Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 6

[domino harvey]

Are you kidding, I'll top myself next month

[ordinaryperson]

I swear I've seen the "Valerie" cover before. Was it based off of the poster for it?

[The Narrator Returns]

Yeah, that's a poster. I don't know if domino will be relieved that they merely chose to use the worst poster in the world as opposed to creating the worst cover in the world from scratch, but that's what happened.

[AfterTheRain]

I swear I've seen the "Valerie" cover before. Was it based off of the poster for it?

I think it was based off of the Janus Films poster for it, just like Richard III took its cover design from the Janus Films poster.

[Kirkinson]

Yes, the Valerie art comes from Janus Films' 1974 poster art.

[ordinaryperson]

Yeah, that's a poster. I don't know if domino will be relieved that they merely chose to use the worst poster in the world as opposed to creating the worst cover in the world from scratch, but that's what happened.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the "Connecting the Dot" thing. Although I swear I saw it in a dream I had (maybe a fever dream).

[mfunk9786]

Great poster, and though the cover looks a little too slick compared to that softer image of the poster, I like it. Strong metaphor for the film, but I wish they'd have left the "in color" bit in, too.

[Ashirg]

Lee Reedy: “Innocence and purity are symbolized by the white daisy, but when it is shown against a black background with drops of blood on its petals, horror is introduced. We shot a photo of the daisy and painted blood drops on an overlay in black. When it was printed, those drops became bloodred. I guess you could call this an old-school technique, preceding Photoshop. The stark boldness of the title font adds to the thriller aspect of the film. It was printed using three colors—black, red, and yellow—rather than full color. A cost-saving trick of the times.”

[mfunk9786]

Yeah, seems like it'd be a misread from a design standpoint (though perhaps not from a sales standpoint) to focus in on fetishization of Valerie with this cover - this does a good job of communicating the horrors that her loss of innocence lead her to have to navigate rather than ignoring them for something that'll look pretty on an indie video store shelf. And I say this as someone who still thinks this would look pretty on an indie video store shelf!

[domino harvey]

A bad cover is a bad cover no matter what its origins. Gee, I can't imagine why someone would think a daisy in the seventies would be marketable?!?!

[mfunk9786]

If you Viridiana this... I guess you'll be even with Criterion, but I'm sure there'll be a quiet minority here who'll be bummed out with whatever pink monstrosity replaces this. Interesting parallel, because both original covers represented the tone of their respective films perfectly and I suppose that both are going to be just as controversial as one another.

[domino harvey]

I liked the Viridiana cover and was one of the few posters here speaking up in its favor, so I doubt anyone's following me into battle on this front

[mfunk9786]

Which is precisely why I said it'd pull you to even with Criterion - I loved that cover too and would understand being out for revenge in its defense.

[domino harvey]

If it makes you feel any better, I seriously doubt anyone else hates this cover as much as me, so I can't imagine it changing on the grounds of a public outpouring of distaste. I gave up dreaming of Criterion listening to reason after the Breathless debacle (where it later turned out every inch of the packaging was beautiful except the damn cover)

[Arrow]

If it makes you feel any better, I seriously doubt anyone else hates this cover as much as me, so I can't imagine it changing on the grounds of a public outpouring of distaste. I gave up dreaming of Criterion listening to reason after the Breathless debacle (where it later turned out every inch of the packaging was beautiful except the damn cover)

I hate it quite a bit, but mostly because I imagined some specific imagery from the film would make a beautiful cover.

[ordinaryperson]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that "The Bridge" cover looks similar to "The Innocents" cover.

[kazaam]

The Fisher King is the only actively bad cover this month.

I don't know...I'm digging the Keith Haring-like design. Feels appropriate.
I can understand the problem with the Valerie cover though, but I think the criticism is more than exaggerated.
So happy for the Gregory & Wallace Boxset.

[movielocke]

I like the Valerie cover.

[Rolad]

You folks are growing jaded. All the new covers look pretty solid to me.

[TMDaines]

I like the Valerie too and I love the film.

[How rude!]

That Valerie cover is the worst cover in the history of the Criterion Collection. Period. Dear God they can't be serious. It's like they took our criticisms over Cries and Whispers and went, "Oh yeah? We'll show you a bad cover!"

And this is the funniest hyperbole in the history of these forums.

Agreed. Silly comment. It is the best cover of all the titles this month, which is not saying much anyway.

The Fisher King, on the other hand, has to have been designed by an artist who has never seen the film.

[cdnchris]

Got back from vacation and here's the backlog:

Hoop Dreams
Cries and Whispers
Odd Man Out
Sullivan's Travels
The River
Le silence de la mer
The Friends of Eddie Coyle

[criterion10]

Cries and Whispers

The reaction of Harriet Andersson on the leaflet is how most of us responded to this release's front cover.

[JabbaTheSlut]

... Or Ingrid Thulin's...

[Minkin]

Criterion Designs: Don't Look Now
It looks like Criterion went with the best of the bunch of alternative covers (the reflection one in particular doesn't seem very fitting).

I'm glad that the old Eric Skillman blog posts have a more official home (especially since he stopped doing them a few years ago). They've also done Satyricon.