The Criterion Collection

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

You should see director William A Wellman's The Ox-bow Incident, it's Clint Eastwood's favorite film, and and oh my, it's pretty damn great....I think I have a new UO.

Wellman's adaptation of The Call of the Wild is awesome. I saw it years ago on one of the Turner channels. He also did uncredited reshoots, I believe, for the 1938 adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and I've always loved that adaptation.

I read the novel, The Ox-Bow Incident, when I was younger, but I've never seen the movie. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Joe Dalek]

Originally Posted by BTTF_

Does anyone know if the Cassavetes box set is going to be the only release of those films or if they will also be sold separately also? The criterion page says it is a box set and the release calendar on this site begs to differ. Anyone?

Originally Posted by octagon

The release calendar here just reflects a database oddity. Sometimes the contents of box sets will get individual entries, sometimes they won't.

For instance, the America Lost and Found set has never been broken up but A Safe Place and The Last Picture Show and the rest all have individual database entries.

Some of the confusion might also stem from the fact that the DVD set eventually gave way to standalone DVD releases for four of the five films. Might happen again on Blu-ray but probably not for awhile.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Wellman's adaptation of The Call of the Wild is awesome. I saw it years ago on one of the Turner channels. He also did uncredited reshoots, I believe, for the 1938 adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and I've always loved that adaptation.

I read the novel, The Ox-Bow Incident, when I was younger, but I've never seen the movie. Thanks for the heads-up.

While quite a few of his films are on DVD I hope more Wellman makes it to Blu-ray. Right now there are only five in the US and one more planned: WINGS, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, A STAR IS BORN (1937), NOTHING SACRED, and MAGIC TOWN. Those first four should be must-owns for any film buffs, and MAGIC TOWN is sort of an interesting misfire that sometimes works but should have been better. Fox has scheduled a Blu-ray release of THE CALL OF THE WILD for December. THE OXBOW INCIDENT and YELLOW SKY are on Blu-ray in Germany, so maybe they'll eventually get here. I'd really like to see THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY and BATTLEGROUND as well as WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD and especially the restoration of BEGGARS OF LIFE make it to Blu-ray. Kino's got a good documentary on his life and career, WILD BILL HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK, but unfortunately it's DVD only.

[tylergfoster]

Originally Posted by octagon

The release calendar here just reflects a database oddity. Sometimes the contents of box sets will get individual entries, sometimes they won't.

For instance, the America Lost and Found set has never been broken up but A Safe Place and The Last Picture Show and the rest all have individual database entries.

I would guess that the reason individual database entries exist is because Blu-Ray.com seems to have set a system where they have a review written for each title individually and just link to those individual entries from the box set as a "hub."

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by octagon

The release calendar here just reflects a database oddity. Sometimes the contents of box sets will get individual entries, sometimes they won't.

For instance, the America Lost and Found set has never been broken up but A Safe Place and The Last Picture Show and the rest all have individual database entries.

This isn't a correct observation.

The individual entries are for bundles, and are used by the system to offer our members recommendations and they search it. These entries also show when a film has an HD presentation in the Theatrical profiles. So you can have multiple searches of the entire Blu-ray.com system, not only Blu-ray.

So, if a box set is released, each film will get an individual profile. This is done only for feature-length films that get what would be described as an HD presentation.

Example:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/John-...Blu-ray/78374/

You see all the individual entries under the profile for the box set.

Same thing with the BBS box set:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ameri...Blu-ray/14981/

There are some foreign listings with incomplete individual bundle profiles, but either they have not been created or Amazon has had different info.

The same rule applies to double packs, etc.

Example:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-H...2441/#Overview

There are two entries for The Hot Spot and Killing Me Softly, because both have HD/Blu-ray presentations.

