Rialto Pictures

[Cinephrenic]

It's a Studio Canal property, that's why, I think. Remember Criterion lost the rights to several of them (i.e. Clouzots, Carne's).

[kaujot]

Ah hah.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

I imagine that most of us have several of these titles already, but it would be a fine entry point for new collectors. The MSRP is great if these are the same versions with the same supplements that are currently available. If they turn out to be stripped-down "essential arthouse" style discs though, maybe it's not. Note that Rialto's only original theatrical release, Murderous Maids, which was originally distributed by Home Vision is making an appearance here as well.

10 Years of Rialto Pictures – October 2008 release

Since 1997, Rialto Pictures has been helping to keep classic cinema alive and invigorated by bringing the world’s greatest films to theaters across the United States, in phenomenal restored 35 mm prints. This special gift box set, in celebration of Rialto’s tenth anniversary, features ten films that display the breadth of its collection, including works by Rialto favorites, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Bresson, Luis Buñuel, and Jean-Pierre Melville.

Collector's set includes

Army of Shadows (1969)

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Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, and Paul Meurisse go underground to face the German occupation in gangster-film legend Jean-Pierre Melville’s World War II French Resistance masterpiece. Army of Shadows was never released in the U.S. until 2006, when it became the most acclaimed film of the year, winning awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics.

Au hasard Balthazar (1966)

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A little donkey is suckled by its mother, then baptized Balthazar. It moves from owner to owner, some kind, some cruel, some drunkenly careless. In a body of work known for its purity and transcendence, Balthazar is perhaps the most wrenching of Robert Bresson's visions, voted nineteenth in the 2002 BFI Sight & Sound critics and filmmakers poll of all-time great films, and ninth in the Village Voice's poll of the greatest films of the twentieth century.

Band of Outsiders (1964)

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Young layabouts Franz and Arthur meet the ravishing Odile (Anna Karina), with whom they plan on stealing a stash of cash hidden in her aunt’s mansion. In the hands of Jean-Luc Godard, a crime caper becomes pure pulp poetry. Pauline Kael called this French New Wave classic as “a reverie of a gangster movie . . . perhaps Godard’s most delicately charming film.”

Billy Liar (1963)

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John Schlesinger’s adaptation of the smash-hit West End play stars Tom Courtenay as a feckless aspiring comedy writer whose dream life helps him momentarily escape from an endlessly nagging family and a dead-end job. Also starring Julie Christie in her enchanting film debut, the honestly hilarious Billy Liar is one the finest films of the British New Wave, which the New York Times called “one of the great movies of the 1960s.”

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

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A group of stylish, elegant friends—portrayed by Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stephane Audran and Jean-Pierre Cassel—find their dinner plans constantly going awry; whether they find they’ve got the wrong day or the cops are intruding while performing a sting operation, they’re never able to sit down to eat their meals. Luis Buñuel’s surreal and cutting masterwork of social satire won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Mafioso (1962)

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Alberto Sordi (The White Sheik, I vitelloni) is a Fiat factory foreman in Northern Italy who returns to his hometown in Sicily with his wife and children, only to find himself unwittingly tapped as a hit man by the local Don. Alberto Lattuada’s Mafioso is one of the darkest, most authentic––and funniest—movies about the mob, which the Village Voice’s J. Hoberman called “a blueprint for The Godfather in sardonic, compressed, anecdotal form.”

Murderous Maids (2000)

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More than seventy years on, the case of the Papin sisters, the servants who murdered and mutilated their mistress and her daughter in pre-World War II Le Mans, remains an enigma. Jean-Pierre Denis’ film is the definitive screen version: at once a stunning dramatization of the events leading up to the tragedy, and a compelling interrogation of the class issues that are believed to have contributed to the incident.

Rififi (1955)

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Four ex-cons plot to crack a Parisian jewelry store’s safe—it’s one last heist, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans. Blacklisted, Bronx-raised Hollywood exile Jules Dassin, then living in France, turned a Spillane-esque potboiler by Auguste le Breton into an existential heist film, which earned him the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival and set the standard for screen robberies for decades to come.

The Third Man (1949)

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In rubble-strewn postwar Vienna, Joseph Cotten’s pulp Western writer Holly Martins arrives to meet up with his old friend Harry Lime only to find that he’s dead — or is he? Winner of the Academy Award for best cinematography, Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a triumph of atmosphere, with Robert Krasker’s tilted camera angles and deep shadows, and Anton Karas’s unforgettable zither theme.

Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)

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Jean Gabin is aging gangster Max le Menteur, whose plans to retire following a huge heist are curtailed when his partner Riton tells his two-timing dame, played by Jeanne Moreau, about the cash. Jacques Becker’s Touchez pas au grisbi (Hands Off the Loot) took the gangster film to new heights of realism by portraying the criminal class as a larcenous sub-bourgeoisie and introducing authentic underworld slang to screen dialogue. And, as per the San Francisco Chronicle, “Gabin, voted ‘actor of the century’ in an end-of-the-millennium French poll, is perfection here.”

