Two new Criterions in April (1 Viewer)

[PaulP]

According to Amazon.com F for Fake and Divorce Italian Style, both in 2-disc editions, are coming from Criterion on April 26. No other information.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007M2234/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007M222A/

 

[Eric Peterson]

Sweet! I've been wanting to see this film for years, but have never been able to find a copy.

 

[AlexHL]

Wonderful news indeed. And thankfully a less expensive month from Criterion for a change.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Don't count you chickens (or change). The announcements are not up yet on Criterion's website. It is highly likely that there will be additional titles by the time they are.

Ted

 

[oscar_merkx]

I have never seen F for Fake and discovered that it's an Orson Welles picture

A must buy then

 

[SteveGon]

Ditto that!

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

They are both 2-disc editions, so they will be $39.95, or $27.70 from DVD Pacific or £14.99 from CD-WOW if you use this thing: www.consol.be/cdwow/

You enter the product code that is at the end of the address line, ie 646164 for Slacker and you get a £1 off. So you get Slacker, a superb Criterion 2-disc for £11.99.

The other April releases could be :

Playtime
Jour de Fete
Eisenstein: The Silent Years

 

[richardWI]

"F for Fake" is, without a doubt, the release of 2005 that I anticipate the most. I am happy that it will now get a wider audience and introduce more people to Orson Welles: The Editing Genius... This film, made long before the Avid, is the Citizen Kane of editing. Witness what he did with mid 70's technology, twisting and shaping mostly "found" footage, and your jaw will drop.

Can't wait to find out what's on disc two. The trailer, inclued on the laserdisc, is one of the coolest ever made.

"I started at the top and have been working my way down ever since." -Orson Welles

 

[Brandon Conway]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I've been waiting forever for the Silent Eisenstein films and the other Tati films, especially the underseen and undersppreciated Jour de Fete. I wub Criterion.

 

[george kaplan]

Excellent if true (there's still no such listing on their website). It'll be the first new Criterion (excluding reissues such as M), that I've been excited about in a long, long time - the last one was the Killers.

 

[Brian PB]

Gordon: I always appreciate your well-informed posts, but are the films you listed above wishful thinking, or do you have some inside info???

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Sorry, guys; I typed "will" instead of "could"! :b

It is pretty much common knowledge that Criterion are working on Playtime (it will be transfered from a new 70mm interpositive of the longer version) and Jour de Fete is also in the works (the BFI edition is out now in the UK).

Over at the Criterion Forums Eisenstein's silents are listed as one of the "in the works" and many people there seem agree it is likely. Although, with the Andrzej Wajda boxed set now being moved to April, it looks like Criterion won't release another boxed set until June or July.

I do understand that speculating on Criterion releases is a very risky business, but it is fun!

Once again: Sorry for the ERROR, guys.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Hmmm - I just checked out those forums you linked to Gordon and it seems that Hoop Dreams is being mentioned by a lot of users as an April possibility. Has there been any evidence towards Criterion releasing this?

 

[Jon Robertson]

Yeah - it's part of the deal with New Line Home Video and Fine Line Features that led to Short Cuts and My Own Private Idaho. You can read details here at the end of the first post.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Gordon, given that Criterion and the BFI have worked together in the past and both these Tati films are already out in their BFI editions, I think this is a sound bet.

However, do you know if Criterion are going to offer anything in addition to the BFI versions? As far as I know, the BFI Playtime is the longer version (though of course the absolutely original version has been lost) and it has an excellent commentary. The BFI Jour de Fete is vanilla, but interestingly is in colour (as originally intended, but rather faded, which perversely enough adds to the charm).

 

[Brandon Conway]

Thanks Jon. Great news!

The Tati titles I knew were definitely coming sometime because criterionco.com specifically mentioned them as future titles in their News section.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Criterion's edition of Playtime will probably be a 2-disc affair with a new anamorphic hi-def transfer from the 70mm interpositive and will hopefully include the 6-track stereo mix as well as the mono. I'm expecting extensive materials on Tati on disc 2.

Jour de Fete will almost definately be a 2-disc also, but that will be because both the black and white and Thomsoncolor versions will be provided. We'll probably get a commentary, also.

Criterion are woking on dozens of films at present for release throughout this year and the next, so it is hard to guess what will be released and when, but the Tati titles are pretty much a dead cert.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Orson Welles?

Another title on my "to buy" list, then.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Gordon, thanks for the info. I don't know about other good folks here, but I find my Criterion buying comes in bursts - I can go a couple of months wanting nothing from the lists and then suddenly several choice plums all come at once. I love Tati films, and although I've already got the BFI versions, the extras on the Criterion merit a double-dip. Plus F is for Fake is a must-buy.

 

[Chad Parks]

I agree that the F for Fake DVD is a no brainer, hopefully Criterion will really 'hook us up' with some of the interesting short things that Orson was working on during that time period.