Eclipse News and Discussion

[Ghostboy]

I'm excited about this. These early Bergman titles are pretty much the only ones I've never seen, and while they're apparently pretty clumsy, I'm looking forward to seeing him develop on screen....

[Gold Trumpet]

Word has come that Series 2 will indeed be the Louis Malle documentaries. These films were acquired by Criterion about a year ago and went around the country being screened in supposebly good prints. Considering Criterion's busy schedule, they now are being released by Eclipse. The release should come in April. No word yet on the specs.

But, a blog has been created to give good details to the release:

January 13, 2007
Seen 'em Malle
Jon and I have been wanting to get other voices into the mix, and while we have been promised odes on expense reports and projectionists and the ones that got away, it only made sense to turn to Criterion editor Michael Koresky, that iron man of prose, to hammer out the first guest blog of 2007. Here's what he's been up to:

I just got back from an around-the-world trip to Minnesota, India, and Paris, and I did it all in about seven days. I'm not proud to admit that all of that traveling was actually done from the shabby couch in my Brooklyn apartment, while staring at a 27-inch TV screen. The "vacation in your living room!" approach may be a cliché at this point, but it's also a rather fitting introduction to a body of work that did indeed transport me: Louis Malle's documentaries, which we'll be releasing as the second Eclipse series this Spring, and which have been somewhat under the radar over the past forty-odd years, certainly in comparison to his fiction films. So there was a great sense of discovery for me, as well as there will undoubtedly be for many—both for these underseen films, and for the places they capture.

And having consumed almost the entirety of Malle's documentaries (which range from 1962 to 1987) in such a short period of time, I can't help but notice the unity of spirit between them, of just plopping down a camera and seeing what will come of it (Malle often said he began each documentary without a set agenda). The films he shot in India are gorgeous, huge, maddening, and exhilarating, and the French docs from the early seventies, which survey the lives of everyday working-class people waylaid on street-corners or caught in mid-weld in an auto factory, are fascinating signs of the times—yet is it too obvious that I'm most drawn to Malle's foray into the American Midwest, God's Country, which meanders eloquently around the people in the farming community of Glencoe, Minnesota?

I don't know how Malle was able to get such unadorned, generous clarity from these hospitable strangers, but his camera's searching gaze absolutely dashes any stereotypes one may have about the narrow-mindedness of the heartland, even teasing out the liberal attitudes in many of these people. My favorite moment in the movie comes when Malle interviews a young office worker in her late twenties (whom he later dubbed the Madame Bovary of Glencoe when editing the film), who invited him back to her small apartment. An initial standoffishness gives way to an outpouring of honesty, and she begins to treat the camera as though a confessional booth, remarking upon the dashed dreams and compromises that come with living a provincial life. She doesn't find herself attracted to the men of Glencoe, who all drip with a machismo she finds off-putting, and at age twenty-six, already acknowledges herself as something of an old maid. It's a good thing Malle didn't try to set her up with Glencoe's "most eligible bachelor": a sometime actor/ full-time cow-inseminator, often seen elbow-deep in bovine anus.

God's Country was shot in 1979, and then in 1985 Malle went back and filmed his coda, which depicted the effects of the Reagan-era recession on the town's economy. It's now been twenty years since the film was first shown, and I can't help but wonder if Malle would have revisited the town again, perhaps every decade or so (like Michael Apted's Up films or Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Sunset), if he hadn't died in 1995. There's such an intimacy to the film that I would like to find out what all those Glencovians have been up to: Did farming equipment become too expensive to keep up with? Have many of the town's workers been replaced by machines? How do they feel about Bush II? Do they have iPods? And maybe some Glencoe locals will buy a copy of the film Malle made for them and us in this DVD set we're putting out...just that possibility is enough to bring me joy.
posted by Peter Becker at 2:20 AM

[edison]

[Gold Trumpet]

Originally posted in the Criterion, but truly meant for this thread, Variety gives a perspective on the launch of Eclipse. The non-news is that Criterion may re-release films originally released by Eclipse (years likely will separate both releases though), but the real news is the name of directors who will be spotlighted in future months. The names include some I am unfamilar with, but also includes Kenji Mizoguchi and Ozu. All the names of future directors will be marked in bold:



DVD firm Criterion issuing budget line
Source: Hollywood Reporter

The Criterion Collection, known as the Cadillac of DVD suppliers because of its elaborate packages, will launch an entry-level line of boxed sets in March.

