Criterion Collection sets Blu-ray editions

The Criterion Collection is going Blu-ray.

The big news, long-awaited by high-definition buffs, came in a company bulletin late this afternoon.

Criterion lists these dozen titles as "in the pipeline," with the rollout set to begin in October.

• The Third Man
• Bottle Rocket
• Chungking Express
• The Man Who Fell to Earth
• El Norte
• The 400 Blows
• Gimme Shelter
• The Complete Monterey Pop
• Contempt
• Walkabout
• For All Mankind
• The Wages of Fear

I count three black-and-white titles, which should be interesting. The studios have only released a couple of B&W titles.

"These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions," Criterion said.

"The Last Emperor" also is coming in a (cheaper) stand-alone theatrical version on Blu-ray and DVD. "Walkabout" updates an older Criterion title. The Nicholas Roeg film gets new extra features and a new transfer. An updated DVD will be updated at the same time.

Terrific list and a thoughtful mix. I'm especially interested in Blu-rays of "The Man Who Fell to Earth," "The Wages of Fear," "Chungking Express" and "Contempt."

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Comments

[Bill]

WB released "Casablanca" in HD DVD. Since I have a copy, I am certain of that. I think you may be correct about no other black and white films being released in hi def, except for My Favorite Brunette/Son of Paleface, a Bob Hope double feature, the former of which is BW, which I think has been recently released.

(Thanks, Bill. The post was updated to fix reference to no B&W studio movies out in high def. Glenn)

[Liz]

This is good news indeed. I'm a little concerned about hi-def highlighting some of the technical flaws in older films, though. It seems to be something that only bothers certain viewers, but it might give people more of an excuse to criticize older movies.