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Spine #911 - Emergency: The Complete Series

Criterion's 2016 line-up is off to a good start:I'm relieved I won't have to double-dip on Lady Snowblood (was thinking the Crit might be 4K) but I'm very pleased with the announcement of the American Friend and Bitter Rice. I very nearly bought Sony's Italian BD of Gilda so I'm glad I held off. All in all, 3 out of 5 titles for me.

Finch wrote:Criterion's 2016 line-up is off to a good start:I'm relieved I won't have to double-dip on Lady Snowblood (was thinking the Crit might be 4K)

I'm confident it will be quite the improvement on the Arrow, regardless.

EddieLarkin wrote:

Finch wrote:Criterion's 2016 line-up is off to a good start:I'm relieved I won't have to double-dip on Lady Snowblood (was thinking the Crit might be 4K)

I'm confident it will be quite the improvement on the Arrow, regardless.

Fixing the incorrect RGB values of the Arrow BD will already be a good start.

Which is a given with Criterion, though the term "new" to describe the transfers for these leads me to expect them to be an advancement on the Arrow in all areas. Think Dressed to Kill (er, without a recall issue, hopefully!).

There was a Janus logo at the beginning of No End that showed on TCM late last night. Perhaps this is the next Kieślowski film that is released.

jwd5275 wrote:Regarding Forest of the Hanged...

The Film Foundation wrote:Hello,

Thank you for your interest in the World Cinema Project. Unfortunately the restoration for Forest Of The Hanged is currently on hold. Hopefully we can start the process again soon.

Thank you,
The Film Foundation

I don't exactly know how to interpret the following news, but Thomas Ciulei, the son of Liviu Ciulei (director of "Forest of the Hanged"), publicly announced that he's pretty much banning screenings of the film in Romania as a protest against the corruption and negligence of the CNC (The Romanian National Cinema Centre) and he mentioned World Cinema Foundation. Apparently, back in 2008 the World Cinema Foundation offered to do the restoration project of over 200.000 euros, but from Thomas Ciulei's claims the WCF withdrew their offer due to CNC's stupidity. To quote Thomas "CNC’s lack of interest to find solutions to support this laudative initiative within the country prompted World Cinema Foundation to withdraw its offer and thus a huge chance was lost to resuscitate a film [...]". Same thing apparently happened in 2010 to another of Liviu Ciulei's films "The Waves of Danube", when Groupama Group's offer to restore the film was met with the same indifference.
My hate for that institution (the Romanian National Cinema Centre) grows bigger every day. Their answer apparently was that "the film negatives are very good; they don't need to be restored, they just need to be digitized". Any screening I've seen of that film begs to differ.
But given that Thomas Ciulei is the sole owner of the copyright regarding his father's films, I don't understand why the CNC would matter...
I'm very confused (and angry). After the 2007 Cannes Classics fiasco with this film and now this I kind of lost my hope for a proper restoration to actually happen. RIP

doh286 wrote:There was a Janus logo at the beginning of No End that showed on TCM late last night. Perhaps this is the next Kieślowski film that is released.

[-o< . That and The Decalogue. I wouldn't mind at all having Amator as well.

What's the likely next LLoyd?

I would guess The Kid Brother, since that's the last feature with an existing commentary from the old Lloyd box. I hope it's Girl Shy, since that's my favorite.

There's also the box of sound features the Lloyd estate said Criterion was working on, but my guess is that will come later. It'll be interesting to see what gets included in that (Harold Diddlebock, maybe in both its versions? Welcome Danger, in both silent and sound?).

FrauBlucher wrote:What's the likely next LLoyd?

It could be 'Why Worry?', as a new restored version premiered at the 2014 TCM Film Festival.

Hou Hsiao-hsien comments on A Brighter Summer Day in his interview highlighted on Criterion's website, leading me to believe that its on the cusp of being announced.

I also wouldn't be shocked if Criterion had a revitalized interest in Flight of the Red Balloon with The Assassin getting so much media attention and IFC owning the distribution rights.

As a continuation of the discussion of Corinth Films (from the Bicycle Thieves thread).

Corinth's "classic" catalog include the following films:

8 1/2
Bicycle Thieves
I Vitelloni

Oedipus Rex (1957)
Of Mice and Men (1939)
Bartleby (1970)

I'd certainly expect at least Of Mice and Men to make its way to disc in the future. Might someone speak to the quality of the other two?

