Criterion Watch: June 2008 edition

Aside from its ongoing commitment to awesomeness, I don’t really have any exciting news to report as regards my relationship with Angela. So I’m sorry to say this month’s Criterion Watch will be markedly less exciting than last month's. That said, plenty of goodness to go around.

Naturally, the big Criterion news for September is the release of three of Max Ophuls’ most celebrated films on snazzy new DVDs. Like it or not, the majority of movie lovers watch classic films primarily on DVD, which may explain why Ophuls doesn’t have the same rep as, say, Douglas Sirk or Nicholas Ray. So of course, this release is very, very good news:


While I’m a tad disappointed that Letter From an Unknown Woman will be part of this release, I expect it’ll end up in Criterion’s hands sooner or later. Besides, I haven’t yet seen Le Plaisir, so this will afford me the chance to do so.

Also, more Ozu! The final Ozu, to be precise. Box cover art to be posted when it's announced.

And let’s not forget about Eclipse, the scrappy lil’ brother of Criterion. Eclipse previously announced the upcoming release of a Larisa Shepitko box set:

But I’m even more excited about the release that follows that:

Can a box set that includes Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana and Drifting Clouds be far behind? I sure hope not.

Finally, here’s this month’s teaser from the Criterion newsletter:



That would be Martin Ritt’s masterful adaptation of the John le Carré novel, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, right? After all, Criterion's doing Paramount now, at least since Days of Heaven. If this is the case, itwould be my first double-dip in ages, and I’m completely OK with that.