Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Discuss releases in the Janus Contemporaries, Eclipse, and Essential Art House lines and the films on them.
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Andre Jurieu
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
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#176 Post by Andre Jurieu » Thu Oct 19, 2006 12:31 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:Well, your odds just got better since I can't order the damn thing because I'm a Canadian citizen. It seems we don't exist for Criterion north of the border.
I doubt they are deliberately excluding Canadians. It probably has more to do with issues involving rights have been acquired by other companies for the Canadian market.

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dx23
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#177 Post by dx23 » Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:44 pm

It seems that Amazon.com doesn't sell the book/dvd set anymore. Fortunately, i was able to pre-order the book separately, since Criterion now consider us puertoricans as equals and will even gladly ship to the territory for free.
Last edited by dx23 on Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cinesimilitude
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#178 Post by Cinesimilitude » Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:46 pm

I bet no one bought, maybe they just returned the sets.

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Antoine Doinel
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#179 Post by Antoine Doinel » Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:00 am

Andre Jurieu wrote:I doubt they are deliberately excluding Canadians. It probably has more to do with issues involving rights have been acquired by other companies for the Canadian market.
The regular Criterion edition of these titles are available without any problems in Canada. I think it's more of a shipping issue. I'm sure sending a $500 DVD set across the border UPS would cause customs/duty problems.

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Cinephrenic
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#180 Post by Cinephrenic » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:36 pm

Not sure if this is new news, but the book is now available at Criterion's store seperately at $65. Sorry if this was mentioned, i'm lazy.

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a.khan
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#181 Post by a.khan » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:53 pm

Cinephrenic wrote:Not sure if this is new news, but the book is now available at Criterion's store seperately at $65. Sorry if this was mentioned, i'm lazy.
Well, some of us are still waiting for Amazon to pick it up...

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keeproductions
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#182 Post by keeproductions » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:58 pm

No real information for us, other than the fact that it is "confirmation" that the rest of the films are eventually coming to CC...
Presenting some of the greatest films ever

"We didn't make it for the true Criterion fan. It wasn't our goal for the people who had 80 percent of the films to make them buy this to get the other 20 percent," Turell said.

Criterion will continue to release its own editions of films in the "Essential Art House" set, Turell said. The set was created for cinema lovers who want an instant collection of some of the world's greatest films, Turell and Becker said.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#183 Post by Matt » Thu Oct 26, 2006 5:15 pm

Here's the whole article, for archival purposes (and for the lazy):

Presenting some of the greatest films ever
POSTED: 3:41 p.m. EDT, October 26, 2006

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- You need only hear their last names -- Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, Kurosawa -- to know you're in the company of the giants of international cinema.

The pioneering distributor that has kept good company with these and other premier filmmakers is celebrating half a century of foreign classics with the mammoth DVD collection "Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films," which was released Tuesday.

The set gathers 50 DVDs of films Janus has brought to U.S. audiences, among them Ingmar Bergman's "The Virgin Spring" and "Wild Strawberries," Federico Fellini's "The White Sheik" and "La Strada," Francois Truffaut's "The Four Hundred Blows" and "Jules and Jim" and Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" and "Seven Samurai."

The set comes with a 240-page book with background on the movies and Janus Films, including an essay of appreciation by Martin Scorsese.

"We wanted to put something up on the shelves to really get a sense of what that film heritage means," said Peter Becker, president of DVD label Criterion, the sister company of Janus. "It's so staggeringly impressive, the group of films that this company over the course of 50 years had the honor and responsibility of representing here in the U.S."

Other films in the set include Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" and "The Thirty-Nine Steps," Luis Bunuel's "Viridiana," Jean Renoir's "The Rules of the Game," Sergei Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky," Fritz Lang's "M," Yasujiro Ozu's "Floating Weeds" and Marcel Camus' "Black Orpheus."

The set is expensive, with a list price of $850, though it's available in the $600 to $650 range at various online retailers, including Janus' own Web site. Given the breadth of the package, it works out to a bargain price of $12 to $13 a film, said Becker and Jonathan Turell, managing director of Janus Films and chief executive officer of Criterion.

Most films in the set are available separately in Criterion editions. The "Essential Art House" versions are just the movies, though, without the audio commentaries, background documentaries and other extras in the elaborate Criterion releases.

"We didn't make it for the true Criterion fan. It wasn't our goal for the people who had 80 percent of the films to make them buy this to get the other 20 percent," Turell said.

Criterion will continue to release its own editions of films in the "Essential Art House" set, Turell said. The set was created for cinema lovers who want an instant collection of some of the world's greatest films, Turell and Becker said.
Touring the country

Janus was founded in 1956 by Bryant Haliday and Cyrus Harvey, who had begun showing foreign films a few years earlier at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They quickly established Janus as the top domestic distributor of overseas cinema, releasing films by Bergman, Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Andrzej Wajda.

Saul Turell and William Becker, fathers of Janus Films' current caretakers, bought the company in 1965, continuing to release new foreign films as well as acquiring classics from decades past for the Janus library.

"Essential Art House" features three documentaries made by Saul Turell, "The Great Chase," presenting classic pursuit sequences from silent films; "The Love Goddesses," examining sexy screen sirens; and the portrait "Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist."

