NoirFan

Are you familiar with the film? I haven't seen it myself, but I'm guessing that the cover is in some way representative of the material. I recall you criticizing the Kiss Me Deadly cover without being aware that it was a nod to the original pulp paperback.

MTRodaba2468

Great month! I've been holding off on the Suzukis in hopes that they would be redone, and more Hitchcock on Blu is only a good thing...

wergo

You, sir, are entirely correct.

Doctorossi

I don't care about "new" if the "old" is awesome.

Solid Snake

this

JayDerek

Sondheim

Which is pretty much standard for December releases - though I'd say any Lubitsch on BD is pretty exciting, and this is one of his best films (though not quite at the level of, say, To Be or Not To Be and Trouble in Paradise.)While I agree with you that I'd love to see more silents on BD, the two Suzukis were in pretty desperate need of upgrades. It's not like the upgrades of Dazed and Confused or Harakiri or The Lady Vanishes, where the only advantage (albeit, a pretty big advantage) of a Blu-ray upgrade is high definition. Rather, the original DVDs of the two Suzukis were non-anamorphic, with surprisingly awful picture quality - which is especially a shame for a film as colorful (and wildly entertaining) as Tokyo Drifter. For fans of the films (I love Tokyo Drifter and have mixed feelings about Branded to Kill) these are absolutely essential upgrades.

In fact, while I generally would like to see more films new to the collection rather than upgrades, there are still a few of those early spine numbers that could greatly benefit from being upgraded to anamorphic high definition (my favorite film, Andrei Rublev, being one of the prime examples.)

Here's the DVD Beaver review of the original release of Tokyo Drifter:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...o_drifter_.htm

NoirFan

With the two Suzukis announced, what are the other low-spine titles left that are in direst need of upgrades? I'd say Summertime, Alphaville, Andrei Rublev and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

nitin77

surprised by the Suzukis, will definitely take them. Good month overall.

Noirfan, I'd Passion of Joan of Arc to that list.

NoirFan

I thought the transfer looked pretty good, considering it's age. Of course, I'd be first in line for an upgrade, especially if some new extras were added. Grand Illusion is another low-spine title with a solid transfer. Same with A Night to Remember, though it isn't anamorphic.

TheDuke

I'm not familiar with it, but it's a matter of design, not representation. A good cover should be designed well AND represent the film accurately. The cover only does one of those things. Personally, I liked how the two DVD edition covers were in the same style. Branded to Kill has a neat cover, they could have matched styles again for the blu-rays.

NoirFan

DVD Beaver on Carlos

nitin77

Grand Illusion does look good, but Passion could definitely look much better. And SC is issuing Grand Illusion soon on blu anyway.

As for A Night to Remember, havent seen that yet but making it anamorphic would be a big plus.

Dr. Mantle

SC?

Great news about Grand Illusion on Blu. Now I can keep my Criterion DVD sealed, but still have a copy to enjoy.

nitin77

Studio Canal, likely to be region B locked though.

CardiffGiant

Alphaville is OOP, so that might not be getting an upgrade unless StudioCanal decides to release it on Blu.

Solid Snake

Uhm...did Criterion ever mention anything more about the first 18 Zatoichi films? They've had them for a while. And i'm watching them in chronological order as well on Hulu. I'd love to get a BD set of these. Are they waiting to get the rest of Katsu's Zatoichi films or what?

Supermallet

I would kill for a Zatoichi set from Criterion.

Solid Snake

This is kind of funny. I've KNOWN about Zatoichi for a while now. Never saw the films w/ Katsu. Just Beat Takeshi's film...of which I'd like a good BD of (fucking Miramax...). ANYWAY....I've always loved the idea of Zatoichi...just sounds badass. And starting about 10am this morning...I started going down the list starting from 1 to whatever number I'm on now on....Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold...I think that's 6. Soooo from what I see. These films are actually very timeless. Not much if anything ages them considerably. Very well directed they are. And holy fuck is Katsu a very stable actor in these. Can't believe he did so many.

Again..wtf holds Criterion from getting the rest of the films past Samaritan Zatoichi?

Supermallet

Didn't Miramax buy the rights to some of them at Tarantino's behest?

Solid Snake

oh goddamn it to hell, guess we'll never see them. The last Katsu film is w/ Miramax. I dunno about those between Samaritan and the last Katsu Zatoichi (1989).

PopcornTreeCt

Criterion posted this poster on their Facebook page:

NoirFan

Finally, Weekend has been rumored forever! Hopefully it'll get a release in the spring, after the upcoming theatrical run.

bse

Yeah, they've replied to questions about Weekend on their Facebook page a few months back that it'll be after the theatrical run.

Superdaddy

Wow...2011 has been a really good year...maybe 2012 will start off with a bang if this is on the way.