Criterion Collection

White Nights is Le (not La) notte bianche.

Flowers of Saint Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio, based I assume on the book I Fioretti di San Francesco d'Assisi or the "Little Flowers" of Saint Francis ,) is a beautiful film, which I'd relate to Pasolini's Evangelo secondo Matteo stylistically though not as visuallly striking.

I haven't seen Harakiri either. That would be most interesting, and Kwaidan is a bit disappointing, though I would hope the color would be better on this than the videotape.

Harakiri is in black and white so no need to worry about that, and it is an excellent film.

Cool.

Simply amazing!

Masculin Feminin (Godard)

The Man Who Fell to Earth & Bad Timing (Roeg)

Naked (Leigh)

An Angel at My Table (Campion)

Well nothing is on the Criterion site as of July 1st, so can't verify those dvd's or comment on any special features. But I hope to holy hell that these titles are correct. Bad Timing is the only film of the bunch I own, as a bootleg laserdisc copy I think, regardless damn good print. I though the Man Who Fell to Earth was already available in a pretty good DVD edition, but I could be mistaken.

Masculin/Feminin I'm not surprised about seeing how it was recently re-released in theaters. I hope Naked has at least something extra, Mike Leigh dvds have been worthless in terms of special features. Oh and go Jane Campion.

Bad Timing (9/13)

# New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg
# New interview with Roeg and producer Jeremy Thomas
# New interview with Theresa Russell
# Deleted scenes
# Original theatrical trailer
# Gallery of behind-the-scenes production photos and original posters
# A new essay by film historian Richard Combs and a reprinted interview with Art Garfunkel, from 1980
# Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

The Man Who Fell to Earth (2 disc, 9/13)

# New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg
# Exclusive audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry
# Performance, a compilation of new video interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn
# New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg
# Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell
# Multiple stills galleries, including Routh’s costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James
# Gallery of posters from Roeg’s films
# Trailers and television spots
# Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
# More!
# Plus: an exclusive reprint of Walter Tevis’s original novel, courtesy of Vintage Books, and a booklet featuring a new essay on the film by critic Graham Fuller and an appreciation of Tevis by novelist Jack Matthews

Masculin Féminin (9/20)

# New, restored high-definition digital transfer
# Exclusive new video interviews, conducted in 2005, with actress Chantal Goya, cinematographer Willy Kurant, and Godard collaborator Jean-Pierre Gorin
# Theatrical trailer for the 2005 rerelease
# New and improved English subtitle translation
# New essay by film scholar Adrian Martin
# More!

Naked (2-disc, 9/20)

# New, restored high-definition digital transfer
# Audio commentary by director Mike Leigh and actors David Thewlis and Katrin Cartlidge (possibly transferred from LD)
# Exclusive new video introduction by filmmaker Neil LaBute
# The Conversation, a BBC program with Author Will Self interviewing Leigh
# Original theatrical trailer
# New essay by film-critic Derek Malcolm
# Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
# More!

An Angel at My Table (Director-Approved Special Edition DVD) (9/20)

# New high-definition digital transfer supervised by the director of photography Stuart Dryburgh and approved by director Jane Campion
# New Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
# Audio commentary featuring Campion and Stuart Dryburgh
# A documentary about the making of An Angel at My Table
# Theatrical trailer
# Audio interview with Janet Frame, from 1983
# A new essay by film critic Amy Taubin and reprinted excerpts from Frame’s autobiography, which formed the basis of the film
# Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
# More!


[Edit] The info is now officially available at Criterion's website.

