The Lower Depth, and more! -- Tonari no Totoro -- The Day After -- Das Boot -- The Name of the Rose

Criterion plumbs The Lower Depths in June [2 April 2004]

Star of Criterion's June collection must be a two-disk set of The Lower Depths, Maxim Gorky's classic 1902 play (his second), which has the distinction of being filmed twice (actually three times if you count the impossible to see 1952 Russian version directed by Andrei Frolov), each time by a master of cinema. Les Bas-fonds was made in 1936 by Jean Renoir and stars Jean Gabin, while in 1957 the play was adapted as Dozonko by Akira Kurosawa and starred Toshiro Mifune. Both films have been digitally restored, and special features for Dozonko include a commentary by Kurosawa expert Donald Richie, the documentary Akira Kurosawa: It's Fun to Create, the original trailer and a new essay on the film by Keiko McDonald. Extras for Les Bas-fonds include an introduction by Renoir himself and a new essay on the film by Alexander Sesonske.

Also from Criterion in June are Jean-Luc Godard's celebrated 1961 Une Femme est une femme and Pier Paolo Pasolini's compelling 1962 Mamma Rosa. Both films have new digital transfers a a decent collection of extras. Une Femme est une femme has Godard's 1957 short Charlotte et Véronique ou tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick, excerpts from a 1967 TV interview with stars Anna Karina and Jean-Claude, poster gallery, trailer, a film essay by J. Hoberman and, Criterion say, more! Mamma Rosa has interviews with director and one-time assistant to Pasolini Bernardo Bertolucci, cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli and Pasolini biographer Enzo Siciliano, a 1955 documentary on the director by Ivo Barnabò Micheli, Pasolini's 1963 short film La ricotta, trailer, poster gallery, an essay by the improbably named Gary Indiana, and, yes, more.

Tonari no Totoro arrives on region 2 [24 March 2004]

Fans of master animator Hayao Miyazaki will be hugging themselves with glee at the arrival on region 1 in August of what for our money is his greatest film of all, the brilliant Tonari no Totoro (1988 aka: My Neighbour Totoro), which at present is available on a very nice region 3 2-disk set, complete with full storyboards and a fine anamorphic transfer. The region 1 disk is also a 2-disk set, so looks likely to be emulating the original Japanese Gibli release (as did the region 3), but includes the horrible travesty of an English dub. It also looks as if we will be assaulted by another of those revolting, grinny featurettes on how the dub was done that remains my least-watched extra on the region 1 Spirited Away disk.

But that's not all. Arriving the same time are Miyazaki's second feature, the futuristic Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984 aka: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds) and the 1992 Kurenai no Buta aka: Crimson Pig or Porco rosso), the story of a 1930s air pirate who has the body of a man and the head of a pig. The only real concern here is whether Kaze no tani no Naushika will be the original Japanese cut or the watered-down re-edit that was first shown in the US.

The Day After on Region 1 [24 March 2004]

Hugely controversial when first screened, but still a little anaemic compared to British takes on the subject such as The War Game and Threads, Nicholas Meyer's 1983 TV movie The Day After still has moments that are genuinely chilling, especially the launching of the US missiles from farm silos. Jason Robards stars (and survives and post-blast firestorm just by ducking down), and there's a serious role for the much mallaigned Steve Guttenberg, as well as an interesting supporting cast that includes John Lithgow, Amy Madigan and young Superman Jeff East. Arriving on region 1 on 18 May from MGM, the disk will feature a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer with Dolby 2.0 stereo of the full 126 minute edit of the film. Extras look like being limited to a new featurette.

Das Boot, the full mini-series in June [24 March 2004]

Wolfgang Petersen's brilliant U-Boat drama Das Boot has had a lively history in the UK. The most expensive German TV series ever made, and a huge success on its first screening, it arrived in UK cinemas in a severely cut down version. The series ran for almost 5 hours in total, and the UK cinema release was a little over 90 minutes. Worse than that, it was dubbed. But knowing nothing of the original series at the time, I went to see it anyway and loved it. A short while later it was re-released in certain cinemas with its original German dialogue and an 'extended' running time of 149 minutes. I went to see that, too, and it was even better. A short while later the news of this 5-hour original TV series began to sneak out. My excitement went through the roof, and I taped both original TV screenings. And then with the arrival of DVD, Peterson went back and did a director's cut, expanding on the original cinema release and dumping much of what he now felt was superfluous from the original series. The new sound mix remains one of those you demonstrate you amp with, and the picture was superb. Now comes the announcement that the original series, which looks really shabby on tape compared to the Director's Cut DVD, has been remastered in anamorphic widescreen, the sound remixed in 5.1, and is set for release on 1 June on region 2. Despite Petersen's reservations, there are some very nice character details in the series that are missing from the director's cut, so it will good to see them again, though the series' would-be 'uncut' status is slightly flawed, as there are a few shots in the director's cut that are not in the series. Just as well you'll have both disk sets, then.

Name of the Rose Special Edition for region 2? [24 March 2004]

Warner have announced a long awaited release date for a region 1 release of Jean-Jacques Annaud's masterly medieval detective story (and no doubt inspiration for televising the Cadfael stories), The Name of the Rose, featuring a commanding performance from Sean Connery described memorably by Sick Boy in Trainspotting as "merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory." There's no extras announced yet, but and anamorphic transfer and 5.1 sound will do very nicely for now. The disk is due on 6 July. But hold up, there is a rumour flying around of a region 2 release of the film a month later that not only has the transfer and the sound, but a commentary by the director, 'The Abbey of Crime' documentary and a 'Photo Journey with Jean-Jacques Annaud' featurette. Though these are unconfirmed at present, they are very specific in nature, making us wonder if they might not also be targeted for the region 1 release. Watch this space.