Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced that it will release two films on Blu-ray on September 14 as part of its StudioCanal Collection: Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, 1991); and The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) - the latter previously released by Criterion in a now out of print edition. Both will be presented in 1080p video with 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks.
Special features include:
Delicatessen
Director audio commentary
New retrospective documentary with Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Making-of featurette
The Archives of Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Twenty-page collectible booklet written by Empire contributing editor Kim Newman
The Third Man
New audio commentary with assistant director Guy Hamilton, actor Simon Callow and crew member Angela Allen
The Third Man interactive Vienna Tour
The Third Man on the Radio – audio interviews with Joseph Cotten and Graham Greene
Alternative opening with Joseph Cotton voiceover
Interview with and zither performance by Cornelia Mayer
Stills gallery
Original trailers
Twenty-page collectible booklet written by film historian Charles Drazin
Delicatessen is a decent movie. Not to take away from it, but Amelie and City of Lost Children are so much better. And yes, The Third Man is a solid movie too, but why release a movie that's already been released when there are so many other great movies that haven't seen the light of day?
@Neilsb90: likely retain is valueable, but to less people. If someone collect's Criterion titles, and don't have The Third man on blu, they'll want and pay thru ebay (or wherever) to get it, if it's just someone looking for a copy of the film, they'll just buy the Lionsgate version.
It doesn't look like that The Third Man has the same extras as the Criterion. I would still think that the Criterion release will still be valuable for that.
I just hope the Third Man's transfer is as good as Criterion's. Studio Canal as hit and miss.... Their Pierrot Le Fou disc looked very good, but Ran looked like crap.
You are right lemonski, the artwork is not the best for the Third Man. I think that they should have done something that could surpass the Criterion cover. Maybe retail stores should lower it to two or three dollars less than the retail price just for the uninspiring artwork. Just my opinion.
I would like to see a Dolby Truehd or PCM track from lionsgate. Lately it has been too much DTS Master Audio. I think it's getting a bit old. In fact, if all releases are doing that, then they shouldn't even announce what sound format they are using.
I love the artwork for "The Third Man", especially considering that it's reproducing an actual poster (and my favourite of the Third Man posters to boot!). I'll have to wait to hear a pretty darn positive review for me to buy it again though as the Criterion version is quite possibly my favourite Blu ever. Maybe I should grab it though so I don't wear out my Criterion disc :P.
About time they announced more StudioCanal movies on Blu-ray for the US. I don't know why they still haven't released all the movies they did in Europe here, like The Deer Hunter and The Elephant Man.
That Third Man cover is great; I too love seeing original (or close to) poster artwork on DVD covers. Even though I love almost all of Criterion’s covers, they are always very contemporary and don’t reflect the graphic design of the time of the films release. Studio Canal has chosen well in doing this instead of trying to compete with Criterion's graphic design.
@ MarkBart0305: *Most* of the Studio Canal titles are Region Free. I bought "The Deer Hunter" and "The Elephant Man" from Amazon.co.uk and they both play here just fine. Even the special features play.
Also, it would be interesting to see how many people would have "hated" on the Third Man cover had Criterion decided to go with that exact treatment for their release. "It's brilliant!" "More Criterion perfection!" ...There's nothing wrong with studio canal's cover btw...it and the original poster it's taken from pretty much own you and your mother. Btw that's the indefinite 'you'--meaning anyone and everyone and their mother.
I too would much rather have City of Lost Children or Amelie. I do enjoy Delicatessen though and will definitely be buying it for the 4th time. Still have that laserdisc!
Sweet that Delicatessen is getting a US release. When I found out it was done by the same Director as City of Lost Children and is a post-apoc movie to boot.... had to get my mitts on it.
Speaking of which... when do you think we're see City of Lost Children on Blu-ray? That's what I'm really looking forward too.
I think this is great for those who did not get to buy The Third Man the first time around. Assuming it has a great transfer at least, I don't see any problem buying this version instead of the Criterion. I have the Criterion version and it is great, but if this has a great transfer and with lower price more than likely, I think this is a very good deal. I am not sure about the extras though, would have to take a close look to see which are not included in this version.
Alkaline, what a classic straw man argument. Even if the artwork came from an old poster, it doesn't change the simple fact that it looks awful. The design folks at Criterion were more than likely aware of the poster and may have even considered using it, but it appears they didn't because (again) it just. Looks. Awful.
I'm no Criterion apologist or anything (I happen to think StudioCanal's Ran release looked great), but come on man.
Oh hey there, Leonids. Please, do me the service of pointing out where I used the reasoning that that poster art is "fantastic" simply on account of being "original poster art". Obviously that would be ridiculous. I just happen to think, in my own non-humble and objectively correct opinion, that it kicks ass. Wait--is my taste in my ass? I'm gonna lose sleep over it for sure.
The B&W cinematography in The Third Man is so good you could almost pick a still at random from the film and get good artwork for a cover. What do they do? Get an old poster that looks like a kids drawing.
