The Criterion Collection

[moviebuffed]

Owl, I see you mentioned reserving The Ghost And Mrs. Muir today. I picked up my copy yesterday. With the 40% off sale and membership discount it came to somewhere around 13.49 total. The transfer is excellent. I'm sure you're going to love it.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by moviebuffed

Owl, I see you mentioned reserving The Ghost And Mrs. Muir today. I picked up my copy yesterday. With the 40% off sale and membership discount it came to somewhere around 13.49 total. The transfer is excellent. I'm sure you're going to love it.

Thanks for the recommendation! My Barnes & Noble sadly notified me that they were not able to locate The Ghost and Mrs. Muir or The Bridge on the River Kwai in their store, so I simply used my membership to order those titles with the same discount and the free shipping.

At the store this afternoon, I ended up buying...

Rio Grande
Johnny Guitar
Serpico

I usually prefer to buy Olive Films titles from ImportCDs, but the 40% sale and a coupon allowed me to buy the above two for even cheaper. Johhny Guitar was directed by Nicholas Ray, whose film, Bigger Than Life, is a beautiful Criterion title. Let's hope that Criterion picks up Ray's They Live By Night one day.

I'll be lying low in January to catch up in a backlog of Blu-rays in my stack, but January is a cold month anyway.

[hustlermane]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I am currently using a free trial membership of Amazon Prime this month to get me through the Christmas season, and I just enjoyed a free stream of Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 film noir, Detour. What a great film! I hope that it comes out on Blu-ray someday somehow.

Agreed, terrific film. However it is in the public domain (which probably explains why your stream was free) and unfortunately for that reason it means it's probably less likely to get the blu treatment any time soon (or at least, a decent one) - when every man and his dog is allowed to produce a DVD of the movie, or view it for free online, it takes a real financial risk to give it top treatment. The noir D.O.A. is another great film that might be destined to this same fate, but I hope I'm wrong, or that a company like Criterion or something more boutiquey feels that dedicated fans would pay to have it done right...

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by hustlermane

Agreed, terrific film. However it is in the public domain (which probably explains why your stream was free) and unfortunately for that reason it means it's probably less likely to get the blu treatment any time soon (or at least, a decent one) - when every man and his dog is allowed to produce a DVD of the movie, or view it for free online, it takes a real financial risk to give it top treatment. The noir D.O.A. is another great film that might be destined to this same fate, but I hope I'm wrong, or that a company like Criterion or something more boutiquey feels that dedicated fans would pay to have it done right...

Film Chest releases public domain movies on Blu-ray for cheap prices. I found Delmer Daves's The Red House for five dollars at a used store the other day, and am about to finish watching it tonight. Film Chest is quite liberal with their DNR scrubbing, but the image softness is not hampering my enjoyment of the film on my modest-sized television, and I've seen much worse in terms of picture quality. I also ordered the Film Chest Blu-rays of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and Kansas City Confidential, since I was able to find both for less than $10, and I've been wanting to see the movies.

Now, Kino picked up The Stranger for a great Blu-ray release after Film Chest previously released a Blu-ray, so maybe they can work the same magic with the above titles. Kino is good to the public domain stuff.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by hustlermane

Agreed, terrific film. However it is in the public domain (which probably explains why your stream was free) and unfortunately for that reason it means it's probably less likely to get the blu treatment any time soon (or at least, a decent one) - when every man and his dog is allowed to produce a DVD of the movie, or view it for free online, it takes a real financial risk to give it top treatment.

Aren't most of the Hitchcock CC releases PD films?

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Now, Kino picked up The Stranger for a great Blu-ray release after Film Chest previously released a Blu-ray, so maybe they can work the same magic with the above titles. Kino is good to the public domain stuff.

and most of it without english sub. thats not really a great release at all ^^

[oildude]

Originally Posted by octagon

2014 is looking pretty good for Wilder.

The newsletter cartoons (I'm assuming that's where the Ace in the Hole cartoon came from) don't generally fall into the 'hey, whatever happened with...' black hole that New Year's clues sometimes find their way into so Ace in the Hole seems like a lock for next year.

Sabrina (and Funny Face, I know that's not BW but it seems wrong mentioning one without the other) are already up for preorder and Double Indemnity has gotta be coming from somebody sometime soon.

