Criterion Blu-ray in October

[John Johnson]

This is officially one of the most exciting days in the history of HD news reporting. The Criterion Collection has announced no fewer than five films for release on Blu-ray in October. On October 12, it will release The Magician (Ansiktet; Ingmar Bergman, 1958) and The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007); a week later, the anxiously-awaited Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai; Akira Kurosawa, 1954); and finally, on October 26, the label will release House (Hausu; Nobuhijo Obayashi, 1977) and Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957).

Special features include:

The Darjeeling Limited
Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier (part one of The Darjeeling Limited), starring Natalie Portman, with commentary by Anderson
Audio commentary featuring Anderson and cowriters Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola
Behind-the-scenes documentary by Barry Braverman
Anderson and filmmaker James Ivory discussing the film's music
Anderson's American Express commercial
On-set footage shot by Coppola and actor Waris Ahluwalia
Audition footage, deleted and alternate scenes, and stills galleries
Original theatrical trailer
A booklet featuring an essay by critic Richard Brody and original illustrations by Eric Anderson

House
Constructing a House, a new video piece featuring interviews with director Nobuhiko Obayashi, story scenarist and daughter of the director Chigumi Obayashi, and screenwriter Chiho Katsura
Emotion, a 1966 experimental film by Obayashi
New video appreciation by director Ti West (House of the Devil)
Theatrical trailer
An essay by Chuck Stephens

The Magician
New visual essay by Bergman scholar Peter Cowie
Brief 1967 video interview with director Ingmar Bergman about the film
Rare English-language audio interview with Bergman, conducted by filmmakers Olivier Assayas and Stig Björkman
A booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoff Andrew, a reprinted essay by Assayas, and an excerpt from Bergman's autobiography Images: My Life in Film

Paths of Glory
New audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins
Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas
New video interviews with Kubrick's longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christiane Kubrick
Excerpt from a French television program about real-life World War I executions similar to the events dramatized in Paths of Glory
Theatrical trailer
An essay by Kubrick scholar James Naremore

Seven Samurai
Two audio commentaries:
Film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie
Japanese film expert Michael Jeck
A 50-minute documentary on the making of Seven Samurai, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create i>
My Life in Cinema, a two-hour video conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima produced by the Directors Guild of Japan
Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences, a new documentary looking at the samurai traditions and films that impacted Kurosawa's masterpiece
Theatrical trailers and teaser
Gallery of rare posters and behind-the scenes and production stills
A booklet featuring essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Kenneth Turan, Stuart Galbraith, Arthur Penn, and Sidney Lumet and an interview with Toshiro Mifune

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4884