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HistoryProf wrote:

Jeff wrote:It looks as though Schlossberg has now also licensed Breaker Morant to Criterion (though it's not part of the Caidin package)

Hold the phone! Where was this confirmed? is that the reason the blu went out of print so quickly? and should I go ahead and sell it while the price is so high? I know licensing doesn't guarantee a release anytime soon, if ever, but this would be a great addition to the collection. If you could elaborate at all I would greatly appreciate it.

Not confirmed exactly, just me putting two and two together. I know that Schlossberg holds the U.S. rights and was licensing it to Image. That license likely expired as the Image DVD and Blu-ray versions quickly went out of of print. The film now shows up Criterion's Hulu channel, which indicates that they've picked up at least some* ancillary rights. They released a featureless laserdisc in 1997, so they've clearly got some affinity for the film. I don't know how long they'll wait to release it.

Naturally, I hunted down the Blu-ray and paid something close to MSRP at Barnes & Noble when it went out of print.


* I say "at least some," because it is possible that Criterion only has digital distribution rights. That doesn't seem likely with Breaker Morant since the DVD and Blu-ray went out of print, but it is possible. I believe it is the case with Godzilla/Gojira. Classic Media and it's predecessors have had a long time (and apparently still ongoing) deal to distribute home video versions in the U.S., but then Toho licensed it to Rialto for theatrical release. It's not surprising that Criterion, who regularly work with both Toho and Rialto, would get the available digital rights.

I wonder what's taking them so damn long to re-release Rashomon. It's been two years since the theatrical release by Janus.

^^^ Probably securing complete access to the 4K digitally restored version took longer than expected, then implementing that restored version through Phoenix for the baddest mofo BD transfer around.

How's this for an unlikely supplement suggestion for Bitter Rice?

I just watched Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network, and on this episode, she's making recipes invented by her grandmother, whom she called "Nonna Luna." Nonna Luna was none other than Bitter Rice star Silvana Mangano. For nearly forty years, Mangano was also the wife of Dino De Laurentiis, whom she met on this film.

It would be neat if they licensed this episode from Food Network, or, perhaps even more appropriately, an earlier episode where she prepared "Nonna Luna's Rice." In both episodes, she is joined by her colorful "Aunt Raffy" (Dino and Silvana's daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis). If nothing else, perhaps they could get Giada and Raffy to cook the rice dish in a newly produced supplement.

Perhaps this has been asked for, but is it safe to say maybe a re-release of Taste of Cherry is in the cards.

The Spalding Gray documentary And Everything Is Going Fine (IFC) still doesn't have a release date for DVD. Spalding Gray box set at last?

Jeff wrote:How's this for an unlikely supplement suggestion for Bitter Rice?

I just watched Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network, and on this episode, she's making recipes invented by her grandmother, whom she called "Nonna Luna." Nonna Luna was none other than Bitter Rice star Silvana Mangano. For nearly forty years, Mangano was also the wife of Dino De Laurentiis, whom she met on this film.

It would be neat if they licensed this episode from Food Network, or, perhaps even more appropriately, an earlier episode where she prepared "Nonna Luna's Rice." In both episodes, she is joined by her colorful "Aunt Raffy" (Dino and Silvana's daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis). If nothing else, perhaps they could get Giada and Raffy to cook the rice dish in a newly produced supplement.

I would rather just have a slightly higher bit-rate on the film to be honest. Riso amaro isn't anything to do with rice so I don't see the value in having a film star cooking some. The English title of Bitter Rice is really bad as it completely loses the pun and dual meaning of the original Italian title. Riso means both laughter and rice in Italian.

A dream supplement for me would be De Sanctis' Roma ore 11. This film was very highly regarded in the past and is often talked about with other neorealist films of the period. It has faded into obscurity over time and has never had a home video release I don't believe. It's been shown on TV a few times in Italy but I would love to get a chance to see it properly. There's also Caccia tragica in a similar situation. De Sanctis would be a great choice for an Eclipse boxset, especially if they released his hard-to-find titles. There's quite a few Italian directors I could say that for though. Blasetti is another.

TMDaines wrote:I would rather just have a slightly higher bit-rate on the film to be honest. Riso amaro isn't anything to do with rice so I don't see the value in having a film star cooking some. The English title of Bitter Rice is really bad as it completely loses the pun and dual meaning of the original Italian title. Riso means both laughter and rice in Italian.

Well it really wouldn't work to make the English title Bitter Rice/Laughter, would it? I think Bitter Rice still works symbolically anyway, even if it loses its double meaning in English.

