CH carries 6 Criterions (not enrollments):

8 1/2
The Red Shoes
Hearts & Minds
The Third Man
Hamlet
The Ruling Class

5 of them are $40 list price, one is $30. The CH prices, with the current 50% sale and free shipping, add up to $116 for all six titles. You can also use one (non-50%) title as a fulfillment - maybe even more than one, I didn't check (don't have an unfulfilled account).

Let's hope these six are not the last word.

Wow! Didn't expect that!

This is a truly surprising turn of events. Columbia House has really picked up some steam with this addition.

This is good news. Hopefully, they will add more.

hmm.. claims that the studio is Image Entertainment

I meant to say in the details for Hamlet it claims the releasing studio is Image Entertainment.

Holy shit! This is cool, just do a search for criterion and they all come up!

Here are the numbers:
3639408 The Third Man: The Criterion Collection $34.95
3638905 8 1/2: The Criterion Collection $34.95
3639507 The Red Shoes : The Criterion Collection $34.95
3639002 Hearts & Minds: The Criterion Collection $34.95
3639705 Hamlet : The Criterion Collection $22.95
3639606 The Ruling Class: The Criterion Collection $34.95

Good eye OP!

Now, what is the best way to maximize an account with some of these titles!?

The $34.95 titles are all $23.97 with free shipping on a DV2 account. Better than any price online.

Other than The Third Man, what is the best title on this list? I'm not sure what to get next!

I did some quick math, and with the current LM* codes, if you get the 7th movie, and fulfill with 2 $34.95 criterions and a $7 title, the average would be about $9, which is great considering you're getting 2 criterions.

Or, just get one $34.95 criterion and a 3/$25 deal, the average would be about $6.63.

Yee-hah!

Columbia House Canada seems to have them all except for the Third Man.


Hearts & Minds: The Criterion Collection - 529214
8 1/2: The Criterion Collection - 629436
The Ruling Class: The Criterion Collection - 528760
The Red Shoes - 528323
Hamlet - 527838

Will have to get Hamlet as a fulfiller. Thanks for the notice.

Depends on your taste of course, but 8 1/2 is widely considered Fellini's masterpiece. It's essential cinema, if you haven't seen it.

Hearts and Minds was the Fahrenheit 9/11 of its day. An unflinching and emotional- and yes, propogandistic- left wing documentary about the Vietnam War. Powerful stuff. The DVD has a good commentary with director Peter Davis.

Hamlet won a bunch of Oscars, and while it hasn't aged as well as, say Treasure of the Sierra Madre (one of the films it beat that year)- it's still a tour de force performance by Olivier.

Another film that lost to Hamlet that year is The Red Shoes. Classic narrative, great dance sequences, and still one of the best uses of Technicolor of any movie ever.

The Ruling Class is a thoughtful and fun British movie with a tremendous Peter O' Toole performance, but it's not quite in the (excuse the pun) class of the others, IMO.

You can't go wrong with any of them really. And Criterions hold their value so well, that you could take a chance on one or more- and if you don't like them, trade them in the exchange forum, or even make a profit on ebay.

Thanks, I did some reading on all of them and I'm going to go for:
The Third Man (love it,seen it a bunch of times before)
8 1/2 (sounds great, I like stuff that makes you think)

I could fulfill this way: (and some ideas for you all too, with the standard 40%off deal)
The Third Man $34.95
8 1/2 $20.97 @40%off
? $8.95 (any $14.95 title @40%off)
----------------------
$64.87
-5 off web order
-----------------
Free shipping until 2/22
$59.87 + $12.89(enrollments) = $72.76/10 = $7.28 ea. (incl. 2 $39.95 msrp Criterions)

or something like this:
$37.46 Warner Film Noir Boxset (5 Movies)
$20.97 The Wrong Man @40%off
$20.97 8 1/2 @40%off
---------------
$79.40
-5 off web order
-----------------
Free shipping until 2/22
$74.40 + $12.89(enrollments) = $87.29/14 = $6.24 ea (incl. 2 $39.95 msrp Criterions)

Pretty sweet if you ask me. I'm waiting until Monday or Tuesday to see if they have any good phone deals other than the crappy ones they had yesterday when I called.

I'd go for this one. The Warner Noir set is excellent.

And don't forget about the 10% off code (801053). It's working again. Don't know for how long it'll be around, but I'm going to take advantage (again).

Aha! Box set plus criterion......that makes good sense. Thanks!

You know, regarding the Criterion Collection DVDs CH is offering: in January, I ordered 8 1/2 thinking I was getting the Criterion disc, because the picture on the website showed the Criterion cover...little did I know that I would actually be getting th Image Entertainment version. I have half a mind to complain that CH is doing a bait-and- switch, or demand that I be sent the Criterion disc as was shown on the website. Does anyone else have any opinions, or similar experiences to report? I'm all ears (and tentacles!)

8 1/2 is indeed the Image disc....this was my experience. If someone esle had different results with CH please post and explain.

Regards,
Pro-B

But that was a while ago, right? Now if you search for "8 1/2", there are two listings. One of them is the Image disc and the other clearly is the Criterion -- it says "The Criterion Collection" in the title and says it is 2 discs.

I haven't ordered it, but I would be pretty surprised if this was the Image edition.

The 10% code also makes movies 50% off,which drops the CC titles to under $20, and then they won't count towards fulfillment. In this case, it's better to just take the standard "up to 50%" off deal.

Are you sure that is correct? With my only unfulfilled account, I have two items at 20-something dollars (before 10% discount) that the cart claims will count (each as 1.0 fulfillment). The 10% discount (for me) is applied after the subtotal, which seems to allow priced under 19.95 to count. Maybe it's some weird way I put the items in my cart, but appears to be working.

Maybe YMMV?

Unless of course, the cart isn't always correct about what counts as a fulfillment and that is actually calculated later?

It has nothing to do with the 10%, it's the 50% off that messes things up. It drops the CC titles to $17.48 (in the cart before 10% off). That is the problem.

Try it yourself. Add two $34.95 CC titles to your cart and what do you see?

Yep, you are right. The titles I tried it with didn't have the 50% off issue, which explains why it was allowing < $19.95 titles to count towards fulfillment. Back to your regularly scheduled thread...

So then the time to get them would be during a 40% off sale instead, making them about $21 and still count as 1 toward fulfillment... right?
Or just get them with a new enrollment. They should become available since they're not priced as boxed sets.

I can practically guarantee that the CC titles will never be available for enrollment. They aren't priced as boxsets, but they are $34.95 titles, and CH recently pulled all their $29+ titles from enrollment availablility. This may be about the best deal we will get for these.

If this isn't a good enough deal, you may be able to hold out for somethig better. The best deal I can see for these would probably be to hold out for a 40% off everything sale with free shipping. Then you could get all your CC titles for $20.97 or get a boxset @40% off and the rest of the CC titles @ $20.97.

I'm not waiting - if there is a good deal on the phone Monday, I'll go for it, otherwise I'll just fulfill online (it's been a while since I did that - hope it works correctly!)

Other than Hamlet that is. Hamlet is a $22.95 title, so it may become available for enrollment at some point. We should check back in 2-3 months to see.