The Criterion Collection

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three" (1961) Starring James Cagney - one of Wilder's and Cagney's best films

oh, sorry about that. didn't know about that one either.

[Musicguy]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

oh, sorry about that. didn't know about that one either.

Cagney plays a Coca-Cola Executive in Berlin - it's great fun. He's taking care of the 17 year old daughter of his boss (but she runs off with a communist). Cagney must find her and get everything right before the boss arrives from the USA the next day.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

ranked, I'd go:

Double Indemnity
Witness for the Prosecution
Sunset Boulevard
Some Like It Hot
The Seven Year Itch
The Lost Weekend

will probably change after I revisit them.. just about all are due for a rewatch

I need to rewatch them, as well.

Sunset Boulevard
The Lost Weekend
Witness for the Prosecution
The Seven Year Itch
Double Indemnity
Ace in the Hole
Some Like It Hot
The Apartment
Sabrina
Stalag 17
Love in the Afternoon
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

How the heck am I supposed to rank Death Mills?

[Brian81]

Question - Which titles (other than the initial releases) had the packaging change (ex. from digipak to regular case)? Example: 'Foreign Correspondent', 'Breathless'.

I used to dislike the Criterion's digipaks, but lately I've been starting to like them because they're less ordinary than the plastic cases. Also, if you were to change your mind, do they (Criterion) sell the other form of packaging (ex. replacement sleeves) for a small fee like they did those early titles?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Question - Which titles (other than the initial releases) had the packaging change (ex. from digipak to regular case)? Example: 'Foreign Correspondent', 'Breathless'.

I used to dislike the Criterion's digipaks, but lately I've been starting to like them because they're less ordinary than the plastic cases. Also, if you were to change your mind, do they (Criterion) sell the other form of packaging (ex. replacement sleeves) for a small fee like they did those early titles?

Foreign Correspondent and The Night of the Hunter (available for $5 on Criterion's store) are the only two that have been repackaged in plastic cases. The Leopard will also be repackaged in another month or so.

The 400 Blows and Breathless were re-released in dual format editions, but that did not affect them in terms of Plastic vs. DigiPack.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

I like a lot of Kurosawa, but only really love Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and Ikiru. I much prefer Ozu and Mizoguchi.

Nothing wrong with that.

[StLouisRibs]

Isn't the Lost Weekend likely to come from Criterion, though? I'd assumed it to be coming but just assumed it to be a bit off still (plus there was already a Wilder release earlier this year).

[octagon]

Originally Posted by StLouisRibs

Isn't the Lost Weekend likely to come from Criterion, though? I'd assumed it to be coming but just assumed it to be a bit off still (plus there was already a Wilder release earlier this year).

Universal released Double Indemnity and Touch of Evil themselves (in very nice limited edition collector sets, no less) so it's kind of hard to say for sure whether they'd license The Lost Weekend or not.

If they do license it out the one would think Criterion would be the front-runner but even that's far from certain these days.

[The Great Owl]

Ranking the Billy Wilder movies that I've seen in order of preference. This is tough. I know that Double Indemnity is my favorite (and it's one of my all-time top 10 movies), and I know that Death Mills is my least favorite (*shudders*). The rest of them fall somewhere in between in no particular strict order, although I would certainly put the three big film noirs and The Apartment on top.

Double Indemnity
Sunset Boulevard
Ace in the Hole
The Apartment
Some Like It Hot
Sabrina
The Seven Year Itch
Stalag 17
The Lost Weekend
Witness for the Prosecution
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Death Mills

In all honesty, though, these are all five-star movies in my book except for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, which earns a solid four stars, and Death Mills, which I only saw once.

I felt as though I were the luckiest person on the planet when I saw a big screen showing of Double Indemnity at Fox Theatre earlier this summer. That was a wonderful "bucket list" experience.

I saw Fedora when I was a kid, but I sadly do not remember enough about it to include it on the above list. I remember it being somewhat darker and more disturbing than I expected, but that may just be childhood perceptions.

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Days of Wine and Roses is probably a more realistic portrayal of alcoholism. Both excellent films. Jack Lemmon is extraordinary in that film.

Jack certainly is great but Lee Remick is haunting in the role of his Wife,

[Show spoiler]her fall is tragic

[octagon]

Billy Wilder is kind of a strange case for me. He's one of my favorite directors but I rarely fall in love with his films the first couple times through.

