The Criterion Collection

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by octagon

I've only watched The Lost Weekend once but as much as I love Billy Wilder and like Ray Milland it really did very little for me.

That said, if it gets a domestic release I'd be very inclined to give it another look. I'm not really a huge Ministry of Fear fan but I'm already working myself into a mini-lather over the CC release.

I think it's pretty good, but I wouldn't call it a favorite of his films either (since there's so many of them that I absolutely love)..it is one of the 'darker' ones..so I usually completely forget about it when thinking about his filmography.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Ministry of Fear is a fine film, but I would also recommend seeing Ray Milland in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend, which he made a year later. For some reason people are not discussing it a lot, yet, in my opinion, it is one of the top 3 films and releases in Eureka's catalog:



Hopefully, it will eventually come to the Criterion Collection so that people in America could see it as well.

Pro-B

I agree that it's a very fine film with a great Ray Milland performance and some jaw dropping sequences, but not exactly a top 3 MOC nor a top 3 Billy Wilder. Too bad it's not Region A

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Not a problem. Fanny and Alexander is broken up into four parts, each about 60 - 90 minutes long.
My wife and I watched it over a week or so, like a miniseries. Another time, my friends and I watched it in one day.
Either way, it's great and one of my favourites.

Wow, thats great!! Thanks for the heads-up.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I agree that it's a very fine film with a great Ray Milland performance and some jaw dropping sequences, but not exactly a top 3 MOC nor a top 3 Billy Wilder. Too bad it's not Region A

Fair enough. But we agree to disagree. I do believe that it is one of Wilder's best films, it is a great presentation by MOC, and no other MOC release has anything remotely similar to Billy, How Did You Do It?.

Pro-B

[octagon]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Fair enough. But we agree to disagree. I do believe that it is one of Wilder's best films, it is a great presentation by MOC, and no other MOC release has anything remotely similar to Billy, How Did You Do It?.

Pro-B

What were the other two in your top three?

I got a few minutes to kill before the Hawks game starts

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by octagon

What were the other two in your top three?

..and what are your top 3?

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Ministry of Fear is a fine film, but I would also recommend seeing Ray Milland in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend, which he made a year later. For some reason people are not discussing it a lot, yet, in my opinion, it is one of the top 3 films and releases in Eureka's catalog:

Hopefully, it will eventually come to the Criterion Collection so that people in America could see it as well.

Pro-B

I got both The Lost Weekend and Double Indemnity last year. Both are great films and the blu-ray packages are outstanding.
Region-free people should definitely grab a hold of them...

[octagon]

Originally Posted by CoopFilm

..and what are your top 3?

I only have four

Sunrise and Double Indemnity definitely make the cut but my head and heart are split on whether the third slot should go to Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? or Le Silence de la Mer.

I'll be adding Dr. Mabuse to that (sooner rather than later, I think) and will also probably give up on a CC release of Touch of Evil. I also wish drbikeshorts would shut up about the dragon movie because that's starting to sound pretty good too.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by octagon

What were the other two in your top three?

I got a few minutes to kill before the Hawks game starts

Touch of Evil, because it is such a complete package of such a great film. And Sunrise, because MOC were the first to really push seriously silent films to Blu-ray.

My two favorite releases in their catalog, however, are the two Antonioni films, The Lady Without Camelias and Le Amiche. Seeing Eleonora Rossi Drago in HD is just a wonderful experience.

Pro-B

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by octagon

What were the other two in your top three?

I got a few minutes to kill before the Hawks game starts

I'll jump in here with an unsolicited reply:
I've got 12 Masters of Cinema releases and I couldn't pick my top 3 - they're all outstanding.
Number one would probably have to be Touch of Evil, simply because it is such a comprehensive package with some many different versions of the film.
But how could I possibly pick between Sunrise, Die Nibelungen, Harakiri, City Girl, Metropolis, Double Indemnity, Le Silence de la mer or even Johnnie To's Mad Detective?

[oildude]

Originally Posted by iScottie

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the film-noir genre.

I just finished The Third Man and I was very disappointed. First and foremost, the film dragged on significantly in my opinion. The film also had a lot of German speaking with no subtitles, which was often annoying.

I mean parts were good and had me interested, but overall I didn't like it. I was really hoping to like it too because I heard a lot of great things about it, plus I spent $170 on it, but oh well.

You win some, you lose some.

I get the impression you consume films like a 4th of July hot dog eating contest.

The Third Man is prime steak. Chew slowly and enjoy the experience.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by octagon

I only have four

Sunrise and Double Indemnity definitely make the cut but my head and heart are split on whether the third slot should go to Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? or Le Silence de la Mer.

I'll be adding Dr. Mabuse to that (sooner rather than later, I think) and will also probably give up on a CC release of Touch of Evil. I also wish drbikeshorts would shut up about the dragon movie because that's starting to sound pretty good too.

I won't - it's great!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the film-noir genre.

I just finished The Third Man and I was very disappointed. First and foremost, the film dragged on significantly in my opinion. The film also had a lot of German speaking with no subtitles, which was often annoying.

