I can't believe I forgot that one! He's the same man who did Red Beard and Ran. All three were excellent.

I'll add my recommendation for Brian Stonehill on the first disc of Children of Paradise (Criterion)--the finest commentary I've heard.

I would also recommend Julie Jones on Buñuel's Belle de Jour (Miramax/Alliance)--her Southern accent takes a little getting used to, but it's well done.

Peter Cowie on Bergman's The Seventh Seal (Criterion)

Donald Richie on Rashomon (Criterion)

Another vote for Grand Illusion.

When Se7en came out (the 2 disc set) it was often referred to as "a film school on a disc". Not sure that's the kind of "academic" that you're looking for, but it sure taught me a lot about film making and etc.

O Brother Where Are Thou also has some interesting commentary about how they created the colors.

Three Kings has 3 different color ideas behind it, did you know that?

anyway - there's my 2 cents worth!

just picked up CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON today and it says it has a commentary from a FILM HISTORIAN, havent given it a listen yet but thought I woudl throw that in.

I agree... Ebert's enthusiasm for the films he's commenting on is infectious, even if what he's talking about is more-or-less "academic".

All the initial Classic Monster offerings had commentaries and some of them were excellent. However, the video quality is variable - some are truly awful, especially considering what can be done now in the digital domain. If Universal spent a dime on restoration I would be very surprised. They're also OOP so likely to be expensive, despite the poor quality.

...and another for the Ebert commentaries. Clearly, the man loves his work.

Yeah, I haven't heard any of them in a while, but I remember enjoying the Wolf Man commentary. Someone mentioned the Most Dangerous Game commentary, which reminded me of the great commentaries by film historians on The Old Dark House and White Zombie. The commentaries on Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein are good, too. I wish I could recommend the historian commentaries on The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, but I got bored and turned them off. Does the commentary on Brazil:CC, disc three count? Also, I also recommend Ebert's commentary on Citizen Kane, but I've never seen Dark City.

I know that these technically aren't "academic" commentaries because they're by the directors of the films, and not by, well, academics.

El Mariachi and Hard Eight both have excellent "Let me tell you how to make a first film" commentary tracks that are highly informative as well as interesting to listen to.

-- Jough

The Commentaries on 400 Blows (Criterion version) and the commentary on Sunset Boulevard are both top notch academic commentaries. You might want to give them a try too.