Criterion Releases in HD Thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

Well, from the looks of their DVD's sourced from HD transfers, I'd expect some very high quality HD discs.

FYI, here's a list of the discs they've utilized HD transfers for (according to their website):

The 400 Blows (SE only)
Beauty and the Beast (SE only)
Picnic at Hanging Rock
M (SE only)
The Wages of Fear (SE only)
Charade (16x9 re-issue only)
Life of Brian
The Element of Crime
Alexander Nevsky
Ivan the Terrible - Parts I & II
Kwaidan
The Blob [Camera negative]
Fiend without a Face
All That Heaven Allows
Written on the Wind
Do the Right Thing
L'avventura
Gimme Shelter
Cries and Whispers
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Spartacus
Coup de torchon
The Rock
My Man Godfrey
Rififi
The Hidden Fortress
Diary of a Chambermaid
Salesman
The Vanishing
Rashomon
8 1/2
Children of Paradise
The Last Wave
That Obscure Object of Desire
The Cranes Are Flying
Bob le Flambeur
George Washington
The Horse's Mouth
Tokyo Olympiad
Hearts and Minds
The Royal Tenenbaums
Red Beard
Hopscotch
Solaris
Man Bites Dog
Down by Law
Monterey Pop
Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey
Contempt
Pépé le Moko
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Band of Outsiders
The Killers
Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
My Life as a Dog
I Am Curious—Yellow
I Am Curious—Blue
Straw Dogs
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
by Brakhage—an anthology (all films)
Stolen Kisses
Bed and Board
Love on the Run
The White Sheik
Throne of Blood
Jubilee
Coup de Grâce
Quai des Orfèvres
Il Posto
I Fidanzati
Hiroshima mon amour
Night and Fog
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Schizopolis
Honeymoon Killers
Umberto D.
Indiscretion of an American Wife & Terminal Station
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Veronika Voss
Lola
The Pornographers
Through a Glass Darkly
Winter Light
The Silence
Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie
Richard III
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Knife in the Water
The Rules of the Game
Tokyo Story
Le Cercle Rouge
La Strada
Naked Lunch
Ikiru
Diary of a Country Priest
Maîtresse
Pickup on South Street
Tunes of Glory
Onibaba
Le Corbeau
Salvatore Giuliano
Scenes from a Marriage
3 Women
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds
Stray Dog
The Tin Drum
The Leopard
Mamma Roma
Smiles of a Summer Night
A Woman Is a Woman
The Lower Depths
Early Summer
The Golden Coach
French Cancan
Elena and Her Men
Port of Shadows
I Vitelloni
Slacker
Videodrome
The Battle of Algiers
Shadows
Faces
A Woman Under the Influence
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Opening Night
Secret Honor
Fat Girl
Eyes Without a Face
Fanny and Alexander—The Television Version
Fanny and Alexander—The Theatrical Version
The Making of Fanny and Alexander
Short Cuts
The King of Kings (roadshow version only)
Kagemusha
Youth of the Beast
Fighting Elegy
Casque d’or
Touchez pas au grisbi
La commare secca
Thieves' Highway
Night and the City
Tout va bien
The River
My Own Private Idaho
L'eclisse
Young Törless
The Sword of Doom
Jules and Jim
A Generation
Kanal
Ashes and Diamonds
Divorce Italian Style
Burden of Dreams
F for Fake
The Phantom of Liberty
Heaven Can Wait
Unfaithfully Yours
The Flowers of St. Francis
The Browning Version
Crazed Fruit
Le notti bianche
Au hasard Balthazar
Gate of Flesh
Story of a Prostitute
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (4K source)
An Angel at My Table
Harakiri
Bad Timing
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Boudu Saved from Drowning
Le samouraï
Naked
Masculin féminin
Ugetsu
Samurai Rebellion
Sword of the Beast
Samurai Spy
Kill!
Pickpocket
Shoot the Piano Player
Ran
The Tales of Hoffmann
Forbidden Games
The Bad Sleep Well
Young Mr. Lincoln
The Virgin Spring
The Complete Mr. Arkadin
The Children Are Watching Us
La bête humaine
Kind Hearts & Coronets
Metropolitan
Murmur of the Heart (2K)
Lacombe Lucien (2K)
Au revoir les enfants (2K)
Fists in the Pocket
Elevator to the Gallows (2K)

A lot of significant titles lack HD transfers, it seems. The Passion of Joan of Arc could really use a Metropolis-level 2K digital restoration. Not to mention Criterion's DVD is single-layer and the avg. bitrate is about 4.2 mbps.

