Mona Lisa - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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Mona Lisa - Criterion Collection (DVD)
This critically acclaimed English film is about a high class prostitute and her ex-con chauffeur who falls in love with her. Academy Award Nominations: Best Actor--Bob Hoskins.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseLetterboxed - 1.77Audio: Mono - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Audio Commentary - 1. Neil Jordan - Director, Bob Hoskins - Star Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
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Lord of the Flies - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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Lord of the Flies - Criterion Collection (DVD)
Director Peter Brook's faithful adaptation of William Golding's 1954 novel stars James Aubrey and Tom Chapin as antagonists Ralph and Jack, respectively. When a plane carrying 30-odd British schoolboys out of a war zone crashes on an island, all the adults are killed. The boys organize for survival, naming Ralph as their chief, in charge of providing fire and shelter. Jack is designated to lead a group of boys to hunt the wild pigs that roam the island. Almost inevitably, as time passes, the two boys, representatives of civilization and savagery, begin a deadly struggle for dominance. The frequently invoked image of life as a war of all against all, in which civility is merely another weapon in the battle to gain one's ends, is given a particularly disturbing twist because it is enacted by children. Brooks shot an enormous amount of footage, a documentary style ratio of 60:1, and used nonprofessional actors to achieve a raw, visceral realism. With a jauntily ironic score by Raymond Leppard, the film succeeds completely in suggesting the chilling malignity that can lurk beneath a bland exterior.DVD Features:Region 1 EncodingKeep CaseAudio Commentary by Director Peter Brooks, Producer Lewis Allen, DOP Tom Hollyman, Cinematographer/Editor Gerald Feil, and Author William GoldingAdditional FootageExcerpts from the Novel Read by AuthorTheatrical Trailer with CommentaryExcerpts from Documentary THE EMPTY SPACE
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Great Expectations - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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Great Expectations - Criterion Collection (DVD)
David Lean directs this definitive version of the Charles Dickens classic about an orphaned British boy befriended by a mysterious benefactor who enables him to become a gentleman of means. In nineteenth century London, in the gloom of a country graveyard, a young boy encounters an escaped convict, a chance meeting that years later leads the boy to mysterious adventure, wealth and joy.DVD Special Features:Region 1 EncodingKeep CaseOriginal Theatrical Trailer
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Grand, The: Series 2 - Gift Boxed Set (DVD)
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Grand, The: Series 2 - Gift Boxed Set (DVD)
Behind The Grand hotel's glamorous facade, lies the vile reality of scandal, deceit, and revenge. John and Sarah Bannerman return to welcome a fresh crop of shady characters, finding them surrounded in a world of prostitution, black-market babies, and adultery. A five-volume, ten-part sequel to the highly acclaimed series originally airing on PBS.DVD Features:Region 0Boxed SetAudio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
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The Element of Crime - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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The Element of Crime - Criterion Collection (DVD)
Danish director Lars von Trier's debut feature film--also his first English-language effort--is an extremely hypnotic, moody thriller. The story opens in the desert of Egypt, where police detective Leopold Fisher (Michael Elphick) is hypnotized and asked to recount the recent events of his life. It seems that Fisher has been called back to a small town where he has previously spent time in order to investigate the brutal murders of several little girls who sell lottery tickets. He reunites with his mentor, Osborne (Esmond Night), the writer of a controversial book entitled THE ELEMENT OF CRIME, in which he recommends that investigators adopt the point of view of killers in order to better predict subsequent tragedies. When Fisher meets Kim (Meme Lei), a beautiful young woman, the pair embarks on a journey that begins to blur the line between Fisher's simulated killer and the real thing.Von Trier's film is a bold exercise in style, using hypnotism to support the slowly unfolding story. Visually, he soaks the film in a sepia tone, incorporating double exposures and super-8 footage to add even more stylish effect. The result is a deeply puzzling murder mystery that stands as an extremely bold directorial debut.DVD FeaturesRegion 1 EncodingAnamorphic WidescreenDocumentary: A PORTRAIT OF LARS VON TRIERTheatrical Trailer
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Night and the City - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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Night and the City - Criterion Collection (DVD)
