The Criterion Collection

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by 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.

Billy Wilder films not yet on blu-ray (or not yet announced):

[I've bolded the ones most likely to hit blu-ray]

Buddy Buddy
The Front Page
Avanti!
The Fortune Cookie
Kiss Me, Stupid
Irma la Douce
The Spirit of St. Louis
A Foreign Affair
The Emperor Waltz
Five Graves to Cairo
The Major and the Minor
Mauvaise graine (co-directed)

[Yami]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Billy Wilder films not yet on blu-ray (or not yet announced):

[I've bolded the ones most likely to hit blu-ray]

A Foreign Affair

There is a German release of this

[GentleGiant]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Alright, so with my viewing of The Innocents just now, I can safely say that this may be the most unsettling movie I have ever seen. Massive kudos to Jack Clayton for not adding in any corny special effects to "heighten" the mood of the film.

[Show spoiler]That entire scene with Deborah Kerr as she is exploring the house near the end of the film is absolutely crazy.

Even more unsettling than Eraserhead or Eyes Without A Face?

Personally, I was somewhat underwhelmed by it when I first saw it - good film but not "unsettling" by any means.

[GentleGiant]

Originally Posted by Wonderless11

Also, I recently watched Jules and Jim for the first time. I got the dual format release during the B&N sale in July. I watched the film and some of the supplements. I know it's a very beloved film and a good number of people's favorite Truffaut film. It happens to be the first Truffaut film I've seen, which sounds ridiculous if you know me because I'm a huge fan of french film and specifically the french new wave! I'm just not quite sure what to think of it, though! I love the acting and design. But I don't like the story or characters that much; well, at least not as much as I thought I would. After watching a supplement from a documentary about the real people I appreciated it a lot more and saw it as a better film in my mind but I think I need to watch it again to really form my full opinion on it. I want to know what you think of Jules and Jim

I couldn't get into it either. For some reason it was just plain annoying right from the get-go.
I may give it another go sometime soon.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Brian81

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.

Only NotH is available thus far. Also, they did stop doing combo packs because the people who still purchase DVDs were complaining.

Originally Posted by GentleGiant

Even more unsettling than Eraserhead or Eyes Without A Face?

Personally, I was somewhat underwhelmed by it when I first saw it - good film but not "unsettling" by any means.

I would say yes. I do like Eraserhead, though, but do not really care for Eyes Without a Face.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by JJLong

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

He was getting too old, so after this and the Navy picture, it was expected.

OTT is still one of the prime Wilder comedies, though:
A good demonstration that in wartime, even Cold War time, the best morale is derived through shameless low-comedy...Think of it as the "You Nazty Spy" of the Kruschev era.

(One episode of South Park wondered why we never had a good immature Stooge-poking wartime lampoon for the Iraq War. Apparently they'd never seen Hot Shots Part Deux.)

[GentleGiant]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Hidden (Caché) is still my favorite Haneke film. I saw it at the theater upon its release on these shores several years ago. One particular scene elicited the strongest audience reaction that I have ever witnessed in a theater. Those of you who have seen the movie know exactly which scene I'm referring to.

Saw it at a theater too and experienced the same thing! It was like everybody in the audience gasped simultaneously at that moment.

[Kbg1292]

Just noticed on the criterion website that it will be down temporarily at 11:00 for maintenance. Could this be the day for the flash sale?

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Kbg1292

Just noticed on the criterion website that it will be down temporarily at 11:00 for maintenance. Could this be the day for the flash sale?

Who knows, last time the maintenance was one day before the day of the sale.

[The Great Owl]

I watched Sundays and Cybele last night. This is a superb Criterion Blu-ray.

Unfortunately, this is one of those movies that I really love, but have trouble putting into words exactly why I love it. As much as I'd like to post one of my customary User Reviews, writer's block prevents me from piecing together anything coherent about the film.

Sundays and Cybele strikes me as a movie made in a world that does not exist anymore, a world where two outsiders like Hardy Krüger's Pierre and Patricia Gozzi's Cybele even have the remote opportunity to relate to each other in the first place. This movie won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962, but, as wonderful as the movie is, I would be hard-pressed to imagine it earning such popularity if it were released today.

