Discs To Own - My Darling Clementine, Eraserhead

Criterion has announced two disc that I'm excited about.

First up, John Ford's take on the gunfight at the OK Corral, My Darling Clementine. Here are the specs:

New 4K digital restoration of the theatrical release version of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
High-definition presentation of the 103-minute prerelease version of the film
New audio commentary featuring John Ford biographer Joseph McBride
New interview with western historian Andrew C. Isenberg about the real Wyatt Earp
Comparison of the two versions by the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s Robert Gitt
New video essay by Ford scholar Tag Gallagher
A Bandit’s Wager, a 1916 short costarring Ford and directed by his brother, Francis Ford, featuring new music composed and performed by Donald Sosin
NBC broadcast reports from 1963 and 1975 about the history of Tombstone and Monument Valley
Lux Radio Theatre adaptation from 1947 starring Henry Fonda and Cathy Downs
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic David Jenkins

My Darling Clementine has little to do with history; but it is a masterful use of space, light and black and white photography to tell a multi-layered visual story. Plus, you get Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp and and Victor Mature as Doc Holiday. This will be replacing the old 20the Century Fox disc.

Check it out at Criterion.

Next, David Lynch's Eraserhead. I first saw this in college and I found the experience so intense, I had to take a break for a while just to process what I was seeing. Many people find this incomprehensible, pretentious or even boring. I think it is one of Lynch's finest films and a stunning celluloid nightmare. The Criterion disc offers:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director David Lynch, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
“Eraserhead” Stories, a 2001 documentary by Lynch on the making of the film
New 2K digital restorations of six short films by Lynch: Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee, Version 1 and Version 2 (1974), and Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995), all with video introductions by Lynch
New documentary featuring interviews with actors Charlotte Stewart and Judith Roberts, assistant to the director Catherine Coulson, and cinematographer Frederick Elmes
Archival interviews with Lynch and members of the cast and crew
Trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an interview with Lynch from filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley’s 1997 book Lynch on Lynch

You can get all the details here.