THE TOP 10 CRITERION DVDS THAT DESERVE A BLU-RAY UPGRADE

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This was a tough one. Wes Anderson makes beautiful, quirky films. Each time he finds success he builds on it in successively more stylish cinematic ventures. The more movies he makes, the better looking they get. And with the exception of his most recent, The Darjeeling Limited, Criterion has handled every one of them for the home video market. In fact, Bottle Rocket, Anderson’s debut feature was one of the first films Criterion committed to Blu! The conundrum for me then, is to choose which of Anderson’s remaining efforts is most deserving of the high-def treatment. I had to go with Rushmore. While not the prettiest nor the most visually inventive, Rushmore takes the prize for all-around best Wes Anderson film. It’s the one that cemented his style and has become a benchmark for modern, indie filmmaking.

DVD FEATURES:

• New widescreen transfer, supervised by director Wes Anderson and enhanced for widescreen televisions
• Audio commentary by Wes Anderson, co-writer Owen Wilson, and actor Jason Schwartzman
• The Making of “Rushmore”: An exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary by Eric Chase Anderson
• Max Fischer Players Present: Theatrical “adaptations” of Armageddon, Out of Sight, and The Truman Show, staged especially for the 1999 MTV Movie Awards
• The Charlie Rose Show, featuring Wes Anderson and Bill Murray
• Cast audition footage
• Wes Anderson’s hand-drawn storyboards, plus a film-to-storyboard comparison
• Props, posters, photos and other graphic ephemera
• Original theatrical trailer
• Special collectible poster insert: a map of Rushmore’s key events
• English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

Criterion released Akira Kurasawa‘s classic Seven Samurai on laserdisc in 1988. Twenty years on, they’re still sourcing prints, re-mastering and re-releasing the film, constantly improving on the hard work of years gone by. The latest multi-disc box-set edition of Seven Samurai, released by Criterion in 2006 was a revelation and quite a site to behold. While still a 480p SD presentation on the DVD, the transfer was high-definition, no doubt in preparation for a future Blu-ray release! If you have any doubts that Asakazu Nakai‘s dynamic black and white photography in Seven Samurai can’t benefit from the upgrade to 1080p, just pop in Criterion’s release of The Third Man to set your mind at ease. Simply stunning.

DVD FEATURES:

SPECIAL EDITION THREE-DISC SET

• All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Two audio commentaries: one by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie; the other by Japanese-film expert Michael Jeck
• A 50-minute documentary on the making of Seven Samurai, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
• My Life in Cinema, a two-hour video conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima produced by the Directors Guild of Japan
• Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences, a new documentary looking at the samurai traditions and films that impacted Kurosawa’s masterpiece
• Theatrical trailers and teaser
• Gallery of rare posters and behind-the scenes and production stills
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Kenneth Turan, Stuart Galbraith, Arthur Penn, and Sidney Lumet and an interview with Toshiro Mifune

Another tough one. Everything Powell and Pressburger touched turned to cinematic gold and looked like a million bucks on screen. How is a guy to choose but one of their films? I was prepared to list The Red Shoes as my selection when I found this quote from director Neil LaBute regarding the Black Narcissus disc from Criterion,

“The most purely beautiful film I can think of and done up in a pristine transfer here; the fact that the film was shot at Shepperton Studios, in England, actually blows the mind. The acting is impeccable, and the fevered colors and close-ups are as close to a cinematic wet dream as I ever need to have. Powell and Pressburger in the throes of a most singular cinematic vision.”

How can I argue with that?

