Yep, Pabst's Die 3groschenoper has been rumored for quite a while. It is the most likely suspect.

Count me in! I'm excited by the set of films by Hiroshi Teshigahara. I sold the Image DVD of Woman in the Dunes a long time ago. As you say about your screening experience, it too was awful dark.

Anyway, I hope the new DVD will have the 20-minute longer director's cut only available in Japan. I held off on getting it for years as it had been rumored Critreion would re-issue this film -- but as part of an expansive set... that's a great bonus!

It is the 147-minute version; a little surprised they chose not to include both cuts, like on the Asmik R2 I have.

Damnit! Just a couple of days ago I bought a used copy of the British edition of the Melville/Cocteau used for $10. I should have known!

Very thrilled about Ace In The Hole. Amazing film.

nice, getting ace in the hole, ivan's childhood and the melville movie.

yes I know this is an ad nauseum question but I thought "Salo" was getting a rerelease or is that now a rumoured August release?

But not the Teshigahara? You're crazy!

I'm just joking--what a good month, though.

RE: Salo, AFAIK, they had not confirmed a date that it was to be rereleased. I wouldn't expect to see it for another couple months.

cgray,

havent seen anything by him, might pick it up later though. For now I want more Melville, Wilder and Tarkovsky.

There is a massive Italian project on Pasolini coming out in Italy in the next couple of months (see my sig). I will have full details probably in a couple of weeks so...to make a long story short perhaps they, Criterion, might be planning to include something...or NOT!

I am curious to see how this transfer for Ivan.... compares to the new R4.

Pro-B

Is the new R4 different than the French Mk2? (I still don't know how they managed to clean up that lousy Ruscico transfer.)

Richard, supposedly they both, MK2 and R4, use the same print but to my eyes the Australian disc looks rather better. Also, I think that the Ruscico transfer was worked on by a French company and it was then licensed by the R4 distrib.

I have no idea what print Criterion used.

Pro-B

I'm a huge Hiroshi Teshigahara fan. While I've already got DVD's of the films, I'll gladly buy the Criterion set for the short films and, hopefully, some transfer quality upgrade.

I agree, kinda' strange to go with just the director's cut of Woman in the Dunes because the other, shorter version was more widely seen. I prefer having both versions and dont like it when a film gets a directors cut edition that seemingly obliterates the old cut from distributors minds.

True. I'm kinda sorry to hear both aren't included, but I've seen the theatrical cut a few times (and it works as it is), so I personally won't bitch too much. But I'd be happier if both cuts were included.

Ivan's Childhood is definitely the highlight of this announcement for me. I've been waiting to see that film for a long time. I kind of hoped that a remastered Andrei Rublev would come out with it, because I'm still holding off on buying that one because the current transfer is pretty bad.

I guess I must be the ONLY one in the world that sighs when my favorite films are done by this company. Ace in the hole is a good example. a SINGLE Disc that costs $40?? yes, it's a great film.. and I hope the transfer will be great - but $40 for 1 movie/1 disc is just pure insanity. No amount of supplements can ever justify this cost to me. And I have not been impressed with their supplements lately. The audio commentary on the remastered "M" was horrible - 2 people and most of it was dead space, and what they said wasn't very interesting.

I always hope that their license runs out and someone else (fox, MGM,etc) will release a SE for 1/3 of the cost.

Or, I will wait until Eureka releases it in R2 and get it for 1/2 the cost.

sorry.. that's just how I feel.

I'm with you on that!....they need a reality check!

You do realize that you won't actually need to pay $40, right?

oh, just do what I do and get an Amazon credit card, where you accrue 25 dollar certificates...

not too happy that Amazon's pre-release price of the Ozu set is only at 10% discount.

You really oughta not be paying MSRP for any single Criterion title.

For example, the recent 2-disc version of "The Departed" from Warner has an MSRP of $34.95 - only $5 less than your average Criterion 2-disc (and a Criterion release, since they are not tied to any studio, tends to cost more to make, after you take into account things like licensing, restoration, etc.) You don't see people complaining about that because most retailers give a significant discount from the MSRP of "The Departed" - and the same is true of Criterion collection films. The site DVD Planet offers an everyday 35% discount off of Criterion films - making things like "Ace in the Hole" cost $25.97 - still quite a bit, but not much more than you'd pay for new 2-disc special editions from most studios ("The Departed", "Blood Diamond", "Dreamgirls", etc.) Add to that the monthly coupons they give out, along with the rare Criterion sale they have, and it really is completely unnecessary to pay $40 for any Criterion title (assuming you live in the U.S.)

Though they have had their missteps (the "M" commentary), those are few and far between in my opinion. By and large they're still the most consistent of any DVD manufacturer at producing great, worthwhile commentaries and extras, along with excellent transfers of the film itself (albeit, their new practice of windowboxing is incredibly frustrating.)

That's the way I see it, at least.

Other companies often don't want to make the effort to release the films Criterion does. Ace in the Hole has NEVER been released on any home video format anywhere and you're complaining that it's now getting a quality release with relevant special features after over twenty years of waiting. From DVD Planet, it's going to cost ten, maybe fifteen dollars more than a barebones release from another studio. If it's a favorite movie of anyone's, that doesn't seem too much to ask. Otherwise, just record it off Turner Classic Movies.

when and if Criterion makes the transition to releasing DVD's in actual HiDef - I'd hate to see those prices!!!

I imagine Criterion isn't releasing in HD partially for that reason, probably waiting until the price comes down. Criterion needs a format to really take over before they can afford to develop for it. I think they learned that from laserdiscs.

The difference is that in a year or so titles like The Departed will be less than $10, whereas even the oldest Criterion titles are still $26 on DVDPlanet.

I actually agree with you!

PLUS....

The fact that just about all of the films I have been interested in lately from their line-up are either color-manipulated or window-boxed. I truly am not that fascinated with their extras to begin with (and most of the recent ones have been very weak). At the end of the day what matters and what I would be going back to again and again is a solid transfer.

I strongly recommend the R4 disc of Ivan's Childhood (sourced from MK2)...the same transfer Criterion will be using!

Ciao,
Pro-B