CriterionCast

Wacky Criterion Collection Newsletter Drawing Hints At Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing

It has certainly been a busy week for Criterion, and I have a dozen or so drafts of news stories to finish up over the weekend. With Tuesday’s June 2011 new release announcement, new Three Reasons videos, additions to the Hulu Channel, and a handful of other smaller pieces, Criterion has kept me busy. Earlier today we got our March e-mail newsletter, complete with a brand new “wacky” illustration from Criterion’s own Jason Polan. This is what we got:

Now, when I first saw the film, my brain immediately jumped to White Dog, and the possibility of a Blu-ray release. I’m pretty sure that was on James’ list of Blu-ray upgrades that he wanted to see when we recorded our bonus episode earlier this year. As soon as I put that idea out online, everyone was quick to point out that the dog was obviously from Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, from this scene in the film:



Now if you’ve been following along, you’ll know that late last summer, Criterion announced they would be screening The Killing at All Tomorrow’s Parties, and even commissioned an illustration for their collection of posters:

I think with this, it’s safe to assume that we’ll likely get Killer’s Kiss, another early Kubrick film which Criterion acquired from MGM during the later days of their recent bankruptcy. We’ve also entertained the idea that it would be quite a treat if Criterion was able to get the home video rights to Fear and Desire, which has recently been restored, and screened privately.

Since Warner Bros has most of the later, and more popular Kubrick films all locked up, it’s nice to see that Criterion is continuing to release those early titles that they can get their hands on, and release them in a manner that would make Kubrick proud.

If you’re interested in learning more about these early Kubrick films, I’d highly recommend you check out the first part in The Movie Geeks United series on Stanley Kubrick, which covers The Killing.

What do you think about the potential release of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing in the Criterion Collection? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Ryan Gallagher

Ryan is the Editor-In-Chief / Founder of CriterionCast.com, and the host / co-founder / producer of the various podcasts here on the site. You can find his website at RyanGallagher.org, follow him on Twitter (@RyanGallagher), or send him an email: [email protected].

6 comments

  • I hope they can dig up some decent archival supplements.
    I don’t need another hour-long retrospective telling me how awesome the movie I just bought is.

  • I’d always wanted to see Criterion do a double case set featuring Kubrick’s ‘The Killing’ and ‘Killer’s Kiss’. The name of the set could be ‘Two “Killer” Films by Stanley Kubrick’.

    If they do plan to release ‘Fear and Desire’ it should really only be a supplement to the other two films. There is a reason why Kubrick never wanted anyone to see it. It’s not very good.

  • Love both of these early works, but I do hope they package them together (assuming Killer’s Kiss gets a Criterion release). I’d hate to shell out Criterion prices for an hour-long movie.