Criterion Blu-ray in March: Scorsese, Kalatozov, Hegedus & Pennebaker, Baker, Lean (Updated)

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Criterion Blu-ray in March: Scorsese, Kalatozov, Hegedus & Pennebaker, Baker, Lean (Updated)

Posted December 15, 2011 03:50 PM by Josh Katz

After much speculation, the Criterion Collection has finally posted their full roster of Blu-ray releases for March 2012.

Titles include Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, Mikhail Kalatozov's Letter Never Sent, Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker's The War Room, the David Lean Directs Noël Coward boxset - which bundles together In Which We Serve, This Happy Breed, Brief Encounter, and Blithe Spirit - and Roy Ward Baker's A Night to Remember.

Of those, A Night to Remember, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Brief Encounter are the only previously available Criterion entries receiving Blu-ray upgrades; the rest are new to the Criterion Collection.

Furthermore, the Kalatozov, Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker, and the three remaining Lean films are making their respective debuts onto the North American Blu-ray format.

Quoted below are Criterion's release date and disc specifications for each film.

Update: It appears that for the time being, the four David Lean Blu-rays are only available if purchased through the four-disc bundle.


The Last Temptation of Christ (March 13th, 2012) —
  • Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker
  • 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack by supervising sound editor Skip Lievsay
  • Audio commentary featuring director Martin Scorsese, actor Willem Dafoe, and writers Paul Schrader and Jay Cocks
  • Galleries of production stills, research materials, and costume designs
  • Location production footage shot by Scorsese
  • Interview with composer Peter Gabriel, with a stills gallery of traditional instruments used in the score
  • An essay by film critic David Ehrenstein

Letter Never Sent (March 20th, 2012) —
  • New high-definition digital restoration
  • Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New English subtitle translation
  • A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Dina Iordanova

The War Room (March 20th, 2012) —
  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by directors D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus
  • 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Return of the War Room, a 2008 documentary in which advisers James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, and Paul Begala and others reflect on the effect the Clinton war room had on the way campaigns are run
  • Making The War Room, a conversation between the filmmakers about the difficulties of shooting in the campaign's fast-paced environment
  • Panel discussion hosted by the William J. Clinton Foundation and featuring Carville, Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, journalist Ron Brownstein, and surprise guest Bill Clinton
  • Interview with strategist Stanley Greenberg on the increasing importance of polling
  • A booklet featuring an essay by writer Louis Menand

David Lean Directs Noël Coward (March 27th, 2012) —
  • New high-definition digital transfers of the BFI National Archive's 2008 restorations
  • Uncompressed monaural soundtracks
  • Audio commentary on Brief Encounter by film historian Bruce Eder
  • New interviews with Noël Coward scholar Barry Day on all of the films
  • Interview with cinematographer-screenwriter-producer Ronald Neame from 2010
  • Short documentaries from 2000 on the making of In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter
  • David Lean: A Self Portrait - a 1971 television documentary on Lean's career
  • Episode of the British television series The Southbank Show from 1992 on the life and career of Coward
  • Audio recording of a 1969 conversation between Richard Attenborough and Coward at London's National Film Theatre
  • Trailers
  • A booklet featuring essays by Ian Christie, Terrence Rafferty, Farran Nehne, Geoffrey O'Brien, and Kevin Brownlow

A Night to Remember (March 27th, 2012) —
  • New high-definition digital restoration
  • Uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, author and illustrator of Titanic: An Illustrated History
  • The Making of A Night to Remember, a sixty-minute documentary from 1993 featuring William MacQuitty's rare behind-the-scenes footage
  • Archival interview with Titanic survivor Eva Hart
  • En natt att minas, a forty-five-minute Swedish documentary from 1962 featuring interviews with Titanic survivors
  • Trailer
  • A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Sragow

All are available for pre-order on Amazon.