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I was wondering if the release of Mirrormask directed by Dave McKean could prompt the television films The Falconer from 1997 and its sequel Asylum from 2000 to be released. They were directed by Christopher Petit and Iain Sinclair, but Dave McKean worked on them as a digital special effects artist. I have been recently inspired to rewatc h my video copies and while they are very interesting I think I'm in need of some sort of commentary or documentary to help me out in understanding them!

Peerpee, any chance of getting David Kalat to do a commentary on the forthcoming Fritz Lang films, or any other suitable films for that matter?

From what I gather, most members here actually like Kalat's enthusiastic commentary style. Could you be more specific about why you don't like DK?

Edit: I guess someone afraid of Davids "moral judgments and psuedo-Freudianisms"...

davidhare wrote:He completely lost me when he commented on Count Told's first appearance in Mabuse der Spieler as "obviously homosexual", presumbaly ascertained from Told's coiffeur. As one with reasonable gaydar, I was frankly left speechless.

And his delivery is only a step above the breathlessly manic dr Drew.

There have to be other Lang commentators out there.

Jesus Dave... that's a hefty grudge for one single zone of disagreement.

You've told me about this complaint before, but how does this negate the rest of the compelling information contained in the balance of the man's commentaries? One thing I love about Kalat (aside from his fine taste in films... and approachability, he'd helped me on the path to more Epstein) is that, despite his obvious fixation with Mabuse and Lang in general ("This film changed my life.." re der SPIELER) he never allows himself to become starstruck over his subject and he is simultaneously a source of info on the Toweringly Unsurpassable as well as the Cringingly Humiliating/Embarassing when it comes to the supposed operation of Lang's mind. He never holds back in bemusedly pointing out how much of a liar & self-sabotaging dork Lang could be, while at the same time reminding the viewer of Lang's genius, his understandable hatred of producers & their hideous interferences, his, after the obfuscation has been peeled away, unassailable credentials as a genuine anti-Nazi, etc etc.

For me (and others, clearly) Kalat does an excellent job of delivering the real Lang to the listener, he does so in a manner that is self-deprecating, more humbly excited by the opportunity to be doing a commentary, this versus the same old tiresome Professorial Self-Referential Espousal of Super Serious Film Truth In Absolutes delivered in lofty Biblical tones. One of the reasons so many people love this man's commentary (I hear his Mabuse tracks repeatedly cited in numerous places as Best Commentary Ever) is, I think, that Kalat knows he is not the filmmaker and therefore has no posessive claim to the final meaning of the text... and, while delivering one of the most informative commentaries available, does so in a manner which is always fun, reminding the viewer in an unspoken fashion that this is the realm of entertainment which is supposed to be a fun, pleasurable experience even during moments of innovation & pathos, exciting & not ponderous or intimidating, or threatened by absolutes broadcast by posessive academics who are more serious in tone about the film than the filmmaker himself (one can only love Jean Renoir to death in every interview he did... so humble, warm, uncondescendingly asking forgiveness for being technical)... one never senses Kalat is enjoying a perceived moment of triumph for himself/his theories versus other critics/their theories via his being invited to provide a commentary (and I think his TESTAMENT commentary was a placating sop to him owing to Becker trumping Kalats All-Day label "restored" edition). He simply aims to enhance your viewing pleasure via his the breadth of his own, and I've never seen him fail.

Plus a guy who brought back CHRIST IN CONCRETE & CHUTE DE LA MAISON USHER and popped discs for them earns a place in my heart for all time. USHER actually turned out to be a big hit for him, he said.

Let's see how many more times I can work out an excuse for myself to mention that film (!).
"In terms of French Cinema, CHUTE DE LA MAISON USHER is on a par with PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC," Henri Langlois, Caheirs Du Cinema.

davidhare wrote:He completely lost me when he commented on Count Told's first appearance in Mabuse der Spieler as "obviously homosexual", presumbaly ascertained from Told's coiffeur. As one with reasonable gaydar, I was frankly left speechless.

Perhaps the commentator was talking about the ways homosexuality was understood and represented in German movies at that time. Which might be not the same as detecting if someone is gay in real life, today and outside Germany. Or did I understand you wrong?

And I don't see-- and this includes Told's grief at his wife's disappearance-- how Kalat's theory (this is assuming someone in this discussion knows for certain Told is not specifically delineated a homosexual in the original N Jaques text) is so wildly off-color or off the mark... particularly when laying his rendering in the film up against the rest of the cast's males, the clearly delineated physical & psychological barriers between the count & countess, the ease with which the usually oh so proper von Wenk gives himself permission to grow interested in the countess, plus the rest of Alfred Abel's performance-canon (known for his understatement, his skill in elucidating a huge pallete of emotional color via the smallest of gesture... thus his blaringly feminine makeup, apparel & HAIRSTYLE, god.. he's never looked this way before or since); in my opinion it's not a wildly-improbable assessment on Kalat's part. regardless of Lang & Abel's intentions.

My big hope is that MoC will get the intertitles retranslated by a native English speaker. The (otherwise excellent) current Eureka edition suffers from constant infelicities and germanisms in the subtitles (were they provided by the Murnau Stiftung?). A few examples from the first 20 minutes:
"You make sure that the special announcements burst into the stock exchange in the right moment..."
"If only the elimination squad wouldn't be there..."
"You get home at last, you dirty pig?"
"It is to be feared that Switzerland steps back from the contract..."
"Sternberg sells!?" [when he's selling]
Every review I've read has mentioned this problem, so I really hope Nick & co will sort it out. This is film has a lot of intertitles, and over 4.5 hours all the mistakes get really tiresome.

