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

[domino harvey]

Eating Raoul and the Game are perfect

[TMDaines]

Liked the old Umberto D. This one's dreadful though. I'll still be glad to pick it up on Blu all the same.

[mfunk9786]

What makes it so dreadful? I think that may be a strong word - it's a well-framed, sharp, iconic image from the film, at the very least.

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v Wow, very strong words for this cover, are we all looking at the same thing?

[Highway 61]

The new Umberto D is one of the worst covers they've ever done, which is really saying something as of late. Eating Raoul and The Game are great, however.

[cdnchris]

Holy schnikes on The Game cover! Love it!

[Robert de la Cheyniest]

The Game looks similar to Mad Men's title sequence.

[domino harvey]

The Eating Raoul cover is great in how it incorporates the iconic mouth logo of the original release and then still adds a new and appropriate twist with the frying pan. I'll say more about this great film once the thread gets started!

[Murdoch]

The Game cover is just brilliant, one of the best of the collection IMHO (although it does look like it spells THF GAMF)

[The Narrator Returns]

Umberto D. reeks of F. Ron Miller's involvement. Regardless, this is the best month for covers in a while.

[thatobscurecharm]

I wonder if they'll get some heat about "The Game" cover being a slight reminiscence of 9/11.
Umberto D. looks very endearing.

[captveg]

The Les visiteurs du soir cover may be in my Top 5.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

The Game looks similar to Mad Men's title sequence.

And World On A Wire's cover!

[colinr0380]

And the opening titles to Total Recall!

In film terms I'm particularly excited about Les visiteurs du soir! It looks like a fantastic month all round though.

[lacritfan]

Love The Game cover though it took me a few seconds to figure it out (and I wonder why the E in THE has a small middle line and the one in GAME is long)? Colors on it are spot on.

The problem with the new Umberto D cover is it makes it look like a sweet sentimental movie about an old man and his dog, the old one at least hinted that there was something deeper and darker.

[Jeff]

Betting Neil Kellerhouse is responsible for that cover for The Game.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

So I'm the only one who gets tears in their eye just looking at the Umberto D. cover?

[LQ]

So I'm the only one who gets tears in their eye just looking at the Umberto D. cover?

You're certainly not the only one...

[Cinephrenic]

Flike!!!!

[HistoryProf]

I adore the Carnes

absolutely beautiful - and CoP is perhaps the best "upgrade" they've ever done. The Game is great as well.

[Oedipax]

I wonder if they'll get some heat about "The Game" cover being a slight reminiscence of 9/11.

I thought the same thing. It's the straight vertical lines on the "building" that do it more than the falling man, I think.

[HistoryProf]

I just went and checked all of my cases, and found the following had issues where the packaging was melted to the case. In addition to the ones mentioned, I found the problem with:

The Lady Vanishes
Branded to Kill
Fat Girl
Kagemusha
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
Empire of Passion
The Killing
12 Angry Men

Of these, The Lady Vanishes, Fat Girl, and Harold and Maude were by far the worse. The rest seemed like they could be peeled off with a bit of patience, but these seemed like the case itself was probably damaged underneath.

FWIW, my copies of 12 Angry Men, The Killing, and Branded to Kill (+Tokyo Drifter) were fine. And today I received my Father's Day haul courtesy of my awesome wife and A Night to Remember, World on A Wire, Letter Never Sent, and Three Outlaw Samurai were all perfectly fine w/ the usual somewhat loose shrinkwrap that was easily removable.

[bdsweeney]

Can I just not see it, or does the Fincher's name not appear on The Game?

[Jeff]

Can I just not see it, or does the Fincher's name not appear on The Game?

Must be one of the rare occasions where they didn't include it. I suppose it could be one of those contractual things. It would probably distract from the clean lines of the cover anyway. At any rate, I imagine this will ultimately have a big, signed "DAVID FINCHER Director-Approved" sticker on it to catch the eye of Best Buy and Barnes & Noble shoppers.

[cdnchris]

And Everything is Going Fine
Gray's Anatomy

[Jeff]

So it appears as though, just days after its release, the Harold and Maude DVDs and Blu-rays were pulled out of print so that a revised cover could take its place. Hence the backorder status on the Criterion site and the new, wordier cover including credits for Higgins and Stevens. This release has been put through a lot.

The main difference between the Paramount and original Criterion cover is that it credits the director. I would assume that they couldn't credit the director without crediting the writer and songwriter, which led to the re-design.

I think captveg is exactly right. Ashby, Higgins, and Stevens share a line on the offical MPAA credit block with all receiving equal billing. I'm sure that there was a contractual stipulation that required all three to be credited equally on all promotional material, which would include a home video release. Cat Stevens is the only one still alive, and I can't imagine him caring about something like this, so I imagine it was Paramounts lawyers who balked.

EDIT: The Colin Higgins Trust is represented by James Rogers, who appears in some of the supplements, so he may have been the one that insisted on this.