The Criterion Collection

[Shane Rollins]

The Unknown (Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers) review is up:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-U...341913/#Review

...along with caps and some pictures of the Digipack. It looks and functions like The Silence Of The Lambs, if you know what I mean.

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Captain Blood's been restored, we just don't know who's going to drop it. It's coming from someone though, either Criterion or WAC.

O Lucky Man, I heard it's been restored, but I haven't heard anything else on it.

I haven't even heard about The Roaring Twenties, but I'm in whenever it shows up.

Pat Garrett is the only enigma here.

You managed not to mention the B&W Powell and Pressburger films. WTF are they waiting for, Thelma Schoonmaker to die?

Blood Simple is my favorite Coen Brothers film (and I'm a big Coen Brothers fan) and maybe my favorite neo noir. I remember seeing it when it first came out and saying to myself I was going to watch every film these guys did. But did we really need a 4K upgrade of an existing Criterion release? What about a 4K of The Man Who Wasn't There with Deakins' B&W cinematography, right now just on a mediocre studio disk? What about Buster Scruggs?

I don't know, maybe one of these months they'll release 4K of Tokyo Story, Barry Lyndon and Pat Garrett (and Black Narcissus and A Matter of Life and Death and Colonel Blimp and ....), and whiners like me will eat our words. But it seems like one can keep adding films that should be in the Criterion wheelhouse, many that aren't even on BD, others for which we know much better transfers are available, and no sign we are getting any closer to seeing any of these films. I mean, we're talking about the B&W films of two of the greatest British filmmakers, with a huge influence on filmmakers today, but it seems like an obscure Italian giallo has a better chance of seeing a (4K!) release today.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Mike0284

Udo Kier’s Closet Picks - YouTube

This is one of the best Closet Picks videos I've seen in a while.

I'm happy someone is giving the laserdiscs the credit they deserve. I don't know all my DVD/Blu-ray/4K picks, but I'd definitely pick the laserdisc of Ambersons. I still say that laserdisc brought more to the table than the Blu-ray.

[Shane Rollins]

I think there's some bugs on the website. I just tried to search Trainspotting and got a different Boyle movie as the only film available.

It's not coming until January either way, but there might be some website issues.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

This is one of the best Closet Picks videos I've seen in a while.

I'm happy someone is giving the laserdiscs the credit they deserve. I don't know all my DVD/Blu-ray/4K picks, but I'd definitely pick the laserdisc of Ambersons. I still say that laserdisc brought more to the table than the Blu-ray.

That was great and it’s neat the Criterion staff pulled out some Laserdiscs for him to discuss. Udo is a legend.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by Mushi Minion

Same reason one of the boutique stores took to social media awhile back to call out the insane emails they were getting from crazy customers demanding replacements because the stickers on the outside of the plastic wrap were not straight.

Well, not really.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Taylor3978

You managed not to mention the B&W Powell and Pressburger films. WTF are they waiting for, Thelma Schoonmaker to die?

Blood Simple is my favorite Coen Brothers film (and I'm a big Coen Brothers fan) and maybe my favorite neo noir. I remember seeing it when it first came out and saying to myself I was going to watch every film these guys did. But did we really need a 4K upgrade of an existing Criterion release? What about a 4K of The Man Who Wasn't There with Deakins' B&W cinematography, right now just on a mediocre studio disk? What about Buster Scruggs?

I don't know, maybe one of these months they'll release 4K of Tokyo Story, Barry Lyndon and Pat Garrett (and Black Narcissus and A Matter of Life and Death and Colonel Blimp and ....), and whiners like me will eat our words. But it seems like one can keep adding films that should be in the Criterion wheelhouse, many that aren't even on BD, others for which we know much better transfers are available, and no sign we are getting any closer to seeing any of these films. I mean, we're talking about the B&W films of two of the greatest British filmmakers, with a huge influence on filmmakers today, but it seems like an obscure Italian giallo has a better chance of seeing a (4K!) release today.

So many great ones here. Powell and Pressburger's films I can only assume they don't have a contract. With Peeping Tom definitely coming and I Know Where I'm Going! likely coming on the other side of the pond, I think this will be another situation like where Criterion waited too long to get into 4K, and everyone else beat them to it. Now they waited too long to make a deal for P&P's films and now everyone else will be releasing them one by one. It's going to be maddening to say the least.

Black Narcissus looks like a DVD. I just browsed the caps, and while I wanted this movie bad (never seen it actually), now I wouldn't touch that Blu-ray with a ten foot pole. A Matter Of Life And Death, while I'd need to see it bigger to know for sure, the caps have what looks like registration issues, but again I'd only know for sure if I saw it on a huge screen. Either way, it still looks really good, and considering it already has a true 4K transfer is only needs HDR and DV and it can be dropped on UHD. Colonel Blimp, on the other hand, is perfect. It could drop on 4K tomorrow. Why there's some insane holdup is beyond me. Some of their worst (if there is such a thing) is better than some of today's best.

I also somehow never knew that Schoonmaker was married to Powell. You learn something every day.

Blood Simple only needs one thing: a properly restored release of the original theatrical cut, preferably on 4K, but at the least on Blu-ray. I love the Coens, but they seriously have a bit of a George Lucas complex going on.

The Man Who Wasn't There needs a new disc too, and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs needs a disc period. Seriously, why does the Netflix deal have to be so weak? They literally get the Netflix titles no one is waiting for. They had great ones a few years ago (The Irishman, Roma, One Night In Miami...), but now it seems like filler. I heard Buster Scruggs and The Other Side Of The Wind many times, and even Birdbox a few times, and yet they're still MIA. I literally haven't heard Mudbound mentioned once.