The Eclipse line, according to its mission statement, will feature "lost, forgotten or overshadowed films, in simple, affordable editions." Each set will contain three to five films, sans bonus features, made from the best available masters, but not getting a full Criterion restoration. Retail pricing, on average, will be less than $15 a disc. Regular Criterion Collection DVDs start at about $30.

"The goal is to make these films available, to make sure that Criterion's own work style doesn't contribute to the continuing unavailability of these films," Criterion Collection president Peter Becker said. "Once our producers and restoration crew get started on a Criterion edition, the project takes on a life of its own. Months later, with a little luck, we'll have something really special to show for it, but at that rate we can't make a dent in the number of important unreleased films that we'd like people to be able to see."

The Eclipse line launches March 27 with the five-disc set "Early Bergman," which includes a quintet of psychological character studies from the career of legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman a decade before "The Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries" earned him a reputation as one of the greatest directors ever. Among them: "Torment," a 1944 coming-of-age drama that was Bergman's first produced screenplay, and 1949's "Thirst," a complex film about the human condition told in flashbacks. Also included in "Early Bergman" are "Crisis" (1946), "Port of Call" (1948) and "To Joy" (1949).

The second Eclipse release, scheduled for April, will be "The Documentaries of Louis Malle." The six-disc set includes seven of the celebrated French films he shot at the same time he was helming such landmark films as "Elevator to the Gallows" and "My Dinner With Andre." Among them: "Phantom India" (1969), which Malle once called the most personal film of his career; "Calcutta" (1969), a chaotic portrait of the equally chaotic city that consists of footage shot during the making of "Phantom India"; and "Vive le tour" (1963), an almost staccato-like look at the Tour de France. Other documentaries included in the package are "Humain, trop human" (1972), "Place de la Republique" (1972), "God's Country" (1985) and "And the Pursuit of Happiness" (1987).

Future releases in the Eclipse line include rarely seen films from Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Yasujiro Ozu and Raymond Bernard.

[edison]

More Naruse is good, since he has never been available here in the states. I have heard a lot of good things about When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, so i'm interested in checking out more of his films.

[A Matter Of Chance]

I think it will be Late Ozu in June?

[edison]

STREET DATE: 6/12

[edison]

[MacGuffin]

Out soon: Bergman begins
A five-disc set of little-seen films from the great director's early career starts a new line from the Criterion Collection.
Source: Los Angeles Times

SEMINAL Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman had been making movies for more than a decade before he was introduced to American audiences with his 1956 masterwork, "The Seventh Seal." But until now, his early, influential works have rarely had exposure in the United States.

The five-disc set "Early Bergman," set for release Tuesday, is the first offering from Eclipse, a new DVD line of the Criterion Collection, the digital arm of the foreign and art house distribution company Janus Films. Janus first brought Bergman to our shores in the latter part of the 1950s.

Though none of the films in "Early Bergman" would rank as a masterpiece, they are assuredly directed, well acted and provocative and foreshadow the psychological themes — including morality, faith and loneliness — of his later classics such as "Wild Strawberries," "The Virgin Spring," "Through a Glass Darkly," "Face to Face" and "Fanny and Alexander."

Each month, Eclipse will present three to five films focusing on a particular director or theme — scheduled for next month are the documentaries of Louis Malle.

"The idea for Eclipse emerged from the sense that we had that there were a lot of films you didn't get to see if you didn't really have a good cinematheque in your town," says Peter Becker, president of Criterion. "In the common marketplace ... you were only likely to see those classics that had been in the fixed canon."

Those are just the type of classics Criterion has been releasing on DVD.

