Criterion Blu-ray in December

The Criterion Collection has announced four titles for Blu-ray release in December. On December 4th, the studio will release Purple Noon (René Clement, 1960)

Plein soleil a.k.a Purple Noon

Alain Delon was at his most impossibly beautiful when Purple Noon was released and made him an instant star. This ripe, colorful adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's vicious novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by the versatile René Clément, stars Delon as Tom Ripley, a duplicitous American charmer in Rome on a mission to bring his privileged, devil-may-care acquaintance Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) back to the United States; what initially seems to be a carefree tale of friendship soon morphs into a thrilling saga of seduction, identity theft, and murder. Featuring gorgeous on-location photography in coastal Italy, Purple Noon is crafted with a light touch that allows it to be suspenseful and erotic at once, while giving Delon the role of a lifetime.

Special Features:
New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
New video interview with René Clément scholar Denitza Bantcheva
Archival interviews with actor Alain Delon and novelist Patricia Highsmith, on whose book The Talented Mr. Ripley the film was based
Original English-language trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey O'Brien and a reprinted interview with Clément