The Criterion Collection is ending the year with one of the best months of new announcements in quite some time. For March, we're getting two Blu-ray upgrades, and four new releases of titles by Terrence Malick, Fritz Lang, Charlie Chaplin and Robert Bresson. If you love movies, there's going to be a couple here to excite you.

On March 12, Criterion is releasing Fritz Lang's 'Ministry of Fear' and upgrading 'The Blob' to Blu-ray. Here are the covers and specs for both:

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  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • New interview with Fritz Lang scholar Joe McElhaney
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Glenn Kenny
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  • New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Two audio commentaries: one by producer Jack H. Harris and film historian Bruce Eder and the other by director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. and actor Robert Fields
  • Trailer
  • Blobabilia!, a gallery of collector Wes Shank’s rare trove of stills, posters, props (including the blob itself!), and other ephemera
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Kim Newman
Then on March 19, they offer Terrence Malick's 'Badlands' and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' upgraded to Blu. Here are the specs and artwork for both:
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  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Making “Badlands,” a new documentary featuring actors Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek and production designer Jack Fisk
  • New interview with editor Billy Weber about director Terrence Malick’s unique approach to editing
  • New interview with producer Edward Pressman
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda
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  • New 4K digital master from the 2012 Film Foundation restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary featuring director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
  • Video introduction by Scorsese
  • A Profile of “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” a twenty-four-minute documentary
  • Restoration demonstration, hosted by Scorsese
  • Interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell’s widow
  • Gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production stills
  • Gallery tracing the history of David Low’s original Colonel Blimp cartoons
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Molly Haskell
Then on March 26 comes Robert Bresson's 'A Man Escaped' and Charlie Chaplin's 'Monsieur Verdoux.' Here are the specs and artwork:
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  • New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Bresson: Without a Trace, a 1965 episode of the television program Cinéastes de notre temps in which the director gives his first on-camera interview
  • The Essence of Forms, a forty-five-minute documentary from 2010 in which some of Bresson’s collaborators and admirers, including actor François Leterrier and director Bruno Dumont, share their thoughts about the director and his work
  • New visual essay with text by film scholars David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Tony Pipolo
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  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Chaplin Today: “Monsieur Verdoux,” a 2003 program on the film’s production and release, featuring filmmaker Claude Chabrol and actor Norman Lloyd
  • Charlie Chaplin and the American Press, a new documentary featuring Chaplin specialist Kate Guyonvarch and author Charles Maland
  • New video essay featuring an audio interview with actress Marilyn Nash
  • Radio advertisements and trailers
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and reprinted pieces by Chaplin and critic André Bazin
Time to start saving money for these starting now.

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