The Criterion Collection December 2019 New Releases

The Criterion Collection December 2019 New Releases

The Story of Temple Drake

Loosely adapted from William Faulkner’s controversial novel Sanctuary, this notorious pre-Code melodrama stars Miriam Hopkins as Temple Drake, the coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge. When a boozehound date strands her at a bootleggers’ hideout, Temple is subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely. Steeped in southern-gothic shadows by influential cinematographer Karl Struss and shot through with moral ambiguity, The Story of Temple Drake is a harrowing vision of sin and salvation that boasts an astonishing lead performance from the fiery Hopkins, whose passage through the stations of terror, trauma, and redemption is a true tour de force of screen acting.

Available Dec 3, 2019
Spine #1006

SPECIAL FEATURES

High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New program featuring a conversation between cinematographer John Bailey and Matt Severson, director of the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, about the film’s visual style, along with archival materials relating to its production
New program with critic Imogen Sara Smith about the complexity of the film and its central performance by Miriam Hopkins
New interview with critic Mick LaSalle about the film, censorship, and the Production Code
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien

Until the End of the World

Conceived as the ultimate road movie, this decades-in-the-making science-fiction epic from Wim Wenders follows the restless Claire Tourneur (Solveig Dommartin) across continents as she pursues a mysterious stranger (William Hurt) in possession of a device that can make the blind see and bring dream images to waking life. With an eclectic soundtrack that gathers a host of the director’s favorite musicians, along with gorgeous cinematography by Robby Müller, this breathless adventure in the shadow of Armageddon takes its heroes to the ends of the earth and into the oneiric depths of their own souls. Presented here in its triumphant 287-minute director’s cut, Until the End of the World assumes its rightful place as Wenders’ magnum opus, a cosmic ode to the pleasures and perils of the image and a prescient meditation on cinema’s digital future.

Available Dec 10, 2019
Spine #1007

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 4K digital restoration, commissioned by the Wim Wenders Foundation and supervised by director Wim Wenders, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New introduction by Wenders
New interview with Wenders about the film’s soundtrack
New conversation between Wenders and musician David Byrne
Behind-the-scenes program detailing the creation of the film’s high-definition sequences
Interview with Wenders from 2001
Up Down Under Roma, a 1993 interview with Wenders on his experiences in Australia
The Song, a short film by Uli M Schueppel detailing the recording of “(I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Deleted scenes
Trailer
PLUS: Essays by critics Bilge Ebiri and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on the film and its soundtrack

Old Joy

Two old friends reunite for a quietly revelatory overnight camping trip in Kelly Reichardt’s breakout feature, a microbudget study of character and masculinity that introduced many viewers to one of contemporary American cinema’s most independent artists. As they drive from Portland into the woods in search of a secluded hot spring, expectant father Mark (Daniel London) and nomadic Kurt (Will Oldham) make fumbling attempts to reconnect, butting up against the limits of their friendship and coming to grips with just how much their paths have diverged since their shared youth. Adapted from a short story by Jonathan Raymond and accompanied by an atmospheric Yo La Tengo score, Old Joy is a contemplative, wryly observed triumph whose modest scale belies the richness of its insight.

Available Dec 10, 2019
Spine #1008

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 2K digital restoration, approved by director Kelly Reichardt and cinematographer Peter Sillen, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with Reichardt, Sillen, and author Jonathan Raymond
New conversation between actors Daniel London and Will Oldham
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by film critic Ed Halter and (Blu-ray only) the short story by Raymond on which the film is based

Tunes of Glory

In Ronald Neame’s Tunes of Glory, the incomparable Alec Guinness plays Jock Sinclair—a whiskey-drinking, up-by-the-bootstraps commanding officer of a peacetime Scottish battalion. A lifetime military man, Sinclair expects respect and loyalty from his men. But when Basil Barrow (John Mills)—an educated, by-the-book scion of a military family—enters the scene as Sinclair’s replacement, the two men engage in a fierce struggle for control of both the battalion and the hearts and minds of its men. Based on the novel by James Kennaway and featuring flawless performances by Guinness and Mills, Tunes of Glory uses the rigid stratification of military life to comment on the institutional contradictions and class hierarchies of English society, making for an unexpectedly moving drama.

Available Dec 3, 2019
Spine #225

SPECIAL FEATURES

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Interview from 2003 with director Ronald Neame
Audio interview from 2002 with actor John Mills
Television interview from 1973 with actor Alec Guinness
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Robert Murphy