It's silly to say that "Riso amaro isn't anything to do with rice." What makes the Riso amaro pun a pun is the fact that the film does have something to do with rice. Not thematically (I don't think it's possible to have a rice theme), but it has everything to do with the plot since the film is about peasant rice workers and frequently takes place in the rice fields.

I didn't mean to imply that such a supplement would deepen one's understanding of the film or neorealism, only that it would be a fun extra in the same way that Robert Rodriguez's cooking segments are on the discs of his films. Giada De Laurentiis is not a "film star." She's an American cooking show host. Her grandparents were the star and producer of this film and she's fairly well known in the states. It just seems like a fun idea for something different, and would in no way be meant to substitute for additional academic supplements. I know you're being facetious, but we both know that a 15 minute segment would not affect the bit rate in any discernible way.

Jeff wrote:

TMDaines wrote:I would rather just have a slightly higher bit-rate on the film to be honest. Riso amaro isn't anything to do with rice so I don't see the value in having a film star cooking some. The English title of Bitter Rice is really bad as it completely loses the pun and dual meaning of the original Italian title. Riso means both laughter and rice in Italian.

Well it really wouldn't work to make the English title Bitter Rice/Laughter, would it? I think Bitter Rice still works symbolically anyway, even if it loses its double meaning in English.

Yeh, I couldn't think of a better one myself. If it was set in a vineyard then Sour Grapes could have worked.

What was the dish anyway? What does Nonna Luna's Rice consist of? This is the most important information!

Jeff wrote: I didn't mean to imply that such a supplement would deepen one's understanding of the film or neorealism, only that it would be a fun extra

And there is of course a precedent in Criterion's edition of Still Walking. I'd be disappointed to see supplements like this displace contextual material, but as bonuses they're welcome.

TMDaines wrote:What was the dish anyway? What does Nonna Luna's Rice consist of? This is the most important information!

Here's the recipe. Perhaps if you saw Giada, you'd be convinced of the value of such a supplement.

Hopscotch wrote:And there is of course a precedent in Criterion's edition of Still Walking. I'd be disappointed to see supplements like this displace contextual material, but as bonuses they're welcome.

I would certainly never want that either, and I too would love to see supplemental content about Giuseppe De Santis and possibly some of his other films.

TMDaines wrote:A dream supplement for me would be De Sanctis' Roma ore 11. This film was very highly regarded in the past and is often talked about with other neorealist films of the period. It has faded into obscurity over time and has never had a home video release I don't believe. It's been shown on TV a few times in Italy but I would love to get a chance to see it properly. There's also Caccia tragica in a similar situation. De Sanctis would be a great choice for an Eclipse boxset, especially if they released his hard-to-find titles.

Agreed, these are both wonderful.

Any thoughts as to why we haven't seen an Ozu film on BD yet? I thought for sure we would have one by now, considering most of the other heavy hitters have at least one-three. It's been over two years CC started doing BD. And they have released two Ozu films in SD since the BD schedule became regular (not that I am claiming those two Ozu films should have been BD).

aox wrote:Any thoughts as to why we haven't seen an Ozu film on BD yet? I thought for sure we would have one by now, considering most of the other heavy hitters have at least one-three. It's been over two years CC started doing BD. And they have released two Ozu films in SD since the BD schedule became regular (not that I am claiming those two Ozu films should have been BD).

I'm not sure if this information means anything, but when you go to the very end of the "Most Popular" list on CC's hulu channel you see tons of stuff by non-Kurosawa Japanese masters. Ozu, Mizoguchi, and Naruse are all over the place in the bottom 30 titles. There's also lots of Shimizu (with whom I'm not familiar at all, but I assume he's also masterly).

I'm not sure how accurate hulu's popularity metrics are, or how much lack of hulu viewers would correlate to lack of potential blu sales, but it does seem like the Japanese stuff that people like best on hulu is Kurosawa / samurai / new wave. I guess that makes sense in the context just of Japanese film, but I would have thought Ozu's sound films would at least be beating out A Woman of Paris, Pandora's Box, and all the other silents that don't star Charlie Chaplain.

aox wrote:Any thoughts as to why we haven't seen an Ozu film on BD yet? I thought for sure we would have one by now, considering most of the other heavy hitters have at least one-three. It's been over two years CC started doing BD. And they have released two Ozu films in SD since the BD schedule became regular (not that I am claiming those two Ozu films should have been BD).

Ozu is not alone... no Mizoguchi, or Bresson, or Renoir, or Bunuel(yet)...

