Criterion in October (1 Viewer)

[Marc Colella]

According to www.homevision.com:

Kill!
Directed By: Kihachi Okamoto

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=KIL060

Samurai Rebellion
Directed By: Masaki Kobayashi

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=SAM170

Samurai Spy
Directed By: Masahiro Shinoda

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=SAM160

Sword of the Beast
Directed By: Hideo Gosha

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=SWO040

All 4 are offered in a boxset:

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=SWO050

Plus:

Le Samouraï
Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=SAM150

The Wages of Fear (All-New Restored Special Edition)
Directed By: Henri-Georges Clouzot

http://homevision.com/users/folder.a...1374&id=WAG110

I'm personally excited about Melville's Le Samouraï. I've been waiting a while for this one.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I wonder when Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is scheduled?

 

[Brook K]

Wow, Le Samourai!! I'll finally get to see it.

 

[Walter Kittel]

What Brook said. Great news. Easily one of my most anticipated releases.

- Walter.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I am very enthused for Le Samourai as well. I saw it at the Detroit Film Theater a few years ago when a spiffy new print was doing the rounds, but was surprised when no DVD/home video release followed.

Regards,

 

[Mike Wadkins]

guess there is chance of a repeat of the great pulp fiction laser with kill bill 1+2 combined?.
i thought with the wienstiens leaving they could farm it out to a proven dvd company

 

[george kaplan]

Still waiting for Tati. :frowning:

 

[Adrian R]

excellent news about Le Samourai, was going to get the French DVD, but then it went expensive and (I think) OOP...

 

[SteveGon]

Le Samourai? What a surprise. Well, not really, seeing as how I bought the French disc awhile back. Oy.

 

[David Lawrence]

I sympathise Steve; after five years of waiting for a R1 release, I finally stumped up the cash and bought the French R2 a couple of weeks ago...

Karma

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I don't see a lot of enthusiasm for the rebel samurai boxset. Ive never seen any of the films but they sure sound interesting. Are these flicks any good?

 

[Bob Cashill]

The samurai films are fairly obscure in the States, except for buffs. But NY's Film Forum is allowing (some of) us to play catch up by holding a "Samurai Summer" series from 8/19-9/15, including SAMURAI REBELLION, KILL!, and HARAKIRI, a Criterion release this month.

Good news, too, about LE SAMOURAI and THE WAGES OF FEAR.

Now if only Criterion would get ahold of THE CONFORMIST, which I first saw at Film Forum in 1995, and, a decade later, it's back, with no intervening home video release...

 

[Jim_K]

Marco,

Out of the four films I've only seen Samurai Rebellion, which is a quality film. I think it's the only film in this set starring Toshiro Mifune. Masaki Kobayashi also directed Kwaidan & the up-coming Criterion Harikiri.

The other three (Kill!, Samurai Spy & Sword of the Beast) I know only by reputation & I've wanted to check them out for a while. Kihachi Okamoto (Kill!) also directed Sword of Doom & Samurai Assassin.

 

[Ike]

I'm excited for all these, but Le Samouraï is probably at the top of the "must buy" list for me. The French DVD (reviewed at DVD Beaver) looks good, but is OOP. It isn't expensive used-around $25-but I fear dealing with used sellers who are selling in a language I don't speak.

One of the nice things about Criterion is they have quietly gotten less expensive. The bad thing about them is that this is a 1.66:1 film, which often get cropped to 1.78.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

I doubt that Criterion will get it, though I'd love to be proved wrong. It's owned by Paramount, and they appear to have a firm policy of not licensing out their titles.

Paramount must surely be aware of the degree of interest in this title, so I would hope they will release it next year if not this. I don't know what they've been waiting for.