Peacock wrote:I hope BFI consider upgrading I Live in Fear seeing as it's the only (?) non-mainline Kurosawa which BFI haven't released in their Early Kurosawa set and which they have the rights to. In other words... Criterion will probably never release this in HD so like the Ozu's from the Late Eclipse, I hope BFI will jump in here...
I wouldn't consider "I Live In Fear" as an early Kurosawa, it was released after Seven Samurai. It is nowhere near the top of the Kurosawa titles, and I'd think the BFI would release some of the more main Kurosawa titles in HD before tackling a 'lower tier' like "I Live In Fear"....
And by the way, interesting to think, what are the possibilities of Criterion of upgrading an Eclipse title to a mainline BD? Highly unlikely.... ?
Apologies, I know I Live in Fear isn't an early Kurosawa, what I meant was that it's the only Kurosawa title which BFI have, and which Criterion have released on Eclipse, that BFI haven't released in their own version of the Eclipse set (The Early Kurosawa one)... meaning it'll likely get upgraded (although as you say, not for a while). And I'm not sure Criterion will upgrade any Eclipse titles to mainline BD anytime soon, with so much they have the rights to and haven't released. Although, if they do, it would likely be barebones-but-a-trailer like Makioka Sisters (or people who only have DVD players would complain that the Blu-ray gets extras while the DVD set doesn't....
manicsounds wrote:And by the way, interesting to think, what are the possibilities of Criterion of upgrading an Eclipse title to a mainline BD? Highly unlikely.... ?
I think there's a good chance that future Eclipse releases might be available in Blu-ray as well as DVD - I could see that working pretty well. Given that Smiles of a Summer Night was virtually barebones, maybe they'll do Begman's 'faith trilogy' as a Blu-ray Eclipse release - there were precious few extras on the DVD release and all of the transfers were high-def.
There is no joke with Moviemail, they're just conscientious retailers. Unlike Amazon or Zavvi they stock labels like Re:Voir while also providing significantly above average service and product descriptions/reviews. Oh, and MichaelB used to/occasionally still does write for them.
They also send customers a lovely free monthly mini-magazine (glossy and presumably expensive to print) which is invaluable for buyers of arthouse-type films.
MovieMail feel like 'us' rather than a faceless corporation in the same way that MoC or Second Run, for example, feel like 'us', whereas Canal Plus or Zavvi are 'them'.
Just to add further, Moviemail also offer a bonus point scheme which takes a surprisingly short amount of time to rack up £5 off next order awards. I feel guilty even using these but it's very appreciated.
Can MichaelB or anyone else from the BFI posting here confirm if these sets are just repackaged reissues of existing discs or if the films have had new transfers? If it's the latter, I'd definitely get the Crime set.
I don't work for the BFI except in an occasional freelance capacity, but I'm happy to ask my contacts there on your behalf...
...and the answer is pretty much what I expected (given the prices), which is that the discs are mainly reissues of previous releases, aside from The Lower Depths and Dodes'kaden, which are making their UK DVD debuts.
MovieMail have just sent me an email saying the pre-order was cancelled due to a pricing error. I pre-ordered it with Play.com as well, just in case, but I'll be very surprised if the honour the £13.49 price.
