The list for the early 2018 releases for The Criterion Collection.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
United States
1985
97 minutes
Color
1.85:1
English
Spine #905
Release Date: January 2nd, 2018
What happens when five strangers end up together in Saturday detention? Badass posturing, gleeful misbehavior, and a potent dose of angst. With this exuberant, disarmingly candid film, writer-director John Hughes established himself as the bard of American youth, vividly and empathetically capturing how teenagers hang out, act up, and goof off. The Breakfast Club brings together an assortment of adolescent archetypes—the uptight popular girl (Molly Ringwald), the stoic jock (Emilio Estevez), the foulmouthed rebel (Judd Nelson), the virginal bookworm (Anthony Michael Hall), and the kooky recluse
(Ally Sheedy)—and watches them shed their personae and emerge into unlikely friendships. With its highly quotable dialogue and star-making performances, this exploration of the trials of adolescence became an era-defining pop-culture phenomenon, one whose influence now spans generations.
-4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Audio commentary from 2008 featuring actors Anthony Michael Hall and Judd Nelson
-New interviews with actors Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy
-New video essay featuring director John Hughes’s production notes, read by Nelson
-Documentary from 2008 featuring interviews with cast and crew
-Fifty minutes of never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes
-Rare promotional and archival interviews
-Excerpts from a 1985 American Film Institute seminar with Hughes
-1999 radio interview with Hughes
-Segment from a 1985 episode of NBC’s Today featuring the film’s cast
-Audio interview with Ringwald from a 2014 episode of This American Life
-Trailer
-PLUS: An essay by author and critic David Kamp
_________________________________________________________________________________
YOUNG MR. LINCOLN
United States
1939
100 minutes
Black and White
1.33:1
English
Spine #320
Release Date: January 9th, 2018
Few American historical figures are as revered as Abraham Lincoln, and few director-star collaborations embody classic Hollywood cinema as beautifully as the one between John Ford and Henry Fonda. This film, their first together, was Ford’s equally poetic and significant follow-up to the groundbreaking western Stagecoach, and in it, Fonda gives one of the finest performances of his career, as the young president-to-be as a novice lawyer, struggling with an incendiary murder case. Photographed in gorgeous black and white by Ford’s frequent collaborator Bert Glennon, Young Mr. Lincoln is a compassionate and assured work and an indelible piece of Americana.
-New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-New audio commentary featuring film scholar Joseph McBride (Searching for John Ford: A Life)
-Omnibus: John Ford, part one: director Lindsay Anderson’s profile of the life and work of director John Ford before World War II
-Talk show appearance by actor Henry Fonda from 1975
-Audio interviews from the seventies with Ford and Fonda, conducted by the filmmaker’s grandson Dan Ford
-Academy Award radio dramatization of the film
-PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and an homage to Ford by filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein
_________________________________________________________________________________
I, DANIEL BLAKE
United Kingdom
2016
100 minutes
Color
1.85:1
English
Spine #906
Release Date: January 16th, 2018
An urgent response to the political realities of contemporary Britain, this bracing drama from celebrated filmmaker Ken Loach takes a hard look at bureaucratic injustice and ineptitude through the eyes of an unassuming working-class hero. After a heart attack leaves him unable to hold a job, the widowed carpenter Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) begins a long, lonely journey through the Kafkaesque labyrinth of the local welfare state. Along the way, he strikes up a friendship with a single mother (Hayley Squires) and her two children, at the mercy of the same system after being evicted from their home. Imbued with gentle humor and quiet rage and conceived for maximum real-world impact, the Palme d’Or–winning I, Daniel Blake is a testament to Loach’s tireless commitment to a cinema of social engagement.
-2K digital transfer, supervised by director Ken Loach, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Audio commentary from 2016 featuring Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty
-How to Make a Ken Loach Film, a 2016 documentary on the production of I, Daniel Blake
-Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach, a 2016 documentary directed by Louise Osmond
-Deleted scenes
-Trailer
-PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu
_________________________________________________________________________________
KAMERADSCHAFT
Germany
1931
88 minutes
Black and White
1.19:1
German
Spine #908
Release Date: January 30th, 2018
When a coal mine collapses on the frontier between Germany and France, trapping a team of French miners inside, workers on both sides of the border spring into action, putting aside national prejudices and wartime grudges to launch a dangerous rescue operation. Director G. W. Pabst brings a claustrophobic realism to this ticking-clock scenario, using realistic sets and sound design to create the maze of soot-choked shafts where the miners struggle for survival. A gripping disaster film and a stirring plea for international cooperation, Kameradschaft cemented Pabst’s status as one of the most morally engaged and formally dexterous filmmakers of his time.
