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Posted: |
Jun 16, 2016 - 4:30 PM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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The Criterion Collection has announced that it will add a number of new titles to its Blu-ray catalog in September. Amongst them are Krzysztof Kieslowski's Dekalog, Mark Robson's Valley of the Dolls, and Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
Valley of the Dolls
Cutthroat careerism, wild sex, and fierce female protagonists are all on offer in this adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's sensational and wildly popular novel. Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins, and Sharon Tate star as three friends attempting to navigate the glamorous, pressurized world of big-time show business—the "valley" is not a place but a narcotized state of mind, and the "dolls" are the pills that rouse them in the morning and knock them out at night. Blending old-fashioned gloss with Madison Avenue grooviness, this slick look by director Mark Robson at the early days of sexual liberation and an entertainment industry coming apart was a giant box-office hit and has become an unforgettably campy time capsule of the 1960s.
Special Features:
New 2K digital restoration, with 3.0 LCR DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2006 featuring actor Barbara Parkins and journalist Ted Casablanca
New interview with author Amy Fine Collins about author Jacqueline Susann and the film
New video essay by critic Kim Morgan
Footage of Marc Huestis Presents Sparkle Patty Sparkle!, a 2009 gala tribute to actor Patty Duke at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco
A World Premiere Voyage and Jacqueline Susann and "Valley of the Dolls," two promotional films from 1967
Archival interviews
Trailers and TV spots
PLUS: An essay by film critic Glenn Kenny
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 27.
The Decalogue
This masterwork by Krzysztof Kieslowski is one of the twentieth century's greatest achievements in visual storytelling. Originally made for Polish television, Dekalog focuses on the residents of a housing complex in post-Communist Poland, whose lives become subtly intertwined as they face emotional dilemmas that are at once deeply personal and universally human. Using the Ten Commandments for thematic inspiration and an overarching structure, Dekalog's ten hour-long films deftly grapple with complex moral and existential questions concerning life, death, love, hate, truth, and the passage of time. Shot by nine different cinematographers, with stirring music by Zbigniew Preisner and compelling performances from established and unknown actors alike, Dekalog arrestingly explores the unknowable forces that shape our lives. Also presented are the longer theatrical versions of Dekalog's fifth and sixth films: A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love.
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
New high-definition digital restorations of A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
Selection of archival interviews with director Krzysztof Kieslowski, culled from footage from the 1987 production of Dekalog: Two, excerpts from the 1995 documentary A Short Film About "Dekalog," and a 1990 audio recording from the National Film Theatre in London
New program on the visual rhyming of Dekalog by film studies professor Annette Insdorf
New and archival interviews with Dekalog cast and crew, including cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, thirteen actors, three cinematographers, editor Ewa Smal, and Kieslowski's confidante Hanna Krall
Trailers
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay and film analyses by film scholar Paul Coates and excerpted reprints from Kieslowski on Kieslowski
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 27.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
In 1970, 20th Century-Fox, impressed by the visual zing "King of the Nudies" Russ Meyer brought to bargain-basement exploitation fare, handed the director a studio budget and the title to one of its biggest hits, Valley of the Dolls. With a satirical screenplay by Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls follows three young female rockers going Hollywood in hell-bent sixties style under the spell of a flamboyant producer—whose decadent bashes showcase Meyer's trademark libidinal exuberance. Transgressive and outrageous, this big-studio version of a debaucherous midnight movie is an addictively entertaining romp from one of the movies' great outsider artists.
High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2003 featuring screenwriter Roger Ebert
Audio commentary from 2006 featuring actors Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, John La Zar, and Erica Gavin
New interview with filmmaker John Waters
Archival interviews with writer, director, and producer Russ Meyer
Q&A about the film from 1992 featuring Meyer, Ebert, La Zar, Read, and actors David Gurian, Charles Napier, Michael Blodgett, and Edy Williams
Above, Beneath, and Beyond the Valley; Look On Up at the Bottom; The Best of Beyond; Sex, Drugs, Music and Murder; and Casey & Roxanne, five documentaries from 2006 about the making of the film, featuring the cast and crew
Trailers and TV spots
PLUS: An essay by film critic Glenn Kenny
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 27.
Cat People
The first of the horror films producer Val Lewton made for RKO Pictures redefined the genre by leaving its most frightening terrors to its audience's imagination. Simone Simon stars as a Serbian émigré in Manhattan who believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves (Kent Smith) will turn her into a feline predator. Lewton, a consummate producer-auteur who oversaw every aspect of his projects, found an ideal director in Jacques Tourneur, a chiaroscuro stylist adept at keeping viewers off-kilter with startling compositions and psychological innuendo. Together, they eschewed the canned effects of earlier monster movies in favor of shocking with subtle shadows and creative audio cues. One of the studio's most successful movies of the 1940s, Cat People raised the creature feature to new heights of sophistication and mystery.
New, restored 2K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2005 featuring film historian Gregory Mank, with excerpts from an audio interview with actor Simone Simon
Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, a 2008 feature-length documentary that explores the life and career of the legendary Hollywood producer
Interview with director Jacques Tourneur from 1977
New interview with cinematographer John Bailey about the look of the film
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 20.