Double Indemnity, The Apartment and Sabrina are the main exceptions. Those I just loved from the start.

(The Fortune Cookie is half an exception...I liked that a lot right from the start but it had serious The Apartment *and* The Odd Couple vibes working in its favor).

But it took me a while to fall in love with Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17 and I'm still kind of in the process of fully embracing Ace in Hole (which I just watched a few nights ago), Some Like it Hot, The Lost Weekend, The Seven Year Itch and Witness for the Prosecution.

And I'm still fairly cool toward some of his later stuff (though I do want to give a lot of it another look).

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Clare2904

Jack certainly is great but Lee Remick is haunting in the role of his Wife,

[Show spoiler]her fall is tragic

If you like Lee Remick, then you should check out the excellent Elia Kazan film, Wild River.

Of course, on that note, I guess that I should keep it real in this thread and recommend the brilliant Criterion Blu-ray of Anatomy of a Murder if you have not already seen that one.

Lee Remick is also lovely and awesome in Experiment in Terror, which is almost sold out from Twilight Time, so you'd better hurry.

I really ought to order the UK edition of The Omen Trilogy this month, since Lee Remick stars in the first film. I haven't seen those movies in forever.

[Musicguy]

No love for "One, Two, three" ??

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

If you like Lee Remick, then you should check out the excellent Elia Kazan film, Wild River.

Of course, on that note, I guess that I should keep it real in this thread and recommend the brilliant Criterion Blu-ray of Anatomy of a Murder if you have not already seen that one.

Lee Remick is also lovely and awesome in Experiment in Terror, which is almost sold out from Twilight Time, so you'd better hurry.

I really ought to order the UK edition of The Omen Trilogy this month, since Lee Remick stars in the first film. I haven't seen those movies in forever.

Anatomy of a Murder was purchased in my very first Criterion order

Wild River is something I'll look at

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Clare2904

Jack certainly is great but Lee Remick is haunting in the role of his Wife,

[Show spoiler]her fall is tragic

I think Lemmon's performance is especially powerful and poignant because he was an alcoholic himself.

[Show spoiler]I really, really found him believable in that scene where he hits rock bottom.

[JJLong]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

Cagney plays a Coca-Cola Executive in Berlin - it's great fun. He's taking care of the 17 year old daughter of his boss (but she runs off with a communist). Cagney must find her and get everything right before the boss arrives from the USA the next day.

I believe One, Two, Three is the movie that made Cagney quit acting for years until he did Ragtime.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by JJLong

I believe One, Two, Three is the movie that made Cagney quit acting for years until he did Ragtime.

Yeah, I don't remember it being anything too amazing. Will have to revisit it I guess.

In fact, I feel like it's been too long since I watched a lot of his films to put together a list.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I'd be interested to hear you articulate on this point.

Originally Posted by BTTF_

Me too.
Violence is typically the antagonist, or "the villain," of Godard's films. It was exaggerated a bit in Weekend, but that was an artistic choice. Not too sure I can think of a time where it was "glorified."

Check back within a year, guys, and I'll be able to explain.

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I think Lemmon's performance is especially powerful and poignant because he was an alcoholic himself.

[Show spoiler]I really, really found him believable in that scene where he hits rock bottom.

Saw an interview..don't remember where..and Lemmon talked about that scene. Said he went full bore and knew he completely nailed it and was spent, but when the director called cut there was some technical snafu. He wound up having to do a 2nd take. The crew seemed to think the 2nd take was even more gripping than the 1st.

Very underrated dramatic actor IMO. I identify a LOT with his character in The Apartment.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Foreign Correspondent and The Night of the Hunter (available for $5 on Criterion's store) are the only two that have been repackaged in plastic cases. The Leopard will also be repackaged in another month or so.

The 400 Blows and Breathless were re-released in dual format editions, but that did not affect them in terms of Plastic vs. DigiPack.

Thank you! I seem to waver on which I prefer, so I want to keep both on hand (original digibook, plus replacement sleeve insert kept in a drawer).

{EDIT: Did you mean that both FC and NotH had replacement sleeves available, or just the latter? I only saw NotH available on Criterion's store.}


One of these days I will have to look into replacement trays for those original digipaks. Or rip one off another, and find a way to remove the old tray without tearing the artwork. My 'Bottle Rocket' tray is cracked.

So did Criterion stop doing the BD/DVD combo packs? I knew they started those, but all the recent releases are BD only.