The Criterion Collection has announced no fewer than four major films for release on Blu-ray in September. Jean-Luc Godard will open fire on September 14, with the
Nouvelle vague 1960 classic
Breathless (À bout de souffle). A week later, the comedic thriller
Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) will hit store shelves. The studio will close the month with two unusual war movies:
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Oshima, 1983) and the highly-anticipated
The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998).
The video transfer of
Breathless has been approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard. That of
The Thin Red Line, in turn, is approved by director Terrence Malick and cinematographer John Toll.
Audio will be LPCM for
Breathless and
Charade, and DTS-HD Master Audio for
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and
The Thin Red Line.
Special features are as follows:
Breathless
- Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
- New video interviews with Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker
- New video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport's "Jean Seberg" and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless as Film Criticism"
- Chambre 12, Hotel de suede: an 80-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew
- Charlotte et son Jules: a 1959 short film by Godard, starring Belmondo
- French theatrical trailer
- A booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, François Truffaut's original film treatment, and Godard's scenario
Charade
- Audio commentary: A conversation with Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone
- The Films of Stanley Donen: A selected filmography, with an introduction by Donen biographer Stephen M. Silverman
- Peter Stone's career highlights
- Original theatrical trailer
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
- The Oshima Gang: original making-of featurette
- New video interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, actor Tom Conti, and actor-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Hasten Slowly: an hour-long documentary about author and adventurer Laurens van der Post, whose autobiographical novel is the basis for the film
- Original theatrical trailer
- A booklet featuring an essay by film writer Chuck Stephens and a 1983 interview with director Nagisa Oshima by Japanese film writer Tadao Sato
The Thin Red Line
- New audio commentary featuring director of photography John Toll, production designer Jack Fisk, and producer Grant Hill
- Outtakes from the film
- Video interviews with several of the film's actors, including Kirk Acevedo, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, Tom Jane, Elias Koteas, Dash Mihok, and Sean Penn
- New video interview with casting director Dianne Crittenden, featuring original audition footage
- New interview with composer Hans Zimmer
- New video piece featuring interviews with editors Billy Weber, Leslie Jones, and Saar Klein
- An interview with writer James Jones's daughter Kaylie Jones
- World War II newsreels featuring footage from Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands
- Original theatrical trailer
- A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Sterritt and a 1963 essay by James Jones on war films