In fact, give me The Fortune Cookie and I'd be pretty satisfied, Wilder-wise.

I know a lot of people like Witness for the Prosecution (and I would almost certainly buy it) but The Fortune Cookie would pretty much be my last must have.

Fedora is coming from Olive sometime in 2014.

[jrsl76]

Excellent news about Ace In The Hole. I've been holding up on picking that up for years waiting on a blu. Glad that it will soon be joining my collection.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by oildude

Fedora is coming from Olive sometime in 2014.

I'm not sure I've ever seen any of that. I'm not a huge fan of his later stuff but even though I've never say down and watched say The Front Page or Avanti! from start to finish I've seen pretty decent chunks of them.

Fedora might be a completely blind buy though.

Cool

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

It is true

And I love that it's the Ace of Spades

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Meek12345

Do you all think that Criterion could/would ever release Kill Bill:The Whole Bloody Affair?

"Pastiche of Other Movies" isn't quite a genre in itself, IMO.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

hey SOJ - how would you describe those films? I am curious about them, but hesitant to put them on a blind buy want list. are they lyrical like Pather Panchali? (saw that one recently) are they plot driven? (guessing not) to be filed under the category of art films? do they feature explorations of Indian culture? what can one expect w/ these films?

curious. thanks!

Hi, I'll say a few words about these movies:

Charulata is about the frustration (intellectual and emotional) of an intelligent housewife, who on account of the tradition of those times (pre-independence India) does not have a real outlet for her literary creativity, and her husband, although kind, is too wrapped up in his work to give her emotional companionship. In the midst of this comes a brother-in-law who with his attention and appreciation of her talents, and his mildly flirtatious behavior arouses taboo passion in her. So there's a plot but the film is mainly concerned with the mindscape of the protagonist (brilliantly played by Madhabi Mukherjee). It is also a very visual film, containing some of the finest shot compositions and juxtapositions in Ray's filmography.

About Mahanagar aka The Big City, I had done a review on my blog which I will quote here:

It's a little sad that Satyajit Ray has a reputation as an arthouse film-maker, which to most Indians signifies a dry, intellectual exercise, difficult to digest or pretentious, because IMO more than anything else, his main interest has been in telling interesting stories in an interesting and clear manner. With a couple of songs and perhaps a dollop of slapstick, his film Mahanagar could easily sit amongst the popular films of Basu Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and should definitely be checked out by the people who like those films.

The story is about how a conservative middle-class family in Calcutta is affected when financial circumstances require that the wife should also take up a job. The film looks at it from two aspects:
1) The impact on the other family members - the loving but traditional husband, his orthodox parents, the young child (They all have reservation to some extent, and the only unequivocal supporter is the husband's kid sister, who sees it as a projection of her own ambitions)
2) The changes in the woman herself - how she grows from a shy house-bound wife to a more confident worldly-wise person.
Without any arty pretensions, but with the sharpness of observation and empathy towards the characters which are his strongest assets, Ray paints a very tangible portrait of this little personal revolution in the traditional family. Of course he is here immensely aided by the marvelous chemistry between the gorgeous Madhabi Mukherjee and Anil Chatterjee - their husband-wife relationship is a very credible and heartwarming picture of romance and friendship, mischief and responsibility. While some reality-obsessed curmudgeons may find the film's end unduly optimistic, it is a very well-placed happy ending, representing the never-say-die spirit of hope over adversity that keeps humanity alive. Ray's touch is very much evident in the screenplay and the visuals - many times, more is conveyed than said, with the use of beautiful visual metaphor or plain restraint, allowing the sensibility of the audience to fill in the gap. For this film he also composed the score, which is lovely and worth hearing on its own. All in all, highly recommended, and screw the snobs who regard it as a "minor film".

[tylergfoster]

Originally Posted by ravenus

"Pastiche of Other Movies" isn't quite a genre in itself, IMO.

People are free to hate Tarantino, but nothing makes me roll my eyes harder than this criticism of him. If you can't look at the thousands and thousands of people trying to copy Tarantino and failing, and see that he clearly does more than just blend references together, then you're blind.

