Criterion in July

Criterion announced their July titles yesterday. Bowing on the 20th, restored versions of two Powell/Pressburger classics, The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus, will make their way onto DVD and Blu-ray (and with fantastic artwork as well). A two-disc set of two early works by Yasujiro Ozu, including the films The Only Son and There Was a Father, is set for the 13th. The latest in Criterion's partnership with IFC Films is actor-turned-director Abdellatif Kechiche's The Secret of the Grain [La graine et le mulet], which will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on the 27th. And finally, a quartet of films from Sacha Guitry–Désiré, The Pearls of the Crown [Les perles de la couronne], Quadrille and The Story of a Cheat [Le roman d'un tricheur]–in an Eclipse box set will finish out the month on the 27th. I'll have a big DVD round-up in the next few days.

Date Changes and 2009 Releases for Warner and Criterion

First off, there's been a few changes in things I've posted earlier. Firstly, I'm pretty sure Universal will not be releasing a stand alone disc for Arabesque on 4 November when they release the Gregory Peck set. Also, The Weinstein Company has yet again changed Vicky Cristina Barcelona, now set for 27 January, instead of earlier in the month.

New Yorker has also changed the dates on a number of their releases. The new dates, which still might change and might be delayed, are as follows: Camp de Thiaroye (11 Nov), Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (9 Dec), The Last Klezmer (18 Nov), Moses and Aaron (25 Nov), Six in Paris (21 Oct), Still Life (11 Nov) and Woman on the Beach (9 Dec).

Criterion announced a slim line-up for January, which includes Douglas Sirk's Magnificent Obsession, with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, on 20 January, Gregory Nava's El Norte on 20 January and Roberto Rossellini's The Taking of Power by Louis XVI [La prise de pouvoir par Louis XVI] on 13 January. The Magnificent Obsession disc will also include John M. Stahl's version of the same novel from 1935. Their Eclipse set will include three historical films from Rossellini: The Age of Medici [L'età di Cosimo de Medici], Blaise Pascal and Cartesius [Cartesio], all set for 13 January.

Warner has already announced a bunch of titles for 2009; new ones include a deluxe edition of Hal Ashby's Being There, starring Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine and Jack Warden, for 3 February. They will also release a Natalie Wood boxset, which includes several new-to-DVD titles. The set includes Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass, Richard Quine's Sex and the Single Girl (new), Robert Mulligan's Inside Daisy Clover (new), a deluxe edition of Mervyn LeRoy's Gypsy, Gordon Douglas' Bombers B-52 (new) and Joseph Pevney's Cash McCall (new), as well as a number of shorts. Not included in the set but announced for a separate release is Douglas Trumbull's Brainstorm, which stars Wood, Christopher Walken and Louise Fletcher. Brainstorm and the Wood boxset will street on 3 February.

Warner will also be releasing Max Baer Jr.'s Ode to Billy Joe, with Robby Benson, on 10 February. They've also set a new date for John Frankenheimer's TV docudrama George Wallace, which stars Gary Sinese, Mare Winningham and Angelina Jolie, for 20 January.

Sony announced a Michael Powell double-feature, which includes A Matter of Life and Death, with David Niven, Kim Hunter and Richard Attenborough, and Age of Consent, with Helen Mirren and James Mason. It will be out on 6 January. Sony has also announced the Duplass brothers' Baghead for 30 December. That looks like all for now.

Inside Convent Walls

Black Narcissus - dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger - 1947 - UK

Is there anything better than saucy nuns? Or a saucy nun melodrama? Powell & Pressburger's Black Narcissus may not rank in seediness with the likes of Ken Russell's The Devils or Walerian Borowczyk's Behind Convent Walls (Interno di un convento), but it's certainly as fiery. Deborah Kerr plays the ice queen, Sister Clodagh, assigned to run a school and hospital in the Himalayas (actually, a rather astounding soundstage), once inhabited by concubines. One would imagine the concubines to haunt the walls of this palace, but instead, it's simply the pretense for the nuns' forbidden longings to come to the surface. Contrary to most nuns-gone-wild tales, it's not the claustrophobia or seculsion that brings about their passion, but the open spaces and the wind. I read that most of these longings and the explosive climax to the film were cut for its original US release in the late-40s in order not to offend the Catholics. This is unfathomable after watching it, but I suppose the US audience was supposed to just marvel at the absolutely glorious Technicolor, aided by cinematographer Jack Cardiff. For more English-produced Technicolor epics set in India, check out Jean Renoir's The River.