Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[Lowry_Sam]

Was CODE UNKNOWN a Haneke one-off? I expected that we'd get a steady drip of titles after that release, but that was over a year ago, and to my knowledge there haven't been any more hints of anything forthcoming.

People have been speculating about The Piano Teacher for close to a decade now. It's at the top of my Haneke wishlist, maybe they're waiting on rights or a restoration. I'd certainly rather wait for a proper release than have a repeat of the Code Unknown disc just to have another Haneke in hand.

[Zot!]

Point taken, though I wasn't thinking of national popularity so much as what people in the know would cite as the most important films from a particular country.

You might actually be surprised to know they actually know very little about their film heritage. Most of the film they consume is actually ours. I actually offered to ship a copy of the set to one friend because Brazil doesn't have version of the film available.

Limite being released at all is a HUGE deal. I want to stress that. HUGE.

Do you meet a lot of folks interested in American film heritage in Montana?

[ng4996]

Point taken, though I wasn't thinking of national popularity so much as what people in the know would cite as the most important films from a particular country.

You might actually be surprised to know they actually know very little about their film heritage. Most of the film they consume is actually ours. I actually offered to ship a copy of the set to one friend because Brazil doesn't have version of the film available.

Limite being released at all is a HUGE deal. I want to stress that. HUGE.

Do you meet a lot of folks interested in American film heritage in Montana?

I'm from Montana, and I'm pretty interested

[Big Ben]

Do you meet a lot of folks interested in American film heritage in Montana?

Yes actually but I'll raise anyway. I can name ONE time they knew a film I asked about. Vidas Secas. But that was only because it was a famous book.

Brazil to the best of my knowledge lacks the infrastructure to preserve or even restore a lot of these films. A great number of my friends don't care about their film heritage because they simply don't have access to anything. At all. Glauber Rocha for instance was entirely unknown to them as was the entirety of the rest of Cinema Novo.

The difference between the US and Brazil here is that they don't have the same ability to see what we do. They don't have a Criterion Collection.

[felipe]

Do you meet a lot of folks interested in American film heritage in Montana?

Yes actually but I'll raise anyway. I can name ONE time they knew a film I asked about. Vidas Secas. But that was only because it was a famous book.

Brazil to the best of my knowledge lacks the infrastructure to preserve or even restore a lot of these films. A great number of my friends don't care about their film heritage because they simply don't have access to anything. At all. Glauber Rocha for instance was entirely unknown to them as was the entirety of the rest of Cinema Novo.

The difference between the US and Brazil here is that they don't have the same ability to see what we do. They don't have a Criterion Collection.

I'm from Brazil.

1. Very few people know about old Brazilian movies (or TV shows, music, or whatever else that would be deemed "old").
2. Few people watch "art" films, so don't expect a lot of Brazilians to know about Neighboring Sounds either.
3. You're way more likely to find a Brazilian that knows about American classics than Brazilian ones.
4. While some classic Brazilian films have been released on dvd, they're extremely hard to find. I've never seen Glauber Rocha at a rental shop. Most classics have never seen a DVD release, and when they have it's not very likely to have been restored.
5. There are however some people that care about these movies. The only place we usually find them is on the internet though. Some are available on YouTube. Quality is never really good.

[L.A.]

O Bandido da Luz Vermelha / The Red Light Bandit (1968)

Fortunately something has been restored in Brazil. Versatil released a nice DVD some years ago. Everything subbed in English.

Not sure when No País das Amazonas (1922) came out but I'm intrigued.

[colinr0380]

I'm really excited by this month's releases too. Though I still refuse to believe my eyes that Criterion are releasing Dheepan until we get a wacky newsletter clue showing a deep pan pizza.

Was CODE UNKNOWN a Haneke one-off? I expected that we'd get a steady drip of titles after that release, but that was over a year ago, and to my knowledge there haven't been any more hints of anything forthcoming.

People have been speculating about The Piano Teacher for close to a decade now. It's at the top of my Haneke wishlist, maybe they're waiting on rights or a restoration. I'd certainly rather wait for a proper release than have a repeat of the Code Unknown disc just to have another Haneke in hand.

I'd be ready for lots more Haneke. After Code Unknown The Piano Teacher is my favourite Haneke film, but I also think that Time of the Wolf (a close third!) could really benefit from a Blu-ray version, especially due to all those scenes taking place in deep shadow or firelight against pitch blackness.

Then there are all those early works that could benefit from an upgrade from the Kino editions. But selfishly speaking (because I want to see them!), I think the real coup here would be if it were possible to negotiate a release of Haneke's otherwise unavailable early TV films in a set.

[Brian C]

I'd like TIME OF THE WOLF too, but I wonder what the rights situation is on that one. It was never a Kino title, but rather was with the seemingly-defunct Palm Pictures (who, it should be said, at least put out a decent DVD of the film back in the day).

If those Palm titles are available, they should go after Assayas's CLEAN, also.

[Minkin]

Might Haneke be working on some other projects now? I know many releases have been delayed for years until they can get the director in to approve the transfer/supplements/etc (Y tu Mama Tambien was one case).

Also, I'd expect some sort of contemporary shorts set - based on the large number having been added to Filmstruck under the Criterion banner.

[swo17]

If those Palm titles are available, they should go after Assayas's CLEAN, also.

demonlover as well.

[criterion10]

Might Haneke be working on some other projects now?