"We were starting to get aware, after nine years into the DVD marketplace, there were a lot of great films that weren't getting seen because they didn't have that reputation, they weren't as well known, but that were in different ways really important and in some cases equally great," Becker said.

At a time when Hollywood films were firmly under the vise of the Production Code, the films emerging from Sweden were decades ahead in terms of content. Bergman frankly tackles mature and taboo Hollywood subjects such as suicide and abortion.

Bergman's first screenplay to be made into a film was 1944's "Torment," directed by Alf Sjoberg. The dark story is set in a claustrophobic boys' boarding school — modeled on the one Bergman attended — where seniors, especially a young man named Widgren, are terrorized by a sadistic Latin teacher. Widgren's life takes a turn for the worse when he begins to have an affair with a young woman who unbeknown to him is embroiled in a sadomasochistic relationship with the Latin teacher.

Two years later, he made his directorial debut with the melodrama "Crisis," based on Leck Fischer's 1944 play "The Maternal Heart." The plot line is pretty pokey — the 18-year-old foster daughter of a dying piano teacher decides to leave small-town life and move to the big city when the decadent mother who abandoned her as a baby returns for her.

In his autobiographical "Images: My Life in Film," Bergman even admits that Fischer's play was "grandiose drivel." Still, it's compelling fare and features a scene-stealing performance by Stig Olin, who would become an early member of the Bergman repertory company, as the troubled lover of the mother who seduces the daughter. (Olin is the father of actress Lena Olin.)

"Port of Call," from 1948, revolves around a sensitive young woman put into a reform school by her brutal mother, who falls in love with a young sailor now working on the docks.

Nine-Christine Jonsson is heartbreaking as the troubled young Berit, who seeks solace from her hideous existence through promiscuous behavior with men. Bengt Eklund plays the sailor-turned-stevedore who falls for Berit.

"Thirst," from 1949, is an arresting psychological drama — sort of a precursor of "Scenes From a Marriage." Told in the present and in flashback, the movie revolves around a marital squabble on a train between a man and his former ballet dancer wife.

Stig Olin headlines 1950's "To Joy" as an orchestra violinist whose unsuccessful attempts to become a successful solo artist puts a strain on his marriage to the patient, loving Marta (Maj-Britt Nilsson). Bergman described the film as an "impossible melodrama" in which Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is "shamelessly exploited. I do understand the techniques used in both melodrama and soap opera quite well."

Swedish director Victor Sjstrom, who would later star in "Wild Strawberries," plays the warmly wise orchestra conductor.

[Gold Trumpet]

Some interesting news have quietly come across to what the future of Eclipse will look like as it retains to releases.

From a post at Criterion forum:

"I noticed a brief little piece in the new issue of Filmmaker Magazine that mentioned that "while Eclipse is currently focusing on individual Directors," upcoming releases would include boxes dedicated to Samurai films and the French New Wave. If I get a chance I'll retype the thing, but that little tidbit was the only bit of news."

Considering the French New Wave only lasted four years, many believe only a small slot of films exist that qualify. The truth is that numerous films were considered to be part of the French New Wave. Criterion still has to release recognizable films by well known French directors during the period, but if they begin to do that with this, they could then get at some lesser known more experimental French New Wave films. I'd be very interested to see those.

[Gold Trumpet]

A box set of some interest to me....

Sam Fuller early films will be Series 5 for Eclipse. The titles are:

I Shot Jesse James
The Baron of Arizona
The Steel Helmet

[edison]

[I Don't Believe in Beatles]

Number 6:



Includes Blood Wedding, Carmen, and El amor brujo.

[Gold Trumpet]

I'm loving Eclipse so far. I don't know this trilogy but Eclipse is covering the bases it seems on the foreign market. I expect to purchase the Ozu box set and I'm interested to check out the Raymond Bernard box set. I'll study up on these titles as well.

[w/o horse]

I'm loving Eclipse so far.

They're affordable and and terrific introductions to the filmmakers.  They're by far the most exciting thing to happen to my dvd collection this year.