I love Halloween. This is not news. So, it probably goes without saying that I’m totally over the moon that Criterion have some suitably spooky titles set to hit shops this October. As nuts as I am about a good ghost story, though, I have to say the most exciting release of the month for me is the Cassavetes box set upgrade. I’ve been so tempted to grab up the DVDs in the last few years. I’m happy to see that Criterion is finally taking pity on my buying anxiety.
I MARRIED A WITCH
(October 8, 2013 – MSRP $29.95)
Video: 1.33:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Audio interview with director René Clair
- Trailer
-
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by filmmaker Guy Maddin and a 1970 interview with Clair
New cover by Eric Skillman
EYES WITHOUT A FACE
(October 15, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.66:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
- New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Blood of the Beasts, Georges Franju’s 1949 documentary about the slaughterhouses of Paris (high-definition digital restoration on the Blu-ray edition)
- Archival interviews with Franju on the horror genre, cinema, and the making of Blood of the Beasts
- New interview with actor Edith Scob (Blu-ray only)
- Excerpts from Les grands-pères du crime, a 1985 documentary about Eyes Without a Face writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
- Trailers
- Stills gallery of rare production photos and promotional material (DVD only)
- Plus: A booklet featuring essays by novelist Patrick McGrath and film historian David Kalat
New cover by Aesthetic Apparatus
JOHN CASSAVETES: FIVE FILMS
(October 22, 2013 – MSRP $124.95)
Video: Various 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
- New high-definition digital restorations of all five films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
- New high-definition digital restoration of Cassavetes’s 108-minute 1978 version of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
- A Constant Forge: The Life and Art of John Cassavetes (2000), a 200-minute documentary by Charles Kiselyak
- New interviews with actor Lelia Goldoni and associate producer Seymour Cassel about Shadows
- Silent footage from the Cassavetes-Lane Drama Workshop, from which Shadows emerged
- Restoration demonstration for Shadows
- Alternate eighteen-minute opening sequence for Faces
- Episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps from 1968, dedicated to Cassavetes
- Making “Faces,” a new documentary featuring interviews with actors Cassel, Lynn Carlin, and Gena Rowlands and director of photography Al Ruban
- Al Ruban on Lighting and Shooting “Faces,” a new video program featuring commentary by Ruban (Blu-ray); Lighting and Shooting the Film, an on-screen essay by Ruban, illustrated with video clips, that discusses the techniques and equipment used on Faces (DVD)
- Audio commentary for A Woman Under the Influence by sound recordist and composer Bo Harwood and camera operator Mike Ferris
- New conversation between Rowlands and actor Peter Falk about A Woman Under the Influence
- New interviews with actor Ben Gazzara and Ruban on The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
- New conversation between Rowlands and Gazzara about Opening Night
- New interview with Ruban about Opening Night
- Audio interviews with Cassavetes from the 1970s about A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night
- Trailers for Shadows, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night
- Stills and poster galleries
- Biographical sketches of the actors Cassavetes frequently cast in his films, written by Tom Chartity (John Cassavetes: Lifeworks) (DVD only)
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Gary Giddins, Kent Jones, Charles Kiselyak, Stuart Klawans, Dennis Lim, and Phillip Lopate; writings by and interviews with Cassavetes; and tributes to the filmmaker by director Martin Scorsese; actor and writer Elaine Kagan, Cassavetes’s former secretary; and novelist Jonathan Lethem
New covers by Lucien S. Y. Yang
THE UNINVITED
(October 22, 2013 – MSRP $29.95)
Video: 1.37:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
- New 2K digital film restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New visual essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda
-
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme
New cover by Sam Weber
LA NOTTE
(October 29, 2013 – MSRP $39.95)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Special Features:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New interview with film critic Adriano Aprà and film historian Carlo Di Carlo
- New interview with professor Giuliana Bruno on the role of architecture in La notte
- Trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
-
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Richard Brody and a 1961 article by director Michelangelo Antonioni
New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
