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Possibly the most hardcore announcement from Eureka/The Masters of Cinema that I have seen...Wow!:

The Masters of Cinema will be releasing "The Passion of Joan of Arc" in Steelbook, Blu-ray and DVD:



From Masters of Cinema:

Released in November we have The Passion of Joan of Arc available in three editions (the SteelBook mentioned above, Blu-ray, and DVD) in an exclusive restoration Dreyer's film has probably never looked this good since it's original release. Also in November we have Ernset Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise on DVD, both of these are available for preorder and guaranteed early delivery.

• Exclusively restored high-definition master presented in the film’s original aspect ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray

• Presented in both 20fps and 24fps playback speeds

• Optional audio tracks: a piano score performed by Japanese silent film composer Mie Yanashita (for the 20fps option), and a radical accompaniment by esteemed American avant-garde musician Loren Connors (for the 24fps option)

• Newly translated optional English subtitles for Dreyer’s original Danish intertitles

• The complete “Lo Duca” version of the film – the version (featuring an alternate edit and soundtrack) that circulated in France and around the world for decades before the rediscovery of Dreyer’s “director’s cut”

• Extended illustrated booklet featuring the words of Dreyer, rare archival imagery, and more

• Further details to be announced nearer the release date!

http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/offers/new.html





• Long-awaited HD restoration of the film by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, with its original frame-rates and in its original aspect-ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray

• Newly translated optional English subtitles for the original German intertitles

• New one-hour documentary on the restoration of the film

• Lavish 56-page booklet with new and vintage writing, rare archival stills, and more!

Also, being released is "Trouble in Paradise":



• New high-definition transfer in the film’s original aspect ratio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

• Illustrated booklet featuring the words of Lubitsch, rare archival imagery, and more

• Further details to be announced nearer the release date!





• Beautiful new progressive encode of the film officially licensed from Universal and presented in its original aspect ratio

• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Original theatrical trailer

• Audio commentary by film critic and scholar F. X. Feeney

• 11-minute documentary on director Cecil B. DeMille

• 10-minute documentary on star Claudette Colbert

• 10-minute documentary on the Production Code era

• 40-PAGE BOOKLET including 1934 interview material with DeMille, notes on the film by Craig Keller, and rare archival imagery



• Exclusive new high-definition restoration, officially licensed from Universal Pictures

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

• Audio commentary by film historian Nick Redman and screenwriter Lem Dobbs

• Shadows of Suspense — a 2006 documentary featuring film historians, directors, and authors discussing the making of Double Indemnity

• 1945 Screen Guild Theater radio adaptation of Double Indemnity, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray

• The original theatrical trailer

• Isolated music and effects track

• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a 1976 interview by John Allyn with Billy Wilder; an extract from a 1976 interview with James M. Cain comparing his original serial with Wilder’s film adaptation; documentation of novelist and Double Indemnity co-screenwriter Raymond Chandler’s attitude toward working within the Hollywood studio system; an extract from the original screenplay depicting the excised “death chamber” ending; a note on the restoration; and rare archival imagery



• New high-definition master, officially licensed from Universal Pictures

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

• Exclusive new video introduction by director Alex Cox

• The three-part 1992 BBC Arena programme Billy, How Did You Do It? directed by Gisela Grischow and Volker Schlöndorff, featuring Schlöndorff in conversation with Billy Wilder

• The 1946 Screen Guild Theater radio adaptation of The Lost Weekend – starring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, and Frankie Faylen

• The original theatrical trailer

• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay on the film by critic and filmmaker David Cairns; a reproduction of the famous hallucination sequence in three forms: an excerpt from Charles R. Jackson’s novel, an excerpt from Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder’s screenplay, and a presentation of actual frames from the corresponding scene in the film; a vintage public service advertisement by Seagram’s about The Lost Weekend and the broader social dilemma of alcoholism; and rare archival imagery



• Beautiful new high-definition master, officially licensed from Universal Pictures

