November Criterions
 

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The Fallen Idol was the first of three masterpieces to result from the legendary meeting of director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene, who together would also create The Third Man and Our Man in Havana. Elegantly balancing suspense and farce, this tale of the fraught relationship between a boy and the beloved butler he suspects of murder is a delightfully macabre thriller of the first order and a visually and verbally dazzling knockout.

-New, restored high-definition digital transfer

-A Sense of Carol Reed, a 2006 documentary featuring interviews with director Carol Reed's friends and collaborators Illustrated Reed filmography
-Original press book

-Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

-PLUS: A book featuring new essays by film critic Geoffrey O'Brien, author David Lodge, and Reed biographer Nicholas Wapshott

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One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst's lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora's Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora's Box is one of silent cinema's great masterworks and a testament to Brooks's dazzling individuality.

-New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the definitive Munich Film Museum restoration

-Four different musical scores, each with its own unique stylistic interpretation of the film

-Audio commentary by film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane

-Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, a 1998 documentary

-Lulu in Berlin (48 minutes), a rare 1971 interview with Brooks by verite documentarian Richard Leacock

-A new video interview with Leacock

-A new interview with G. W. Pabst's son, Michael

-New and improved English subtitle translation

-PLUS: A book including Kenneth Tynan's famous essay "The Girl in the Black Helmet," a chapter from Louise Brooks's evocative memoir discussing her relationship with Pabst, and a new essay by film critic J. Hoberman

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Krzysztof Kieslowski's international breakthrough remains one of his most beloved films, a ravishing, mysterious rumination on identity, love, and human intuition. Irene Jacob is incandescent as both Weronika, a Polish choir soprano, and her double, Veronique, a French music teacher. Though unknown to each other, the two women share an enigmatic, purely emotional bond, which Kieslowski details in gorgeous reflections, colors, and movements. Aided by Slawomir Idziak's shimmering cinematography and Zbigniew Preisner's haunting, operatic score, Kieslowski creates one of cinema's most purely metaphysical works: The Double Life of Veronique is an unforgettable symphony of feeling.

-New, restored high-definition digital transfer

-Audio commentary by film scholar Annette Insdorf

-Three short documentary films by Kieslowski: Factory (1970), Hospital (1976), and Railway Station (1980)

-Kieslowski -- Dialogue (1991), a documentary featuring a candid interview with Kieslowski and rare behind-the-scenes footage from the set of The Double Life of Veronique

-1966 -- 1988: Kieslowski, Polish Filmmaker, a 2005 documentary tracing the filmmaker's work in Poland, from his days as a student through The Double Life of Veronique

-A 2005 interview with actress Irene Jacob

-New video interview with cinematographer Slawomir Idziak

-New video interview with composer Zbigniew Preisner

-The Musicians (1958), a short film by Kieslowski's teacher Kazimierz Karabasz

-New and improved English subtitle translation

-PLUS: A book featuring new essays by Jonathan Romney, Slavoj Zizek, and Peter Cowie, and excerpts from Kieslowski on Kieslowski

Can't wait for Fallen Idol and Veronique.

I will be getting all three of these - they have all been on my Criterion wishlist for quite some time and I'm delighted to finally see that they're getting released.

And those are some gorgeous covers, in my opinion.

I'm interested in seeing Fallen Idol.

Fallen Idol for me :up:

That's the hotness! Hopefully they'll be out in time for a certain sale to come around.

Off topic, Popcorn.. I tried to email you a while back since I noticed you live in Orlando and are also a Criterion enthusiast, but I never got a reply. Shoot me off an email sometime.

No Bottle Rocket? :down:

No real surprises, but some solid titles. I've been wanting to watch Pandora's Box for a while.

All three for me, thanks.

OMG! I cant believe they are gonna release more Carol Reed with Fallen Idol.
Im so happy right now!!!

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Wasn't this supposed to be the announcement of the 50 Janus titles release of some sort?

Regardless, still a very nice trio of releases, don't think I've looked forwar do any other releases as much this year.

