The Criterion Collection

[BluPix]

I haven't firmly decided which Criterion titles I'll ultimately pick up from Barnes & Noble during their highly anticipated November sale (nor have I decided whether becoming a B&N member will really save me much more money during this particular sale), but there are many titles to choose from.

The ones I've preordered already that are likely to buy as part of the sale include...
-Fanny & Alexander
-Three Colors trilogy

Other potential-sale titles I'm considering (just considering), off the top of my head, include...
-Le Beau Serge
-Les Cousins
-The Phantom Carriage
-People on Sunday
-A Christmas Tale
-Summer Hours
-House
-The Complete Jean Vigo
-Close-Up
-Insignificance
-Something Wild
-My Life as a Dog
-Island of Lost Souls
-Dazed and Confused
-The Four Feathers
-Vivre sa Vie
-Cul-de-Sac
-Leon Morin, Priest
-Black Narcissus
-The Rules of the Game
-Identification of a Woman

Sigh...Decisions, decisions...

[BohemianGraham]

I've confirmed my sales titles:

Kuroneko
Dazed and Confused
The Wages of Fear
The Four Feathers
Amarcord

Depending on how the dollar goes, such as if it continues to go up, and if my funds are allocated properly for Christmas I may do a 3rd order of the following:

The Magician
The 400 Blows

Not sure about the latter two, because I have pre-orders for 12 Angry Men, Harry Potter, and Army of Shadows (not a pre-order but it's on the 12 Angry Men order).

I'm trying to get a good mix of colour vs. B&W films, and a variety of different languages.

[Zen_Amako]

I really like the cover for Kuroneko - the figure really seems to be disappearing like a ghost (it's not really apparent from looking at pics online).

The film itself didn't do much for me when I watched it via the UK DVD, however. I remember it just being OK.

[Boob-Ray]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Most if not all of the films are available on YouTube or Archive.org - why not take a look?.

After I initially asked the question about the Vigo set, this is exactly what I did -- checked out L'Atalante on The YouTubes.

I would agree with your assessments -- poetic and surrealistic. It looks like a film that could have easily been made in the late 1960s or early 70s. Pretty astonishing -- actually very astonishing to think it was made in the 30s...much less early 30s. Watching it I seriously had to remind myself I was watching a film from this period.

I may pick this up. Still not sure, I prefer American films for whatever reason (the characters perhaps). But it's good to hear the supplements are awesome -- and really, for me, that's like 90% of the reason I love Criterions. The films are always interesting and usually challenging (for better or worse) -- but the supplements are always fascinating and deepen my appreciation for the film and the art of film making in general.



----
Just as a side note: the end of the silent era and early sound era was such an artistic and creative period for film making and visual arts. The industry had been around long enough that great artists were arriving on the scene with a profound understanding of the power of the medium. And, I think, the real gift of the silents was this forced reliance on visuals -- visual storytelling -- that pervaded into the early sound era. Eventually new styles won out and sound got more robust and interesting that (unless one revisited these films) much of this visual mastery became lost on audiences and film makers.
----

[colinrgeorge]

Originally Posted by oildude

I think it depends on the film, and whether they have the cases in stock. If they are out of stock in their Kentucky warehouse, they will ship from their NYC office, or at least that is what they did for my replacement case for The Man Who Fell to Earth. It delayed my entire order by several weeks before they finally shipped out all but the case for TMWFTE. That came separately from their NYC office. Criterion never contacted me to explain the delay. After three weeks with no shipping email or anything, I finally sent an email to them. They were very responsive and nice, apologizing for not letting me know what was going on.

In the end, it took almost a month to get my order, and then I got two repeated orders within a few days of each other - one from the warehouse (including the previously out-of-stock TMWFTE case), and one from the NYC office, plus an additional case for TMWFTE.

I have since contacted them about returning all the duplicates they sent me.

Thanks. I'm plenty patient, but I like to be in the loop on the shipping process. Sounds like they're just slowpokes.

[colinrgeorge]

Originally Posted by retablo

Well, it was derived from a famous comedy of manners from the 19th century, updated to the late 30s. Few beforehand and few since have been handled so effectively.

Doubt it's very forgettable by Criterion standards, considering it ranks (on some lists) as one of the greatest films ever made. "The decennial poll of international critics by the Sight & Sound magazine ranked it #10 in 1952, moved it up to #3 in 1962, and #2 in 1972, 1982, and 1992; in 2002 it fell back to #3, behind Citizen Kane and Vertigo.[3]"

To me, it was forgettable. I don't care where Sound & Sight magazine ranks it.

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Thank you for your response. What supplement(s) did you find particularly good? And do you feel that the set is worth it based solely on L'Atalante and the supplements, or did you find the other encompassed films to also be enjoyable? From what I've read, people seem to recommend the collection based more on the undeniable influence of Vigo and the excellent quality of the restoration and supplements, rather than the quality or enjoyable nature of the films.

