Criterion has announced that they will bring the NASA Apollo Missions documentary '
For All Mankind' to Blu-ray on July 14th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Two weeks later, on July 28th, they will bring Roman Polanski's horror film '
Repulsion' to Blu-ray, day-and-date with the DVD release. Both films will be presented in their original aspect ratio via a 1080p AVC transfer, with 'For All Mankind' receiving a newly created 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and 'Repulsion' being presented in its original PCM 1.0 soundtrack.
Extras for these releases include:
For All Mankind
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by producer-director Al Reinert
- Audio commentary featuring Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to set foot on the moon
- An Accidental Gift: The Making of “For All Mankind,” a new documentary featuring interviews with Reinert, Apollo 12 and Skylab astronaut Alan Bean, and NASA archive specialists Don Pickard, Mike Gentry, Morris Williams, and Chuck Welch
- On Camera, a collection of excerpted on-screen interviews with fifteen of the Apollo astronauts
- New video program about Bean's artwork, accompanied by a gallery of his paintings
- NASA audio highlights and liftoff footage
- Optional on-screen identification of astronauts and mission control specialists
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film critic Terrence Rafferty and Reinert
Repulsion
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary featuring director Roman Polanski and actress Catherine Deneuve
- A British Horror Film (2003), a documentary on the making of Repulsion, featuring interviews with Polanski, producer Gene Gutowski, and cinematographer Gil Taylor
- A 1964 television documentary filmed on the set of Repulsion, featuring rare footage of Polanski and Deneuve at work
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and curator Bill Horrigan
It is, however, somewhat disappointing to learn that other upcoming Criterion releases - such as the Japanese epic 'The Human Condition' and the Jean-Luc Godard films '2 or 3 Things I Know About Her' and 'Made in the U.S.A.' will not be receiving Blu-ray treatment. All three of those titles are using "New, restored high-definition digital transfers", so it seems a Blu-ray release would have been an easy task, but I guess fans will have to wait for a re-release.
Regardless, its awesome to see two great films make their way to high definition on the Blu-ray format. And being that they're from Criterion means they will surely be some of the best releases yet.