The Criterion Collection

[bonehica]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

"The Big Country" is another good one.

Yes. Yes it is.

[Show spoiler]

[ilenewoodsfan99]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

I saw The Heiress for the first time and Wow! What a film! The other Wyler film I've seen is Ben-Hur which I'm not a fan of (great spectacle but the story doesn't do much for me). The Heiress, on the other hand, is a spectacular, character-driven drama. DeHavilland's transformation in the film is astounding and the final scenes gave me the chills. Clift and Richardson are also superb in their respective roles. I'm so glad when I blind buy a film and it turns out to be so good. The BD is also great with wonderful PQ and AQ. I haven't delved into the bonus features but I will do it soon and as I want to know more about this wonderful film. Also, I'm going to look for more Wyler films starting with Jezebel and The Best Years of Our Lives.

Those final shots were so powerful. Absolutely amazing performance from De Havilland.

[BamaDullard]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

"The Big Country" is another good one.

Seconded. The Desperate Hours is a pretty good one too.

[FragnitoM]

Since Streisand tweeted the other day we kind of know Prince of Tides will probably be a December release (and maybe Old Joy) but what about Bamboozled? I hope it won’t be this year’s 16 Candles...

[nitin]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

I saw The Heiress for the first time and Wow! What a film! The other Wyler film I've seen is Ben-Hur which I'm not a fan of (great spectacle but the story doesn't do much for me). The Heiress, on the other hand, is a spectacular, character-driven drama. DeHavilland's transformation in the film is astounding and the final scenes gave me the chills. Clift and Richardson are also superb in their respective roles. I'm so glad when I blind buy a film and it turns out to be so good. The BD is also great with wonderful PQ and AQ. I haven't delved into the bonus features but I will do it soon and as I want to know more about this wonderful film. Also, I'm going to look for more Wyler films starting with Jezebel and The Best Years of Our Lives.

Also grab WA’s upcoming blu of The Letter

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by BamaDullard

Seconded. The Desperate Hours is a pretty good one too.

Wyler is one of my favorite directors, and while he doesn't get the respect these days of a John Ford or Alfred Hitchcock, his body of work includes a string of consistently good to great films. Here is a list of just his Academy Award nominations for Best Director:

1936 Dodsworth
1939 Wuthering Heights
1940 The Letter
1941 The Little Foxes
1942 Mrs. Miniver *
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives *
1949 The Heiress
1952 Detective Story
1953 Roman Holiday
1956 Friendly Persuasion
1959 Ben-Hur *
1965 The Collector

* Won

There wasn't much the guy couldn't do -- westerns, noir, romance, domestic drama, epics, gothic mystery, and more. A few other films not on this list that I would pick up if they were released on blu are Dead End (1937), The Westerner (1940), Carrie (1952), and The Desperate Hours (1956).

[zoodermin]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Wyler is one of my favorite directors, and while he doesn't get the respect these days of a John Ford or Alfred Hitchcock, his body of work includes a string of consistently good to great films. Here is a list of just his Academy Award nominations for Best Director:

1936 Dodsworth
1939 Wuthering Heights
1940 The Letter
1941 The Little Foxes
1942 Mrs. Miniver *
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives *
1949 The Heiress
1952 Detective Story
1953 Roman Holiday
1956 Friendly Persuasion
1959 Ben-Hur *
1965 The Collector

* Won

There wasn't much the guy couldn't do -- westerns, noir, romance, domestic drama, epics, gothic mystery, and more. A few other films not on this list that I would pick up if they were released on blu are Dead End (1937), The Westerner (1940), Carrie (1952), and The Desperate Hours (1956).

Thanks for this list! I'm going to start looking for these films to watch them.

[koberulz]

I emailed Mulvaney last night about the Asphalt Jungle situation, and B&N's claims they don't ship here anymore, to see what was up.

Apparently it's just a glitch on B&N's end, not an intentional policy. Additionally, Criterion will apparently replace my copy of The Asphalt Jungle for nothing if I send them the WB DVD.

Which seems odd - not sure why they'd want a WB DVD copy - but not bad going.

[jedidarrick]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

Since Streisand tweeted the other day we kind of know Prince of Tides will probably be a December release (and maybe Old Joy) but what about Bamboozled? I hope it won’t be this year’s 16 Candles...

I expect we'll see Sixteen Candles (since Arrow doesn't have it in the States) and Bamboozled eventually. I'm still kind of surprised how it took seven years for Ghost World.

[joy-division]

Just watched Wings of Desire. Amazing

But what the **** was going on with that jacket he got?

