November Criterion Newsletter - The Thief of Bagdad is coming! (1 Viewer)

[John Hodson]

There can be no doubt as to what the November Criterion newsletter hints at...


The Thief of Bagdad is going to make glorious Criterion release! Fingers crossed for some stunning extras.

 

[JPCinema]

I'm not so sure about that. It was an MGM label release and cmae out in the last few years. Also what is the significance of the number 86?

 

[John Hodson]

The MGM release is OOP; Janus have held the rights to The Thief of Bagdad and several other Korda films for some months now, and Criterion have previously confirmed that it was in the pipeline for an '08 release. 86? Not a clue...just BIIIG sandals.

 

[Lord Dalek]

The Ice Storm, Zentropa, and now Thief of Baghdad. Looking good for Criterion in February.

Now if they'd hurry up and officially announce Mishima.

 

[RandyfromCanada]

First post here...do you think there is any chance that Criterion will one day release the wonderful 1952 British film Outcast of the Islands?

 

[rich_d]

I was delighted to hear the news about The Red Balloon. Love that film.

Just out of curiosity, how many other people here first saw this film because it was shown at their school?

 

[Mark VH]

Wonderful, wonderful news - I missed the original MGM release and have been scouring the Web to try to find an affordable copy - looking like there's no need now

This also leads me to ask, what's the deal with Powell & Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (a.k.a. Stairway to Heaven)? Anyone know if this is something Criterion may or may not be working on? Near as I can tell there's no good R1 release of the title.

 

[David_B_K]

I have the previous Thief of Baghdad, but could be persuaded to double dip if Criterion produces a SE as good as some of their Powell/Pressburger editions.

I, too am puzzled by the absence of A Matter of Life and Death. One would think it would have been released by Criterion years ago. I enjoyed the Criterion releases of A Canterbury Tale and I Know where I'm Going, but would have preferred a release of AMOLAD before those films.

 

[GlennH]

Hmm. My copy of the MGM DVD is still sealed. Never got around to opening it up and watching it yet. I didn't even know it was OOP. Maybe I should just sell it as is and get the Criterion with the proceeds.

By the way, while the modern city in Iraq is spelled "Baghdad" the spelling on this movie is "Bagdad" (without the "h") as properly used by the original poster.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Great news. Now we need a proper version of THE JUNGLE BOOK. Is there a good version of that out anywhere?

 

[David_B_K]

By the way, while the modern city in Iraq is spelled "Baghdad" the spelling on this movie is "Bagdad" (without the "h") as properly used by the original poster.

That was spell-check's work. I didn't know message boards were so sensitive about spelling. If anyone else refers to, or quotes my post, I trust they will write the title as The Thief of Baghdad (sic).

 

[Jim_K]

A Matter of Life and Death is controlled by Sony and as far as I know they don't currently have a licensing agreement with Criterion.

Anyhow I'm looking forward to what they do with Thief of Bagdad.

 

[R-T-C Tim]

Wait, you mean they are not releasing the 1962 Steve Reeves film?? (IMDB).

How many begging letters would I have to write to encourage them to include it as an extra?

 

[GlennH]

Don't sweat it David. You're right, message boards aren't that formal and I've seen worse and been guilty of it myself. I just saw it being used both ways here and thought I'd point out which was correct for this movie, that's all. No knock.

(Although I admit that the widespread use of "loose" when it should be "lose" and "too" instead of "to" tends to be wearisome to me.)

 

[John Hodson]

The Criterion Collection Blog has more details. Lee Kline writes:

...The main reason I most recently went to London was for The Thief of Bagdad. This has been a really involved title for a lot of us. The film has been out on DVD before, so Karen, Maria, Heather, and myself spent a long time comparing existing versions to see what we could improve. Thief is in glorious Technicolor and was one of the first films to use multiple special effects, such as blue screen. It’s beloved by filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas, just to name a few. As a matter of fact, Karen is working on some great extras for the DVD, including a commentary with Scorsese and Coppola, and a piece on the special effects with Craig Baron (Matte World Digital), Dennis Muren (Industrial Light & Magic), and legendary filmmaker Ray Harryhausen...

 

[John Hodson]

And a little snippet from Steve Crook (who runs Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger - Pure Genius ) on the Britmovie forum:

Thelma Schoonmaker introduced a screening of Bluebeard's Castle and The Tales of Hoffmann at the LA County Museum this week and in the Q&A she apparently said that the next P&P film that Criterion plan to work on is The Small Back Room, possibly followed by Oh... Rosalinda!!

Bluebeard's Castle might well finish up as an "extra" on one of those.

 

[Matt_H]

I was definitely introduced to it in school. I recall it being a copy that was taped off HBO for some reason. I dunno when that would have been since I never had HBO.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Thanks John.

Awesome news indeed