Vinegar Syndrome and Their Partner Labels

[beamish14]

China 9, Liberty 37 is pretty much the perfect WB film for the Vinegar Syndrome family

[therewillbeblus]

The running time listed is almost exactly 20 minutes shorter than the copy circulating back channels. Will be curious to pick this up and compare, though I highly doubt anything will 'stick out' in this case!

EDIT: Nevermind, the copy of The Movie Orgy ends 16 minutes early, so there are ostensibly only four minutes missing from the AGFA version

The running time listed is incorrect, it's actually 281 min, so it's got the exact same runtime as the copy circulating elsewhere. Good news!

[ryannichols7]

Clues for Cinematographe’s 2026 slate:

I know it seems this slate is locked in but I also want to throw my hat in for Zandy's Bride, the only Hollywood movie that Jan Troell made. I've never seen it and who knows if it's good (TWBB seemed to not think so!), but it stars Gene Hackman and Liv Ullmann, and for that reason alone I'd be happy to pick it up and give it a shot. but it's also a western? seems perfect for Cinematographie as I'm sure Criterion wouldn't release it, despite the star power

could see it just be an archive title of course, but Cinematographie seems to be into these "unusual entries in a filmography" type deals so I could see it appealing to Justin

[swo17]

A twofer of Onimasa and Tokyo Bordello

I bought this, and the discs are mixed up. In other words, if you want to watch Onimasa, you need to play the Tokyo Bordello disc, and vice versa

Replacement discs went out with this month's shipments

[beamish14]

Clues for Cinematographe’s 2026 slate:

I know it seems this slate is locked in but I also want to throw my hat in for Zandy's Bride, the only Hollywood movie that Jan Troell made. I've never seen it and who knows if it's good (TWBB seemed to not think so!), but it stars Gene Hackman and Liv Ullmann, and for that reason alone I'd be happy to pick it up and give it a shot. but it's also a western? seems perfect for Cinematographie as I'm sure Criterion wouldn't release it, despite the star power

could see it just be an archive title of course, but Cinematographie seems to be into these "unusual entries in a filmography" type deals so I could see it appealing to Justin

Wasn’t Hurricane a Hollywood mega-budget project?

Zandy’s Bride is pretty good, but it’s very obvious that major scenes were cut in post

[ryannichols7]

Clues for Cinematographe’s 2026 slate:

I know it seems this slate is locked in but I also want to throw my hat in for Zandy's Bride, the only Hollywood movie that Jan Troell made. I've never seen it and who knows if it's good (TWBB seemed to not think so!), but it stars Gene Hackman and Liv Ullmann, and for that reason alone I'd be happy to pick it up and give it a shot. but it's also a western? seems perfect for Cinematographie as I'm sure Criterion wouldn't release it, despite the star power

could see it just be an archive title of course, but Cinematographie seems to be into these "unusual entries in a filmography" type deals so I could see it appealing to Justin

Wasn’t Hurricane a Hollywood mega-budget project?

Zandy’s Bride is pretty good, but it’s very obvious that major scenes were cut in post

oops, indeed. would also be a good choice!! I was watching Everlasting Moments and forgot all about Troell having a Hollywood period, which prompted me to post

[hearthesilence]

Deep Discount seems to carry most of Vinegar Syndrome's titles at prices lower than anyone else, but they're usually on back order. I've found that if you're logged in and you put the titles you're interested in into your cart (even if they're back order only) and never bother to check out, eventually (could be days, could be a few weeks), they send a coupon for $5 off a minimum $30 purchase that you can use for anything, not just in-stock items. You'll probably need to get two titles to make the coupon work, but your order will also qualify for free shipping. With the given price being the lowest anywhere, plus the $5 coupon, plus the free shipping, it's likely the best deal you can find for two titles. However, it'll take like two weeks to a month before you get your oder, and if you try this at a very busy time (like the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season), they'll likely cancel your order after a month since they apparently have a policy where they do that automatically if they can't fill an order fast enough.