Blood Simple
Joel and Ethan Coen's career-long darkly comic road trip through misfit America began with this razor-sharp, hard-boiled neonoir set somewhere in Texas, where a sleazy bar owner sets off a torrent of violence with one murderous thought. Actor M. Emmet Walsh looms over the proceedings as a slippery private eye with a yellow suit, a cowboy hat, and no moral compass, and Frances McDormand's cunning debut performance set her on the road to stardom. The tight scripting and inventive style that have marked the Coens' work for decades are all here in their first film, in which cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld abandons the black-and-white chiaroscuro of classic noir for neon signs and jukebox colors that combine with Carter Burwell's haunting score to lurid and thrilling effect. Blending elements from pulp fiction and low-budget horror flicks, Blood Simple reinvented the film noir for a new generation, marking the arrival of a filmmaking ensemble that would transform the American independent cinema scene.
New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the film's look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations
New conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the film's production, from inception to release
New interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound mixer Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh
Trailers
PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 20.
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
This heartrending masterpiece by Kenji Mizoguchi about the give-and-take between life and art marked the director's first use of the hypnotic long takes and eloquent camera movements that would come to define his films. The adopted son of legendary kabuki actor Kikunosuke (Shotaro Hanayagi), who is striving to achieve stardom by mastering female roles, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse (Kakuko Mori) for support and affection—and she soon gives up everything for her beloved's creative glory. Featuring fascinating glimpses behind the scenes of kabuki theater in the late nineteenth century, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum is a critique of the oppression of women and the sacrifices required of them, and the pinnacle of Mizoguchi's early career.
New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with critic Phillip Lopate about the evolution of director Kenji Mizoguchi's style
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Dudley Andrew
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 13.
Night Train to Munich
Night Train to Munich, from writers Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat and director Carol Reed, is a twisting, turning, cloak-and-dagger delight. Paced like an out-of-control locomotive, this gripping, occasionally comic confection takes viewers on a World War II–era journey from Prague to England to the Swiss Alps, as Nazis pursue a Czech scientist and his daughter (Margaret Lockwood), who are being aided by a debonair British undercover agent, played by Rex Harrison. This captivating adventure—which also features Casablanca's Paul Henreid—mixes comedy, romance, and thrills with enough skill and cleverness to give the Master of Suspense himself pause.
Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Conversation from 2010 between film scholars Peter Evans and Bruce Babington about director Carol Reed, screenwriters Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and the social and political climate in which Night Train to Munich was made
PLUS: An essay by film critic Philip Kemp
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 6.
***
Zatôichi: The Blind Swordsman REISSUE
The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen's great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman. As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters. The films that feature him are variously pulse-pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall. This deluxe set features the string of twenty-five Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973, collected in one package for the first time. Review of the first box set can be accessed here.
STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 13.
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=19252
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I'm very excited about getting a decent release for The Decalogue. But...Valley of the Dolls movies? Isn't Criterion dedicated to...good films? 
Too bad that Blood Simple's highly, um, informative DVD commentary track has not been preserved for this release.
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But...Valley of the Dolls movies? Isn't Criterion dedicated to...good films?
.
it's better than THE GAME
lol!
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Posted: |
Jun 17, 2016 - 10:21 AM
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By: |
RoryR
(Member)
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I'm very interested in BTVOTD, because of Ebert & Myer's involvement & the fact that it's become such a cult movie (I'm not interested in VOTD). Pleasantly surprised that Criterion stepped out of character for this one.
I know Criterion released The Blob. Is that really a great movie?
Depends on how you prefer to define great in movies. I think it's a great example of late 1950's Sci-fi Drive-in pop culture "kitsch," and it's most quaint now, harmless fun, but far from a great science fiction movie. It's no THE THING or INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. It's also a very early Steve McQueen movie, and I grew up with Steve McQueen movies, so that makes it of interest to me. Now I'm feeling a desire to get the Criterion Blu-ray!
Have you ever seen BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS? I have to caution against a blind-buy on that one. I can understand its appeal to some on many levels, but I feel it's not even that good on its own level. I find it a very ugly, unpleasant movie. The women are nice eye candy for sure, but the guys I can't stand, including the sensibilities of the director.
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One suspects that releases such as ARMAGEDEON , THE ROCK are vanity projects, partly financed by the director.
Criterion needs to make money and establish relationships to survive. But, it is not like they have so compromised their values that you can can call the m "sell-outs"
God bless 'em!
brm
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I'm very interested in BTVOTD, because of Ebert & Myer's involvement & the fact that it's become such a cult movie (I'm not interested in VOTD). Pleasantly surprised that Criterion stepped out of character for this one.
Have you ever seen BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS? I have to caution against a blind-buy on that one. .
Agreed!
It is also, surprisingly, an unpleasantly VIOLENT flic.
You have been warned
brm
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Posted: |
Jun 17, 2016 - 1:33 PM
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By: |
Sampo
(Member)
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OND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS? I have to caution against a blind-buy on that one. I can understand its appeal to some on many levels, but I feel it's not even that good on its own level. I find it a very ugly, unpleasant movie. The women are nice eye candy for sure, but the guys I can't stand, including the sensibilities of the director.
At the time of Ebert's death, there were several press articles that lauded Beyond. This was when everyone was eulogizing Ebert, and perhaps these gave the film credibility it didn't really deserve. However, learning that the filmmakers scrapped everything about VOTD & started from scratch, and did it in a way that would brazenly shock the audience piqued my interest. I have a soft-spot for "bad" cinema, even films that are hilariously bad, like Jess Franco's films or Highlander 2, so know what to expect from films with questionable reputations. Particularly I'd like to hear more about Ebert's experience in the film, since it's his only credit.
Moreso, I'd like to see Criterion release more against-the-grain titles that mainline critics often sneer at. If the first Evil Dead or George Romero's early films got the criterion treatment (I'm thinking Martin or The Crazies here), I'd be ecstatic; so I appreciate the effort to take a risk & I hope it leads to other titles.
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