October Criterions (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

Hadn't seen this posted yet.

criterion.com

Under the Volcano

Spine #410



Under the Volcano follows the final day in the life of self-destructive British consul Geoffrey Firmin (Albert Finney, in an Oscar-nominated tour de force) on the eve of World War II. Withering from alcoholism, Firmin stumbles through a small Mexican village amidst the Day of the Dead fiesta, attempting to reconnect with his estranged wife (Jacqueline Bisset) but only further alienating himself. John Huston's ambitious tackling of Malcolm Lowry's towering "unadaptable" novel gave the incomparable Finney one of his grandest roles and was the legendary The Treasure of the Sierra Madre director's triumphant return to filmmaking in Mexico.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by film editor Roberto Silvi
- Audio commentary featuring executive producer Michael Fitzgerald and producers Wieland Schulz-Keil and Moritz Borman
- Theatrical trailers
- New video interview with Jacqueline Bisset
- New audio interview with screenwriter Guy Gallo
- 1984 audio interview with John Huston conducted by French film critic Michel Ciment
-Notes from "Under the Volcano" (1984), a 59-minute documentary by Gary Conklin shot on the set during the film's production, featuring interviews with Huston, cast, and crew
- Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (1976), filmmaker Donald Brittain's 99-minute, Academy Award–nominated documentary, narrated by Richard Burton, examining the connections between Under the Volcano author Malcolm Lowry's life and that of his novel's main character
- PLUS: A new essay by film critic Christian Viviani
- More!

Film Info

1984
112 minutes
Color
1.85:1
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Anamorphic
English

Release Info

Catalog Number:
CC1718D
ISBN:
1-934121-94-0
UPC:
7-15515-02642-0
SRP: $39.95

Days of Heaven

Spine #409

One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting movies of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steel worker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and little sister (Linda Manz) to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating at once a timeless American idyll and a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Terrence Malick, editor Billy Weber, and camera operator John Bailey
- New Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
- Audio commentary featuring Weber, art director Jack Fisk, costume designer Patricia Norris, and casting director Dianne Crittenden
- New video interviews with cinematographers Haskell Wexler and Bailey
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Adrian Martin and director of photography Nestor Almendros
- More!

Film Info

1978
95 minutes
Color
1.78:1
Dolby Digital 5.1
Anamorphic
English

Release Info

Catalog Number:
CC1717D
ISBN:
1-934121-93-2
UPC:
7-15515-02632-1
SRP: $39.95

Breathless

Spine #408



There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, crackling personalities of rising stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and anything-goes crime narrative, Jean-Luc Godard's debut fashioned a simultaneous homage to and critique of the American film genres that influenced and rocked him as a film writer for Cahiers du cinema. Jazzy, free-form, and sexy, Breathless (A bout de souffle) helped launch the French new wave and ensured cinema would never be the same.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard
- Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
- New video interviews with Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker
- New video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport's "Jean Seberg" and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless as Film Criticism"
- Chambre 12, Hotel de suede, an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew
- Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short film by Godard, starring Belmondo
- French theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, Francois Truffaut's original film treatment, and Godard's scenario

Film Info

1959
90 minutes
Black & White
1.33:1
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Not Anamorphic
French

Release Info

Catalog Number:
CC1716D
ISBN:
1-934121-92-4
UPC:
7-15515-02622-2
SRP: $39.95

Mala Noche

Spine #407



With its low budget and lush black-and-white imagery, Gus Van Sant's debut feature Mala Noche heralded an idiosyncratic, provocative new voice in American independent film. Set in Van Sant's hometown of Portland, Oregon, the film evokes a world of transient workers, dead-end day-shifters, and bars and seedy apartments bathed in a profound nighttime, as it follows a romantic deadbeat with a wayward crush on a handsome Mexican immigrant. Mala Noche was an important prelude to the New Queer Cinema of the nineties and is a fascinating time capsule from a time and place that continues to haunt its director's work.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Gus Van Sant
- New interview with Van Sant
- Walt Curtis, the Peckerneck Poet: a documentary about the author of the book Mala Noche, directed by animator and friend Bill Plympton
- Storyboard gallery
- Original trailer edited by Van Sant
- PLUS: A new essay by film critic Dennis Lim

Film Info

1985
78 minutes
Black & White/Color
1.33:1
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Not Anamorphic
English

Release Info

Catalog Number:
CC1715D
ISBN:
1-934121-91-6
UPC:
7-15515-02612-3
SRP: $29.95

 

[Ray H]

Sweet. Days of Heaven and Breathless.