In NIGHT AND THE CITY, director Jules Dassin brilliantly fuses two styles of filmmaking, crossing the expressionist lighting and framing of film noir with the almost documentary location shooting he used for THE NAKED CITY (1948). Dassin treats NIGHT AND THE CITY's central London locations as strange exotic places. As the movie opens, it is nighttime and small-time hood Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is running from almost unseen pursuers. Harry crosses in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, and Dassin shows this familiar tourist sight from a very high angle, then immediately juxtaposes a shot of Harry escaping through bombed-out ruins. While Dassin and director of photography Max Greene shoot exteriors from high angles or from cramped doorways, they shoot interiors from low angles catching their actors against heavily contrasted backgrounds. The result is a movie full of diamond-sharp, angst-ridden visuals.NIGHT AND THE CITY is built round the dynamic febrile performance of Richard Widmark as the constantly scheming, ever-overreaching Harry. Herbert Lom is brilliant as the Greek who ruthlessly controls wrestling in London. Francis L. Sullivan, huge and slow moving, exudes menace as nightclub owner Phil Nosseross. And Googie Withers is very striking as Nosseross's smart but desperate wife.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseFull Frame - 1.33Audio: Monaural - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Audio Commentary - 1. Glenn Erickson - Film Scholar Production Interviews - 1. Jules Dassin - Director
2. Excerpts From A 1972 French Interview With Jules Dassin Featurette - 1. Two Versions, Two Scores -
A Look At The British And American Scores Composed For The Film Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical TrailerText/Photo Galleries: Film Essay By Film Critic Paul Arthur
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Thieves' Highway - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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Thieves' Highway - Criterion Collection (DVD)
The San Francisco produce racket provides an unusual backdrop for the noir crime thriller THIEVES' HIGHWAY. Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns home intent on marrying his sweetheart, only to discover that his father has been crippled in a dispute with ruthless gangster Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). To enact his revenge, Nick becomes part of Mike's racketeering and smuggling ring, hoping to expose the gangster's cheating ways to his associates and underlings from the inside. However, as he plunges further and further into the underworld, he runs the risk of losing the happy future he looked forward to when he first returned home. THIEVES' HIGHWAY was the final film completed in the United States by respected crime director Jules Dassin, who was blacklisted only to find greater success in France with films like RIFIFI.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseFull Frame - 1.33Audio: Monaural - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Audio Commentary - 1. A lain Silver - Author THE FILM NOIR READER Production Interview - 1. Jules Dassin - Director Documentary - 1. TRAILER FOR THE LONG HAUL OF A.I. BEZZERIDES Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical TrailerText/Photo Galleries: Essay By Film Critic Michael Sragow
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My Own Private Idaho - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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My Own Private Idaho - Criterion Collection (DVD)
A narcoleptic, psychologically-scarred young man who peddles his body, and his best friend, who also works the streets though he's from a wealthy political family, wander together and apart, from Seattle to as far away as Italy. A loose reworking of Shakespeare's Henry IV, with Reeves as the prodigal son who slums in the Pacific Northwest's junkie lowlife milieu.DVD Features:Region 12-Disc SetAdditional Products: Booklet - 64 Page Booklet With Essay by JT LeRoy and Film Critic Amy Taubin, 1991 article by Lance Loud and reprinted interviews with Gus Van Sant, River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.Disc 1: MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHOWidescreen - 1.78Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical TrailerDisc 2: THE SUPPLEMENTSDeleted ScenesAdditional Release Material: Audio Interview - 1. Gus Van Sant - Director
2. Conversatio between JT Leroy - Writer and Jonathan Caouette - Filmmaker Video Interview - 1. KING OF THE ROAD
2. Laurie Parker - Producer
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The 39 Steps - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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The 39 Steps - Criterion Collection (DVD)
