Cohen Film Collection

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#101 Post by What A Disgrace » Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:40 pm

[The Criterion forum] doesn't care about [old British movies].

Kauno
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#102 Post by Kauno » Wed Sep 04, 2013 2:12 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:[The Criterion forum] doesn't care about [old British movies].
Everybody cares, but it has to be twice as important as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And you guys just adore Benjamin Button. So in a way you are plain right.

Tuco
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#103 Post by Tuco » Wed Sep 04, 2013 3:43 pm

Does the fact that the Cohen site http://www.cohenfilmcollection.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has a trailer for "Hangmen Also Die!" signify a blu release? Just wonderin'...

Kauno
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#104 Post by Kauno » Wed Sep 04, 2013 3:57 pm

It may mean nothing. They just want to hang you upside down like a pinata and hit you with a stick until all your change falls out.

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captveg
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#105 Post by captveg » Wed Sep 04, 2013 3:58 pm

So far I believe any classic film they're created unique trailers for have received a Blu-ray release, but it would likely be in 2014.

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vsski
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#106 Post by vsski » Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:01 pm

Tuco wrote:Does the fact that the Cohen site http://www.cohenfilmcollection.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has a trailer for "Hangmen Also Die!" signify a blu release? Just wonderin'...
If you read the Examiner article linked to by FrauBlucher earlier in this thread it addresses Hangman explicity.
Hangmen Also Die (1943). The Collection is working with Britain's Pinewood Studios on a 2K restoration of this Fritz Lang film that will reinstate a short sequence not in the version currently available here.
I know it doesn't say a BD is imminent, but I'd be surprised if they do all this and not publish one.

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Minkin
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#107 Post by Minkin » Wed Sep 04, 2013 5:09 pm

knives wrote:In all of this Intolerance excitement it seems everyone is overlooking one other interesting nugget. Fires Over England is also a Criterion title; one they've been running on Hulu since the beginning.
Its also in public domain, thus its probably another Nanook situation. Remember, Cohen is the company that claims the rights to Vampyr. :P

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captveg
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#108 Post by captveg » Wed Sep 04, 2013 5:22 pm

Minkin wrote:
knives wrote:In all of this Intolerance excitement it seems everyone is overlooking one other interesting nugget. Fires Over England is also a Criterion title; one they've been running on Hulu since the beginning.
Its also in public domain, thus its probably another Nanook situation. Remember, Cohen is the company that claims the rights to Vampyr. :P
I don't think they claim outright ownership, but rather they claim the rights to the Rohauer collection print/elements.

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chatterjees
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#109 Post by chatterjees » Wed Sep 04, 2013 8:20 pm

Other than their horrible cover arts, my other issue with their releases is the price tags! Their prices for the single discs (no BD sets yet) are all over the places. I bought my first two BDs - Tristana and The Thief of Bagdad for around 13 bucks (from importcds), then The damned and Perfect Understanding around 19 bucks, and now I am going to buy few more, which are all little more expensive. Why can't they just have a fixed price for single BD editions?

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matrixschmatrix
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#110 Post by matrixschmatrix » Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:37 pm

I'd imagine they're testing to see what the market will bear- or that the first two were loss leaders, to get people interested in and aware of the brand. $25 MSRP for Thief of Bagdad did seem a remarkably low price point for such a lavish release...

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Tommaso
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#111 Post by Tommaso » Thu Sep 05, 2013 6:03 am

"Blancanieves": I was really looking forward to a fully English-friendly version (including the extras) of this utter masterpiece (seriously, the best new film I've seen for years), but the review at blu-ray.com really lets me down now:

Quote: "the language listing in the specs above is slightly misleading, but this is in essence a "Spanish" film, though even the original Spanish language intertitles here have been replaced with English ones for this release, and other Spanish language text in the film has been subtitled".

Are they crazy??! Thanks for the try, Cohen, but this means the Spanish release (which has English subs, although in yellow) is the way to go. Don't miss this marvel of a film.

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CSM126
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#112 Post by CSM126 » Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:48 am

Tommaso wrote:"Blancanieves": I was really looking forward to a fully English-friendly version (including the extras) of this utter masterpiece (seriously, the best new film I've seen for years), but the review at blu-ray.com really lets me down now:

Quote: "the language listing in the specs above is slightly misleading, but this is in essence a "Spanish" film, though even the original Spanish language intertitles here have been replaced with English ones for this release, and other Spanish language text in the film has been subtitled".