Given how slow this process works, it's only good for titles that aren't going to sell out anytime soon, but if you're in no rush, it's not a bad way of getting low priority items. (At least for two titles, this will likely beat whatever they were going for during VS's annual Black Friday sale.)

[PfR73]

I remember awhile back someone(s) were looking for We're All Going to the World's Fair, but it had been sold out for awhile. If anyone still is, VS is currently having a "Sundance Flash Sale" on certain items, and it's 50% off as one of them.

[therewillbeblus]

Deep Discount seems to carry most of Vinegar Syndrome's titles at prices lower than anyone else, but they're usually on back order.

They're cheap enough where I often just buy them at the DD discounted prices during non-sale times, when they're usually not on back order yet. As much as I want to wait for that extra 15%, the deals are typically strong without the coupon

[hearthesilence]

They're cheap enough where I often just buy them at the DD discounted prices during non-sale times, when they're usually not on back order yet. As much as I want to wait for that extra 15%, the deals are typically strong without the coupon

I would definitely recommend that for steady sellers and also if you just want it sooner than later. The whole "back order" process with Deep Discount is pretty strange and almost unavoidable because I'd say 60-70% of what I want from Deep Discount is usually on "back order," and it's usually an old title that they probably don't want to stock because it's long past its peak sales. As mentioned, it's unpredictable how long it'll take to fill - I had to an order J Dilla's Donuts three times from them because they cancelled it twice due to long delays. We were still coming out of the pandemic, so I thought that might've been a factor, but their price was cheap enough that I thought it was worth waiting. Would never have guessed it needed to take that long though.

[andyli]

You'll probably need to get two titles to make the coupon work, but your order will also qualify for free shipping.

One title is enough. I've used the $5 off coupon with a single purchase of Eyes Wide Shut and it came through. Good to know it also works on back order items though.

[What A Disgrace]

Happy 70th birthday to Masashi Yamamoto. Kani Releasing has put out three of his films so far, and they have another in store for later this year (Carnival in the Night).

[Finch]

I seriously considered cancelling with VS. then they finally shipped my Married to the Mob 4K yesterday and of course Orbit get their stock in this morning. Could have saved myself a few dollars that way. Lesson learned.

[hearthesilence]

I seriously considered cancelling with VS. then they finally shipped my Married to the Mob 4K yesterday and of course Orbit get their stock in this morning. Could have saved myself a few dollars that way. Lesson learned.

There appears to have been some kind of supply chain lag this past month - the holidays likely played a role. The VS titles I ordered through Deep Discount had the same problem and were actually cancelled as a result. I placed a new order with a new coupon a week later, and it shipped out within days.

[therewillbeblus]

I think VS only gives a certain amount of copies out to these retail sites at a time, making them scarce and on backorder not to be filled again for a while (and/or cancelled before there's a chance, like your experience hearthesilence)

[hearthesilence]

I'm kind of curious how the whole process works because VS has more or less a live counter of what they have in stock on their website, and maybe two days after the Black Friday sale started, the counter for the titles I ordered didn't budge at all when others were flying off the shelves - so out of curiosity I checked in every few days and that remained the case as I waited for my backorder to be filled. Obviously it doesn't work this way, but I just kept thinking a Deep Discount or warehouse employee could've just phoned someone at VS and someone there could've just grabbed copies collecting dust on the shelf and had them sent to Deep Discount's distributor. (Maybe if these were tiny mom and pop operations with low volume, and even then...)

[Matt]

Snooping on OCN's wholesaler website, I found this:

Is there a maximum amount of units to purchase?

Yes and no. Certain limited edition releases will have a maximum purchase amount ranging anywhere from 25-50 units. When a limited edition item is low in stock we reserve the right to hold back copies for inventory purposes. Standard edition (always in stock) items will have no limit.

So it appears that if stock of a LE runs low, they might withhold copies from retailers so that VS can fulfill direct orders made from their own site.

