a few weeks ago US independent distributor Criterion – whose DVDs are the standard against which others are judged but which we rarely get time to cover here, more's the pity - confirmed that they would start releasing their titles on high definition blu-ray later this year, reviving a few back titles and simultaneously releasing some of the new ones on DVD and blu-ray. The good news is that the blu-ray discs will cost $39.95, exactly the same as the DVDs, and will have the same extra features. The bad news, at least for non-US (or Far east) residents, is that all of the blu-ray releases will be coded region A, and as yet mult-region blu-ray players are rare, expensive and their reliability against firmware updates has yet to be tested. Thus for most of us these releases will prove objects of desire that we can't yet play, although the very prospect of seeing some of them in hi-def has already got me considering a region A blu-ray player as a further expense to the hi-def upgrade (I'll be covering this process in more detail soon in an upcoming article on the subject).

The first wave of Criterion blu-ray releases will be released on November 25th 2008. Two of the releases, Bottle Rocket and Chungking Express, have been covered in specific stories. In addition Criterion will be releasing three titles from their back catalogue on blu-ray, each featuring restored high-definition picture and the same extras as the earlier DVD releases. The discs are detailed below.

The Third Man

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime--and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas's evocative zither score; Graham Greene's razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker's dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass.

Special Blu-Ray Edition features:

• Restored high-definition digital transfer;
• Uncompressed mono soundtrack;
• Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich;
• Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by by film scholar Dana Polan;
• Shadowing The Third Man (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film;
• Abridged recording of Graham Greene's treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke;
• Graham Greene: The Hunted Man, an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist;
• Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew;
• The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 A Ticket to Tangiers episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles, and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man;
• Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer;
• Actor Joseph Cotten's alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version;
• Archival footage of postwar Vienna;
• A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film;
• A booklet featuring an essay by Luc Sante.

The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Man Who Fell to Earth is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. The story of an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for Nicolas Roeg's visual tour de force, a formally adventurous examination of alienation in contemporary life. Rock legend David Bowie, in his acting debut, completely embodies the title role, while Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn turn in pitch-perfect supporting performances. The film's hallucinatory vision was obscured in the American theatrical release, which deleted nearly twenty minutes of crucial scenes and details. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Roeg's full uncut version, in this exclusive new director-approved high-definition widescreen transfer.

Director-approved Blu-Ray Edition features:

• High-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg;
• Uncompressed stereo soundtrack;
• Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry;
• New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, video interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn;
• Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell;
• Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim;
• Multiple stills galleries, including Routh's costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James;
• Gallery of posters from Roeg's films;
• Trailers;
• A booklet featuring an essay by critic Graham Fuller.

The Last Emperor

Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor won nine Academy Awards, unexpectedly sweeping every category in which it was nominated – quite a feat for a challenging, multilayered epic directed by an Italian and starring an international cast. Yet the power and scope of the film was, and remains, undeniable—the life of Emperor Pu Yi, who took the throne at age three, in 1908, before witnessing decades of cultural and political upheaval, within and without the walls of the Forbidden City. Recreating Ching dynasty China with astonishing detail and unparalleled craftsmanship by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, The Last Emperor is also an intimate character study of one man reconciling personal responsibility and political legacy.

Director-approved Blu-Ray Edition features:

• Restored, high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro;
• DTS-HD Master Audio stereo surround soundtrack;
• Audio commentary by director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Mark Peploe, and composer-actor Ryuichi Sakamoto;
• The Italian Traveler: Bernardo Bertolucci, a 53-minute film by Fernand Mozskowicz, tracing the director's geographic influences, from Parma to China;
• Video images taken by Bertolucci in China;
• The Chinese Adventure of Bernardo Bertolucci, a 52-minute documentary that revisits the film's creation;
• A 47-minute documentary featuring Storaro, editor Gabriella Cristiana, costume designer James Acheson, and art director Gianni Silvestri;
• A 66-minute documentary exploring Bertolucci's creative process and the making of The Last Emperor;
• A 30-minute interview with Bertolucci from 1989;
• A new interview with composer David Byrne;
• A new interview with Ian Buruma examining the historical period of the film;
• Theatrical trailer;
• A booklet featuring an essay by critic David Thomson.