Haneke is in post-production on his latest film, Happy End, which presumably we'll see later this year. I'd say that has to be the reason for the hold up on his other films.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I'd like TIME OF THE WOLF too, but I wonder what the rights situation is on that one. It was never a Kino title, but rather was with the seemingly-defunct Palm Pictures (who, it should be said, at least put out a decent DVD of the film back in the day).

If those Palm titles are available, they should go after Assayas's CLEAN, also.

I actually dealt with Palm a couple of weeks ago. They're still around and still handling theatrical bookings, but they're not renewing anything, so once their rights expire they're presumably up for grabs. One title I'd love to see Criterion go after is Memories of Murder (which I was specifically told had expired), but given their general indifference to Korean cinema I'm not holding my breath. Clean on the other hand is still with Palm. I don't know about demonlover or the Haneke, since they never came up.

[acidgoat]

It would be great if Criterion were to pick up Morvern Callar from Palm Pictures since they already have Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher in the Collection.

[FrauBlucher]

Just a reminder for those folks that can and want to attend.... not sure if they are streaming any of the discussions. ...

Wexner has a couple of the Criterion programs scheduled for Feb of 2017.

First, sound restoration with Ryan Hullings, Audio Superivisor on the 24th.

The following day Lee Kline presents Mildred Pierce.

[Minkin]

Just a reminder for those folks that can and want to attend.... not sure if they are streaming any of the discussions. ...

Wexner has a couple of the Criterion programs scheduled for Feb of 2017.

First, sound restoration with Ryan Hullings, Audio Superivisor on the 24th.

The following day Lee Kline presents Mildred Pierce.

Did anybody manage to go to either events this year? I don't think they streamed it this year. Too bad.

Someone attended last year - and then we found out about Dersu Uzala - so I was hoping somebody might have seen some of the other stuff they were restoring.

[Harmonov]

It would be great if Criterion were to pick up Morvern Callar from Palm Pictures since they already have Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher in the Collection.

I couldn't agree more. I'd love to have this on Blu and with subtitles since the language is so hard to understand in parts of the film. I saw Morvern at the Chicago International Film Fest when it came out and Ramsay was scheduled to be there but was sick and couldn't make the screening.

[FrauBlucher]

I watched His Girl Friday this morning. Just got me wondering what other Hawk's film(s) could join the Collection. There seems to be several from his 30s output that could be candidates. Someone at Criterion is a big fan. So, keep'em coming.

[domino harvey]

I would bet money on Twentieth Century and Bringing Up Baby

[What A Disgrace]

I'd love for Criterion to rescue more titles from the Archive - give the wacky C to The Big Sky.

[FrauBlucher]

Bringing Up Baby is a good bet and twentieth Century has been restored.

Hey, does anyone know the backstory for Robert Rossen getting a co-director credit on Scarface?

[Rayon Vert]

Watching Bringing Up Baby recently, the print/transfer on the DVD really doesn't look that good, so a Criterion release would be very welcome.

[Randall Maysin]

I was hoping Criterion would get around to releasing Gunga Din, as its an allegedly major and really good film that I've never seen but always wanted to, and apparently the print used for the dvd is in terrible shape. But I guess their dumping of all their George Stevens extras on a film considered to be inferior nixes that. Hmmph.

[Jakamarak]

Hey, does anyone know the backstory for Robert Rossen getting a co-director credit on Scarface?

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this...

The movie famously ran into issues with the censors. It took over a year to push it through. Hughes tried all sorts of cuts and additions including adding a handful of moralizing scenes so the audience would know this film that glorified criminality wasn't glorifying criminality. Hawks either refused to shoot those scenes or was unavailable. I've heard both versions reported. Rossen was the director of those added scenes. I haven't seen the movie in some time, but as I recall one is in a newspaper office and another is with a politician and they stand out as being at odds with the rest of the movie in terms of tone as well as the camerawork.

[vidussoni]

Bringing Up Baby is a good bet and twentieth Century has been restored.

Hey, does anyone know the backstory for Robert Rossen getting a co-director credit on Scarface?

That was Richard Rosson, not Robert Rossen. The book Bullets Over Hollywood says the scenes with the police chief and the newspaper publisher were added because of the censors. Rosson shot those scenes, as Hawks was already working on his next project.

[FrauBlucher]

Indeed, thanks for the correction.

Rosson began his long association with Howard Hawks by helping direct Scarface (1932). Rosson was used by Hawks as a second-unit director on four of his films, and Rosson was the co-director with Hawks on another film, Today We Live (1933). Rosson also directed the logging sequences in Hawks' _Come and Get It (1936)_ (producer Samuel Goldwyn fired Hawks and replaced him with William Wyler to complete the picture). The association with Hawks lasted until the end of his career, with Hawks producing Rosson's final film, Corvette K-225 (1943). Altogether, Rosson and Hawks were jointly involved in the production of eight pictures.

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this...

The movie famously ran into issues with the censors. It took over a year to push it through. Hughes tried all sorts of cuts and additions including adding a handful of moralizing scenes so the audience would know this film that glorified criminality wasn't glorifying criminality. Hawks either refused to shoot those scenes or was unavailable. I've heard both versions reported. Rossen was the director of those added scenes. I haven't seen the movie in some time, but as I recall one is in a newspaper office and another is with a politician and they stand out as being at odds with the rest of the movie in terms of tone as well as the camerawork.

With Scarface having such an interesting backstory of Hays Commision censorship and Howard Hughes input I could see Criterion wanting to release this as well.