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Feego wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:36 pm Eisenstein's Strike aired on TCM this morning with a Janus logo (this might be old news, so if so, please forgive me). It was not a restored print, looking a notch below the Kino Blu-ray, although it did feature the original Russian intertitles. I know that Eisenstein silent box has been rumored for a hundred years. Has that completely fallen by the wayside?

Criterion licensed a batch of Russian films from MOS at the same time. Thus we ended up with Stalker. Though its nice to get additional confirmation - and there's been plenty of times where we've only found out Criterion had something because it had a logo on TCM (like The Walls of Malapaga (1949)). These are with Criterion and should be coming out in the future (there may be more, but these are just the ones we know from Filmstruck):

BONDARCHUK, Sergei - War and Peace - 1966 - USSR

EISENSTEIN, Sergei - The Battleship Potemkin - 1925 - USSR
EISENSTEIN, Sergei - Strike - 1925 - USSR
EISENSTEIN, Sergei - The Old and the New - 1929 - USSR

KLIMOV, Elem - Welcome, or No Trespassing - 1964 - USSR
KLIMOV, Elem - Adventures of a Dentist - 1965 - USSR
KLIMOV, Elem - Come and See - 1985 - USSR

ROMM, Mikhail - Nine Days of One Year - 1962 - USSR

TARKOVSKY, Andrei - The Mirror - 1975 - USSR
-------------------------
I'm still hoping that Criterion will end up with the rights to October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1927) - but I think it may not be with MOS.

Minkin wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:31 am KLIMOV, Elem - Welcome, or No Trespassing - 1964 - USSR
KLIMOV, Elem - Adventures of a Dentist - 1965 - USSR
KLIMOV, Elem - Come and See - 1985 - USSR

WIth Come and See hypothetically coming soon (ASAP hopefully), I wonder if one of those earlier films could be included as a supplement

I would also put Dersu Uzala on that list.

FrauBlucher wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:34 am I would also put Dersu Uzala on that list.

I'm not very familiar with the film but I was under the impression that the previous release here by Kino wasn't very good. Are there any current restorations out there? I imagine Criterion would prioritize Kurosawa.

I can't speak to Dersu Uzala, which I'm sure will come with time, but the restoration of Come and See won the restoration award at the 2017 Venice Film Festival and a restoration of Welcome, or No Trespassing played Cannes 2015. Klimov seems next in line on the Mosfilm front, but I don't know how you'd package those films. Ideally, all three would receive individual releases, but it seems more likely Come and See is the only one that receives a standalone with the rest Filmstruck-exclusive, unless they can swing a 2 by Klimov release for the lesser-known titles.

Big Ben wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:40 am

FrauBlucher wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:34 am I would also put Dersu Uzala on that list.

b
I'm not very familiar with the film but I was under the impression that the previous release here by Kino wasn't very good. Are there any current restorations out there? I imagine Criterion would prioritize Kurosawa.

The Kino is OOP. It's suspected that it's another MosFilm restoration that 's making it's way to Criterion. Plus, it was a Criterion laserdisc back in the day. Hopefully, sooner than later. (It'll probably pop up on Janus' site first, along with a tour)

It's my favorite Kurosawa.

I wonder if the new restoration (https://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahr ... filmStills) of The Cranes Are Flying would be in the mix as well?

FrauBlucher wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 10:12 am

Big Ben wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:40 am

FrauBlucher wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:34 am I would also put Dersu Uzala on that list.

b
I'm not very familiar with the film but I was under the impression that the previous release here by Kino wasn't very good. Are there any current restorations out there? I imagine Criterion would prioritize Kurosawa.

The Kino is OOP. It's suspected that it's another MosFilm restoration that 's making it's way to Criterion. Plus, it was a Criterion laserdisc back in the day. Hopefully, sooner than later. (It'll probably pop up on Janus' site first, along with a tour)

It's my favorite Kurosawa.

For what it's worth, when Dersu Uzala played on TCM a few months back, it looked pretty awful - I can't recall if the Janus logo was in front of it or not.

ianthemovie wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 4:02 am I really wish I'd held on to one of those catalogs. In those days--before my family had Internet--it was the only source of information about the Criterion Collection I had, and was how now-favorite films like Black Narcissus, Andrei Rublev, Ivan the Terrible etc. first came on my radar.

It's not the notorious 2001 calendar, but I was going through some files in my office this morning and found a catalog from around July/August 1999. It announced The Tales of Hoffmann as "coming soon," but it wasn't released until November 2005! It also announced Orpheus and Testament of Oprheus as forthcoming individual titles, but we got a whole Orphic Trilogy box set instead. Thought some of you youngsters might appreciate seeing it.

I still have a bunch of those too. Guess it would be good to scan them and post them.

Nick Wrigley found the one with all the "coming soon" titles that never panned out. It's probably actually from late 2000 since Double Suicide came out in January 2001.

That 1999 catalogue just brought me back to naively and excitedly purchasing Criterions at SRP at Borders. So much hideous cover art crammed in such a small space!

Yeah, I never bought a Criterion title at full MSRP ($39.99) but always used to wait for the 35% off sale at DVDPlanet. Those were the days!

50% for me.

371229 wrote: Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:37 pm Yeah, I never bought a Criterion title at full MSRP ($39.99) but always used to wait for the 35% off sale at DVDPlanet. Those were the days!

Preorders were always 35% off, so it made sense to buy early instead of waiting for the price to rise. And of course you had to use the codes to get an extra $5 off $60 or $12 off $150. But we were compensated in the days before BN's sales with being able to buy on release date and not wait!

Hmmm, maybe I'm misremembering. I think you are correct now that I think back. It was 35% off pre-orders... and then didn't they have a bi-annual sale of 40% off?

They had additional 20% off sales in the summer that were the best deal on DVDs at that time. Was there another in the fall too? I can't remember, but one was def in the summer. We all used to post our hauls from these sales here, I remember that!

Reel.com had 50% off pre-orders in the Wild West days of DVD, plus coupons. I think I got Rushmore for something like $15.99.

What year did the B&N biannual sale start?

2010 I think

Whatever happened to Cocktail Molotov? I remember that showing up in a few catalogs.

It literally just came out last week in France for the first time on DVD (and only on DVD). Perhaps a rights issue, perhaps a film elements issue. I mean, have you really been holding your breath to see it all this time?

Werewolf by Night wrote:It literally just came out last week in France for the first time on DVD (and only on DVD). Perhaps a rights issue, perhaps a film elements issue. I mean, have you really been holding your breath to see it all this time?

Oh interesting. I was just curious because almost every other “coming soon” listed title eventually saw a release.

What was exciting about the old days was that the public at large didn't yet realize that Criterions sold at a premium, so the used market was often a goldmine of great bargains. I picked up a lot of Criterions for $5-8 at pawn shops and flea markets.

Following what Matt did, I made some scans of the booklets I could find. I know I had a couple of more somewhere but couldn't locate them:

1999 Insert: lists Spartacus as coming soon and it has the original style banner.

This is the one Matt uploaded

2000 or 2001: lists a number of coming soon that were severely delayed or never came, and also shows some alternate cover art (38MB) Dodes Ka den (severely delayed) is also listed as Widescreen.

2002 insert: notable for a few titles listed as coming soon but delayed (also listed Howards End which ended up initially being part of the Merchant/Ivory line).