Never heard David Kalat, but someone who'd be an obvious choice for some kind of contribution is Noel Burch. Check out his essay on German-period Lang in Richard Roud's Cinema: A Critical Dictionary for a start.

Am I missing something? Which Langs are forthcoming from MoC? I thought Nick said that they wouldn't be revisiting Mabuse until more of the older Eureka discs sold.

tryavna wrote:Am I missing something? Which Langs are forthcoming from MoC? I thought Nick said that they wouldn't be revisiting Mabuse until more of the older Eureka discs sold.

Die Nibelungen was one of the first titles announced. If I remember correctly, Nick confirmed that that it wouldn't be released until later this year.

tryavna wrote:Am I missing something? Which Langs are forthcoming from MoC? I thought Nick said that they wouldn't be revisiting Mabuse until more of the older Eureka discs sold.

I'm taking the long-term view here. Really looking forward to Die Nibelungen, and when the others eventually get redone I've got a feeling I'm going to doubledip for the first time in my DVD-buying career. For Noel Burch on Mabuse, see here (pp7-28).

How about animation? It seems like "serious" DVD companies have been avoiding animation like the plague for years (except for Bfi and Image). I'd really like to see MoC tackle an animated film or two. There's a goldmine to be found in Japan (a practically endless list of high quality animated films that could use a great presentation.) I don't believe Fantastic Planet has an R2 release, and that's a Palm d'or winner. One of my favorite films, Wan Lai Ming's Uproar in Heaven (Monkey King) deserves a wider audience (there's a really cheap unsubtitled DVD of this out of China). I have yet to see it, but Doug Cummings is a fan of Paul Grimault's Le Roi et L'Oiseau, which sounds fantastic (I just haven't placed an order with amazon.fr in a while, but soon I'll pick up the unsubbed R2 DVD of this.) I guess Anchor Bay already snagged up Plague Dogs, but that would have been a nice title. Alexeiff, Starewicz, Norstein, Back, Takahata (does Disney own the rights to *all* Ghibli? probably) there are so many options.

Nick, does the above post ring a bell? That's the next logical step, kid: The Masters of Animation series of DVDs!

Animation? Pfft! That's kid's stuff!

Gordon McMurphy wrote:Animation? Pfft! That's kid's stuff!

Actually, there's quite a few classic animation films that I'd love to see:

Wan Laiming's, The Monkey King (aka. Upoar In Heaven) (1965, China) on DVD with english subtitles, as the Chinese 2-disc lacks subtitles.

Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King (1979, China) is apparently on DVD in China with a gorgeous 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, english subtitles and extras, but where do I order it from?

A Jan Svankmajer Collection that is more comprehensive than the Image Entertainment and Kino sets and has all-new, high-definition, progressive transfers and some quality extras.

Gordon McMurphy wrote:Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King (1979, China) is apparently on DVD in China with a gorgeous 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, english subtitles and extras, but where do I order it from?

Not to hijack this thread but if you search under "Neza Conquers the Dragon King" you'll find several Chinese sites selling this online.

Here's one that desperately needs a home video release of any sort:

Jutzi's Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück

It's a masterpiece of German socialist silent cinema. If anyone knows how to get a copy, please tell me. I want to teach this film in a seminar on the Weimar period next semester and am having trouble getting a copy.

What about a gorgeous HD-progressive, 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer over two DVD-9s of Hiroshi Inagaki's, Chushingura (1962) to replace that horrendous 1998 single disc, non-anamorphic, interlaced Image Entertainment transfer? I have been waiting six years for a new edition (with subtitles) and I get the feeling that Image ain't gonna be the folks to do it.

Any hope that MOC can tackle some of the totally unavailable Jun Ichikawa films -- Dying in the Hospital, Osaka Story, Tokyo Brother and Sister ...

Also -- how about some of the darklish Kon Ichikawa comedies -- like "Ten Dark Women" or "A Full Up Train"?

Steven H wrote:Takahata (does Disney own the rights to *all* Ghibli? probably)

Disney has worldwide rights (except for Japan, of course) for all Studio Ghibli films except Ocean Waves and Grave of the Fireflies. The only film they have yet to release is Takahata's Only Yesterday. To my understanding, however, part of the agreement with Studio Ghibli was that Disney had to release every film.

Buena Vista holds the video and DVD rights to all the Ghibli films in Japan -- except for "Grave of the Fireflies".

BTW -- "Ocean Waves" is a wonderful -- greatly under-appreciated -- Ghibli film.

kinjitsu wrote:

Gordon McMurphy wrote:What about a gorgeous HD-progressive, 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer over two DVD-9s of Hiroshi Inagaki's, Chushingura (1962) to replace that horrendous 1998 single disc, non-anamorphic, interlaced Image Entertainment transfer? I have been waiting six years for a new edition (with subtitles) and I get the feeling that Image ain't gonna be the folks to do it.

Ditto verbatim!

I third this recommendation. That would make for a fantastic MoC release!

Michael Kerpan wrote:Buena Vista holds the video and DVD rights to all the Ghibli films in Japan -- except for "Grave of the Fireflies".

Really? I had no idea...crazy!

BTW -- "Ocean Waves" is a wonderful -- greatly under-appreciated -- Ghibli film.

I've been eyeing a Region 2 of Ocean Waves on yesasia.com, but I've been less than thrilled about the $44 price tag. However, it's just too unbearable to know there's one last "greatly under-appreciated" film from Studio Ghibli left for me to see. Thanks for (inadvertently) talking me into it!

I don't think "Ocean Waves" got released on DVD in Korea, HK or Taiwan -- so the Japanese version is the only one. My only objection to the film is that it's too short (another 15 minutes would have been nice).