Es ist wieder Mitte des Monats und das heißt, dass Criterion neue Titel ankündigt. Für Juni 2011 sind insgesamt sechs Filme geplant, die alle auf DVD und Blu-ray erscheinen. Das Highlight des Monats ist meiner Meinung nach “Menschen am Sonntag“, vielleicht mein liebster Stummfilm überhaupt.
 
14. Juni 2011
Blu-ray #566: “Insignificance – Die verflixte Nacht / Insignificance” [GB 1985, Nicolas Roeg]
1 Disc
$39.95
1.77:1
English

Four unnamed people who look and sound a lot like Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, and Joseph McCarthy converge in one New York City hotel room for this compelling, visually inventive adaptation of Terry Johnson’s play, from director Nicolas Roeg. With a combination of whimsy and dread, Roeg creates a fun-house-mirror picture of cold war America that questions the nature of celebrity and plays on a society’s simmering nuclear fears. Insignificance is a delirious, intelligent drama, featuring magnetic performances by Michael Emil as “the professor,” Theresa Russell as “the actress,” Gary Busey as “the ballplayer,” and Tony Curtis as “the senator.”

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

• Newly restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg and producer Jeremy Thomas
• Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New video interviews with Roeg, Thomas, and editor Tony Lawson
• Making “Insignificance,” a short documentary shot on the set of the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens and a reprinted exchange between Roeg and screenwriter Terry Johnson

 
14. Juni 2011
DVD #566: “Insignificance – Die verflixte Nacht / Insignificance” [GB 1985, Nicolas Roeg]
1 Disc
$29.95
1.77:1
English

Four unnamed people who look and sound a lot like Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, and Joseph McCarthy converge in one New York City hotel room for this compelling, visually inventive adaptation of Terry Johnson’s play, from director Nicolas Roeg. With a combination of whimsy and dread, Roeg creates a fun-house-mirror picture of cold war America that questions the nature of celebrity and plays on a society’s simmering nuclear fears. Insignificance is a delirious, intelligent drama, featuring magnetic performances by Michael Emil as “the professor,” Theresa Russell as “the actress,” Gary Busey as “the ballplayer,” and Tony Curtis as “the senator.”

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

• Newly restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg and producer Jeremy Thomas
• New video interviews with Roeg, Thomas, and editor Tony Lawson
• Making “Insignificance,” a short documentary shot on the set of the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens and a reprinted exchange between Roeg and screenwriter Terry Johnson

 
14. Juni 2011
Blu-ray #567: “Die Töchter des Hauses Makioka / Sasame-yuki / The Makiako Sisters” [J 1983, Kon Ichikawa]
1 Disc
$29.95
1.85:1
Japanese

This lyrical adaptation of the beloved Japanese novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for world-class director Kon Ichikawa. Revolving around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki) follows the lives of four sisters who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business, over the course of a number of years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. This graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs, shot in rich, vivid colors.

• New high-definition digital restoration
• Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Audie Bock

 
14. Juni 2011
DVD #567: “Die Töchter des Hauses Makioka / Sasame-yuki / The Makiako Sisters” [J 1983, Kon Ichikawa]
1 Disc
$19.95
1.85:1
Japanese

This lyrical adaptation of the beloved Japanese novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for world-class director Kon Ichikawa. Revolving around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki) follows the lives of four sisters who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business, over the course of a number of years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. This graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs, shot in rich, vivid colors.

• New high-definition digital restoration
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Audie Bock

 
21. Juni 2011
Blu-ray #568: “Rattennest / Kiss Me Deadly” [USA 1955, Robert Aldrich]
1 Disc
$39.95
1.66:1
English

In this atomic adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s novel, directed by Robert Aldrich, the good manners of the 1950s are blown to smithereens. Ralph Meeker stars as snarling private dick Mike Hammer, whose decision one dark, lonely night to pick up a hitchhiking woman sends him down some terrifying byways. Brazen and bleak, Kiss Me Deadly is a film noir masterpiece as well as an essential piece of cold war paranoia, and it features as nervy an ending as has ever been seen in American cinema.

• New high-definition restoration
• Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini
• New video tribute from director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Walker)
• Excerpts from The Long Haul of A. I. Bezzerides, a 2005 documentary on the Kiss Me Deadly screenwriter
• Excerpts from Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane, a 1998 documentary on the author whose book inspired the film
• A look at the film’s locations
• Altered ending
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman and a 1955 reprint by director Robert Aldrich

 
21. Juni 2011
DVD #568: “Rattennest / Kiss Me Deadly” [USA 1955, Robert Aldrich]
1 Disc
$29.95
1.66:1
English

In this atomic adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s novel, directed by Robert Aldrich, the good manners of the 1950s are blown to smithereens. Ralph Meeker stars as snarling private dick Mike Hammer, whose decision one dark, lonely night to pick up a hitchhiking woman sends him down some terrifying byways. Brazen and bleak, Kiss Me Deadly is a film noir masterpiece as well as an essential piece of cold war paranoia, and it features as nervy an ending as has ever been seen in American cinema.

