Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

[Walter Kurtz]

This month has a sequel... MORE LETTERS!

[CSM126]

The Thelonius Monk cover gives me Polish poster vibes (that’s a good thing).

The Wiz was obviously done by someone who dislikes Diana Ross. Yikes!

[Matt]

The artist for the cover of The Wiz, Komi Olafimihan, has done much better work. I suspect he was constrained by having to fit several different cast members, the title, and the branding in a 5”x6” rectangle when his work usually focuses on a single individual. At least he didn’t also have to cram the names of the stars in as well.

[domino harvey]

or also ..just using original poster art every now and then would be lovely

This is something KLSC and Indicator regularly do a similarly great job at— honestly, on a monthly average, KLSC regularly gives us better covers than Criterion.

[ryannichols7]

or also ..just using original poster art every now and then would be lovely

This is something KLSC and Indicator regularly do a similarly great job at— honestly, on a monthly average, KLSC regularly gives us better covers than Criterion.

it's true, though Kino will sometimes do some really strange pivots with their art. I can understand that Criterion likes giving artists a chance to take a crack at something, but their reluctance to include the original art anywhere (no reverse covers, not even in the booklets) is a bit strange. BFI and Radiance don't always take the KLSC/Indicator approach, but both will usually include the original poster at least somewhere in their packaging, which I feel is important for historical reasons at the very least

it's funny that Rosemary's Baby is the first thing that came to mind for me in terms of Criterions that use the original posters, considering the studio was the one to go for the bad art there

[dwk]

Nessim Higson posted unused Sorcerer cover designs on his instagram

[Altair]

The cover design of the skull's head carved in rock is incredible - it looks like something from Apocalypse Now. Probably too elusive though as a viable cover.

[Finch]

the second slide was my favorite.

[Kracker]

Damn sadly the one chosen is the best of the bunch. I'd favor the skull head carving one but it doesn't feature the truck or anything.

[cdnchris]

Ugetsu [4K] (Booklet)
Chungking Express [4K]
Some Like It Hot [4K]
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring [4K] (Booklet)
Prince of Broadway
Anora [4K] (Booklet)
Basquiat [4K]

The 4K disc for Anora was hard to get out of the holder (at least for my copy).

Restoration Details (except Anora):

Ugetsu
Chungking Express
Some Like It Hot
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring
Prince of Broadway
Basquiat

[nicolas]

Thanks for the pictures and restoration notes!

Your Anora copy looks like it got made in Germany. My Performance and Mother and the Whore copies were also made here and the materials used for the Scanavo case were also different. Some of our Mediabooks are also harder to handle than normal digibooks, so what you described doesn’t surprise me that much. At least your discs should be scratch-free.

Also noticed that there are no restoration details for Prince of Broadway on the title page you linked.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Will be grabbing Chungking Express and JDF/MOTS set. I am all here for digipaks but Anora’s cover art is just terrible and I have no interest in rewatching soon despite liking the film so will be skipping that one for now.

[cdnchris]

Also noticed that there are no restoration details for Prince of Broadway on the title page you linked.

Oops, forgot to hit Save. Updated, but here's the gist:

Prince of Broadway is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. This new 4K master was created from a 35 mm negative made from the original digital video master. The new 5.1 surround soundtrack was remixed from the original digital audio files by recording mixer Jeremy Grody

Basically the same deal as Take Out: shot digitally but transferred to 35mm, which is what has been restored. I haven't been able to look at it yet, but I assume it'll look about the same as Take Out.

I do love they went all out on the bootleg design, too (and despite the disc saying 25GB, it is a dual-layer disc )

[swo17]

[domino harvey]

Awful Carnal Knowledge cover, one of the most no effort things I've seen from Criterion in a while. The Big Heat I get what they're going for but it didn't pan out. You Can Count On Me is fine I guess

[Finch]

The kettle is a bit on the nose but otherwise I like Sister Hyde's Big Heat cover.

[DimitriL]

Awful Carnal Knowledge cover, one of the most no effort things I've seen from Criterion in a while. The Big Heat I get what they're going for but it didn't pan out. You Can Count On Me is fine I guess

Have you seen the Criterion LD cover? It's a masterpiece compared to that. (And I like this new one a lot. It has an intensely late 60s/early 70s vibe to it.)

[guyetgenevieve]

Worth noting that it looks like the Barry Lyndon 4K will be housed in a digipak instead of a standard case like its original release

[Finch]

Ugh. I really like the Scanavo cases and I'm not a fan of digipaks.

[zedz]

"The Best Film of the Year But We Couldn't Be Bothered Releasing It in the Main Line!"

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

"The Best Film of the Year But We Couldn't Be Bothered Releasing It in the Main Line!"

Agreed. This is easily more deserving of being in the main line then Anora or Triangle of Sadness

[zedz]

"The Best Film of the Year But We Couldn't Be Bothered Releasing It in the Main Line!"

Agreed. This is easily more deserving of being in the main line then Anora or Triangle of Sadness

It's not an either / or. They'd have been crazy to relegate either of those titles to Janus Contemporaries as well. (Seriously: Best Picture Oscar AND Palme d'Or and you think Criterion shouldn't have released Anora?)

Regardless of what anybody thinks about All We Imagine As Light, it just makes sense on paper: it's one of the most highly praised and highly awarded films in years, is directed by an emerging woman filmmaker, and comes from a major filmmaking nation drastically underrepresented in the collection. I would have thought they'd be falling over themselves to add it to the main line.

[Matt]

Awful Carnal Knowledge cover, one of the most no effort things I've seen from Criterion in a while.

Ironically the cover designer, Catarina Sampaio, did the gorgeous package art for a Portuguese DVD edition of Kinuyo Tanaka's films while we in the US still get nothing from Criterion.

I actually quite like the Carnal Knowledge cover. It's simple and direct and gives the four stars equal weight (though the men are on top—quite fittingly, actually).

And I've always loved the Antoine Doinel packaging. Now with 8 discs and a booklet in it, they have the opportunity to make it an actual little suitcase!

[DimitriL]

Regardless of what anybody thinks about All We Imagine As Light, it just makes sense on paper: it's one of the most highly praised and highly awarded films in years, is directed by an emerging woman filmmaker, and comes from a major filmmaking nation drastically underrepresented in the collection. I would have thought they'd be falling over themselves to add it to the main line.

The way Peter Becker was raving about it at NYFF, pretty much making it clear he thought it was the best film of the year, I thought it was a sure thing. But Flow was going to go Contemporaries until it won Best Animated, so I can only imagine the failure of either France or India to even nominate it for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars had a lot to do with it.

[starmanof51]

I actually quite like the Carnal Knowledge cover. It's simple and direct and gives the four stars equal weight (though the men are on top—quite fittingly, actually).

Leagues better than the Indicator cover too