Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.4

[ianungstad]

Last Holiday?

Very strange that they would release a film on essential arthouse but not on a regular Criterion dvd.

[reno dakota]

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2134/11_box_348x490.jpg[/img]

. . . from 1976, apparently.

[Murdoch]

And here I was expecting something great for Last Year at Marienbad, but they just pulled another Breathless.

[movielocke]

could Last Holiday indicate an upcoming eclipse?

speaking of, hopefully we get a June eclipse I hate the policy of every other month. I wish we were getting 8 or 9 or more per year instead of 6 or 7.

[HelenLawson]

There's no way that Marienbad cover is final. It'll change.

It will have to. The information that one normally expects to see on the cover of any product barely registers online. Aesthetics aside, from a merchandising standpoint it's disasterous.

[Finch]

That Marienbad cover is almost hilariously bad . Very much doubt that the overall package design will make up for this front cover like the overall design for Mishima did. Seventh Seal looks okay in my book.

[domino harvey]

The way the words "Last" and "Year" are spaced on the cover is driving me much crazier than something like that should

[Highway 61]

It will have to. The information that one normally expects to see on the cover of any product barely registers online. Aesthetics aside, from a merchandising standpoint it's disasterous.

You're right actually. The cover is utterly unintelligible as a thumbnail image. I would gloss right over it if I happened upon it on Amazon.

[FerdinandGriffon]

And here I was expecting something great for Last Year at Marienbad, but they just pulled another Breathless.

I count myself firmly among the few Breathless cover lovers, and I still think that Marienbad is a disaster.
But interestingly, the Marienbad cover does remind me of that of a recent book cover that i like much better, that of Cesar Aira's Ghosts.

It also relies heavily on grayscale and embossed lettering, but much more successfully, and was designed by Rodrigo Corral, who is of course also responsible for the Breathless, Le feu Follet/The Lovers, and Salo covers. I wonder if Marienbad is his work too?

[tholly]

I thought those covers were someone's sick sad joke....but, then I went on the Criterion website and saw that they were Criterion's sick sad joke. It would almost be okay if it were April 1st....

If you turn the brightness up, you can't even see the one....just looks like a white box....

And that Bergman cover....looks like some intern really polished up on their MS Paint skills.

[StevenJ0001]

Well, count me as the only person on these boards (or the only one brave enough to post so far) who likes the Marienbad cover. The fact it barely registers is the main thing I like about it. I also think it has to be seen as a tangible object before we really know its effect.

I can hear the familiar refrain now: "There's always one!"

[jaredsap]

The information that one normally expects to see on the cover of any product barely registers online. Aesthetics aside, from a merchandising standpoint it's disasterous.

Oh good, so I'm not going blind? Because I really can't make out the cover on my monitor. I'm not kidding.

[Saturnome]

The cover is a good computer monitor adjuster.
I don't dislike it, and will surely looks different in real, only the spacing between the two first words is inexplicable to me.

[knives]

I thought that was a blank, dear god it is at least a very strange cover. I guess Criterion eventually had to drop the ball. Dinner seems like their last chance for a good cover. (I'm not counting Seventh Seal which is gorgeous)
While I'm at it there appears to be no 476. Could that be Last Holiday?

[ianungstad]

It seems strange to me that The Seventh Seal is so loaded and yet so cheap....the price might be adjusted later today or tomorrow. If it's adjusted and it goes up to 49.95 or something like that...I could see 476 being a slipcover that holds both Seventh Seal and Bergman Island like Yojimbo/Sanjuro. The whole Bergman Island as a supplement AND a spine number has me confused. Something wonky is going on.

[Saturnome]

Wild guess of mine: the Last Year at Marienbad cover is made up of a highly reflective material, that can't be reproduced on computer screen (of course), in order to represent the many mirrors on the wall of the manor in the film. Sounds plausible to me, as the actual cover seems like some kind of attempt at reproducing something like chrome. Yes, no ?

[zedz]

It seems strange to me that The Seventh Seal is so loaded and yet so cheap....the price might be adjusted later today or tomorrow. If it's adjusted and it goes up to 49.95 or something like that...I could see 476 being a slipcover that holds both Seventh Seal and Bergman Island like Yojimbo/Sanjuro. The whole Bergman Island as a supplement AND a spine number has me confused. Something wonky is going on.

Since the pricing of this month's releases seems rather bizarre, this would indeed make more sense:
Single-disc re-release of Seventh Seal DVD - 29.95
Single-disc Bergman Island DVD (spine 477) - 19.95
Seventh Seal / Bergman Island DVD box set (spine 476) - 39.95
Single-disc Seventh Seal BluRay (including Bergman Island material) - 39.95

But Criterion reserves the right to be capricious.

[luridedith]

Wild guess of mine: the Last Year at Marienbad cover is made up of a highly reflective material, that can't be reproduced on computer screen (of course), in order to represent the many mirrors on the wall of the manor in the film. Sounds plausible to me, as the actual cover seems like some kind of attempt at reproducing something like chrome. Yes, no ?

I agree, and in that respect I think I'll love it when its in my hands. I only saw the Marienbad cover on another site - the rest aren't working for me (either on the website or this thread) are they showing up for anyone else?

[Matt]

You guys are all insane. That Marienbad cover is the best one since Le Corbeau.

[Jeff]

I agree that the font and composition of the Marienbad cover are strictly amateur hour, but I like the idea -- very enigmatic (is this cover really there at all?). It certainly evokes the spirit of the film. I'm betting that there is indeed some sort of embossing or reflective material on a digipak going on there and that folks will ooh and ahh when they get their hands on it.

[der_Artur]

You guys are all insane. That Marienbad cover is the best one since Le Corbeau.

I hope you are serious, because I love the Marienbad Cover.

[Cinephrenic]

Damn, I wish swimminghorses did the Marienbad cover. ](*,)

[denti alligator]

You guys are all insane. That Marienbad cover is the best one since Le Corbeau.

Matt, please explain.

[Fiery Angel]

For what it's worth--I also first thought that the Marienbad cover was the worst one Criterion has ever done--then I realized, "Who cares? Once I have it, I'll barely look at the cover ever again. It will sit on my shelf, with only the spine showing."

[domino harvey]

It's worse because we've all seen and mostly adored the Rialto artwork. Think if the existent Le Corbeau cover art had been a poster and then they released some radical new take on the design for the DVD (Text sprouting bird wings or something equally horrible)-- there's the salt on the wound