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The Korda library is owned by Granada/ITV in the UK-who also own the vast Rank library (Early Hitchcock/Lean/Powell) - although some of these titles only have UK rights. I hope this helps.

I assume Granada/ITV controls the UK/European rights but I guess the question remains, who has been granted US rights for the library?

The Brattle, the art house that laid the foundation for Janus Films, is in trouble.

Rear projection? Maybe that's why.

RE: the Brattle's rear projection - tight space is a fact of life in city living. Cy Harvey converted the space into a cinema after seeing a rear projection system on a cruise ship, and started programming foreign and repertory in the space. It was the only way to feasibly make the space a cinema. A few years later Cy founded Janus at the Brattle as a business smart way of programing its screen (and many others). In my view it doesn't effect the quality to any discernible degree. Hell, I think it adds to the cinema's charm.

There was a revival house in NYC that had rear projection MANY years ago and it was virtually unwatchable. Maybe there is good rear projection. I'm no expert.

Tommaso wrote:Does that mean we get to see some rare Powells? "Spy in Black", "The Lion has wings" and so on ?

This may be known fact already, but I noticed that MoMA is showing The Spy in Black in June as part of a Film Preservation exhibition, courtesy of Janus Films.

Barmy wrote:There was a revival house in NYC that had rear projection MANY years ago and it was virtually unwatchable. Maybe there is good rear projection. I'm no expert.

Theater 80 St. Marks -- what a pit. Between the mold and the bad projection... They had only one projector and would put both films of a double feature on one gigantic reel. And used incompetent, non-union projectionists.

I had my worst moviegoing experience there with some MORON offering a loud running commentary to Last Year at Marienbad -- what's the status of the Criterion DVD, anyway?

Ted Todorov wrote:what's the status of the Criterion DVD, anyway?

They're fine-tuning the commentary track to make sure the moron comes through loud and clear.

Ted Todorov wrote:I had my worst moviegoing experience there with some MORON offering a loud running commentary to Last Year at Marienbad -- what's the status of the Criterion DVD, anyway?

a Rialto theatrical re-release first, then a DVD (probably next year)

Cinematheque Ontario has A SUMMER OF CINEMATHEQUE CLASSICS: FIFTY YEARS OF JANUS FILMS.

For the New York residents and visitors, the IFC center is continuing their Janus at 50 celebration the next few months. It would seem to be a good bet that the unreleased titles might show up on DVD reasonably soon. Here's a schedule:

- Jean Renoir's THE RULES OF THE GAME:
Fri Jul 13, Sat Jul 14, and Sun Jul 15 at noon
- Masaki Kobayashi's HARAKIRI:
Fri Aug 3, Sat Aug 4, and Sun Aug 5 at noon
- Hiroshi Teshigahara's WOMAN IN THE DUNES:
Fri Aug 10, Sat Aug 11, and Sun Aug 12 at noon
- Kenji Mizoguchi's LIFE OF OHARU:
Fri Aug 17, Sat Aug 18, and Sun Aug 19 at noon
- Federico Fellini's LA STRADA:
Fri Aug 31, Sat Sep 1, Sun Sep 2, and Mon Sep 3 at noon
- Ingmar Bergman's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT:
Fri Sep 7, Sat Sep 8, and Sun Sep 9 at noon
- Kon Ichikawa's THE MAKIOKA SISTERS:
Fri Sep 28, Sat Sep 29, and Sun Sep 30 at noon

According to Tim Lucas's blog, the film KYONETSU NO KISETSU (THE WEIRD LOVEMAKERS) was broadcast on Dish Network's World Cinema HD with a Janus logo preceding it.

"Clouds Over Europe" is now represented by Janus Films (it's a part of the Korda library, which had been controlled by MGM/UA until the end of 2006) - it's quite possible we will be able to license it from them at some point.

Regarding TCM, this may have resolved itself some time ago, but this weekend was the first time I noticed any of these Korda/Rank films running. They had Korda's version of An Ideal Husband, preceded by Janus logos.

Janus and the Weinsteins team up for Destination Arthouse.

My Dinner With Andre is a foreign film?

Sure--Malle's French!

My Dinner with Andre is a film Malle made in America with mostly American actors.

Hey cinephrenic-

I'm thinking Tavernier's tongue was firmly planted...

-Keith

Yeah I caught it, just answering the guy above him.

Antoine Doinel wrote:Janus and the Weinsteins team up for Destination Arthouse.

I don't know about this channel (Ovation). Is it carried by many providers? The "presented with limited commercial interruptions" doesn't make it too enticing, though.

I recently upgraded to the HD Dish Network receiver, and have been surprised to find MANY Criterion/Janus offerings on the various former "Voom" network channels (which are aired without commercials). Between the World Cinema & Kung Fu channels there are quite a few HD broadcasts of Janus material, and in HD they often look better than the issued DVDs. The label "Kung Fu" is a pretty broad umbrella, as they have shown everything from "Tokyo Drifter" to 6 or 7 Kurosawas, to the "Rebel Samurai" set to "Ugetsu", and all within the past 3 weeks! I must say all of the HD choices, I'm not too interested in what the SD channels are airing any more. Monsters HD shows lots of fun stuff, but is somewhat hampered by reverse cropping: many 4:3 films are zoomed to a 16:9 ratio, which I wish they wouldn't do.

I hope TCM is able to convert to HD soon!

unclehulot wrote:I don't know about this channel (Ovation). Is it carried by many providers? The "presented with limited commercial interruptions" doesn't make it too enticing, though.

Ovation is very good. Think of it as being what Bravo used to be like about ten years ago. I used to watch Ovation all the time about two or three years ago until I realized that they hadn't updated their catalogue, but maybe they're doing that now. Anyway, their arts coverage and documentaries are good. For instance, they show the ITV/Channel 4 series "Private Life of a Masterpiece," taped operas, Howard Goodall's docus on the history of Western music, interviews with Morrissy and other Brit-rock musicians, etc. And their "commercial interruptions" are indeed "limited" -- about a two-minute break every 20.

I'm not sure which providers offer Ovation. I get it through Time Warner.

BTW, just noticed that they've been showing the Scorsese Personal Journey docu series. So it looks like they have been expanding their programming in recent months.

Bravo used to be commercial-free 20 years ago, so Ovation is what Bravo became after they started having commercials (was that 10 years ago?).

Bravo now, of course, is a different story.

John Ford's The Plough and the Stars is a Janus property? I overheard Bruce Eder (who probably should know) tell someone that Janus owned two RKO films, with The Devil and Daniel Webster being the other. Not mentioned in the context of a DVD though.

I just came across the film notes site and wondered if these shorts ever had a video release?

Janus Collection of Classic Shorts

In particular I'd like to see Wendy Toye's The Stranger Left No Card.

MarcM wrote:I just came across the film notes site and wondered if these shorts ever had a video release?

Yes.