Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 5

[ShellOilJunior]

Excellent timing if this is true. I had just unloaded the Doinel set in an effort to get rid of the last of my DVD's.

[jindianajonz]

I just hope they don't change the box art; the doinel set is one of my favorites.

[onedimension]

Any rumors about Erroll Morris stuff coming to the collection? I remember a mention of it awhile back..

[warren oates]

Morris himself confirmed that Criterion has the rights to and will be releasing A Brief History of Time. But there's also been talk that they have the three early features in that MGM box -- Gates of Heaven, Vernon Florida and The Thin Blue Line. Speaking of The Unknown Knowns....

[Stefan Andersson]

Found this on blu-ray.com:

"The Academy has so far restored 19 Ray titles which include such early classics like Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished), Parash Pathar (The Philosopher’s Stone), Jalsaghar (The Music Room), Apur Sansar (The World of Apu), Devi (The Goddess), Teen Kanya (Three Daughters), Abhijan (The Expedition), Mahangar (The Big City) and Charulata (The Lonely Wife) as also his mid-career works like Kaprush-o-Mahapurus (The Coward and the Holy Man), Nayak (The Hero) Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopi and Bagha), Seemabaddha (Company Limited), Jana Aranya (The Middleman) Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players) and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God). Besides, Two, a wordless, 15-minute short Ray made in 1964, and Sikkim are the lone short and documentary, respectively, that have mounted the restoration anvil till now."

Conspicuously absent: Kanchenjungha, Days and Nights in the Forest.

A 1994 article about Ray restorations: http://satyajitray.ucsc.edu/articles/sragow.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Includes info about the 1993 lab fire that destroyed OCNs for the Apu trilogy, Music Room and Devi.

David Shepard´s report about the technical status of a/v materials for Ray films:
http://www.satyajitrayworld.com/raysoci ... tion.php#4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - includes separate page about Seemabaddha restoration

[Calvin]

Conspicuously absent: Kanchenjungha, Days and Nights in the Forest.

And Distant Thunder

[Stefan Andersson]

2008 news stories about Kanchenjungha and Sikkim restorations:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatime ... sandip-ray" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed ... 06181.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Some text at the beginning doesn´t show up on my web browser. Think it is the same beginning as the news story linked to above.

News story about US-German restoration of Days and Nights in the Forest:
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/co ... -remastere" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
+ link to Indian online DVD store carrying the DVD (English subs)

[mteller]

Also conspicuously absent:

Pratidwandi - They've got two of the Calcutta trilogy, but not my favorite?

Sonar Kella - Much better than (and the precursor to) The Elephant God.

Kingdom of Diamonds - Not as popular, but would fit in well with a release of Goopy Bagha

[ianungstad]

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=25340" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Adventures of Antoine Doinel boxset now officially made out of print.

I don't see any reason for these films to go out of print other than a big upgrade to blu in the near future.

[dwk]

The only other reason I can think of for the Antoine Doinel boxset going OOP is for a change in packaging to update the licensing info. The films in the box were originally licensed from Wellspring and I believe that Criterion now has licensed these directly from mk2.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

There's no reason to pull something out of print just to change the licensing info. "In print" doesn't mean the discs are being pressed 24/7, it just means they can do a new pressing when the current stock runs out. If they need to change the licensing info, they'd just do it on the next pressing. I'm guessing they've already done this for some title or another--maybe Traffic and/or In the Mood for Love, which went from USA Films to Focus/Universal. They've either lost the rights to something in the set (maybe even just a special feature), or they're doing an upgrade.

[swo17]

If they're just going to be putting the set out on Blu-ray soon, why would they need to pull the DVD now? Have they ever done that before? I know they have when they've had a Blu/DVD reissue in the works (e.g. Solaris), but the Doinel set is one of their most packed releases as it is--what more could they be trying to cram into that suitcase?

[matrixschmatrix]

Maybe they don't like the bulkiness of the packaging? They've pulled a lot of the double-wide DVD cases and sets with books lately- though I don't recall them having anything go out of print for that.

[dwk]

There's no reason to pull something out of print just to change the licensing info. "In print" doesn't mean the discs are being pressed 24/7, it just means they can do a new pressing when the current stock runs out. If they need to change the licensing info, they'd just do it on the next pressing. I'm guessing they've already done this for some title or another--maybe Traffic and/or In the Mood for Love, which went from USA Films to Focus/Universal. They've either lost the rights to something in the set (maybe even just a special feature), or they're doing an upgrade.

I meant to type "for a change in packaging and to update the licensing info" not "for a change in packaging to update the licensing info." They do discontinue titles when they change from a digipack to regular keepcase.

[Brian C]

They do discontinue titles when they change from a digipack to regular keepcase.

They haven't before, to my knowledge. "Out of Print" almost certainly means that it will be unavailable for an extended period of time.

[Bando]

They do discontinue titles when they change from a digipack to regular keepcase.

They haven't before, to my knowledge. "Out of Print" almost certainly means that it will be unavailable for an extended period of time.

Isn't that exactly what happened with The Spirit of the Beehive? Went OOP for a short time and came back in new packaging.

[dwk]

Yes, The Spirit of the Beehive, The Battle of Algiers, Beastie Boys Video Anthology and The Double Life of Véronique all showed up on the discontinued list before reappearing in new packaging (well, Algiers is coming in September.)

[cdnchris]

Slacker as well. And according to Schrader (who said Criterion would upgrade to Blu-ray when the original printing of the DVD was gone) the same will happen to Mishima.

[Brian C]

OK, never mind. I misunderstood and thought that the Criterion site itself was showing the set as "Out of Print", which is not the case.

[Feego]

Per the Criterion website on The Adventures of Antoine Doinel set (emphasis added):

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this product for sale on Criterion.com. Please note that it is not out of print and is available at other retailers, like Amazon.com.

[ianungstad]

It's certainly a blu upgrade. If they were simply just changing the packaging they wouldn't have discontinued the 400 Blows blu. Probably means new transfers and artwork on both dvd and blu.

[Moe Dickstein]

But again, the 400 Blows blu is still available and for sale on the CC site...

[rspaight]

If so, would 400 Blows be the first Criterion BD-to-BD upgrade?

[Moe Dickstein]

Yep, figured that honor was going to go to Playtime...

[Lowry_Sam]

Yep, figured that honor was going to go to Playtime...

...and I was hoping it would go to either Children Of Paradise or The Earings of Madame de....