Criterion News and Discussion

Gold Trumpet · July 09, 2004, 09:47:42 PM

CRITERION RELEASES FANNY & ALEXANDER

Renowned distributor Criterion will release a lavish Fanny and Alexander DVD this fall with newly produced bonus features.

Criterion is the American distributor of a large number of Bergman films and their DVD editions are famous all over the world for their bonus features and their high technical standards. In Sweden some critics have compared the American DVD editions with those released by SF and Sandrews, which sadly has meant that our Swedish editions have been slammed.

A couple of years ago Criterion acquired the American rights to Fanny and Alexander, which after twenty years was given a new premiere at the Film Forum cinema in New York in May this year. Criterion is now preparing a DVD release of the film which will contain the theatrical version as well as the TV version and Dokument Fanny och Alexander plus so-called bonus features in the form of interviews. Johanna Schiller, DVD producer at Criterion, was in Sweden during the fall last year and conducted interviews with Erland Josephson and Jörn Donner, among others. Early July she was back to interview Anna Asp, Katinka Faragó, Ewa Fröling and Pernilla August.

The Swedish Film Institute archive has at Criterion's request delivered in total 64 reels of film master material and more than 40 reels of final mixes for the theatrical and TV versions, teaser and documentary. A technician from Criterion will spend the whole week overseeing the transfer to HD format at Frithiof Film To Video. On Friday, July 2, Johanna Schiller visited the Film Institute's equipment and costume storage in Bro where she and a photographer filmed Anna Asp's set design models for Fanny and Alexander (see picture above) and a selection of Marik Vos's costumes for the film.

Criterion's Fanny and Alexander will tentatively be available for purchase in November. You can read more about Criterion at www.criterionco.com.

Text: Lena Enquist

Published July 6, 2004

Ravi · July 11, 2004, 03:37:20 AM

I've only seen the 2-tape MGM version, so this should be a real treat

grand theft sparrow · July 11, 2004, 11:45:50 AM

Going back to the Cassavetes box for a second, why isn't that recently discovered workprint version of Shadows making it to this set? That's a little disappointing.

LostEraser · July 12, 2004, 12:51:27 AM

Quote from: hacksparrowGoing back to the Cassavetes box for a second, why isn't that recently discovered workprint version of Shadows making it to this set? That's a little disappointing.

That's because for some reason Gena Rowlands doesn't want it to be seen. She apparantly doesn't get a long with the guy who discovered it, Ray Carney (who I seem to be talking about a lot tonight). I guess she thinks that some of the stuff he's written about Cassavetes doesn't exactly portray him in the best possible way. Though he does claim that Cassavetes is one of the greatest american artists who ever lived, he also goes into great detail about his faults and talks a lot about his and Rowlands personal life (they were married of course, in case you didn't know. So she owns all the rights to his movies now). In other words, he wrote an honest biography about the man. And Rowlands didn't want that so she has been upset with Carney ever since. Carney was actually going to provide commentaries and write some brand new essays about Cassavetes to be included in the dvd set, but Rowlands wouldn't allow it. You can read more about all this here:

http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/shadows/chasing.shtml

Scroll down to the bottom to hear about the Carney/Rowlands fiasco. And I'd also encourage everyone to read more of his writings thorughout his website:

http://people.bu.edu/rcarney

Some of it is a real eye opener, wether you agre with him or not.

grand theft sparrow · July 12, 2004, 12:12:15 PM

Quote from: LostEraserThat's because for some reason Gena Rowlands doesn't want it to be seen.

I just read some of that bit on Shadows. Wow! You have to respect Gena Rowlands' viewpoint on the matter (I mean she was married to Cassavetes, after all) but it seems to me that comparisons of rough-cuts to final cuts would show a lot more about a filmmaker's process than any one version of a film on its own. Considering that Cassavetes had complete control over his films, that sort of comparison would offer a great deal more insight than any studio filmmaker. Fortunately, they have alternate footage/cuts of Faces and Chinese Bookie. But that exclusion of the rough Shadows is disappointing.

Thanks for the info, LostEraser.

Gold Trumpet · July 28, 2004, 12:52:07 PM

Tanner '88. Cover up. Specs to follow shortly. Expect an October release.

http://www.criterionco.com/content/images/full_boxshot/258_box_348x490.jpg

Pubrick · July 28, 2004, 10:24:40 PM

that tagline is total bulworth.

Just Withnail · July 30, 2004, 06:51:16 PM

Time to update the thread title:

257: Secret Honor

259: Fat Girl

260: Eyes Without a face

Fuck, that Secret Honor disc looks mighty tempting.

matt35mm · July 30, 2004, 07:23:20 PM

Ahhh... I've been waiting for Fat Girl on DVD and I didn't know why it wasn't released. I guess now I know. But that cover makes the title look like Girl Fat. Hmm.

Ravi · July 30, 2004, 07:28:40 PM

Man, these Criterion covers just keep getting better and better!

picolas · July 30, 2004, 08:06:05 PM

Quote from: RaviMan, these Criterion covers just keep getting better and better!

either that or everything else keeps getting twowordreviewinger and twowordreviewinger.

NEON MERCURY · July 30, 2004, 10:16:23 PM

Quote from: FeloniousFunk

.........

..that is phucking wicked........i have never seen this before and besides the fact this is a cronen film.i would buy it just for the cover............damn, thats.......thats nice....all you pimps need to buy this ....even if its just to look cool and show your friends that you got culture.......

ono · July 30, 2004, 11:20:49 PM

Know what really sucks? Huh? Huh? Huh? I imported an all-region version of Fat Girl from like Hong Kong, and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Sucks. At least this one will probably be like $30 and I got mine for $11 or so. (lolz@girlfat) That Secret Honor flick is a definite must see.

The Disco Kid · July 31, 2004, 02:49:45 PM

Anybody know the deal with the rerelease of Tati's Playtime? Months ago I read on Criterion's site that they renewed the rights but they still havent set a date. Whats going on?

Gold Trumpet · August 01, 2004, 03:20:03 PM

Specs for October releases:

FAT GIRL: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=259

EYES WITHOUT A FACE: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=260

SECRET HONOR: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=257

TANNER '88: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=258

The film that jumps out the most for purchase is Eyes Without a Face, a film I've heard so much about in the last year and highly anticipated for a Criterion release. Secret Honor I've heard about a lot and am looking to for maybe a purchase while Fat Girl, mostly unkown to me, sounds interesting just on premise. I'll have to hear about Tanner '88 more to become interested. Its considered a minor work by even most Altman fans I know.