DVD reissues that have yet to pan out

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MK
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DVD reissues that have yet to pan out

Postby MK » Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:49 pm

Warner has released some cool box sets like the ultra-resolution transfer of Wizard of Oz and the King Kong set, but we're still waiting for A Streetcar Named Desire and Bonnie Clyde, which apparently were pretty distant, even if they were on WB's radar.

Over at Criterion, we've got other "certainties" that haven't happened. From their forum:

EISENSTEIN SILENT YEARS boxset - from December 1999 Cineaste interview with Peter Becker: "We're now working on Potemkin, October, Strike, Old and New, also known as The General Line, plus Glumov's Diary, a short that's never been seen here. These are enormous projects, so what we try to do is to ally ourselves with a small group of scholars. On the Eisensteins, we're being helped by David Bordwell, Naum Kleimann, Annette Michelson, Ian Christie, Richard Taylor, and Yuri Tsivian. The idea basically is that if all of these people help us find our way, we won't be too far off."

PANDORA'S BOX (1929, G. W. Pabst) "In the program for a screening with Gillian Anderson's score in 2003 - it said Criterion would be releasing a freshly restored version with the Anderson score in 2004". Confirmed by Lee Kline at HTF chat (Feb 2004) --- UPDATE FEB 2005: currently off the production schedule.

DODES'KA-DEN (1970, Kurosawa)

SANSHIRO SUGATA (1943, Kurosawa)

IVANS CHILDHOOD (1962, Tarkovsky)

COCKTAIL MOLOTOV (1980, Kurys)

COUSIN, COUSINE (1975, Tacchella)

SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932, von Sternberg) - indefinitely postponed. As of Feb 2003 it's looking bleak - Mulvaney says its not on the schedule.

BREATHLESS (1959, Godard) - ??? According to the current Fox DVD, the BBC restored the original 16mm film elements in 2000 and transferred the work to videotape. So in their infinite wisdom, they took the VIDEO transfer, processed it through the video equivalent of NoNoise, and used that for their DVD. Which makes Criterion's sudden silence all the more disappointing.

I'm pretty happy to hear PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK on Peter Weir's radar; he says a Criterion reissue is going to happen, but no word on when. The current DVD is pretty great, but it's not anamorphic. For my money, it's Weir's best picture, possibly Australia's best.
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krabapple
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Postby krabapple » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:46 am

these aren't Criterion releases (but shoudl be)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (I've seen this promised for the last few years by Fox)

Pride and Prejudice (classic first film version, with Olivier and Garson -- I've never even seen this listed. Inexplicable, given the fad for Austen).
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Mike Hunte
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Postby Mike Hunte » Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:10 pm

There was a rumor a year or two ago that Criterion was going to do a deluxe package for "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls". Roger Ebert even posted on a message board around that time that he had recently recorded a commentary track.

Fast forward to a few months ago. Someone stated they had contacted Criterion, and their response was that "they had no plans to issue it". So, I'd love to know a) how the rumor got started and b) for what possible release of the flick did Ebert do the track for?

So far, the movie's still domestically MIA on DVD. Though, Europe and elsewhere, PAL versions have been released.