Criterion News and Discussion

[ono]

Here's a very interesting and exciting email by Richard Linklater to cast member Wiley Wiggin's who put it on his blog:

Heh.  What's Wiley Wiggins doing posting private e-mails from Linklater in his blog?  Doesn't really seem like something Linklater wanted to be made public (his contempt for Universal and all).

[Ravi]

Battle of Algiers Review

[Gold Trumpet]

This is just a small tidbit, rumor that could be easily true and not, but someone who posts on the CC Forum with supposed "sources" is claiming that Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha was supposed to be released this december and is instead going to be released in January. I'd love it, but Jon Mulvaney (answer-and-question guy) has continually stated for the last 3 months that no more Kurosawa films even had a chance for release this year and to believe this story would mean he was wrong (or lying in usual fashion) and that Criterion was planning, until very recently, to maybe release a Kurosawa in December. Again, a contradiction could follow as the explanation for that is that they wanted to release M earlier but were too stacked in releases and so with deciding to release M on the month of their usual vacation, they could speed up a release they were planning for next year to co-inside with it. Honestly, who knows.... this could be true but also not, but I do believe Criterion is on the near verge of releasing Kagemusha regardless.

[Gold Trumpet]

HVE website has listed King of Kings as forthcoming in December. Details are as follow:

The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with the biggest budget in the history of Hollywood, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and a cinematic bag of tricks that could belong to none other than Hollywood's greatest showman, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic. Criterion is proud to present one of the best-loved films ever made in a two-disc edition featuring both the 112-minute general release version and the rarely seen 155-minute cut that premiered at the grand opening of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

SPECIAL FEATURES
New, restored digital transfers of both versions of The King of Kings: DeMille's 155-minute roadshow version and his subsequent 112-minute general release
New Dolby Digital 5.1 scores by composers Donald Sosin (1927 version) and Timothy J. Tikker (1931 version), plus the original score for the 1931 release by Hugo Riesenfeld
Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of The King of Kings
Cast portraits by photographer W.M. Mortensen
Production and costume sketches by renowned artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck
Stills gallery of rare production and publicity photos
Original illustrated program and press book featuring photographs from the film's gala premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and studio correspondence from DeMille
Original theatrical trailers
Plus: a booklet featuring a 1927 essay by DeMille, an excerpt from Robert S. Birchard's new book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, production notes, and a new essay by film critic Peter Matthews

http://www.homevision.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=1374&id=KIN190

and finally, the details for the re-issue of M:

A simple, haunting phrase whistled off-screen tells us that a young girl will be killed. "Who is the murderer?" pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) closes in on little Elsie Beckmann... In his harrowing masterwork , Fritz Lang merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller. The Criterion Collection is proud to present a new restoration of this landmark film.

SPECIAL FEATURES

New, restored high-definition digital transfer (1.19:1)
Audio commentary by German film scholar Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife, and Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on M
Conversation with Fritz Lang, an interview film by William Friedkin
Claude Chabrol's M le Maudit, a short film inspired by M
Classroom tapes of M editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film and its history
Interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
A physical history of M
Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler
New and improved English subtitle translation
Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, and the script for a missing scene

http://www.homevision.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=1374&id=MMM030

Don't know what all of this says about the previous Kagemusha rumor, but we'll have to see.....

[Gold Trumpet]

Full specs and covers for both Decemember releases (with an excellent cover for M):

King of Kings: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=266

M: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=30

[modage]

thats cool, but they should've just used the original poster art...

[cine]

I'm not seeing this great M cover... can somebody post it?

[modage]

[cine]

Ah thanks. I have no idea why I just see the old cover.  

[modage]

yeah for some reason i cant see the bigger one, so maybe they have the webaddress for it incorectly entered or something.

[ono]

Good news about Au Hasard Balthasar.  Been wanting to see it for a while.  Anything on Last Year at Marienbad?  It's been out of print for a while, or something, it seems.  Netflix, at least, lists the (re-)release date as being unknown.  Saw something in this thread about it earlier, so I was just curious.

[Gold Trumpet]

Anything on Last Year at Marienbad?  It's been out of print for a while, or something, it seems.

That title is still up in the air. Yes, Criterion will likely release it, but rumors have been so vague that someone can only say confidentally just that Criterion is releasing it. It could be as eary as next year and as late as 3 years down the road. It being a high priority release for them can only suggest they may speed up the process, but people have been waiting 5 years for a quality Max Ophuls title with no luck and he has to be one of the most requested filmmakers of them all.

[Gold Trumpet]

From www.criterionco.com :

"Criterion's soon-to-be-announced DVD edition of Akira Kurosawa's epic Kagemusha will feature exclusive new video interviews with filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas and Coppola discuss how they contributed to the production of Kagemusha and the experience of working with the legendary Japanese director, a longtime inspiration to both men."

I'm sure this isn't the only details that will be on the DVD. Expect a packed 2 disc special edition with the original 180 minute running time that was only in Japan.

[03]

is your handle a foucault's pendulum reference?

[Gold Trumpet]

is your handle a foucault's pendulum reference?

Yep. You're the first person to get that. I'm actually stunned.