At the end of our interview with the Criterion Collection’s Jonathan Turell, he put us in touch with Jon Mulvaney, Criterion’s inside man on what the future has in store and he revealed to us exclusively, a number of Criterion titles that should be out in the near future and next year.
“The French Lieutenant’s Woman” – Another selection from MGM’s catalog, you can expect this from Criterion next year. Starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, this film of parallel narratives contains a film-within-a-film and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Fred Zinneman, John Frankenheimer, Richard Lester and Mike Nichols all tried and failed to adapt John Fowles’ tricky novel until British director Karel Reisz and celebrated writer Harold Pinter managed to wrap their brains around it.
Charlie Chaplin – Mulvaney has confirmed the circulating rumors that the Criterion Collection is in discussions to acquire the rights to the Charlie Chaplin library. There are no details on titles or release dates at this time.
“Stagecoach” – Mulvaney confirms that the John Ford title hinted at this summer in the Criterion Collection newsletter, is indeed “Stagecoach.” The release of this massively influential western and beloved John Wayne film will be the first to utilize the restoration work done by UCLA.
Akira Kurosawa– Hinted in last month’s newsletter, Mulvaney confirms that a massive 25 film box set is slated to be released by the end of the year and just in time for the 100th anniversary of the the Japanese grandmaster’s birth in 2010.
“Revanche” – The DVD release of Janus Films’ surprising acquisition of this Austrian Academy Award nominated film will be released in early 2010.
“Underworld” & “The Docks Of New York” – Though not currently on the schedule, Mulvaney confirms we can expect to see both of these long awaited Josef von Sternberg silents sometime in 2010.
Scorsese’s short films – long rumored to be released soon, there are unfortunately no plans to release Martin Scorsese’s early short films. We’ll have to fire up the bootlegs in the interim.
IFC – “A Christmas Tale” and “Gomorrah” – both coming in November – are just two titles in a twelve-picture deal with IFC. While Mulvaney was mum on the other films in the works, we can tell you Antichrist will probably not be one of them, but let’s not forget “Che” is an IFC film in case you had any doubts that the “rumors” weren’t true. One of our wishes and best guesses knowing their taste? The excellent IFC film, “Summer Hours” by Oliver Assayas that seems very much up the Criterion Collection’s alley. It’s one our favorite films of 2009 thus far.
Warner Brothers – Despite the studio’s indication in a Home Theater Forum chat earlier this year that they were discussing licensing a “limited group of titles at the behest of their respective directors”, we hoped there were some Warner’s titles on the way, but Mulvaney let us know there is nothing on the schedule currently.
Focus Features – A director’s cut of Ang Lee’s “Ride With The Devil,” is also scheduled for a release in May. This is the third title licensed from Focus Features following the recently released Last Days Of Disco by Whit Stillman and Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding which will hit shelves in October. For now, we will have to wait and see if any further titles are coming from this new relationship with Focus, but it’s a promising start.
Finally, if you’re heading up to the rock festival All Tomorrow’s Parties in New York this year, when you’re not watching David Yow showing the kids how it’s done or losing your college tuition at poker to Steve Albini, be sure to stop by the Criterion curated screening room where you can see among an amazing lineup of films, including “Mystery Train” followed by a Q&A with Jim Jarmusch and Steve McQueen’s acclaimed “Hunger” (another telling IFC picture, hint!). We think it’s fairly safe to say these will be making their way into the collection soon as well.
But that’s not all…Mulvaney did talk to us about several exciting titles that as of press time we are unable to disclose as discussions for these films are ongoing and not quite finalized. We will continue to stay in touch with the good people at Criterion and let you know as soon as we’re permitted to write about it.
