Criterion collection

lol. Thanks anyway. Everyone loves a chance to watch Hitchcock and stick it to the American government at the same time.

I called this one

All the Dreyer fans on this board(happy to say, I know there's at least a few), rejoice!! Criterion's releasing Vampyr, the film he made directly after Passion of Joan of Arc. This is one of the creepiest vampire films I know of(the location this film was shot looks scary as shit). Very happy to finally be able to toss my shitty copy of this(the Image version, the only one currently available in R1, and a travesty).

  Soothsayer said:

I called this one

Finally!

That is awesome news...

Criterion teaser this month :

Pretty zealous nerds who follow this stuff closely are convinced that teaser is for a late Rossellini trilogy of documentaries on philosophers(Socrates, Cartesius, Pascal), 7 hours of material...I mean, I love Rossellini, but Criterion is picking fucking weird ones for their releases(that, and The Flowers of Saint Francis, a film I adore, but it's no Germany Year Zero, Paisan, Voyage to Italy, Rome: Open City, etc.).

edit: That Rossellini trilogy was made for television, btw...

the first Criterion Blue Rays will be:

The Third Man

Bottle Rocket

Chungking Express

The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Last Emperor

El Norte

The 400 Blows

Gimme Shelter

The Complete Monterey Pop

Contempt

Walkabout

For All Mankind

The Wages of Fear

My collection atm:

The Third Man

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Ordet

Day of Wrath

Gertrude

Virgin Spring

Seventh Seal

Wild Strawberries

Smiles of a Summer Night

Andrei Rublev

Charade

Peeping Tom

Breathless

The 39 Steps

The Rules of the Game

M

8 1/2

Solaris

Seven Samurai

Rashomon

not a bad little group I think.

Where on earth did you find that Blu-Ray list? God I hope they pick better films than that to premier in Blu-Ray...I'm not kidding, I literally cringed at that list

Here's my current Criterion "collection"(yes, I really do own all of these, legit):

here

they sent me an email

I won't be re-buying anything.

ahh, ok, yeah, hadn't checked my email. What a fucking awful list, here's to hoping that all subsequent releases come in both SD and Blu-Ray, that will give me an excuse to start.

I'm trying to convince myself that 400 Blows on Blu-Ray would be worth it...and it's not working. Irony, Contempt on Blu-Ray is rather tempting(I could only imagine how great that apartment scene would look in true HD), and I don't even like that film much. For the life of me, though, I really can't think about who's gonna be that eager for "For All Mankind", I guess the "Sunrise Earth" type buyers are popular...

edit: Once they put out Andrei Rublev on Blu-Ray...wow, yeah, I'll be there with bells on!

Zerkalo is one of my favourite films.

hehehe, and that's one that Criterion needs to release, 'cause the only R1 version is atrocious(the Kino disc).

But yes, an amazing film, to be sure. There's something about that recurring shot of the wind hitting the bushes/trees that really gets me.

I love reading through this thread seeing what everyone's collections look like.

I have a few, my favorites are 8 1/2, Three Women, and The Bicycle Thief.

I've got a couple Bergmans too, and I'm afraid I just haven't been able to get too excited about them. A bit boring for me :(

(first post btw, looking forward to posting more!)

I just wish they would re-release the Hitchcock films. But they aren't and are never going to. It would be cool to have a Criterion of Vertigo with a proper commentary. But again, that will never happen.

My favorite criterions are The Passion of Joan of Arc and The Third Man. Though I like all the ones I have with the exception of Peeping Tom.

The version of Vertigo that came w/that Hitchcock boxset in the velvet box is superb.

Rook, I'm tellin' ya, get the Dreyer sound film boxset, word around the campfire has been for a while that Criterion isn't printing it anymore, and it's one of the single greatest collections of films on Earth.

I have the Dreyer Boxset. I just put the individual films on my list instead of the whole boxset.

I have that version of Vertigo. The picture and sound restoration is indeed absolutely phenomenal. It's just that the commentary is worthless.

Most commentaries are, hehe

I watched Gertrud over the weekend. It's much better on subsequent viewings(it is for me, at least). There's something about rewatching that film that makes you realize how the formalities of that film are an almost barely-there veil of true contempt(Nina Pens Rode's subtle patronizing replies in the initial scene are a biggie). Yeah, Dreyer just gets better and better with time.

edit: Also, I'm curious Rook, how did you feel about Ordet, specifically from your own spiritual beliefs/understandings? I know that's an open-ended question...I guess I'm just curious of your reactions to that film.

I appreciated Ordet artistically, but had very little spiritual reaction to the film. I imagine in part because Dreyer is coming from a very very Lutheran part of the world of which I find not only theologically useless, but also has no nostalgia feel or anything like that. The scene where the wife dies was amazing. (it sounds terrible to say that.) But a real masterpiece of cinema. Very gut wrenching.

Luther's whole business was about Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura, which Ordet panders to. For this reason, it was difficult for me to connect spiritually with the film, and instead enjoyed it for its artistic qualities.

As opposed to the Passion of Joan of Arc which has dozens of theological subtleties that only someone with an understanding of Catholic theology could understand. The Passion piqued both my artistic and spiritual natures in a way that no other film has. Supposedly, many a Frenchman were upset that Dreyer was doing a film on Joan of Arc since he was not French. I can understand this. But all suspicions must have been quelled after they saw the final product. I was very surprised to find out that Dreyer was not Catholic after initially watching the Passion. Watching this film inspired me to do some study about Joan of Arc.

Roger Ebert just inducted Ordet into his "Great Movies" collection. He had this to say about the labor scene,

  Quote

This is the most painful scene of medical procedure I have ever experienced in a film, even though it is only suggested, not seen.

I agree.

holy shit, omg, HOLY SHIT!!!!

btw, that cover...not work-safe(but HOLY SHIT!!!)

A Max Ophuls boxset, too?!?! 2008 is this company's year!

edit: Update, it's not a boxset, seperate releases :(

Criterion DVDs are buy one get one free at deepdiscount right now. http://www.deepdiscount.com/DVD---Criterio...e=B1G1CRITE0807

I've heard people complain about their slowness, although I've never experienced any problems, but you can't really go wrong here.

The new release of "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters"= the best packaging design for a Criterion release yet, film's pretty great, too(although, frankly, I was more impressed w/the other recent Mishima release, Mishima's only surviving film "Patriotism".........wow, just, wow)

Also, their re-release of Vampyr is like seeing a whole new film from the old Image release. The beautiful interior panning shots...tt actually looks like a Carl Dreyer film now. Also getting to hear the score with some actual dynamics was a pleasure, I knew it was a great score even from the Image release, but the Criterion does far more justice.

anyone seen the 60's noir " Blast of silence"? was thinking of picking that up.

I haven't, heard good things, though. I need to get their release of Brute Force.

What did ya think of the Cassavetes box, Velazquez?