How Now Brown Blu-rays

[jindianajonz]

But I don't see why people need to stumble onto this one by one, and waste their time emailing Criterion and then getting upset when they don't receive an answer: so much time, and so much upset can be solved by a public statement.

Well hopefully the people who stumble across this issue would take the time to read the threads about it and see that Criterion is aware of the problem and has been addressing it on a case by case-

Clearly I haven't been reading the forums enough -- honestly (and you can see from my posting history) I have had better things to do the last few years.

Oh.

[swo17]

You don't get to be one of Criterion's best customers by just sitting around reading forums all day!

[David M.]

So is this why WB has to keep rereleasing The Wizard of Oz?

I genuinely laughed out loud

[Yakushima]

Yey! Finally Jon responded:

I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for writing in regarding a discoloration and playability problem with one or more of your Criterion discs. We are aware of this issue, which appears to affect a number of titles pressed four or five years ago at a pressing plant that we no longer use, and we are currently working on a solution. Please be assured that we are dedicated to your satisfaction and will be replacing defective discs. As soon as we have a system in place to handle exchanges efficiently, we will send out a link with instructions on how to receive replacement discs. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through this issue.

All the best and thanks for supporting Criterion!

Jon Mulvaney

[FrauBlucher]

So is this why WB has to keep rereleasing The Wizard of Oz?

Who said WB doesn't have the consumer's interests at heart.

BTW...WB just released the 75th Anniversary edition of Gone With the Wind. So, there you go. WB doesn't fear the brown-out.

[Rayon Vert]

An informative post from the bluray.com thread: (...)

Thank you very much for this post.

[boywonder]

I received the email from Criterion today too. Does anybody have a list of all of the blurays Criterion put out "4 or 5" years ago? I am assuming 2009 and 2010. I have every title and pre-ordered each of them. I have checked titles as people have mentioned them on this and other boards, but I am not sure what previous titles were released as blurays during that time. I have read everything from "Last Year at ...", The Seveth Seal" to "Chunking Express".

I would like to see a more reputable list of suspected titles. Out of the all of the titles I own I only see "browning" on "Walkabout" and "M". Those two titles do not play. If I had an accurate list of other people's confirmed discs I would play them through even though they aren't brown.

Anybody able to give an accurate list and keep it updated? I am assuming that being as this site receives discs early to review, someone here must have a ton of Criterion blus.

[Drucker]

I'm also wondering what legal recourse Criterion has with this pressing plant, assuming they are still in business. If there's a way for them not to foot the bill, surely that would be good for them.

[ShellOilJunior]

I received the email from Criterion today too. Does anybody have a list of all of the blurays Criterion put out "4 or 5" years ago? I am assuming 2009 and 2010. I have every title and pre-ordered each of them. I have checked titles as people have mentioned them on this and other boards, but I am not sure what previous titles were released as blurays during that time. I have read everything from "Last Year at ...", The Seveth Seal" to "Chunking Express".

I would like to see a more reputable list of suspected titles. Out of the all of the titles I own I only see "browning" on "Walkabout" and "M". Those two titles do not play. If I had an accurate list of other people's confirmed discs I would play them through even though they aren't brown.

Anybody able to give an accurate list and keep it updated? I am assuming that being as this site receives discs early to review, someone here must have a ton of Criterion blus.

Here you go...

[boywonder]

I received the email from Criterion today too. Does anybody have a list of all of the blurays Criterion put out "4 or 5" years ago? I am assuming 2009 and 2010. I have every title and pre-ordered each of them. I have checked titles as people have mentioned them on this and other boards, but I am not sure what previous titles were released as blurays during that time. I have read everything from "Last Year at ...", The Seveth Seal" to "Chunking Express".

I would like to see a more reputable list of suspected titles. Out of the all of the titles I own I only see "browning" on "Walkabout" and "M". Those two titles do not play. If I had an accurate list of other people's confirmed discs I would play them through even though they aren't brown.

Anybody able to give an accurate list and keep it updated? I am assuming that being as this site receives discs early to review, someone here must have a ton of Criterion blus.

Here you go...

Thanks! That is just the list I need. I am just a little nervous to dig in and see what's lurking!

