ks I needed.

[dvining]

Well, I didn't think I was going to partake at all, but I sold some old DVDs for enough cash for one, and I convinced my boss to cover the costs on another because I don't live in the area of the team and there was a team outing I couldn't attend.

So, I came up with:


One of the only Gilliam's I don't own, and the last I'm willing to purchase (I will not be spending hard-earned money on Tideland, no).

and


More Capra is good Capra.

[ilenewoodsfan99]

Been debating whether or not to join this sale this year. Bought a number of movies already this month.

[Ray Jackson]

Does anyone know if Criterion still owns the rights to any John Woo films?

Seems like the time is ripe for a new release of The Killer or Hard Boiled.

…a JW Hong Kong boxset would be glorious.

[randian]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Does anyone know if Criterion still owns the rights to any John Woo films?

Seems like the time is ripe for a new release of The Killer or Hard Boiled.

Do those even have good masters? Hong Kong production companies like Golden Harvest and Golden Princess are notorious for poorly preserving their film elements.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by randian

Do those even have good masters? Hong Kong production companies like Golden Harvest and Golden Princess are notorious for poorly preserving their film elements.

Honestly at this point I don’t even care.

The prices for the existing release are ridiculous on the secondary market.

I just want something affordable.

[Jobla]

Ordered:

CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER
AFTER HOURS

[sandman slim]

Originally Posted by EliBurn

Honestly, I don't know why people focus on Amazon's packaging when it's just as bad from BB, Target, B&N, etc. Seems like all the major retailers are using crap packaging now to keep costs down for them.

I went kinda cray cray with the sale. Got 14 titles in today, and you'd never know by looking at the packaging that they were all from Amazon. I got paper bags, thin plastic bags, bubble mailers, small boxes bulging at the seams, a large box with only three movies in it, stuffed full of bubble pods... They really are completely schizophrenic with the packaging lately.

[Professor Echo]

It's always fun to see everyone's pickups!

I was up for BLOW OUT and MILDRED PIERCE, but after a lot of deliberation with myself I decided to sit out the sale for now. I've been feeling very conflicted lately with spending so much money on just a single film when I can apply the cost toward a box set of four or more films and come out ahead. This brings up the age old question of how often am I going to watch that single film to justify the cost? I already have shelves of unwatched Criterion titles that I'm in the process of spinning. Plus I find myself watching less and less of Criterion extras as so many just seem to be talking heads and I much prefer visual essays and commentaries.

Oh well, as I said it's still enjoyable to follow the sale and see all the great titles that are selling. I hope a lot of the posters will follow up with some mini-reviews once they've had a chance to watch their hauls.

[nekromantik]

any way for UK folk to get these at sale prices?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by nekromantik

any way for UK folk to get these at sale prices?

A couple of the pre-orders like After Hours, One False Move, and Breathless 4K appear to be shipping to the UK. For the others on Amazon, or ordering from B&N, you'd likely have to use a mail forwarding service like Stackry.

[tatterdemalion]

My normal one purchase in the B&N July sale; I may have gone for more but I had pre-ordered Will Penny and Laurel and Hardy Year One from Amazon so my monthly spending expenses were already used; was suggested to me earlier this year by ravenus (Thank you!):



I know my Satyajit Ray fix won't be satisfied until I complete the films available from Criterion.

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by tatterdemalion

My normal one purchase in the B&N July sale; I may have gone for more but I had pre-ordered Will Penny and Laurel and Hardy Year One from Amazon so my monthly spending expenses were already used; was suggested to me earlier this year by ravenus (Thank you!):



I know my Satyajit Ray fix won't be satisfied until I complete the films available from Criterion.

Great film. Apparently one of Jack Nicholson’s favorites. I really liked Charulata too.