My birthday is coming up this week, and I've got quite a bit of cash so far. I decided I'm gonna spend it all on Criterions this year. So, I'm looking for recommendations on what to get (most would be blind boys). I have no problem with foreign films (obviously) or any era.

Here's what I currently have:
Armageddon (Spine #40)
Band of Outsiders (Spine #174)
The Bank Dick (Spine #78)
Beastie Boys Video Anthology (Spine #100)
Blood for Dracula (Spine #28)
Carnival of Souls (Spine #63)
Chasing Amy (Spine #75)
Dead Ringers (Spine #21)
Fanny & Alexander 5disc (Spine #'s 261, 262, 263, 264)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Spine #175)
Fishing With John (Spine #42)
Flesh for Frankenstein (Spine #27)
Great Expectations (Spine #31)
Hoop Dreams (Spine #289)
The Lady Vanishes (Spine #3)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Spine #70)
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Spine #300)
Lord of the Flies (Spine #43)
The Most Dangerous Game (Spine #46)
Naked Lunch (Spine #220)
Night and Fog (Spine #197)
Notorious (Spine #137)
Oliver Twist (Spine #32)
Rebecca (Spine #135)
RoboCop (Spine #23)
The Rock (Spine #108)
The Royal Tenenbaums (Spine #157)
Rushmore (Spine #65)
Short Cuts (Spine #265)
The Silence of the Lambs (Spine #13)
Straw Dogs (Spine #182)
Wages of Fear (Spine #36)
Walkabout (Spine #10)

The only title I "need" to pick up is The 39 Steps, to complete my "Wrong Men & Notorious Women" set. I was thinking about picking up a couple box sets (maybe Three War Films, and the Antoine Doinel set) and then just a slew of other ones. If anyone has any recommendations of what I should pick up this time around, I'd appreciate it.

CHARADE. Thats one of the few Criterions I own that I didn't feel like I spent too much money on it afterwards. Great film especially if you enjoy Hitchcock.

Otherwise, I've found that most Criterions are one time viewings and I'm stuck with an expensive dvd sitting on my shelf gathering dust.

Just a short list...it can quickly become overwhelming.

Must have:
The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
Throne of Blood
The Hidden Fortress
preorder: Au Hasard Baltazar

Should get:
In the Mood for Love
Notorious
The Cranes are Flying
Sanjuro
Yojimbo

and do order: Andrzej Wajda - Three War Films


dadaluholla, don't buy Criterions buy the films.

Battle of Algiers - great set and I second what the earlier poster said about Charade. Hepburn and Grant are just awesome in Charade.

Moving to Movie Talk Forum.

Recommendations:
Sanjuro and Yojimbo, as noted above. I also liked the Samurai trilogy, and I would rate The Seven Samurai as an absolute must-have.

I really liked Picnic at Hanging Rock, but it's not for everyone.

Oh, and Salo.

- David Stein

why wouldn't this be in DVD Reviews and Recommendations forum?

I also felt this was the most appropriate place for it. But I also knew that it probably wouldn't get as many hits as if it was in the main forum or the movie forum. Maybe David has done me a favor.

In The Mood For Love
Sword Of Doom
Kagemusha

Best bang for your buck dvds:

In the Mood for Love
Do The Right Think
Battle of Algiers

are all well worth the purchase price and are loaded phenomenal sets.

Highly recommended titles:

Throne of Blood
The Shop on Main Street
Passion of Joan of Arc (Silent)

Other good titles:

M. Hulot's Holiday (very playful, slapstick, nearly no dialogue comedy)
M (a classic and solid set)
Pickup on South Street (Good cheesy Sam Fuller Noir)
The Third Man

I love my Dreyer and Bergman box sets but they are definitely not for every one. They are stark, intense, beautifully photographed movies but some may find them too slow, especially the Dreyer. I understand the Fassbinder set is amazing but I don't own it yet. I haven't made my way through the Wadja set yet so I can't recommend that at this time.

Hope that helps!

Yojimbo and Sanjuro are great movies but the discs look pretty bad and in the case of Yojimbo are mastered incorrectly. They are also very bare bones discs. I keep hoping they will re-issue these.

I'm probably gonna be placing my order later tonight/tomorrow. Here's what I have in the cart so far.

Andrzej Wajda: Three War Films
My Life As a Dog
The 39 Steps
The Adventures of Antoine Doinel
Man Bites Dog
John Cassavetes: Five Films
The Battle of Algiers

That comes to about $300 or so, so I can still get quite a few more. Here's my list of maybes that brings me to right about my price limit.

Brazil
Young Torless
La Commare Secca
Youth of the Beast
M
Ratcatcher
Insomnia
In the Mood for Love
Jubilee

If there's anything I have on either of these lists that I should shy away from for now, feel free to let me know. Almost all of these are blind buys (with the exception of Brazil), but I've never been disappointed by a Criterion, even if at first, I thought I would be. I know several people have recommended the earlier Kurosawa's (Hidden Fortress, Seven Samurai), but I've heard of the re-release of Hidden Fortress, and therefore don't wanna pick up the Kurosawa set at this time.

3 women

I recommend adding Diabolique to that.

If anything...I think that you should get two of the ALL TIME best films (and this is not a statement I made)...Antonioni's L'Aventura and L'ecclise....






Wajda's set is anything but essential. These are difficult films to watch and esp. his latest one in the box is strongly influenced by the social realism moevement- a bench mark for the Eastern block during the 60-70s.

Regards,
Pro-B

I heard a rumour that Diabolique might be getting re-released later down the road as a better edition, so I'll probably hold off for now.

It has been mentioned, but my #1 vote would go to:

I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you recommending them are saying they aren't worth picking up?

Rules of the Game - IMO the greatest film ever made
8 1/2
Tokyo Story
Carl Theodor Dreyer box
Children of Paradise
Contempt

oh, and M

what wendersfan said, plus...
L'avventura
L'eclisse
George Washington
Ratcatcher
Scenes from a Marriage
Through a Glass Darkly
Winter Light
The Silence
Andrei Rublev
Solaris
Diary of a Country Priest
In The Mood For Love
and the Cassavettes box set

Get a couple Kurosawa for sure, at least to get a feel, then later you can get more. Personal favourites: Yojimbo, Rashomon, Throne of Blood... wait for new Seven Samurai

Samurai Trilogy is fun with Toshiro Mifune.

Then try fellini: 8 1/2 for sure, and i'm a big fan of Amarcord.

For some more mainstream stuff: Traffic/Spartacus are great.

Rules of the Game is also great, but if I had to recommend just one, i'd go with The Third Man. Incredible movie with Joseph Cotten/Orson Welles -- can't go wrong with Welles.

So, now that I've gotten quite a few recommendations that aren't on my list (definites and maybes), what should I drop to add some of these?

None! Unless you're looking for money. Then it just becomes too personal for us, drop whatever you don't like or watch often.

Blasphemy!

Well, eventually I'll have them all, but I've only got so much money right now.

Jumping in a little late on this and I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been any mention of Ikiru; so for what it's worth, Ikiru is submitted with my highest recommendation.