I love The Third Man from a historical perspective.

For me, The Third Man is sort of like the darker "evil twin" of Casablanca. While Casablanca had a distinct vibe of American optimism, The Third Man focuses on the closer-to-home havoc that WWII wreaked upon Europe in terms of both structural damage to buildings and emotional damage to the human psyche. The movie is basically a haunted house tour of war-torn Vienna, with bomb rubble amidst shadows, shady black market dealings, and dark corners. The shattered post-trauma lives of the characters are also at play, and there's a dark undercurrent to the questions of what Harry, Anna, and the others had to do in order to survive the war while others did not.

Visually, The Third Man plays almost like a Universal Monsters flick, except that the monsters are scarier because they are human beings.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by octagon

I only have four

Sunrise and Double Indemnity definitely make the cut but my head and heart are split on whether the third slot should go to Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? or Le Silence de la Mer.

I'll be adding Dr. Mabuse to that (sooner rather than later, I think) and will also probably give up on a CC release of Touch of Evil. I also wish drbikeshorts would shut up about the dragon movie because that's starting to sound pretty good too.

Oops--I meant top Wilder . Both were referenced in that post, so I should've been clearer.

I actually don't own any--but I'd like to get those first two, unless if they get US releases first (which I'm hoping for).

[The Great Owl]

A question for The Third Man peeps, since this thread got me thinking...

I own the most recent Criterion DVD edition of The Third Man. I would love to have the movie on Blu-ray for the best picture quality, but I do not want to shell out the money people are asking for the out-of-print Criterion Blu-ray.

How does the readily-available StudioCanal Blu-ray of The Third Man hold up? From what I've read, I probably will not be able to notice much of a difference between the two on my television, but I'm curious to know what others think of the StudioCanal release.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by CoopFilm

Oops--I meant top Wilder . Both were referenced in that post, so I should've been clearer.

Double Indemnity and The Apartment are absolute locks. Not just favorite Wilder but favorite films.

Sunset Boulevard would probably get the third spot. I always thought it was good but it was another one that took me a while to fully embrace. I watched it again on TCM last summer and about halfway through I thought 'ah, yeah, okay...this is what everybody sees in it'. I could just as easily go with Stalag 17 or The Fortune Cookie depending on when you ask though.

[The Great Owl]

Incidentally related to my mention of Casablanca in my review of The Third Man...

I took a break from Criterion stuff this weekend and watched my Blu-rays of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen.

The picture quality of The African Queen Blu-ray completely and utterly rocks my face. I never imagined that the movie would look this good.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre looks almost just as good. These are both high on my list of the most worthwhile Blu-rays, along with my single-disc edition of the new Casablanca restoration.

I was thinking of looking for some new Criterions this week, but I may have to reserve the cash spot to buy The Maltese Falcon Blu-ray instead, since I'm in that Bogart frame of mind.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I was thinking of looking for some new Criterions this week, but I may have to reserve the cash spot to buy The Maltese Falcon Blu-ray instead, since I'm in that Bogart frame of mind.

Great film and a great release. It's one of my favorite discs.

On a completely unrelated note, how's that coasting thing going?

[paulgeneacepeter]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

A question for The Third Man peeps, since this thread got me thinking...

I own the most recent Criterion DVD edition of The Third Man. I would love to have the movie on Blu-ray for the best picture quality, but I do not want to shell out the money people are asking for the out-of-print Criterion Blu-ray.

How does the readily-available StudioCanal Blu-ray of The Third Man hold up? From what I've read, I probably will not be able to notice much of a difference between the two on my television, but I'm curious to know what others think of the StudioCanal release.

Like you I didn't want to shell out the high price for the criterion version so I checked as many comparison reviews I could find and the criterion came out on top so I paid the extra money for the criterion blu ray of the third man and I still don't regret my decision.

[Rizor]

Originally Posted by iScottie

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the film-noir genre.

I just finished The Third Man and I was very disappointed. First and foremost, the film dragged on significantly in my opinion. The film also had a lot of German speaking with no subtitles, which was often annoying.

I mean parts were good and had me interested, but overall I didn't like it. I was really hoping to like it too because I heard a lot of great things about it, plus I spent $170 on it, but oh well.

You win some, you lose some.

I would say $170 is too much for any movie.

The Third Man is my favorite Criterion. My favorite film is Casablanca, and I've always thought of The Third Man as its darker, seedier cousin. There's so much to love about the movie. The opening narration & montage, that Anton Karas zither score, the cinematography and feel of postwar Vienna, the dialogue, Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, that closing shot. All perfect. The first time I'd really heard of the movie was probably back in 2000 when I saw Roger Ebert rave about the Criterion DVD on his show. I ended up renting the Criterion VHS (?!) from Blockbuster and I can't really remember what I thought of it. I remember liking it. I remember Orson Welles, sewers, and that amazing last shot of the movie. My appreciation of the film grew with subsequent viewings. I bought the special edition DVD when it came out and by then already I loved it.

It's definitely a movie that grows with age. You don't really come to love anything until you've known it for a while.