[boywonder]

Well, here is a list of all Blurays from 2009/2010:
( the earliest I have heard mentioned with "the browning problem" is "The Seventh Seal" and the latest is "Stagecoach" ... I don't know if I believe the range is that wide. i haven't checked all of mine yet, but my only problems so far are "M" and "Walkabout" so I put an "X" in front of those two titles and the other titles mention in this thread on the first post on page one (I don't think that list is accurate). I hope that other people will post names of brown discs and I will add an "X" to the title. When Criterion decides what they plan to do, I want to only have to bother them once ... this could take them tons of time during the xmas season buying frenzy. )

January 6th 2009
422 The Last Emperor [Blu-ray]
January 13th 2009
458 El Norte [Blu-ray]
March 24th 2009
5 The 400 Blows [Blu-ray]
462 The Last Metro [Blu-ray]
April 21st 2009
36 The Wages of Fear [Blu-ray]
April 28th 2009
466 In the Realm of the Senses [Blu-ray]
May 5th 2009
476 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Blu-ray]
June 16th 2009
11 The Seventh Seal [Blu-ray]
June 23rd 2009
478 Last Year at Marienbad [Blu-ray]
July 14th 2009
54 For All Mankind [Blu-ray]
July 28th 2009
483 Repulsion [Blu-ray]
August 18th 2009
112 Playtime [Blu-ray]
267 Kagemusha [Blu-ray]
September 22nd 2009
167 The Complete Monterey Pop Festival [Blu-ray]
168 Monterey Pop [Blu-ray]
169 Jimi Plays Monterey / Shake! Otis at Monterey [Blu-ray]
421 Pierrot le fou [Blu-ray]
October 20th 2009
489 Monsoon Wedding [Blu-ray]
November 3rd 2009
488 Howards End [Blu-ray]
490 Wings of Desire [Blu-ray]
493 Gomorrah [Blu-ray]
December 1st 2009
99 Gimme Shelter [Blu-ray]
492 A Christmas Tale [Blu-ray]
January 12th 2010
140 8 1/2 [Blu-ray]
January 19th 2010
496 Che [Blu-ray]
501 Paris, Texas [Blu-ray]
February 16th 2010
502 Revanche [Blu-ray]
503 Lola Montes [Blu-ray]
504 Hunger [Blu-ray]
488 Howards End [Blu-ray]
March 23rd 2010
52 Yojimbo [Blu-ray]
53 Sanjuro [Blu-ray]
X 409 Days of Heaven [Blu-ray]
507 Bigger Than Life [Blu-ray]
April 20th 2010
512 Vivre sa vie [Blu-ray]
X 513 Summer Hours [Blu-ray]
April 27th 2010
514 Ride with the Devil [Blu-ray]
May 11th 2010 30
X 30 M [Blu-ray]
May 18th 2010 10
X 10 Walkabout [Blu-ray]
May 25th 2010
516 Stagecoach [Blu-ray]
518 By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two [Blu-ray]
June 15th 2010
521 Mystery Train [Blu-ray]
June 22nd 2010
519 Close-up [Blu-ray]
522 Red Desert [Blu-ray]
June 29th 2010
235 The Leopard [Blu-ray]
520 Everlasting Moments [Blu-ray]
July 20th 2010
44 The Red Shoes [Blu-ray]
93 Black Narcissus [Blu-ray]
July 27th 2010
527 The Secret of the Grain [Blu-ray]
August 10th 2010
533 Crumb [Blu-ray]
August 17th 2010
48 Black Orpheus [Blu-ray]
September 14th 2010
408 Breathless [Blu-ray]
September 21st 2010
57 Charade [Blu-ray]
September 28th 2010
535 Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Blu-ray]
536 The Thin Red Line [Blu-ray]
October 12th 2010
537 The Magician [Blu-ray]
540 The Darjeeling Limited [Blu-ray]
October 19th 2010
2 Seven Samurai [Blu-ray]
October 26th 2010
538 Paths of Glory [Blu-ray]
539 House [Blu-ray]
542 Antichrist [Blu-ray]
November 16th 2010
541 The Night of the Hunter [Blu-ray]
543 Modern Times [Blu-ray]
November 23rd 2010
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story [Blu-ray]
544 Head [Blu-ray]
545 Easy Rider [Blu-ray]
546 Five Easy Pieces [Blu-ray]
547 Drive, He Said [Blu-ray]
548 A Safe Place [Blu-ray]
549 The Last Picture Show [Blu-ray]
550 The King of Marvin Gardens [Blu-ray]
December 7th 2010
248 Videodrome [Blu-ray]
551 Cronos [Blu-ray]

