The Criterion Collection asked resident wacky artist, Jason Polan, to help them ring in the New Year. The result is a cryptic e-card that features numerous obscure references to upcoming titles. Members of the blu-ray.com forum and other boards have tried to decipher the clues and concluded that the studio will soon release such titles as Fritz Lang's 'M', Powell and Pressburger's 'The Red Shoes', and Visconti's 'The Leopard'.
Criterion New Year's card.
Here is the list of hints and what they may refer to:
Desert drawn in red: 'The Red Desert' (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
Locusts: 'Days of Heaven' (Terrence Malick, 1978) (announced for March 23)
Hotel sign: 'Vivre sa vie' (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
Big Baby: 'Colossal Youth' (Pedro Costa, 2006)
Direction signs:
Germany, Rome, Po Valley: 'Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy' (announced only on standard definition)
The Idlewild Home For Ladies: unknown
Paris, Texas: 'Paris, Texas' (announced for January 26)
Leopard: 'The Leopard' (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
Woman: 'Lola Montčs' (Max Ophüls, 1955) (announced for February 16)
Che T-Shirt: 'Che' (Steven Soderbergh, 2008) (announced for January 19)
Tree stump and axe: 'Revanche' (Götz Spielmann, 2008) (announced for February 16)
Note that all of the above is sheer speculation. Note also that, even if the guesses are correct, some of the titles may be released in standard definition only and not on Blu-ray.
Thanks to all who contributed and relayed ideas on the dedicated Criterion thread on the blu-ray.com forum.
Oh lord, Red Desert on Blu-Ray would be exquisite. I certainly hope Criterion puts out a Blu-Ray of The Red Shoes, as the print they helped restore already hit Blu in the UK. And since MoC has confirmed M on Blu I imagine that one would be a safe bet too (plus it's already available from Criterion on standard so if they did put it out it would have to be an upgrade). Close-Up has been all but fully confirmed, though I don't know if it'll hit Blu-Ray, but Jonathan Rosenbaum mentioned he already recorded the commentary for it so barring any rights issues it's definitely in the pipeline.
criterion forums has already been talked about how 7 sam. was originally planned for march release along w/yojimbo and sanjuro but due to how extensive the work is it's being pushed off til later this year. wow, strange to say 2010 as "this year" =P.
would LUV to see M in HD. the 2disc 2nd edition was really good already imho.
We need some more Ingmar Bergman films on Blu Ray; the only one I see so far out is The Seventh Seal (it's on it's way). We need Winter Light, The Virgin Spring, Hour Of The Wolf, and that's only for starters!
so glad the red Shoes is finally aarriving, looking forward to M as well...Now if there is a time for a blu-ray of Summertime to arrive this would be it.
Criterion had a great special Edition box set of Evita with Madonna, I wish they would do a Blu-ray. Touchstone has basically ignored this title, the DVD is still not enhanced for 16:9 and there was never anything but the one bare-bones DVD. The movie is perfect for Blu-ray (what a great lossless soundtrack it would have). I wonder if it is Disney that won't allow Criterion rights now.
Finally--I've been waiting for the The Red Shoes! It was already released in Britain in 2009 on Bluray so the HD transfer is already done and they did an excellent job on it.
I'll be getting Che and Paris, Texas; however, the price of Criterion's releases are high in Canada -- around $40 and Amazon.ca never discounts them. I'd buy more if they where around $30.
For once, European Blu-ray enthusiasts seem to be at an advantage here as "The Red Shoes", "The Leopard", "M" have either already been released, or have a scheduled release date in the UK/Europe. Luckily, I recently puchased a [hardware chipped] Blu-ray player from a specialist company in the UK, which will play all discs (Regions A, B and C) - so I can import worthy US discs and take advantage of some brilliant releases from the UK's BFI, Optimum or Eureka film companies. That is as how it should be. Initially, I was opposed to Blu-ray and backed HD-DVD as the new home Hi-def format because it did not utilise regional coding. My workaround was undoubtedly expensive, as I initially had 2 x PS3s, which played Region A and Region B discs individually, until the Region A player recently packed up and I needed to replace it, this time with one unit. I sold the "healthy" PS3, which helped offset the costs of the new purchase. I now look forward to reading the reviews of the proposed new Criterion releases here and "double-dip" only if the extras, or picture quality warrant a new purchase.