Criterion Collection on Blu-ray

[George Best]

I got this email today:

Dear Criterion Collection Newsletter subscriber,

We’ve got some exciting news for this fall, and we wanted you to hear it first.

Our first Blu-ray discs are coming! We’ve picked a little over a dozen titles from the collection for Blu-ray treatment, and we’ll begin rolling them out in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions.

Here’s what’s in the pipeline:

The Third Man
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Last Emperor
El Norte
The 400 Blows
Gimme Shelter
The Complete Monterey Pop
Contempt
Walkabout
For All Mankind
The Wages of Fear

Alongside our DVD and Blu-ray box sets of The Last Emperor, we’ll also be putting out the theatrical version as a stand-alone release in both formats, priced at $39.95. Our Blu-ray release of Walkabout will be an all-new edition, featuring new supplements as well as a new transfer; we will also release an updated anamorphic DVD of Nicolas Roeg’s outback masterpiece at the same time.

As a special thank you to our newsletter subscribers, we’d like to offer you all $10 off any order of $60 or more placed on on criterion.com through Monday, May 26. Just use the code OFBT and you’ll also qualify for free shipping.

Enjoy spring!

 

[TaylorTRoom]

Wow! I just got into the Criterion Collection recently, and think this is great news.

I haven't bought "The Last Emperor" yet, but intended to. Now, I can wait until I get Blu-Ray player and then get the Criterion Blu-Ray version.

I haven't bought "Army of Shadows" yet, and wonder if I should wait for Blu-Ray.

 

[nych 1]

While the picture probably will not be that much better for Monterey Pop and Gimme Shelter (16mm), the uncompressed audio should be out of this world.

Reading the comments on High-Def Digest is hysterical. While I thank the PS3 crowd for helping win the HD battle, some of the posters over there have zero knowledge of film history. If they are not familiar with how Criterion operates, why complain about it? Several of them have never heard of the 400 Blows. I don't have a problem with that, but there is an underlying assumption that the movie must not be that good if I have never heard of it (kind of Iike the "I don't like sushi, but have never tried it").

Apparently, Criterion's high definition video transfers are created on a 4K machine. Does this mean we can look forward to movies in 4096 x 2048 pixels when the studios decide to support the 4k Red-Ray platform (and is it pointless to have a tv with that many pixels- 60 in. and under)?

 

[TaylorTRoom]

There's a lot I don't know about HD. I have heard that HDnet movies often don't have the same quality as the Blu-ray or HD-DVD versions of the same movie (I guess there isn't a standard for the transfers?).

I know that Criterion sells at a premium because they try to get the best image and sound transfer possible. Also, they have very eclectic tastes, issuing old low-budget film noir and cult films.

From Criterion, I have Brazil, Bob le Flambeur (try not to think that Isabelle Corey is actually as old as my mom), and Le Samourai. They are all great. My next purchases will probably be Pickup on South Street, Army of Shadows (hitting the Melville kind of hard), and maybe The Lady Vanishes or 39 Steps.

This is a good move for Criterion.

 

[TyphoonSe7en]

I love that "Bottle Rocket" is on that list

 

[nych 1]

All the high-definition on cable/satellite is in 1080i as opposed to the 1080P of Blu-Ray/HD DVD.

 

[TaylorTRoom]

I see where they say the Blu-Ray dvds will cost the same as their SD dvds. I wonder if they will mark them the same price, but not discount the Blu-Ray ones, like they do the SD?