[warren oates]

I appreciate the efforts from boywonder and a few others to consolidate information regarding the problematic and potentially problematic titles, but this strikes me as one instance where the Blu-ray.com thread has bested us (I'm especially digging their subjective thumbnail assessments of whether the problem with a given disc presently seems to be "common" or "rare" / "infrequent"). I wonder if one of the mods would be willing to update the first post in this thread with a similar list, maybe along with the text of Mulvaney's recent email statement, so as to forestall all those perennially most frequently asked questions?

[swo17]

Done.

[boywonder]

Done.

Thank you!

[Yaanu]

Mind if I clean up the list a bit:

The Last Emperor [Blu-ray]
El Norte [Blu-ray]
The 400 Blows [Blu-ray]
The Last Metro [Blu-ray]
The Wages of Fear [Blu-ray]
In the Realm of the Senses [Blu-ray]
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Blu-ray]
The Seventh Seal [Blu-ray]
Last Year at Marienbad [Blu-ray]
For All Mankind [Blu-ray]
Repulsion [Blu-ray]
Playtime [Blu-ray]
Kagemusha [Blu-ray]
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival [Blu-ray]
Monterey Pop [Blu-ray]
Jimi Plays Monterey / Shake! Otis at Monterey [Blu-ray]
Pierrot le fou [Blu-ray]
Monsoon Wedding [Blu-ray]
Howards End [Blu-ray]
Wings of Desire [Blu-ray]
Gomorrah [Blu-ray]
Gimme Shelter [Blu-ray]
A Christmas Tale [Blu-ray]
8 1/2 [Blu-ray]
Che [Blu-ray]
Paris, Texas [Blu-ray]
Revanche [Blu-ray]
Lola Montes [Blu-ray]
Hunger [Blu-ray]
Howards End [Blu-ray]
Yojimbo [Blu-ray]
Sanjuro [Blu-ray]
Days of Heaven [Blu-ray]
Bigger Than Life [Blu-ray]
Vivre sa vie [Blu-ray]
Summer Hours [Blu-ray]
Ride with the Devil [Blu-ray]
M [Blu-ray]
Walkabout [Blu-ray]
Stagecoach [Blu-ray]
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two [Blu-ray]
Mystery Train [Blu-ray]
Close-up [Blu-ray]
Red Desert [Blu-ray]
The Leopard [Blu-ray]
Everlasting Moments [Blu-ray]
The Red Shoes [Blu-ray]
Black Narcissus [Blu-ray]
The Secret of the Grain [Blu-ray]
Crumb [Blu-ray]
Black Orpheus [Blu-ray]
Breathless [Blu-ray]
Charade [Blu-ray]
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Blu-ray]
The Thin Red Line [Blu-ray]
The Magician [Blu-ray]
The Darjeeling Limited [Blu-ray]
Seven Samurai [Blu-ray]
Paths of Glory [Blu-ray]
House [Blu-ray]
Antichrist [Blu-ray]
The Night of the Hunter [Blu-ray]
Modern Times [Blu-ray]
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story [Blu-ray]
Head [Blu-ray]
Easy Rider [Blu-ray]
Five Easy Pieces [Blu-ray]
Drive, He Said [Blu-ray]
A Safe Place [Blu-ray]
The Last Picture Show [Blu-ray]
The King of Marvin Gardens [Blu-ray]
Videodrome [Blu-ray]
Cronos [Blu-ray]

As you can also see, I opted to fully color-code the text, instead of just having an X. I also colored titles reported to have issues in blue.
I don't know why "Howards End" is listed twice, but I left it like that anyways.

