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Question: does Criterion ever re-release titles? I was recently looking to re-watch Pandora's Box. Criterion had put out a version (presumably very nice) with good extras, but it is now out of print. The cheapest I can find it is $65 on E-bay. Most sellers have it at $95 or above. I tried a Barnes and Noble last week hoping they would still have a copy on their shelves. They did not and none of their stores did I found out after the nice gentleman at the reference desk checked. He did however find one of their third party "art houses" selling a copy for $865. We stared at each other for a moment as he patiently waited to see if I wanted him to order the copy for me for $865. I thanked him for looking. He said to check back when Criterion does their 50% sale because then I might be able to get it for $400 and something. I ordered another company's version from the UK which should arrive in the next couple of weeks.

I still have a sealed Von Sternberg Criterion Collection containing Underworld, Docks of New York and The Last Command. I have seen that for sale for as high as $300. I do plan to watch them again someday, but was very surprised at the current price as I got it for around $39 when it was originally offered.

I would imagine Criterion keeps track of these things. Has Criterion ever re-released titles of ones for which the price skyrocketed? Or do you think these are cases of would be sellers asking for the moon for titles but never actually finding willing buyers?

Thanks,
Matthew

mwalls wrote: Matthew

Inform any of these dealers that you have exactly the same item they're offering in like-new cond., and I wish to sell it. So how much will they pay for yours? Their answer will cut to the heart of what the item is REALLY worth.

Criterion does reissue titles on occasion, depending on their ability to secure, or re-secure, rights to titles. One of the more notorious was Pasolini's Salo, which went out of print rather quickly a number of years back, and started to command an astronomical sum, but has since been reissued, in an improved version, at a fraction of what some people were paying for it on eBay, Amazon Marketplace and elsewhere. I think something similar happened with Criterion's BD of The Third Man, (still out of print according to the Criterion website) but if you just wanted the film, a decent blu-ray was available from the UK. But there are rabid Criterion collectors who need to have every one of those sequentially numbered pieces of plastic, so what can you do.

Actually, I often wonder about some of those resellers on eBay and Marketplace who post items that are out-of-print (or not readily available) for ridiculous prices, and how often they actually sell anything. Do they think someone's actually going to pay, say, $400 for a VHS copy of the 1976 comedy Drive-In, in hopes the poor schmuck doesn't know there's a $20 MOD DVD available from Sony? I have a copy of that same VHS tape sitting in a box in my storage locker that I'd sell for $400 in a heartbeat, but I'm not delusional enough to think there's someone out there who'd pay it.

Just looked up another famous out-of-print Criterion DVD title, John Woo's The Killer, posted on Amazon Marketplace at $1,400 (there's also a used copy for $135). I found the Dragon Dynasty blu-ray of the same movie in a bargain bin for $10, but I guess if you have a copy of the Crit, might as well post it for $1,400 and hope some trust fund baby or lottery winner who desperately wants it is out there waiting.

They took the Sternberg Silents collection out of circulation (rights issues, I believe), and it's not back yet. Amazon says not currently available. I believe at some point these will come back in blu-ray releases. Anyway, I hope they will.

Mitch Farish wrote:They took the Sternberg Silents collection out of circulation (rights issues, I believe), and it's not back yet...

God bless the bootleggers.

Bresson's "Diary Of A Country Priest" was discontinued quite some time ago, but bootleg copies are still to be had.

entredeuxguerres wrote:

mwalls wrote: Matthew

Inform any of these dealers that you have exactly the same item they're offering in like-new cond., and I wish to sell it. So how much will they pay for yours? Their answer will cut to the heart of what the item is REALLY worth.

I tried that once with a bookdealer who was asking about £40 each for some book club Dick Francis thrillers. Knowing I could pick up some cheap, I offered them at £5 a throw without getting a bite...

I purchased a British rock film on Amazon in March.I paid £2.50I never opened it as I saw the film on Talking Pictures.I put in back on Amazon and sold it to a buyer in the states for £38.
I was interested in buying the autobiography of Carol White in paperback.It was listed at £999.I bought it a few weeks later for £5'
Make of that what you will.

