Criterion Newsletter (Part 2)

[htshell]

I've heard that the set will be just Hapax Legomena, which might be old news or revised by now.
If one adds Zorns Lemma, then that really takes care of all the Frampton films that might lead people to buy the set. So either you include Zorns Lemma, maybe others, and never have another Frampton DVD, or you save Zorns Lemma and others for a second set if the first one does well. There are lots of other great films, but I think Nostalgia & Zorns Lemma are the ones that would lead broader numbers to buy.

Where did you hear this? I can't imagine that they would do a "box set" and just release these without including a few other shorts. In 2009 we screened Hapax Legomena at my work and in 2010, during a retrospective on Joyce Wieland, we screened A & B in Ontario (a collaboration between the two) and Zorn's Lemma, Snowblind and Maxwell's Demon. I believe we rented all these from Filmmakers' Co-op. They hold what looks to be like a fairly comprehensive collection of Frampton's films on 16mm for rent. I would love to see Artificial Light in this set. Saw Text of Light (Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht and someone else that night) perform a soundtrack to this about two years ago in NYC.

[swo17]

Some are saying they see Jancsó in the blurry 2012 photo but I'm not sure I agree. I think a Lean/Coward set seems more likely (and that was a pretty clever clue, if true), though I'm only really familiar with Brief Encounter. Are their other three collaborations high profile enough to merit a mainline release?

[Mr. Deltoid]

Slaughterhouse Five?

A long shot admittedly.

[colinr0380]

I'd love it to be a Lean/Coward set but since we are wildly speculating I wonder if it could be that Errol Morris First Person series, since that included the episode about Temple Grandin! (I assume that it could never be the HBO movie about Grandin starring Claire Danes)

[captveg]

Lean/Coward just has to be it. Just fits too neatly.

[ianungstad]

I don't see the Lean/Coward speculation as being all that wild. We have kind of known that the set was coming for some time. The big ? was always what would be in the Lean set.

[PillowRock]

I'm only really familiar with Brief Encounter. Are their other three collaborations high profile enough to merit a mainline release?

Well, .....

In Which We Serve was # 92 on the BFI's Top 100 list.

Blithe Spirit won an Oscar for Visual Effects, stars Rex Harrison, and has Margaret Rutherford stealing every scene she is in. It's classic Coward chamber drama / comedy wit, being adapted from one of his plays. Amazon marketplace prices for the OOP R1 DVD start at $60 for used copies, and the one "new" listing is at $179.

This Happy Breed yielded a National Board of Review award for Best Actress for Celia Johnson. It's one of those movies that covers a few decades of life with a cast that also includes Robert Newton, John Mills, and Kay Walsh.

Does that help any?

[cdnchris]

Slaughterhouse Five?

A long shot admittedly.

Actually that would make the most sense to me from the image. Some of the other guesses seem like big stretches.

[colinr0380]

In Which We Serve and This Happy Breed are also great triumphs for John Mills (This Happy Breed is one of the great 'intimate epic' films showing a swathe of history through the eyes of one 'ordinary' family).

In Which We Serve is one of the best Second World War films - constrating the entire crew of a ship working together against its ensemble cast (plus the film is Richard Attenborough's film debut playing a cowardly seaman!)

Blithe Spirit is just laugh out loud funny! And all these other films serve to put some of the class dynamics of Brief Encounter into even better context. It seems amazing to think they might be coming out on Blu!

[Peacock]

Can't be Slaughterhouse 5, as the artist has made the ribs visible on each cow, not exactly good meat.

I agree with the others, probably a Lean/Coward set.


And perversely, I'm glad people here can't see Jancso under the Eclipse list on the 2012 clue, he really deserves some Blus...

[PillowRock]

Blithe Spirit is just laugh out loud funny!

I like the movie a lot, and find it quite funny, but it's only fair to point out that this a case of "Humor is so subjective."

For the most part, it's the typical Noel Coward witty dialog style of humor. For some people, that's just not their cup of tea. Very good for those of us who do like that style, though.

[colinr0380]

I've often thought that the "I hope you enjoy snuffing it!" story from the Amicus anthology From Beyond The Grave does perhaps the best riff on the Blithe Spirit material, making the idea of husbands and wives being on the verge of murdering each other more explicit - though perhaps it is only the ditzy, blundering Madame Orloff that truly seems to be in the mould of Rutherford's Madame Arcati!

