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I completely disagree. Despite the technical flaws in The Big Parade release, it did show that they are quite aware of thes significance of these films. The fact that they had Kevin Brownlow do their booklet for this release itself is a major clue. Warners Bros has always been quite self aware of its own history, hell, they even released a whole animated series riffing off it.

If so, they have a very odd way of showing it. They've routinely left films as important as The Big Parade out of circulation for far too long.

I agree with Gregory. It doesn't matter how they view the prestige of their library if it doesn't translate to making it available to an audience. And considering the level of care given to Kane, Oz, and Casablanca, it is disheartening that they can't find a way to release other masterpieces in some way shape or form.

I don't expect a coffee table book sized boxset for, say, The Crowd, but they can't give it a stellar visual presentation with minimal extras and perhaps a slightly higher MSRP?

I actually agree with you both. What I was responding to was only:

Numero Trois wrote:I seriously doubt that Warner executives have the same definition of "saving face" that you do. Especially when itcomes to films that only a tiny fraction of the population are interested in.

I do believe Warners does understand the importance of these films and this likely has led them to opt to not issue them at all rather than issue them on pressed discs that will lose money or dump them in the archive. It is not simply these won't make us money so we're not going to let them see the light of day. If so, these would have been dumped in the archive long ago. One option now would be make them available to stream, which they have already done for three of those five silents mentioned above. Another would be to license them out to Criterion which is how this whole discussion started.

I think they understand and respect their library, the archive alone has released over 2000 new to disc films, about 25% of their library of 8000 plus unreleased films, and all the widescreen releases at least have all gotten new masters made as a result, and a big chunk of the non widescreen release have had new masters made also.

regardless of whether or not a pressed fetish is satisfied at the consumer release level, in house WB is doing incredible asset management of their library by actively and aggressively making new masters. And they are also getting all these masters available for access as downloads and streaming. In terms of access to their library, WB has far outstripped everyone else in the market in terms of quality and quantity, it is pretty staggering what they have achieved.

Matt Zoller Seitz said today that he's writing a piece on Hiroshima Mon Amour. Possibly for an upcoming reissue?

sir_luke wrote:Matt Zoller Seitz said today that he's writing a piece on Hiroshima Mon Amour. Possibly for an upcoming reissue?

I hope so. His Harold and Maude essay is one of my favorites in the Collection

Interesting podcast interview with Michael Koresky. He says another Eclipse set is ready to be announced soon.

Random question: Does anyone have an idea about what might happen to Valerie and Her Week of Wonders? Just recently watched it on Hulu+ and absolutely loved it... It looked a bit rough in places (and I have no authority or real knowledge whatsoever in this area) but with some restoration it could look gorgeous. I heard Kim say at the Wexner talk that the transfer on Hulu for an unreleased film is not necessarily the final one... Does anyone know if the existing elements are HD-ready? Also, do you think the film will be released in the mainline or will it be kept for a second Czech Eclipse set? Just curious.

It was originally tapped to be included in the third Czech New Wave Eclipse set. I don't believe the film has seen an HD release yet anywhere else.

swo17 wrote:It was originally tapped to be included in the third Czech New Wave Eclipse set. I don't believe the film has seen an HD release yet anywhere else.

Wow, I didn't know about those plans. Thanks for the info!

Third set? What was the second set?

There hasn't been a decent Eclipse series in 2 years, so I'm hoping the next one will be something rad.

Watch it be something wholly superfluous like a SD barebones version of Arrow's Stray Cat Rock set (they were hVe in the US...)

What A Disgrace wrote:There hasn't been a decent Eclipse series in 2 years, so I'm hoping the next one will be something rad.

On balance, I'd say the Ray set is pretty decent, though I will concede that it probably isn't very rad.

I found When Horror Came to Shochiku both decent and rad. That one's only 23 months old!

I'd love if they finally got to the second volume of the Rossellini history films...but I think last we heard there were arcane rights issues that seemed unlikely to unravel.

Well criterion just announced their compilation book of cover artwork. Explains the recent post on their instagram page with the grand illusion cover titled "work".

Anderson's "O Lucky Man!" would be another Warner title I'd love to see get the Criterion treatment.

MoonlitKnight wrote:Anderson's "O Lucky Man!" would be another Warner title I'd love to see get the Criterion treatment.

+1

I just watched Scanners last night, and wondered when Criterion will release an Eclipse set titled, "The First Films of David Cronenberg".

- The Brood
- Rabid
- Shivers
- Crimes of the Future

I like to think he's too high-profile to get dumped on Eclipse, but it would be far better than nothing.

Is there any precedent for anything from Eclipse getting upgraded to a mainline release?

I highly doubt they'll leave those to eclipse especially with an HD Brood already ready. The only chance for Cronenberg eclipse is for the television films which I doubt anyone besides me cares about.

Television films? *ears perk up* Not familiar with those, but I could see them getting Eclipsed since they would likely not be HD ready.