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Wondering if "usually ships in 9-10 days" on Amazon translates to "ships never" for these titles.

That would be a safe assumption. You have nothing to lose by trying though.

Which Studio Canal titles does Criterion still have in print on Blu Ray?

La Haine. I think that might be it.

Better question: Which StudioCanal titles that were taken away from Criterion have since been put back in print in R1?

The Narrator Returns wrote:La Haine. I think that might be it.

Yeah, I think that's it, though I'm not sure how much control they have over it in North America. Criterion licenced it from Universal for DVD but they list Le Pacte as the licensor for the Blu-ray.

The copyright info on the back of the La haine Blu-ray reads: © 1995 Les Productions Lazennec - StudioCanal - La Sept Cinema - Kasso Inc. Productions. So who knows if StudioCanal has any US rights to the film.

To answer swo's question the following have been released on Blu-ray (I don't know if Lionsgate has issued any of the former Criterion titles on DVD):
The Third Man
La Grande Illusion
Ran
Contempt
That Obscure Object of Desire

So, 5 out of 44 (or 38 if you want to be generous and not count the 6 that are going OOP tomorrow.)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie has also been released on Blu-Ray. As well, Lionsgate's Canadian arm Maple released Alphaville on DVD, but I think it as well has gone OOP.

willoneill wrote:The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie has also been released on Blu-Ray. As well, Lionsgate's Canadian arm Maple released Alphaville on DVD, but I think it as well has gone OOP.

Discreet Charm isn't available in North America.

If we count the UK, you can add, Quai Des Brumes, Casque d'Or, and Forbidden Games (at least, I'm pretty certain there's more...)

edit: I take it back...Discreet Charm is out in Canada?

willoneill wrote:The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie has also been released on Blu-Ray. As well, Lionsgate's Canadian arm Maple released Alphaville on DVD, but I think it as well has gone OOP.

On that note, it occurred to me that since Alliance bought Maple, and Entertainment One bought Alliance, and Entertainment One distributes Image product in Canada, including the Criterion titles... why doesn't Criterion just print and sell these again out of Canada?

In case anyone wants to buy Discreet Charm. There's also a related Alliance blu-ray of Belle de Jour.

Maybe with all of his late French features out of their grasp, Criterion will think about giving some of his Mexican features the treatment they deserve? Not that it's at all likely, but a man can dream...

Unfortunately it seems that Lionsgates has the rights to several of those too.

Are there any touchstones of the cinema canon owned by Studio Canal that Criterion has never released at all, excluding the 'mainstream' stuff like The Graduate, Three Days of the Condor, et al.? I could be wrong, but it seems at some point Criterion has had their hands on just about every major and pivotal "arthouse" film owned by Studio Canal. There are great films of course, such as Claude Sautet's films from the seventies like Les Choses de La Vie and Vincent, Francois, Paul, et les Autres, but I'm thinking of 'essential' stuff like Contempt Grand Illusion.

knives wrote:Unfortunately it seems that Lionsgates has the rights to several of those too.

They don't have the rights to Los olvidados, The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, and El, and neither does anyone else in the US as far as I can tell.

Criterion doesn't release Spanish-language films very often, though, for whatever reason. Excluding titles streaming on Hulu, there's only 12 on disc plus a few hybrids like Alambrista, El Norte, Carlos, and Traffic.

Were Belle De Jeour and Breathless licensed from Studio Canal?

No they weren't. Studio Canal only has European rights to those two.

Good, then it's just La Haine I need to keep an eye on.

Jean-Paul Belmondo doesn't have very good shelf life on Criterion.


P.S. It's hard to tell, because there are a lot of film in the Collection that Studio Canal would appear to have European rights to like L'Eclisse, Beauty and the Beast, Belle de Jour, Breathless Pepe Le Moko, Casque d'Or, Made in USA, and so on, and there's no sign of Studio Canal on the Criterion packaging for Alphaville, so you never know.

Around 18 months after what I think was the deletion of a second wave of SC titles, several DVDs became available again on Amazon at 50% off SRP. These titles were sold by Amazon.com, LLC themselves.

I ended up buying six or seven titles -- including the Saura Eclipse set -- but i recall that all the DVDs I ordered were shrink wrapped but did not include the sticker across the top of the disk with the name of the title. It seems like retail versions of these titles would have included that sticker based on when they were released. Titles include 'Coup de Torchon,' 'Port of Shadows,' 'le Trou' - mainly lower price tier disks.

It seemed odd then but all the disks play fine, include the booklet, etc.

Hypothetically speaking, would people deem 1970s Claude Sautet mainline worthy, regardless of rights issues?

I would say that's strictly Eclipse material, but you never know who Criterion might want to champion.

I'd imagine such a thing would have depended exclusively on Classe Tous Risques' financial success.

Well Cesar et Rosalie did get released on blu-ray in the UK, so you never know, but maybe his films don't have enough Cahiers du Cinema credo for Criterion to be willing to budge, so who knows.

P.S. Films like Les Choses de La Vie and Vincent, Francois, Paul, et Les Autres are far more popular than Classe Tous Risques. That would be like releasing subsequent Bunuel films based on the success of The Milky Way.

rrenault wrote:Hypothetically speaking, would people deem 1970s Claude Sautet mainline worthy, regardless of rights issues?

Max et les ferrailleurs is an amazing film, certainly CC mainline worthy - and could be assumed to appeal to two considerable consumer segments, namely fans of Michel Piccoli and those of Romy Schneider...