Kihachi Okamoto's Kill! (1968/B&W)

Special Features:

*New essay by film historian and culture critic Howard Hampton


Masaki Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion (1967/B&W)

Special Features:

*Excerpts from a 1993 interview with director Masaki Kobayashi

*New essay by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie


Masahiro Shinoda's Samurai Spy (1965/B&W)

Special Features:

*Exclusive new video interview with director Masahiro Shinoda

*New essay by film scholar Alain Silver


Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast (1965/B&W)

Special Features:

*New essay by Japanese-film and pop-culture authority Patrick Macias


Rebel Samurai: Sixties Swordplay Classics (Four-Disc Collector's Set)

Contains all 4 films listed above


Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear (1953/B&W/Special Edition)

Special Features:

*New interview with assistant director Michel Romanoff

*New interview with Henri-Georges Clouzot biographer Marc Godin

*Archival interview with Yves Montand, on working with Clouzot

*A new essay by novelist Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Sacred)


Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï (1967/Color)

Special Features:

*New video interviews with Jean-Pierre Melville historians Rui Noguiera and Ginette Vincendeau

*Collection of excerpts from archival interviews with Melivlle and actors Alain Delon, Cathy Rosier, Nathalie Delon, and François Périer

*A new essay by film scholar David Thomson and a reprinted tribute by filmmaker John Woo

Man, I'm so glad I didn't buy the original release of The Wages of Fear.

It's a title I've been planning to buy for a while.
Sometimes the Gods smile on us..

Same here, my Wages of Fear was recorded from TV. Le Samourai is big news from me, and I'm glad at least another Koboayashi film is coming out. I just checked their website and nothing has been put up there yet, but well sometimes these websites are a little slow. Even more impressive are the upcoming titles from New Yorker Films, which I'll update in a separate thread.

Yet another month, and still no Mizoguchi.

Le Samourai would be something desirble for me too.

New Yorker has always been heavily into copy protection, which tends to degrade image quality.

3 Sam Fuller films are scheduled for a 2006 release from Criterion: I Shot Jesse James (1949), The Baron of Arizona (1950), and The Steel Helmet (1952). No word on White Dog (1982).

Le Samourai seems obvious for criterion. A bona fide cinema classic in every sense. A must-buy.

Fuller is one of the giant directors, and each one of his films have something special about them. I own Shock Corridor (which has my autographed Peter Breck theatre ticket in it's sleeve) and The Naked Kiss, which I never tire of watching. Fuller was as natural a filmmaker as John Ford if you ask me.
Gruff, manly, yet capable of such powerful artistic beauty.

Always excited for more Fuller, the Steel Helmet is the most looked forward to of his films for DVD, so good news on that. I won't get too excited until they actually do come out, because I've heard of many Criterion releases to take their sweet ass time.

A little bit of a let down for the Wages of Fear special edition, still no audio commentary, but a similar let down was with the re-release of Mr. Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle. Still no word on the Playtime re-release is there? It was recently restored for a theatrical re-release (sometime last year), so I figured it would come out again soon, but shows what I know.

Ugetsu 11/08/05

Criterion's double-disc edition will feature audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns, a two-and-a-half hour documentary on Mizoguchi by Kaneto Shindo, a new interview with director Masahiro Shinoda on the film, new interviews with first assistant director Tokuzo Tanaka and Miyagawa on their work on the film, trailers, a booklet featuring the original stories on which the film was based, and more.



Ran 11/22/05

Criterion's magnificent two-disc edition will include not only a newly-restored transfer, but also A.K., Chris Marker's 74-minute documentary on Kurosawa's craft in making the film; an introduction by filmmaker Sidney Lumet; a half-hour Toho documentary on the making of the film; a half-hour video piece reconstructing the film through Kurosawa's paintings and sketches; a new interview with star Tatsuya Nakadai; and more.



Tales of Hoffmann 11/22/05

Criterion's long-awaited DVD (one of our most requested titles) will feature audio commentary by Martin Scorsese & film historian Bruce Eder, a new introduction to the film by director and fan George A. Romero, Michael Powell's short musical film The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a rare collection of production design sketches and paintings, the trailer, and more.

These sound really excellent. I have to comment that Tales of Hoffman is an old favorite of mine. I saw it when I was really young and it was magical for me. I had never seen such a lushly imaginative production on film -- the colors, and the different styles of the sections, made a big impression. They truly don't make 'em like that any more.

Did not know that Chris Marker had made that documentary.