Documentaries and Interviews on Criterion

[Gordon]

Programmes from Cinema de Notre Temps seem to appear on Criterions quite often now. It's a great series. Can anyone compile a complete list of episodes that appear on Criterion DVDs?

1960s:
Cinéma de notre temps: Jean Vigo (1964)
Cinéma de notre temps: Luis Buñuel (1964)
Cinéma de notre temps: Abel Gance, portrait brisé (1964)
Cinéma de notre temps: La nouvelle vague par elle-même (1964)
Cinéma de notre temps: Jean-Luc Godard ou Le cinéma au défi (1965)
Cinéma de notre temps: François Truffaut ou L'esprit critique (1965)
Cinéma de notre temps: Carl Th. Dreyer (1965)
Cinéma de notre temps: Roger Leenhardt ou Le dernier humaniste (1965)
Cinéma de notre temps: Robert Bresson - Ni vu, ni connu (1965)
Cinéma de notre temps: Sacha Guitry (1965)
Cinéma de notre temps: Et pourtant ils tournent (1966)
Cinéma de notre temps: Marcel Pagnol ou Le cinéma tel qu'on le parle (1966)
Cinéma de notre temps: Portrait de Michel Simon par Jean Renoir (1966)
Cinéma de notre temps: Pasolini, l'enragé (1966)
Cinéma de notre temps: Jean Renoir, le patron (1966)
Cinéma de notre temps: Jacques Becker (1967)
Cinéma de notre temps: Le dinosaure et le bébe, dialogue en huit parties entre Fritz Lang et Jean-Luc Godard (1967)
Cinéma de notre temps: La première vague (1968)
Cinéma de notre temps: René Clair (1969)

1970s:
Cinéma de notre temps: François Truffaut: dix ans, dix films (1970)
Cinéma de notre temps: Jean-Pierre Melville: portrait en neuf poses (1971)

1990s:
Cinéma de notre temps: Souleymane Cissé (1990)
Cinéma de notre temps: Jacques Rivette - Le veilleur (1990)
Cinéma de notre temps: Claude Chabrol, l'entomologiste (1991)
Cinéma de notre temps: Eric Rohmer, preuves à l'appui (1994)
Cinéma de notre temps: Alain Cavalier, sept chapitres, cinq jours, 2 pièces-cuisine (1996)

I have Jean-Pierre Melville: Portrait in Nine Poses on DVD-r. It's great. But I doubt we'll ever see it on any DVD, due to the clip from Midnight Cowboy and Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin' " on the soundtrack. The way that the clip and the music are cut into the film against Melville walking to his studio mean that it would difficult to edit out. I was a bit disappointed, when the complete version was not included on Le Cercle Rouge as it is a rare and essential document of a true Master of Cinema.

There are also three excellent Cinéaste de notre temps that spring to mind:

Cinéaste de notre temps: David Lynch - Don't Look at Me (1989)
Cinéaste de notre temps: HHH, Un portrait de Hou Hsiao-Hsien (1997)
Cinéaste de notre temps: The Scorsese Machine (1991)

Perhaps, The Scorsese Machine could be included on a future Scorsese shorts/documentaries set: What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?; It's Not Just You, Murray!; The Big Shave; Street Scenes; Italianamerican; American Boy; Made in Milan, no?

[Gordon]

I recieved my Playtime set today and I watched the excellent Omnibus documentary on Tati, which afterwards got me wondering about other BBC documentaries that Criterion has included as extras.

All That Heaven Allows - Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk (30 mins)
The Scarlet Empress - The World of Josef von Sternberg (20 mins)
Billy Liar - Hollywood UK: British Cinema in the Sixties episode "Northern Lights" (22 mins)
La Règle du jeu - Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II (60 mins)
Elena and Her Men - Jean Renoir: Part Two - Hollywood and Beyond (60 mins)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - Signs of Vigourous Life: New German Cinema (35 mins)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision (51 mins)
Straw Dogs - Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron (80 mins)
Richard III - Great Acting: Laurence Olivier (45 mins)
Short Cuts - excerpt from the Moving Pictures series (18 mins)
Young Mr. Lincoln - John Ford, Part One (42 mins)
Kind Hearts and Coronets - Made in England (75 mins)
Naked - The Art Zone: The Conversation (36 mins)
Playtime - Jacques Tati in M. Hulot's Work (49 mins)

Released from other studios

The French Connection - Poughkeepsie Shouffle (54 mins)
The Exorcist - The Fear of God (54 mins)
Foolish Wives (Kino edition) - The Man You Love to Hate (78 mins)

Excellent BBC documentaries not on DVD

Kenneth Anger (54 mins)
Reputations: Alfred Hitchcock (120 mins)
Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance (75 mins)


Channel Four / Film Four / Nobles Gate

Burnt Offering: The Cult of The Wicker Man (54 mins) (on new 3-disc UK edition)
Hell On Earth: Ken Russell's The Devils (54 mins)
On the Edge of Blade Runner (54 mins)
American Desperadoes - The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde (50 mins)

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[Gordon]

I have surely missed out many BBC documentaries that have been released on DVD or should be, so your input would be most welcome. Compiling the unreleased stuff would be interesting and we could send the list to Criterion for their consideration.

[kieslowski]

A huge list could be compiled of worthwhile documentaries. Just the BBC Arena strand (which produced Wisconsin Death Trip & Searching For The Wrong Eyed Jesus for example) alone throws up several interesting titles: Shadowing The Third Man must be a shoo-in for a Third Man reissue and there are other fine documentaries in their catalogue on Greene, as well as the great Orson Welles Story. From another BBC series, Omnibus, it's a shame Criterion didn't pick up Cracked Actor for the Man Who Fell To Earth disc, but I'm sure there are countless other worthy Omnibus & Arena docs, especially from the 70s and 80s.

[ellipsis7]

Yes, from Arena, eps, The Orson Welles Story, Roberto Rossellini, A Very British Affair (Powell & Pressburger), Dear Antonioni, Luchino Visconti...

Important also to distinguish between say the Renoir Omnibuses which are complete, and say the John Ford Omnibus Pt 1 which is an edit down for rights reasons...

[ogtec]

The River - Rumer Godden: An Indian Affair
I Know Where I'm Going! - I Know Where I'm Going! Revisited
Monty Python's Life of Brian - The Pythons

..are a few that spring to mind

[colinr0380]

Non-Criterion but can be added to your 'others' list. There is also the Director: Alan Clarke BBC documentary that was in Blue Underground's Alan Clarke Collection boxset.

Under The Roofs Of Paris has a 1966 BBC interview with Rene Clair.