Also, it's important to note that there is an HD transfer of Brazil of the director's cut.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Impressive list. Would love to see some of those lovingly-transfered films make it to 1080P HD disc...




Where did you hear that? Unless Criterion recently made a new HD transfer of that film "just to use at some point down the road" it's not accurate (unless Universal made an HD transfer and that's what you mean). They certainly didn't have an HD transfer at the time that the initial Criterion DVD release was made, and it seems odd that they'd (Criterion) spend the $$ to do a new transfer and not have already taken advantage of new DVD sales potential before HD formats steal the thunder and slow DVD adoption by cash-strapped videophiles.

 

[Patrick McCart]

David:

Universal apparently made it. A clip appears in The Cutting Edge (on the Bullit SE), which was produced in HD for Starz.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

WoW
Thanks Patrick, for sharing CC HD transfer list.
We should be so lucky, to get these in HD!

 

[Josh H]

When pondering the issue today of the Criterion Collection's eventual foray into the world of High Definition software, several questions overcame me. I wonder, theoretically, how would the release schedule work? Would they begin to re-release their SD collection? Or would they continue with films to new to Criterion, though in HD or Bluray discs? For example...

Criterion is about to release Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" in SD. This DVD has for many been a long time coming. It joins other titles, like Godard's "Pierrot le fou," and Lee's "The Ice Storm," wonderful, important films that are new to the collection. But if they enter the HD foray, would they release their entire SD catalogue, say, Renoir's "La grande illusion," Bergman's "The Seventh Seal," and Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai,' and cease production of new titles? Because if this is the scenario we can expect, I frankly wish for Criterion to NOT enter the High Definition market. There are too many unreleased films in Region 1, that deserve the level of excellence that Criterion brings to the table, for me to get excited about reissues of titles I am already perfectly satisfied with. Enhanced picture quality aside, it seems to me that entering the HD foray and ceasing production of new and exciting titles seems to go against Criterion's mission statement of releasing important and unavailable films in digital format in Region 1.

Criterion is FAR from done releasing important films. I'm curious, would those interested in Criterion commencing the production of High Definition discs wish for them to release previous films released in SD at the expense of other important films that could be new to their collection? Titles like Malle's "Le fou follet," Godard's "Weekend," Cronenberg's "Crash," Anderson's "Bottle Rocket," titles we may never see if they focus their energies on reissuing Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes," Fellini's "8 1/2," etc., in HD. It's a question I have pondered, and I'm curious what other's opinions are.

 

[Jari K]

I don´t want to drag the format war into this, but Criterion has stated that they wait until there´s one HD-format, before releasing any of HD-titles.

I personally want Criterion to release HD-titles, since I don´t see any reason why not (apart from the "format war")? They have also stated that many HD-masters are ready etc.

I have several Criterion-titles, but I have to admit that I´m missing MANY of them. So I would be happy to buy them in HD and I could also double dip some of them.

The pricing will be a "problem" with Criterion, though, since I would assume that they ask 40$ - if not more of their HD-releases.. :frowning:

But yes, I hope that one day Criterion releases films in HD.

 

[Jim_K]

YES! For all I care they can cease releasing on SD until their catalog is completed in HD ............but..........it's probably not a good business decision..............however.................ther e's a happy middle ground somewhere in between that could make both the HDM crowd and the "SD is good enough for me" crowd happy. I don't see why it has to be an either/or situation.

Personally I just can't think of much unreleased content which would fall under the Criterion domain that would get me all that excited in comparison to getting High Def versions of Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Hidden Fortress, Rashomon, Ran, Throne of Blood, Brazil, The Third Man, The Killers, Brute Force, Night and the City, Thieves Highway, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Kwaidan, Spartacus (done right), Onibaba, Sword of Doom, Sulivan's Travels, The Lady Eve, My Man Godfrey, Devil & Daniel Webster, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, M, The Testament of Dr Mabuse, The Fallen Idol, Diabolique, Notorious, Rebecca, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, etc, etc but that's me.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I am fairly certain their earliest releases were in late 1997 (maybe 1998). I bought A Night to Remember, The Killer, and Hard Boiled from that initial 10 offerings.

