Awesome news!

very interested in what the pre-code will be.

Great to hear that Blimp is around the corner!

hopefully Freaks!

To be clear, they apparently said that the Apu Trilogy is forthcoming, but that it might not be out in 2013 and that we will probably get another Ray film in the meantime.

Excited about the Ray film and the Warner deal. Freaking heartbroken about Andrei Rublev, my favorite film. (Maybe I will just have to import the Russian BD.)

Did they say they've lost rights to it or that it's just not on the radar for 2013?

No, I'm sure they still have the rights. I've been just waiting for an updated version for a long time and I'm getting kind of impatient to replace the old, not very high-quality DVD.

Very excited about Devil's Backbone.

I wonder if they will want to (or be able to) include all the supplements from both DVD versions?

GREED? THE WIND? There are any number of silent films that it could be.

They have said multiple times in the past that a lot of the elements needed for an HD transfer of Andrei Rublev have been lost.

The pre-code period was 1930-1934.

I wonder which commentary track will appear on the Criterion edition, or if will be a new 'third' one.

I wish it was Trouble in Paradise although since MoC skipped making it blu, I can only imagine the source is not in good shape.

So next wish is something like Baby Face.

what's the hold up of Jean Renoir's The River - watch, when I buy the import, Criterion will officially announce it (just my constant misluck).

For that longer version, yes, but there's still the three hour cut that scored a rather gorgeous release on Blu-ray by Mosfilm/Digital Element. It's not an invalid or inherently inferior cut, although an ideal release would include every possible version. (Did Vadim Yusov ever finish a cut that combined some of the censored footage with the improved editing of the theatrical release?)

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Rashom.../53148/#Review

I didn't know there was controversy about On the Waterfront's aspect ratio.

Hope you all don't mind, but since most of the Criterion discussion happens here I was wondering if I could bother you all for a thought about the DVD versions.

I've taken advantage of the fact that Criterion has started re-issuing titles on Bluray to start watching for some of the DVDs to show up in the used market, and I have started to pick up a few of these here and there. But I know that even Criterion wasn't all that at first, and put out many non-anamorphic transfers, or just bad looking transfers in their early days. Was there a spine# that anyone would consider a cutoff for where they turned things around? I usually have my iPhone with me and can look up some reviews, but would like to be able to tell at a glance if I should bother with an older release.

thanks

First of all, most Criterion releases have always been some of the best around in terms of extras, even during the early days. I'll admit they weren't nearly as consistent back then, though, as some discs were pretty much barebones with lackluster non-anamorphic transfers. Some split the difference, like Brazil: the original boxed set had tons of great extras but the A/V quality was lacking. A few of these less impressive efforts stemmed from a lack of available extras or less-than-desirable source elements, but most were simply Laserdisc ports since Criterion hadn't committed to DVD yet.

One major milestone occurred with Insomnia (spine #47 - the Norwegian original, not the Nolan remake), which was the first Criterion disc to use an anamorphic transfer. After that, they started to become more consistent in their presentation quality...and today, they rarely put out anything less than a top quality package (unless you don't like the movie, of course).

A footnote: some of the earlier Criterions have since been re-released on Blu-Ray and/or DVD with the same spine numbers (Brazil, Beauty and the Beast, most everything by Kurosawa), so if the cover looks different than the Criterion website it's probably an older version.

Damn, would I love to have Insomnia come out on blu.

Fuck. Me too, man.

#47 huh, I'll drink to that Should be easy to remember.


Thanks. I guess 16x9 is the biggest thing (unless it was 1.33 of course), the transfer doesn't have to be sparkling and perfect for me.

And I have discovered the re-issues. I just found a copy of the re-issued Walkabout 2 disc DVD, which was #10 I believe, was $2 after trade-in credit at Half-Price Books (was $10).

And on a smaller note, the rotating "C" is a million times better than the scrolling line for the Criterion Logo.

It is. Just classier and fresh.