February Criterion releases
 

Green For Danger - February 13
Paul Robeson - February 13
Bicycle Thieves - February 13
When A Woman Ascends The Stairs - February 20
49th Parallel - February 20

what! no cover art?... ;)

Yes I do, but unsure how to post - they're huge images...

Is that Bicycle Thieves, the 1997 movie, or The Bicycle Thief? Hopefully the latter.... And is this Paul Robeson the half hour Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist documentary? Interesting titles. Green For Danger sounds pretty good, though.

Nothing terribly striking this time around. I may have to ditch my Image Bicycle Thief disc for an upgrade eventually, but I'm happy with the copy of 49th Parallel that's in my P&P R2 boxset.

The Paul Robeson is a box set containing eight films spread over four discs. They are: The Emperor Jones, Paul Robeson: Tribute To An Artist, Body And Soul, Borderline, Sanders Of The River, Jericho, The Proud Valley and Native Land.

Wow! As a huge fan of British cinema, February looks like a great month to me: Green for Danger, 49th Parallel, and Sanders of the River are all excellent movies.

Out of curiosity, Christian, what's your source? I don't find this info on either Criterion's or Image's site.

I wish they'd start putting out better releases. I used to be a big fan of criterion but now major studios put out better releases of classic films and for much more affordable prices (Take a look at Warner or the upcoming Bertolucci paramount disks)

I kind of agree, Criterion is kind of getting a tad too esoteric.

I'm not sure Criterion has much of choice in chosing what classics they want to put out now. They'd have to get the rights, and I'm sure as time goes on, the studios are much less willing or can flex more muscle. They kind of have to put out more esoteric choices.

I'm not sure how the work of major directors like De Sica, Powell/Pressburger, and Naruse can be considered "a tad too esoteric." These are films that lots of people have been anticipating for a long time -- and the introduction of Naruse into the Collection is cause for celebration.

Awesome. What a great movie.

The price is the only thing that bugs me about Criterion.

That sounds sweet. I guess I should start saving my pennies now.

Absolutely agree. I cannot wait to get When a Woman Ascends the Stairs into my collection!

I'd just like to see a Criterion thread someday that doesn't have the same old list of complaints about price, selection, etc., so people can just enjoy the news of what's coming. I think I'm going to start going into mainstream announcement threads and say, "These are too cheap and not esoteric enough. I want better choices!" ;)

No kidding. I mean, granted, Naruse is not exactly a household name in the West, but the God of Neorealism's most famous film plus arguably the best P&P film ever made in a single month? I think those of you criticizing CC for esotericism need to get out a little more.

My only criticism: I thought we were getting a Naruse boxset. I still do. So, I hope this is merely the first release in an avalanche of upcoming Naruse.

I wish Criterion would put out better disks. I love my Criterion disks to death and i think they have beautiful packaging and I give them preferential treatment compared to most other disks in my enormous collection. However i have been progressively less and less likely to buy them due to the extreme pricing , selection, and better catalog titles from studios.
I know major studios are also at fault because some studios still will not license their titles to Criterion. Believe me when I say that every month i eagerly anticipate the new announcements from Criterion regarding titles that will join the Criterion family.
The only Criterion titles I have been excited about all year have been Seven Samurai, Amarcord, Kicking & Screming, and Dazed & Confused. Thes packages have all been lovingly put together and are among top releases of the year.
But titles like Equinox, Clean,Shaven, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, etc. have failed to excite and I dont feel these titles are truly Criterion worthy....Just titles that were very chaep for Criterion to license...I hate to say not one title on the future release schedule sparks any interest.
I hope we can get back to the days when better titles were able to be licensed and Criterion will put together some truly solid packages.
Hopefully we will get that Before Sunset/ Before Sunrise Box Set sometime soon...

I don't mean to sound condescending, but maybe you need to rethink your definition of what "Criterion-worthy" is. I mean, if you can't get excited about movies by De Sica, Powell, and Naruse (not to mention the upcoming Kieslowski, Pabst, Bresson, and Kurosawas -- master directors all), then I'm not sure I trust your opinion on what constitutes a "Criterion-worthy" release.

And aren't there already DVD releases of "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset"? What's wrong with them?

Ambassador, just in case you didn't know, there actually is a forum out there where people don't go "Wha...?" when Naruse's name is mentioned, and don't write-off the best films of De Sica and Powell & Pressburger as "too esoteric". criterionforum.org

Aside from the fact that they star Ethan Hawke? j/k... although I don't like either film at all, the current DVDs are pretty sparse in terms of extras. I think there's just a short featurette for the 2nd one and maybe trailers. That's it.


I'm pretty excited about The Bicycle Thief getting the Criterion treatment. And, although I applaud the title change on a theoretical level, it's going to take some getting used to. :)

so...

Dazed & Confused is worthy but Equinox isn't?

huh. interesting.

Yikes! That's four "must-own" titles for me - I had never heard of "Green for Danger" before this, but I just read about it on the IMDb and it sounds just like my cup of tea. I've been anticipating "The 49th Parallel", "A Women Ascending the Stairs", and "Bicycle Thieves" for a long time.

I'm sure I'll Netflix some of the Paul Robeson films to see if I enjoy them.

It's months like this that remind me why I love Criterion. It's impossible for them to please all of their fans, but I think their schedules for January and February can get pretty darn close. "Bicycle Thieves" is, in my opinion, one of all the time masterpieces of cinema and a completely essential part of a classic film collection, and it should be a huge improvement over the current rather lackluster releases of the film. And I'm extremely excited to finally get to see a Naruse film, since he's supposedly one of the masters of Japanese cinema, even if he's never had the reputation of Kurosawa and Ozu in the West. And the more British films the better, in my opinion.

so where's the cover art then?
figure out a way to post the images... to prove to any sceptics out there...

They're all up on Criterion's website now...