The Criterion Collection

[CriterionBlues]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

Graduate looks loaded:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Optional 5.1 surround remix, approved by director Mike Nichols, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2007 featuring Nichols in conversation with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh
- Audio commentary from 1987 featuring film scholar Howard Suber
- New interview with actor Dustin Hoffman
- New conversation between producer Lawrence Turman and actor-screenwriter Buck Henry
- New interview with film writer and historian Bobbie O’Steen about editor Sam O’Steen’s work on The Graduate
- Students of “The Graduate,” a short documentary from 2007 on the film’s influence
- “The Graduate” at 25, a 1992 featurette on the making of the film
- Interview with Nichols by Barbara Walters, from a 1966 episode of NBC’s Today show
- Excerpt from a 1970 appearance by singer-songwriter Paul Simon on The Dick Cavett Show
- Screen tests
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by journalist and critic Frank Rich

You read my mind! This is why I don't complain when Criterion releases a title already out on Blu-Ray. They always manage to do it justice.

Love this month!

[Namuhana]

I'm definitely in for The Kid, and I'm interested in Death by Hanging and the The Emigrants/The New Land set. I believe I've only ever seen The Graduate once, and didn't find it to be overly fantastic. Perhaps I'll grab a copy from my local library to see if it's something I want to own; the disc does look pretty impressive, though.

[popcorntreect]

I bought just five 2015 releases. I'll probably surpass that number in just the January/February releases.

2016 is looking pretty damn good.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by StLouisRibs

Apparently they've just totally given up on upgrading titles I guess

Yeah, that's 2 months in a row now without an upgrade. Great month though.

[belcherman]

Slightly disappointed that The Kid does not contain two full cuts of the film. The 4K restoration is from Chaplin's 1972 edit which removed about 15 minutes, almost a quarter of the film. The deleted scenes are included as extras, but I wish that they had managed to reassemble the 1921 original, giving us two complete versions as they did with The Gold Rush. It would have been nice to see the deleted scenes in context.

Oh, well.

[jedidarrick]

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

The Emigrants, The Kid, Death By Hanging, The Graduate - all in one month. With Lady Snowblood and American Friend in January.

2016 is starting off as an expensive year.

Don't forget Inside Llewyn Davis!

[Illy Scorsese]

Awesome to finally get "The Kid", and of course "The Graduate" is an instant buy.

[Booze Movies]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Slightly disappointed that The Kid does not contain two full cuts of the film. The 4K restoration is from Chaplin's 1972 edit which removed about 15 minutes, almost a quarter of the film. The deleted scenes are included as extras, but I wish that they had managed to reassemble the 1921 original, giving us two complete versions as they did with The Gold Rush. It would have been nice to see the deleted scenes in context.

Oh, well.

I don't blame Criterion for the lack of the 1921 version on the release. I'm sure the Chaplin family refused to let them include it. They have been adamant about only offering Chaplin's 1970's cuts on video. THE GOLD RUSH has been the only exception.

Still, the lack of the original release version will probably keep me from purchasing the Criterion disc. I'll stick with the Image DVD.

[stlcards]

The Graduate gets spine #800.

[Polaroid]

I am so intrigued by The Emigrants/The New Land - looks really awesome!

[alien2010]

Will get The Kid when it gets cheap on ebay. I've already pre-ordered The American Friend for January so...

[pro-bassoonist]

NEWS
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=17972

The Criterion Collection has announced that it will add six new titles to its Blu-ray catalog in February: Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967), Antonio Pietrangeli's I Knew Her Well (1965), Nagisa Oshima's Death By Hanging (1968), Charlie Chaplin's The Kid (1921), and Jan Troell's The Emigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972).

