Foreign Correspondent Blu-Ray? (1 Viewer)

Any rumors about a Blu-Ray release of Hitchcock's classic "Foreign Correspondent"? It appears Criterion has, or had, rights as it is listed under Criterion's page on Amazon Instant Video.This is one I'd blind-buy in a second, one of my favorites in the Hitchcock canon. Nominated for Best Picture, you'd think this would be a great catalog release.Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Criterion does have the rights (as well as Sabotage & Young and Innocent). No hint as to when they'll release them however.

I've heard the Criterion rumor, but that's all I've heard. Criterion has been known to sit on films for several years. Their priority is Japanese cinema.

I'll buy Foreign Correspondent on blu-ray the instant it becomes available.

FC is on their Hulu channel, so there is no question of their having the rights - it is fact not speculation. It is part of their Caidin deal that gave us Stagecoach.It will be in Blu when released.

I'm hoping for maybe a Fall or Winter release....Criterion seems to get at least one Hitchcock out each year (The Lady Vanishes in winter of 2011 and The 39 Steps in Summer 2012, I believe). Here's hoping!

And Man Who Knew Too Much in 13.... maybe end of this year or next year for this one.

Criterion had released a Hitchcock movie roughly every six months (The Lady Vanishes in December 2011, The 39 Steps in June 2012, The Man Who Knew Too Much in January) so I definitely expect another Hitch title before the end of the year.

We'll know about August in just over 2 weeks...

If Criterion does in fact have the rights to Sabotage (1936) and Young and Innocent (1937) I wish they'd accelerate their Hitchcock releases. If they can release four or five Japanese films in a box-set and two or three Japanese box-sets in a year they can certainly accelerate their Hitchcock releases.

I don't think you can equate the output of one director to the output of an entire nation. They've put out half the Hitch they own so far, and at least those are coming faster than the Chaplins they own...

atfree said:

Any rumors about a Blu-Ray release of Hitchcock's classic "Foreign Correspondent"? It appears Criterion has, or had, rights as it is listed under Criterion's page on Amazon Instant Video.This is one I'd blind-buy in a second, one of my favorites in the Hitchcock canon. Nominated for Best Picture, you'd think this would be a great catalog release.Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

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Not to be that guy, but doesn't the fact that it's "one of your favorites in the Hitchcock canon" kind of negate its status as a blind buy?

Regardless, yeah, should be coming from Criterion, probably this year.

Mark VH said:

Not to be that guy, but doesn't the fact that it's "one of your favorites in the Hitchcock canon" kind of negate its status as a blind buy?

Regardless, yeah, should be coming from Criterion, probably this year.

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I think he means it's a blind buy in the sense that he'd preorder it without waiting for any reviews of the disc quality.

Richard--W said:

If Criterion does in fact have the rights to Sabotage (1936) and Young and Innocent (1937) I wish they'd accelerate their Hitchcock releases. If they can release four or five Japanese films in a box-set and two or three Japanese box-sets in a year they can certainly accelerate their Hitchcock releases.

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It benefits Criterion to put out their biggest sellers (Chaplin, Kurosawa, Hitchcock) over a long period of time. That way they have a constant market presence and support for the smaller titles year on year. If they have another 3 or 4 Hitchcocks, I wouldn't expect more than one per year to be honest.

If Blu-ray is indeed the last physical format, then it benefits both the studios and the consumers that the big titles are spread thin over the formats life time. Get everything out the door in the first 5 years of the format and all you have left is MoD level stuff for the second 5 (and less incentive from the studios to release them, since their returns get smaller and smaller)

Wow, what crummy posters this movie had. For once I would actually favor Criterion NOT use the original ad art and come up with something a bit more appealing. A few years ago there was an art book of Hitchcock movie posters and many of them were simply terrible. He was not a director that had much in the way of really nice, graphically interesting and compelling artwork for his advertising. Of course, there were exceptions, but largely it was uninspired.

