Why it should happen... Wes Anderson's most recent film is perhaps his most sincere and yet piercing story since The Royal Tenenbaums. Whereas his previous two releases (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited) received decidedly mixed reaction from both critics and viewers, MK was received much more positively. As with most of Anderson's work, the surreal, satirical plot concerns children and adults who act like children, but this time the kids are the stars. If nothing else, it was refreshing to be presented with childhood characters who stray from the cute-as-a-button-know-it-alls so prevalent in lesser films. ...but will it? This one probably has the best chance to see an actual Criterion edition of any film on this list. They've already released editions of five of Anderson's movies, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox will make six early this year. Not only that, but some of those titles were not only released by their original studios, but saw good success on home media and still ended up in the Collection. Anderson's partnership with Criterion has been both sustained and fruitful, so I would expect this to turn up there in a couple of years as it becomes harder to find in the current Blu Ray edition.
1. Rope (1948)
Why it should happen... Rope was a unique experiment for Alfred Hitchcock: a movie shot entirely in one take, with objects in the set used for changes of shot and to give the cameramen time to change reels. The story is based on the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case that has inspired not a few movies. It involves two college students and their attempts to pull off the perfect murder in order to prove their superiority to the lowly remainder of humanity. James Stewart has one of his darker roles as a professor who seems to sympathize with, and even encourage, the boys' ideas. Although the Hollywood Production Code necessitated an ending that took some of the teeth off this facet of the film, Rope remains one of the more interesting Hitchcock films outside of his most famous period. Side note: it's also one of the earliest films to be shot in color. ...but will it? Possibly. Some of Hitchcock's earlier, less known masterpieces, including The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, are already available on Blu Ray through Criterion. On the other hand, the Collection lost two other Hitchcock films, Notorious and Spellbound, when StudioCanal transferred the rights to their films to Lionsgate. It's becoming harder to find individual Hitchcock films, with most of them relegated to bare bones multi-movie collections, and that's a crying shame. If, as seems to be the case, the original studios are only really interested in more famous works like Psycho and Rear Window, it'd be great if they handed Rope over to someone who could do it up right.
