Hey, everybody! The Third Man is out of print.

[mfunk9786]

By coincidence, I bought seven copies of the blu-ray from DVDPacific last night and subsequently totaled my car this morning. If I'm lucky maybe these two events will balance each other in the long run.

Sounds like your karmajuice balanced out nicely.

[Tom Hagen]

This is starting to remind me of the news reports from eighteen months ago where people started hoarding 20 pound bags of rice from Costco and Wal Mart.

[aox]

This is starting to remind me of the news reports from eighteen months ago where people started hoarding 20 pound bags of rice from Costco and Wal Mart.

Do you realize how many bags of rice I'll be able to buy after I sell this disc?

[Gregory]

I would be cautious speculating on something like this even if it's obviously about to become at least a little harder to buy. Big sellers on Amazon will sometimes buy up hundreds of something and sell them at a pretty small profit over a long period of time. That won't necessarily happen with this, but in the worst case scenario it'll be hard for people to make anything on the extra copies they've bought, at least anytime soon.

[Erikht]

I would be cautious speculating on something like this even if it's obviously about to become at least a little harder to buy. Big sellers on Amazon will sometimes buy up hundreds of something and sell them at a pretty small profit over a long period of time. That won't necessarily happen with this, but in the worst case scenario it'll be hard for people to make anything on the extra copies they've bought, at least anytime soon.

Besides, the market for these things are here on this forum, telling each other how many discs they bought.

[Napier]

I would be cautious speculating on something like this even if it's obviously about to become at least a little harder to buy. Big sellers on Amazon will sometimes buy up hundreds of something and sell them at a pretty small profit over a long period of time. That won't necessarily happen with this, but in the worst case scenario it'll be hard for people to make anything on the extra copies they've bought, at least anytime soon.

Besides, the market for these things are here on this forum, telling each other how many discs they bought.

Don't fool yourself. If DiCrapio and Spider Man really are remaking this, people who have never seen the original (blasphemers), will pay a pretty penny to get a Criterion Blu-ray.

[swo17]

Unless this turns out to be like Charade, which was only put out of print long enough to package it with its crappy remake as a bonus feature.

[Napier]

Unless this turns out to be like Charade, which was only put out of print long enough to package it with its crappy remake as a bonus feature.

There's no remake on the Criterion re-issue of Charade. Is there?

[nsps]

Unless this turns out to be like Charade, which was only put out of print long enough to package it with its crappy remake as a bonus feature.

Well, they are remaking The Third Man…

Maybe they want it to be out of print so people don't know what the twist is.

[Gregory]

The Third Man remake is still in the rumor stage, so it'll probably be quite a while before that has much impact on the value of the OOP Criterion.

Unless this turns out to be like Charade, which was only put out of print long enough to package it with its crappy remake as a bonus feature.

There's no remake on the Criterion re-issue of Charade. Is there?

Here. Hurry, everyone -- it's out of print. I'm sure lots of Criterion aficionados will want a copy of The Truth About Charlie, which includes appearances by both Karina and Varda!

[zedz]

Unless this turns out to be like Charade, which was only put out of print long enough to package it with its crappy remake as a bonus feature.

There's no remake on the Criterion re-issue of Charade. Is there?

I think swo's point was that Charade only went out of print briefly so that it could come out as a twofer with its remake (since there was going to be a big gap in the nation's bargain bins about three months out from release).

But I don't think that will be the case with The Third Man. Surely any new rightsholder would realise that this should be a long-term catalogue seller in its own right.

[nsps]

The Third Man remake is still in the rumor stage, so it'll probably be quite a while before that has much impact on the value of the OOP Criterion.

Unless this turns out to be like Charade, which was only put out of print long enough to package it with its crappy remake as a bonus feature.

There's no remake on the Criterion re-issue of Charade. Is there?

Here. Hurry, everyone -- it's out of print. I'm sure lots of Criterion aficionados will want a copy of The Truth About Charlie, which includes appearances by both Karina and Varda!

Aw, shit. New copies have already been marked up to $3.67. Damned opportunistic gougers.

In other news, my Third Man BD—and my first BD besides the Snow White set I bought before getting a player—just arrived. Can't wait to give it a spin!

[Murdoch]

Got my blu today from amazon and it came in a hard case, for anyone who wants to know.

[willoneill]

After being out of stock ever since the OOP annoucement, Amazon.ca all of a sudden has copies again. 28.99 CDN.