Pro-B

[Dustin Putman]

I watched The Earrings of Madame De... last night and think I fell in love at first sight. What a tremendous film this is. As my first Max Ophuls experience, it took all of three minutes for me to comment to myself on how absolutely stunning the camerawork and tracking shots were--very ahead of their time for 1953. Danielle Darrieux (who reminded me a bit of Hope Davis) led an outstanding cast, and the story used the misfortunes that come from the passing-down of earrings to tell a much larger and deeper story about desire, greed, love, regret, and the incalculable intricacies and vulnerability of human nature. A great Criterion title (and I, for one, saw nothing to complain about with the PQ, either).

[Mansinthe]

i wonder if there is a release avaible of "Carlos" that has english subs for the whole movie? (the english spoken parts too)

[georgec]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

i wonder if there is a release avaible of "Carlos" that has english subs for the whole movie? (the english spoken parts too)

I don't think so. It's such a bizarre omission/oversight to me.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

While quite a few of his films are on DVD I hope more Wellman makes it to Blu-ray. Right now there are only five in the US and one more planned: WINGS, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, A STAR IS BORN (1937), NOTHING SACRED, and MAGIC TOWN. Those first four should be must-owns for any film buffs, and MAGIC TOWN is sort of an interesting misfire that sometimes works but should have been better. Fox has scheduled a Blu-ray release of THE CALL OF THE WILD for December. THE OXBOW INCIDENT and YELLOW SKY are on Blu-ray in Germany, so maybe they'll eventually get here. I'd really like to see THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY and BATTLEGROUND as well as WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD and especially the restoration of BEGGARS OF LIFE make it to Blu-ray. Kino's got a good documentary on his life and career, WILD BILL HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK, but unfortunately it's DVD only.

Yeah, those first four are all pretty good (although my favorite of the Selznik box is Bird of Paradise). Beggars of Life has been on my rent list for a while, so I hope it hits BluRay soon so I won't have to resort to lower quality.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by georgec

I don't think so. It's such a bizarre omission/oversight to me.

so people that need the SDH are screwed here :P. or in my case i use eng subs on everything in case i have problems with the accent.
in a review they mentioned its acutally only about 20% of the movie thats spoken in english. probably might work for me in this case.

another movie for my "buy list"

[mrjohnnyb]

I was going over my blu-ray inventory and came to Steven Spielberg, and how it would be great to have one of his films in the Criterion Collection. I know that Duel has not received a blu-ray treatment yet. I think that it would make a great addition to the collection.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

I was going over my blu-ray inventory and came to Steven Spielberg, and how it would be great to have one of his films in the Criterion Collection. I know that Duel has not received a blu-ray treatment yet. I think that it would make a great addition to the collection.

I could see The Sugarland Express being released as a Criterion Collection title someday.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by BTTF_

Does anyone know if the Cassavetes box set is going to be the only release of those films or if they will also be sold separately also? The criterion page says it is a box set and the release calendar on this site begs to differ. Anyone?

They aren't likely to be available separately, at least not for the foreseeable future. Note that the pages here for the individual films say "no release date". When the Cassavettes set was originally released on DVD, only four of the five films (four out of six, if you want to count Kiselyak's documentary) were made available separately: Opening Night was only available in the set.

Thinking about it, for pretty much every multi-film boxed set Criterion has released on Blu-ray (Fanny and Alexander, America Lost and Found, Three Colors, David Lean Directs Noël Coward, Trilogy of Life, The Qatsi Trilogy) the films were not available separately. The one exception is the Yojimbo/Sanjuro boxed set.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Dustin Putman

I watched The Earrings of Madame De... last night and think I fell in love at first sight. What a tremendous film this is. As my first Max Ophuls experience, it took all of three minutes for me to comment to myself on how absolutely stunning the camerawork and tracking shots were--very ahead of their time for 1953. Danielle Darrieux (who reminded me a bit of Hope Davis) led an outstanding cast, and the story used the misfortunes that come from the passing-down of earrings to tell a much larger and deeper story about desire, greed, love, regret, and the incalculable intricacies and vulnerability of human nature. A great Criterion title (and I, for one, saw nothing to complain about with the PQ, either).

Different people have different sensitivities to issues of picture (or audio) quality. I'm not a "golden ears" or a "golden eyes", so there are things that may bug the crap out of folks like Robert Harris that I don't even notice (and sometimes I don't notice even when they're specifically pointed out). And there are some things that bug me that other people don't notice. So it goes.

