The Woody Allen Collections

Discuss releases from Arrow and the films on them.

Moderator: yoloswegmaster

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#126 Post by MichaelB » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:44 am

I remember working with an artist on a couple of projects, one of which was a nightmare because a chunk had to be redone on the grounds of not quite matching the contractual requirements concerning the relative sizes of the two stars' heads, and then I offered him something Eastern European.

Wearily, he said "So what are the contractual requirements this time?"

I said "As far as I'm aware, none at all."

"What, you mean I have total creative freedom?"

"Yup."

"Wow!"

Incidentally, I suspect this might partially explain why Second Run's covers are invariably so good. Obviously, Robert Riley's designs are a whopping part of the reason, but it seems to me that hardly any of them - possibly not even any - would have been labouring under the kind of contractual restrictions that affect all major studio licenses to this day. When I oversaw The Manchurian Candidate, someone complained that we'd failed to mention Angela Lansbury on the cover, as though it was our decision rather than a contractual stipulation from 1962 that only the three main stars get that kind of prominence. (She is sort of on the Arrow cover, but that constitutes a mild spoiler.)

User avatar
TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#127 Post by TMDaines » Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:31 am

Do they design considerations run in perpetuity? Will certain films have to always be advertised with certain constraints until they fall into the public domain?

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#128 Post by MichaelB » Fri Oct 14, 2016 10:12 am

TMDaines wrote:Do they design considerations run in perpetuity? Will certain films have to always be advertised with certain constraints until they fall into the public domain?
In a word, yes. The contract for, say, Sweet Smell of Success is fast approaching its 60th birthday, but its stipulations about credit size, order and content and who can and cannot be featured on the artwork (and if one person appears, who else must appear at the same size) remain just as binding as ever.

But in my experience it's generally only major studio films that come with this sort of thing - I've produced numerous releases sourced from France, Italy and various eastern European countries and have had complete carte blanche. Or rather, I almost always need to secure the approval of the rightsholder before signing off on artwork, but I can't recall ever being up against any advance prescriptions (and proscriptions) other than the label's own house style.

Getting back on topic, Woody Allen is an unusual case in that his contracts with United Artists and Orion (effectively the same company in terms of personnel) insist on his own personal approval of all artwork, disc contents, etc. But that's very very rare indeed.

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#129 Post by Ribs » Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:49 am

Ribs wrote:The second set should be entirely white on the side assuming they're all using their most famous posters of the two we don't know about
Well, it was a nice hope while it lasted.

Image

TonyleStephanois
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:28 am
Contact:

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#130 Post by TonyleStephanois » Fri Oct 14, 2016 12:03 pm

Ribs wrote:
Ribs wrote:The second set should be entirely white on the side assuming they're all using their most famous posters of the two we don't know about
Well, it was a nice hope while it lasted.

Image
Per the original poster of course, but I am glad to say that from SLEEPER on, all the spines are white.

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#131 Post by Ribs » Fri Oct 14, 2016 12:05 pm

That's good!

User avatar
hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#132 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:07 pm

MichaelB wrote:
TMDaines wrote:Do they design considerations run in perpetuity? Will certain films have to always be advertised with certain constraints until they fall into the public domain?
In a word, yes. The contract for, say, Sweet Smell of Success is fast approaching its 60th birthday, but its stipulations about credit size, order and content and who can and cannot be featured on the artwork (and if one person appears, who else must appear at the same size) remain just as binding as ever.
Ah, now that I look at Arrow's new and vintage covers and Criterion's design, the stipulations do stand out. "If Curtis' face is on there, you HAVE to have Lancaster's somewhere." "Lancaster's name on the left or above Curtis'." etc.

I have to say, I thought some of Twilight Time's designs for Woody Allen's films were not just disappointing but poorly chosen, so I'm surprised that he gave them his approval. (Or maybe his management?)

