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100 Years of Olympic Films



Spanning fifty-three movies and forty-one editions of the Olympic Summer and Winter Games, this one-of-a-kind collection assembles, for the first time, a century's worth of Olympic films—the culmination of a monumental, award-winning archival project encompassing dozens of new restorations by the International Olympic Committee. These documentaries cast a cinematic eye on some of the most iconic moments in the history of modern sports, spotlighting athletes who embody the Olympic motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger": Jesse Owens shattering sprinting world records on the track in 1936 Berlin, Jean Claude-Killy dominating the slopes of Grenoble in 1968, Joan Benoit breaking away to win the first-ever women's marathon on the streets of Los Angeles in 1984. In addition to the work of Bud Greenspan, the man behind an impressive ten Olympic features, this stirring collective chronicle of triumph and defeat includes such landmarks of the documentary form as Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia and Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad, along with lesser-known but captivating contributions by major directors like Claude Lelouch, Carlos Saura, and Miloš Forman. It also serves as a fascinating window onto the formal development of cinema itself, as well as the technological progress that has enabled the viewer, over the years, to get ever closer to the action. Traversing continents and decades, and reflecting as well the social, cultural, and political changes that have shaped our recent history, this remarkable marathon of films offers nothing less than a panorama of a hundred years of human endeavor.

SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR'S SET FEATURES:

• 53 newly restored films from 41 editions of the Olympic Games, presented together for the first time
• Landmark 4K restorations of Olympia, Tokyo Olympiad, and Visions of Eight, among other titles
• New scores for the silent films, composed by Maud Nelissen, Donald Sosin, and Frido ter Beek
• A lavishly illustrated, 216-page hardcover book, featuring notes on the films by cinema historian Peter Cowie; a foreword by Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee; a short history of the restoration project by restoration producer Adrian Wood; and hundreds of photographs from a century of Olympic Games

Films included:

Stockholm 1912
The Games of the V Olympiad Stockholm, 1912 (dir. Adrian Wood)

Chamonix 1924
The Olympic Games Held at Chamonix in 1924 (dir. Jean de Rovera)

Paris 1924
The Olympic Games as They Were Practiced in Ancient Greece (dir. Jean de Rovera)
The Olympic Games in Paris 1924 (dir. Jean de Rovera)

St. Moritz 1928
The White Stadium (dirs. Arnold Fanck, Othmar Gurtner)

Amsterdam 1928
The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam (dir. unknown)
The Olympic Games, Amsterdam 1928 (dir. Wilhelm Prager; supervisor Jules Perel)

Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936
Youth of the World (dir. Carl Junghans)

Berlin 1936
Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (dir. Leni Riefenstahl)
Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (dir. Leni Riefenstahl)

St. Moritz 1948
Fight Without Hate (dir. André Michel)

London 1948
XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport (dir. Castleton Knight)

Oslo 1952
The VI Olympic Winter Games, Oslo 1952 (dir. Tancred Ibsen)

Helsinki 1952
Where the World Meets (dir. Hannu Leminen)
Gold and Glory (dir. Hannu Leminen)
Memories of the Olympic Summer of 1952 (dir. unknown)

Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956
White Vertigo (dir. Giorgio Ferroni)

Melbourne/Stockholm 1956
Olympic Games, 1956 (dir. Peter Whitchurch)
The Melbourne Rendez-vous (dir. René Lucot)
Alain Mimoun (dir. Louis Gueguen)
The Horse in Focus (dir. unknown)

Squaw Valley 1960
People, Hopes, Medals (dir. Heribert Meisel)

Rome 1960
The Grand Olympics (dir. Romolo Marcellini)

Innsbruck 1964
IX Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1964 (dir. Theo Hörmann)

Tokyo 1964
Tokyo Olympiad (dir. Kon Ichikawa)
Sensation of the Century (prod. Taguchi Suketaro, supervisor Nobumasa Kawamoto)

Grenoble 1968
13 Days in France (dirs. Claude Lelouch, François Reichenbach)
Snows of Grenoble (dirs. Jacques Ertaud, Jean-Jacques Languepin)

Mexico City 1968
The Olympics in Mexico (dir. Alberto Isaac)

Sapporo 1972
Sapporo Winter Olympics (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)

Munich 1972
Visions of Eight (dirs. Miloš Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Yuri Ozerov, Arthur Penn, Michael Pfleghar, John Schlesinger, Mai Zetterling)

Innsbruck 1976
White Rock (dir. Tony Maylam)

Montreal 1976
Games of the XXI Olympiad (dirs. Jean-Claude Labrecque, Jean Beaudin, Marcel Carrière, Georges Dufaux)

Lake Placid 1980
Olympic Spirit (dirs. Drummond Challis, Tony Maylam)

Moscow 1980
O Sport, You Are Peace! (dir. Yuri Ozerov)

Sarajevo 1984
A Turning Point (dir. Kim Takal)

Los Angeles 1984
16 Days of Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Calgary 1988
Calgary '88: 16 Days of Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Seoul 1988
Seoul 1988 (dir. Lee Kwang-soo)
Hand in Hand (dir. Im Kwon-taek)
Beyond All Barriers (dir. Lee Ji-won)

Albertville 1992
One Light, One World (dirs. Joe Jay Jalbert, R. Douglas Copsey)