• New high-definition restoration
• Audio commentary by film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini
• New video tribute from director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Walker)
• Excerpts from The Long Haul of A. I. Bezzerides, a 2005 documentary on the Kiss Me Deadly screenwriter
• Excerpts from Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane, a 1998 documentary on the author whose book inspired the film
• A look at the film’s locations
• Altered ending
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman and a 1955 reprint by director Robert Aldrich

 
28. Juni 2011
Blu-ray #569: “Menschen am Sonntag / People on Sunday” [D 1930, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, Rochus Gliese (uncredited)]
1 Disc
$39.95
1.33:1
German

People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag) represents an astonishing confluence of talent—an early collaboration by a group of German filmmakers who would all go on to become major Hollywood players, including eventual noir masters Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann. This effervescent, sunlit silent film, about a handful of city dwellers enjoying a weekend outing (a charming cast of nonprofessionals), offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film artists around the world.

• New high-definition digital restoration, created in collaboration with the Filmmuseum Amsterdam
• Two scores—a silent-era-style score by the Mont Alto Orches­tra and a modern compo­sition by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by the Czech Film Orchestra—both presented as uncompressed stereo soundtracks
• Weekend am Wannsee, Gerald Koll’s 2000 documentary about the film, featuring an interview with star Brigitte Borchert
• Ins Blaue Hinein, a thirty-six-minute short from 1931 by People on Sunday cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Noah Isenberg and reprints by scriptwriter Billy Wilder and director Robert Siodmak

 
28. Juni 2011
DVD #569: “Menschen am Sonntag / People on Sunday” [D 1930, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, Rochus Gliese (uncredited)]
1 Disc
$29.95
1.33:1
German

People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag) represents an astonishing confluence of talent—an early collaboration by a group of German filmmakers who would all go on to become major Hollywood players, including eventual noir masters Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann. This effervescent, sunlit silent film, about a handful of city dwellers enjoying a weekend outing (a charming cast of nonprofessionals), offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film artists around the world.

• New high-definition digital restoration, created in collaboration with the Filmmuseum Amsterdam
• Two scores—a silent-era-style score by the Mont Alto Orches­tra and a modern compo­sition by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by the Czech Film Orchestra
• Weekend am Wannsee, Gerald Koll’s 2000 documentary about the film, featuring an interview with star Brigitte Borchert
• Ins Blaue Hinein, a thirty-six-minute short from 1931 by People on Sunday cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Noah Isenberg and reprints by scriptwriter Billy Wilder and director Robert Siodmak

 
28. Juni 2011
Blu-ray #570: “Zazie / Zazie dans le métro” [F / I 1960, Louis Malle]
1 Disc
$39.95
1.33:1
French

A brash and precocious eleven-year-old (Catherine Demongeot) comes to Paris for a whirlwind weekend with her rakish uncle (Philippe Noiret); he and the viewer get more than they bargained for in this anarchic comedy from Louis Malle, which treats the City of Light as though it were a pleasure island just waiting to be destroyed. Based on a popular novel by Raymond Queneau that had been considered unadaptable, Malle’s audacious hit Zazie dans le métro is a bit of stream-of-conscious slapstick, wall-to-wall with visual gags, editing tricks, and effects, and made with flair on the cusp of the French New Wave.

• New high-definition digital restoration
• Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Archival interviews with director Louis Malle, novelist Raymond Queneau, and the young actress Catherine Demongeot
• Le Paris de Zazie, an interview with assistant director Philippe Collin
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau

 
28. Juni 2011
DVD #570: “Zazie / Zazie dans le métro” [F / I 1960, Louis Malle]
1 Disc
$29.95
1.33:1
French

A brash and precocious eleven-year-old (Catherine Demongeot) comes to Paris for a whirlwind weekend with her rakish uncle (Philippe Noiret); he and the viewer get more than they bargained for in this anarchic comedy from Louis Malle, which treats the City of Light as though it were a pleasure island just waiting to be destroyed. Based on a popular novel by Raymond Queneau that had been considered unadaptable, Malle’s audacious hit Zazie dans le métro is a bit of stream-of-conscious slapstick, wall-to-wall with visual gags, editing tricks, and effects, and made with flair on the cusp of the French New Wave.

• New high-definition digital restoration
• Archival interviews with director Louis Malle, novelist Raymond Queneau, and the young actress Catherine Demongeot
• Le Paris de Zazie, an interview with assistant director Philippe Collin
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau

 
28. Juni 2011
Blu-ray #571: “Black Moon” [F / BRD 1975, Louis Malle]
1 Disc
$39.95
1.66:1
English

Louis Malle meets Lewis Carroll in this bizarre and bewitching trip down the rabbit hole. After skirting the horrors of an unidentified war being waged in an anonymous countryside, a beautiful young woman (Cathryn Harrison) takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic odyssey of a mysterious family. Evocatively shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Black Moon is a Freudian tale of adolescent sexuality set in a postapocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other.

• New high-definition digital restoration
• Uncom­pressed monaural soundtrack
• Archival interview with director Louis Malle
• Gallery of behind-the-scenes photos
• Alternate French-dubbed soundtrack
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau

 
28. Juni 2011
DVD #571: “Black Moon” [F / BRD 1975, Louis Malle]
1 Disc
$29.95
1.66:1
English

Louis Malle meets Lewis Carroll in this bizarre and bewitching trip down the rabbit hole. After skirting the horrors of an unidentified war being waged in an anonymous countryside, a beautiful young woman (Cathryn Harrison) takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic odyssey of a mysterious family. Evocatively shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Black Moon is a Freudian tale of adolescent sexuality set in a postapocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other.

• New high-definition digital restoration
• Archival interview with director Louis Malle
• Gallery of behind-the-scenes photos
• Alternate French-dubbed soundtrack
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau