The Criterion Collection

[DarkRyder]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

On dvd, if so I can list many as it's my favorite period of Hollywood films excluding the silent era. Would you be fine with dvd-r, as Warner Archive, etc has a bunch.

I'm fine with whatever is recommended, even if it is hard to obtain due it being a VHS, I'm just really curious to delve into this period

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

I'm fine with whatever is recommended, even if it is hard to obtain due it being a VHS, I'm just really curious to delve into this period

Ok, off the top of my head here are some of my favorites, either filmmakers, horror films, etc and at the same time well known pre-code films that can all be found on Amazon either on dvd or dvd-r:

William A. Wellman:

Safe in Hell (dvd-r from Warner Archives)
The Public Enemy (blu-ray coming out next month I believe. Great recommendation since you loved Scarface.)
The Hatchet Man (dvd-r set from Warner Archives)

Josef von Sternberg:

Dishonored (one of my favorite films, dvd-r from Amazon)
Shanghai Express (dvd-r from Amazon)

Both of these films can be found on pressed discs in a set together from TCM, don't know if they are still pressed or not.

A few of my favorite horror films:

Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (dvd-r from Amazon)
White Zombie (blu-ray from Kino)
The Mask of Fu Manchu (dvd in the Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection.)
Freaks (dvd, hoping the rumored pre-code film from Criterion is this)

Another recommendation, Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face, Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman, and Mae Clarke in Waterloo Bridge, which all are in a dvd set: TCM Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Collection - Volume One.

Basics, and there are tons more I can list, but Warner Archive's site is the place to go after these, as well as Universal putting out dvd-r releases on Amazon (Black Cat being one). Hope ya like them as much as I do.

[DarkRyder]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

Ok, off the top of my head here are some of my favorites, either filmmakers, horror films, etc and at the same time well known pre-code films that can all be found on Amazon either on dvd or dvd-r:

William A. Wellman:

Safe in Hell (dvd-r from Warner Archives)
The Public Enemy (blu-ray coming out next month I believe. Great recommendation since you loved Scarface.)
The Hatchet Man (dvd-r set from Warner Archives)

Josef von Sternberg:

Dishonored (one of my favorite films, dvd-r from Amazon)
Shanghai Express (dvd-r from Amazon)

Both of these films can be found on pressed discs in a set together from TCM, don't know if they are still pressed or not.

A few of my favorite horror films:

Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (dvd-r from Amazon)
White Zombie (blu-ray from Kino)
The Mask of Fu Manchu (dvd in the Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection.)
Freaks (dvd, hoping the rumored pre-code film from Criterion is this)

Another recommendation, Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face, Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman, and Mae Clarke in Waterloo Bridge, which all are in a dvd set: TCM Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Collection - Volume One.

Basics, and there are tons more I can list, but Warner Archive's site is the place to go after these, as well as Universal putting out dvd-r releases on Amazon (Black Cat being one). Hope ya like them as much as I do.

These are perfect! Oh, and I've wanted to see other films by Edgar G. Ulmer; we had to watch Detour in a class of mine and it was fantastic! Can't wait to dig into these, thanks!

[JJLong]

I'd also recommend Little Caesar along with The Public Enemy.

I love the pre-code era. It is too bad that WB owns my favorites from that era. I'd love to see Criterion get their hands on some.

Footlight Parade in particular.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

These are perfect! Oh, and I've wanted to see other films by Edgar G. Ulmer; we had to watch Detour in a class of mine and it was fantastic! Can't wait to dig into these, thanks!

Ulmer's films are fantastic (Detour being one). The Black Cat is his most known obviously, one of the big Universal Horror films and the first of the Karloff/Lugosi pairings. After this film, Ulmer went on to become known for the "b-movies" and such. It sucks that this film is down in dvd-r land in Universal and not on blu-ray or even dvd like the other Universal horror films.

Also, if you want more Ulmer don't forget to check out the Criterion release of People on Sunday, as he co-directed.

There is also a nice documentary on him from Kino on dvd.

[Swift1246]

Criterion just announced on Facebook that all of their streaming titles through Hulu are now listed on their website. These include many that Criterion has never released in disc form. You can see the comment I made asking criterion to please not abandon physical media and to release more titles per month.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I watched the first five episodes of the first season of The Twilight Zone last night, and am stunned at how much better these episodes look on Blu-ray than I've ever seen them in any other format. I grew up watching the show, I owned a few VHS tapes of various episodes, and I had the Definitive Collection on DVD, but this high definition set blows them all away. There is an alternate pilot version of the first episode that features a different introduction, and, since this particular pilot version is in standard definition, I was able to make direct comparisons to the high definition version. Amazing difference.

I have not even scratched the surface of this box set, but I am already considering it to be the best Blu-ray purchase that I've ever made.

Probably should get to these sooner rather than later. I started the 1st season dvd set a few years back, but never quite got around to finishing it, just plain ran out of time/energy, and probably somewhere along the line the blus were announced. I think I got thru about the first 20 episodes or so, maybe 1/3 I'd probably not seen before (hard to remember since I mostly watched them on tv either on initial airings or more likely the following decade or so). Basically, it's been a long while since I've seen pretty much any of them. Still a few other tv series I want to catch up on first.

[UNCMT9]

Originally Posted by Swift1246

Criterion just announced on Facebook that all of their streaming titles through Hulu are now listed on their website. These include many that Criterion has never released in disc form. You can see the comment I made asking criterion to please not abandon physical media and to release more titles per month.

I've watched about 5 Criterion films this week thanks to Hulu. Gives me a chance to watch before a buy. They were offering a three month free trial.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

Tod Browning's Freaks, for sure.

