I have spoken at length here about the Criterion Collection and all the wonderful titles within it to the point where you might wonder if this blog was sponsored. It isn’t, but if you’re reading Criterion, feel free to send me a copy of everything, or a shirt, that would be nice. Anyways usually twice a year Criterion offers a 24 flash sale on their site. The last one occurred right around the time this current covid-19 shutdown began. These sales are fun, but all too often I find that they announce this right after I pay rent, credit cards, or have work done on my car. I take advantage when I can and usually wind up with a couple must have titles for my trouble.
As you might expect these flash sales are random and unpredictable, hence the name. More regular are the July and November sales that Barnes and Noble has where all Criterion titles are 50% off. This year was a little different. Imagine going to bed Christmas Eve waiting to wake up and get your presents then you wake up and then your parents tell you Christmas day has been moved to January 3. Well this essentially is what happened this year with the B&N sale. Most years I simply scroll through my Instagram and I see a post about it, then say “oh yay, guess I better hit up a store”. Due to the fact that I’m sitting at home all day and looking for any damn reason to leave the house, I was chomping at the bit like a kid on December 24 to get to it. After looking through reddit threads and other forums July 10 was the date that was floated around. By contrast in 2019 the “July” sale started June 27th, so this was a near two week delay. I can chalk it up to pandemic related things. I certainly have no concept of how much work goes into having a nation-wide sale at hundreds or thousands of locations, so I’ll stay out of it. First world problems indeed.
Well last night when I went to bed I checked the old B&N website and saw that it was in fact on. It’s always preferred however to go to a physical store. Added bonus, it just so happens that my favorite bakery in Chicago is about two blocks from a Barnes and Noble, so twist my arm. Among the rumors I heard going into this sale was that perhaps the additional 10% discount for members would not be eligible for this sale. This made my capitalist-justice/anti-bureaucracy brain spiral out of control. I can say from personal experience that when I had my own membership I ONLY had it so I could get that extra 10% during these sales. After going and checking out I discovered that was a false alarm, I was angry over nothing, the added 10% still worked. Not to get too math heavy but the 10% is taken after the 50%, so it isn’t a full 60% discount. Long story short a $40 MSRP disc turns out to be $18 instead of $16. Sorry to make your brain hurt. I also saw on the website that for whatever reason a few titles were only showing an 8% discount, but the sale said all titles, and that is the case. I imagine the website has fixed what ails ‘em by now hopefully.
So after all of this, I got up bright and early to hit up my store, buy some stuff, and I wanted to re-cap here what I got and why I got it. For the record, the most films I bought during a month long sale was 22 different titles, so on day one I got more than half-way there.
First up, the sets:
Yojimbo/Sanjuro 2-pack - This has been on my “one of these days” lists for years upon years. I had a copy of both films on VHS, and I believe Yojimbo might have been one of the many DVDs that was stolen from me back in 2001, but I never wound up with it before. My hesitation for this set was the fact that Yojimbo was vastly superior and it seemed like I was dropping and extra $15 for a competent but forgettable sequel. Well this sale I wanted to get my Kurosawa collection up a bit so I decided long ago it’s time. This set has audio commentaries, documentaries, and all the special features I could want, time to re-visit I guess.
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman - Journey to Italy which I’ve always known as Voyage to Italy has long been one of my favorite films and usually is on the precipice of cracking my top 100 movies. Europe ‘51 is another damn great movie and I have no strong feelings about Stromboli either way. This is another set that I’ve always been planning on picking up but the price tag was a little off-putting. I’m also curious why the fourth Rossellini/Bergman film Fear wasn’t included here. I guess Joan at the Stake isn’t either so I’ll cease my petty complaints that a boxed set isn’t more extravagant. This does feature the alternate audio versions of all three, which in the case of Stromboli and Europe ‘51 are different lengths. So cool to see more complete versions, but I would have been happy with a solo disc of Journey/Voyage.
The Koker Trilogy - Kiarostami is a bit of a mixed bag as a director. Some of his work is painfully boring, yet some of it is sublime perfection. His Koker trilogy is definitely closer to the latter. Through the Olive Trees in particular is probably my favorite film of his, and Where is the Friend’s House? is everything wonderful about Iranian cinema. I have very few memories of the middle film in this “trilogy”. None of these movies are related in a typical trilogy sense, more thematically. Perhaps the best part about this release is it features the incredibly hard to find 1989 documentary Homework made by Kiarostami. With Taste of Cherry getting re-released later this month it’s a good time to explore his best work.
Now the individual titles by spine number:
Shock Corridor - Samuel Fuller is a cult favorite of nearly every critic and fan of classic cinema. He achieved legendary status thanks to Cahiers du Cinema crew who constantly referenced his films and in the case of Godard even put him in his own movies (the unfortunately out of print Pierrot le Fou). Shock Corridor is one of the best places to start with his work, and it was the 19th Criterion title released. This is another title I only had on VHS and the lack of audio commentary seemed to keep me from ever picking it up. They’ve added at least one new interview to the blu-ray edition. I meant to pick up this and The Naked Kiss (Spine number 18), but the store I went to was out of that, or I just didn’t quite register because as I said earlier I found plenty else.