Barcelona 1992
Marathon (dir. Carlos Saura)

Lillehammer 1994
Lillehammer '94: 16 Days of Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Atlanta 1996
Atlanta's Olympic Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Nagano 1998
Nagano '98 Olympics: Stories of Honor and Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)
Olympic Glory (dir. Kieth Merrill)

Sydney 2000
Sydney 2000: Stories of Olympic Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Salt Lake City 2002
Salt Lake City 2002: Bud Greenspan's Stories of Olympic Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Athens 2004
Bud Greenspan's Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Turin 2006
Bud Greenspan's Torino 2006: Stories of Olympic Glory (dir. Bud Greenspan)

Beijing 2008
The Everlasting Flame (dir. Gu Jun)

Vancouver 2010
Bud Greenspan Presents Vancouver 2010: Stories of Olympic Glory (prods. Bud Greenspan, Nancy Beffa)

London 2012
First (dir. Caroline Rowland)

FrauBlucher wrote:Criterion just announced on twitter 100 years of the Olympics Boxset!!!!

That explains some of the phantom pages.

Settles the Spine #900 debate

After doing some math, the running time listed on the side comes out to around 4 days and 8 hours worth of material - more than double that of the Zatoichi set. Wow.

I'm sure I'm not the only one hoping for a couple of standalone releases in the years to follow.

Pretty remarkable set, though I wonder why Chris Marker's Olympia 52 isn't included.

Love that it's coming out after the November BN sale though (and will be well-timed for the February Criterion sale to tie in with the Winter Olympics!).

I had no idea that the director of The Burning made an Olympics documentary.

jwd5275 wrote:Pretty remarkable set, though I wonder why Chris Marker's Olympia 52 isn't included.

This looks to be a set of films produced by the olympics committee and that might not have been. I'm more curious about the still in print Olive edition of Visions of Eight.

Self wrote:Settles the Spine #900 debate

I don't think Criterion really cares about milestone spine numbers

Yeah, this is no different than any other Criterion release.

So the first mainland China film released by Criterion is Gu Jun's The Everlasting Flame? Errrrr.... (I never consider The Last Emperor as a mainland China film.)

What A Disgrace wrote:I had no idea that the director of The Burning made an Olympics documentary.

Well, 2, actually.

I'm surprised by the prestigious names in here : Lelouch, Shinoda, Forman, Im Kwon-taek. I had no idea they did this kind of work.
Less surprising is the price, as heavy as the set itself.

EDIT : reading the technical details : "With only a couple of exceptions, all the films in this collection up to and including those of the 1992 Games have been scanned at either 2K or 4K resolution. Olympic Glory, the IMAX large-format film from Nagano 1998, was scanned at 8K resolution."
Does that mean that the Lillehammer 96 and the Atlanta 98 (and possibly Sidney 00) will be in lesser sources ? I don't know what has been shot on what, and I suppose more recent inclusions might be SD digital or HD digital, so out of the scope for a restoration (or the need of a restoration), but that seems surprising they would say "with only a couple of exceptions" for pre-92 material and leave the rest open to guesses.

Does anyone know how many phantom pages this accounts for?

No Wacky C, no sale

Apperson wrote:Does anyone know how many phantom pages this accounts for?

At least all these:

Theo Hormann
Taguchi Suketaro
Nobusama Kawamoto
Claude Lelouch
Jean-Jacques Languepin
Yuri Ozerov
Arthur Penn
Michael Pfleghar
John Schlessinger
Tony Maylam
Jean Beaudin
Marcel Carrière
Georges Dufaux
Drummond Challis
Kim Takal
Bud Greenspan
Lee Kwang-Soo
Im Kwon-Taek
Lee Ji-won
R Douglas Copsey
Kieth Merrill
Gu Jun
Nancy Beffa
Caroline Rowland

Is this the first time Criterion has put out something that featured an unknown, uncredited director?

While we're asking other hypotheticals: other than Beales of Gray Gardens, is this the first time an earlier spine number has essentially been made void by being included on a later spine number?

mfunk9786 wrote:No Wacky C, no sale

But you'll probably get an "Officially Licensed Olympic(TM) Product" to make up for it!

Hope Amazon doesn't accidentally list this one at $39.99

Self wrote:Settles the Spine #900 debate

Not seeing a spine number or any specific Criterion branding on any of the packaging/sell sheet info. Am I missing something?

ptatler wrote:

Self wrote:Settles the Spine #900 debate

Not seeing a spine number or any specific Criterion branding on any of the packaging/sell sheet info. Am I missing something?

Yes, the spine number is listed on the website as 900

swo17 wrote:Yeah, this is no different than any other Criterion release.

I might be misreading the cynicism, but if this is a reference to the recent comments regarding spine assignments, the general point was that in lieu of evidence, people shouldn't ascribe their own significance (or lack thereof) to the unannounced numbers, as we don't necessarily know what the Criterion staff is planning. As it turns out, spine #900 is not "The Grand Budapest Hotel," which had become a self-perpetuating meme to the extent that many seemed to believe it was going to be the case. Regrets if I sound overly serious. This is a spectacular #900. The Budapest people can hope all over again for #1000.

tenia wrote:Less surprising is the price, as heavy as the set itself.

Hey, it's still cheaper than what some secondhand copies of Tokyo Olympiad have been going for.