criterionforum.org

Fair enough, Jeff, and I think that, in my case, what came off as spite in my first post is less directed at Criterion releasing the Bergman doc standalone per se, but rather Criterion's increasing trend of releasing "unneccessary" stuff like the standalone Cassavetes titles and most of the Essential Arthouse releases. I could be wrong in thinking so, but it seems like an attempt to get more product on the market (which definitely has its upsides for both Criterion and the consumer, which I do not for one second deny, especially for people who, say, only want one title from the Cassavetes box or want a cheaper version of Beauty and the Beast) while thinning out their bread and butter main line releases. Now it could be that even without this filler we would still be getting exactly the same number of proper CC titles as we have been, but between all that stuff, Blu-Ray, and Eclipse, I feel like Criterion is sometimes spreading themselves too thin. I'm sure others will disagree, and they're entitled, so I'll end by applauding CC's lower-tier pricing for the SD Seventh Seal reissue (should it hold), because if they really wanted to suck the majority dry they would've jacked that up to match the Blu-Ray. My Dinner with Andre, on the other hand (now watch, their MSRPs will get swapped tomorrow)...

Cronenfly wrote:I feel like Criterion is sometimes spreading themselves too thin

That's a very fair observation, Cronenfly. My snark wasn't directed at you (or anyone in particular). I think that in the case of Bergman's Island, the cost of producing, packaging, and distributing the stand-alone disc may actually end up costing them more than it will profit them.

I imagine that the vocal bewilderment/aggression likely stems from this being simply one more beguiling title in a month of slim releases and disappointing packages. Criterion is sitting on what, somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred films we know about, and branching out into Blu-ray and theatrical releases, and doing God knows what else, and this is what gets one of the ever-narrowing slots for the month?

Lame release. Period.

I already have this, so I don't need to pick up the lame Criterion version.

kaujot wrote:Is this Woody Allen's first contribution to a Criterion release?

Contribution is a strong word. His first inclusion I suppose, but I'm sure Criterion just licensed the video and Allen had no involvement at all.

The original DVD had the english dub track on it too, so it's not new

Yeah, that's what I meant.

I guess the description of the seventh seal's special feature are going to be the one of the future spine #476; a box containing a single disc of the Seventh seal and Bergman Island...

How odd, indeed. I can't imagine why the holders of Bergman Island would NOT licence the complete version to Criterion. A special interest documentary; most film-makers/producers would jump at the chance to have a Criterion release.

This could well be the most pointless standalone dvd release of the year, thus far.

With the exception of Bergman Island, I doubt too many are complaining about the releases themselves. It's just considering the 'importance' and price tag of these films you'd expect something more out of the DVDs.
As is Bergman Island is just a glorified extra since it is not the complete film. Because of that it is absolutely absurd as a standalone release. Really we've been spoiled a bit the last couple of months too which makes this much more average month, which should be a template month, seem all the more inferior. After all I'm sure most if not all are going to get the Seventh Seal re-release. This month also has the distinction of being rather odd with the missing number and un-numbered Art house release. We'll be lucky if this does manage to be the worst month this year.
Bergman Island shouldn't have a number though.

Jeff wrote:[ Surely no one is disappointed in the quality of the Seventh Seal re-issue.

Aren't there some people in R1 land who were hoping for the extras of the defunct Tartan R2... like Karin's Face for example?

Regardless of what one thinks about "Bergman Island" being released separately as well, I'm almost shocked to see that there are so few new supplements pertainining to "The seventh seal" directly. I can't imagine there isn't some documentary or other material about this most popular (and perhaps even most significant) of all Bergman films. Cowie's audiocommentary is great, no doubt, but what about the on-going influence of the film itself, its position in the canon of medieval/metaphysical films, and so on? They could have even gone out to interview Scott Walker about his "The seventh seal" song or something... Well, one should better not think of earlier CC re-releases like "Seven Samurai" or "La belle et la bete" here.