Patricia Gozzi is one of the best child actors whom I've seen in cinema, simply based on the strength of the three movies in her short career that I've watched (Leon Morin, Priest and Rapture are the other two.). Everyone who enjoys this Criterion title should run, not walk, to the Screen Archives Entertainment site to order the Twilight Time Blu-ray of Rapture before it's gone. Hardy Krüger is probably best known for tougher roles in other films (A Bridge Too Far, etc.), but he hits all of the right notes as a traumatized war veteran whose amnesia leaves him with a childlike persona.

The film setting of the Ville-d'Avray suburbs of Paris looks incredible on this Blu-ray. I always sound like a broken record when I write this, but it's another black-and-white film done right by Criterion.

I enjoyed the supplementary interviews by Hardy Krüger, Patricia Gozzi, and director Serge Bourguignon, although I would like to have heard Gozzi go into more detail about her decision to stop acting. Le Sourire, the 1960 short film by Bourguignon is a beautiful color feature.

In lieu of a proper User Review, let's just say that I give Sundays and Cybele five stars across the board.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Who knows, last time the maintenance was one day before the day of the sale.

I will happily have a nice full cart ready tomorrow at noon.

[pedromvu]

About Sundays and Cybele, i read on a review that it got some backlash in its time due to that it was submitted to the Academy Awards to represent France instead of Vivre Sa Vie and Jules and Jim (some pretty tough competition that year), but in the end i guess they made the right choice since it end up winning .

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

About Sundays and Cybele, i read on a review that it got some backlash in its time due to that it was submitted to the Academy Awards to represent France instead of Vivre Sa Vie and Jules and Jim (some pretty tough competition that year), but in the end i guess they made the right choice since it end up winning.

Yeah, that would be some tough competition, because even I cannot rank those three films in order of preference. They're all powerful five-star movies in my book.

Sundays and Cybele seems quite removed from the French New Wave cinema that was prevalent at the time, because it strikes me as more melodramatic in a straightforward sense. Some might go so far as to say that Sundays and Cybele is emotionally overwrought, but I think that it achieves a good balance.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

About Sundays and Cybele, i read on a review that it got some backlash in its time due to that it was submitted to the Academy Awards to represent France instead of Vivre Sa Vie and Jules and Jim (some pretty tough competition that year), but in the end i guess they made the right choice since it end up winning .

Truffaut probably did not care either way. He didn't seem to hold the Academy in high regard.

[bwdowiak]

no spoilers please, but how do people like The Friends of Eddie Coyle? I picked up a nice clean copy for $9. pretty excited to see it some time soon.

[Roninblues]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

no spoilers please, but how do people like The Friends of Eddie Coyle? I picked up a nice clean copy for $9. pretty excited to see it some time soon.

I would like it on a Blu-ray, upgrade please!

Disclamer, I am a Mitch fan.

I would like a CC Yakuza Blu-ray!

[Fallglimmer]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Truffaut probably did not care either way. He didn't seem to hold the Academy in high regard.

Godard, yes. Truffaut I'm not so sure. He seemed pretty excited when Day for Night won and he hung out at Hollywood parties.

[StonesEGF]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

no spoilers please, but how do people like The Friends of Eddie Coyle? I picked up a nice clean copy for $9. pretty excited to see it some time soon.

Great, great, great movie. It instantly became one of my favorites when I first saw it a few years ago.

When I saw Killing Them Softly in theaters, I couldn't shake the sense of similarity it had with The Friend of Eddie Coyle. When the credits rolled, I finally realized that both movies were based on novels by George V. Higgins. So... if you've seen and enjoyed Killing Them Softly, maybe that's an indicator that you'll like The Friends of Eddie Coyle. There was definitely a correlation for me.

[CinemaBlu]

Any news on when the B&N sale begins and ends? Will L'Avventura make it in time?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

no spoilers please, but how do people like The Friends of Eddie Coyle? I picked up a nice clean copy for $9. pretty excited to see it some time soon.

It's a solid film. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I didn't watch it when I was pre-occupied with other things going on.