64 The Third Man

[knives]

He wasn't drunk, but hadn't slept the night before. Something about a play I think. (either way both performances are under appreciated)

[Matt]

Discussion of the Criterion DVD and BD out-of-print status has been moved here.

[dad1153]

It's official: I'm addicted to my "Third Man" Blu-ray. I can't believe that a movie I flat-out didn't like the first time has me forcing myself to see it every few weeks just to get the urge out of the way (only for it to start building again... isn't that the definition of addiction?). Scenes from "The Third Man" and Karas' zither score (which I once dared to call 'shitty') are literally playing inside my head non-stop during down time at the office, in line at the grocery store checkout counter, while surfing the web, etc. I've been bitten by a cinematic mutation of the '(Harry) Lime desease' and I'm afraid there's no cure. Had to make an MP3 of THIS to be able to make it through the daily commute to work without breaking my PSP in half. 8-)

[eerik]

It seems that the new North-American Studio Canal Collection release of "The Third Man" will be released in September. Canadian pre-order is already up.

[Matt]

What the hell is Maples Pictures? When I Google it, all I get is:

.

Gotta be Canadian with that name.

[justeleblanc]

Maples is a Canadian distribution company. They are also releasing a new Alphaville (sans English subtitles) and I have their Happy Go Lucky DVD which is an exact port of the Miramax.

[cdnchris]

Maple used to be Lionsgate, I guess you can say. Lionsgate is actually a Canadian company (or at least was) but for some reason they sold off their Canadian distribution rights to a company called Maple Pictures. I'm not sure why. Most of their DVDs are ports of Lionsgate releases, the ones I've come across anyways. One of the nice things about moving down here is I don't have to deal with shitty Canadian distributors and annoying bilingual packaging, so I haven't kept up with them.

[dx23]

From blu-ray.com:

Lionsgate Announces Delicatessen, The Third Man on Blu-ray
Share14
Posted July 5, 2010 04:37 AM by Juan Calonge


Lionsgate FilmsLionsgate 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:
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

[Tom Hagen]

cover: http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/13230_front.jpg
The Hardy Boys find zombie Orson Welles.

[CrazedCollector]

^^^ Goes without saying that new cover is fugly as all hell.
But damn! It comes across as though StudioCanal is trying to rub how this is the only HD The Third Man available now in peoples' faces!

[eerik]

That "new cover" is actually an old French poster... and it looks great in my opinion!

[zitherstrings]

It's beyond ugly.

[domino harvey]

It is. If they wanted to go the French poster route, why not

[zedz]

I love the fact that there's a credit for a leprechaunesque 'David O'Selznick' up top.

[HarryLong]

Why the green & red color scheme on both posters?
Were they pushing it as a Christmas movie?

[zedz]

Why the green & red color scheme on both posters?

It's the leprechauns, I tell ya!

[Matt]

So, I've been trying to understand why Criterion would be forced to take The Third Man and other films from the London Films library (which I am under the impression that they own full rights to) out of print, and it seems to be that films produced by London Films that were then distributed by British Lion Films (which Canal + now owns) are the ones that have been taken out of print. I suppose this means that we'll never see a Criterion version of The Elusive Pimpernel (though it has a pretty low reputation, so maybe it was always moot) or The Man Between, among others.

Of course, this doesn't explain why Hobson's Choice is not OOP, but maybe there's another story there. I don't recognize the licensor (CEC).

Apologies to myself and other mods for not posting this in the Studio Canal OOP thread, but I didn't want this info to get lost among all the "I still can't get a copy of That Obscure Object of Desire" chatter.

[scotty2]

Reed's Outcast of the Islands from 1951 is on that British Lion list. I assumed Odd Man Out would be there as well, but Studio Canal must have its tentacles on it from some other avenue. Since so many others on the list have been released, perhaps there is some hope for Outcast. But The Third Man does seem a mystery.

[tojoed]

"Odd Man Out" was released in the UK by Network, so it may still be a possibility.
"The Man Between" has been released by Kinowelt and Optimum in the James Mason box, so that does suggest a Studio Canal stranglehold.

[domino harvey]

That's a pretty good box, with Mank's 5 Fingers and a couple others

[Matt]

Speak of the devil...Odd Man Out just showed up on Netflix Instant, along with a bunch of other current and forthcoming Criterion titles, with a positively ancient Janus Films logo.

[dad1153]

Home Cinema Choice has comparisons of both "Third Man" BD's. Thanks to paku over at AVS Forum for the pic layout below (Studio Canal left vs. Criterion right):

[Matt]

All those people who hated the grain on Criterion's BD will love this, but the SC looks to me like I'm watching the movie with my glasses off.

[AtlantaFella]

Yes, I'd say this provides a perfect example of how DNR can negatively affect a film's presentation. I'll be bookmarking this page -- thanks for sharing.

[cdnchris]

All those people who hated the grain on Criterion's BD will love this, but the SC looks to me like I'm watching the movie with my glasses off.

Thw words on the gravestone in the background of the first image certainly give that impression. They look much sharper in the Criterion and completely fuzzy in the SC.