Wenders, Reichardt & More Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2019
September 16th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This December, the 287-minute director’s cut of Wim Wenders’ magnum opus Until the End of the World, a globe-trotting sci-fi epic featuring a dizzyingly eclectic soundtrack, will appear on home video for the first time in a new 4K restoration. Kelly Reichardt’s breakout feature Old Joy, a revelatory microbudget indie, will make its Blu-ray debut in a new 2K restoration. Never before available on Blu-ray or DVD, the riveting pre-Code melodrama The Story of Temple Drake stars Miriam Hopkins in an astonishing adaptation of William Faulkner’s most controversial novel. And that’s not all: Ronald Neame’s classic military drama Tunes of Glory, starring Alec Guinness and John Mills at their finest, will appear on Blu-ray in a new 4K restoration.
TUNES OF GLORY
In Ronald Neame’s Tunes of Glory, the incomparable Alec Guinness plays Jock Sinclair-a whiskey-drinking, up-by-the-bootstraps commanding officer of a peacetime Scottish battalion. A lifetime military man, Sinclair expects respect and loyalty from his men. But when Basil Barrow (John Mills) – an educated, by-the-book scion of a military family-enters the scene as Sinclair’s replacement, the two men engage in a fierce struggle for control of both the battalion and the hearts and minds of its men. Based on the novel by James Kennaway and featuring flawless performances by Guinness and Mills, Tunes of Glory uses the rigid stratification of military life to comment on the institutional contradictions and class hierarchies of English society, making for an unexpectedly moving drama.
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SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* Interview from 2003 with director Ronald Neame
* Audio interview from 2002 with actor John Mills
* Television interview from 1973 with actor Alec Guinness
* Trailer
* PLUS: An essay by film scholar Robert Murphy
1960 * 107 minutes * Color * Monaural * 1.66:1 aspect ratio
Available December 3, 2019
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THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE
Loosely adapted from William Faulkner’s controversial novel Sanctuary, this notorious pre-Code melodrama stars Miriam Hopkins as Temple Drake, the coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge. When a boozehound date strands her at a bootleggers’ hideout, Temple is subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely. Steeped in southern-gothic shadows by influential cinematographer Karl Struss and shot through with moral ambiguity, The Story of Temple Drake is a harrowing vision of sin and salvation that boasts an astonishing lead performance from the fiery Hopkins, whose passage through the stations of terror, trauma, and redemption is a true tour de force of screen acting.
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SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* New program featuring a conversation between cinematographer John Bailey and Matt Severson, director of the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, about the film’s visual style, along with archival materials relating to its production
* New program with critic Imogen Sara Smith about the complexity of the film and its central performance by Miriam Hopkins
* New interview with critic Mick LaSalle about the film, censorship, and the Production Code
* PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
1933 * 71 minutes * Black & White * Monaural * 1.33:1 aspect ratio
Available December 3, 2019
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UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD
Conceived as the ultimate road movie, this decades-in-the-making science-fiction epic from Wim Wenders follows the restless Claire Tourneur (Solveig Dommartin) across continents as she pursues a mysterious stranger (William Hurt) in possession of a device that can make the blind see and bring dream images to waking life. With an eclectic soundtrack that gathers a host of the director’s favorite musicians, along with gorgeous cinematography by Robby Müller, this breathless adventure in the shadow of Armageddon takes its heroes to the ends of the earth and into the oneiric depths of their own souls. Presented here in its triumphant 287-minute director’s cut, Until the End of the World assumes its rightful place as Wenders’ magnum opus, a cosmic ode to the pleasures and perils of the image and a prescient meditation on cinema’s digital future.
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DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New 4K digital restoration, commissioned by the Wim Wenders Foundation and supervised by director Wim Wenders, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
on the Blu-ray
* New introduction by Wenders
* New interview with Wenders about the film’s soundtrack
* New conversation between Wenders and musician David Byrne
* Behind-the-scenes program detailing the creation of the film’s high-definition sequences
* Interview with Wenders from 2001
* Up Down Under Roma, a 1993 interview with Wenders on his experiences in Australia
* The Song, a short film by Uli M Schueppel detailing the recording of “(I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
* Deleted scenes
* Trailer
* PLUS: Essays by critics Bilge Ebiri and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on the film and its soundtrack
1991 * 287 minutes * Color * 5.1 surround * In English, French, and German with English subtitles * 1.66:1 aspect ratio
Available December 10, 2019
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OLD JOY
Two old friends reunite for a quietly revelatory overnight camping trip in Kelly Reichardt’s breakout feature, a microbudget study of character and masculinity that introduced many viewers to one of contemporary American cinema’s most independent artists. As they drive from Portland into the woods in search of a secluded hot spring, expectant father Mark (Daniel London) and nomadic Kurt (Will Oldham) make fumbling attempts to reconnect, butting up against the limits of their friendship and coming to grips with just how much their paths have diverged since their shared youth. Adapted from a short story by Jonathan Raymond and accompanied by an atmospheric Yo La Tengo score, Old Joy is a contemplative, wryly observed triumph whose modest scale belies the richness of its insight.
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DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New 2K digital restoration, approved by director Kelly Reichardt and cinematographer Peter Sillen, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* New interviews with Reichardt, Sillen, and author Jonathan Raymond
* New conversation between actors Daniel London and Will Oldham
* Trailer
* PLUS: An essay by film critic Ed Halter and (Blu-ray only) the short story by Raymond on which the film is based
2006 * 73 minutes * Color * Stereo * 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Available December 10, 2019
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Aaron Neuwirth
Writer/Reviewer, Film Lover, Podcaster, Gamer, Comic Reader, Disc Golfer & a Lefty. There are too many films, TV, books, etc. for me to list as favorites, but I can assure that the amount film knowledge within my noggin is ridiculous, though I am always open to learning more. You can follow me on Twitter @AaronsPS4, see what else I am up to at TheCodeIsZeek.com & check out my podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, on iTunes.
