"Monty Cristo" here once again.
Criterion announced their June slate on Friday, a bit later than expected. As expected, our wallets all begin to weep in anticipation of their plunder in three months.
They include an Ashby classic that's bumped back from May, another of the greatest Chaplins, Danny Boyle's black-as-pitch debut, a pair of Spaling Gray films that I've been begging for, and a couple of long-awaited Blu-grades from early in the Collection.
12 JUNE 2012
This title was previously announced as an April release. A few days ago, it was bumped to June with no explanation. It will be worth the wait.
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
Blu-ray edition -
Optional remastered stereo soundtrack
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Audio commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson and producer Charles B. Mulvehill
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Illustrated audio excerpts of seminars by Ashby and writer-producer Colin Higgins
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New interview with songwriter Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)
Criterion's edition of Charlie Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH presents both versions of the film: the original 1925 silent and the director's 1942 sound "post-conversion". The film previously received restoration in 2003 but that remaster did not do the entire job, as Criterion's magnificent work on both the great dictator and modern times reflects. The supplemental features on this edition are almost all new, with the exception of brief 2002 documentary and some trailers.
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New high-definition digital restoration of the 1942 sound version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
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New 2K digital transfer of the reconstructed original 1925 silent film, restored in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, with a newly recorded version of director Charlie Chaplin’s score, presented in 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition
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New audio commentary for the 1925 version by Chaplin biographer and archivist Jeffrey Vance
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Three new programs: Presenting “The Gold Rush,” which traces the film’s history from original release to rerelease to 2003 reconstruction and features film historian Kevin Brownlow and Vance;Music by Charles Chaplin, featuring conductor and composer Timothy Brock; and Visual Effects in “The Gold Rush,” featuring effects specialist Craig Barron and Chaplin cinematographer Roland Totheroh
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Chaplin Today: “The Gold Rush” (2002), a short documentary featuring filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo
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Four theatrical trailers
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PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Luc Sante and James Agee’s review of the 1942 version
Joining Charlie Chaplin's timeless classic is one of my favorite films from Danny Boyle. Until now it has not received a satisfactory home video release on DVD or Blu-ray in the United States. By the looks of it, Criterion is set to change that.
A 2009 UK Blu-ray featured the first satisfactory transfer but it's locked to Region B. Criterion has undergone a new restoration and transfer supervised by the original director of photography. They have also replaced the LPCM audio track from the 2009 Blu-ray with a DTS-HD track.
Held over from the 2009 Blu-ray are a Danny Boyle commentary and Digging Your Own Grave, a 30-minute making of documentary from 1993 by Kevin Macdonald. Brand-new for this release are a commentary track by screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald as well as new interviews with Christopher Eccleston, Kerry Fox, and Ewan McGregor
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New, restored digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Brian Tufano, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
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Two audio commentaries: one by director Danny Boyle and the other by screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald
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New interviews with stars Christopher Eccleston, Kerry Fox, and Ewan McGregor
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Digging Your Own Grave, a 1993 documentary by Kevin Macdonald on the making of the film
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Andrew Macdonald and Kevin Macdonald’s video diary from the 1992 Edinburgh Film Festival, where they shopped around the script for Shallow Grave
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Shallow Grave trailer and Trainspotting teaser trailer
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PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp
19 JUNE 2012
Last fall, I wrote a week-long retrospective on the work of director Steven Soderbergh for Badass Digest. Here's an excerpt from the installment that featured GRAY'S:
"In this, one of a few Spalding Gray monologue movies (including Swimming to Cambodia and others), Soderbergh records one of Gray’s engrossing talks here by combining some rear projection, silhouette, and an as-always riveting performance by Gray. If you’ve seen video of him performing, you have. If you haven’t, you’re missing out."
The central part of the film focuses on an eye injury that Gray suffered and the unorthodox Filipino medical solution he went after. Not only am I glad that this film is going back into print but I'm doubly grateful that it includes a high definition video and audio transfer. I'm triply grateful that it includes new interviews with Soderbergh and cowriter Renée Shafransky, in addition to Spalding Gray's 1982 monologue A PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE.
