Known Problems and Replacement Discs

[Tribe]

Only other non-fixed issue I recall is that a scene (or two?) on Jules and Jim were apparently flipped (left is right, right is left), but like Tribe said, a little out of scope, if nothing's been done about it.

I don't believe that was a Criterion screw up...as I recall the flipped scenes were like that in the master print.

[Matt]

Discreet Charm was fixed. I got my replacement directly from Criterion.

If someone wants to agree to compile and maintain a list, we can move it to the FAQ and Reference thread (or wherever else it makes sense), otherwise this haphazard thread will have to suffice.

[fdm]

Discreet Charm was fixed. I got my replacement directly from Criterion.

Okay, that makes 11...

[captveg]

The first printing of Brazil (Disc 1) would freeze on the layer break on some Toshiba players (including the one I owned at the time ~10 years ago). It was fixed on second printing as well as the current anamorphic 3rd printing.

[swo17]

Discreet Charm was fixed. I got my replacement directly from Criterion.

I presume you mean just the subtitle issue was fixed? The AR issue has not been acknowledged by Criterion as being in error, right?

Another question: How can you tell if you have a second pressing? Is this always specified on the back cover? Do we need to document serial numbers here so people can be sure?

fdm, thanks for digging that information up. Do you happen to have any details about the problem with the first pressing of Dead Ringers?

Matt, I'd be willing to maintain a reference list, though it would probably be a good idea to keep this open as a thread for a while to get as much information as possible from anyone that knows anything.

[captveg]

In regards to Brazil and a serial number, I no longer have the original printing case (which I purchased) or the second printing disc (that I got from Criterion as a replacement) due to having upgraded to the 3rd printing / anamorphic wacky C release.

[Matt]

Discreet Charm was fixed. I got my replacement directly from Criterion.

I presume you mean just the subtitle issue was fixed? The AR issue has not been acknowledged by Criterion as being in error, right?

Yes, just the subs. Criterion does not make AR mistakes, young man.

[Svevan]

They should add that to their mission statement.

[fdm]

Another question: How can you tell if you have a second pressing? Is this always specified on the back cover? Do we need to document serial numbers here so people can be sure?

fdm, thanks for digging that information up. Do you happen to have any details about the problem with the first pressing of Dead Ringers?

My replacements all have 2nd printing on them; some I didn't initially get until they already were 2nd printings. Guess I missed Discreet Charm, which I still may try to replace, and Brazil, which I don't anticipate needing to bother with (both my non-anamorphic and anamorphic copies are 1st printings; the non-anamorphic copy in the boxset played okay for me, the anamorphic one is still kevyip).

[swo17]

Yeah, I checked all the ones that I own and they all say "second printing" on the back except for Dead Ringers. I'm really curious to know what's wrong with the first printing of that one, so I know if it's worth hunting on ebay for a second printing. I know the film plays fine for me, though the soundtrack is fairly harsh.

Just to be clear on Brazil, was there a second printing of the anamorphic re-release?

[fdm]

Yeah, I checked all the ones that I own and they all say "second printing" on the back except for Dead Ringers. I'm really curious to know what's wrong with the first printing of that one, so I know if it's worth hunting on ebay for a second printing. I know the film plays fine for me, though the soundtrack is fairly harsh.

Thought I'd answered the Dead Ringers question... but guess it never quite made it into a post.

My recollection from the time was that the first printing had very bad sound (perhaps distorted in places), and the second printing was an attempt to correct it (I never had the first printing). I think the verdict was that the sound had improved, but it still left something (or a lot?) to be desired (been a while since I watched it, and only have a vague recollection that the sound didn't seem to be all that great, second printing or not).

(Maybe it was the older version of this forum where this was discussed...)

Would think you would actually want to get the WB version which is both anamorphic and perhaps has even better sound (thought I'd watched the WB, but it's apparently another one that's slipped deep into the kevyip). Quick scan of google brought up the possible issue that there may [have] be[en] bootleg copies of the Criterion floating around, I have no idea if true or not, so caveat emptor if you want to brave the ebay route.

[Tommaso]

Criterion does not make AR mistakes, young man.

Talking about AR mistakes, it seems nobody has cared much for the wrong AR on the following:

Under the roofs of Paris
Le Million
Boudu saved from drowning

possibly also (don't remember exactly now, sorry)

A nous la liberté

These should all be 1.19, but they were released in 1.33. An awful amount of chopped heads at least on "Boudu" and "Le Million".