Won't. Happen. Period. :)

Yes,Yes, Yes,YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
I have been waiting so long for Pandora's Box and can now replace my Brit disc with the awful electronic intertitles. One of my favorites and a great year for Criterion, even if I only consider this, Dazed and Confused and Metropolitan. Now if we can get the Sam Fuller boxset and if one day, we get Hal Hartley's Trust and Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, I will be quite ecstatic. :):):):):):)

Fallen Idol for me as well. :up:

I saw The Fallen Idol just two weeks ago, and loved it! Can't wait to see it again when it comes out!

Finally I can toss my cheapo VHS version of <b>THE FALLEN IDOL</b> - terrific news!

(And perhaps someday we'll get that other missing Carol Reed gem <i>ODD MAN OUT</i>.)

Finally, a movie I've heard of before :) Double Life of Veronique will be mine.

Same here...I just hope at least one of the titles has a $29.98 MSRP (maybe The Fallen Idol, since it doesn't have a commentary.)

Though the Image disc is long OOP, there seem to be a lot of Korean NTSC R0 Odd Man Out DVDs on eBay...if you're interested.

not one gasp over the new logo?

While I definately still prefer the old logo, the new one is growing on me. Their artists have been using color effectively so that it blends in a little better than the first round of titles. The "tab" still irks me a little bit, but as there's not much I can really do about it, I don't let it bother me too much.

I'm down for all three titles. Maybe not in November, but definately somewhere down the line.

Actually, I have the UK release (R2) on Carlton which is quite decent but bare bnes, so would love to see this one get the Criterion once-over.

Fallen Idol and probably Pandora's Box for moi. I'll stick with my French MK2 set for Veronique.

Wonder why they chose "directed by..." on the cover of Pandora instead of their standard "a film by"?

3 solid releases :up:

the cover artwork/photo layout is great!

With the exception of the first cover, the new covers are more artfully done and the tab is not fucking obstructing people's faces. (Looking back on the site it looks like that cover was fixed).

Next up: getting rid of the lengthy unskippable intro on their website.

They really need to fire their art director.

not unskippable if you go to www.criterionco.com/asp

jrsl76, I note this only because you indicated your ownership of a R2 title - Eureka has indicated that it will be releaing "Diary of a Lost Girl" in its Masters of Cinema line. Not Criterion, but IMO the next best thing!

I'll be getting all three of these. Unbelievable year for Criterion. I have well over a hundred Criterions, have been collecting them since 1999, and this is IMO their best year ever.

In its last newsletter, Criterion was promoting the "Janus Films: 50 Years/50 Films" celebration that's upcoming this Fall at the 44th New York Film Festival (September 29 – October 15, 2006). This is something we've known about for some time, but for some nutty reason a couple of folks simply couldn't accept the obvious explanation and became convinced that a 50-title boxset was actually coming out.

Criterion is really good at making every movie the release sound like one of the most important films ever made.

The Double Life of Veronique seems like a direct port of the MK2 dvd - nice cover though.

plus a commentary and the new interviews with the cinematographer and composer

I liked The Double Life of Veronique a great deal. I'll be tempted to pick up the Criterion despite already owning the excellent MK2 release.

Plus, i imagine, differences in colour tints etc to MK2?

Does the MK2 release include the documentaries (not the one on Kieslowski, but the ones by Kieslowski)?

There's a Polish release of Kieslowski's documentaries that I was thinking of picking up. I had thought it was supposed to be inclusive of all his docus, but it appears that there are two on Criterion's "Veronique" disc that aren't also included in the Polish set.

Ooh yeah - I might get it in addition to the MK2 one I have - another reason would be that it's NTSC to MK2's PAL.

I love "Pandora's Box"!!!

I strongly agree!

My only issue with them stems from the fact that up to this point they have not released a single Balkan director. Regardless, tapping in the sea of Spanish films out there is a great beginning. These next few months shape out to be amazing!

Ciao,
Pro-B

So with this Criterion release do we now know who held the U.S. rights to THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE?

Also looking forward to FALLEN IDOL as that was one of the first older films I remember seeing and it got me interested in others. Saw it late at night on A&E. They used to run it all the time years ago. Of course it was a grainy popping battered print but it still had me riveted.

:shrug:

I am going to quote myself here (see post 22):
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....5&page=1&pp=25

And past history between Criterion and Miramax confirms that. The sad thing: it took a third party (Criterion) to figure out and clarify for the other two (Miramax/Paramount) who had the rights. How about that!!

Ciao,
Pro-B