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New high definition digital transfer, supervised by director Steven Soderbergh, with 5.1 surroundDTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
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New interviews with Soderbergh and cowriter Renée Shafransky
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A Personal History of the American Theater, a monologue by Spalding Gray, filmed in 1982
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Theatrical trailer
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PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Amy Taubin
AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE (2010)
Concluding the aforementioned Badass Digest retrospective, I wrote about Soderbergh's profoundly affecting eulogy to a friend (narrated by the friend himself):
"And Everything is Going Fine follows up on Soderbergh’s Gray’s Anatomy from 14 years before. Instead of merely recording one of his cycles of monologues, this is a documentary eulogy and tribute to one of the great American monologists told in his own words. Eschewing title cards, voiceover narration, or talking heads of any sort, Soderbergh and editor Susan Littenberg instead drew exclusively from video recordings of Gray’s performances, interviews, and a few select home movies."
The extras include a piece on the making of and everything is going fine, which includes interviews with director Steven Soderbergh as well as producer (and Spalding Gray's widow) Kathie Russo and editor Susan Lichtenberg. Fittingly, the disc also includes SEX AND DEATH TO THE AGE OF 14, Gray's first monologue. I couldn't recommend this film more highly to Gray veterans and neophytes alike.
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
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Making of “And Everything Is Going Fine,” featuring director Steven Soderbergh, producer Kathie Russo, and editor Susan Littenberg
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Sex and Death to the Age 14, Spalding Gray’s first monologue, created in 1979 and filmed in 1982
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Trailer
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PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by writer Nell Casey, editor of The Journals of Spalding Gray
26 JUNE 2012
As I predicted toward the end of 2011 on The Criterion Cast, it appears that Criterion is trying to upgrade as many of its earlier spine numbers to Blu-ray as possible.
THE SAMURAI TRILOGY
Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
The Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
This classic trilogy follows the life of Musashi Miyamoto, the legendary swordsman. The film are based on a epic novel the Criterion rightly compares to GONE WITH THE WIND. In this case, the director had the sense to adapt the epic story into three films totaling 5 hours rather than one film totaling 4 1/2 hours.
These titles were among the first 20 that Criterion issued on DVD, and have needed remastering for some time. The extras include interviews with a Japanese film historian who discusses the real life figure upon which the novel was based.
Box art hasn't been finalized, but I'd make a fair bet it'll be pretty stunning. There's loads of imagery to play with here.
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New high-definition digital restorations of all three films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition
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New interviews with translator and historian William Scott Wilson about the real-life Musashi Miyamoto, the inspiration for the hero of the films
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Trailers
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New English subtitle translations
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PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film historian Stephen Prince and Wilson
This gets all of Criterion's remaining Hitchcock titles on Blu-ray since REBECCA, NOTORIOUS, and SPELLBOUND are all out of print. As long as the Hitchcock documentary listed on the original DVD release and the one listed here are the same (even though their titles are different) all of the original DVD features are retained here. Added excerpts from both a 1966 television interview with Hitchcock and audio excerpts from François Truffaut's 1962 interviews. There is a new visual essay as well.
Here's the full rundown of features:
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New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
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Audio commentary by Alfred Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane
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Hitchcock: The Early Years (2000), a British documentary covering Hitchcock’s prewar career
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Original footage from British broadcaster Mike Scott’s 1966 television interview with Hitchcock
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Complete broadcast of the 1937 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, performed by Ida Lupino and Robert Montgomery
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Visual essay by Hitchcock scholar Leonard Leff
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Excerpts from François Truffaut’s 1962 audio interview with Hitchcock
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Original production design drawings
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PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Cairns
What are you most looking forward to, or what were you hoping for that wasn't released? Tell us in the talkbacks.
The next edition of this column will feature a fair number of reviews on titles that I was unable to cover until now due to the craziness of SXSW. Expect those this week.
I want to extend a special thanks to the reader who sent me their spare totally legit copy of the out of print THIS IS SPINAL TAP Criterion DVD! This was a rare and lovely thanks for the writing I'm doing in this column.
Moisés Chiullan
"Monty Cristo"
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