A classic British spy mystery, and one of Hitchcock's best, THE 39 STEPS is the story of an innocent man who struggles to prove his innocence. Robert Donat gets more than he bargained for when he brings home a mysterious woman (Madeleine Carroll) who confesses to be a British agent on the hot trail of a dangerous spy ring. The woman is killed in Donat's apartment and he immediately finds himself on the run, burdened with the charge for her murder and the dangerous knowledge of her mission. The film is distinguished by its pioneering use of contrapuntal sound effects, as well as the dynamism between Donat and Carroll.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CasePan& Scan - 1.33
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Oliver Twist - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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Oliver Twist - Criterion Collection (DVD)
David Lean's prodigious adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic expands fervently on the theme of a lonely boy in a world of bullies. When the orphan hero, Oliver, escapes to London, the Artful Dodger delivers him to the notorious Fagan, who makes him part of the gang but soon allows for Oliver to take the fall for a bungled pickpocketing scam. To date, no movie has better captured Dickens's blend of sensitivity and violence.DVD Special FeaturesRegion 1 EncodingKeep CaseOriginal Theatrical Trailer
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The Last Temptation of Christ - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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The Last Temptation of Christ - Criterion Collection (DVD)
This striking vision from the mind of director Martin Scorsese offers an allegorical interpretation of the last days of Jesus Christ, based on the book by Nikos Kazantzakis. Based strictly on Kazantzakis's book, the film has a very different focus than past portraits of the Messiah. This Jesus (Willem Defoe) is a man wracked with doubt over his position among his followers and fear of the role God has chosen for him, as well as the pain that must accompany it. He is unsure whether the messages he receives come from God or Satan, and he is tempted by a mortal life filled with earthly possessions and sensual love, resulting in a controversial, though genuinely sympathetic, account of Christianity's most revered figure.Scorsese establishes a dreamlike mood by combining Michael Ballhaus's photography with a transcendent soundtrack by Peter Gabriel in order to fully explore the idea that perhaps Jesus was both God and man. Rather than train his assembled cast to deliver their lines in historically accurate dialects, Scorsese lets each individual speak with their true accent, which makes for an initially jarring, yet eventually moving, experience. In addition to Defoe, Barbara Hershey, David Bowie, and Harvey Keitel all deliver sincere performances that fulfill Scorsese's vision even more completely.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseAnamorphic Widescreen - 1.85Single Side - Dual LayerRSDLAudio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Audio Commentary - 1. Martin Scorsese - Director, William DaFoe - Star, Paul Schrader - Screenwriter,
Jay Cocks - Writer Behind-the-Scenes Footage Production Interview - 1. Peter Gabriel - ComposeText/Photo Galleries: Stills/Photos - 1. Musical Instruments used in Film
2. Costume Designs
3. Research Materials Production Art
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The Devil and Daniel Webster - Criterion Collection (DVD)
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The Devil and Daniel Webster - Criterion Collection (DVD)
William Dieterle adapts Stephen Vincent Benet's transformation of the Faust legend from the tale of an aging genius to that of struggling New Hampshire farmer Jabez Stone, played by James Craig. When Stone absently exclaims that he would sell his soul for a little money and a decent crop, up pops the Mephistophelean Mr. Scratch (Walter Huston). Thinking the whole thing a joke, Stone takes Scratch up on his offer of seven years of prosperity in return for his soul. As Stone's fortunes change and his coffers swell, so does his character. He mutates into a hard, avaricious tyrant, nearly enslaving as tenant famers the neigbors who had been his friends. Ignoring his kind and patient wife, Mary (Anne Shirley), he takes a mistress, Belle (Simone Simon), builds her a mansion, and even allows her to raise his son. When Scratch comes to collect his debt, the terrified Stone realizes his error and begs legendary New Hampshire lawyer and politician Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) for help. THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER is a nearly perfect film, very well acted and directed, with an exceptional performance by Huston. Even better are the Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann and the gorgeous black-and-white photography of Joseph August.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseFull Frame - 1.33Audio: Dolby Digital Mono - EnglishAdditional Release Material: Audio Commentary - 1. Bruce Eder - Film Historian, Steven C. Smith - Author Radio Spots - 1. Radio adaptations of THE DEVIL& DANIEL WEBSTER Before-and-After ComparisonText/Photo Galleries: Behind-the-Scenes Photos and Promotional Materials Additional Text - 1. Essay by author Tom Piazza
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