-New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-New interview with German film scholar Hermann Barth on the film’s production
-1988 interview with editor Jean Oser
-2016 interview with film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak on the historical context of the film
-New English subtitle translation
-PLUS: An essay by author and critic Luc Sante
_________________________________________________________________________________
WESTFRONT 1918
Germany
1930
96 minutes
Black and White
1.19:1
German
Spine #907
Release Date: January 30th, 2018
G. W. Pabst brought the war movie into a new era with his first sound film, a mercilessly realistic depiction of the nightmare that scarred a generation, in Germany and beyond. Digging into the trenches with four infantrymen stationed in France in the final months of World War I, Pabst illustrates the harrowing ordeals of battle with unprecedented naturalism, as the men are worn away in body and spirit by firefights, shelling, and the disillusion that greets them on the home front. Long unavailable, the newly restored Westfront 1918 is a visceral, sobering antiwar statement that is as urgent today as when it was made.
-New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Hour-long French television broadcast of World War I veterans reacting to the film in 1969
-2016 interview with film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak
-New restoration demonstration featuring Martin Koerber and Julia Wallmüller of the Deutsche Kinemathek
-New English subtitle translation
-PLUS: An essay by author and critic Luc Sante
_________________________________________________________________________________
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS
France
1958
92 minutes
Black and White
1.66:1
French
Spine #335
Release Date: February 6th, 2018
For his feature debut, twenty-four-year-old Louis Malle brought together a mesmerizing performance by Jeanne Moreau, evocative cinematography by Henri Decaë, and a now legendary jazz score by Miles Davis. Taking place over the course of one restless Paris night, Malle’s richly atmospheric crime thriller stars Moreau and Maurice Ronet as star-crossed lovers whose plan to murder her husband (his boss) goes awry, setting off a chain of events that seals their fate. A career touchstone for its director and female star, Elevator to the Gallows was an astonishing beginning to Malle’s eclectic body of work, and it established Moreau as one of the most captivating actors to ever grace the screen.
-New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Interview from 2005 with actor Jeanne Moreau
-Archival interviews with Moreau, director Louis Malle, actor Maurice Ronet, and original soundtrack session pianist René Urtreger
-Footage of Miles Davis and Malle from the soundtrack recording session
-Program from 2005 about the score featuring jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis and critic Gary Giddins
-Malle’s student film Crazeologie, featuring Charlie Parker’s song “Crazeology”
-Trailers
-PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Terrence Rafferty, an interview with Malle, and a tribute by film producer Vincent Malle
_________________________________________________________________________________
George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
United States
1968
96 minutes
Black and White
1.37:1
English
Spine #910
Release Date: February 13th, 2018
Shot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, Night of the Living Dead, directed by horror master George A. Romero, is one of the great stories of independent cinema: a midnight hit turned box-office smash that became one of the most influential films of all time. A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of recently dead, flesh-eating ghouls, Romero’s claustrophobic vision of a late-1960s America literally tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combined gruesome gore with acute social commentary, and quietly broke ground by casting a black actor (Duane Jones) in its lead role. Stark, haunting, and more relevant than ever, Night of the Living Dead is back, in a new 4K restoration.
Night of the Living Dead was restored by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation and the Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation.
-New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director George A. Romero, coscreenwriter John A. Russo, sound engineer Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner
-New restoration of the monaural soundtrack, supervised by Romero and Gary R. Streiner, and presented uncompressed on the Blu-ray
-Night of Anubis, a never-before-presented work-print edit of the film
-New program featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, and Robert Rodriguez
-Never-before-seen 16 mm dailies reel
-New piece featuring Russo about the commercial and industrial-film production company where key Night of the Living Dead filmmakers got their start
-Two audio commentaries from 1994, featuring Romero, Russo, producer Karl Hardman, actor
Judith O’Dea, and more
-Archival interviews with Romero and actors Duane Jones and Judith Ridley
-New programs about the editing, the score, and directing ghouls
-New interviews with Gary R. Streiner and Russel W. Streiner
-Trailer, radio spots, and TV spots
-More!
-PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans
-Illustration by Sean Phillips
_________________________________________________________________________________
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
United States
1991
118 minutes
Color
1.85:1
English
Spine #13
Release Date: February 13th, 2018
In this chilling adaptation of the best-selling novel by Thomas Harris, the astonishingly versatile director Jonathan Demme crafted a taut psychological thriller about an American obsession: serial murder. As Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee who enlists the help of the infamous Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter to gain insight into the mind of another killer, Jodie Foster subverts classic gender dynamics and gives one of the most memorable performances of her career. As her foil, Anthony Hopkins is the archetypical antihero—cultured, quick-witted, and savagely murderous—delivering a harrowing portrait of humanity gone terribly wrong. A gripping police procedural and a disquieting immersion into a twisted psyche, The Silence of the Lambs swept the Academy Awards (best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actress, best actor) and remains a cultural touchstone.