BLACK NARCISSUS DVD FEATURES:

• Breathtaking new digital transfer, created with the participation of cinematographer Jack Cardiff
• Audio commentary: a conversation with late director Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese
• Painting with Light, a new 27-minute documentary on Jack Cardiff and Black Narcissus by Craig McCall, created for this release
• A collection of rare behind-the-scenes production stills, including shots not used in the final version of the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

THE RED SHOES DVD FEATURES:

• New digital transfer supervised by director of photography Jack Cardiff
• Audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, Jack Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale, and Martin Scorsese
• Jeremy Irons reads excerpts from Powell and Pressburger’s novelization of The Red Shoes and the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Red Shoes”
• Martin Scorsese’s collection of Red Shoes memorabilia
• A collection of rare publicity and behind-the-scenes production stills
• The Red Shoes Sketches, an animated film of Hein Heckroth’s painted storyboards, with a comparison to “The Red Shoes” ballet as an alternate angle
• Theatrical trailer
• A Powell and Pressburger filmography with film clips and stills
• English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

If melancholy is an art then director Ingmar Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist are truly it’s masters. They bring their substantial skills to bear on several beautiful yet sullen films currently available on DVD from the Criterion Collection, most notable of which, in my estimation, is the incredible Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander).

Bergman’s intended swan-song, Fanny and Alexander is an autobiographical examination of “a sprawling, convivial bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-century Sweden” seen through the eyes of a ten year old boy. Though shot for the television standard 4:3 ratio, Nykvist summons some of his most enchanting in-camera magic and captures rich, lush images inspired by the works of Swedish painter and interior designer Carl Larsson. These colourful scenes jump, full of life from the screen early in the film, providing a counterpoint to the later cold, emotionless scenes in the bishop’s house, where the children and their mother are all but held prisoner.

COLLECTOR’S 5 DISC SET – DVD FEATURES:

The Theatrical Version
• New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound, enhanced for widescreen televisions
• Audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
• A new essay by novelist Rick Moody (The Ice Storm, Purple America, Demonology)

The Television Version
• New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound, enhanced for widescreen televisions
• A Bergman Tapestry: Fanny and Alexander, a new documentary featuring exclusive interviews with cast and crew
• New and improved English subtitle translation

The Making of Fanny and Alexander
• New restored high-definition digital transfer
• Ingmar Bergman Bids Farewell to Film, a 60-minute conversation between Bergman and Nils Petter Sundgren made for Swedish television in 1984
• Costume sketches
• Video footage of the film’s set models
• Stills gallery
• Rare introductions by Bergman to eleven of his films
• A selection of Bergman theatrical trailers
• New and improved English subtitle translation

Absolutely, no questions asked, Terry Gilliam‘s finest film work ever, and possibly his best looking to date. When Criterion released Brazil on Laserdisc in 1996 it set the home video world on fire. Fans had been clamoring for an uncut, well mastered version of the cult favourite film for years and with the release of the Criterion 5 disc set they finally got it – and then some! In addition to documentaries, featurettes, commentary tracks and the much-loathed television cut entitled Brazil: Love Conquers All, Criterion provided a brand new, ultimate cut of the film – the version that Gilliam had been struggling to craft all along.

This exact package was ported over to DVD twice (the second time, a simple anamorphic upgrade of the feature, increasing resolution and enhancing picture quality) in single and multi-disc sets and should be hustled onto Blu-ray as fast as humanly possible! Gilliam’s visually stunning, lunatic neo-noir future is the perfect companion piece to Blade Runner and would no doubt look as dazzling in 1080p as Warner‘s Blu-ray treatment of Ridley Scott‘s masterpiece.

DVD FEATURES:

• DISC ONE:
• All-new, restored high-definition anamorphic digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Terry Gilliam, with a remastered Dolby stereo surround soundtrack
• Audio commentary by Gilliam
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by Jack Mathews
• DISC TWO:
• A treasure trove of Brazil-iana:
• 30-minute on-set documentary What Is Brazil?
• Criterion’s original exposé The Battle of “Brazil”: A Video History, which reassembles players in the battle over the film’s U.S. release
• Hundreds of storyboards, drawings, and publicity and production stills
• Rare raw and behind-the-scenes footage
• Exclusive video interviews with the production team
• Original theatrical trailer
• DISC THREE:
• The 94-minute “Love Conquers All” version of Brazil, with all the changes Gilliam refused to make
• An audio essay by journalist David Morgan

CLICK TO READ PAGE 1: Numbers 10-6

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