That said, I think at this point, the best estimate of chances of ever seeing The Whole Bloody Affair on home video is roughly 0%.

[The Great Owl]

For the fans of Delmer Daves, director of 3:10 to Yuma and Jubal...

Here is my User Review of The Red House.

Awesome film. Passable Blu-ray.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by tylergfoster

People are free to hate Tarantino, but nothing makes me roll my eyes harder than this criticism of him. If you can't look at the thousands and thousands of people trying to copy Tarantino and failing, and see that he clearly does more than just blend references together, then you're blind.

The criticism was specific towards Kill Bill. I've enjoyed some of Tarantino's films, but this one (or two) constantly pulled me out of the story and characters and general immersion factor with the "oh look, REFERENCE" bits. The movie(s) had a very obvious cobbled together aspect. For Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown or Inglourious Basterds, I would not be complaining.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by octagon

In fact, give me The Fortune Cookie and I'd be pretty satisfied, Wilder-wise.

I know a lot of people like Witness for the Prosecution (and I would almost certainly buy it) but The Fortune Cookie would pretty much be my last must have.

Not The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes?!?!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by hustlermane

Agreed, terrific film. However it is in the public domain (which probably explains why your stream was free)

Not really. Amazon Prime membership carries with it the ability to stream a lot of movies for free (setting aside the AP membership fee). While there are certainly a fair share of P.D. films, there are a crapload that are not.

and unfortunately for that reason it means it's probably less likely to get the blu treatment any time soon (or at least, a decent one) - when every man and his dog is allowed to produce a DVD of the movie, or view it for free online, it takes a real financial risk to give it top treatment.

And yet it happens. Kino's edition of Scarlet Street is a prime example. It was sourced from a restoration by the Library of Congress. Another great film that was, bizarrely, in the Public Domain for a while was Hawks's His Girl Friday. After coming out on DVD from some P.D. labels, Sony released their own, superior, DVD of it.

The noir D.O.A. is another great film that might be destined to this same fate, but I hope I'm wrong, or that a company like Criterion or something more boutiquey feels that dedicated fans would pay to have it done right...

The Roan DVD looks terrific for a P.D. label release.

Originally Posted by smoss469

Aren't most of the Hitchcock CC releases PD films?

Yes and no. Apparently, a fair number of the early British Hitchcock films are back in copyright due to restorations that have been done on them. At least the restorations are copyrightable. I imagine that the same old versions mastered from VHS-EP recordings of folded, spindled, and mutilated prints are still in the Public Domain.

One other Criterion DVD that's a P.D. film is The Most Dangerous Game, which got a Blu-ray release from Flicker Alley. I haven't seen it, but there's one user review here on blu-ray.com that gives it high marks.

[TheHighRoller]

In preparation for watching 12 Years a Slave on Monday, I decided to finally watch two Michael Fassbender/1 Steve McQueen film(s).

First I saw Hunger. I thought it was very beautifully shot and executed, even if the subject matter was very dark and realistic. Honestly, I loved it more than I thought I would.

Then I saw Fish Tank. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I thought it was really good. Michael Fassbender was loveable in the beginning, but then became a despicable a*shole during the twist. That definitely surprised me. In all, I love the way it was shot- which is saying a lot as I think unrefined hand-held is not the best way to go when shooting an entire film. I thought the end was sad (even the part involving the little girl).

It's funny- I think Hunger has more replay value for me than Fish Tank, which is the opposite of what I thought when I bought them. I'm still happy I own them though.


Now I have to find the right time to watch Shame.

[drawohua]

1st Place: 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman (will buy it in Next Feb)
2nd Place: Autumn Sonata (Owned)
3rd Place: Tokyo Story (Will buy it in Next Feb)
4th Place: Ivan's Childhood (Owned)
5th Place: On the Waterfront (Will but it in Next Feb)

Best Criterion blind buy of 2013: Autumn Sonata

Most Eagerly Awaited Criterion release of 2014 (so far): Jules et Jim! Definitely!

[Infernal King]

Kill Bill, taken as a whole, is one of the most epic, entertaining and, by the end, emotional movies I've ever seen. As far as I'm concerned, it's Quentin Tarantino's masterwork and the film that best defines him.