Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.3

[Highway 61]

I'm in love with then Naruse cover, but I'll admit the Green for Danger is more creative. Both are excellent. Bicycle Thieves, on the other, hand is utterly terrible. How disappointing. Also, even though it's inaccurate, I wish Criterion had used "The Bicycle Thief" instead. It sounds so much better.

[zedz]

I especially like the 40 and 50 dollar price points. Does the commentary and interview (+ booklet) warrant a $40 price?

OK boys, one more time. . . (join in if you know the words)

Commentary = upper tier pricing, even if there are no other extras, even if the commentary is so bad they should be paying you to listen to it. It might not be fair, but it is consistent.

Also, even though it's inaccurate, I wish Criterion had used "The Bicycle Thief" instead. It sounds so much better.

Actually, that's what I liked most about the cover. Thank God America is finally over that particular idiocy. (One down. . .) What did it take, sixty years? Maybe this is the first time the film has been released by people who have actually seen the film!

[Highway 61]

See, I wouldn't mind if Criterion were consistent. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, for instance. But hey, if getting Bicycle Thieves means were going to get Heaven and Hell over High and Low, then I'll stop complaining.

[mikeohhh]

Hopefully later this year we'll see The Taste of a Very Rare Type of Mackarel That Can Only Be Caught Like What, One, Two Weeks Sometime in August?.

[Matt]

OK boys, one more time. . . (join in if you know the words)

Commentary = upper tier pricing, even if there are no other extras, even if the commentary is so bad they should be paying you to listen to it. It might not be fair, but it is consistent.

How soon we forget.

[jon]

Hah! Also, I didn't forget about the upper tier price (usually) with commentaries. Im just trying to make a point that there arent that many $30 dvds coming out. It seems the new C made criterion more classy so they cant stoop to charging so little. I duno, its like they are marketing above me now, to a stupider, more wealthy consumer. I wish they stuck with the old logo.

Actually, on the old Cover Art thread, i believe, i brought up that before the shift to the new logo, Criterion was heading in a mostly $30 direction. They were heading in that direction until...that fucking logo.

Check Matt's link above.

[domino harvey]

I for one am outraged at Criterion for including more bonus supplements, thus driving the prices up. You tell em!

[toiletduck!]

Actually, on the old Cover Art thread, i believe, i brought up that before the shift to the new logo, Criterion was heading in a mostly $30 direction. They were heading in that direction until...that fucking logo.

Check Matt's link above.

There was brief speculation (which I fully buy into) on the Eclipse thread that the second line will allow Criterion proper to place more focus on upper-tier releases. This may be foreshadowing that shift.

-Toilet Dcuk

[Musashi219]

I absolutely love the covers for Green for Danger and When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. The cover art is finally justifying the change in packaging design, especially those Gordons, as they're able to do more with the color scheme now.

As for the Bicycle Thieves cover, honestly I don't have a problem with it. For such a time-honored film, it wouldn't make much sense to give it some fancy overhaul in the art department. That's the face of neorealism there folks, and it's a damn honest one.

[a.khan]

Has Criterion lost its guy damn mind?

I would think so.

[Napoleon]

Like the literal translations on a couple of the new covers. So the film is 'the woman ascends the stairs' and the cover is a still of said woman ascending some stairs.

Green for Danger is eyes looking alarmed at a load of green. Don't know how the designer restrained themselves on the Bicycle Thieves.

[Paul Moran]

I applied for a replacement, correctly-sized, slipcase for Six Moral Tales on 9 October. It arrived this morning (shipped 14 November). I'd stuck 2 pieces of corrugated cardboard in the old case to fill up the gaps, but the new case is, of course, much better. Top marks to Criterion for being willing to support their many loyal non-R1 customers.

[Michael Kerpan]

The Naruse cover is lovely -- but if I recall correctly, its very similar to the cover of the wonderful (long out of print) video issued by the (late lamented) World Artists Home Video (possibly the best looking VHS release ever to come out in the USA).