Are they crazy??! Thanks for the try, Cohen, but this means the Spanish release (which has English subs, although in yellow) is the way to go. Don't miss this marvel of a film.
OMG, they translated a film into English before releasing it into an English-speaking market? Crazy indeed!

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Gregory
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#113 Post by Gregory » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:13 am

It's an English- and Spanish-speaking market, so optional English subtitles for the original intertitles would have been the best choice.
Last edited by Gregory on Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

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MichaelB
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#114 Post by MichaelB » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:17 am

Indeed - it does seem rather perverse.

Then again, this is the label that decided that an English dub of Tristana was more important than one featuring Catherine Deneuve's own voice.

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Gregory
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#115 Post by Gregory » Thu Sep 05, 2013 12:06 pm

Cohen sure have jacked up their list prices. They came out of the gate with Thief of Bagdad and Tristana both listed at $25 and have since bumped almost everything up to $35, but $45 for Blancanieves (offering only the feature and a few making-of featurettes) and $50 list for Intolerance.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#116 Post by What A Disgrace » Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:11 pm

Intolerance seems to be a two disc set, which may account for the $50 pricetag. That's about the Criterion price range for a two disc Blu-ray set.

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chatterjees
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#117 Post by chatterjees » Thu Sep 05, 2013 2:55 pm

I wonder how many discs will be there and how much they are gonna charge for The Vivien Leigh Anniversary Collection? I will be getting that set for sure...

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Matt
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#118 Post by Matt » Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:08 pm

chatterjees wrote:I wonder how many discs will be there and how much they are gonna charge for The Vivien Leigh Anniversary Collection?
Amazon pre-order for the Blu-ray (as well as Blu-ray.com) says 2 discs at $59.98 (currently discounted 30% at 41.99). DVD is also 2 discs at $49.97 ($34.99).

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chatterjees
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#119 Post by chatterjees » Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:26 pm

Thanks, I guess I missed it somehow. 4 films on two discs? That doesn't sound good (its like what Raro is gonna do to Il Generale Della Rovere; two versions of the film + couple of documentaries on one BD50), also I should better not expect any extras!!! :(

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swo17
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#120 Post by swo17 » Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:30 pm

The films are all Zatoichi length, and Criterion's putting three of those on a disc.
Last edited by swo17 on Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Matt
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#121 Post by Matt » Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:31 pm

I was just going to say, there's only one film over 90 minutes (Fire Over England at 92 minutes). For black and white movies in 1.33 ratio, I wouldn't worry a second about compression quality.

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chatterjees
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#122 Post by chatterjees » Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:34 pm

OK then! Will definitely pick this up, I have waited too long for Fire Over England.

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Matt
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#123 Post by Matt » Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:58 pm

DVD Beaver on Two Men in Manhattan. Looks pretty nice, actually. Damned expensive, though.

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chatterjees
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#124 Post by chatterjees » Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:12 pm

Matt wrote:DVD Beaver on Two Men in Manhattan. Looks pretty nice, actually. Damned expensive, though.
It is 21.38 bucks at importcds.com, that's the cheapest I can see right now. I am still thinking whether to place an order or not. May be I will, I have a bunch of Olive titles sitting in my cart.

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Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#125 Post by Brian C » Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:27 am

Blu-Ray.com review of Two Men in Manhattan.

I'm a little peeved that Kauffman did this review. Not that I'm the first to point this out, but he has little business reviewing classic releases, because he seems incapable of viewing them through anything other than a modern-day lens from a PQ perspective. In this review, for example, we're told that
The New York segments suffer from occasionally inconsistent contrast and often extremely low light conditions which even this high definition presentation can't completely ameliorate.
What on Earth does this mean? In context, it's clear that he's blaming the original shooting conditions for the inconsistent contrast and low light conditions, so why should the HD presentation ameliorate those factors? What should an ideal transfer of this material look to him?

Then we also have this nugget:
Melville tends not to utilize many extreme close-ups, working instead with midrange shots that often feature two characters in the frame simultaneously, or alternatively one character shot from a certain distance, and so fine detail is perhaps not as immediately apparent as it might otherwise be.
Well, what a shame. I can just picture him sitting at home, fretting that he's not getting his fine-detail rocks off because Melville had the nerve not to use enough close-ups. Why would this even be a consideration when discussing PQ?

I guess it's not the biggest deal in the world, because he still gave the PQ a good rating (4/5). But man, is this guy's judgment ever questionable. I'm trying to come up with a more charitable interpretation of his review than "not enough shiny", but I'm coming up empty.

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