[Matt]

The fact that the Rialto box set (and the Essential Art House set) still seems to be in print leads me to think that Criterion lost the rights not to The Third Man itself, but instead to one of the special features. It would be nice if Criterion were more forthcoming on the situation, but I'm sure they're quite happy with the way sales are going on this title right now.

[Brian C]

The fact that the Rialto box set (and the Essential Art House set) still seems to be in print leads me to think that Criterion lost the rights not to The Third Man itself, but instead to one of the special features. It would be nice if Criterion were more forthcoming on the situation, but I'm sure they're quite happy with the way sales are going on this title right now.

Wouldn't they simply drop the feature for future printing runs, like they did with the original Seven Samurai disc when Toho objected to the restoration demo? That would make a lot more sense than spiking a popular title (especially wrt the Blu).

[HistoryProf]

Well i'd been putting this one off since i still had the original CC release and hadn't upgraded yet. the blu is out of stock everywhere I checked on line except Deep Discount, so bit the bullet and ordered it there for $32. that's about $7 more than I can normally justify, but I figure this is as good if not better than a savings account, so screw it. might bight on the SD too if I can get it at the B&N sale. Might be worth checking to see if the local border's still has it tomorrow with their 40% coupon this weekend too.

[SuperBlu]

The fact that the Rialto box set (and the Essential Art House set) still seems to be in print leads me to think that Criterion lost the rights not to The Third Man itself, but instead to one of the special features. It would be nice if Criterion were more forthcoming on the situation, but I'm sure they're quite happy with the way sales are going on this title right now.

Maybe Criterion lost the rights to the remastered print but not the old print. I believe Essential Art House has the old print of The Third Man.

[willoneill]

Wouldn't they simply drop the feature for future printing runs, like they did with the original Seven Samurai disc when Toho objected to the restoration demo? That would make a lot more sense than spiking a popular title (especially wrt the Blu).

Maybe that's exactly what they are doing. If they lost the rights to that supplement suddenly, as it seems is the case, then it would take some time to re-prepare the title, during which the old version would have to be taken out of print.

[Brian C]

Wouldn't they simply drop the feature for future printing runs, like they did with the original Seven Samurai disc when Toho objected to the restoration demo? That would make a lot more sense than spiking a popular title (especially wrt the Blu).

Maybe that's exactly what they are doing. If they lost the rights to that supplement suddenly, as it seems is the case, then it would take some time to re-prepare the title, during which the old version would have to be taken out of print.

I guess that's not *impossible* as such, but...

Well, I guess I don't see what the big mystery is here. It's a StudioCanal title. Criterion has lost other high-profile StudioCanal titles to Lionsgate. Why is this not the overwhelmingly most likely explanation?

[willoneill]

I guess that's not *impossible* as such, but...

Well, I guess I don't see what the big mystery is here. It's a StudioCanal title. Criterion has lost other high-profile StudioCanal titles to Lionsgate. Why is this not the overwhelmingly most likely explanation?

I would absolutely agree, except for the fact that the Rialto box (and the Janus box) are still in print. I'm not an expert, but I would think you either have the rights to sell a film, or you don't. But too be fair, I've heard of weirder things, so who knows. And most likely, Criterion won't tell you.

[HistoryProf]

FYI: Found a copy of the Blu ray at my local Border's and they have a 40% coupon good till tomorrow - came out to $25 + tax. It is the cardboard case though...which was a bummer.

[dad1153]

FYI: Found a copy of the Blu ray at my local Border's and they have a 40% coupon good till tomorrow - came out to $25 + tax. It is the cardboard case though...which was a bummer.

That's the one I have (and the one that might ends up becoming a bigger collectable than the now-widely available plastic case) and the one I'm keeping. I don't mind the cardboard packaging as long as the flick inside is any good and in 1080p rez.

[Matango]

Just ordered the BD from Amazon yesterday as I'm still on the original SD. I see it's out of stock now, with some joker asking $128 for a new copy already.

[PillowRock]

FYI: Found a copy of the Blu ray at my local Border's and they have a 40% coupon good till tomorrow - came out to $25 + tax. It is the cardboard case though...which was a bummer.

I did the same thing yesterday, except that if you do the math you'll find that it should be $24 (well, 23.99) plus tax (which, at the local 6% sales tax rate, works out to be $25.45 total).

And it was still the cardboard packaging at my local Borders, too.