High and Low - This is another classic Kurosawa/Mifune collaboration that I never had a proper DVD of. In 2001 I ordered 8 Kurosawa films that were imports with subtitles. A few of these were stolen and nearly all have been replaced. This features the It is Wonderful to Create episode about it as well as a commentary track from Stephen Prince. Like a lot of Kurosawa films this was also eventually remade by Hollywood as the Ron Howard film Ransom. I loved it when I first watched it, but literally haven’t seen it for about 18-19 years.
The Cranes are Flying - Someone happens to get advanced copies of Criterion titles and sells them to Half Price Books in Niles, sometimes. Before this was even officially released I saw it there during one of those classic 20% off sales right before the apocalypse. I was very jazzed until I saw the case was cracked. I asked if there was a replacement, there wasn’t, so I figured next sale. This is possibly my favorite cinematography in any movie ever made. Mikhail Kalatozov was a nutcase when it came to setting up shots, and he would go even more over the top in I am Cuba, but story and style blend perfectly here. Another older title I had on VHS years ago, but the blu-ray added some extra features to spark an upgrade.
Army of Shadows - When I first got around to picking up titles on blu-ray this was one of the earlier releases I wanted to snag. I saw it initially in theaters during it’s 2006 release. I wanted to give it another shot, and seeing all the cool extras made me think this was a must-have. The only problem it was one of several titles that went out of print. I looked high and low for it (get it) and contented myself to watching it on the Criterion Channel, as well as every other Melville film. Well then they announced it was getting put out again, and I knew if I let it fall out of print again I’d kick myself indefinitely. This has rightfully earned it’s status as Melville’s masterpiece. Here’s hoping Leon Morin, Priest is also resurrected from the dead soon.
Medium Cool - This and the next film are both from cinematographers turned directors. In the case of Wexler however this was his only major work as a director, and it’s a masterpiece. Shot around the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, it’s part fiction and documentary and one of the best films about what the hell was happening in the 60s. Like many of these films I never owned this, but because it is Wexler’s only film that I know of it was typically forgotten whenever sales came around.
Don’t Look Now - Unfortunately whenever someone dies I think it’s a reminder to revisit their work. When Nicholas Roeg passed away I grabbed my DVD copy of The Man Who Fell to Earth (which is sadly out of print) and I realized I never owned Don’t Look Now (sensing a pattern here). Considering my VHS collection has been sitting in my mother’s attic for 12 years now and I don’t even own a VCR, it is certainly high time to upgrade that literal garbage. I remember trying to find this streaming after his death and couldn’t find it then (since may have changed). It has long considered to be one of the great “serious” horror films. Also who doesn’t want to see some naked Donald Sutherland?
The Breakfast Club - Sometimes when Criterion announces an upcoming title I say “don’t mind if I do” then I play the long waiting game for it to get released, then the longer game of waiting for the next sale. The Breakfast Club was always on the “next sale” list of titles. It got to the point where I had to actually check my collection to make sure I hadn’t picked this up already. This is one of those films everyone seems to love, and part of what made John Hughes so iconic for a generation. Much more mainstream than the typical title, it is nevertheless a welcome addition.
The Cremator - If forced at gun-point to say what my favorite film from Czechoslovakia was, The Cremator wins. It did make my last top 100 list, and watching it again with Caroline I have no regrets with my selection. Criterion has put out plenty of Czech films over the years (and there is even a nice retrospective on the channel right now), but the blu-ray offerings have been limited. Some of the early DVD releases were also borderline pointless in terms of extras. These were better suited to an Eclipse release, and there even was one for Czech films. I know I will watch this again, and I will never not recommend this movie to everyone who will listen.
Husbands - Might be a good time to say I love the design of Criterion. Their branding is flawless and their titles look excellent. I got a kick out of the fact that the Cassavetes films released after that initial 5 film boxed set (which I have on DVD) have a similar design. Lord knows I like matching spines, so I was particularly tickled when Husbands was announced with a consistent look. I nearly picked up his final film Love Streams as well, and I will probably go back for it later this month. Husbands however is my favorite film he made and another entry into my personal top 100. I understand this film and his work in general is not for everyone, but damned if this didn’t speak to me on some gut level. It has all the things I want for extras, and look forward to revisited it with Marshall Fine’s commentary track.
Come and See - I believe this is the most recent Criterion release at the time of this writing. Elem Klimov’s WWII masterpiece is one of the most widely seen foreign films around. I’ve always been a little surprised by it’s status as one of those international classics well loved by people who think Shawshank Redemption is the greatest movie ever made. It is great, but like so many other films in this haul, I haven’t seen it for ages. I don’t even think I revisited it during my last movie list research. When you’ve gone 20 years without watching a movie you know you’re overdue, especially when it’s one you know is great. Looking forward to sitting through this again.
Talking about these movies has made me itching to get to Old Orchard and see their selections. So many brick and mortar stores are disappearing and even a few of the existing Barnes and Noble’s in my vicinity don’t have any Criterions. Next week the Bruce Lee boxed set and The Lady Eve are set to release, so I’m not done with this sale yet. So feel free to let me know what you’re planning on snagging. Also can’t believe I forgot Silence of the Lambs again.
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