Deep Discount is running a very good sale on Sony DVD boxed sets until April 19.
http://www.deepdiscount.com/save-up-to- ... -box-sets/Picked up:
COLUMBIA PICTURES FILM NOIR CLASSICS VOL. 1 - $23.98
WILLIAM CASTLE COLLECTION (8 films) - $35.98
(this replaces all the singles I sold and adds several I've wanted to see for decades!)Still debating three "Icons" collections (Toho Sci-Fi, Sam Katzman and Hammer Horror 4 film sets) . . .
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On a digitally related note, I recently stumbled across a way to better my cinema education via the Criterion Collection thanks to the Toronto Public Library system, which has around 200 titles from the collection in circulation, probably more. I've long wished I could sample most of the Criterion catalogue before buying, and this finally allows me to do that without breaking the bank. While I'd love to have a collection that rivals Shawn's, that's just not feasible. Going forward, I'd like to upgrade my small CC collection to Blu-ray as they become available—I already have six—and then use the library collection to influence/justify future CC Blu purchases.
What I've signed out (and watched) so far:
A CANTERBURY TALE*
SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS
LA JETEE / SANS SOLEIL
MON ONCLE
GREEN FOR DANGER*
* = definite Blu-ray purchases if they even become available. The others I'm simply glad I finally got to see them.
Also have THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, RASHOMON and IF... on hand and will be watching those over the next couple of days.
The only downside of library copies: they aren't in very good condition, for the most part. Some are so covered in scuffs and scratches it's almost tragic. So far, they've all played fine, but I have to wonder if they replace them on a reasonably regular basis.
Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
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Thoughts on MON ONCLE, since I believe it came up in a previous thread in regards to PLAY TIME: I think MON ONCLE makes me appreciate PLAY TIME even more, possibly because of the latter's overreaching folly than anything else, plus the fact that it seems to be the gloriously outsized culmination of Tati's rather narrow preoccupation with contrasting evil modernity against simple(-minded?) rusticity, or whatever one calls it. I suppose I still have to watch M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (the library has it), but I just don't find Tati to be the comedic genius he's usually heralded to be, even within the context of his time. This isn't to say he wasn't funny; he was! I just think he could have been
funnier for the period. I mean, I
see the deadpan humour and social commentary in his material, and his Hulot character is rather unique (if undernourished in my book), but even by 1950's standards of comedy, I'm surprised he didn't come of as simply quaint or folksy, peddling the kind of humour that conservative, middle-aged parents of the day would have loved. After I watched it, I perused some reviews on the web and noticed, as an example, that many writers seem to point to the fountain in the sister's ultra-modern home as a source of absolute hilarity. Apparently it eluded me. The element of the fountain that I found cleverest—the sister turning it on or off depending on the importance of the person coming through her gate—gave me a subtle smirk the first couple of times it was used, less so each time after that, because it didn't lead anywhere so much as just . . . repeat. Outside of that, the main gag concerning the fountain seemed to be the hole Hulot accidentally punctures in the pipeline and his deadpan attempts to cover it up. This was not new material in 1958, and frankly, I think the comedians that rejiggered it post-Tati found ways to make it truly hilarious. Tati seemed insistent on staging everything in long shots, which often buries some well-devised gags in visually bustling or (admittedly gorgeously) production-designed frames, but eschewed closeup reactions and medium close-ups that could have embellished the gags—the closest he seemed to get to doing this was in the kitchen scene with the bouncing teapot, and his facial reaction is what makes that joke one of the more successful in the film. This
distance makes his comedy a bit cold and aloof, at least to these eyes. Tati aficionados who maintain that viewers have to work harder to appreciate Tati's gags because they've been jaded by the styles of comedy that have followed in his wake (in which performers often expanded upon his gags) seem too willing to overlook the fact that Tati's bag of tricks was limited, even obvious, despite his keen eye for visuals and cutting. Once other European comedians started absorbing/stealing/riffing on his style, and intercutting the long shots with medium shots and especially close-ups (to humanize often similar characters, a la Python and even crass clowns like Benny Hill), that's when Tati's style of humour seems to have found a wide audience, but by then Tati himself had shot his financial wad on PLAY TIME and only had TRAFIC left in him before calling it a day. I'd still rate MON ONCLE very highly for a variety of reasons (maybe a 7 or 8 out of 10), but not specifically for its comedy elements alone. Guess I've still got aways to go in "getting" the man and his work!
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Question for Shawn: do you know if Criterion ever got around to making replacement cases available for all of its crappy cardboard cases that were used on early Blu-ray releases? I ordered a THIRD MAN case from them back when it was the only one available, but have two more I need to replace and I'm wondering if I should just send them the money (rip-off! should be free!
) and hope for the best.
I picked up the HK DVDs of this a while back, but have a friend who's willing to take both off my hands (for what I paid, no less) when I'm done with them, so I'd like to be sure I'm getting a worthy replacement. (by the way, those who poo-poohed Woo over his "relevancy" over the past few years can go pound salt, as they say . . . his Hollywood stuff did indeed bottom out, but RED CLIFF shows he never truly lost his mojo.
. I have not seen his, wait I did see Paycheck, nevermind 
.
.
). Hard to believe a respectable company like Magnolia would put burned-in subs on a premium title like that. That doesn't sound right . . . 
The loss of a Logan commentary for the KILLER was a good thing in my eyes. He probably KNEW people would compare it to the ones John Woo and Terrence Chang recorded for Criterion and Fox Lorber and find it wanting.