The Criterion Collection

[latehong]

Originally Posted by ukulelemonster

If Criterion were to release a movie directed by Roger Corman, which one would you think they would pick? (I'm assuming they haven't released any on dvd or laserdisc).

Should be The Intruder (1962). Everything about it screams Criterion. And it would be the first William Shatner (who's only five years younger than Corman, by the way) film in the collection as well.

[JupiterMission]

Originally Posted by latehong

Should be The Intruder (1962). Everything about it screams Criterion. And it would be the first William Shatner (who's only five years younger than Corman, by the way) film in the collection as well.

Exactly what my guess would be.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by ladysnowblood

Syberberg's German Trilogy has just been restored!
· Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King
· Karl May
· Hitler – A Film from Germany

I neeeed this box set + «Theodor Hierneis or How to become a former royal chef» & «The Confessions of Winifred Wagner» as supplements

Amazing to hear this. His Parsifal is probably the best opera I know on disc, and I think it's only on DVD. While we're planning the set, let's toss that one in as well.

[Ender14]

Just got around to watching my 3:10 to Yuma criterion and noticed it has 3 cover art inserts. I only figured it out because I noticed the corner was flipped up on the back. I pulled it out to fix it and there were 2 other inserts with it. Luckily one of them wasn't folded. Anyone else ever experience this?

[dvining]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Just got around to watching my 3:10 to Yuma criterion and noticed it has 3 cover art inserts. I only figured it out because I noticed the corner was flipped up on the back. I pulled it out to fix it and there were 2 other inserts with it. Luckily one of them wasn't folded. Anyone else ever experience this?

I got two booklets in one case before.

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Since he's holding Seventh Seal, worth mentioning that Corman distributed Cries and Whispers.....in drive-in theaters!

[dkelly26666]

Originally Posted by Taylor3978

Since he's holding Seventh Seal, worth mentioning that Corman distributed Cries and Whispers.....in drive-in theaters!

Yes, in Corman's New World Pictures years, he could easily go back and forth between distributing Cries and Whispers, Amarcord, Dersu Uzala, Autumn Sonata, The Tin Drum, or Fitcarraldo, and releasing things like Death Race 2000, Piranha, Humanoids from the Deep, or Shogun Assassin.

I love it.

He also gave a young Scorsese a break hiring him to direct Boxcar Bertha (that was AIP, though).

He had an incredible eye for talent, too. Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Coppola and Scorsese and a legion of others got some of their earliest work from Corman.

[Rayjg]

I wonder if he had a young upcoming hotshot director shoot some additional scenes for Cries and Whispers?

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

He had an incredible eye for talent, too. Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Coppola and Scorsese and a legion of others got some of their earliest work from Corman.

Peter Bogdanovich and Targets. Corman still had Karloff under contract for a few days, so that was how Karloff got his last great film.

The dude was a mensch.

[DukeTogo84]

While Criterion has about 8,000 Japanese films, I kinda hope they release The Demon (1978) at some point. I saw this 20 or so years ago when HVE released and I rented it. I remember it being one of the most depressing films I had ever watched and told myself I probably would never watch it again. However, it was such a well made film and really shows how some people aren't meant to be parents and the cruelty that children sometimes have to endure. I think it's a very important film and really feel like Criterion should give it a physical release.

[Martin_31]

I was unsure on which thread to post my thoughts on the last couple of movies that I watched, but I decided to post it on here because the recent one is in the collection. Today I finished All that Heaven Allows, and I absolutely adore the film: the colors, the acting, the composition; truly a great film. It is the first Douglas Sirk film I've seen and now I wish to watch his other melodramas. Rock Hudson, what a handsome man, plays the carefree man to Jane Wyman's middle class, country club one. Both are amazing, but I have to give the hand to Wyman.

