Jackson_Browne

Can you really not see the quality difference in these two films? Not to mention the degree of historical importance?

mljones99

I'm looking forward to Bicycle Thieves!

Al_Tahoe

Chris, you owe it to yourself to see Bicycle Thieves! It's universally regarded as one of the greatest films ever made! Personally, I'd put it in my top 10.

NoirFan

Great news about Bicycle Thieves... glad to see it finally getting an upgrade.

Arpeggi

Holy shit, Bicycle Thieves!!!!!!

Cosmic Bus

No covers up yet on Criterion's site for the Robeson or P&P discs.







The "C" is wreaking havoc on the De Sica cover.

canaryfarmer

Yeah, that C really is in the way on that one. Ouch.

NoirFan

Ugh. Hope someone creates custom art for that one.

gryffinmaster

Bicycle Thieves ... That's a fantastic line-up for Criterion in February.

fliggil

very excited to get some Naruse in the collection.

Al_Tahoe

Too bad, 'cause w/o that 'C', I think it's pretty sweet! Just seeing his portrait makes me want to pop that sucker in my DVD player. Must hold out til February... must hold out til February...

Criterion, if you're reading this, get rid of (or at least move) that damn 'C'

spinning plates

can't wait for 'bicycle thieves'. definately in my top 10.

Giles

sarcasm aside, I really need another job or ask for a raise... so many great movies!

now if Criterion could get the fingers on the rights to some of the unreleased Peter Greenaway films: 'Prospero's Books', 'Tulse Luper Suitcase Trilogy' (please oh please)

Giles

and if you can go multi-region there this, two days after my birthday ... might blind buy this:

Masters of Cinema: Naruse Vol. One

with a 180 page booklet.

hiccup

Yay for Paul Robeson box set and Bicycle Thieves! On purely psychological level, I keep thinking of Bicycle Thieves as The Bicycle Thief.

Interested in Green for Danger, 49th Parallel

Avid

I've been waiting years for Criterion to do Bicycle Thief, and we finally get the news right after I decide to put my DVD buying on hold and get into the Hi Def game.

dvd_luver

Wow, that "C" logo just spoils the title on that Bicycle Thieves cover, it looks like Pac-Man is going to eat it up or something. I really miss the old CC banner and design, it just made these covers look like pure art.

chente

I'm very interested in that Robeson set. I'm already planning on blind buying the MOC Naruse set along with their Keaton set. I love 49th Parallel but I'll make due with my dvd from the HMV set for now. I've been spending way too much money on DVDs lately.

Al_Tahoe

But surely you can make an exception in this case!

I know, I know... don't call you Shirley!

jmj713

Too bad there's no commentary on Bicycle Thieves. That When a Women... cover is gorgeous!

jdpatri

...sheesh. I might be able to keep myself to Netflixing the Robeson set but the others are certainly worth a purchase... and that's not to knock the Robeson set. On any other given month I might have ordered that one as well.

PopcornTreeCt

Great news. The Bicycle Thieves is an amazing movie. I can get rid of that crappy snapper now. Another AAA movie getting the Criterion treatment. I have to admit I do think of the movie titled The Bicycle Thief. "Thieves" is actually a spoiler.

bboisvert

Quality is relative. I find D&C to be a mediocre coming of age film, while I find Equinox to be inventive and fun to watch. But I'm sure many people have the opposite opinion. Still, I don't think that something like Equinox (especially with the extensive supplements provided by Criterion) falls outside of the goals of the Collection.


However, if you're arguing "degree of historical importance", how -- exactly -- is D&C a contender? What 'historical' value does it have?

One could make a darn good argument that the first 'professional' film of Dennis Muren (and, to a much lesser extent, people like David Allen and Jim Danforth) has a hell of a lot more historical importance.

cupcake jesus

"Too esoteric"? Personally, I think that The Bicycle Thief is the greatest film ever made, but I suppose that's a different discussion for a different day. Anyone know what the extras are on the The Bicycle Thief disc? I'm sure it'll be worth the dough for a new transfer, but would love to see some extras. Been waiting for this news for a long time. Can't say I love the cover, and a more striking image (in terms of the film at least) was used on the rerelease poster:



Great news, though!

cheers,

-the Jesus

John Hodson

49th Parallel:

