The Criterion Collection

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Ugetsu is up!

https://www.criterion.com/films/369-ugetsu

Very happy about this one

[Zen_Amako]

Originally Posted by bsend

So that was a relatively short wait for me. Glad they can upgrade this for you.

Ugetsu and Viridiana are my two remaining Criterions DVDs that I have yet to upgrade. After Ugetsu that just leaves Viridiana...

[nitin]

In for all of those

[Edward J Grug III]

A couple of really solid months in a row for Criterion!

The Marseille Trilogy, The Lodger and They Live by Night for me, I think.

[t_rav]

Really strong month! Very happy with these!

Am I the only one disappointed every announcement when Criterion doesn't list upgrades to Onibaba, The Ruling Class or Peeping Tom? Nobody seems to ever talk about upgrades for these and I'm anxiously awaiting them

[mja345]

"The Ruling Class" could really use an upgrade as the DVD looks awful at this point. It's a hilarious, brilliant film. "Peeping Tom" has a few BD editions around the world, but a Criterion BD would be nice. I'm surprised they haven't upgraded "Onibaba" yet.

Great month overall. I may pick up all of them, but have to do a bit of research on "The Marseille Trilogy".

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by t_rav

Really strong month! Very happy with these!

Am I the only one disappointed every announcement when Criterion doesn't list upgrades to Onibaba, The Ruling Class or Peeping Tom? Nobody seems to ever talk about upgrades for these and I'm anxiously awaiting them

Peeping Tom unfortunately is OOP. It is one of the Studio Canal titles they lost rights to.

[Knaldskalle]

Originally Posted by caiman

It's great to see them release more silents! The Lodger is a definite buy for me.

It even comes with "Downhill" as an extra feature. I saw a PD copy of it some years ago and only remember it being a little disappointing, but hey, it's Hitch!

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Will have to look into that then, I actually have a region free player. I saw a box set from Japan but the price is insane and it seem no sub on it which is not a good idea. Not been easy finding his movies

The BFI have released L'Age D'Or/Un Chien Andalou and Eureka/MoC will be releasing "Death in the Garden", one of his earliest French movies, at some point.

It's my understanding that a lot of his movies are caught in rights hell, especially his Mexican work (Los Olvidados, El, Susana, etc.)... I hope it'll get resolved, he's one of my favorite directors.

[Knaldskalle]

Oh, and I think this is the first time I've already seen all the titles announced. Very solid month!

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

Peeping Tom unfortunately is OOP. It is one of the Studio Canal titles they lost rights to.

Man, that totally slipped my mind that "Peeping Tom" was OOP. It's easy to forget about some of the OOP DVDs like that and "Port of Shadows".

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mja345

Man, that totally slipped my mind that "Peeping Tom" was OOP. It's easy to forget about some of the OOP DVDs like that and "Port of Shadows".

Looks like there's a BD release for Peeping Tom coming out in Japan on April 28th:

[MifuneFan]

New set of phantom pages:

Chema García Ibarra
Hu Wei
Blake Edwards

[SlickDamian]

Straw Dogs is the obvious star this month, but a really solid month. They Live By Night looks real nice as well.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

Straw Dogs is the obvious star this month, but a really solid month. They Live By Night looks real nice as well.

Ugetsu says hi

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

They Live By Night is the obvious star this month, but a really solid month. Straw Dogs looks real nice as well.

I totally agree!

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by t_rav

Really strong month! Very happy with these!

Am I the only one disappointed every announcement when Criterion doesn't list upgrades to Onibaba, The Ruling Class or Peeping Tom? Nobody seems to ever talk about upgrades for these and I'm anxiously awaiting them

All three of those films have been mentioned in this thread.

I did a search for all of them.

Film/Posts mentioned in
Onibaba 237
Peeping Tom 213
The Ruling Class 88
Le Samourai 486
Mulvaney 483

[Hoke Moseley]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

All three of those films have been mentioned in this thread.

I did a search for all of them.

Film/Posts mentioned in
Onibaba 237
Peeping Tom 213
The Ruling Class 88
Le Samourai 486
Mulvaney 483

Yeah... that's how many times Ray Jackson mentioned him, what about everybody else?

[The Great Owl]

Last night, I shoved aside my growing stack of still-unwatched Blu-rays and decided to revisit my Criterion Blu-ray of Sweet Smell of Success.

This movie is so effing good. I still believe that this is one of the best, if not the absolute best, Criterion transfers of a black-and-white film. It's a marvelous-looking movie that really puts you square in the middle of the "dirty town."

Here's my User Review from a few years back...

Burt Lancaster's J.J. Hunsecker walks through Manhattan's club district and states, "I love this dirty town." As I watched the Criterion Blu-ray of Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success last night, I also could not help falling in love with the bustling visage of the seedy 1950s Manhattan club district, with all its bright lights shining through a gauzy haze of vehicle exhaust and cigarette smoke. The beauty of Blu-ray lies in the fact that old movies no longer look like "old movies" when they are lovingly restored for the high definition presentation, and this 1957 masterpiece of dialogue-driven film noir excels in the format so that these flashy streets and shadowy dive bar interiors pop out of the screen.

Sweet Smell of Success moves at an electrifying pace that belies its age, and it quickly drags the bewildered viewer through its realm, just as one might be led through a densely crowded corner bar by an intoxicated acquaintance. A lesser film would have presented us with a slower exposition explaining how the shady high-powered newspaper columnist, J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), has tasked a bottom-feeding press agent, Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), with breaking up a relationship between Hunsecker's sister, Susan, and her jazz musician boyfriend by pulling strings within the gossip column inner circles, but Sweet Smell of Success simply pulls us off the streets and thrusts us into the fray of busy interactions and multi-layered jargon without any preliminary setup. The movie wastes no time placing us into the rat race firsthand so that we, like the beleaguered Sidney Falco, are constantly grasping for footholds to elevate us above the crowd.

The interesting thing about the rat race is that even the ones who win are still rats. With its story of desperate characters driven to corruption, prostitution, and desolate loneliness in the "manufactured necessity" world of media gossip culture, Sweet Smell of Success places us in the front row to watch the fall of the American dream up close. Like The Great Gatsby before it, and like Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross after it, Sweet Smell of Success relishes in the darker side of wealth and consumerism where hyenas seek fresh carcasses at any cost after the lions make the kills. Despite its bleak plot framework, however, Sweet Smell of Success still somehow proves to be an irresistibly rewarding cinematic venture. Traces of hope are still salvaged even in the smoky corners of crowded clubs and high rise apartments while the frenzied tempos of the jazz soundtrack keep us excited in the light and shadows.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

New set of phantom pages:


Blake Edwards

Days of Wine and Roses perhaps?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

Days of Wine and Roses perhaps?

It's from Warner, and this year marks the 55th anniversary of it, so it's a possibility.