I second this. I got around to this when I attempted to make my way through Cahiers du Cinema's 100 essential films.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by Sherlock_Jr

Again...

...

They didn't project 1.75:1 in theaters in 1966, not in the US or Europe. Period. It remains a 1.85:1 film regardless of how Paramount chooses to alter it on home video. The original 1997 DVD used the same master as the Laserdisc. But the 2002 edition appears to be 1.85:1. I just checked it against several other 1.85 films and the bars are the same.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4210/...ect-ratio.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060955/...ef_=tt_dt_spec

I doubt opening up the top and bottom will amount to much - studios do it often with 1.85:1 films, opening them up to 1.78 — but that doesn't make it the OAR.

It's also entirely possibly that I'm 100% wrong. But it seems odd to shoot a film in an OAR that didn't even exist in 1966, unless the filmmakers were just trying to be trippy along with the film itself.

Regarding SECONDS, I am not sure what aspect ratio was originally intended (and it's been so long since I've seen it that I don't remember whether the 16mm film society print I saw was 1.33 or letterboxed to 1.66 or 1.75 or 1.85).

However 1.75 was indeed a once-common and regularly used aspect ratio as late as the 1970s (LAST TANGO IN PARIS was shot for 1.75:1 in 1972), though less so in the United States after 1955. From 1953-54, most MGM and Warner Brothers productions were shot for 1.75 (while other studios used 1.66, 1.85, or 2:1). By about 1956 the American studios generally compromised on the 1.85 ratio at about the same time the British studios compromised on the 1.75 ratio. When the Beatles film A HARD DAY'S NIGHT came out in 1964, the leader had specific instructions as to the aspect ratio so American theatres would know how to run it correctly.



Again, whether SECONDS was composed for or originally screened in 1.75 is something I have no documentation for, but it is indeed a real ratio that was in use. The 16x9 ratio made up in the 1990s for video and HDTV was never a regularly used theatrical ratio before that time, and is so close to 1.75 as to be insignificant (since many theatres slightly overcrop or undercrop anyway, whatever the aspect ratio). Besides the online Widescreen Museum, which I'm sure most people are aware of, there is a well-researched presentation of various formats at http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/wi...-documentation relating to the format turmoil of the 1950s.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I second this. I got around to this when I attempted to make my way through Cahiers du Cinema's 100 essential films.

You should see Browning's The Unknown, I prefer it to Freaks actually. It's a darkly comic film with plot twists that will have you jumping with glee.

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

Basics, and there are tons more I can list, but Warner Archive's site is the place to go after these, as well as Universal putting out dvd-r releases on Amazon (Black Cat being one).

In the event you don't know, some of the collections released lately have Pre-Code films that are presented in the surviving cut, that is ... the censored version.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

You should see Browning's The Unknown, I prefer it to Freaks actually. It's a darkly comic film with plot twists that will have you jumping with glee.

Yes! And check out the excellent Todd Browning-Lon Chaney WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928) as well as its very Pre-code sound remake KONGO (1932) starring Walter Huston.

Other Precode titles to look for are just about any film starring Warren William between 1931 and 1934.

[Scottie]

Here's a photo from Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac, posted by the Melancholia Facebook page.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I watched Torn Curtain a few minutes ago and I loved it.

It was a really enjoyable spy film and it was everything I was looking for. Highly recommended.

Told ya. ;D

I think it is terribly underrated and from most other directors, it would probably be held as more of a classic.

[Owozifa]

Probably the two releases I'm looking forward to most are Shoah and To Be Or Not To Be and it just struck me that that's an odd pairing. I've wanted to see Shoah for many years and it's just awesome that Criterion is the one putting it back in print.

Personal story of woe that some might want to ignore:

I don't often get broken merchandise from Amazon, but my copy of Leon Morin, Priest had a weird rip in the cover art and a broken disc holder. Got a replacement and this case is cracked and the corner spine is broken. Only now of course Amazon is no longer offering replacements, and likely won't as it's out of print. This is the only time I've ever gotten two broken Blu-rays in a row from them and it just had to be out of print. I suppose I'll just have to get a replacement case.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by fdm

Probably should get to these sooner rather than later. I started the 1st season dvd set a few years back, but never quite got around to finishing it, just plain ran out of time/energy, and probably somewhere along the line the blus were announced. I think I got thru about the first 20 episodes or so, maybe 1/3 I'd probably not seen before (hard to remember since I mostly watched them on tv either on initial airings or more likely the following decade or so). Basically, it's been a long while since I've seen pretty much any of them. Still a few other tv series I want to catch up on first.

I'm really enjoying this Blu-ray set so far, and I never imagined that The Twilight Zone episodes would ever look this good. In addition to the improved picture quality, the Blu-ray set has a great many brand new extras along with the extras that have been carried over from DVD.

Keeping this Criterion-related, my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Hitch-hiker", makes for a great double feature with Criterion's Carnival of Souls.

I'll be watching these episodes for a long while as I go through them in sequential order. Now that I've watched all my other Blu-rays, I've got all the time in the world. Time enough at last.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

In the event you don't know, some of the collections released lately have Pre-Code films that are presented in the surviving cut, that is ... the censored version.

Wasn't aware of that. Which sets are like that?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

Told ya. ;D

I think it is terribly underrated and from most other directors, it would probably be held as more of a classic.

I agree.

Topaz on the other hand...

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I agree.

Topaz on the other hand...

Yeah, that wasn't much of much.

Still, even his worst films have something in them to appreciate.