The Criterion Collection

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

I really wish Warner would decide what it wants to do with its higher profile silents like the ones you cited. With the exception of The Big Parade, these films have been MIA in the DVD and blu-ray era. The company seems to be in something of a conundrum. They value them and may be reluctant to license them, but they may not want to spend the money to prepare new HD masters (for that matter, Raintree County seems to be in a similar debacle). I wonder if Warners' experience with the release of The Big Parade is analogous to what Paramount had with Wings - a costly project that lost a good deal of money even though the blu-ray and DVD releases sold very well by silent film standards. John McElwee recently wrote a post about Greed at his Greenbriar Picture Shows blog, and he mentions that the film's critical renown has been fading in recent years. I have to wonder if a lack of an official DVD/blu-ray has had anything to do with that.

On a related note, I wish that Criterion would do something with Erich von Stroheim's The Wedding March (that is assuming that Criterion has the rights to it).

The Wind even has a couple of minutes long introduction from Lillian Gish in which she talks about the film when I watched it on TCM a few months back. Photoplay even restored it back in the 80s.

[CQD84]

Since some of you have posted your wishlist, here's mine:

You Can Count On Me
Citizen Ruth
About Schmidt
Sideways
Hard Eight
Welcome To The Dollhouse
The Straight Story
Kramer vs. Kramer
After Hours
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Straight Time
Brick
Mean Creek
La Strada (upgrade)
Brute Force (upgrade)
Il Posto (upgrade)
I fidanzati (upgrade)
Closely Watched Trains (upgrade)
Stray Dog (upgrade)
The Last Picture Show (standalone)

[StarDestroyer52]

I was skimming the Silent Era frontpage and saw this nugget:

Kino Lorber (USA) has announced their Blu-ray Disc and DVD release schedule into the summer of 2018, with silent film titles including a 4K-mastered edition of The Last Command (1928) starring Emil Jannings and William Powell

http://www.silentera.com/index.html

This is great news.

[Ned Brainard]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

I was skimming the Silent Era frontpage and saw this nugget:



http://www.silentera.com/index.html

This is great news.

Sadly, that is a mistake. The film that Kino is releasing is a 1955 Republic film of the same name.

[Scholer]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

Sadly, that is a mistake. The film that Kino is releasing is a 1955 Republic film of the same name.

Phew! I was pretty sure Criterion still had rights to The Last Command given their Sternberg DVD set is still in print.

[Scholer]

Originally Posted by Scholer

Phew! I was pretty sure Criterion still had rights to The Last Command given their Sternberg DVD set is still in print.

Oh wait, the Sternberg DVD set is OOP.

[Boris_Karloff]

I agree with a lot of the wishlists already posted so I'll go in a different direction
and say that I would like some more "experimental" films added to the collection;

Guy Maddin
Bill Morrison
Harry Smith
Oskar Fischinger
Frans Zwartjes
Len Lye
Kenneth Anger

Box set of 60's / 70's psychedelic short films with Frank Film (1973) being a prime example.

[Show spoiler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orftuw8Q-w0

[demonknight]

If we’re doing wishlists...
Adaptation
American Pop
The Beguiled (1971)
Bringing Out the Dead
The Dead Zone
The Devils
Dogma
The Limey
Lisztomania
Lost Highway
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Miller’s Crossing
Mommie Dearest
Only Lovers Left Alive
Palindromes
Pecker
Pink Floyd: The Wall
The Shape of Water
Slaughterhouse-Five
Storytelling
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Welcome to the Dollhouse

Blood for Dracula (upgrade)
Man Bites Dog (upgrade)
Peeping Tom (upgrade)
RoboCop (upgrade)
Sisters (upgrade)
Wise Blood (upgrade)

[Kyle15]

Obligatory monthy wishlist:

-Lost Highway
-The Straight Story
-Elephant Man
-Crash
-Lolita
-The Tenant
-Hour of The Wolf
-Gummo

[willieconway]

Dear Criterion,

Please release Crash.

ktxhbai,
Me

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

Sadly, that is a mistake. The film that Kino is releasing is a 1955 Republic film of the same name.

Yeah, I forgot all about that. It did seem a little weird when I saw KL. Though it has been released on Blu in the UK so hopefully one day we get the old Sternberg set. Probably not till next year though at the earliest I would guess.

[traths]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Obligatory monthy wishlist:

-Lost Highway
-The Straight Story
-Elephant Man
-Crash
-Lolita
-The Tenant
-Hour of The Wolf
-Gummo

I can see Lolita getting the Criterion treatment because they have been releasing a lot of Kubrick's films lately. I think that one will be next.

[bsend]

Originally Posted by willieconway

Dear Criterion,

Please release Crash.

ktxhbai,
Me

Your monkey paw worked. Crash (2004) directed by Paul Haggis is coming next month.

[bright75]

Criterion, please release one of these films

Atlantic City
Darling
Room at the Top
Straight Time
Bulworth
The Tenant
The Insider
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by bsend

Your monkey paw worked. Crash (2004) directed by Paul Haggis is coming next month.

Ha, yeah, they'll see all this clamoring for an unspecified Crash and do that one.

