criterionforum.org

May releases, from retailer listings:

Bus Riley's Back in Town
The Catman of Paris
The Great Gatsby (1949)
The Long Voyage Home
Up Tight
The Spiral Road

The Long Voyage Home on Blu-ray! Didn’t expect this from anyone other than WAC

Definetly in for CATMAN OF PARIS.

Peacock wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:21 pm The Long Voyage Home on Blu-ray! Didn’t expect this from anyone other than WAC

Pretty sure it's in the same boat (sorry) as Stagecoach, i.e. a Walter Wagner production that was formerly distributed by WB but has since reverted to the owners of the underlying copyrights. In both cases that's Westchester Films (now owned by Shout Factory), but various distribution arrangements apply outside the U.S. and I don't know who has it in Australia. In Europe it's with Studiocanal, who licensed French and Spanish BD releases a few years back. Hopefully Imprint will add some nice extras, seeing how the European discs are quite cheap and likely used the same restoration.

The Long Voyage Home is currently with Janus/Criterion in the US and has been for awhile.

Up Tight is incredible. One of the most incendiary and jaw-dropping films to ever sneak out of the Hollywood studio system. It deserves much more than the barebones disc Olive gave it

The Spiral Road isn’t a classic, but it holds a special place with me because it was filmed in my family’s native Dutch Guyana less than 15 years before it achieved independence from the Netherlands. My grandmother actually saw some of it being filmed

Nice to see that somebody finally worked out the rights issues with the Alan Ladd version of The Great Gatsby. Not a great film, and not a faithful adaptation of the Fitzgerald novel, but an interesting one, and it's good to have it available. Legal issues with the writer's estate had previously forced Universal to keep this 1949 Paramount title under wraps for decades.

dwk wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:39 pm The Long Voyage Home is currently with Janus/Criterion in the US and has been for awhile.

That's odd, AGFA (which handles theatrical distribution for Shout) has a booking page for it. I see it apparently had Janus/Criterion logos on a TCM airing last year—is that also the case for the version on the Criterion Channel?

Fred Holywell wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:17 pm Nice to see that somebody finally worked out the rights issues with the Alan Ladd version of The Great Gatsby. Not a great film, and not a faithful adaptation of the Fitzgerald novel, but an interesting one, and it's good to have it available. Legal issues with the writer's estate had previously forced Universal to keep this 1949 Paramount title under wraps for decades.

I had a feeling it would finally come out when the novel entered the public domain

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:19 pm

dwk wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:39 pm The Long Voyage Home is currently with Janus/Criterion in the US and has been for awhile.

That's odd, AGFA (which handles theatrical distribution for Shout) has a booking page for it. I see it apparently had Janus/Criterion logos on a TCM airing last year—is that also the case for the version on the Criterion Channel?

Yes, it opens with both logos on the Criterion Channel.

I guess Janus doesnt have theatrical, so it is odd that it opens with their logo, but I'm pretty sure that Criterion still has the disc rights.

Never heard of it before but The Catman of Paris sure looks awesome. Also Dassin’s Uptight interests me.

Our June releases cover 36 years of cinema.

A 2-disc hardbox for an epic 80’s historical drama, a 2020 sports drama, a tale of young adoration, a worldwide 1st on Blu for a 90’s Chinese drama & a romantic British adaptation, and sexual obsession in a psychological drama.

the 90s Chinese drama is almost certainly Not One Less, which I guessed would be coming at some point. the 80s historical drama is probably Revolution, which screams something Imprint would release

Here they are: https://viavision.com.au/shop/imprint-bundle-pack-june-2023/

One thing though: there's probably a typo somewhere because Malèna is listed as the longer Italian cut (which is 108 mins) but the indicated runtime is 92 mins, which is the shorter US cut.

mrb404 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:20 am Here they are: https://viavision.com.au/shop/imprint-bundle-pack-june-2023/

One thing though: there's probably a typo somewhere because Malèna is listed as the longer Italian cut (which is 108 mins) but the indicated runtime is 92 mins, which is the shorter US cut.

I was just about to ask about this. I don’t even think the original Italian cut got a Blu-Ray in Italy. The goddamn Miramax recut basically replaced it everywhere, much like what happened with Like Water for Chocolate, which was over 30 minutes longer in Mexican cinemas

beamish14 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:23 am

mrb404 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:20 am One thing though: there's probably a typo somewhere because Malèna is listed as the longer Italian cut (which is 108 mins) but the indicated runtime is 92 mins, which is the shorter US cut.

I was just about to ask about this. I don’t even think the original Italian cut got a Blu-Ray in Italy. The goddamn Miramax recut basically replaced it everywhere, much like what happened with Like Water for Chocolate, which was over 30 minutes longer in Mexican cinemas

There are just a couple of Blu-Ray releases of the longer cut that I know of: one in South Korea (in 2013) and one in Russia (in 2014). Both are English friendly and copies of the South Korea one can still be found online.

My guess is Via Vision really meant the longer cut and the 92 mins is the typo. I wrote to them asking for clarification and will post their reply here.

mrb404 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:37 amMy guess is Via Vision really meant the longer cut and the 92 mins is the typo. I wrote to them asking for clarification and will post their reply here.

Sorry, I beat you to it! They've confirmed it's the uncut version and updated the runtime on their website

swo17 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 5:41 am

mrb404 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:37 amMy guess is Via Vision really meant the longer cut and the 92 mins is the typo. I wrote to them asking for clarification and will post their reply here.

Sorry, I beat you to it! They've confirmed it's the uncut version and updated the runtime on their website

All good! (:

Imprint is releasing Jules Dassin’s fine, and underrated Paramount film, “Uptight”, which dealt with black militancy during the 60’s. Basically, a remake of Ford’s The Informer, the production was closely monitored by Hoover’s FBI, and was the first and only film Dassin made in the U.S. after the blacklist. Previously released by Olive in U.S. Surprised Criterion hasn’t jumped all over this considering the subject matter and the director.

Uptight was previously streaming on The Criterion Channel. So, who knows, maybe there’s a chance they’ll put out their own edition in the future.

Crimlaw25 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 4:50 pm Imprint is releasing Jules Dassin’s fine, and underrated Paramount film, “Uptight”, which dealt with black militancy during the 60’s. Basically, a remake of Ford’s The Informer, the production was closely monitored by Hoover’s FBI, and was the first and only film Dassin made in the U.S. after the blacklist. Previously released by Olive in U.S. Surprised Criterion hasn’t jumped all over this considering the subject matter and the director.

Where do those in the US order/preorder Imprint titles from? It seems like the places I know of (DD, Diabolik) stock different inventories.

If you just want select titles, places like that are probably your best bet. If you're buying a lot you might just order direct, especially if you want nearly all the titles in one of the monthly bundles, which are usually priced so that you basically get one of the titles free. Shipping maxes out at $50 AUD (currently about $33.50 USD) no matter how much you order

Thanks swo.

Beaver on Little Buddha - seems the presentation is absolutely terrific, in a pleasant surprise from Imprint!

Ribs wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:25 pm Beaver on Little Buddha - seems the presentation is absolutely terrific, in a pleasant surprise from Imprint!

The film was shown in 2.35:1 for 35mm and 2.20:1 for 70mm, while this disc is in 2.00:1 (aka Storaro-vision).