[Adam]

I've heard that the set will be just Hapax Legomena, which might be old news or revised by now.
If one adds Zorns Lemma, then that really takes care of all the Frampton films that might lead people to buy the set. So either you include Zorns Lemma, maybe others, and never have another Frampton DVD, or you save Zorns Lemma and others for a second set if the first one does well. There are lots of other great films, but I think Nostalgia & Zorns Lemma are the ones that would lead broader numbers to buy.

Where did you hear this? I can't imagine that they would do a "box set" and just release these without including a few other shorts. In 2009 we screened Hapax Legomena at my work and in 2010, during a retrospective on Joyce Wieland, we screened A & B in Ontario (a collaboration between the two) and Zorn's Lemma, Snowblind and Maxwell's Demon. I believe we rented all these from Filmmakers' Co-op. They hold what looks to be like a fairly comprehensive collection of Frampton's films on 16mm for rent. I would love to see Artificial Light in this set. Saw Text of Light (Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht and someone else that night) perform a soundtrack to this about two years ago in NYC.

Film-makers coop is the go-to distributor for Frampton's films. I (Los Angeles Filmforum) did a five-part Frampton series in Jan/Feb 2010, and there were at least two other Frampton series going on around then, and the book of his writings was newly issued. It came up in discussions around then (or maybe around a Film-makers Coop event in LA in Oct 2010) that they were looking at just Hapax to start with, but again, that was almost two years ago, or one year ago, and everything could have changed since then. Maybe they were thinking of one disc instead of a box, although Hapax is over three hours, which is not good for a single DVD.

[Ted Todorov]

Vacas?

One can only hope. Some Medem would be great, although I would start with Tierra.

[zedz]

Someone on Facebook made the observation that there are five cows configured in the shape of the number 4. In case that helps anyone figure this out.

People are looking at that picture and seeing the numeral 4? Seriously?

That must be a new record for wishful thinking about one of these clues (and while we're at it, how come nobody has equated that imaginary 'four' with the four characters in the title of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover? Lots of hungry people in that film, too!)

EDIT: Lean / Coward set sounds about right, though I don't know why people are convinced that the number of cows in the drawing must be of significance. For the pun to work it has to be a herd, and the artist didn't want to have to draw sixty skinny cows, so five at different distances is probably the bare minimum he needed to get across the 'herd' idea, as opposed to a couple of random beasts.

[domino harvey]

Two things:
01 It's obviously a Lean/Coward set
02 This is probably the best clue ever, in terms of the work it took to arrive at such an obvious in hindsight A+ pun

[knives]

Shouldn't they have been lean rather than skinny cows though. I agree that has to be it, but the inconsistency annoys.

[domino harvey]

I assumed it was a cheeky nod to the dessert treat

[swo17]

People are looking at that picture and seeing the numeral 4? Seriously?

I can't not see a 4 there. Plus, that's how many Lean/Coward films there are, so it works for me.

Shouldn't they have been lean rather than skinny cows though. I agree that has to be it, but the inconsistency annoys.

If the file had been called wackyleancows, someone would have gotten it right away, which wouldn't have been any fun.

[zedz]

People are looking at that picture and seeing the numeral 4? Seriously?

I can't not see a 4 there.

Well, I'd expect it from you, naturally. It's the normal human beings I'm worried about.

[Arrow]

I just need to commend the people (person) who arrived at the Lean/Coward conclusion. It would have taken me years (at least) to figure it out. Makes me feel like I'm not even worthy to be a member of this forum.

[justeleblanc]

I just need to commend the people (person) who arrived at the Lean/Coward conclusion. It would have taken me years (at least) to figure it out. Makes me feel like I'm not even worthy to be a member of this forum.

I agree. Beyond impressive. But do which know which films will be in the box?

[knives]

There are only four films that they made together so an doing something similar to what they did with Varda seems likely.

[doncopey1]

Hi first time poster:

Wild stab in the dark this one from me. But my guess and I would love this to be true is Martin Ritt's masterpiece HUD. The theme of the contaminated cows is dominant theme and the black cow at the back may be a clue, also a possible metaphor for Newman's personality.

Just a thought would love it to be this.

[jwd5275]

This is probably a no-brainer, but the Image version of Blithe Spirit says that it is licensed from Janus ...