Yes, however, if one of us (those who haven't sought out those films prior to becoming introduced to the CC within the last few years) is not familiar with most titles when they're announced thinks that they're obscure, then they are to us...

You, on the other hand, are much more versed on a lot of these obscure Criterion and non-Criterion films released by some of the other studios, in addition to those that are not ever released (Brazilian films, for example).

While the majority of Criterion's output may be "ho-hum" to you, to some of us, there are some real gems of which we know nothing about!

Ugh, why can't these people make the spine and back cover when they make these fake Criterions??? I want to print these puppies out!!

But that's taking an egocentric view of things. A lot of these "obscure" titles aren't necessarily that obscure. ;)

I know it's not blu ray, but would you consider the release of Brand Upon The Brain obscure?

I meant by "obscure to us" that we had not heard of, or especially if we had not heard of it, but had not seen films like The Phantom Carriage, Le beau serge, The Last Metro, etc...

These aren't as big as, say, Last Year at Marienbad or Seven Samurai. At least to me they're not.

The films they release are still great movies. "Obscure" just means to me a couple different things:

1. films that wasn't praised or highly known at the time of original release (everything Bergman, Kurosawa or Godard did was highly popular and those filmmakers make up most of the films in Criterion.) Just because we live in a different time and a country that doesn't celebrate artists from other countries doesn't make them "obscure". They are "it" in other countries.

2. Thinking "obscure" in dvd terms, you can say it's a film that has never had a dvd release. And with this, are the 2 releases I was talking about, "The Moment of Truth" and I was going to say "The Music Room" but it's not really "obscure", being Ray's most known film, outside of the Apu Trilogy.

3. "Obscure" is something to everyone. I have said before, Star Wars can be obscure to a 3 year old. Godard is a pop icon to people in the 60's and the ones that know him now, but others might think he is obscure. I get your point on that one. I see "obscure" being experimental shorts from Shûji Terayama and Frans Zwartjes, while others might see "obscure" being Kurosawa's least known films.

Well played, well played.

I understand the point you guys were trying to make. I guess it is more difficult for someone like myself to see it that way without that knowledge, or without really thinking about what was popular at other times. Most Godard, Kurosawa, Bergman would be obscure to a teenager who grew up watching mainstream Hollywood films. That was me!

I am glad I can appreciate such films and directors today.

Now I know, and knowing is basically half of the battle.

Why does Danny Devito look "ready" if ya know what I mean...

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr....PSRfdZEqi6ZQs=

I'd say The Phantom Carriage was pretty important and not obscure.

I just bought Vivre Sa Vie as a blind buy because I loved Breathless. Anyone here own it? How's the film and transfer? It was only 16 bucks. Couldn't pass it up.

Well, it is hella old and I had not heard of it, which was my point. Lots of these movies, to me, are obscure, because they were not even close to being on my radar!

"A playful arse"...do I dare? ;)

Even though, most of the films Criterion releases are not "obscure" to me, I always have a great time watching most of them. To me, and from what they released this year, I can clearly see some of these releases as obscure...

- People on Sunday
- Leon Morin, Priest (Not one of Melville's most widely available titles :p)
- The Moment of Truth (Technically not from this year but already announced)
- Design for Living

In my opinion, Kino's catalogue is more "obscure" in terms of unknown or not as popular films.

Wow, an entire discussion about titles going OOP, and what ones would be considered "obscure".

As far as the OOP titles are concerned, I would suggest getting your favorite titles as you can...because you never really know if/when Criterion may lose the license. I will add that an official warning or notice would be very nice to have for each title that goes OOP.

IMO, the majority of people in the USA would consider a large portion of the Criterion collection to be obscure films.

The reasons have already been stated...Americans generally do not watch foreign films, are obsessed with 'splosions, do not really seek out films outside of the Hollywood mainstream, etc.

For film fans who are well versed in what the Criterion collection has to offer, it will seem as if there really aren't that many obscure spines in there. After all there are a lot of directors featured in the collection that have been extremely successful in their respective countries, or their films did very well at the time of release.

If you ask the "average person" (in the USA) what their favorite Criterion films are, they will likely respond with "What's Criterion?" I know this as I have asked a lot of people that profess to love movies...and yet they have no idea of who Criterion are.

To those people, almost all of the collection would be obscure. For Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin...a lot of these films are their favorite ones. :cool:

It'll cost you to find out.

Looks like we are getting an upgrade of "A Night To Remember" for sure.

Looks like A Night to Remember which is what everyone else on the facebook page thought and it's something I expected would either be out in March or April for the anniversary.

Very welcome news to me.

I received my copy from the Amazon deal & I can confirm its a BRAND NEW factory sealed copy. So those who kept away thinking it was a 'rental' or such missed out on a great bargain at $8.80 USD!! :D

Leon Morin is not obscure. Its leads are two French New Wave icons and it's directed by Melville. It may not be Melville's most popular film but it's certainly not obscure.