EDIT: Changed "orange" to "blue". Added Kagemusha, In the Realm of the Senses, Paris, Texas, Bigger Than Life, Ride with the Devil, and Monterey Pop. Thanks, Captain Vegetable.
EDIT 2: Changed confirmed affected titles (Howards End, M, Paris, Texas, Pierrot le fou, The Seventh Seal) to reflect new information from Criterion.

[FrauBlucher]

Perhaps colors (red and orange) that aren't so similar. I didn't pick up on it until I read your explanation at the bottom.

[scotty2]

My Ride with the Devil has playback issues. I watched it for the first time late last year with no trouble, but it has problems now. My M supplements and Summer Hours also have the same browning and playback problems identified by others.

[captveg]

There have been reports for Kagemusha, In the Realm of the Senses, Paris Texas, Bigger Than Life, Ride with the Devil, and Monterey Pop. I know the latter is 100% true, because it's mine.

[boywonder]

I like the color coded list above. It is more complete than the list on the first page of this page, but it needs to be updated with the info from the posts beneath it. I really wish the list on the frst page was the most complete. I am sure their are many people who want to check their discs, and this site seems an obvious place to keep a detailed factual list. Why is your list so conserative on page one, swo17?

[swo17]

I've listed all of the most common titles and linked to where people can find more details if they're so inclined. I'm not that hot on the idea of maintaining an exhaustive list, which sort of implicitly encourages everyone to check dozens of discs that they were otherwise in no rush to watch so that they can bombard Criterion for replacements and then not watch those any time soon either.

That said, if you are willing to keep your color-coded post updated, I'll link to it in the first post.

[ShellOilJunior]

There have been reports for Kagemusha, In the Realm of the Senses, Paris Texas, Bigger Than Life, Ride with the Devil, and Monterey Pop. I know the latter is 100% true, because it's mine.

Do you own the Complete Monterey set?

I have a habit of watching the complete set every summer and it played fine in July. I'm curious if the issues are with the set or the single releases.

[tenia]

I checked my Monterey Pop set visually, and both discs look fine. However, I have yet to try to playback them and/or scan them through computer software to verify if they have any damaged sectors.

[captveg]

There have been reports for Kagemusha, In the Realm of the Senses, Paris Texas, Bigger Than Life, Ride with the Devil, and Monterey Pop. I know the latter is 100% true, because it's mine.

Do you own the Complete Monterey set?

I have a habit of watching the complete set every summer and it played fine in July. I'm curious if the issues are with the set or the single releases.

I have the set, but only Monterey Pop won't play.

[Yaanu]

I've listed all of the most common titles and linked to where people can find more details if they're so inclined. I'm not that hot on the idea of maintaining an exhaustive list, which sort of implicitly encourages everyone to check dozens of discs that they were otherwise in no rush to watch so that they can bombard Criterion for replacements and then not watch those any time soon either.

That said, if you are willing to keep your color-coded post updated, I'll link to it in the first post.

Just yell when I need to update it and I'll keep it updated.

[cdnchris]

Email from Mulvaney:

Hello and thank you for your email.

We have confirmed that certain Blu-ray discs pressed at a replication facility that we used for a period in 2010 have become defective, showing a noticeable bronze discoloration on the underside and developing playback problems. We have confirmed the problem on seven titles, but not on all copies. All of these titles have since been re-pressed at a different pressing plant, and the vast majority of discs in circulation should not be affected.

The potentially affected Blu-ray titles are:

SUMMER HOURS
WALKABOUT
PARIS, TEXAS
M
THE SEVENTH SEAL
PIERROT LE FOU
HOWARDS END

If you have found that your Blu-ray copy of one of these titles does not play, please send your disc in to the following address for a replacement:

Jon Mulvaney
The Criterion Collection
215 Park Avenue South
5th floor
New York, NY 10003

Please include only your disc -- no packaging -- along with the address to which you'd like us to mail your replacement. We will not be replacing or exchanging packaging. There is no need to email us in addition.

If we learn that other titles are similarly defective, we will add them to the list and continue to replace them as well.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

I did actually email him back on Howards End and Pierrot le fou, just to make sure they can actually replace those since they are OOP.