[jon]

Don't know how the designer restrained themself on the Bicyle Thieves.

Chuckled out loud.

Actually, on the old Cover Art thread, i believe, i brought up that before the shift to the new logo, Criterion was heading in a mostly $30 direction. They were heading in that direction until...that fucking logo.

Check Matt's link above.

There was brief speculation (which I fully buy into) on the Eclipse thread that the second line will allow Criterion proper to place more focus on upper-tier releases. This may be foreshadowing that shift.

I'm all for it if they slow down production a little, release stronger titles, and allow for stacked discs that warrant the $40 price tag across the board. I thought that might be what is happening. I just don't think that the titles have been as good as they have been in the past. The special features on a few of the discs haven't been ($40) spectacular.

Criterion is going to have to step up their packages for their CC/Eclipse marketing/production plan to work...for me at least, especially with HD on the mainstream horizon.

Then again, I couldn't be more excited for Eclipse.

[domino harvey]

let's be honest and call them $25.97 spectacular, because if you're paying the list price, you have bigger things to complain about.

[jon]

You have got a point.

[Musashi219]

let's be honest and call them $25.97 spectacular, because if you're paying the list price, you have bigger things to complain about.

Anyone who doesn't shop online for Criterion DVDs is asking for their bank account to fall apart. Hell I was able to get Double Life of Veronique and Pandora's Box for $23.97 from DVDPlanet. And speaking of them, January prices were just released. Can't beat $45.47 for the Yojimbo/Sanjuro set or $51.97 for the Gordon box. Seriously.

[Arcadean]

The Naruse cover is lovely -- but if I recall correctly, its very similar to the cover of the wonderful (long out of print) video issued by the (late lamented) World Artists Home Video (possibly the best looking VHS release ever to come out in the USA).

[Michael Kerpan]

Arcadean -- thanks for finding the WAHV release's cover (even if seeing it makes me feel a bit melancholy).

It is really sad that World Artists failed to survive into the DVD era, they really were a first-rate operation -- totally committed to the films they handled. They had wanted to release much more Naruse -- but never could get Toho to agree to terms that were reasonable (given the nature of the American marketplce of that era). For instance, they worked up a video of "Wife! Be Like A Rose!" -- but never were able to actually release this.

[Steven H]

I love the Naruse cover, and it's going to look splendid in a clear keep case (hopefully).

[Jem]

Bicycle Thieves looks terrible, and it's not even the C in B part of the cover that bothers me.

Agree, poorly resolved. It's seems like Criterion want us to hate their new logo.

[jon]

the logo is getting in the way of a lot of their artwork, but as i said, the logo on Bicycle Thieves isn't the worst part (although distracting), it is the cover as a whole. It just doesn't work for me. SncDthMnky, Fan Art, Go!

[zedz]

Actually, on the old Cover Art thread, i believe, i brought up that before the shift to the new logo, Criterion was heading in a mostly $30 direction. They were heading in that direction until...that fucking logo.

Check Matt's link above.

There was brief speculation (which I fully buy into) on the Eclipse thread that the second line will allow Criterion proper to place more focus on upper-tier releases. This may be foreshadowing that shift.

I don't think a one-month blip counts as a trend. It seems more like Criterion was testing the waters with a handful of lower-tier titles with commentaries, discovered that this strategy didn't result in Crazed Fruit and The Browning Version flying out of stores (or, more to the point, selling appreciably more than other, bare-bones, $30 titles, or more than similarly obscure $40 ones), and reverted to their standard practice.

Oh, and dtito Dcuk.

[dadaistnun]

My copy of The Double Life of Veronique just arrived; a package this nice is why I am firmly on the digipak side of the fence. Fucking beautiful.

[Hyperion]

I think Bicycle Thieves is a decent cover except for the unfortunate "C in B." The text and headshot have a pleasingly iconic quality that may seem underwhelming on a computer monitor; I'm predicting that this cover will look much better when printed on a matte-finish digipak slipcase.