Films go in and out of print at Criterion for various reasons. Sometimes when better materials become available -- or if they can prepare a better digital transfer from present materials -- Criterion will issue a new edition. Titles often go out of print because the the films' owners can't or won't renew Criterion's leases on the material. The former was the case when StudioCanal sold a large quantity of their titles to Lionsgate, and as a result, the following Criterion titles went out of print:

Alphaville
Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy (Eclipse Series 6)
Le corbeau
Coup de torchon
Diary of a Country Priest
The Fallen Idol
Forbidden Games (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Gervaise (Essential Art House edition)
Grand Illusion (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Le jour se lève (Essential Art House edition)
Last Holiday (Essential Art House edition)
Mayerling (Essential Art House edition)
The Orphic Trilogy
Peeping Tom
Pierrot le fou (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
Port of Shadows
Quai des Orfèvres
The Small Back Room
The Tales of Hoffmann (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
The Third Man
Trafic
Le trou
Variety Lights (Essential Art House edition)
The White Sheik

I copied the above list from a Criterion email I received in 2010. Criterion had just released THE THIRD MAN on Blu-ray about a month before the ax fell, and for that reason it's very rare and commands some correspondingly high prices.

As for the Josef von Sternberg set, Ken Winokur, the leader of Alloy Orchestra (which provided scores for UNDERWORLD and THE LAST COMMAND), told us what he heard from Criterion last year in his first two posts in this thread. Obviously, we're still waiting, but it looks like the set will be reissued this year.

Couldn't they fit all three Sternberg films on one blu-ray? I wonder if the format's data capacity has ever been used to its full capacity.

I have the Sternberg DVD set, and had a marathon viewing a few months back, along with copies of the earlier The Salvation Hunters and his first talkie, Thunderbolt. Those three Paramount titles in the Criterion set are simply stunning.

George O'Brien wrote:Bresson's "Diary Of A Country Priest" was discontinued quite some time ago, but bootleg copies are still to be had.

And also used copies on eBay, but for quite a pretty penny last time I checked.

I love that movie!

s.w.a.c. wrote:Couldn't they fit all three Sternberg films on one blu-ray? I wonder if the format's data capacity has ever been used to its full capacity.

I have the Sternberg DVD set, and had a marathon viewing a few months back, along with copies of the earlier The Salvation Hunters and his first talkie, Thunderbolt. Those three Paramount titles in the Criterion set are simply stunning.

At the time they released the Sternberg set, Criterion said they could only get the DVD rights. But maybe that will change, since they made HD transfers at the time.

I'm holding out hope that a Criterion Blu-Ray of PANDORA'S BOX surfaces at some point, hopefully with the restoration and Matti Bye score that played at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival a few years back.

Roscoe wrote:I'm holding out hope that a Criterion Blu-Ray of PANDORA'S BOX surfaces at some point, hopefully with the restoration and Matti Bye score that played at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival a few years back.

Yes, we need a new score, since none of the scores provided on the Criterion DVD were very good IMO.

Yesterday at HMV, I was surprised to find a copy of Criterion's Wages of Fear with a sticker calling it "newly remastered". It's a thick box, not the standard-size box of their original release. I know the original has been out of print for some time because I've been looking for it. Alas, this new version cost more than I was able to afford.

Jim

Jim Roots wrote:Yesterday at HMV, I was surprised to find a copy of Criterion's Wages of Fear with a sticker calling it "newly remastered". It's a thick box, not the standard-size box of their original release. I know the original has been out of print for some time because I've been looking for it. Alas, this new version cost more than I was able to afford.

HMV's prices on Criterion titles have always been vastly overinflated. God bless 'em for keeping Criterion titles in stock, but it's hard to imagine buying any there.

Mitch Farish wrote:They took the Sternberg Silents collection out of circulation (rights issues, I believe), and it's not back yet. Amazon says not currently available. I believe at some point these will come back in blu-ray releases. Anyway, I hope they will.

From Criterion's website:
Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this product for sale on Criterion.com. Please note that it is not out of print and is available at other retailers, like Amazon.com.

This is what happened with Dreyer's Vampyr. They only changed the packaging, eliminating the nicer box set set with enclosed book and jamming a oversized pamphlet inside the case instead (and it barely fits). The von Sternberg set, and Pandora's Box were also originally issued in the better package originally. None are out of print, just being "re-designed".