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

• Optional music and effects track

• Exclusive video interview with Laughton biographer Simon Callow

• Ruggles on the Radio: three adaptations made for radio broadcast, all featuring Charles Laughton and Charlie Ruggles in a reprisal of their famous roles

• Laughton reciting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, originally released as a 78-rpm record in 1937

• PLUS: A 32-page booklet featuring a new and exclusive essay by filmmaker and critic Dan Sallitt and rare archival imagery




• Newly restored high-definition digital transfer officially licensed from Universal Pictures

• Newly created SDH subtitles on the feature for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Exclusive video interview with Charles Laughton biographer Simon Callow

• Exclusive video interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby

• Original theatrical trailer

• PLUS: A lavish booklet featuring rare production imagery, and a new essay by Kim Newman



• HD transfer of the film presented in its original aspect ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray

• Newly translated optional English subtitles

• Feature-length audio commentary by film scholar and Fritz Lang expert David Kalat

• 52-PAGE BOOKLET featuring writing by Lotte H. Eisner, Fritz Arno Wagner, Michel Chion, and substantial excerpts of vintage interviews with Fritz Lang about the film



• New digital progressive transfer in the film’s original aspect ratio

• Isolated music and effects track

• Original theatrical trailer

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

• New and exclusive 22-minute video interview with critic, scholar, and Cahiers du cinéma US editor Bill Krohn, filmed in Los Angeles at the Fullers’ home

• New and exclusive short 3-minute video piece with remarks from Fuller’s wife, Christa Lang Fuller, filmed in Los Angeles at the Fullers’ home

• 56-PAGE BOOKLET with a new and exclusive illustrated essay on the film by critic / scholar / filmmaker Tag Gallagher; the complete chapter about Park Row from Samuel Fuller’s posthumous 2002 autobiography A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking; excerpts from interviews with Fuller speaking about the film; a 1952 letter from Irving Berlin to Samuel Fuller, praising Park Row; facsimile examples of Park Row broadsheets; rare imagery; and still more.

Wow, what a list! I have only one question. What's a steelbook?

Salty Dog wrote:Wow, what a list! I have only one question. What's a steelbook?

A metal box the size of a standard plastic or cardboard DVD or Blu-Ray case. May have fancier cover art than the regular case.This makes certain people drool and open their wallets.*

*Disclaimer: I have steelbooks for Metropolis and A Trip to the Moon.

This list does make me think about a region-free Blu-Ray player. I know Die Niebelung is coming to the US. Maybe The Passion of Joan of Arc and others won't be far behind.

sc1957 wrote: This list does make me think about a region-free Blu-Ray player. I know Die Niebelung is coming to the US. Maybe The Passion of Joan of Arc and others won't be far behind.

Well depends on what your idea of "won't be far behind" is. Gaumont is in the process of doing it's own restoration of "Joan of Arc," and since the current Criterion release is based on the existing Gaumont master, it stands to reason that they'll continue that relationship, and handle any blu-ray of the new restoration.

The restoration was announced in April of 2012, and a median amount of time to undertake a film's restoration is around 12 months, meaning we shouldn't expect the job to even be completed before April 2013. Factor in a possible theatrical re-release, and Criterion's very packed release schedule, and the blu-ray could easily come later than that even. "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp's" restoration was completed quite some time ago, and it is not even on Criterion's release slate yet. And given "Joan of Arc" is one of Criterion's most requested re-releases, they would likely reserve it for a prime release slot, likely timed with one of the two annual Barnes and Noble sales.

So I think in a best case scenario, we could see a U.S. release of "The Passion of Joan of Arc," in late 2013. Worst case scenario, perhaps not until Summer 2014!

I personally WON'T be waiting, and I'm preordering the MoC Joan of Arc, even if it means I have to get a region free blu-ray player to watch it. I suggest you consider the same, unless you're fine with waiting another 12 to 18 months for the Criterion.

BR