Kino Lorber Studio Classics

[domino harvey]

I just peeked over at the Blu-ray.com forum and the Insider said none of the new upgrades are for new to disc titles. It’s kind of hard to think of a less exciting studio partnership than this with these perimeters

[captveg]

If we get a UHD and some new-to-Blu 3D titles out of it I'll be glad for it. They are still looking to continue licensing from MGM and Universal, so plenty of potential still to come all around.

But yes, someone needs to crack that Disney holdings again for the remaining Touchstone/Hollywood Pictures titles and now the 20th Century catalog.

[therewillbeblus]

The only good news would be if KLSC rereleases the Woody Allens (I already own versions of them, but it would be a valuable public service for those who don't). I forget how liberal the label is regarding their willingness to release anything vs. consciousness to zeitgeist risk management, but they're so exhaustingly prolific in their output, I can't imagine they care enough to put much stake in- nor would many pay attention and cite them for- what falls through the cracks.

[dwk]

Sure thing:

SpoilerShow

Auto Focus is not from 1940s-1990s, so that's out.

Christine, Philadelphia, Oliver!, and Sense and Sensibility all have Sony UHDs, so I'd say no reason to license those.

Major Dundee was just released by Arrow.

The Blob had a recent release by Scream Factory.

Some of these have had two TT releases or post-TT releases by Sony: Fright Night, Pal Joey, The Big Heat, Mysterious Island, Bye Bye Birdie, Night of the Living Dead (1990), Bell, Book and Candle, Picnic, Steel Magnolias, Sleepless in Seattle, Body Double (BD-R), Used Cars, The Remains of the Day, A Man for All Seasons, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. This doesn't rule all these out (arguably it makes some more likely), but it seems these would be less likely on average.

Hard Times, The Valachi Papers, and The Stone Killer were included in a Bronson Mill Creek set.

Alamo Bay was included in a "Scars of War" Mill Creek set.

Mindwarp was included in a Mill Creek double feature.

Miss Sadie Thompson and You'll Never Get Rich were included in a Rita Hayworth Mill Creek set.

The Crimson Kimono was included in a Kit Parker Noir Archive set.

The Pirates of Blood River was included in a Hammer Mill Creek set.

A Mill Creek release, especially one in a multi-film set, doesn't rule out another label releasing it (both MC and Shout/Scream released Brainscan and both MC and Criterion released The Squid and the Whale.)

Shout released Used Cars not Sony and Scream released John Carpenter's Vampires

[captveg]

A Mill Creek release, especially one in a multi-film set, doesn't rule out another label releasing it (both MC and Shout/Scream released Brainscan and both MC and Criterion released The Squid and the Whale.)

Of course, but I'd say those were less likely, on average.

Shout released Used Cars not Sony and Scream released John Carpenter's Vampires

Thanks. Fixed/updated.

[dwk]

Interesting that Sony is open to licensing UHD rights.

Eh, maybe not

We're hoping to add the 4K rights to one title out of thirty-one. We currently have only Blu-ray rights for the films in the package.

[beamish14]

Anyone that wants to work on narrowing it down, can, but I pretty much have everything off this list that I want (either from TT or Indicator.)

Sure thing:

SpoilerShow

Auto Focus is not from 1940s-1990s, so that's out.

Christine, Philadelphia, Oliver!, and Sense and Sensibility all have Sony UHDs, so I'd say no reason to license those.

Major Dundee was just released by Arrow.

The Blob, John Carpenter's Vampires and Used Cars had recent releases by Shout/Scream Factory.

Some of these have had two TT releases or post-TT releases by Sony: Fright Night, Pal Joey, The Big Heat, Mysterious Island, Bye Bye Birdie, Night of the Living Dead (1990), Bell, Book and Candle, Picnic, Steel Magnolias, Sleepless in Seattle, Body Double (BD-R), The Remains of the Day, A Man for All Seasons, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. This doesn't rule all these out (arguably it makes some more likely), but it seems these would be less likely on average.

Hard Times, The Valachi Papers, and The Stone Killer were included in a Bronson Mill Creek set.

Alamo Bay was included in a "Scars of War" Mill Creek set.

Mindwarp was included in a Mill Creek double feature.

Miss Sadie Thompson and You'll Never Get Rich were included in a Rita Hayworth Mill Creek set.

The Crimson Kimono was included in a Kit Parker Noir Archive set.

The Pirates of Blood River was included in a Hammer Mill Creek set.

