The Criterion Channel -- Film and Content Discussion

[Matt]

The Film Stage usually publishes the forthcoming lineup as a list of titles. Here’s May.

Margot at the Wedding!

[therewillbeblus]

Wasn't Margot at the Wedding on it last year? I could've sworn I recommended it to my friend before it went off. Hopefully back-so-soon means something..

[criterionsnob]

Suzuki's Everything Goes Wrong opens with Criterion and Janus logos on the channel.

[yoloswegmaster]

Everything Goes Wrong has opened with both logos since the Filmstruck days.

[fiendishthingy]

Louis Garrel’s The Innocent (L’innocent) will be streaming on the Channel starting on May 23.

[dwk]

June lineup

[SeizureMilk]

Really solid month overall, as a bisexual myself, I will might be going into the new Araki collection (which I believe is a revival) and Queersighted as that kind of cinema's really been a blind spot to me, but much more excited about watching/re-watching a lot of the classic cinema this month, especially the screwball comedies and method actor films, though I'm surprised they didn't include the wonderfully subversive Eating Raoul or at least a Sturges film.

[ianthemovie]

I'll be curious to find out if Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Misfits, and Adam's Rib are new restorations; The Misfits was recently restored, if I recall correctly. Haven't all three of these titles have been rumored to be coming from Criterion at one point or another?

[soundchaser]

Adam's Rib is on HBO Max; I'd be surprised if it were anything other than whatever master is streaming there.

[SeizureMilk]

I'll be curious to find out if Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Misfits, and Adam's Rib are new restorations; The Misfits was recently restored, if I recall correctly. Haven't all three of these titles have been rumored to be coming from Criterion at one point or another?

I think they've all been requested but nothing to confirm that they would be coming outside of speculation based off previous titles in the Collection.

[dwk]

...Araki collection (which I believe is a revival) ...

I don't think The Doom Generation was part of the earlier Araki collection, but the other two definitely were.

[SeizureMilk]

...Araki collection (which I believe is a revival) ...

I don't think The Doom Generation was part of the earlier Araki collection, but the other two definitely were.

Ah yes that's right, it was The Living End, for some reason I thought it was The Doom Generation but I must have misremembered.

[yoloswegmaster]

I'm curious if they will host a series later in the year that honors the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros.

[Matt]

I think if that was going to happen it would have been in April while TCM was doing the same.

[ntnon]

...excited about watching/re-watching a lot of the classic cinema this month, especially the screwball comedies..

It's only been (six?) months since the last Screwball line-up, and I am extremely pleased to see half-a-dozen in this list that weren't there last time. It could always be more comprehensive, but any screwball is great.

[ntnon]

Case in point - Breakfast for Two (1937) with Barbara Stanwyck is thorough entertaining. Not just for the lightweight plot, but the mistakes kept in the film (Herbet Marshall begins to put on a left-handed boxing glove and succeeds when it becomes a right-handed one), the weird scenes (window cleaner attack, marriage at a train station), the distinct turn into slapstick on a couple of occasions, none more so than the finale, and some scene-stealing turns by random people: a porter at the train station smiling, and a catty query after an attempted marriage.

Barbara Stanwyck has an uncanny ability in so many films to slowly smile and gaze adoringly to the side that just transcends whatever film she's in and makes (me) root for her madcap scheme to pay off.

[Matt]

Yes, one of my favorite minor screwballs. The Mad Miss Manton, starring Stanwyck and Henry Fonda and also showing on the Channel this month, is another favorite.

This genre must do very well for them since they keep returning to its well. They’ll get no complaints from me about it.

[rrenault]

Has the Criterion Channel quietly begun offering 4K on certain titles? I see mention of 4K resolution in a few of the FAQ answers on the Channel site.

There's this text: "We support 4K/HDR videos on desktop and mobile browsers."

https://www.criterionchannel.com/help/w ... o-playback

[Never Cursed]

Not exactly sure where to put this, but the version of The French Connection currently streaming on Criterion Channel is censored to remove two lines containing racial slurs said by Gene Hackman's character. Disney currently owns the film and supplied Criterion with that master, so I imagine the choice was Disney's rather than Criterion's. The rentable version on Amazon retains the censored lines. This isn't the first time Disney has done this with streaming copies of their films, but I think it is the first time they've supplied one of those censored copies to another streamer

[beamish14]

Not exactly sure where to put this, but the version of The French Connection currently streaming on Criterion Channel is censored to remove two lines containing racial slurs said by Gene Hackman's character. Disney currently owns the film and supplied Criterion with that master, so I imagine the choice was Disney's rather than Criterion's. The rentable version on Amazon retains the censored lines. This isn't the first time Disney has done this with streaming copies of their films, but I think it is the first time they've supplied one of those censored copies to another streamer

Someone should tell Friedkin on Twitter. He might have an entertaining shit fit

[yoloswegmaster]

Soneone on reddit emailed Criterion and this is what they responded with:

“THE FRENCH CONNECTION is a 20th Century Fox film title that we have under license from Disney, its current owners. This is the only version that has ever been available to us for streaming. The question you raise has come up when we have played the film in the past, and according to our licensor, this is a “Director's Edit” of the film.”

[Drucker]

According to Hollywood Elsewhere, this line was also removed from a DCP screening that occurred at the Aero on 5/12.

[beamish14]

According to Hollywood Elsewhere, this line was also removed from a DCP screening that occurred at the Aero on 5/12.

Interesting. As an aside, Friedkin is VERY big on digital projection, and asks that DCPs get shown at events that he attends

[FrauBlucher]

Criterion should've ran a disclaimer about the censored lines

[therewillbeblus]

Obviously it's frustrating that elements of film are being excised based on current sensitivities, especially since such moves mirror a coddling-generation intervention pitched at adults, which feels patronizing. Though in this case it also disallows the character's most abrasive flaws from contributing to complex study and modern sociopolitical interests. If thought through, wouldn't it be preferable to both sides of the political spectrum to leave these bits in? The right doesn't want the PC Police intervening on Good Hard Cop Drama or whatever, and the left certainly wants more narrative fiction showing cops engaging in racist behavior to authenticate that belief system... so in watering it down, everybody loses