[Peacock]

Kani will be a releasing Banmei Takahashi’s A New Love in Tokyo on Blu-ray at some point this year.

[Stefan Andersson]

Justin LaLiberty/Cinématographe is associated with the 4K restoration of Can She Bake A Cherry Pie. Trailer and info:
https://thefilmstage.com/a-nyc-set-gem- ... herry-pie/

"This restoration was completed from a 4K, 16-bit scan of the 35mm interpositive by Vinegar Syndrome in Bridgeport, Connecticut, via an ARRISCAN XT. Scanning Technician: Brandon Upson. Frame-by-frame manual digital restoration and color grading was completed by Marcus Johnson of Emulsional Recovery. This restoration was a collaboration between Hope Runs High and Cinématographe, supervised by Taylor Purdee of Hope Runs High and Justin LaLiberty of Cinématographe. Film materials made available through the generous cooperation of the Academy Film Archive."

[rwiggum]

Justin LaLiberty/Cinématographe is associated with the 4K restoration of Can She Bake A Cherry Pie. Trailer and info:
https://thefilmstage.com/a-nyc-set-gem- ... herry-pie/

"This restoration was completed from a 4K, 16-bit scan of the 35mm interpositive by Vinegar Syndrome in Bridgeport, Connecticut, via an ARRISCAN XT. Scanning Technician: Brandon Upson. Frame-by-frame manual digital restoration and color grading was completed by Marcus Johnson of Emulsional Recovery. This restoration was a collaboration between Hope Runs High and Cinématographe, supervised by Taylor Purdee of Hope Runs High and Justin LaLiberty of Cinématographe. Film materials made available through the generous cooperation of the Academy Film Archive."

Do we think this is one of the May releases? Or are they doing a Jaglom box in August?

[TechnicolorAcid]

Singapore Sling is one of the best-looking blu-ray discs I've viewed in some time. The level of detail is extraordinary. Now, this is not exactly a safe blind-buy, and I'm not sure what it says about me that I find this brilliant and most other films of its ilk repulsive on a surface level, but it's worth seeing just to have the experience. If Tennessee Williams and Harold Pinter took a bunch of acid and decided to collaborate on a play based on physicality over language, but still rooted in perverse relationship dynamics, we might get something like this

I finally got the guts to watch this and I can confidently say that this both one of the most repulsive films I’ve ever seen and also a gloriously deranged masterpiece. I think the easiest point of comparison is maybe Otto Preminger’s Laura if it was directed by Ken Russell but I don’t think anything exists right now that could be reasonably compared to this. A major strength for me too is that this is also a really funny movie that made me crackle out loud at several points when I wasn’t on the verge of puking in just how Nikolaidis contrasts this archetype of the hard boiled detective drenched in noir imagery with the perversion of a 70s Grindhouse movie like a sex-fueled episode of Columbo until eventually he’s turned into a perversion of himself. Overall this is an undefinable, strangely hypnotic gem and if anyone has any more places to explore Nikolaidis next then please let me know immediately because I am hooked!

[therewillbeblus]

Glad you "liked" it! I just went through Nikolaidis' filmography chronologically after seeing Singapore Sling and almost all of his films are good, especially his first feature

[TechnicolorAcid]

Glad you "liked" it! I just went through Nikolaidis' filmography chronologically after seeing Singapore Sling and almost all of his films are good, especially his first feature

Thanks blus, really excited to see what else he’s done!

[Grand Wazoo]

Meredyth Herold in Singapore Sling gives one of the most insane performances I've ever seen where every line feels like she's both fully sincere yet ironically commenting on the preposterousness of it all. Has to be seen to be believed, an absolute all-timer.

[Matt]

I only noticed this when moving a disc from my unwatched pile to my shelves: Cinématograhe's cases are DVD-height. I'm going to have to shelve them with my DVDs because there is no way I can abide looking at that poking out above all the BDs.