The Criterion Collection Announces Its October Calendar Of New Film Restorations

The Criterion Collection announced its slate of new 2K and 4K film restorations that will be available for film buffs — and consumers in general, of course — during the month of October.

Topping the list (and that is always a subjective evaluation) is director Henry King’s 1950 Western, Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck as legendary gunfighter, Jimmie Ringo, who has grown weary of his reputation, which constantly makes him the focus of quick-draw challenges.   The film opens with such a duel, which leads inexorably to more and more violence … and an ultimate showdown.

Filmed on location in Lone Pine, California, the Criterion Collection has new 4K film restoration ready for both DVD and Blu-ray release on Oct. 20.   This glorious black and white production should really pop with this new digital restoration.

Bonus features include a newly-prepared video session with filmmaker, writer and archivist Gina Telaroli about the extraordinary career of director Henry King (twice nominated for Best Director — Wilson (1944) and The Song of Bernadette (1943)) and second, also new, view session with film historian J.E. Smyth on the work of film editor Barbara McLean (nominated seven times for Oscars, with a win for Wilson … other films for which she was nominated include All About Eve, The Rains Came and the aforementioned The Song of Bernadette).

There are also archived interviews featuring both Henry King and Barbara McLean from the 1970s.   Of note, the Criterion Collection says there are “more” bonus goodies in the works … we hope that one of these might be the Screen Directors' Playhouse radio recreation which was broadcast on June 7, 1951 and also featured Gregory Peck.

Other restorations heading home as newly minted Blu-ray and DVD product offerings from the Criterion Collection during the month of October include French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 New Wave thriller, Pierrot le Fou (Oct. 6), starring Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo; director John Berry’s 1974 romantic comedy, Claudine (Oct. 13), teaming Diahann Carroll (nominated for Best Actress) with James Earl Jones; filmmaker Stephen Frears’ 1984 crime saga, The Hit (Oct. 20), featuring Terence Stamp, Tim Roth and John Hurt; and finally, a double-disc Blu-ray and three-disc DVD presentation of Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite (a new 4K restoration on Oct. 27), which somehow managed to win the Best Picture Oscar over the far superior Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood by auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.