Also since Criterion is known to have licensed from Corinth Films, I wonder if any of their other (non-classic) films might be of interest? Perhaps Volker Schlöndorff's Calm at Sea (2011)? Maybe Einstein's Universe or Hollywood On Trial might be added as a bonus feature to another film? I'm not familiar with any of the other modern films Corinth has.

The President and Home From Home are also reasonably notable if just for their directors.

It's hard for me to imagine Criterion going after The President. It's got an intriguing premise, some commendable qualities, and at least one pretty stunning sequence, but for a director of Makhmalbaf's caliber it's a very muddled film, sort of like watching an abandoned rough cut. Unless someone in a powerful position at Criterion really loved it I don't see that happening.

With Don't Look Back coming up I wonder what rock films/documentaries they're looking at doing next. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii would be an ideal candidate. Has some cult status, the band doesn't have 100% ownership of it and there has been restoration work towards a Blu-ray release going on for awhile now.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:With Don't Look Back coming up I wonder what rock films/documentaries they're looking at doing next. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii would be an ideal candidate. Has some cult status, the band doesn't have 100% ownership of it and there has been restoration work towards a Blu-ray release going on for awhile now.

Although unlikely, I Would love a special edition of Madonna's 'Truth Or Dare' featuring all of the unused footage shot by Alex Keshishian, the full Blonde Ambition Tour recording filmed in Paris & new extras.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:With Don't Look Back coming up I wonder what rock films/documentaries they're looking at doing next. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii would be an ideal candidate. Has some cult status, the band doesn't have 100% ownership of it and there has been restoration work towards a Blu-ray release going on for awhile now.

In addition to what you suggested, I would love to have Criterion release of No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) coupled with I'm Not There (2007).

Stephen Saito tweeted "Most if not all of the Almodovar catalog is coming to Criterion." (According to that tweet, To Sleep With Anger is getting released but not by Criterion)

Great news! Almodavar. I'm hoping for Women on the Verge and Pepi, Luci & Bom, at least. Dark Habits is also available in Spain, and also What Have I Done to Deserve This? Pepi, Luci & Bom is not, I think.

Happy these are coming, but not happy they're coming for Criterion. Their resources could be better used elsewhere. Sony should've just upgraded their existing box.

Hoping we'll at least get his true early masterpiece, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? Sooner rather than later as these (undoubtedly) trickle out over the course of the next 8 years.

A later tweet from Stephen Saito offered some more on the Almodovar "Someone asked SPC's M Barker if we'd see old Almodovar on Blu. Was cryptic,but spoke of deal w/Criterion & said "It's all planned""

Pretty crazy to think how Criterion has recently picked up the rights to numerous films of Haneke, Kieslowski, Wenders, and now Almodovar -- and the recent OOP status of Bela Tarr's films even leaves those as a possibility. (And let's of course not forget the Fassbinder and Truffaut titles they've been sitting on for years, amongst others!)

God only knows how many years it'll take before all of these are released.

criterion10 wrote:Pretty crazy to think how Criterion has recently picked up the rights to numerous films of Haneke, Kieslowski, Wenders, and now Almodovar -- and the recent OOP status of Bela Tarr's films even leaves those as a possibility. (And let's of course not forget the Fassbinder and Truffaut titles they've been sitting on for years, amongst others!)

God only knows how many years it'll take before all of these are released.

All we need is for them to reaquire the Studio Canal library and we're set for the next 10-12 years

There was some news a year ago on twelve early Almodovar films being restored for blu-ray release by TF1.

There are twelve TF1 titles listed here, although these are not all "early" Almodovar films.

Broken Embraces, Bad Education, Talk to Her, Volver, High Heels, Kika, Flower of My Secret, Live Flesh, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Kika, Talk to Her, Volver

criterion10 wrote:Pretty crazy to think how Criterion has recently picked up the rights to numerous films of Haneke, Kieslowski, Wenders, and now Almodovar -- and the recent OOP status of Bela Tarr's films even leaves those as a possibility. (And let's of course not forget the Fassbinder and Truffaut titles they've been sitting on for years, amongst others!)

God only knows how many years it'll take before all of these are released.

They probably picked up all those Wong Kar Wai titles that Kino discontinued too.