Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.5

[swo17]

Are you sure it's not a Smiths cover?

I just checked like 50 of them. No dice.

[swo17]

But the more suggested matches I see and the more I think about it the less certain I am of any of this!

I'm not even sure if I exist anymore. Just to be done with this, I'm going to say that, yes, it's the Madonna cover. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go into that corner with the green mood lamp over there and cry, my head ever so askance and plaintive.

[Doctor Sunshine]

Well, there's one thing we can take away from all of this: lady singers are F'in' lazy!

[HistoryProf]

That's exactly what I was thinking of in terms of layout. I know my dad has boxes of these from the 50s and I knew exactly what the black bar was when I saw it as I've seen it a hundred times before on his collection of old detective and sci fi novels.

You realize there's quite a market for original hard boiled and scfi 50's paperbacks, don't you?

Of course. He's thought about selling them, but likes them too much. It's his childhood I think. He has dozens of these awesome Sci Fi titles that are two books in one - Top of the spine shows one title, bottom the other, and the front cover is one book, you flip it over and the "back" cover is for the other book, but upside down. They meet in the middle. I used to read them when I was in Jr. High all the time. He's got all kinds of original Asimov - including a serial he did for a long time - and Bradbury and so on and so forth. it's all wicked cool.

[Charles]

Ace Doubles! I have a few of those. A large number of them would certainly look great on the shelf, and I'm sure there are some hardcore collectors out there. I love my hundreds of old paperbacks, but the sad thing about that particular collection is that due to the quality of the paper and glue used then, compounded by age, so many of them are ready to split apart when opened, and to actually read some of them requires the greatest of care. Slightly more to the point in this forum, my favorites are the movie tie-ins for the '50s-'60s films I grew up with.

I'm new here, by the way, though I've been a Criterion devotee since purchasing "The Magnificent Ambersons" at Ken Crane's in 1986 or thereabouts. (And of course it's still one of my favorite possessions.)

And how great to find threads devoted to cover art and packaging. Guess I'm not alone in my obsessions. Having read through this one, I'm learning tons of good stuff I didn't know, thanks to all of you. Carry on.

[Feego]

People on Sunday is lovely of course but it looks remarkably like the cover to an album (from the past few years?) that I can't place and it's going to bug me forever unless I remember it.

Either a Smiths album cover or a Belle & Sebastian album cover?

I don't think so. ](*,) I want to say it's tinted blue or green, with a woman's face positioned the same way, maybe facing the opposite direction though.

Dude, I know you've dismissed the Shadows poster already (and I know it was agreed that we were done with this subject), but this has just GOT to be it. It's even tinted green, as you thought, and the covers are just too damn similar not to take note.

[CSM126]

They tweaked it again:

[swo17]

That's actually ten times better now, mostly just from changing the director credit to white. I guess I also like how the 's could be read as either "Chaplin's film" or "Chaplin is the great dictator."

[knives]

Still looks like Lincoln with a mustache though.

[mfunk9786]

So Modern Times was directed by Charlie and The Great Dictator was directed by Charles?

[domino harvey]

They were all credited to "Charles," so the earlier use of the public nickname was particularly embarrassing

[captveg]

I'm thinking the logic is that film's where he's The Tramp = Charlie, films where he's not The Tramp = Charles.

Of course, they'll probably prove me wrong with more inconsistencies on the next release...

[zedz]

Next up:

Monsieur Verdoux by Charlot Chaplin

The Gold Rush by Chuck Chaplin

and

City Lights by Chazzaaa!!TM

[mfunk9786]

C.C. Chazzy Chap

[zitherstrings]

Does anyone know if Criterion sells the normal-width DVD Cases for old double size release? I am holding Late Spring and wondering if I can replace the thickness.

[Jeff]

They were all credited to "Charles," so the earlier use of the public nickname was particularly embarrassing

I think both are fine. While the on screen director's credit may be "Charles," the film posters and other promotional material almost always trumpeted "Charlie" (The Kid and Monsieur Verdoux being notable exceptions). I really just wish they were using original poster art for the all Chaplin films.

[swo17]

How Eric Skillman made last year's best Criterion cover

[Cinephrenic]

Best cover?

[swo17]

Yes?

[aox]

Cover?

[Cinephrenic]

swo17? 8-[

[domino harvey]

?

[swo17]

This is what I get for not ending every post with an exclamation point.

[HistoryProf]

Best cover?!?!??!?!?!

[Dirk]

How Eric Skillman made last year's best Criterion cover

I like his concept, but I doubt the average film fan is going to understand why the cover is a bunch of dots.