[zedz]

The problem with those Clairs might be that they were all the later re-release versions (supervised by Clair, I believe, with some retrospective re-edits), so the modifed aspect ratio might be part of the way those versions were originally presented. If so, the original AR might not be available without a full restoration of the original version - if that's even possible at this stage. All purely speculative, of course!

[Tommaso]

Certainly a good point, zedz. But for me the most annoying case was "Boudu", and that's by Renoir, of course. And it's a much more recent disc than the Clairs, too, so I can't find any excuse for CC apart from them having simply taken over an existing master from the French instead of doing their own.

In general, it's regrettable that the 1.19 ratio has come to more general attention only relatively recently; a lot of otherwise fine releases from other labels suffer from this neglect. Even MK2's 2007 "Vampyr" was wrong in this respect.

[Matt]

It may not be for lack of Criterion's trying that Boudu is presented in a different OAR. I think they did their own transfer, after all. I'm fairly certain the original negative of the film no longer survives (and perhaps no original interpositives either). It may be the case that Boudu only survives in elements printed to what became the standard sound film ratio soon after the film's release.

[ezmbmh]

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but anyway...

Put in a quite used disc of Royal Tenenbaums a couple of weeks back and had problems with freezing and artifacts. E-mailed Mulvaney asking if I could buy just a copy of the first disc (2nd seemed alright on quick perusal) and got an e-mail saying they'd replace the whole set if I sent in the old one. Which they did.

I've heard of this happening, or something like it happening, before, but thought it merited saying again how they're an entirely different company from what you typically find out there.

[denti alligator]

Le Million is actually pretty close to 1.19:1. It's windowboxed, after all.

[LongTime FirstTime]

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but ....

Has anyone encountered any issues with the Red Shoes blu ray?
I got one for Xmas and it would not play at all in my blu ray player. Swapped it for another one which also will not play in my player. Menu doesn't come up. Doesn't respond to any buttons on the remote.

Got several other Criterion blus and no problems with any others. No DVD issues either -- just The Red Shoes and two different copies of it.

Thoughts, suggestions?

[knives]

The Red Shoes is a weird issue. It tends to take a long time to load, sometimes up to two minutes. I say try it one more time and make yourself a cup of coffee for padding.

[Murdoch]

Do criterion blus generally take longer to load? My BFI Instituta Benjamenta blu loads immediately but all my criterions take about 20-30 seconds.

[colinr0380]

I've found all of the Criterion Blu's I've played so far (six) have taken longer to load than any other Blus (Region A or Region B) on my Panasonic player, but they all do eventually. They also have that, for lack of a better term, 'loading screen' showing the wacky C in the top left corner of the screen before the main menu boots up.

[Murdoch]

That lets me rest easy, thanks.

[fdm]

The Criterions are fairly slow, but if you're hooked up to the internet and play certain discs playing on certain older players, they can be even worse. You know, the ones that display your local time and temperature, download trailers, display blurbs about all the new movies and t-shirts coming out, discs to buy, etc. First one I ever noticed that seemed to take forever was the last X-Files movie. More recently, it took ages for Dexter Season 4 to load up and get ready to play. (And that was each time I put a disc in to watch another episode or two.) What makes it seem even worse is when you pop in a really old title that doesn't have all that BD-J ("Blu-ray Disc Java") junk on it and it pretty much comes right up. Ah, technology.

[richast2]

The Criterions are fairly slow, but if you're hooked up to the internet and play certain discs playing on certain older players, they can be even worse. You know, the ones that display your local time and temperature, download trailers, display blurbs about all the new movies and t-shirts coming out, discs to buy, etc. First one I ever noticed that seemed to take forever was the last X-Files movie. More recently, it took ages for Dexter Season 4 to load up and get ready to play. (And that was each time I put a disc in to watch another episode or two.) What makes it seem even worse is when you pop in a really old title that doesn't have all that BD-J ("Blu-ray Disc Java") junk on it and it pretty much comes right up. Ah, technology.

I've had similar problems with a handful of blu-rays and found that the best solution is to disable the internet access on my PS3.

[LongTime FirstTime]

I had already tried the patience thing -- popped in the disc, salted my sidewalk, poured a cup of coffee and still no play...

Then I popped in Walkabout, which the player didn't even recognize. I remembered there were issues with Walkabout and certain Blu Ray players. That's when it hit me to check for updated software ... downloaded and everything is fine and dandy like sour candy. Both The Red Shoes and Walkabout now play.