I'm amused that at this point people don't even bother specifying, though. The 2004 one is so disdained that people just assume you know they're talking about the good one.

[dkelly26666]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Ha, yeah, they'll see all this clamoring for an unspecified Crash and do that one.

I'm amused that at this point people don't even bother specifying, though. The 2004 one is so disdained that people just assume you know they're talking about the good one.

I will never grasp how the bad "Crash" won Best Picture. I understand why, with the Academy often going for preachy white liberal sermons against racism. But instead I should say I'll never agree with that preachy Lifetime-type movie winning Best Picture. Then, again, I wasn't ga-ga about "Brokeback Mountain", either, to be honest. Those were the two champs that year. And I thought they both were crazy overrated.

Personally, my favorite film from that year got almost NO Academy attention (which is not uncommon for me). I went for "A History of Violence" as my pick that year. For Picture and Director for David Cronenberg (who, of course, made the GOOD "Crash"). Other films I thought of note that year included Spielberg's "Munich", Woody Allen's "Match Point", "Capote", and docs like Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" and Scorsese's doc. on Bob Dylan. So, it wasn't a bad year for movies. The Academy just got it all wrong, as usual.

[silverlakephil]

It’s been awhile since Kurosawa’s Dreams has been released. Time for another AK Film me thinks. Maybe Stray Dog, The Bad Sleep Well, or Dodeskaden. Plus more Sirk would be nice. Either Written on The Wind or Magnificent Obsession. I have the French imports but I’d gladly double dip.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

I will never grasp how the bad "Crash" won Best Picture. I understand why, with the Academy often going for preachy white liberal sermons against racism. But instead I should say I'll never agree with that preachy Lifetime-type movie winning Best Picture. Then, again, I wasn't ga-ga about "Brokeback Mountain", either, to be honest. Those were the two champs that year. And I thought they both were crazy overrated.

Personally, my favorite film from that year got almost NO Academy attention (which is not uncommon for me). I went for "A History of Violence" as my pick that year. For Picture and Director for David Cronenberg (who, of course, made the GOOD "Crash"). Other films I thought of note that year included Spielberg's "Munich", Woody Allen's "Match Point", "Capote", and docs like Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" and Scorsese's doc. on Bob Dylan. So, it wasn't a bad year for movies. The Academy just got it all wrong, as usual.

I don't think any of the nominees were particularly exciting, and most of them were challenging but flawed in some way, so my guess is they all split the vote and the "safe" choice ended up with the most compared to them. I am curious to see Munich again. Goodnight and Good Luck would probably have been what I'd have expected to win, it was quite solid and definitely better than Crash and despite all the hype, Brokeback Mountain just wasn't that good, plus with the academy voters all being about 90 a matter-of-fact gay romance seemed like a bridge too far at that point in time. Again, I bet G&GL split the more intelligent vote with Brokeback Mountain leaving the bluehairs and bleeding hearts going for Crash.

A History of Violence is something I've watched a few times, while I haven't watched any of the nominees more than once. It's good and I enjoy it, but I think it's flawed. Not that the nominees weren't!!

[English Patient]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

I will never grasp how the bad "Crash" won Best Picture. I understand why, with the Academy often going for preachy white liberal sermons against racism. But instead I should say I'll never agree with that preachy Lifetime-type movie winning Best Picture. Then, again, I wasn't ga-ga about "Brokeback Mountain", either, to be honest. Those were the two champs that year. And I thought they both were crazy overrated.

I think the somewhat unconventional structure of "Crash" - multiple interlocking storylines - probably helped the movie seem more artistic, sophisticated and "deep" than it actually was. Add to that the social themes and you have all the ingredients - on paper - of what COULD be an important movie. Unfortunately it's too heavy-handed in the execution.

[billy pilgrim]

Originally Posted by demonknight

If we’re doing wishlists...
Adaptation
American Pop
The Beguiled (1971)
Bringing Out the Dead
The Dead Zone
The Devils
Dogma
The Limey
Lisztomania
Lost Highway
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Miller’s Crossing
Mommie Dearest
Only Lovers Left Alive
Palindromes
Pecker
Pink Floyd: The Wall
The Shape of Water
Slaughterhouse-Five
Storytelling
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Welcome to the Dollhouse

Blood for Dracula (upgrade)
Man Bites Dog (upgrade)
Peeping Tom (upgrade)
RoboCop (upgrade)
Sisters (upgrade)
Wise Blood (upgrade)

You have some of my most requested titles on this list. Man Bites Dog is just bats*** crazy and a real treat. Of course, the Ken Russell and also the Lynch film. A complete version of The Devils is a holy grail. Wise Blood is one of Huston's finest and strangest films. Mommie Dearest is one of my great guilty pleasures.

Most of all, I am in total agreement that the films of Todd Solondz are completely underrepresented and desperately need loving treatment. I would also add Happiness, one of his finest to that list. All of his films that you mentioned are worthy of inclusion.

And if course, I would love for Slaughterhouse Five to get a restoration and 4k release. I love that film/novel so much, I borrowed from it for my screen name for this site.