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By Ben McDonald

A number of noteworthy Blu-ray releases also arrive this month. Itt’s perhaps best to start with what the Criterion Collection is putting out in September. And surely the largest release of their month – in terms of sheer content – is Martin Scorsese‘s World Cinema Project No. 3. Including 6 feature films from around the world: Lucía (1968, dir. Humberto Solás, Cuba), After the Curfew (1954, dir. Usmar Ismail, Indonesia), Pixote (1980, dir. Héctor Babenco, Brazil), Dos monjes (1934, dir. Juan Bustillo Oro, Mexico), Soleil Ô (1970, Med Hondo, Mauritania), and Downpour (1972, Bahram Beyzaie, Iran). While I personally can’t claim to have seen or even heard of any of these films, their relatively obscurity is precisely why this project of beloved American auteur and film historian Martin Scorsese is such a welcome and exciting gift to home media collectors of world cinema.

Also arriving in the Criterion Collection this month is their fifth film of David Lynch, his sophomore 1980 feature The Elephant Man. The Elephant Man is one of Lynch’s more unusual films, mostly because of how not weird it is, bearing little of the director’s odd, surrealist sensibilities that have come to define his work to his fans and critics alike. The film is still quite good, a stunning portrait of empathy for the real historical figure of Joseph Merrick, a deformed man in late 19th century London who suffers from physical hardship and the cruelty of others alike. In addition to featuring superb performances from John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins, The Elephant Man also showcases some extraordinary make-up work – so extraordinary, in fact, that a new Academy Award for Makeup and Hairstyling was created after these effects were not shown awards appreciation upon the film’s release.

Next up are two classic films that I have not yet seen. The first is Roger Corman‘s 1964 The Masque of the Red Death, a gothic horror film based upon the 1842 Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name. The film deals with a variety of gothic motifs including Satanic worshipers, plague, and mysterious castles, and is the seventh Poe adaptation Corman made for American International Pictures. The film stars Vincent Price and notable for its lavish, colorful production design and cinematography by the acclaimed Nicolas Roeg. The film will be released on Blu-ray by Shout! Factory this month.

Paramount Presents is also releasing William Wyler‘s 1953 romantic comedy Roman Holiday this month. The film features Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck as a princess and reporter, respectively, whose paths cross in the city of Rome. Hepburn won an Academy Award for the film, but perhaps more interestingly one of the film’s screenwriters, Dalton Trumbo, was not credited for the film because he was on the Hollywood blacklist.

The final film coming out on Blu-ray this month that we’d like to bring up is a recent one, Kelly Reichardt‘s First Cow, which was briefly released in theaters just this year before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down life as we knew it. Although I have not seen the film yet, judging from critical reactions it would appear to be one of the most beloved films of the year, following the story of, yes, a cow. I recently dipped my toes into Reichardt’s filmography with Old Joy, which I liked quite a bit, so I’m excited to see what delightful direction her latest takes.