 

[Nathan V]

Terrence Malick from Criterion?????? Are you kidding me?! That's the greatest news I've ever heard! Hope that's a sign of things to come.

And Breathless too?!?! What the beep!

I must be about to wake up.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

I was hoping for more features on Days Of Heaven - but I'm sure the folks at Criterion tried their hardest. If Malick approved the transfer, I'm sure they tried asking for a commentary or an interview.

That said, the disc is at the top of my must-purchase list!

 

[Paul_Scott]

well, it does say More! in the specs so they may not be finalized yet.
I'd be temepted to pick this up in November when DD has its next 205 off sale, but I think I may just kep holding out in the hopes that Criterion goes HD at some point in the next 12 months.

Under the Volcano sounds intriguing. I've never seen it before and have always gotten it mixed up in my head with When Time Ran Out, which is an Irwin Allen disaster movie from 4 years earlier, also with Bisset, that featured a volcano prominently in its key art.
Other than the above, and the use of another heavyweight A male lead, I don't think the two actually have much in common

 

[Marc Colella]

Days of Heaven and Breathless are definite purchases.

Amazing month just based on those 2 titles.

 

[MTRodaba2468]

Days Of Heaven is a definite purchase.

 

[ted:r]

"Under The Volcano", "Breathless" and "Days Of Heaven" definitely on my list. Especially "Under The Volcano", seeing as this is its first go round.

Does anyone know definitively if Criterion has rights to Huston's "The Dead"?

 

[mike kaminski]

Damn, Breathless! Finally! I've been waiting a long time for that one!

 

[walter o]

I believe Lions Gate controls THE DEAD, as it was a Vestron Film producution.

However, I heard rumors that Criterion might have the rights to another Huston film, but rumor is a rumor, so we shall see.

 

[Jace_A]

So, Paramount are now licensing their films to Criterion. This can only be good news, as Paramount have not exactly been forward in releasing their back catalogue, pre 1960's.

 

[Douglas R]

Under the Volcano is my favorite film from that list but it's a pity there is no contibution from Albert Finney. I don't like the cover though. It makes it look like some kind of gangster film.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Always good to have more John Huston movies on dvd

 

[Shawn.F]

I'd love to see Criterion release Prizzi's Honor.

 

[Charles H]

Since Criterion is bringing out HOUSE OF GAMES (Orion) next month, does that mean that Criterion has a licensing deal with MGM/UA/Sony?Fox/Tom Cruise? What companies does Criterion currently have licensing deals with? Universal? TCF? How long does the Paramount licensing deal last? (My dream Criterion would be MY SON JOHN: SE.)

 

[Lord Dalek]

The current Criterion licencors...

Fox (The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeiose, The Leopard, Kagemusha, Naked Lunch, and most likely The Darjeeling LTD.)
New Line Cinema (Short Cuts, My Own Private Idaho, Hoop Dreams)
Buena Vista (Chasing Amy, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Acquatic with Steve Zisou)
MPI (Carnival of Souls)
Anchor Bay (Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Life of Brian)
Universal (The Scarlet Empress, Trouble in Paradise, The Lady Eve, The Blob, Spartacus, Videodrome, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under the Volcano)
MGM (House of Games, we're still not sure how far this deal goes if there's a deal at all)
Paramount (Robinson Crusoe on Mars, if, Days of Heaven, Ace in the Hole, again the nature of the deal is somewhat unknown)

 

[walter o]

Criterion also licensed BRAZIL from Universal, and THREE WOMEN from Fox, and MONA LISA and WITHNAIL & I from Anchor Bay.

 

[Bradley-E]

If..., Ace in the Hole, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, now Days of Heaven. It looks like Paramount has licensed cataloge titles to Criterion since they pretty much stopped releasing them themselves. I hope these make it to one of the HD formats...Days of Heaven most of all.

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

A few corrections to your list:
StudioCanal was responsible for licensing DISCREET CHARM and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, not Anchor Bay. Other StudioCanal properties on Criterion include other Bunuel and Godard films, HOPSCOTCH, and ARMY OF SHADOWS.
Jack Harris Enterprises licensed THE BLOB, not Universal, along with EQUINOX.
Fox, acting as MGM's distributor, is likely responsible for the HOUSE OF GAMES deal, not MGM themselves.

 

[Jeff Newcomb]

Also, Carnival of Souls is in the public domain, with the elements under license from the producer. Criterion does credit Anchor Bay as the licensor of The Man Who Fell to Earth, although I think AB has licensed from Studio Canal and sublet it to Criterion.