[CSM126]

I'm guessing it is stripped down. It would be eleven discs if it were the special editions, since Third Man SE is a two-disc set.

Or maybe they'll just gip ya on that second disc.

[Jeff]

I'm guessing it is stripped down. It would be eleven discs if it were the special editions, since Third Man SE is a two-disc set.

Or maybe they'll just gip ya on that second disc.

It would have been 13, because Discreet Charm and Army of Shadows were also two-disc titles, but I was thinking maybe they meant ten-film instead of ten-disc. I've looked at the PDF version of the sheet now, which I should have done in the first place. These are indeed stripped of special features. They have been packaged in what looks like slim digipaks (think Cassavetes or Rohmer box). Each one features the art from the Rialto poster instead of the Criterion art.

[Antoine Doinel]

What an odd concept for a box, and a completely random set of titles. Anyone who knows about Rialto probably has most of these titles already. And will anyone who doesn't know who/what Rialto is, really be seeking this out?

[Jeff]

What an odd concept for a box, and a completely random set of titles. Anyone who knows about Rialto probably has most of these titles already. And will anyone who doesn't know who/what Rialto is, really be seeking this out?

Done as a favor to their friends at Rialto, I'm sure. I bet that the vast majority of these get sold at the concession area at Film Forum. Bruce Goldstein is the repertory director at FF, and founded Rialto as a way of getting distribution for more of the films he wanted to show.

[Awesome Welles]

And will anyone who doesn't know who/what Rialto is, really be seeking this out?

And willing to blow $150?

I own six and have seen eight, no way I would buy this boxset even with the great exchange rate and the prospect of no customs charges later in the year.

[cdnchris]

I received a confirmation that this set will be just the films, no supplements other than trailers for a few of the films (didn't state which titles would have a trailer.)

[Cinephrenic]

Rialto has Lola Montes playing at the Film Forum. So we will eventually see a seperate Criterion release afterall.

[Morbii]

Any speculation as to whether or not Criterion will be releasing Murderous Maids separately, as it's contained in the Rialto boxset?

[domino harvey]

It's already out on HVe

[justeleblanc]

Rialto announced Z and Leon Morin, Priest to begin their runs at Film Forum this March and April, respectively.

[AfterTheRain]

Rialto announced Z and Leon Morin, Priest to begin their runs at Film Forum this March and April, respectively.

Let the Criterion speculation on these titles begin. I would definitely like to see Z in the collection.

[Jeff]

Rialto announced Z and Leon Morin, Priest to begin their runs at Film Forum this March and April, respectively.

Let the Criterion speculation on these titles begin. I would definitely like to see Z in the collection.

Hell, I'm just pumped to see a Rialto-restored 35mm print of Z at my local cinemateque. A Criterion disc would be a bonus!

[Harmonov]

I asked Mulvaney specifically about Leon Morin, Priest and he said no dice and to check back later. Perhaps he was being cagey.

[criterionsnob]

On that link it says "Expect both films on Criterion DVD in roughly two years."

[Jeff]

On that link it says "Expect both films on Criterion DVD in roughly two years."

justeleblanc=filmbo

He's just speculating (as we all would) based on Rialto's usual modus operandi. It is a perfectly reasonable assumption though, unless someone else (Wellspring, Genius, whatever) still has video rights, and Rialto just picked up theatrical.

[domino harvey]

At the very least expect Leon Morin to port over the BFI extras

[justeleblanc]

I also noticed that Film Forum is re-showing Made in USA and 2 or 3 Things concurrently in February.

I really hope those Criterion DVDs are full of extra goodies when they are released.

justeleblanc=filmbo

He's just speculating (as we all would) based on Rialto's usual modus operandi. It is a perfectly reasonable assumption though, unless someone else (Wellspring, Genius, whatever) still has video rights, and Rialto just picked up theatrical.

Indeed, and that was really more snark at my being tired of waiting for the 2006 release of Godard's 2 or 3 Things.

I'm also guessing that Z is coming from the CG estate, but that's based on nothing.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I'm also guessing that Z is coming from the CG estate, but that's based on nothing.

The man ain't dead yet...

[justeleblanc]

Then CG himself. Nevermind. Forget that guess.

[What A Disgrace]

Brighton Rock is now a future release.

[Tribe]

Brighton Rock is now a future release.

In light of this, what are the odds other films from the Brit Noir series running at Film Forum might see appearances on DVD through Criterion?

[justeleblanc]

Despite the Rialto distribution, wasn't this confirmed quite a while ago as NOT being a Criterion release?