Better once Saul Bass came along

aka Sabotage, 1936.


aka Young and Innocent, 1937.

I follow your reasoning, Eddie Larkin, but I don't necessarily agree. Criterion's Hitchcock blu-rays releases are spread out over too many years. I get impatient. If they can release entire box sets on other directors (Cassavetes, Lean, Ozu, Rohmer, etc) they can do the same for Hitchcock on blu-ray. It's not like they don't have other product to keep the company afloat. It is simply a question of the personal priorities of those making the decisions.

Moe Dickstein said:

I don't think you can equate the output of one director to the output of an entire nation. ...

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Why not?

Moe Dickstein said:

They've put out half the Hitch they own so far, and at least those are coming faster than the Chaplins they own...

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Don't get me started on the Chaplins, the Chabrols, the Clouzots, the Rohmers, the Hellmans, the Archers ...

This is about business. It doesn't make any sense to blow your wad of marquee titles all at once.

Richard--W said:

Why not?

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Because it's silly to compare one man's filmography to an entire country's? If Criterion only released Hitchcock films and Japanese films, then I could see why one might get annoyed. But they seem to be busy releasing many non-Hitchcock-non-Japanese films as well.

Criterion has released the same number of Hitchcock films on BD as MGM/Fox and Warner. While they can probably throw their Hitchcock titles onto discs and release it in a box set, I imagine it makes more sense to them both from a quality and a financial perspective to release them individually. Look at what a QC nightmare Universal's Hitchcock set was.

I suspect Criterion might get the rights to the silent Hitchcock films owned by Granada/ITV (from whom they licensed The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and probably Sabotage, and Young and Innocent).

Ray H said:

Because it's silly to compare one man's filmography to an entire country's? If Criterion only released Hitchcock films and Japanese films, then I could see why one might get annoyed. But they seem to be busy releasing many non-Hitchcock-non-Japanese films as well.

Criterion has released the same number of Hitchcock films on BD as MGM/Fox and Warner. While they can probably throw their Hitchcock titles onto discs and release it in a box set, I imagine it makes more sense to them both from a quality and a financial perspective to release them individually. Look at what a QC nightmare Universal's Hitchcock set was.

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No one is comparing one director's filmography to an entire countrys'. I agree that would be silly. If Fox could release five Hitchcock films simultaneously, so can Criterion. A Hitchcock release should be a consistent seller over the years whether they release it now or later. So why not release it now. Release delayed over a period of years is release denied. Either put the films out or let some other distributor do it.

Ray H said:

...
I suspect Criterion might get the rights to the silent Hitchcock films owned by Granada/ITV (from whom they licensed The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and probably Sabotage, and Young and Innocent).

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The BFI has been restoring the Hitchcock silents. I don't how far they've gotten with the project, but I won't be waiting for Criterion to release them over a span of years. The first company to release restored Hitchcock silents on blu-ray gets my money the moment the titles go on sale. I think the BFI / Eureka will issue them long before Criterion.

Meanwhile, Universal is releasing blu's of Rear Window and The Birds in region-free editions in the U.K. on May 13 at low prices:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Birds-Anniversary-Limited-Edition/dp/B00BP5GC4M/ref=pd_bxgy_d_h__img_y

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rear-Window-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B00BP5GCVU/ref=pd_sim_d_h__1

Why bother to wait any longer for an individual American release?

Moe Dickstein said:

This is about business. It doesn't make any sense to blow your wad of marquee titles all at once.

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I understand the business principle you're expounding, however, Fox issued five Hitchcock titles on DVD simultaneously, or within a few months. They are sold out now. So Fox didn't lose any money. Criterion issued a Hitchcock box-set over a decade ago. That also sold out. So Criterion didn't lose any money, either, nor would they have made more money by stringing them out over the years. So I don't think the principle you expound applies here. The products sold well over a period of time regardless of how many were released at the same time. Sorry, I think the decision of what to release and when is all a matter of personal preference at Criterion.