Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.4

[swo17]

They also finally listened to everyone's complaints about Red Desert (it's too gray!) and changed that cover:

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2743/522_box_348x490.jpg[/img]

[Brian C]

So ... we're going with Moira Shearer as Bond girl?

[mfunk9786]

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2764/44_BD_box_348x490.jpg[/img][img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2752/FatherSon_box_348x490.jpg[/img]
[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2758/93_BD_box_348x490.jpg[/img][img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2770/526_BD_box_348x490.jpg[/img]
[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2773/PresentingGuitry.jpg[/img]

Wow, I'm not sure what to think of that Red Shoes cover. On one hand, it's a great still, but on the other hand, it looks a whole lot like a fan-made fake cover. And more Ozu on the main line? Really? Though two films on the main line over two discs for $39.95 is a great deal.

[heredity4me]

More Ozu on the mainline! Really! Awesome…. Blu campaign?

[andyli]

Same thing about the Narcissus art. I wonder why they use the screencapture approach on the duo. Aren't there any good posters available? I'd prefer something more abstract.

[mfunk9786]

I'm with you. My main issue is the font on both - the stills are gorgeous and perfect for both films, but the font and placement of the titles kills them both dead.

[Brian C]

I think the Narcissus cover looks fantastic.

Still deciding on The Secret of the Grain, though. I saw and enjoyed the film, but I'm suffering a disconnect between the movie I saw and the art I'm looking at now.

[Tribe]

That Ozu cover, as well as the covers for the individual movies, appear to be Seth's work.

[Svevan]

Narcissus works for me, but The Red Shoes is really awful - not to say that Powell wasn't a modernist in many ways, but this grab just undersells the "classical" nature of this film. The previous cover did I think a great job, especially the back: I was hoping they would carry over the red curtains motif. This seems too crazy, too weird. It implies that what is going on outside of the frame of the cover is Japanese-horror-film outlandish, when the movie is really the definition of elegance.

[StevenJ0001]

The Black Narcissus cover image is jaw-dropping. I haven't yet seen the film but I am tempted to buy the disc based on that image alone.

I am warming to The Red Shoes. They already used poster art beautifully on the prior release, so a completely different take is appreciated. And that close-up does seem to capture the distinctive look of the film very nicely, IMO.

One negative for me about both of them, though: the black "BLACK" and the red "RED." So literal, they make me cringe a little.

Love the Ozu, including the defiantly plain and old-fashioned textual treatment.

And more Ozu on the main line? Really?

I never undertsand such comments. Should there be an arbitrary limit on the number of films from each major director on the CC line? Or are you just not an Ozu fan? This is a very significant and long-awaited release. There are hopefully several more Ozu discs in the pipeline, CC and Eclipse. I was under the impression Criterion plans to release most or all of Ozu's extant films eventually.

[Tribe]

The Red Shoes cover is far from awful...while it has a "classical" side, it does have a substantial crazy, weird side to it as well. I think the cover sets up what's inside the box very well.

[swo17]

In the interest of completeness, here are the individual Ozu covers:

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/product_images/999/524_box_348x490.jpg[/img][img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/product_images/1002/525_box_348x490.jpg[/img]

[StevenJ0001]

Lovely! =D>

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

That Ozu cover, as well as the covers for the individual movies, appear to be Seth's work.

Hmm, I thought it looked like Adrian Tomine. Also in regard to The Red Shoes cover, there's ballet in the film, right?

[Brian C]

Yeah, I haven't seen the Ozu films, but the covers are certainly terrific on their own terms.

[domino harvey]

LOL @ the Red Shoes cover. Great Ozu covers. BN is okay. Good color scheme on the Eclipse. Not sure what's going on with Secret of the Grain

[Tribe]

I don't know what I was thinking...it's clearly not Seth's style. But I don't think it's Chris Ware either...I'll bet these Ozu covers are by Adrian Tomine.

EDIT: I missed the comment above pointing this out.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I don't know what I was thinking...it's clearly not Seth's style. But I don't think it's Chris Ware either...I'll bet these Ozu covers are by Adrian Tomine

I'm very sure now that it is Tomine since swo posted the covers.

[HelenLawson]

The Red Shoes cover is far from awful...while it has a "classical" side, it does have a substantial crazy, weird side to it as well. I think the cover sets up what's inside the box very well.

I agree. A decorative close-up of a ballet slipper doesn't do justice to the film's intensity. When I saw this for the first time last month, I was completely caught off guard by how dark and emotionally florid it was.

[heredity4me]

That Ozu cover, as well as the covers for the individual movies, appear to be Seth's work.

Hmm, I thought it looked like Adrian Tomine. Also in regard to The Red Shoes cover, there's ballet in the film, right?

maybe due to this makes it seem like Chris Ware. http://www.familylosangeles.com/blog/up ... 743705.jpg

[Finch]

The Ozu covers are absolutely terrific. Agree that the fonts diminish the great stills chosen for the P&Ps but Narcissus especially still looks very striking. Secret of the Grain (not seen the film) looks intriguing. Guitry gets one of the better looking Eclipse covers.

[Svevan]

Also in regard to The Red Shoes cover, there's ballet in the film, right?

No, while Moira Shearer and Marius Goring are canoodling in a carriage one day, they run over an old lady; Shearer doesn't admit to the crime, her and Goring have lots of sex, but then she goes to hell.

[Murdoch]

Well, Red Shoes and Black Narcissus sadly look like something from the fake cover thread.

Secret of the Grain is fantastic, tho.

[ianungstad]

I would be just fine with Criterion using comic book artists to design their covers exclusively from now on....they've consistently been the best covers in the collection for the last few years.

[Flike]

Ha, and there's the dreaded Tomine contribution, which I find wonderful. Penguin has had success with their "graphic classics" and I think the participation of contemporary cartoonists is a great way to grab the attention of people who wouldn't normally bite on something like minor Ozu.

P&P covers need new fonts...