The Graduate

One of the most beloved American films of all time, The Graduate earned Mike Nichols a best director Oscar, brought the music of Simon & Garfunkel to a wider audience, and introduced the world to a young actor named Dustin Hoffman. Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) has just finished college and is already lost in a sea of confusion and barely contained angst when he becomes sexually involved with the middle-aged mother (Anne Bancroft) of the young woman he's dating (Katharine Ross). Visually imaginative and impeccably acted, with a clever, endlessly quotable script by Buck Henry (based on the novel by Charles Webb), The Graduate had the kind of cultural impact that comes along only once in a generation.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Optional 5.1 surround remix, approved by director Mike Nichols, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2007 featuring Nichols in conversation with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh
Audio commentary from 1987 featuring film scholar Howard Suber
New interview with actor Dustin Hoffman
New conversation between producer Lawrence Turman and actor-screenwriter Buck Henry
New interview with film writer and historian Bobbie O'Steen about editor Sam O'Steen's work on The Graduate
Students of "The Graduate," a short documentary from 2007 on the film's influence
"The Graduate" at 25, a 1992 featurette on the making of the film
Interview with Nichols by Barbara Walters, from a 1966 episode of NBC's Today show
Excerpt from a 1970 appearance by singer-songwriter Paul Simon on The Dick Cavett Show
Screen tests
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by journalist and critic Frank Rich

STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 23.

I Knew Her Well

This prismatic portrait of the days and nights of a party girl in sixties Rome is a revelation. On the surface, I Knew Her Well, directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, plays like an inversion of La dolce vita with a woman at its center, following the gorgeous, seemingly liberated Adriana (Divorce Italian Style's Stefania Sandrelli) as she dallies with a wide variety of men, attends parties, goes to modeling gigs, and circulates among the rich and famous. Despite its often light tone, though, the film is a stealth portrait of a suffocating culture that regularly dehumanizes people, especially women. A seriocomic character study that never strays from its complicated central figure while keeping us at an emotional remove, I Knew Her Well is one of the most overlooked films of the sixties, by turns hilarious, tragic, and altogether jaw-dropping.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with actor Stefania Sandrelli
New interview with film scholar Luca Barattoni about the career of director Antonio Pietrangeli
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by journalist and author Alexander Stille

STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 23.

Death by Hanging

Genius provocateur Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses), an influential figure in the Japanese New Wave of the 1960s, made one of his most startling political statements with the compelling pitch-black satire Death by Hanging. In this macabre farce, a Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next. At once disturbing and oddly amusing, Oshima's constantly surprising film is a subversive and surreal indictment of both capital punishment and the treatment of Korean immigrants in his country.

Special Features:

New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with critic Tony Rayns
New high-definition digital transfer of director Nagisa Oshima's 1965 experimental short documentary Diary of Yunbogi
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Howard Hampton

STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 16.

The Kid

Charlie Chaplin was already an international star when he decided to break out of the short-film format and make his first full-length feature. The Kid doesn't merely show Chaplin at a turning point, when he proved that he was a serious film director—it remains an expressive masterwork of silent cinema. In it, he stars as his lovable Tramp character, this time raising an orphan (a remarkable young Jackie Coogan) he has rescued from the streets. Chaplin and Coogan make a miraculous pair in this nimble marriage of sentiment and slapstick, a film that is, as its opening title card states, "a picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear."

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin's 1972 rerelease version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New audio commentary featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland
Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star, a new video essay by Chaplin historian Lisa Haven
A Study in Undercranking, a new piece featuring silent-film specialist Ben Model
Interviews with Coogan and actor Lita Grey Chaplin
Excerpted audio interviews with cinematographer Rollie Totheroh and film distributor Mo Rothman
Deleted scenes and titles from the original 1921 version of The Kid
"Charlie" on the Ocean, a 1921 newsreel documenting Chaplin's first return trip to Europe
Footage of Chaplin conducting his score for The Kid
Nice and Friendly, a 1922 silent short featuring Chaplin and Coogan, presented with a new score by composer Timothy Brock
Trailers
PLUS: An essay by film historian Tom Gunning

STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 16.

The Emigrants/The New Land

This monumental mid-nineteenth-century epic from Jan Troell (Here Is Your Life) charts, over the course of two films, a poor Swedish farming family's voyage to America and their efforts to put down roots in this beautiful but forbidding new world. Movie legends Max Von Sydow (The Seventh Seal) and Liv Ullmann (Persona) give remarkably authentic performances as Karl-Oskar and Kristina, a couple who meet with one physical and emotional trial after another on their arduous journey. The precise, minute detail with which Troell depicts the couple's story—which is also the story of countless other people who sought better lives across the Atlantic—is a wonder to behold. Engrossing every step of the way, the duo of The Emigrants and The New Land makes for perhaps the greatest screen drama about the settling of America.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restorations of both films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
New introduction by critic and Swedish-film expert John Simon
New conversation between film scholar Peter Cowie and director Jan Troell
New interview with actor Liv Ullmann
To Paint with Pictures, a 2005 documentary on the making of the films, featuring archival footage as well as interviews with Troell, Ullmann, producer and coscreenwriter Bengt Forslund, and actor Eddie Axberg
Trailers
New English subtitle translations
PLUS: An essay by critic Terrence Rafferty

STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 9.