At once a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a quick-witted wartime thriller, 49th Parallel is a classic early work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the thick of World War II, the men evade capture by hiding out in a series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border into the still-neutral United States. Both soul-stirring and delightfully entertaining, 49th Parallel features a colorful cavalcade of characters played by larger-than-life actors Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, and Leslie Howard.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by film and music historian Bruce Eder
The Volunteer, a 1943 Powell and Pressburger war-effort short starring Ralph Richardson
A Pretty British Affair, a BBC documentary on the careers of Powell and Pressburger, which considers their WWII-era collaborators and features rare footage of the filmmakers together
Excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography
Original theatrical trailer
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Charles Barr and an excerpt from Powell's 1941 premiere speech

The Emperor Jones/Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist:

Paul Robeson appeared in eleven films during his seventeen-year movie career, but none was more iconic than his breakthrough role in the film version of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. Following his legendary stage performance as Brutus Jones, a Pullman porter who powers his way to rule of a Caribbean island, Paul Robeson was cast in his first sound-era film role in director Dudley Murphy's adaptation--and thus was his regal image married to his booming voice for eternity. With The Emperor Jones, Robeson became the first African-American leading man in mainstream movies and, he later said, gained a deeper understanding of cinema's potential to change misconceptions of the black community. Previously censored, The Emperor Jones is presented here in its most complete form. Also included is Saul J. Turell's Academy Award-winning documentary short Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist, narrated by Sidney Poitier, which traces his career through his activism and his socially charged performances of his signature song, "Ol' Man River."

Special Features
New digital transfer of The Emperor Jones, created from the best surviving elements
Audio commentary for The Emperor Jones by historian Jeffrey C. Stewart
His Artistry and Legacy, a new video program including interviews with filmmaker William Greaves and actors Ruby Dee and James Earl Jones
Robeson on Robeson, a new interview with Paul Robeson Jr. about his father's career and art
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Sanders of The River / Jerico:

Seeking out new territory to explore his artistry, Paul Robeson moved his family to London in 1928. During the next twelve years, he headlined six films within the British film industry, pioneering new heights for black actors and reaching a level of prominence unattainable in Hollywood. Robeson's first British production, Zoltan Korda's Sanders of the River (1935), however, ended up being an embarrassment for the actor, with the studio ultimately turning the story of an African tribal leader into a celebration of the British Empire. As a result, Robeson sought more artistic control, eventually achieving it with Jericho (1938), which featured Robeson in what turned out to be his most satisfying film role, as a World War I officer who escapes his fate as a black man by fleeing to Africa and creating a new world for himself.

Special Features

New, digital transfers created from the best surviving elements
True Pioneer: The British Films of Paul Robeson, a new video program featuring interviews with Paul Robeson Jr. and film historians Stephen Bourne and Ian Christie, and including film clips from Song of Freedom (1936), King Solomon's Mines (1937), and Big Fella (1938)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Body & Soul / Borderline:

Though the 1920s brought him international acclaim as a stage performer and singer, Paul Robeson still had to prove himself as a viable screen performer. Mainstream avenues were limited, however, and his first two films, both silent, were made in the peripheries of the film business. Body and Soul (1925), directed by the legendary African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, is a direct critique of the power of the cloth, casting Robeson in dual roles as a jackleg preacher and a well-meaning inventor. Borderline (1930), the sole feature by British film theorist Kenneth Macpherson, boldly blends Eisensteinian montage and domestic melodrama, featuring Robeson and his wife, Eslanda, as lovers caught up in a tangled web of interracial affairs. With these first independent works, Robeson was able to reveal his stunning and expressive onscreen physical presence, opening doors in the film world that had never been approached by an African-American actor before.

Special Features

New, digital transfers of Body and Soul and Borderline created from the best surviving elements
Audio commentary for Body and Soul by Oscar Micheaux historian Pearl Bowser
Musical scores by jazz recording artists and composers Wycliffe Gordon (Body and Soul) and Courtney Pine (Borderline)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

The Proud Valley / Native Land:

By the start of World War II, Paul Robeson had given up his lucrative mainstream work to participate in more socially progressive film and stage productions. As David Goliath, in the British The Proud Valley (1940), Robeson is the quintessential "everyman," an American sailor who joins rank-and-file Welsh miners organizing against the powers that be. Concurrently, Robeson committed his support to Paul Strand and Leo Hurwitz's political semi-documentary Native Land (1942). With Robeson's narration and songs, this beautifully shot and edited film takes a critical look at American workers denied their civil liberties. Scarcely shown since its debut, Native Land represents Robeson's shift from narrative cinema to the leftist documentaries that would define the final chapter in his controversial film career.

