I Wanna Hold Your Hand

John Latchem

December 24, 2018

The Criterion Collection’s March 2019 slate will include The Magic Flute, The Kid Brother, Detour, Wanda, I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Japón.

Director Ingmar Bergman’s 1975 screen version of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute arrives on Blu-ray and DVD March 12 with a new 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras include a 1974 Bergman interview, a new interview with film scholar Peter Cowie, the feature-length 1975 Swedish TV documentary Tystnad! Tagning! Trollflöjten! about the making of the film, plus an essay by author Alexander Chee.

Also due March 12 on Blu-ray and DVD is a 4K digital restoration of the 1927 silent film The Kid Brother, starring comedy legend Harold Lloyd as a lawman in the Old West trying to escape the shadow of his brothers. Extras include the 1989 orchestral score by composer Carl Davis; an alternate archival organ score performed by Gaylord Carter; a 2005 commentary featuring filmmaker and Harold Lloyd archivist Richard Correll, film historian Annette D’Agostino Lloyd, and Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd; “Harold’s Leading Ladies,” a new conversation between author Cari Beauchamp and Suzanne Lloyd; “Anatomy of a Gag: Monkeyshoes,” a new video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns; behind-the-scenes stills gallery curated by Harold Lloyd archivist Richard Simonton Jr.; “Close to Home,” a new video essay on the film’s shooting locations by author John Bengtson; a Dutch television interview with Lloyd from 1962; a featurette from 2005 about Greenacres, Lloyd’s estate, hosted by Suzanne Lloyd; two restored rare early Lloyd shorts: Over the Fence (1917) and That’s Him (1918), with new Wurlitzer theater pipe organ scores and a discussion of their early film formats by archivist Dino Everett; a new tour of the Wurlitzer organ with composer Nathan Barr and organist Mark Herman; and an essay by critic Carrie Rickey.

Due March 19 with a new 4K digital restoration is the Blu-ray and DVD of 1945’s Detour, director Edgar G. Ulmer’s film noir about a down-on-his-luck nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) who finds himself with a dead body on his hands and nowhere to run — a waking nightmare that goes from bad to worse when he picks up the most vicious femme fatale in cinema history, Ann Savage’s Vera. The Blu-ray includes uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras include Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen, a 2004 documentary featuring interviews with filmmakers Roger Corman, Joe Dante and Wim Wenders, and actor Ann Savage; a new interview with film scholar Noah Isenberg, author of Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins; a new program about the restoration of Detour; The film’s trailer; and an an essay by critic and poet Robert Polito.

Also due March 19 on Blu-ray and DVD is 1970’s Wanda, written, directed by and starring Barbara Loden, about a women who tries to move beyond losing her husband and children by drifiting between bars and motels, falling prey to a series of callous men. The disc includes a new 2K digital restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Film Foundation and Gucci, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras include I Am Wanda, an hourlong documentary by Katja Raganelli featuring an interview with director Barbara Loden filmed in 1980; an audio recording of Loden speaking to students at the American Film Institute in 1971; a segment from a 1971 episode of “The Dick Cavett Show” featuring Loden; The Frontier Experience, a short educational film from 1975 about a pioneer woman’s struggle to survive, directed by and starring Loden; the film’s trailer; and an essay by film critic Amy Taubin.

Due March 26 on Blu-ray and DVD is I Wanna Hold Your Hand, the directorial debut of Robert Zemeckis. Co-written with Bob Gale, the 1978 film follows six teenagers on a mission to see the first live American appearance of the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. The disc features a new 4K digital restoration approved by Zemeckis and Gale, with a 5.1 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras include a new conversation among Zemeckis, Gale and executive producer Steven Spielberg; a new interview with actors Nancy Allen and Marc McClure; audio commentary from 2004 featuring Zemeckis and Gale; The Lift (1972) and A Field of Honor (1973), two early short films by Zemeckis; the film’s trailer and TV spots; an essay by critic Scott Tobias; and more.

Also due March 26 on DVD and Blu-ray is 2002’s Japón, about a suicidal man in Mexico whose encounter with a pious elderly woman reawakens his desires. The disc includes a new 2K digital restoration supervised by director Carlos Reygadas, with a 2.0 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras include a new conversation between Reygadas and filmmaker Amat Escalante; a video diary shot by actor Alejandro Ferretis during the film’s production; Maxhumain, a short film directed by Reygadas in 1999; a deleted scene; the film’s trailer; and a new essay by novelist Valeria Luiselli.