Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[ryannichols7]

Harlan County USA has been restored for years and I was waiting for when it would come to disc. it seems like these will be released together, and that makes it pretty worth the wait!

[Lowry_Sam]

Any other titles from Kopple to add for a possible box?

[beamish14]

Any other titles from Kopple to add for a possible box?

Wild Man Blues and Shut Up & Sing would be wonderful additions. I thought both ended up with Sony

[FrauBlucher]

The Canterbury Tale DVD is on back order. Who is buying the DVD?! Hopefully that's the next P&P getting upgraded.

[olmo]

The Front is doo-doo. The Front is poop. A rare stinker and dullard from Ritt.

I think it’s an immensely powerful work. One of the all-time great final scenes, too. Zero Mostel is excellent as well

Seconded. I the think

Spoiler

Hecky Brown's suicide

is the most perfunctory, pathetic & tragic sequence which is all the more real & affecting because of the director's empathy.

Wonderful film.

[FrauBlucher]

Oddly I got the usual month end email for releases today. Perhaps an intern accidentally hit send :-k

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Oddly I got the usual month end email for releases today. Perhaps an intern accidentally hit send :-k

Received this as well.

[domino harvey]

I think Un prophete may be coming based solely on an interesting structural comment by Audiard on the interview for Sur mes levres, where he ties his closing comment back to De battre… and then Un prophete in an odd way that however makes sense if you were there to discuss the three of these films together… (I know these are the chronological order, but what he’s saying isn’t meaningfully unifying unless you’re trying to tie the three together in that moment)

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

This is an assumption but I think it’s safe to assume they grabbed Thamp by Aravindan from Film Foundation at the same time as Kummatty.

[FrauBlucher]

I think Un prophete may be coming based solely on an interesting structural comment by Audiard on the interview for Sur mes levres, where he ties his closing comment back to De battre… and then Un prophete in an odd way that however makes sense if you were there to discuss the three of these films together… (I know these are the chronological order, but what he’s saying isn’t meaningfully unifying unless you’re trying to tie the three together in that moment)

I really hope this becomes reality. Love the film

[Lowry_Sam]

That, A Separation, The Lives Of Others, Welcome To The Dollhouse, City Of Hope, & an Almodovar box have been my biggest hopes for Criterion to nab from Sony.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Life of Oharu is currently unavailable. New pressing, 4K upgrade, or OOP perhaps?

[beamish14]

That, A Separation, The Lives Of Others, Welcome To The Dollhouse, City Of Hope, & an Almodovar box have been my biggest hopes for Criterion to nab from Sony.

A set of John Sayles’ Sony works including Amigo, City of Hope, and Roan Inish would be amazing

[criterionsnob]

Maybe they'd do an Oharu 4K the same month as the Tanaka Eclipse.

[ryannichols7]

I would be pleasantly, and truly surprised if The Life of Oharu gets a 4K upgrade - there is a supposedly excellent new master that should be a massive upgrade over Criterion's current disc. it would also be a great to have a non-Kurosawa, non-Godzilla upgrade from Toho too, giving me hope we could see something like When the Woman Ascends the Stairs get a similar bump.

I have said it a few times on here before but I do dream of seeing a Street of Shame mainline rescue on 4K. if we could get Tony Rayns' old Masters of Cinema commentary ported over, I'd happily pay up for such an edition - that also has an existing 4K master from Kadokawa that's only available on Japanese Bluray. ditto Sansho

also next to no chance Oharu is OOP - Criterion have never lost the rights to a Toho title and I see no reason for that to happen now

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

I would be pleasantly, and truly surprised if The Life of Oharu gets a 4K upgrade - there is a supposedly excellent new master that should be a massive upgrade over Criterion's current disc. it would also be a great to have a non-Kurosawa, non-Godzilla upgrade from Toho too, giving me hope we could see something like When the Woman Ascends the Stairs get a similar bump.

I have said it a few times on here before but I do dream of seeing a Street of Shame mainline rescue on 4K. if we could get Tony Rayns' old Masters of Cinema commentary ported over, I'd happily pay up for such an edition - that also has an existing 4K master from Kadokawa that's only available on Japanese Bluray. ditto Sansho

also next to no chance Oharu is OOP - Criterion have never lost the rights to a Toho title and I see no reason for that to happen now

I think we’ll see Pale Flower in the future as well as When A Woman Ascends The Stairs.

[Lowry_Sam]

I'd love to see Women Of The Night & Street Of Shame get 4ks, maybe a Mizoguchi 4k box with some other titles than the fallen women eclipse (only found Osaka okay & haven't watched Gion yet but assume its not as good as the other 2)

[Hogfather]

That, A Separation, The Lives Of Others, Welcome To The Dollhouse, City Of Hope, & an Almodovar box have been my biggest hopes for Criterion to nab from Sony.

A set of John Sayles’ Sony works including Amigo, City of Hope, and Roan Inish would be amazing

Roan Inish was announced by John Sayles back in 2014 with Matewan. I know there was some sort of rights holdup; the producer who held the rights to both Roan Inish and Household Saints just sat on them for years. Kino just released Household Saints a little more than a year ago, so hopefully we'll see Criterion fulfil Sayles's decade-old promise sometime soon.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Idk if this has been pointed out (it probably has) but Battleship Potemkin starts with Criterion and Janus logos.

[hanabi]

Idk if this has been pointed out (it probably has) but Battleship Potemkin starts with Criterion and Janus logos.

Is this usually a sign of a release to come? Les carabiniers also has Criterion and Janus logos at the beginning on the channel.

[RSTooley]

Is this usually a sign of a release to come?

Not necessarily a sign of a forthcoming release, but it may signal that Criterion has secured the distribution and streaming rights to a particular film. In the case of Battleship Potemkin, I'd say that a release is damn near guaranteed given its influence on film history.

[Lowry_Sam]

Wonder if they’ll secure the rights for the Pet Shop Boys soundtrack, the channel has had It Couldn’t Happen Here .

[yoloswegmaster]

This has been known for almost a decade now:

[Hogfather]

Aren't the Eisenstein silents all in the public domain? Because theoretically anyone and everyone could put out a box set of Eisenstein's silents (which would be a lot of fun imo to have all the labels drop their own Eisenstein at the same time, see who buys which ones). The version on the Criterion Channel is the 1976 Mosfilm restoration, while Kino's website says they're using the 2007 Deutsche Kinemathek version. So Criterion could put out a new restoration, it would just be a matter of getting their hands on the materials, or at least scans of them.

[ryannichols7]

I emailed Mosfilm a few years back about the Eisenstein films and at the time I was told that Criterion did indeed license the newest restorations from them, but obviously they can't be touched stateside at the moment..