Though I agree...I don't need their Armageddon, but I definitely need their comprehensive looks at other seminal work

 

[Craig Beam]

Josh, I highly doubt that Criterion would stop releasing new titles in favor of re-releasing earlier releases in HD. I imagine we'll see a mix of both. Here's hoping they do THE SEVENTH SEAL first. :-D

 

[Jari K]

I´m sure you know that it´s already out in the UK (region free Blu-ray)? I just did a review of that, and it´s pretty good. Not perfect, but very good.

 

[GJN]

I really think that this is a good time for Criterion to test the Blu-ray waters. I expect that a large percentage of the movie buff crowd who've bought Criterion in the past are already high-def owners and Criterion's active presence could push most of the rest.

I've bought most Criterion releases on DVD in the past but have stopped buying about a year ago in anticipation of their eventual release on Blu-ray and I suspect there are more people like me.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

A lot depends on the studio supplying the film to Criterion. If they haven't come over to the Blu-ray side yet then would they stop Criterion from releasing the film on Blu-ray?

I'm sure just as soon as Universal and Paramount get their collective heads out of their arses and dump HD-DVD then Criterion will find it easier to support HD.

 

[Marc Colella]

Everyone keeps saying that Blu-Ray has won.
From people on this forum, Sony, BDA partners, news media, stores, etc etc... yet companies like Criterion are waiting for Paramount/Universal to jump aboard before they do? If Blu-Ray winning is a forgone conclusion, why does it matter what Paramount/Universal does?

Criterion's titles are very niche in a large DVD market. Can you imagine how small a niche Criterion titles will be in Blu-Ray? Think niche of a niche. I can see most of Criterion's titles selling only a few hundered copies on Blu-Ray.

As much as I would love to see Criterion release on HDM (as I can see myself purchasing at least 50 titles from their catalog) I can't see now Criterion will generate much revenue from it. The only possibility is if the titles are priced at least 2x the price of their DVDs.

 

[RickER]

It would be about the same as the LD days, and that didnt stop them. LD was for the serious movie buff, just like HDM today. They are missing the boat, but i dont blame them for waiting.

 

[Jim_K]

Seems pretty clear to me that they are waiting for one HDM format. I don't know why that's so hard for some people to digest. Even if HD DVD is on life support it's still twitching and has some resemblance of life as long as Uni and Paramount are exclusive. Who knows, maybe Warner's recent move will be enough to get Criterion up off their ass and take a step into the 21st century.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Comment from a Warner rep at CES overheard by my co-worker in regards to the "That's Entertainment" box set:

"I think we sold three copies."

Now obviously he was being sarcastic, but what is clear is that catalog titles do not sell well on HDM right now. Until that changes I can't see Criterion jumping on board. And even when they do, I only see them releasing HDM versions of their "A-list" titles from Kurosawa, Bergman, etc.

 

[Scott Calvert]

I'm a serious movie buff and even I haven't purchased That's Entertainment. I know they are accliamed but frankly I don't get it...movies made from clips of other movies. I have no use for that. It seemed a very strange choice for Hi-Def.

There are lots of great Criterion titles released in the last few years that I haven't purchased because I am waiting for them in HD. Let me tell you, it's been tough. The remastered Brazil, Seven Samurai, Amarcord, and Fanny & Alexander, The Virgin Spring, some of the other Kurosawa and Bergman titles. I want to buy them but I want them in HD so I am holding out.

 

[Jari K]

They said this in their blog also at some point. They clearly want that the war would be over, before making any moves. Can´t blame them. Since they usually add plenty of extras etc, I´m sure that the 50gb would benefit them if the blu-side wins.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

But that would be at least 2x as much as the DVD version though, no?

I don't know that I'd be willing to spend $100+ on The Last Emperor w/ Criterion for instance -- and that would be after waiting for them to finally release it while I must debate on buying the DVD version for $40-50. Maybe they should consider offering an upgrade discount for owners of the DVD version...

_Man_

 

[RickER]

I bet when they DO jump in they will have a $60 price in their HDM. It will make FOX discs look cheap. But hey with Criterion you usually get a boat load of extras. And they dont own the movies they release. They have bills to pay too!