It is nice having the BFI Ozu BRs -- but (at least so far) I don't think his films benefit as much from the format as those of more visually ostentatious directors like Kurosawa and Ichikawa. Whether due to the state of the materials or the nature of the HD transfers, the Ozu BRs so far are not in the ballpark of the best old B&W BRs (e.g. City Girl).

aox wrote:Any thoughts as to why we haven't seen an Ozu film on BD yet? I thought for sure we would have one by now, considering most of the other heavy hitters have at least one-three. It's been over two years CC started doing BD. And they have released two Ozu films in SD since the BD schedule became regular (not that I am claiming those two Ozu films should have been BD).

I'm sure it's just a delay due to factors we're not privy to and we'll be seeing at least one in 2012. After all, there's also still no Bicycle Thieves, Rashomon, Jules and Jim or L'avventura, in addition to the directors already mentioned. Let's face it: if Ozu sold as well as Kurosawa's samurai films, there would've been at least one upgrade already.

As I know you realize, if those Ozu's had come out a year or so later they probably would've gotten Blus.

Don't you think the fact that no Ozu-blus have been released in Japan (also region A) has something to do with it?

In addition to Michael's notes, Tokyo Story, released 10/28/03 (same day as Le Cercle Rouge) probably needs a new mastering job, as it was probably done in 1080i rather than 1080p. (someone who has the DVD of Le Cercle Rouge could probably tell us what the 'about the transfer' says for the dvd and we could compare to the bluray 'about the transfer' to see if they had to do a new telecine. So if Tokyo Story, Early Summer (7/20/04) and the Floating Weeds set (4/20/04) are not ready for easy upgrade that will delay them some. It's also possible that Criterion doesn't have some of the supplements licensed for formats other than DVD, and thus there are legal reasons that are delaying the release. Late Spring (5/23/06) is probably okay transfer wise, but Tokyo Ga could be the reason that they have not yet updated it. An Autumn Afternoon was released in the 'dead zone' of spine numbers just before blurays began happening, and other than the Salo upgrade, nothing after Pierrot le fou and before Bottle Rocket has been upgraded. Like the non-bluray new releases from 2008-2010, it is probably seen as a low priority. The Only Son/There was a father set was probably evaluated for Bluray release and rejected, hence it sneaking in two months before they went all blu on every release. Some of the films not yet released at all, like What did the Lady Forget, Record of a Tenement Gentleman etc, are probably being evaluated for the Phoenix treatment (which was used on The Music Room and The Killing), and Good Morning needs an entirely new edition, but is probably incredibly low on the priority list for films from the first 100 spines to get a completely new edition. Since most of the other films are eclipse candidates or eclipse films its unlikely we'll ever see blurays of them.

I was actually thinking about Ozu and Criterion yesterday, and the issue of lack of available supplements, since the existing releases have mopped up most of the general stuff that's available, and I thought that a very nice set of supplements could be built around the idea of "Lost Ozu": a suite comprising the extant fragments of incomplete films, accompanied by notes / commentary on what's missing in each case, plus a talking heads piece from various Ozu scholars about those films and the ones that are lost in their entirety. It'd be a handy way to mop up a lot of material that Criterion presumably has access to but would be problematic to issue without context, and would provide a substantial extra for one or more of the early films (maybe a silent two-fer, in the format of the last Ozu release).

I'd like to think they're waiting for Tokyo Story to take it's turn at the Phoenix Finish that did such great things to The Music Room.

Janus acquires Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre:

Kaurismaki’s warm portrait of the eponymous French harbor town stars newcomer Blondin Miguel, Andre Wilms and Jean-Pierre Darroussin. It will open in the autumn.

“We are thrilled that Aki Kaurismaki has entrusted us with this jewel of a film,” Peter Becker, president of the Criterion Collection and a partner in Janus Films, said. “It is one of those rare movie experiences so filled with hope, love, compassion, and humour that it will leave audiences glowing.”

Le Havre is the second theatrical collaboration between Janus Films and sales company The Match Factory following Revanche. Films We Like will handle distribution for Canada.

ianungstad wrote:Janus acquires Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre...Le Havre is the second theatrical collaboration between Janus Films and sales company The Match Factory following Revanche.

Nice. I was surprised that nobody picked this up after the rapturous reception at Cannes. The Match Factory is also the credited licensor on The Leningrad Cowboys set.

Discussion of Le Havre is over here for now.

I guess it has more to do with an issue of re-mastering than anything else. Criterion hasn't had the time for Ozu yet - simple as that.

Godard's Weekend is appearing with Janus credits at Film Forum. We knew, but just an extra confirmation.