Criterion Collection

Good point about New Yorker Films, wpqx. They do have a massive library.

Criterion's reputation has indeed granted them access to great films like The Leopard. I think (but I'm not sure) they sign contracts with some companies to release films for a limited time, hence the discontinuation of some titles, of which Dead Ringers is one.

I enjoyed Videodrome for Debbie Harry and a synchro with Pink Floyd's album "Wish You Were Here", but it seems dated and it's not a film I would watch over and over. The Fly would be a better choice.

Mizoguchi is in the same league as Ozu and The Emperor. Oscar Jubis has rightly lamented (as you) that his films need proper DVD releases. Hello Criterion? Ugetsu M. please....
Nobody seems to know who Mizoguchi is besides film buffs.
A Crime!

I agree with almost all of the titles you mention:
Weekend, Landscape, Celine & Julie, Red Sorghum, Pixote, and the Bresson films.

Welcome to the site, wpqx. Great to have another serious film buff here.

Apropos of these Criterion titles, it would be nice for me to get some Criterion laser discs, because I have a great laser disk/cd/dvd player, a Pioneer Elite VSX 5700-S. When I got it it made my CD's sound better than they ever had before. I don't have a lot of laser discs of movies but I have some, and more of music, some jazz and more classical music, and notably the 13-disc set "The Glenn Gould Collection, " which is mostly culled from Canadian television and includes some very rare and wonderful clips of him playing in a bathrobe at the Gould summer house before he'd even made his first recording of the Goldberg Variations. A flash of the original genius, in PJ's.

But back to laser discs, you can get them at Amoeba Records for $15 in many cases, but there wasn't that great a selection. When I'd gone through the whole bin at Berkeley Amoeba I only came away with five or six that I wanted to buy, and when I got home with them one of those turned out to be in German with Japanese subtitles and another ("Around Midnight") had a big crack in side three. I did enjoy "Five Easy Pieces" a lot.

Does anybody know how I can find more laser discs of better quality online, especially Criterion Collection items ?

Sorry Chris- I don't know of any on-line sources for Criterion laserdiscs.

But some new Criterion DVD's are on the way.
Justafied should be happy that 3 Robert Altman films are getting the treatment:

Tanner '88 (all 11 episodes of the mock-doc), Secret Honor and Short Cuts-which has a conversation between Altman and Tim Robbins, a 90 min. making-of, and a 50 min. audio interview with Raymond Carver- good stuff!

also announced:

Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl
George Franju's Eyes Without a Face

You could do a search on "criterion laserdisc" at ebay. Just tried it and got 85+ results. Not bad, although perhaps not as fun as stumbling upon one in a record bin.

I don't know anything about Tanner 88. I'd love to see it though; a mock-doc by Altman? Sounds great... what's the plot line?

P

Tanner is a fictional candidate for president that Altman and Gary Trudeau (Doonesbury) came up with.

The show had Tanner interacting with real politicians at the time.
Criterion's release is quite timely, what with politics getting a lot of attention lately.

I don't know that fumbling through laserdiscs in a bin is all that much fun after a while.

Thank you, Oscar is helping me with this quite expertly, as it turns out. He knows how to do it.

The earlier laserdisc set of Short Cuts is excellent, and has at least some of the same material, including the texts of all the Carver short stories used in the movie, the "making of" documenary, and an interview with Pauline Kael about Altman.

Short Cuts is one Altman film I appreciate.

His career isn't as awe-inspiring as Kubrick, but I readily acknowledge his serious dedication to the medium.

He's a champion, & that's good enough for me.

Short Cuts is definitely one of Altman's most interesting recent works.

to: wpqx regarding your "what needs treatment" post...

I'm with you on the Mizoguchi.. it's ridiculous. I'm planning on buying the french box set and just translating the subtitles for myself (if the picture quality is high, that is... otherwise I'll just wait). Criterion putting out a Pre war Mizoguchi box set would have to be No. 1 on my wishlist (Sisters of the Gion, Osaka Elegy, and Story of the Last Chrysanthemum at least). Were you aware that they've already announced they're working on Ugetsu? Earlier this year that came up during an interview with a Criterion producer.

As to a couple other titles you've mentioned, I think New Yorker has definite plans for a Celine and Julie Go Boating release (early next year presumably) and I think I've heard them mention something about Weekend. This isn't necessarilly the best news though, as their DVDs are usually not the best (save Underground and L'atalante which are great). Also, regarding Bresson, I think the rumor is that Criterion has plans to release Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette (due to their relationship with Rialo Pictures) and Pickpocket has been mentioned as well. Also, MK2, a french DVD company, has gone public about a Bresson box set due sometime next year, which the company has stated will have english subtitles on the film and the extras (though they've said this before and nothing came of it). I'm sorry if I'm repeating information on this post, I did not take the time to read the entire thing.

