CriterionCast

Kino Announces Massive Buster Keaton Blu-ray Set And More From Their December Slate

Yeah, ladies and gentlemen. Christmas in film world is going to be quite expensive this year.

Kino is hot on Criterion’s heals with their December release announcement, and it’s every bit a doozy.

Leading Kino’s slate will be arguably the year’s biggest December box set, The Ultimate Keaton Collection, which will include Kino’s short film collection, The Saphead, Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., Three Ages, The Navigator, Seven Chances, Go West, Battling Butler, The General, College (a box set exclusive)  Steamboat Bill, Jr. and Lost Keaton. The Lost Keaton set looks at his short films from 1934-37, all making for what is easily the most must-own Blu-ray box set that the fall has to offer.

Then there are two more Mario Bava films hitting Blu-ray in the form of Baron Blood and Kidnapped, both of which   will be on Blu-ray for the first time ever. Finally, as far as Blu-rays go, they will release Sternberg’s The Blue Angel also on Blu-ray for the first time ever.

Here are the rest of Kino’s pending December releases:

12/4 – ALPS (2012, Yorgos Lanthimos, DVD only)

 

12/4 – PABLO LARRAÍN: DIRECTOR’S SET (2-DVD set includes TONY MANERO (2010) and POST MORTEM (2012))

 

12/18 – JASON BECKER: NOT DEAD YET (2012, Jesse Vile, DVD only)

 

12/24 – THE WELL-DIGGER’S DAUGHTER (2012, Daniel Auteuil, DVD & Blu-ray)

 

12/31 – PUTIN’S KISS (2012, Lise Birk  Pedersen, DVD only)

 

From our new ARTSPLOITATION label:

 

12/11 – GANDU (2011,  Kaushik Mukherjee, DVD only)

 

Overall, it’s hard to say just what I’m most excited about. I’m a huge fan of Kino’s pending Bava releases (reviews of which I’ll have tomorrow), and Angel is an absolute masterpiece from one of the film world’s most influential filmmakers. However, that Keaton box set is simply both quality and quantity. Kino has put on a clinic with their Blu-ray releases of Keaton’s filmography, and the chance to see two new collections in the form of Steamboat and the intriguing Lost Keaton collection (which features sixteen of the icon’s comedy shorts from the mid ‘˜30s) is so damn enticing. I’m a firm believer that Keaton is the greatest comedian to ever live, so this all sounds far too good to be true.

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Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.