This is kind of an aside, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Twilight Time and Mill Creek discs of Alamo Bay look radically different. The DP requested to completely color time from scratch the film for TT's disc. Could be interesting to have both looks on disc, a la Reflections in a Golden Eye, but I doubt there's enough interest in the film, despite Louis Malle's involvement.

[nitin]

overlap could be with Mill Creek released titles too, not just TT. And so I dream of a UHD for something like The Lady from Shanghai

[captveg]

KL Insider has said none of the 3D titles will be new to Blu, so that narrows it down to just the previous TT titles for the 3D titles in this deal. Bummer for someone like myself who has the Twilight Time releases, but maybe now that they have made one deal they may get another in the future where the other non-released 3D titles can get tackled.

[L.A.]

Coming January 11th! Pre-Order Now!
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/gamb ... on-blu-ray

Gambit (1966)
• Brand New 4K Restoration by Universal Pictures!
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Sergio Mims and Nathaniel Thompson
• Audio Commentary by Director Ronald Neame
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Art
• Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase
• Optional English Subtitles

Color 109 Minutes 2.35:1 Not Rated
Starring screen icons Michael Caine (The Ipcress File) and Shirley MacLaine (Irma La Douce), Gambit is a delightful yet deadly game of international cat-and-mouse. The fast-paced caper takes off in Hong Kong where a dapper English cat burglar (Caine) enlists the aid of a Eurasian dancer (MacLaine) to help him in an elaborate scheme to grab an age-old artifact from the heavily secured palace of a powerful Middle Eastern tycoon (Herbert Lom, The Pink Panther Strikes Again). Unfortunately, the foolproof scheme begins to backfire shortly after it starts and the duo must pull out all the stops if they hope to come out on top. Dazzling music by Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia) and Technicolor cinematography by Clifford Stine (Bedtime Story) highlight this classic heist comedy from the incomparable Ronald Neame, director of Golden Salamander, The Horse’s Mouth, The Chalk Garden, The Poseidon Adventure, Meteor and Hopscotch.

About the Restoration:
Gambit is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35. This 4K HD remaster, created from a 35mm original Techniscope negative, was commissioned by Universal Pictures, with restoration services provided by NBCUniversal StudioPost. Dirt, debris, scratches, splices, jitter, flicker, grain management film warps were removed using Resolve, MTI Nova and Algosoft

The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm DME Stems and Mono Combine track. Edited and mixed through ProTools using various plugins and EQ tools, including iZotope RX and Cedar.

[domino harvey]

A very enjoyable film, and one of only fourteen movies named by Jack Shaheen in his book Reel Bad Arabs as offering an exemplary portrayal of Arabs

[MichaelB]

The others appear to be:

The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Sahara (1943)
for sympathetic portrayals of the Arab people as a whole;

The Desert Song (1929)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944)
Son of Sinbad (1955)
Aladdin and His Magic Lamp (1969)
for sympathetically-portrayed heroic Arab protagonists;

Chandu the Magician (1932)
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
for sympathetically-portrayed Arab supporting characters;
(Gambit is in this group, too)

Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
The Camel Boy (1984)
La Haine (1995)
for being non-American films that offer a balanced and fair treatment of Arabs;

Beyond the Walls (1984)
Cup Final (1992)
for being Israeli films that offer a balanced and fair treatment of Arabs.

Although I don't think Shaheen is claiming that this list is necessarily definitive - he merely cites those titles as good examples of how to portray Arabs positively. For example, it's interesting that The Battle of Algiers isn't on it, despite Shaheen's clearly very high regard for the film; this might be because it portrays some Arabs as terrorists (although obviously with far more justification and nuance than the average Hollywood thriller, a point that Shaheen himself stresses), but I don't think anyone could sensibly claim that the film isn't pro-Arab.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Battle of Algiers appeared on the much longer "recommended" list in the first edition. The second and third editions promoted it to the "best" list. I don't know where the list above comes from, but a few of those films (Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, Son of Sinbad, Chandu the Magician) aren't even on the "recommended" list, and his writeup of Chandu is pretty negative (though its follow-up The Return of Chandu earns a recommendation).

Here's the original "best" list from the first edition:

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Beyond the Walls
The Black Tent
Cup Final
Gambit
King Richard and the Crusaders
Lion of the Desert
Madame Rosa
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
The Thief of Bagdad
The 13th Warrior
Three Kings

The second edition added Battle of Algiers and Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus; the third edition list was unchanged.

[ryannichols7]

The only good news would be if KLSC rereleases the Woody Allens (I already own versions of them, but it would be a valuable public service for those who don't). I forget how liberal the label is regarding their willingness to release anything vs. consciousness to zeitgeist risk management, but they're so exhaustingly prolific in their output, I can't imagine they care enough to put much stake in- nor would many pay attention and cite them for- what falls through the cracks.