Tokyo Story, Barry Lyndon, Pat Garrett, Black Narcissus, A Matter Of Life And Death, Colonel Blimp, and many others have been demanded for years. Tokyo Story is especially annoying, since it was recently restored and it's leaps and bounds above the current Blu-ray. BL, you'd think someone would do something with it (especially considering Kubrick is arguably the greatest director ever), but here we wait. And as I said earlier, Pat Garrett on at least Blu-ray is something that's been demanded since the launch of the format. They did the DVD right at that time too, so they could've easily dumped the files on an (admittedly weak) Blu-ray in 2005. Considering Freaks took seven years from the first rumors and the discs going OOP, and After Hours took at least five years (with the discs going OOP between 2013 and 2018), PG is at five years and counting and all we have is rumors.

[CelestialAgent]

Buster Scruggs has a FYC Blu-ray at least.

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

I think Seven Samurai was 2K across the board from either an IP or a FGP. Gojira was a 2K job on a FGP, and KOTM was either a FGP or a print. Both films, and presumably many others, would need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Those both have Japanese UHDs.

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

While the 1999 restoration was finished at 480i, even dropping that on a disc would be a major step up over my boot and the restored VHS. And it would certainly run circles around the much more common MGM Silent Classics VHS from 1990.

So similar to The Big Red One.

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

The Third Man, why the hell has Criterion not relicensed that one? Of their OOP Blu-rays, that's probably the one I want the most.

Maybe Lionsgate are still clinging onto it.

[jcs913]

Nice to see Lone Star new to blu, but the other 4K upgrades can wait... if I ever pick them up, as the blus are fine for me.

[trobrianders]

Can't stand John Sayles. Am I allowed to say that or am I getting a week ban?

[latehong]

Now that the January releases have been revealed, let's push them aside and prepare for the Flash Sale tomorrow.

Must:
After Hours 4K
Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema
Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers

Probably:
Drylongso
The Watermelon Woman

Maybe (just in case, you don't have to sell me on these maybes. Saw them all, love them all. Just hesitant to make a double or triple dip with limited budget):
Blow Out 4K
Devil in a Blue Dress 4K
One False Move 4K
Thelma & Louise 4K
The Red Shoes 4K

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by trobrianders

Can't stand John Sayles. Am I allowed to say that or am I getting a week ban?

Pretty sure you can say it. Go nuts.

[Surge92]

I'm for sure targeting the Dreams and Walkabout 4Ks tomorrow.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Buster Scruggs has a FYC Blu-ray at least.



Those both have Japanese UHDs.



So similar to The Big Red One.



Maybe Lionsgate are still clinging onto it.

1. I need more info on those UHDs. Caps, specs, sources, restoration info, etc.

2. How the actual hell was The Big Red One screwed up that hard? That disc was an insult, and the fact that that is still the only Blu on the market is a bigger insult.

3. Lionsgate has been rumored to be sitting on a lot of titles, including The Third Man. However, some of them are insane titles. One title is Fright Night 2, which I know is a matter of they don't know who owns it. (I also think I heard that there's an elements issue, but I might have my movies confused.) Lionsgate was also rumored to be sitting on Little Darlings ever since a planned 2012 DVD release went south. I never even knew they had the movie though, since it was always a Paramount film.

The Third Man, I thought was in the public domain, but the copyright history is...interesting...

Copyright status
In the United Kingdom, films of this vintage are copyright protected as dramatic works until 70 years after the end of the year in which that last "principal author" died. The principal authors are generally the writer/s, director/s or composer/s of original work, and since in the case of The Third Man Graham Greene died in 1991, the film is protected until the end of 2061.

The film lapsed into public domain in the United States when the copyright was not renewed after David Selznick's death. In 1996, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act restored the film's U.S. copyright protection to StudioCanal Image UK Ltd. The Criterion Collection released a digitally restored DVD of the original British print of the film. In 2008, Criterion released a Blu-ray edition, and in September 2010, Lions Gate reissued the film on Blu-ray.

On 18 January 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Golan v. Holder that the copyright clause of the United States Constitution does not prevent the U.S. from meeting its treaty obligations towards copyright protection for foreign works. Following the ruling, notable films such as The Third Man and The 39 Steps were taken back out of the public domain and became fully copyrighted in the United States. Under current U.S. copyright law, The Third Man will remain copyrighted until 1 January 2045.

So I guess it really is under copyright. Either SC is going to drop it themselves, or they're waiting for a payday. Lionsgate has some great catalog releases, but if given the choice between doing a 4K of The Third Man and repackaging the same discs of T2 in their 30th different SteelBook edition, they're likely to choose the latter.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by trobrianders

Can't stand John Sayles. Am I allowed to say that or am I getting a week ban?

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

The Third Man, why the hell has Criterion not relicensed that one? Of their OOP Blu-rays, that's probably the one I want the most. I don't think it's that they don't want it though. Rather, if by some chance the copyright has been restored (it was PD for a very long time), the copyright holder knows how highly demanded it is and is waiting for a payday. Still, email email email. Contact Criterion and they'll know how much we want that movie.

I asked them about this back in April and their reply was: “To the best of my knowledge, there are no current plans to bring back The Third Man in the foreseeable future.”

This was from someone who was answering on behalf of Jon.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

It will look way better. These are native 4K transfers from the OCNs, with HDR and DV.

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

If I'm not mistaken, this was the movie that literally got burned in the can, and they still put it back together. If this got a 4K, with HDR and DV, then anything is (technologically) possible.

Why do you keep saying it'll have HDR and DV when there's no indication it will have either?

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Why do you keep saying it'll have HDR and DV when there's no indication it will have either?

I literally didn't notice that until you said it. That went right over my head.

[koberulz]

What time will the flash sale start?

[Mike0284]

Originally Posted by koberulz

What time will the flash sale start?

12 pm Eastern time.