Selections from the company's catalog have been playing in a Janus Films retrospective at New York's Lincoln Center. A Janus retrospective opened Wednesday at Cambridge's Brattle, with similar Janus film series touring through next year in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Toronto and other cities.

One of the hardest tasks in assembling the set was narrowing the film selection down from about 90 Janus titles initially considered for the package, Becker and Turell said.

"You never want to leave any of your children out, but it was easier since we weren't putting the children up for adoption. The films we didn't include were still in the library," Turell said. "I haven't lost any sleep thinking, oh my God, 'Lord of the Flies' isn't in here, 'Three Penny Opera' isn't in here.

"It's not that this list is the 50 greatest. It's a great introduction to some of the greatest movies of all time."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press

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toiletduck!
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#184 Post by toiletduck! » Thu Oct 26, 2006 5:24 pm

Turell wrote: "I haven't lost any sleep thinking, oh my God, 'Lord of the Flies' isn't in here, 'Three Penny Opera' isn't in here.
Duh..duh..DUH!

-Toilet Dcuk

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#185 Post by Matt » Thu Oct 26, 2006 5:41 pm

toiletduck! wrote:
Turell wrote: "I haven't lost any sleep thinking, oh my God, 'Lord of the Flies' isn't in here, 'Three Penny Opera' isn't in here.
Duh..duh..DUH!
Maybe they had it all planned and just forgot to release it. Like they keep forgetting to include booklets and forgetting to include scenes in some movies or the right dialogue in others.

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pauling
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#186 Post by pauling » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:19 am

Oh, snaps!

Napoleon
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#187 Post by Napoleon » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:50 am

Matt wrote:Maybe they had it all planned and just forgot to release it. Like they keep forgetting to include booklets and forgetting to include scenes in some movies or the right dialogue in others.
..and on occasion forget to flip scenes the right way around and size up boxes correctly.

I've gone thread crapping crazy today. Apologies.

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What A Disgrace
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#188 Post by What A Disgrace » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:55 am

Regarding The Threepenny Opera...

A few years ago...this was a month or two before the official announcement of the released film; mind you, but HVE listed both La Strada and The Threepenny Opera with $39.95 pricetags as coming from the Criterion label. Both vanished quickly from their page, but only La Strada surfaced officially a month or two later.

Worth noting, perhaps?

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Cinephrenic
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#189 Post by Cinephrenic » Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:26 am

Perhaps they had technical problems with the prints at the time and may still have on Three Penny Opera due to its age. Or they are prioritizing Pabst's films, Pandora being the first.

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Antoine Doinel
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#190 Post by Antoine Doinel » Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:53 am

Perhaps they had problems clearing rights for the bonus materials. That would seem to be the most logical reason if it appeared and then vanished as a possible release. Or simply, there was a rights dispute with the film itself that has only be cleared up recently.

Nothing
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#191 Post by Nothing » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:34 am

so the January titles have been announced and still no sign of individual releases for the films exclusive to this set (which Janus had already been sitting on for years before this). Do Criterion really enjoy annoying their dedicated customers that much?

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Cobz
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#192 Post by Cobz » Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:42 am

Does anyone know how us UK residents will be able to purchase this?

:D

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denti alligator
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#193 Post by denti alligator » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:35 am

Nothing wrote:so the January titles have been announced and still no sign of individual releases for the films exclusive to this set (which Janus had already been sitting on for years before this). Do Criterion really enjoy annoying their dedicated customers that much?
Has anyone actually written them and asked about this? Just a thought.

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Schkura
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:48 pm
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#194 Post by Schkura » Sat Oct 28, 2006 2:22 pm

Cobz wrote:Does anyone know how us UK residents will be able to purchase this?
I'd have a friend stateside ship it to you. The powers that be will probably not ship this overseas if history is any guide. :roll:

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hammock
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#195 Post by hammock » Sat Oct 28, 2006 4:24 pm

Cobz wrote:Does anyone know how us UK residents will be able to purchase this?
Why not order it from dvdplanet HERE? Remember to enter the coupon code JANUS to save $25 (expires 10/31/06).

Mine shipped 4 days ago and is most likely at customs right now!

Nothing
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#196 Post by Nothing » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:33 pm

I mailed 'Mulvaney' a month or so ago and received no reply.

kekid
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#197 Post by kekid » Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:38 pm

Nothing wrote:I mailed 'Mulvaney' a month or so ago and received no reply.
It seems some people on this forum are better informed than others. Has Mulvaney left Criterion organization? Or did he get promoted, hence does not get involved in answering consumer mail? Dangers of naming a menu button after a person.....

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davebert
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#198 Post by davebert » Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:28 am

I ordered the book yesterday and will let folks know my personal opinion when it arrives. Now to get the coffee table!

Nothing
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#199 Post by Nothing » Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:25 am

If someone here is better informed, perhaps you could find out when Criterion are going to bless the non-super-rich with a DVD of Fires on the Plain...

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jorencain
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:45 am

#200 Post by jorencain » Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:05 pm

I wasn't at home today when UPS came to drop off my Janus book. I'll post something tomorrow, once I get it; most likely: "This book is totally awesome!!"

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