Pro-B

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

I am so intrigued by The Emigrants/The New Land - looks really awesome!

Death by Hanging looks really interesting too but for me The Emigrants/The New Land is the highlight of this month's announcements. My only exposure to Jan Troell is Everlasting Moments but I was really floored by it.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by octagon

Death by Hanging looks really interesting too but for me The Emigrants/The New Land is the highlight of this month's announcements. My only exposure to Jan Troell is Everlasting Moments but I was really floored by it.

I thought "Here is Your Life" was fantastic, another Troell film. Really looking forward to "The Emigrants/The New Land".

[Polaroid]

non Criterion related rant...

After its acquisition of the library of Exclusive Media Group, AMBI Pictures a production company run by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi won the remake rights for the 400-title library that contains Memento , Donnie Darko and also other titles like Rush and Sliding Doors.

“Memento is a masterpiece that leaves audiences guessing not just throughout the film, but long after as well, which is a testament to its daring approach. We intend to stay true to Christopher Nolan’s vision and deliver a memorable movie that is every bit as edgy, iconic and award-worthy as the original. It’s a big responsibility to deliver something that lives up to the mastery of the original, but we are extremely excited and motivated to bring this puzzle back to life and back into the minds of moviegoers.”

Why !!? Why do companies feel the need to remake and butcher great films..? Why not be creative and create new and exciting cinema. Especially with that statement, they clearly know it doesn't need a remake os why bother with all that wasted time and money. STUPID.

It's so depressing to think all these awesome film Criterion are releasing may be obsolete in future and people will be getting excited about a special edition of the Oldboy, Tale of Two Sisters and Memento remake.

My god...

Its so sad that people are being brought up around film that are just remakes like the above and even Annie and all those other awful attempts. Even those classic Disney films are being remade to live action garbage... Cinderella.. Beauty and the Beast (hey this is sort of Criterion related, awesome film in the collection!)...

Seriously.

STOP.


Back on topic.

Exciting month - that's a couple big films ticked off

[Brad1963]

Wow...Criterion is starting 2016 with a bang. They seem to be focusing on new to the label titles and holding off on upgrades. The Emigrants/New Land is the highlight, but count me in for The Kid and Death by Hanging also.

[The Great Owl]

This will probably get buried in the announcements discussion, but I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor, and I loved it.

Shock Corridor is an unsettling allegory that uses mental patient characters to symbolize the insanities that America was experiencing during the early 1960s, namely racism, fears of the nuclear age, and the Red Scare. The movie, which includes no exterior shots, has a real claustrophobic air to it that puts us in the mind of the main character, Johnny Barrett, played well by Peter Breck. Constance Towers, whom I'm about to watch again tonight when I put Fuller's The Naked Kiss into the player, is incredible as Barrett's girlfriend, who echoes the concerns of the audience when Barrett goes undercover in a mental institution to expose a murderer. Samuel Fuller's messages about the nature of prejudice are hard-hitting, just as they are in other classic works from the director.

All in all, it's a great film that hits that midway point between the close of classic-era film noir and the emergence of neo-noir.

I'm going through the special features now before I start up The Naked Kiss.

(These are some longtime unwatched Criterions that I'm going through at long last.)

[Yami]

I was hoping that we'd get a box set of Oshima's complete works at ATG, but I guess I'll just have to buy them individually! I'm surprised they're putting Death By Hanging out before Boy, which I'd heard they were touring theatrically.

And The Emigrants / The New Land is a major, major release. Stunning films.

[pedromvu]

Well there goes their chance to release The Kid in a box set with all the other First National shorts (which hopefully will be released later), it probably was too much to ask, I am happy the release seems loaded with extras at least, since it is only a 50 mins film.

Too bad there has been 2 consecutive announcements without blu upgrades, I doubt they are giving up on them, since an upgrade from dvd only is still a bit better than releasing a movie that already had a blu-ray.

[cash_black]

I have always been very fond of my blu-ray of the Graduate, not 'upgrading' this time.