-New 4K digital restoration, approved by director of photography Tak Fujimoto, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
-Audio commentary from 1994 featuring director Jonathan Demme, actors Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, screenwriter Ted Tally, and former FBI agent John Douglas
-New interview with critic Maitland McDonagh
-Thirty-five minutes of deleted scenes
-Interview from 2005 with Demme and Foster
-Inside the Labyrinth, a 2001 documentary
-Page to Screen, a 2002 program about the adaptation
-Scoring “The Silence,” a 2004 interview program featuring composer Howard Shore
-Understanding the Madness, a 2008 program featuring interviews with retired FBI special agents
-Original behind-the-scenes featurette
-Trailer
-PLUS: An essay by critic Amy Taubin along with, in the Blu-ray edition, a new introduction by Foster; an account of the origins of the character Hannibal Lecter by author Thomas Harris; and a 1991 interview with Demme
-Design by Sean Freeman and Eve Steben, THERE IS
_________________________________________________________________________________
AN ACTOR’S REVENGE
Japan
1963
113 minutes
Color
2.39:1
Japanese
Spine #912
Release Date: February 20th, 2018
A uniquely prolific and chameleonic figure of world cinema, Kon Ichikawa delivered a burst of stylistic bravado with this intricate tale of betrayal and retribution. Set in the cloistered world of nineteenth-century kabuki theater, the film charts a female impersonator’s attempts to avenge the deaths of his parents, who were driven to insanity and suicide by a trio of corrupt men. Ichikawa takes the conventions of melodrama and turns them on their head, bringing the hero’s fractured psyche to life in boldly experimental widescreen compositions infused with kaleidoscopic color, pop-art influences, and meticulous choreography. Anchored by a magnificently androgynous performance by Kazuo Hasegawa, reprising a role he had played on-screen three decades earlier, An Actor’s Revenge is an eye-popping examination of how the illusions of art intersect with life.
-New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Rare 1999 Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Kon Ichikawa, conducted by critic and filmmaker Yuki Mori
-New interview with critic, filmmaker, and festival programmer Tony Rayns
-New English subtitle translation
-PLUS: An essay by critic Michael Sragow
-Design by Ness Higson
_________________________________________________________________________________
THE HERO
India
1966
117 minutes
Black and White
1.33:1
Bengali
Spine #911
Release Date: February 20th, 2018
In this psychologically rich character study, written and directed by Satyajit Ray, Bengali film star Uttam Kumar draws on his real-world celebrity to play Arindam Mukherjee, a matinee idol on the brink of his first flop. When Mukherjee boards an overnight train to Delhi to accept an award, a journalist (Sharmila Tagore) approaches him seeking an exclusive interview, which initiates a conversation that sends the actor reeling down a path of self-examination. Seamlessly integrating rueful flashbacks and surreal dream sequences with the quietly revelatory stories of the train’s other passengers, The Hero is a graceful meditation on art, fame, and regret from one of world cinema’s most keenly perceptive filmmakers.
-New, restored 2K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
-Interview from 2008 with actor Sharmila Tagore
-New program featuring film scholar Meheli Sen
-New English subtitle translation
-PLUS: An essay by author Pico Iyer and a 1980 tribute to Kumar by Ray
-Original poster by Satyajit Ray
_________________________________________________________________________________
TOM JONES
United Kingdom
1963
128 minutes
Color
1.66:1
English
Spine #909
Release Date: February 27th, 2018
In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, a movement whose gritty realism they had helped establish, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful narrative territory. Tom Jones brings a theatrical flair to Henry Fielding’s canonical eighteenth-century novel, boisterously chronicling the misadventures of the foundling of the title (Albert Finney, in a career-defining turn), whose easy charm seems to lead him astray at every turn from his beloved, the wellborn Sophie Western (Susannah York). This spirited picaresque, evocatively shot in England’s rambling countryside and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, went on to become a worldwide sensation, winning the Oscar for best picture on the way to securing its status as a classic of irreverent wit and playful cinematic expression.
-New 4K digital restorations of the original theatrical version of the film and the 1989 director’s cut, both supervised by director of photography Walter Lassally, with uncompressed monaural and stereo soundtracks on the Blu-ray
-New program on the film’s cinematography featuring a conversation between Lassally and critic Peter Cowie
-Excerpt from a 1982 episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring actor Albert Finney
-New interview with actor Vanessa Redgrave on director Tony Richardson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1967
-New interview with film scholar Duncan Petrie on the movie’s impact on British cinema
-Illustrated archival audio interview with composer John Addison on his Oscar-winning score for the film
-New interview with the director’s-cut editor, Robert Lambert
-PLUS: An essay by scholar Neil Sinyard
-Illustration by Richard Haines