I think the best supplement on the Vigo set is the interview with Truffaut and Rohmer. Their assessment really spells out how Vigo's vision influenced their films and others of their time period. L'Atalante is a great film, very poetic and full of thoughtless substance, but I think Joe also said this too, Zéro de conduite is my favorite. Frankly, you see a lot of its influence in the 400 Blows. It's the gem of the disc....

[Yojimbo]

Originally Posted by SHMACKDOJO

Thanks. I'm plenty patient, but I like to be in the loop on the shipping process. Sounds like they're just slowpokes.

I've ordered three cases from them and they all arrived within a week with standard shipping. I had ordered The Last Emperor, The 400 Blows, and Last Year at Marienbad, so maybe they just had them all in stock at the time and were able to send it immediately.

[colinrgeorge]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo

I've ordered three cases from them and they all arrived within a week with standard shipping. I had ordered The Last Emperor, The 400 Blows, and Last Year at Marienbad, so maybe they just had them all in stock at the time and were able to send it immediately.

Just to be clear, these were covers I ordered, not cases. Kurosawa's Stray Dog DVD cover, and a Videodrome blu-ray slipcover.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by jcs913

I think the best supplement on the Vigo set is the interview with Truffaut and Rohmer. Their assessment really spells out how Vigo's vision influenced their films and others of their time period. L'Atalante is a great film, very poetic and full of thoughtless substance, but I think Joe also said this too, Zéro de conduite is my favorite. Frankly, you see a lot of its influence in the 400 Blows. It's the gem of the disc....

Agreed John...and I have to believe some sort of an influence on Lindsay Anderson and "If...." as well.

[timcat4843]

I would love to see the folks from the Criterion Collection get there hands on Jurassic Park and Apocalypse Now.

[Boob-Ray]

Originally Posted by timcat4843

I would love to see the folks from the Criterion Collection get there hands on Jurassic Park and Apocalypse Now.

I'd like to see them tackle O' Brother Where Art Thou?

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by rkish

Agreed John...and I have to believe some sort of an influence on Lindsay Anderson and "If...." as well.

That's a good point. You can speculate influence on many similarly styled films. Just to use ones in the blu-ray catalog; Au revoir les enfants and possibly Kes. I think I see the influence in one of my favorites, Bicycle Thieves also. As the style and substance of it seems to be similar of both Zéro de conduite and L’Atalante. Either way, for anyone on the fence about purchasing the Vigo set, treat yourself to some film history without even thinking about it....

[Yojimbo]

Originally Posted by SHMACKDOJO

Just to be clear, these were covers I ordered, not cases. Kurosawa's Stray Dog DVD cover, and a Videodrome blu-ray slipcover.

Ah, I see. Well, in that case...I have no experience with their shipping when it comes to that.

[Jayderek]

Originally Posted by fdm

Almost time for another 3 Colors marathon.

I cannot wait to do a marathon of these on Criterion Blu!

[BluPix]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I've confirmed my sales titles:

Kuroneko
Dazed and Confused
The Wages of Fear
The Four Feathers
Amarcord

Depending on how the dollar goes, such as if it continues to go up, and if my funds are allocated properly for Christmas I may do a 3rd order of the following:

The Magician
The 400 Blows

Not sure about the latter two, because I have pre-orders for 12 Angry Men, Harry Potter, and Army of Shadows (not a pre-order but it's on the 12 Angry Men order).

I'm trying to get a good mix of colour vs. B&W films, and a variety of different languages.

I don't know if you've already seen all those Criterion titles, but I strongly recommend Kuroneko if you like the idea of a ghost story mixed with a samurai tale mixed with a revenge story all told with a dreamy and surreal effect.

I recommend even more strongly The 400 Blows, which deserves its reputation as a masterpiece of the French new wave. It's another story of coming of age, childhood angst and rebellion and adult indifference, all of which we've seen in numerous other films, but it's the way the story is told that makes this film memorable. It's both realistic in terms of the acting and the images, yet stylized with its rich black & white cinematography and its music. I wish Criterion would upgrade the rest of its Antoine Doinel box set to blu-ray.

In any case, the Criterion releases of both title are strong. They both have strong picture and sound presentations and the extras, as always, are of a high quality and on The 400 Blows, are fairly plentiful.

[jcs913]

Does anyone know if the Carlos on Netflix streaming, the miniseries in 3 parts, is the exact same version as the Criterion release? It says it is unrated on the Netflix site, I assume just like the Criterion release, or no?

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Does anyone know if the Carlos on Netflix streaming, the miniseries in 3 parts, is the exact same version as the Criterion release? It says it is unrated on the Netflix site, I assume just like the Criterion release, or no?

It should be the same version, the mini-series one. I saw it on netflix myself, too, and wasn't there a Criterion logo at the start anyway? (I'm not sure, I thought there was)

[CaptYamato]

How is Identification of a Woman? I am thinking of picking it up during the sale.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Does anyone know if the Carlos on Netflix streaming, the miniseries in 3 parts, is the exact same version as the Criterion release? It says it is unrated on the Netflix site, I assume just like the Criterion release, or no?

The Criterion version will have both the 3-part mini-series, and a condensed "Movie version" included.