Unless the image is far, far superior to the earlier disc, absolutely no reason to upgrade. Everyone in their right mind should go out and buy the Swedish full-length release of the Nyreröd film, too (it has English subs). Hell, if they had only included "Farödocument" to make a release of that truncated version more worthwhile...

I have the region 2 Tartan UK blu-ray version and the picture looks pristine and very sharp so lets see how Criterion does with their release. Now i know why the Tartan dvd went out of print........

Tartan went out of business, it had nothing to do with Criterion.

Question about the Four Masterworks box set....

How is it packaged? Is it similar to the Olivier boxset, with the standard DVD cases with a slip cover, or is it similar to the packaging of the Six Moral Tales boxset, with the slim cardboard cases?

If it is standard DVD cases, is The Seventh Seal exactly the same as the individual release, or does it have new art, etc.?

Four Masterworks is packaged like the Olivier set, and The Seventh Seal is the 1999 Special Edition DVD with the same artwork. On some of the intial printing, Criterion printed barebones Essential Arthouse discs and mistakenly put them inside the Special Edition packaging for the set, but that mistake was corrected and new discs were mailed out to those who wanted them.

Jeff wrote:I think that in the case of Bergman's Island, the cost of producing, packaging, and distributing the stand-alone disc may actually end up costing them more than it will profit them.

Oh, I don't know.

If you take it as a given that the doc is already going into the package with The Seventh Seal as a second disk, then the *additional* cost isn't much more than the design and production of the case for the stand-alone.

That seems like a fairly minimal additional expense to cover.

Fiery Angel wrote:I already have this, so I don't need to pick up the lame Criterion version.

Agreed.

I like the Marienbad cover.

Not releasing the full Bergman Island is incredibly bizarre though. I assume the separate release is to throw a bone to folks who don't want to re-purchase The Seventh Seal.

mteller wrote:God, I hope Bergman Island includes the FULL 3-part version and not just the 80-minute US release. It's a terrific set of docs.

Was the three hour version ever released on DVD anywhere?

The full version of the Nyreröd doc is out in Sweden, with optional English subs. And I wouldn't want to miss any second of it. It's great, especially the part about his seldom covered theatre work.

StevenJ0001 wrote:

Tommaso wrote:but "Seventh Seal" is clearly unnecessary in this form.

A high-def Seventh Seal is unnecessary?

I forgot the BluRay folks, I admit. But for SD, considering the price point and the lack of new film-specific extras, I stick to what I wrote. If you want only want a better image than on the old CC, it remains your decision whether you'd want to shell out 40$ just for this.

Zazou dans le Metro wrote:

Jeff wrote:[ Surely no one is disappointed in the quality of the Seventh Seal re-issue.

Aren't there some people in R1 land who were hoping for the extras of the defunct Tartan R2... like Karin's Face for example?

Yes, there were. And I'll put the same offer here that I put up over at DVD TALK: I'll sell my OOP BD of "Seventh Seal" from the defunct Tartan company for the same price as the cheapest available Criterion BD of "Seventh Seal" (presently, that's $28.99-shipped from DVD Empire).

The Criterion will be easily available to all purchasers or renters in R1 land, and will - if anything - come down in price. The Tartan disc is gone forever, and yet here I am willing to sell it for the same price as the soon-to-be-ubiquitous, and according-to-this-forum-unnecessary Criterion.

First come, first served...

Anyone else do an Amazon search for "Bergman Island"? Zoinks!

What, you never saw the Mystery of the Circus Ghost Screaming "God Is Dead!" Amid Sexual Angst episode of Scooby Doo? I'm pretty sure it was during the second season, probably in the early part of the season because I remember watching it and hearing the shotgun blasts of Swedish Suicides through the window... meaning the windows must have been open-- and as my mom easily chills she'd always have the windows permanently shut at the first sign of real autumn. That's how I know.