It appears that March will prove to be a landmark month of Criterion Blu-ray releases for me for a couple of reasons – another stacked boxed set of classics making their Blu-ray debuts and one of my favourite films of all time finally receiving its high-def upgrade.

The David Lean directs Noël Coward boxed set includes 4 film collaborations between the director and writer, including the previously available Brief Encounter. The boxed set carries over the Bruce Eder commentary track from that old DVD while adding a ton of brand new bonus goodies. Martin Scorsese‘s The Last Temptation of Christ is one of the films on my list of Criterion DVDs in need of a Blu-ray Upgrade and as such, is probably the disc I’m most desperate to get my grubby paws on. It’s one of the finest gems in the director’s crown and one of the most often overlooked. Titanic disaster film A Night to Remember also receives an upgrade this month, arriving on Blu-ray with a few new special features and coincidentally timed to coincide with the re-release of James Cameron‘s Titanic film, presented in cinemas this time around with the magic of 3D! Speaking of perfect timing, D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus‘ election doc, The War Room comes to Blu just as another US election gets its pimp on. Last, but not least, is the Russian film Letter Never Sent, which I’ve never seen and hold no opinion of, outside of the fact that its Blu-ray release appears to contain nothing in the way of special features, aside from the standard Criterion booklet.

And that’s March…

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DAVID LEAN DIRECTS NOËL COWARD
(March 27, 2012 – MSRP $99.95)
Video: 1.37:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital transfers of the BFI National Archive’s 2008 restorations, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• Audio commentary on Brief Encounter by film historian Bruce Eder
• New interviews with Noël Coward scholar Barry Day on all of the films
• Interview with cinematographer-screenwriter-producer Ronald Neame from 2010
• Short documentaries from 2000 on the making of In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter
• David Lean: A Self Portrait, a 1971 television documentary on Lean’s career
• Episode of the British television series The Southbank Show from 1992 on the life and career of Coward
• Audio recording of a 1969 conversation between Richard Attenborough and Coward at London’s National Film Theatre
• Trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Ian Christie, Terrence Rafferty, Farran Smith Nehme, Geoffrey O’Brien, and Kevin Brownlow

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THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

(March 13, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

• Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack by supervising sound editor Skip Lievsay
• Audio commentary featuring director Martin Scorsese, actor Willem Dafoe, and writers Paul Schrader and Jay Cocks
• Galleries of production stills, research materials, and costume designs
• Location production footage shot by Scorsese
• Interview with composer Peter Gabriel, with a stills gallery of traditional instruments used in the score
• PLUS: An essay by film critic David Ehrenstein

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LETTER NEVER SENT

(March 20, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Dina Iordanova

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THE WAR ROOM

(March 20, 2012 – MSRP $29.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by directors D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• Return of the War Room, a 2008 documentary in which advisers James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, and Paul Begala and others reflect on the effect the Clinton war room had on the way campaigns are run
• Making “The War Room,” a conversation between the filmmakers about the difficulties of shooting in the campaign’s fast-paced environment
• Panel discussion hosted by the William J. Clinton Foundation and featuring Carville, Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, journalist Ron Brownstein, and surprise guest Bill Clinton
• Interview with strategist Stanley Greenberg on the increasing importance of polling
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by writer Louis Menand

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A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

(March 27, 2012 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural

Special Features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, author and illustrator of “Titanic:” An Illustrated History
• The Making of “A Night to Remember” (1993), a sixty-minute documentary featuring William MacQuitty’s rare behind-the-scenes footage
• Archival interview with Titanic survivor Eva Hart
• En natt att minas, a forty-five-minute Swedish documentary from 1962 featuring interviews with Titanic survivors
• Trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Sragow

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