35MM wrote:

Mitch Farish wrote:They took the Sternberg Silents collection out of circulation (rights issues, I believe), and it's not back yet. Amazon says not currently available. I believe at some point these will come back in blu-ray releases. Anyway, I hope they will.

From Criterion's website:
Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this product for sale on Criterion.com. Please note that it is not out of print and is available at other retailers, like Amazon.com.

This is what happened with Dreyer's Vampyr. They only changed the packaging, eliminating the nicer box set set with enclosed book and jamming a oversized pamphlet inside the case instead (and it barely fits). The von Sternberg set, and Pandora's Box were also originally issued in the better package originally. None are out of print, just being "re-designed".

Interesting. I ended up buying Pandora's Box from an outfit named Second Sight. It has the movie at 131 minutes, plus the extra "Looking for Lulu", which I believe was on the Criterion set. I am sure the score I heard was different than what was on Criterion (score wasn't bad actually), but was what I saw a repackaging of what Criterion was offering?

• DVDCompare.net: Pandora's Box

The UK's Second Sight contains just one of the Criterion's four scores, by Peer Raben.

Interesting. I ended up buying Pandora's Box from an outfit named Second Sight. It has the movie at 131 minutes, plus the extra "Looking for Lulu", which I believe was on the Criterion set. I am sure the score I heard was different than what was on Criterion (score wasn't bad actually), but was what I saw a repackaging of what Criterion was offering?

The other way around maybe, as most sites indicate the Second Sight edition (2002) preceded Criterion (2006) by about four years. Second Sight's own website now states 2008, but could be a re-release date.

I want to thank CoffeeDan for the list of out-of-print titles. It allowed me to notice a couple that, while out-of-print, are still available at reasonable prices (and, of course, I wanted them). They are still on their way.

Rick

s.w.a.c. wrote:Couldn't they fit all three Sternberg films on one blu-ray? I wonder if the format's data capacity has ever been used to its full capacity.

I have the Sternberg DVD set, and had a marathon viewing a few months back, along with copies of the earlier The Salvation Hunters and his first talkie, Thunderbolt. Those three Paramount titles in the Criterion set are simply stunning.

Most of the Criterion silents on Blu Ray that I have, i.e., SAFETY LAST, THE FRESHMAN, CITY LIGHTS, MODERN TIMES, etc are more than 40 GB with the usual array of extras. Could Olive Films put the 3 Sternbergs on 1 Blu-Ray? Possibly, although even then it would be problematic. Would Criterion ever do that, given their commitment to the highest encoding quality? Extremely unlikely.

s.w.a.c. wrote:Criterion does reissue titles on occasion, depending on their ability to secure, or re-secure, rights to titles. One of the more notorious was Pasolini's Salo, which went out of print rather quickly a number of years back, and started to command an astronomical sum, but has since been reissued, in an improved version, at a fraction of what some people were paying for it on eBay, Amazon Marketplace and elsewhere. I think something similar happened with Criterion's BD of The Third Man, (still out of print according to the Criterion website) but if you just wanted the film, a decent blu-ray was available from the UK. But there are rabid Criterion collectors who need to have every one of those sequentially numbered pieces of plastic, so what can you do.

Actually, I often wonder about some of those resellers on eBay and Marketplace who post items that are out-of-print (or not readily available) for ridiculous prices, and how often they actually sell anything. Do they think someone's actually going to pay, say, $400 for a VHS copy of the 1976 comedy Drive-In, in hopes the poor schmuck doesn't know there's a $20 MOD DVD available from Sony? I have a copy of that same VHS tape sitting in a box in my storage locker that I'd sell for $400 in a heartbeat, but I'm not delusional enough to think there's someone out there who'd pay it.

Just depends when the item was put on and whether the vendor has checked it last. As well as the loopy VHS prices (although some people prefer that format) one gets mad ones for second-hand dvds which can be bought new for a fraction of the price. Had no idea there was this issue with SALO of which I have sold a couple of copies in my shop. Reminds me of when some poor souls were coughing up £100 for bootleg copies of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and THE EXORCIST some years back. Of course some of these vendors are hoping for a mug, especially from the must-have-every issue brigade, concerned with 'big box' or a film which had seventeen frames missing after being reviewed by the censors.