Special Features

New, digital transfers of The Proud Valley and Native Land created from the best surviving elements
"The Story of Native Land," a new video interview with cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, son of Frontier Films cofounder and Native Land codirector Leo Hurwitz
1958 Pacifica Radio interview with Paul Robeson
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Paul Robeson: Portraits of An Artist, DVD Box Set:

All-American athlete, scholar, renowned baritone, stage actor, and social activist, Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was a towering figure and a trailblazer many times over. He was perhaps most groundbreaking, however, in the medium of film. The son of an escaped slave, Robeson managed to become a top-billed movie star during the time of Jim Crow America, headlining everything from fellow pioneer Oscar Micheaux's silent drama Body and Soul to British studio showcases to socially engaged documentaries, always striving to project positive images of black characters. Increasingly politically minded, Robeson eventually left movies behind, using his international celebrity to speak for those denied their civil liberties around the world and ultimately becoming a victim of ideological persecution himself. But his film legacy lives on and continues to speak eloquently of the long and difficult journey of a courageous and outspoken African American.

Special Features

All new, digital transfers created from the best surviving elements
Audio commentaries by historians Jeffrey C. Stewart (The Emperor Jones) and Pearl Bowser (Body and Soul)
Musical scores by Wycliffe Gordon (Body and Soul) and Courtney Pine (Borderline)
1958 Pacifica Radio interview with Paul Robeson
Four new video programs featuring interviews with actors Ruby Dee and James Earl Jones, filmmaker William Greaves, cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, film historians Ian Christie and Stephen Bourne, and Paul Robeson Jr., and including film clips from Song of Freedom (1936), King Solomon's Mines (1937), and Big Fella (1938)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A book featuring an excerpt from Paul Robeson's Here I Stand, new essays by Clement Alexander Price, Hilton Als, Charles Burnett, Ian Christie, Deborah Willis, and Charles Musser, and a reprinted article by Harlem Renaissance writer Geraldyn Dismond

Bicycle Thieves:

Hailed around the world as one of the greatest movies ever made, Vittorio De Sica's Academy Award-winning Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) defined an era in cinema. In postwar, poverty-stricken Rome, a man, hoping to support his desperate family with a new job, loses his bicycle, his main means of transportation for work. With his wide-eyed young son in tow, he sets off to track down the thief. Simple in construction and dazzlingly rich in human insight, Bicycle Thieves embodied all the greatest strengths of the neorealist film movement in Italy: emotional clarity, social righteousness, and brutal honesty.

Special Features

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Working with De Sica, a collection of new interviews with screenwriter Suso Cecchi D'Amico, actor Enzo Staiola (Bruno), and film scholar Callisto Cosulich
Life as It Is, a new program on the history of Italian neorealism in cinema, with scholar Mark Shiel
Documentary on screenwriter and longtime Vittorio De Sica collaborator Cesare Zavattini, directed by Carlo Lizzani
Optional English dubbed soundtrack
New and improved English subtitle translation

Green For Danger:

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural English hospital. But was the death accidental? A delightful and wholly unexpected murder mystery, British writer/director Sidney Gilliat's Green for Danger features Trevor Howard and Sally Gray as suspected doctors, and Alastair Sim in a marvelous turn as Scotland Yard's insouciant Inspector Cockrill. A screenwriter who had worked with Hitchcock on such films as The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn, Gilliat slyly upends whodunit conventions with wit and style.

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by film and music historian Bruce Eder
New interview with British film historian Geoff Brown
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A new essay by writer Geoffrey O'Brien and a director's statement

When a Woman Ascends The Stairs:

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour--a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern postwar Ginza district, who entertains businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs shows the largely unsung yet widely beloved master Naruse at his most socially exacting and profoundly emotional.

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie
New video interview with Tatsuya Nakadai
Theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film scholars Audie Bock, Catherine Russell, and Phillip Lopate