Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 5

[pzadvance]

but seriously, they never reply to anything anymore! and this has been long in the cards anyway.

For all of Criterion's attempts at social networking (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare for Pete's sake), they've become more opaque and uncommunicative than ever. I guess I can't blame them given the sheer amount of inane noise on their Facebook and Twitter presences, but they've never really been very good at this sort of thing.

i don't blame them. if they answered everything like they used to, we'd all bitch about "THEY SAID IT WAS COMING"

so when they actually hint at something or reply to a post about a movie, i consider it a big deal. it happened with Punch-Drunk Love too.

It does seem intriguing that they would even bother commenting on it unless they had a reason to, but I think we're still a bit too far from an actual indication one way or the other to get excited about Nashville hitting the collection. This looks like about enough to place it in the "Distinct Possibility" column, nothing more.

[zedz]

but seriously, they never reply to anything anymore! and this has been long in the cards anyway.

For all of Criterion's attempts at social networking (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare for Pete's sake), they've become more opaque and uncommunicative than ever. I guess I can't blame them given the sheer amount of inane noise on their Facebook and Twitter presences, but they've never really been very good at this sort of thing.

Their stock maybe-yes-maybe-no non-answer used to be "nothing is certain at this time." It was such a fallback that I actually, futilely started a thread tracking all of the times they gave that response just before they abandoned the practice altogether.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I looked up that list to see how the filmmakers fared. For the record, of the 22 directors / films to which 'Mulvaney' replied "nothing is certain at this time", 19 ended up being released. The hold-outs? Rivette (yeah yeah yeah), Eisenstein's silents (long story that we know already) and Bertoclucci's Before the Revolution.

[Drucker]

Any chance Criterion could be preparing Lubitch's Ninotchka which is touring in a new print?

[Matt]

None whatsoever.

[criterion10]

I emailed Mr. Mulvaney the other day asking if there were any plans for Criterion to release any Ken Russell films, one of my favorite directors and a true underrated maverick. My email is as follows:

I was just wondering if there were any plans to release any Ken Russell films in the near future. I do know that Janus does have the rights to "Mahler", but I was also wondering if there's a chance we may see films like "The Devils" or "Women in Love".

Therefore, while I was very happy to see a quick response by Mulvaney today, I was very disappointed to hear the news as follows:

To the best of my knowledge, there are no immediate plans to release these titles. We do try to announce our upcoming releases as far in advance as possible, so the best way to stay up-to-date on our future release plans is to check our "Coming Soon" section and e-newsletter. I've included links below for your convenience.

Now, of course Criterion could be trying to remain secretive if they do have any plans to release his films. But, if this response is in fact accurate, then I find it rather saddening. It further solidifies my unfortunate beliefs that Criterion does not have a deal with WB, as I'm sure The Devils, despite the controversial nature of the film, would be one of the first titles that they would go for. (I still maintain that Badlands was most likely a one-off deal.) But, who knows. This is all just speculation of course, and maybe they did try recently for The Devils and were simply refused, while other titles were allowed to be licensed out. Just thought I'd post this here...

[CSM126]

Considering that people who work for Criterion actually state that they had licensed a pre-code picture from Warner, I'm pretty sure it's not a one-off deal.

[swo17]

I was very disappointed to hear the news

That's not really "news," but a canned response they send to everyone that asks about anything not on their "immediate" schedule (however that's defined). I wouldn't say it necessarily rules anything out.

[Calvin]

I'm pretty sure Canada has a life+50 copyright length, so perhaps Criterion could do a Canada-only release of Dance of the Seven Veils.

[criterion10]

Considering that people who work for Criterion actually state that they had licensed a pre-code picture from Warner, I'm pretty sure it's not a one-off deal.

Is the pre-code title definitely from WB? I watched the discussion, and I remember feeling as though the moderator may have been mistaken about the film he mentioned and where Criterion licensed it out from...

[Matt]

To the best of my knowledge, there are no immediate plans to release these titles. We do try to announce our upcoming releases as far in advance as possible, so the best way to stay up-to-date on our future release plans is to check our "Coming Soon" section and e-newsletter. I've included links below for your convenience.

That's the stock reply these days. I'm surprised they just don't set up an email autoresponder.

[jindianajonz]

Slightly off topic, but there's something I've been wondering for a while: Who is Jon Mulvaney? Is he an actual person whose job is to answer emails? Or is it just an email account that various customer service people log onto periodically?

If it's the latter, does anyone know where exactly the name came from?

[criterion10]

That's the stock reply these days. I'm surprised they just don't set up an email autoresponder.

Ah, fair enough then. My hope isn't lost quite yet.

[Matt]

Slightly off topic, but there's something I've been wondering for a while: Who is Jon Mulvaney? Is he an actual person whose job is to answer emails? Or is it just an email account that various customer service people log onto periodically?

If it's the latter, does anyone know where exactly the name came from?

Around here, saying it outright like this is kind of like saying there's no Santa Claus, but yes, it's just a catchall name for customer service. Criterion has never admitted this, though, so they like to pretend that he's a real person and thus nobody knows where the name comes from. You might want to read this interview from, oh lord, a decade ago. And this one.

If you want an idea of what Criterion's customer relations used to be like back in the laserdisc days, check this out.

[jindianajonz]

this is kind of like saying there's no Santa Claus

WHAT??????

[knives]

I'm pretty sure Canada has a life+50 copyright length, so perhaps Criterion could do a Canada-only release of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Speaking of in the US shouldn't the Murnau's be coming up on PD status soon.

[Matt]

Stuff doesn't go into the public domain anymore in the US until 2019 thanks to Sonny Bono.

[ellipsis7]

PD is also terribly risky, anyone can come out of the woodwork, especially if a wide release is succesful, and cost a lot of time and money whether or not their claim has merit... Each version (even if the differences are minute) can have separate providence and protection... I'm guessing no major label such as CC will release anything on a PD basis, although there will always be much smaller operations who may choose to chance their arm - because for them there is less to lose more to gain....

[knives]

I'm mostly thinking in regards to those oft ignored films just lying in studio vaults. A PD release for them is certainly better than what they have now.

[Jeff]

thus nobody knows where the name comes from.

I've wondered if the original "Jon Mulvaney" might have been Jon Turrell. He would have been the youngest of the company when Voyager was founded in the mid-80s, and thus saddled with unpleasantness like customer service, which was all via snail mail. I don't know what "Mulvaney" is in reference to though. Like The Dread Pirate Roberts, there have been many Mulvaneys, some more helpful than others. They don't seem to tell the current one much, and as Matt said, it forwards the same reply regardless of what you ask. They may be having the interns do it now.

[tarpilot]

I found this all very, very, confusing until I realized I was thinking of Peter Becker

[duck duck]

Where is a link that has the thing about a pre-code WB film?

[eerik]

Where is a link that has the thing about a pre-code WB film?

https://vimeo.com/51939141" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; around 36th minute.

[duck duck]

Thanks...

From the way she answers, it seems there is more than Badlands and the moderator mentioned something he wasn't supposed to about "pre-code"

[jedgeco]

If you want an idea of what Criterion's customer relations used to be like back in the laserdisc days, check this out.

Holy crap, I remember reading that in the computer lab in college....

You'd never get anything as forthcoming as this from Criterion these days.

[Gregory]

We still do, only now in the form of drawings.