Steven

Thanks for the update. I heard similar information on the two Bresson films once Balthazar was re-released in theaters. I wasn't taking any chances so I went and saw it in the theater, and it is now my favorite film of his. Pre-war Mizoguchi would be a dream, although I was not very pleased with Story of the Late Chrysanthemums. Osaka Elegy I have not yet seen, so I remain optimistic. I just think as a director, he has gotten shafted. Home Vision released some pretty high quality VHS copies of his films several years ago. The only film I have on DVD is Life of Oharu, which is a bootleg import from god only knows where. It has English subtitles though, and that's all I care about. I know that nearly every Bresson film is out in Italy, but of course no English subs. A similar situation was with Celine and Julie Go Boating. As for Weekend, I can only hope, it is my favorite French film, and I don't even own it, although I found no problem seeing it three times. Anyways I feel I am repeating myself. I'm not too excited about Short Cuts or Fanny and Alexander either. I know they are going above and beyond for Fanny and Alexander, but that should have come out in the MGM boxed set, considering they released it on VHS. I am still waiting for Face to Face and Virgin Spring. As for Short Cuts, a great Altman film, but I really could care less about it coming out on DVD from Criterion, especially since I read there was no commentary, but I could be mistaken.

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Originally posted by wpqx
I'm not too excited about Short Cuts or Fanny and Alexander either. I know they are going above and beyond for Fanny and Alexander, but that should have come out in the MGM boxed set, considering they released it on VHS. I am still waiting for Face to Face and Virgin Spring.

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I'm curious if MGM lost the rights to Fanny and Alexander or if they licensed it to Criterion... either way, I'm more than happy with both Criterion releasing it and the MGM box set. Face to Face would be wonderful. I lucked up and found a bootleg sometime ago (along with Karin's Face), but it's the shortened theatrical version. There's an excellent R2 DVD of Virgin Spring from Tartan (who have a long line of great Bergman DVDs and plan on releasing quite a bit of Ozu in the near future as well).

Also those interested in Bela Tarr should take a look at www.mastersofcinema.org. They have some info, and a link to that info, about a series of international releases of his films that are in the works.

As far as what I personally would like to get from Criterion... mostly things that I've just never been able to see. Lots of obscure Rivette and Naruse titles, plus some early Ozu. I'm partial to Robert Enrico's Les Avventuriers as well (french new wave fluff adventure film).

Steven

I think you are mistaken about Shortcuts, at least there was a laserdisc which I rented, not bought, that had a wealth of interesting material. Whether or not it's your "favorite Altman film" or something like that, it's one that lends itself to study, because of the way the Raymond Carver stories are interwoven. The doc on making the film showed a lot about how Altman gets his actors to improvise, and there was at least one interview discussing Altman's work and there were the texts of all the Carver stories involved. It was like taking a well designed little college course on the movie. If they can't duplicate that on a Criterion version, then Criterion isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I have never been able to watch Fanny and Alexander all the way through. It bores me senseless.

I'm sorry if Criterion hasn't issued Ozu. I thought they had.

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Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I think you are mistaken about Shortcuts, at least there was a laserdisc which I rented, not bought, that had a wealth of interesting material. Whether or not it's your "favorite Altman film" or something like that, it's one that lends itself to study, because of the way the Raymond Carver stories are interwoven. The doc on making the film showed a lot about how Altman gets his actors to improvise, and there was at least one interview discussing Altman's work and there were the texts of all the Carver stories involved. It was like taking a well designed little college course on the movie. If they can't duplicate that on a Criterion version, then Criterion isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I'm sorry if Criterion hasn't issued Ozu. I thought they had.

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The Criterion release of Short Cuts is supposed to include the 160 page booklet of short stories in the case itself... and I think the only feature they're leaving off so far is the Kael commentary.

Criterion has released Ozu... I'm wanting more early Ozu (like their Stories of Floating Weeds DVD).

Steven

That's good to hear. The Kael "commentary" I believe is an interview with Michael Sragow in which she mostly but not entirely talks about Altman. I guess they found it too self-serving, because she is encouraged to talk about her then situaton as well as about Altman, but being a Kael fan myself I found it quite interesting. Nonetheless the Criterion edition sounds fine from what you say. I would find this kind of material -- related texts, documentary, interviews-- more worthwhile than some of the commentaries by actors or directors running along with films, which aren't always all that enlighening and which you really can only listen to once, and then you get it. But tell me I'm wrong; I'm only going by the ones I've seen.

I agree on the commentaries. The best ones are usually done by outsiders. One of the most informative that I have seen was for Jules and Jim, done by a film critic whose name slips my mind. Most filmmakers don't do any research and leave long pauses when they say nothing. The only time they really work is when they have a whole army of commentators, like the recent Goodfellas DVD. The commentary on Vertigo could have been great, but they insisted upon questioning the Assicate Producer, who sat silent and related boring stories about Hitch that everyone already knew. You should try Fanny and Alexander again, at least the theatrical before you go balls out for the miniseries.