Criterion Collection announces November Blu-ray releases

Tags: Bruce Dern, Charles Laughton, Charlie Chaplin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Cloris Leachman, Cybill Shepherd, Davy Jones, Dennis Hopper, Henry Jaglom, Jack Nicholson, Jeff Bridges, Karen Black, Lars von Trier, Michael Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, Orson Welles, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Fonda, Peter Tork, Randy Quaid, Robert Mitchum, Shelly Winters, The Criterion Collection, The Monkees, Timothy Bottoms, Willem Dafoe

The Criterion Collection has announced their titles to be released in November on Blu-ray Disc. On November 9th they plan to release the 2009 film “Antichrist” starring Willem Dafoe. On November 16th they have plans for two titles, the 1955 Charles Laughton directed film “The Night of the Hunter” and also the 1936 film “Modern Times” starring the legendary Charlie Chaplin. Then on November 23rd the first box set from Criterion on Blu-ray Disc will debut, “America Lost and Found: The BBS Story” which includes a total of SEVEN films. Those films included in that box set are as follows: “Head” from 1968, “Easy Rider” from 1969, “Five Easy Pieces” from 1970, “Drive, He Said” from 1970, “A Safe Place” from 1971, “The Last Picture Show” from 1971, and “The King of Marvin Gardens” from 1972.

None of these titles are yet available for pre-order over at Amazon but stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated. The tech specs and bonus materials have been announced for all these releases and are listed below (after the break) with the titles in the order of their release.

November 9th:

” ANTICHRIST “

2009 • 108 minutes • Color/Black & White • Surround • 2.35:1 aspect ratio

DIRECTOR APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Lars von Trier and supervised by director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary by von Trier and professor Murray Smith
• Video interviews with von Trier and actors Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg
• A collection of video pieces delving into the production of Antichrist, including interviews with von Trier and key members of his filmmaking team as well as behind-the-scenes footage
• Chaos Reigns at the Cannes Film Festival 2009, a documentary on the film’s world premiere, plus press interviews with Dafoe and Gainsbourg
• Three theatrical trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Ian Christie

November 16th:

” THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER “

1955 • 93 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.66:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring assistant director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones
• Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter,” a two-and-a-half-hour archival treasure trove of outtakes from the film
• New documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman
• New video interview with Simon Callow, author of Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor
• Clip from the The Ed Sullivan Show, in which cast members perform live a scene that was deleted from the film
• Fifteen-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film
• Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez
• Gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb
• New video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter”
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow

” MODERN TIMES “

1936 • 87 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.33:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New audio commentary by Chaplin biographer David Robinson
• Two new visual essays, by Chaplin historians John Bengtson and Jeffrey Vance
• New program on the film’s visual and sound effects, with experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
• Interview from 1992 with Modern Times music arranger David Raksin
• Chaplin Today: “Modern Times” (2004), a half-hour program with filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
• Two segments removed from the film
• Three theatrical trailers
• All at Sea (1933), a home movie by Alistair Cooke featuring Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and Cooke, plus a new score by Donald Sosin and a new interview with Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge
• The Rink (1916), a Chaplin two-reeler highlighting his skill on wheels
• For the First Time (1967), a Cuban documentary short about a projectionist who shows Modern Times to first-time moviegoers
• More!
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Saul Austerlitz and a piece by film scholar Lisa Stein that includes excerpts from Chaplin’s writing about his travels in 1931 and 1932

November 23rd:

” AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY “

” HEAD ”

1968 • 85 minutes • Color • Monaural/Surround • 1.78:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring Monkees Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork
• New video interview with director Bob Rafelson
• New documentary about BBS, featuring critic David Thomson and historian Douglas Brinkley
• More!

” EASY RIDER ”

1969 • 96 minutes • Color • Surround • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring director Dennis Hopper
• Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage, a 1999 documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage
• Footage of Hopper and star Peter Fonda at Cannes in 1969
• New video interview with BBS’s Steve Blauner
• More!

” FIVE EASY PIECES ”

1970 • 98 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring director Bob Rafelson and interior designer Toby Rafelson
• Soul Searching in Five Easy Pieces, a 2009 video piece in which Rafelson discusses the film
• BBStory, a 2009 documentary
• Excerpts from an audio recording of Rafelson at the American Film Institute in 1976

” DRIVE, HE SAID ”

1970 • 90 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• A Cautionary Tale of Campus Revolution and Sexual Freedom, a 2009 video piece in which director Jack Nicholson discusses the experience of making this film
• Theatrical trailer
• More!

” A SAFE PLACE ”

1971 • 92 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring director Henry Jaglom
• Henry Jaglom Finds “A Safe Place,” a 2009 video piece in which the director discusses the film
• Notes on the New York Film Festival, a 1971 video piece featuring an interview conducted by critic Molly Haskell with directors Peter Bogdanovich and Jaglom about their films The Last Picture Show and A Safe Place
• Deleted scene and screen tests
• Theatrical trailer

” THE LAST PICTURE SHOW ”

1971 • 126 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Two audio commentaries, one featuring director Peter Bogdanovich and the other featuring Bogdanovich and actors Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid, Cloris Leachman, and Frank Marshall
• Picture This, a 1990 documentary by George Hickenlooper
• “The Last Picture Show”: A Look Back, an hour-long 1999 documentary
• 2009 interview with Bogdanovich
• Screen tests and location footage
• Theatrical trailers and more!

” THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS ”

1972 • 104 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Selected-scene audio commentary featuring director Bob Rafelson
• Reflections of a Philosopher King, a 2009 documentary about the making of the film
• Afterthoughts, a short 2002 documentary about the film, produced by Rafelson
• Theatrical trailer

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