On the topic of melodrama, the previous film was Johnny Guitar, which I now consider one of my favorite westerns alongside The Wild Bunch and Once Upon Time in the West. The color, cinematography, acting, directing and dialog (which was perfect) truly makes this an excellent film. The scene where Mercedes McCambridge and the posse arrive, and she stops to turn around before opening the doors, and she opens them as the camera moves in toward Joan Crawford playing the piano. What a shot. Magnificent film.

Now on to how I followed this path of colorful melodrama: I watched--on Mubi--Almodóvar's Woman on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown where Ray's film plays an important role. I had to search online what film was being referenced. As for Almodóvar's film, I found it fine; not one of my favorites. I can see that Sirk and Ray must have been a huge influence on his work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for other melodramas? Bonus if it's from another country.

[Sifox211]

The director most often referenced with Sirk is Fassbinder, also in the collection, so that might be a way to go (if you haven’t already).

[Jorvic]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

[Show spoiler]I was unsure on which thread to post my thoughts on the last couple of movies that I watched, but I decided to post it on here because the recent one is in the collection. Today I finished All that Heaven Allows, and I absolutely adore the film: the colors, the acting, the composition; truly a great film. It is the first Douglas Sirk film I've seen and now I wish to watch his other melodramas. Rock Hudson, what a handsome man, plays the carefree man to Jane Wyman's middle class, country club one. Both are amazing, but I have to give the hand to Wyman.

On the topic of melodrama, the previous film was Johnny Guitar, which I now consider one of my favorite westerns alongside The Wild Bunch and Once Upon Time in the West. The color, cinematography, acting, directing and dialog (which was perfect) truly makes this an excellent film. The scene where Mercedes McCambridge and the posse arrive, and she stops to turn around before opening the doors, and she opens them as the camera moves in toward Joan Crawford playing the piano. What a shot. Magnificent film.

Now on to how I followed this path of colorful melodrama: I watched--on Mubi--Almodóvar's Woman on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown where Ray's film plays an important role. I had to search online what film was being referenced. As for Almodóvar's film, I found it fine; not one of my favorites. I can see that Sirk and Ray must have been a huge influence on his work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for other melodramas? Bonus if it's from another country.

Robert Aldrich's Autumn Leaves is often classed as a melodrama. It also stars Joan Crawford. Well worth a watch and a film that deserves a higher critical reputation than it currently seems to have.

[dancerslegs]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

I was unsure on which thread to post my thoughts on the last couple of movies that I watched, but I decided to post it on here because the recent one is in the collection. Today I finished All that Heaven Allows, and I absolutely adore the film: the colors, the acting, the composition; truly a great film. It is the first Douglas Sirk film I've seen and now I wish to watch his other melodramas. Rock Hudson, what a handsome man, plays the carefree man to Jane Wyman's middle class, country club one. Both are amazing, but I have to give the hand to Wyman.

On the topic of melodrama, the previous film was Johnny Guitar, which I now consider one of my favorite westerns alongside The Wild Bunch and Once Upon Time in the West. The color, cinematography, acting, directing and dialog (which was perfect) truly makes this an excellent film. The scene where Mercedes McCambridge and the posse arrive, and she stops to turn around before opening the doors, and she opens them as the camera moves in toward Joan Crawford playing the piano. What a shot. Magnificent film.

Now on to how I followed this path of colorful melodrama: I watched--on Mubi--Almodóvar's Woman on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown where Ray's film plays an important role. I had to search online what film was being referenced. As for Almodóvar's film, I found it fine; not one of my favorites. I can see that Sirk and Ray must have been a huge influence on his work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for other melodramas? Bonus if it's from another country.

Kings Row (1942). Something of a pre-Sirk Sirk movie, but even more depraved and brilliantly done. (Try to overlook that it stars Ronald Reagan.)

[Jobla]

Originally Posted by dancerslegs

Kings Row (1942). Something of a pre-Sirk Sirk movie, but even more depraved and brilliantly done. (Try to overlook that it stars Ronald Reagan.)

"Where's the rest of me?"

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Does anyone have any recommendations for other melodramas? Bonus if it's from another country.