I believe at this point, criterion is the only label who buys into this (though naturally all of Polanski's movies remain and they of course just released Sweet Sweetback with *huge* fanfare). and considering they have never been in the market for bringing Allen's films to disc, I think no loss.

would be wonderful for KLSC to bring these back given the lack of availability for the titles at the moment

[dwk]

I remember a Criterion producer explicitly said they had no interest in the Allen titles because they couldn't produce extras for them. So it would be pointless for them to license (although this was before Arrow got around this by doing a big book of essay in their sets.)

So Allen's films are a better fit for Kino's model, they would avoid controversy because they release so many titles a month and they'd be cheap.

[ryannichols7]

exactly where I stand on it too. I generally don't enjoy seeing titles I like go to Kino as they often short change on extras (but then you have CC who sit on licenses forever, Arrow who don't do booklets - no one truly can be perfect I guess!) and sometimes transfers, but I think they'd actually be a perfect fit for Allen titles. as nice as the arrow booklets would've been to have, not the end of the world for me to not have them. being able to score these titles for $10 on disc would be much more fitting, and we know the transfers are already good

[domino harvey]

The Battle of Algiers appeared on the much longer "recommended" list in the first edition. The second and third editions promoted it to the "best" list. I don't know where the list above comes from, but a few of those films (Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, Son of Sinbad, Chandu the Magician) aren't even on the "recommended" list, and his writeup of Chandu is pretty negative (though its follow-up The Return of Chandu earns a recommendation).

Here's the original "best" list from the first edition:

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Beyond the Walls
The Black Tent
Cup Final
Gambit
King Richard and the Crusaders
Lion of the Desert
Madame Rosa
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
The Thief of Bagdad
The 13th Warrior
Three Kings

The second edition added Battle of Algiers and Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus; the third edition list was unchanged.

Thanks for this. My copy is the second edition so that’s where I got the fourteen above. Didn’t realize there were differences in this category between the editions!

Also, Gambit had an amusing publicity campaign where they told audiences it was fine if they revealed the ending, but asked that they not spoil the beginning of the film!

[FrauBlucher]

I remember a Criterion producer explicitly said they had no interest in the Allen titles because they couldn't produce extras for them. So it would be pointless for them to license (although this was before Arrow got around this by doing a big book of essay in their sets.)

So Allen's films are a better fit for Kino's model, they would avoid controversy because they release so many titles a month and they'd be cheap.

I'm sure that if Woody Allen had the love for the home video market the way Wes Anderson or Jim Jarmusch and others do Criterion would be thrilled to work with him

[dwk]

Ha, I'm not sure I'd go that far now, but I'm sure they would have in the past.

I know I've said this before, there is a certain amount of scrutiny, fair or unfair, that Criterion gets that the other labels don't, so it is perfectly reasonable for them to not pursue some stuff that would be too much of a headache.

[Ovader]

Was it already known KL has THE APARTMENT? Joseph McBride posted on his FB account the following:

The film Billy Wilder told me he considered his best, THE APARTMENT. I asked why, and he said because it was his most seamless blend of comedy and drama, the mixture he had worked for throughout his career. I consider this rapturous, climactic closeup of Shirley MacLaine the most beautiful shot of Wilder's career. I had the honor today of recording the audio commentary for this great film (written by Wilder with his longtime collaborator I. A. L. Diamond) for the upcoming Kino Lorber Blu-ray. Alberto Hernandez again was the recording engineer who works with me so creatively at the Fantasy studio in Berkeley.

[yoloswegmaster]

I'm pretty sure that this is new news. He only mentions a bluray release but it will probably be a 4K release as Arrow's release is still in-print in the U.S.

[dwk]

Freaky. I was just wondering if Kino had picked up the UHD rights to The Apartment.

[yoloswegmaster]

The Apartment has been officially announced as a 4K UHD release.

[domino harvey]

KLSC is like the Nouveau riche of boutique labels. “I don’t know what to do, I’ll just do what my perceived peers have done but BIGGER and TACKIER!”

[Finch]

I wonder if Arrow's license for the Wilder expired. Either way, I'm holding on their release which is too good aesthetically and for bonus content to sell for KL's 4k disc, and the jury is still out on whether their UHD will be safe to buy.

Since KL didn't get Carrie, it seems fair to assume Arrow got the 4k rights from MGM (might be time to retire the Shout Factory BD).