Criterion has announced their September slate and it’s a whopper, with special editions of Terrence Malick’s acclaimed “The Thin Red Line” and Nagisa Oshima’s POW drama “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (starring David Bowie) being prepped for DVD and BluRay, along with some classics getting spit shined for Blu and an Eclipse release of films by undersung filmmaker Allan King.
Of course, we don’t have to tell you that a special edition of Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line” is topping our DVD shopping list. The WWII film famously underwent lengthy and severe editing, with several stars (and soon-to-be stars) finding their roles significantly reduced or eliminated in the final cut. However, we’ll soon get a peek a behind the curtain of what was excised from the film as audition footage and outtakes from the film will lead the lengthy set of special features. Among the other extras on the two-disc DVD, single-disc BluRay is: an audio commentary with cinematographer John Toll, production designer Jack Fisk, and producer Grant Hill; Video interviews with several of the film’s actors, including Kirk Acevedo, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, Tom Jane, Elias Koteas, Dash Mihok, and Sean Penn; an interview with composer Hans Zimmer; original WWII newsreels featuring footage from Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands and well as a booklet with essays.
Another hotly anticipated title long missing from a proper region 1 release is Nagisa Oshima’s 1983 film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” The WWII POW drama, starring David Bowie and featuring the first dramatic role by Takeshi Kitano, tells the story of a high-ranking British officer (Bowie) interned by the Japanese as a POW, and the relationship that he develops with the camp commander (music composer Ryuichi Sakamoto). The two-disc DVD, single-disc BluRay set will feature “Hasten Slowly,” an hour long long documentary about Laurens van der Post, whose real-life experience served as a basis for the film; “The Oshima Gang” a making-of featurette, numerous interview, essays and more.
Some Criterion catalog titles are being refreshed with BluRay releases in September. Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic “Breathless” and Stanley Donen’s crafty comedy “Charade” will both hit BluRay featuring the same extras as their DVD counterparts.
Finally, Criterion will shine a light on little known Canadian director Allan King with the Eclipse set, “The Actuality Dramas Of Allan King.” These films are some of King’s cinema-verité documentaries that dispensed with narration or interviews in favor of immersing the viewer in the lives of its subjects. The films featured are: “Warrendale,” “A Married Couple,” “Come On Children,” “Dying At Grace” and “Memory For Max, Claire, Ida And Company.” As usual with Eclipse, no extras are featured.
Excellent! Time to start my Christmas list early this year.
Man… where the fuck is the director's cut for Assassination of Jesse James!
I emailed people from Criterion almost two years ago regarding Jesse James, which is a perfect film for these modern classic they're distributing now, and if memory serves me right, the person who returned my email mentioned it was on their radar but probably not going to happen. Has there been any updates on that? Did they announce it by chance?
I also want to know where the hell "Cronos" is. They announced that a while ago and I haven't heard a damn thing.
Nice. Merry xmas Mr. Lawrence is great. I love the love that Criterion has for Oshima.
Anonymous' comment is clearly a hoax. I refuse to believe there are people who think Ass. of Jesse James should be even longer. Unless that 20 minutes of flab was somehow studio-mandated and a director's cut would shave 5 seconds off every shot…
The rough cut of Jesse James was about 4 hours long and the film went through a lot of edits from various people to get it in the shape we know it as. There is probably a lot of stuff that was left out that would be interesting to see.
That said, the current cut is pretty fantastic.
Agreed Kevin. It's great as it is.I would love to see it packaged and loaded with extras from Criterion still.
No, actually my comment isn't a hoax, Jason. 2 and a half hours weren't enough for such a disgustingly unrated and appreciated piece of art.
Especially if you've read the uncut script and the novel.
No, actually my comment wasn't a hoax, Jason.
I want to see the 4.5 hour cut before I die. This movie was disgustingly underrated and underappreciated.
Oops… sorry for the double post.
What happened to The Darjeeling Limited?
Given the amount of redundant narration that sounded like it was drawn straight from the source material, I feel like there was probably already too much of the novel in Jesse James.
My favorite part is when the narrator makes a point of describing Jesse James' incessant blinking over a shot of Brad Pitt staring unblinkingly straight ahead, as he did the rest of the movie.
The blu-ray release of breathless is EXACTLY why I no longer buy criterion dvds. They seem to have a sense for releaseing items on blu-ray right after I buy the dvd. (See also 8-1/2, Days of Heaven, Wings of Desire…)
Yeah, great call, Greg. Cease supporting the greatest gift to film lovers since the DVD was invented because of their attempts to remain a lucrative business. It's clearly a personal vendetta against you. "Greg just picked up Breathless? Fast-track that blu-ray!"