I wish I could recommend Joan Crawford and John Garfield in Humoresque.....but it's not available on BD. WTF?

Two films that are simply brilliant, but very different from American fare.

.

Martin Scorsese is heavily channeling Max Ophuls in this:



ETA This pays homage to Brief Encounter in its opening:

[dvining]

Melodrama was extremely popular in Japan post-war, and I feel that Masaki Kobayashi had some very good examples.

Sincere Heart (or Sincerity) and Beautiful Days are two very good little melodramas, though Kobayashi has little presence in US friendly physical formats, so the best bet to checking them out is the Criterion Channel.

Heck, Sincere Heart doesn't even a movie page on this site.

Three Loves is slightly less successful, though still quite good, but it's got some wild thematic ambitions that show that Kobayashi was going to go places in Japanese cinema.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by martin_31

i was unsure on which thread to post my thoughts on the last couple of movies that i watched, but i decided to post it on here because the recent one is in the collection. Today i finished all that heaven allows, and i absolutely adore the film: The colors, the acting, the composition; truly a great film. It is the first douglas sirk film i've seen and now i wish to watch his other melodramas. Rock hudson, what a handsome man, plays the carefree man to jane wyman's middle class, country club one. Both are amazing, but i have to give the hand to wyman.

On the topic of melodrama, the previous film was johnny guitar, which i now consider one of my favorite westerns alongside the wild bunch and once upon time in the west. The color, cinematography, acting, directing and dialog (which was perfect) truly makes this an excellent film. The scene where mercedes mccambridge and the posse arrive, and she stops to turn around before opening the doors, and she opens them as the camera moves in toward joan crawford playing the piano. What a shot. Magnificent film.

Now on to how i followed this path of colorful melodrama: I watched--on mubi--almodóvar's woman on the verge of nervous breakdown where ray's film plays an important role. I had to search online what film was being referenced. As for almodóvar's film, i found it fine; not one of my favorites. I can see that sirk and ray must have been a huge influence on his work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for other melodramas? Bonus if it's from another country.

If you like Johnny Guitar (hands-down my no.1 favorite film of all time), please don't miss out on these two color cinemascope films directed by Nicholas Ray:



* And there's Rebel Without a Cause, of course, but that doesn't need any recommendation, does it?



Some of my favorite melodramas from the Criterion Collection, minus Douglas Sirk:





More favorites from other labels, again, minus Douglas Sirk:



* I linked the BFI edition of Madame de... instead of the Criterion release because the latter suffers from the excessive use of digital noise reduction. BFI fixed the issue.



Also, I've always believed that these two melodramas directed by James Gray (co-written with Richard Menello) are rare specimens embracing the classical sentiments and virtues of the genre without modern self-consciousness:





As for Almodovar's love of Johnny Guitar, he ended up making a short gay western titled Strange Way of Life earlier this year, and its poster instantly reminded me of the Ray film. (The actual film, I haven't watched yet.)





And finally, if you're a Criterion Channel subscriber, please check out the films of Keisuke Kinoshita and Mikio Naruse, especially Naruse, a filmmaker that should be praised as highly as Ozu, Mizoguchi, and Kurosawa (pronounced /naruse/, not /naruz/, by the way). Yearning for Naruse and The Snow Flurry for Kinoshita could be good starting points, from a melodramatic point of view.

[Rayjaymay]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

Roger Corman is probably the guy who mentored the most amount of directors in the collection! Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, Paul Bartel, Dennis Hopper, Monte Hellman, and Jack Nicholson...

One of my favorite quotes from Corman is something to the effect of, “If someone hung around with me for too long, they probably weren’t very talented”

[bonehica]

My ultimate guilty pleasure of excessive melodrama:



Doug Sirk it ain't, but I'll be damned if I don't get sucked into it's 156 minute parade of salacious storylines. No soapy melodramatic stone is unturned in this one. What's truly shocking about it's 9 Academy Award nominations, is that Franz Waxman's beautiful score wasn't one of them.