Last spring I lamented the many Criterion commentary tracks that are no longer available. Back in the days of Laserdiscs, Hollywood studios often licensed Criterion to release special editions of their films. When DVDs destroyed the Laserdisc market, the studios decided to release those titles themselves rather than through Criterion. The films remain available, but the commentaries went out of print. For more details, see The Lost Criterion Commentaries.
But I think I may have found a solution to the problem–and it’s from a company whose mission is about as far from Criterion’s as it can get.
RiffTrax sells downloadable, comic commentary to movies both good and bad. Run by three veterans of Mystery Science 3000, it sells downloadable .mp3 files where Mike Nelson and his collaborators crack wise to everything from Casablanca to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
RiffTrax doesn’t just sell.mp3s. They also market DVDs and Blu-ray discs of movies with their commentaries, and do live performances (you can read my report on one of them). Nor are they the only group of MST3K veterans to run such a business; Cinematic Titanic provides similar entertainment (and I’ve got a report on them, as well). But for the moment, let’s stick to RiffTrax’ .mp3s.
Almost three years ago, I purchased, downloaded, and tried to enjoy their Raiders of the Lost Ark shenanigans. But I found myself struggling so much to keep the commentary synced with the movie that I gave up after half an hour. I doubt I’m the only one who has had that problem.
The company is now beta-testing a solution–a specialized program for Windows and the Mac called RiffPlayer. As you might guess, it plays the DVD and the .mp3 in sync. I tried it out, and found that while it was a bit rough around the edges (it is beta, after all), it worked. Every gag was on cue, even when skipping chapters.
But I see no reason why this technology should be limited to RiffTrax–even if they did develop it. I asked a company spokesperson whether they might license the technology to others, and was told that the idea was "an interesting one, and we may explore it in the future as a possibility."
So now I’m going to make a couple of pleas, one to Criterion and one to RiffTrax:
Criterion, please contact RiffTrax and try to license their technology. With it, you can sell .mp3s of your commentaries to such films as It’s a Wonderful Life, Jason and the Argonauts, and Bad Day at Black Rocks.
And RiffTrax, if Criterion contacts you, please be receptive. Offer them a reasonable price.
This is a win-win-win situation. Both companies get an extra, easy income stream. And cinephiles get access to important but currently-unavailable pieces of film history.
I readily admit that I don’t know all of the issues involved. There may be a hundred unsolvable problems that could keep this from happening. But it seems worth considering.
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