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

Thanks for this list! I'm going to start looking for these films to watch them.

If you have TCM, on their Watch TCM app DEAD END is there for another few days. And THE WESTERNER is airing on TCM this week (and I highly recommend the latter).

[scraptor]

Originally Posted by koberulz

More adventures with B&N Customer Service regarding my Asphalt Jungle cock-up:

If you expect front line customer service to tell you why system errors occur, then the problem is your expectations. Escalate the complaint or leave the grunts alone, they're 100% right that it's outside the scope of their responsibility.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by scraptor

If you expect front line customer service to tell you why system errors occur, then the problem is your expectations. Escalate the complaint or leave the grunts alone, they're 100% right that it's outside the scope of their responsibility.

He’s already got his problem sorted out so why are you even making comments like this?

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by scraptor

If you expect front line customer service to tell you why system errors occur, then the problem is your expectations. Escalate the complaint or leave the grunts alone, they're 100% right that it's outside the scope of their responsibility.

Two issues with this:

1. They can't escalate me. That's the only customer service available via the chat, any escalation requires a phone call. I'm in Australia, I'm not calling the US about this.
2. They couldn't even confirm whether or not it was an error. If it is an error I don't care why it's occurring, but I couldn't even get a decent response out of them as to whether it was even intentional.

[DoorsOfPerception]

It pleases me to witness the love getting thrown at Wyler in this forum. I rarely hear him mentioned which is astounding to me. The Heiress, Roman Holiday, and Ben-Hur are three of the most powerful experiences I have ever had at the movies.

[jgogg]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Two issues with this:

1. They can't escalate me. That's the only customer service available via the chat, any escalation requires a phone call. I'm in Australia, I'm not calling the US about this.
2. They couldn't even confirm whether or not it was an error. If it is an error I don't care why it's occurring, but I couldn't even get a decent response out of them as to whether it was even intentional.

I can also say from my own experience that phoning them won't get you any further either.

[Spirit07]

Originally Posted by DoorsOfPerception

It pleases me to witness the love getting thrown at Wyler in this forum. I rarely hear him mentioned which is astounding to me. The Heiress, Roman Holiday, and Ben-Hur are three of the most powerful experiences I have ever had at the movies.

I agree totally, and in my case you can add "The Best Years of Our Lives", "The Letter" and "Mrs Miniver", especially "The Best Years of Our Lives" and the beautiful relationships with Homer & Wilma, Fred & Peggy, and Al & Milly.

[DoorsOfPerception]

Originally Posted by ilenewoodsfan99

Those final shots were so powerful. Absolutely amazing performance from De Havilland.

"Yes. I can be very cruel."

She's scary. :eek

[prior]

Please use SPOILER-tags when discussing or quoting crucial film scenes.

[Al_The_Strange]

Last Wednesday I decided to take 1966's War and Peace out of my watch pile and view it. First time for me, and I've never seen any other iteration. All I knew was that it's a huge, complex piece of literature, and it still intimidates me. Dare I read the book someday?

At seven hours, with probably half of it devoted to ballrooms, political scenes, or talking in general, the film definitely feels like a chore at times. Most of the time though, I was stricken by the sheer quality and ambition of the film. Performances were great, the direction seemed quite precise, and there's a definite effort put into making all the scenes count, even when it seems dry and stuffy. Then, there were times when the film really knocked my socks off. Both the war scenes and the ballrooms scenes were massive. Holy crap, the sheer amount of people, costumes, props, and choreography makes these some of the most epic scenes I've ever seen. LOTR, Ben Hur, Spartacus, LoA--nah man, WaP blows it all out of the water with its sheer ambition and inventive camerawork. At times, the film even manages to go above and beyond the tropes and structure of a typical epic film and give a broader spiritual commentary.

All that being said, I still found it hard to follow (or care) about all the subplots and how they fit. Of course, I probably felt the same way when I saw Doctor Zhivago all those years ago, and it took a few viewings to fully absorb and understand all its nuances, characters, and subplots. Chances are good that my appreciation for War and Peace will go up on a rewatch as I get more comfortable with its story and characters. For now, I'd grade the movie a 3.5/5 (and that is the same score I give to Dr. Z and Gone with the Wind, for what it's worth)

I don't recall how much discussion there's been about the Blu-Ray quality. It's been restored and some parts (especially the last couple of films) will look darn near perfect. There are some odd parts that are soft, some parts with some haloing, and some parts with color fluctuations. Maybe not perfect, but it's still a fair quality that captures a heck of a lot of detail and often looks nice. Had no complaints about the sound.