User avatar
PfR73
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#133 Post by PfR73 » Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:50 pm

Ribs wrote:That's good!
The spines contain potassium benzoate.

User avatar
hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#134 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Oct 14, 2016 3:02 pm

Image

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#135 Post by domino harvey » Fri Oct 14, 2016 3:06 pm

hearthesilence wrote:Image
I can't believe Allen approved this for the September cover art

User avatar
bugsy_pal
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 1:28 am

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#136 Post by bugsy_pal » Sun Oct 16, 2016 8:56 pm

hearthesilence wrote:I have to say, I thought some of Twilight Time's designs for Woody Allen's films were not just disappointing but poorly chosen, so I'm surprised that he gave them his approval. (Or maybe his management?)
You're not kidding! The one they did for Purple Rose of Cairo is an abomination.

User avatar
The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#137 Post by The Narrator Returns » Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:19 pm

I'm looking at the Caps-a-holic for Interiors, and wow, I knew the DVD looked bad before, but the jump from that to the Blu-Ray is literally night-and-day.

User avatar
rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
Location: Hants, UK

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#138 Post by rapta » Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:44 am

The third box set of the remaining titles will likely be announced tomorrow, by the way.

Should be called Woody Allen: Seven Films 1986-1991 and will include Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, September, Another Woman, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Alice, and Shadows and Fog, with separate editions of those first two in February and the others in the following months ahead.

Will be great to get hold of some of these! Not sure I'll be buying the whole box sets but definitely the ones I already know I like, and some I've been recommended.

PS: I watched Play It Again Sam on Netflix just the other day and really enjoyed it. Since it's a Paramount title, I'd hope MoC or someone could get it, but not holding my breath. It's actually more likely MoC will get Martin Ritt's The Front seeing as they have a Sony deal at the moment...or maybe even Husbands and Wives, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Sweet and Lowdown.

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#139 Post by Ribs » Fri Nov 11, 2016 11:57 am

As expected, it's coming out 20 February. Even better, it's actually listed at the same MSRP as the others even though it has another disc!

When the listing first popped up on the site there was the information about who was writing each of the essays, but that's since disappeared. All I recall is that Richard Ayoade was on the list.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#140 Post by domino harvey » Fri Nov 11, 2016 1:04 pm

Image

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#141 Post by Ribs » Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:25 pm


User avatar
The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#142 Post by The Narrator Returns » Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:02 pm

Yikes, Stardust Memories looks really noisy.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#143 Post by domino harvey » Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:33 pm

It's not noise, it's grain!

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#144 Post by Ribs » Wed Nov 30, 2016 7:25 pm

The second set is now in stock at the Arrow store.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#145 Post by domino harvey » Wed Dec 28, 2016 12:30 am

I've seen it countless times but somehow I never realized Mrs Johnson's blond boy Van was in the Purple Rose of Cairo until reading the interview in the Arrow book. Also, Woody Allen is a terrible interview subject when it comes to his own work!


User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#147 Post by Ribs » Wed Feb 08, 2017 12:50 am

The final set is now in stock at the Arrow store

User avatar
colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#148 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Feb 11, 2017 4:45 pm


User avatar
The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#149 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Feb 17, 2017 11:35 pm

I have the third set in my hands now, and can at least say that Richard Ayoade's piece in the book "about" Crimes and Misdemeanors is a hoot. If nothing else, I will never look at Vilmos Zsigmond the same way again after reading Ayoade's description of him.

User avatar
Dylan
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm

Re: The Woody Allen Collections

#150 Post by Dylan » Sat Feb 18, 2017 1:28 am

The Narrator Returns wrote:I have the third set in my hands now, and can at least say that Richard Ayoade's piece in the book "about" Crimes and Misdemeanors is a hoot. If nothing else, I will never look at Vilmos Zsigmond the same way again after reading Ayoade's description of him.
Do you mean Sven Nykvist? And just curious, can you elaborate at all on what Ayoade says of the cinematographer?

Post Reply