Anyway, try Lola Montès. That was my first Ophuls, on Criterion LD.

On edit: It occurred to me that folks might think I'm using the terms "golden ears" and "golden eyes" perjoratively. That's not the case. While I'm certainly not above being snarky, I wasn't trying to be in this case. I'm actually envious of people who can notice subtleties that I can't.

[redrunner97]

I would love Baby Face (1933) with Barbara Stanwyck on blu-ray.
I think its Warner Bros.

And the great docs, Harlan County, U.S.A. and Grey Gardens should definitely get the blu upgrade from Criterion.

[jw007]

I watched Things to Come for the first time late last night and was silently blown away. The first half just seemed like any other movie but then once it went 100 years into the future, I was amazed at the set design, costumes, makeup/hair and props. It totally was futuristic for a 1936 film and though I should wrap this bit in spoilers, I loved that in those future sequences there was a clear plastic screen shaped in 16:9 aspect ratio! How on earth did they know back then we would be watching material on 1:78 screens?! Not only that there was more of a nature-oriented theme going on in that utopian future with plants and trees all over the futuristic city (that reminded me a bit of the 1970s film Logan's Run). I was quite amazed with this film. It truly is a visionary and ground-breaking movie. For those who own or have seen this film, please share your thoughts?

[redrunner97]

Originally Posted by jw007

I watched Things to Come for the first time late last night and was silently blown away.

[Show spoiler]The first half just seemed like any other movie but then once it went 100 years into the future, I was amazed at the set design, costumes, makeup/hair and props. It totally was futuristic for a 1936 film and though I should wrap this bit in spoilers, I loved that in those future sequences there was a clear plastic screen shaped in 16:9 aspect ratio! How on earth did they know back then we would be watching material on 1:78 screens?! Not only that there was more of a nature-oriented theme going on in that utopian future with plants and trees all over the futuristic city (that reminded me a bit of the 1970s film Logan's Run). I was quite amazed with this film. It truly is a visionary and ground-breaking movie. For those who own or have seen this film, please share your thoughts?

I don't have the criterion edition, but I have the Legend Films blu-ray paired with She and a dvd copy of The Most Dangerous Game.

I haven't watched it yet.

Anyone know if it looks better on the CC disc or legend?

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by jw007

For those who own or have seen this film, please share your thoughts?

H.G. Wells was probably like terrence malick a alien from the future. thats why he could know all this stuff.

i startet with the books of H.G. Wells a few years ago and was already amazed how he knows already about stuff liek Mini Discs before there was even tape.

awesome person !

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jw007

I watched Things to Come for the first time late last night and was silently blown away. The first half just seemed like any other movie but then once it went 100 years into the future, I was amazed at the set design, costumes, makeup/hair and props. It totally was futuristic for a 1936 film and though I should wrap this bit in spoilers, I loved that in those future sequences there was a clear plastic screen shaped in 16:9 aspect ratio! How on earth did they know back then we would be watching material on 1:78 screens?! Not only that there was more of a nature-oriented theme going on in that utopian future with plants and trees all over the futuristic city (that reminded me a bit of the 1970s film Logan's Run). I was quite amazed with this film. It truly is a visionary and ground-breaking movie. For those who own or have seen this film, please share your thoughts?

I've got a write-up of Things to Come in my Blu-ray Reviews link to the left under my avatar. I loved it for many of the same reasons that you did.

I was thinking about Things to Come when I watched Oblivion this week, because both films have an eye for practical details when it comes to the design and technology of the future. H.G. Wells had a fantastical vision for a future city that supplemented the environment instead of replacing it.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

I would love Baby Face (1933) with Barbara Stanwyck on blu-ray.
I think its Warner Bros.

And the great docs, Harlan County, U.S.A. and Grey Gardens should definitely get the blu upgrade from Criterion.

There's quite a few pre-codes out on dvd. Blu-ray; not so much. Baby Face is WB.