Criterion & Eclipse in the Press

[HistoryProf]

I had no idea the origins of the company were so, well, simple and haphazard. crazy. Thanks for posting that.

[Tribe]

It was painfully obvious that the Criterion Collection on DVD was going to make millions and millions of dollars.

'Nuff said.

[Tom Hagen]

Am I correct in understanding that Ron Haver's commentary for King Kong, the first commentary track ever, was done in exchange for weed?

"Have you really seen King Kong? I mean, really seen it?"

[Jeff]

Don't know where else to put this (not that it deserves to be put anywhere), but Jeffrey Wells has revealed that the reason he posts such ridiculous, baseless criticisms of Criterion all the time is because he holds a 25-year-old grudge and "vowed that [he] would somehow pay Criterion back." Fantastic.

Okay, let's get really honest. This is going to sound like it's right out of the Lee J. Cobb in Twelve Angry Men playbook, but I have it in for Criterion because I was once humiliated by a guy in their West Coast office when I set up an interview for some kind of in-house publicity position.

It was either the mid '80s or the early '90s...I forget which. Their office was on PCH in Santa Monica, right in front of the bluff and not far from the pier -- I remember that much. A Criterion marketing (or senior publicity) woman and I had hit it off pretty well, and she suggested that I drop by the office for an interview later that day or the following morning. That was a very quick response, which told me I was doing pretty well. Anyway, I got down there and something had obviously "happened" (i.e., someone had pushed a bad button and/or sullied my rep with a negative reference) because all of a sudden the woman who'd said "come on down!" had done a total flip-flop and couldn't see me.

Instead she sent out this malevolent yuppie creep to run interference and say that something really important had come up in her schedule...bullshit. His task was to conduct a "show" interview and and then make me go away so she didn't have to interview me. This guy she sent to pre-interview me in the Criterion lobby -- the lobby! -- was a brusque, hard-eyed yuppie weasel. I loathed him and his dismissive manner instantly. On top of which I was appalled that I'd been asked to come down only to be told, "Oh, uhm...changed our mind!" At the very least I was entitled to a courtesy chat in that woman's office.

So after I was blown off & sent packing and basically treated like I was some kind of South Central gang-banger who had somehow impersonated an eligible candidate for the job, I vowed that I would somehow pay Criterion back, even if it took 10 or 15 or 20 years. I've never been treated so shabbily by any prospective employer in my life. Criterion was in no way obliged to hire me, obviously, but I felt it was my due to be treated with respect. And I've never forgotten that horrible interception in the lobby or the eyes and the manner of that loathsome Criterion serpent. And being treated like (and feeling like) dogshit when the humiliation was over.

So that was the beginning. I've had similar reactions to other Criterion people since. Their basic thing is "Oh...uhm, yeah....well, we'd like to make time to speak to you or even be semi-candid with you, but we're so cool, you see...we're so VERY COOL and you're only you, so can we help you with anything else?" And as unfair and unrelated as this may sound, I've wanted to stick it to Criterion ever since that incident in their Santa Monica office. Like I said, I'm basically Lee J. Cobb who wants to find the kid guilty because he's angry at his own son, etc. It's irrational. Maybe by admitting this I'll get rid of the bad blood. I don't know. I only know that I fundamentally loathe the Criterion Co. elitist mindset.

This as nothing to do with their DVD/Blurays or their superb transfers or any of that quality-based stuff, mind. They're the best DVD and Bluray company in the world.

His latest diatribe is that the Criterion website doesn't tell who designs the covers and he can't ask them because "the Criterion Collection [is] such an elitist, foo-foo, too-cool-to-schmooze-with-the-little-people outfit." Among the other previous gems have been that Stagecoach was the "worst-looking, worst-sounding Bluray of a classic black-and-white film in history" and that after purchasing it he felt "used and abused by Criterion. Snookered, ass-fucked, film-flammed, hoodwinked, boondoggled...a tin can tied to my tail." They also "hid" the fact that Che was coming. He was also "burned" by their disc of The Third Man. There's more, but it's not worth digging for. I don't think anyone takes the guy seriously anyway. The appeal of his site is the crazy old man vibe. If anyone did though, they're surely done with him now, after an admission of a complete lack of journalistic ethics.

[domino harvey]

Isn't this the creepy guy who asked a director for nude pix of Vinessa Shaw?

[Thomas Dukenfield]

Looks like not hiring Wells was yet another smart move by the best home video outfit in the business. If that's elitism, so be it.

[domino harvey]

What are the odds that even the above story is just a cover for how Criterion refused to forward Wells JPEGs of Tamara?

[matrixschmatrix]

Jesus, he sounds like fucking Rupert Pupkin.

[aox]

[Drucker]

I went on a job interview. Then I didn't get to interview with the person I wanted to interview with. I hated who I interviewed with immediately and at first sight. HOW COULD I NOT HAVE GOTTEN THIS JOB?

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

A Criterion marketing (or senior publicity) woman and I had hit it off pretty well, and she suggested that I drop by the office for an interview later that day or the following morning.

If this unnamed woman still works at Criterion and reads this, she'll probably feel like Ann Rule when the latter discovered that she worked a suicide hotline with Ted Bundy.

EDIT: Which is to say, they dodged a bullet. My simile is a little extreme.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

So when are him and Ray Carney going to make the Criterion Conspiracy Club (CCC)?

[Perkins Cobb]

Vinessa Shaw is hot, though. I mean....

[Numero Trois]

Meet Eric Skillman, art director of the Criterion Collection's fabled packaging images

[Murdoch]

Criterion's Kim Hendrickson interviewed by Jezebel as part of a piece on challenging the accepted film canon.

[Boosmahn]

Is that article suggesting that film "canon" upholds white supremacy simply because the majority of (regarded) classics were directed by white people?

[knives]

One could argue truth to such an argument if phrased well. While a lot of this is dependent on historical factors outside the US it is probably no wonder the focus of film studies has been with the occupation most filled by the American hegemony with roles filled by minorities (religious and ethnic) and women ignored and even demonized with the producers. For a minority to be talked about outside of a specific study they have to be a unique titan such as James Wong Howe.

After all this isn't far from Spike Lee's argument about teaching Griffith in a bubble of technique.

[movielocke]

shoot, everything that article attributes to Griffith and to BoaN is a well-constructed myth (that he certainly had a part in creating) if not an outright lie. And let us not forget, Birth of a Nation's availability pre home video was incredibly widespread and was heavily subsidized thanks to the KKK, so schools and professors could access or own a good quality print of BoaN for free or practically nothing relative to what accessing film prints usually cost them. And if the only silent film available to your school for free is BoaN, chances were that text was going to be used to teach from whilst credulously treating it as a holy text. Making schools complicit in spreading KKK propaganda and finding compelling ways to dress it up in palatable academic forms was certainly one of their finest achievements.

[domino harvey]

It's not a myth that it was highly influential and represented the most popular initial utilization of many elements we now associate with what a feature film looks like. Calling academics who have taught the film "complicit in spreading KKK propaganda" does, however, quality you to write for Jezebel, so I hope you're sending in your CV

[Brian C]

I remember being shown BoaN in my junior high social studies class by a teacher who once literally brought herself to tears while telling us how FDR and the New Deal nearly destroyed this country. I’m not sure she would have objected to being charged with spreading KKK propaganda!

[knives]

Man, OK sounds so weird.

[domino harvey]

I’m pretty sure Brian wasn’t in OK, he didn’t mention that his history teacher was just the basketball coach

[knives]

Weird. I thought him and Michael had gone to elementary school together.

[domino harvey]

Are you thinking of Jeff and Zumpano?

[knives]

Yes.