Vote for the best non-CC DVD's of 2006 here

[Steven H]

Moved to end and changed per request.

[jt]

To run side by side with GringoTex's 2006 poll I've decided to give the forum members the opportunity to vote for their favourite DVDs of the year from all round the world.

There are no region restrictions, any non-criterion film from any country can be voted for as long as it was released in 2006.

Please vote for any of the following:

Non-CC Release of the year - Up to ten films. Either simply list them or if you want to order them, annotate them, split into regions etc. go right ahead but each film mentioned will get only one point.

Best Non-CC Commentary

Best Non-CC Single Supplement - Non-commentary

Best Non-CC Package Design - Includes packaging and menu screens

Overall DVD of the year - Only ONE vote, but you CAN choose a criterion if you like.

Please post your nominations on this forum, I'll tabulate the results at the end of December.

If a mod wants to move this to a more appropriate area of the site or make it sticky, by all means. Cheers.

[Tommaso]

Okay, I'll have a go:

Non CC release of the year:
Definitely my number one:

Quay Brothers: Short Films ( BFI)

And the rest in no particular order:

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Paradjanov, Films sans Frontieres)
Sir Arne's Treasure (Stiller, Kino)
Visages d'Enfants (Feyder, arte edition Germany)
49th parallel (Powell/Pressburger, Institut Lumiere)
Kwaidan (Kobayashi, MoC)
Sopraluoghi in Palestina (Pasolini, RHV)
Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov, arte edition Germany)
One of our aircraft is missing (Powell/Pressburger, Universal)
Paris nous appartient (Rivette, BFI)

Best Non-CC Commentary:
Quay Brothers' commentary on Quay Brothers: Short Films


Best Non-CC Single Supplement - Non-commentary :
The 86-minute documentary on Vertov included in the dvd mentioned above.

Best Non-CC Package Design : Quay Brothers: Short Films (plainly incredible)

Overall DVD of the year : okay, normally it would be the Quays again, but I think this one also deserves praise:

Criterion's edition of Spirit of the Beehive (Erice)

[Der Müde Tod]

Non-CC Release of the year
(in no particular order)

The Kommissar (Askoldov) [Ruscico]
The Suspended Step of the Stork (Angelopoulos) [New Star]
Saraband (Bergman) [Sony]
Satantango (Tarr) [AE]
Manderlay (von Trier) [IFC]
The Conformist (Bertolucci) [Paramount]

[stroszeck]

Did you have any problems screening LE BOUCHER? My dvd player blows the image right the hell up so its full screen with horrible resolution. (I'm talking about the R1).

[colinr0380]

I didn't really notice many problems and I have the Region 1 disc, but then I'm not really the person to ask about picture quality! It wasn't a great Criterion-quality picture but it was watchable.

I've checked my disc and it is widescreen.

[Gordon]

Non-CC Release of the year:

Sam Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection (The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Ride the High Country, The Ballad of Cable Hogue) (Warner)
L'Armee des Ombres (BFI)
Network: Special Edition (Warner)
Culloden and The War Game (Project X)
The Ipcress File: Special Edition (Granada Ventures / Network)
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (Granada Ventures / Network)
The Conformist (Paramount)
Emperor of the North Pole (Fox)
The Passenger (Sony)
Repo Man: Special Edition (Universal)


Best Non-CC Commentary:

Ginette Vincendeau on L'Armee des Ombres.


Best Non-CC Single Supplement:

Harry Dean Stanton interview on the Repo Man SE.


Best Non-CC Package Design:

Frankenstein: 70th Anniversary Edition (Universal)


Overall DVD of the Year:

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (Warner)

[Greathinker]

Best non-CC Release: Faust (MoC), that's all I will list since I know I can't remember everything that came out this year.

Best non-CC commentary: David Cronenberg, A History of Violence.

Best non-CC supplement: Bergman at work in Saraband.

Best non-CC package design: Warner Film Noir Classics Collection, Vol. 3

Overall DVD of the Year: Seven Samurai CC

[fred]

Overall DVD of the Year: Moses und Aron (Kinokuniya)

A gorgeous disc of one of the greatest films ever made. No English subs, but it's an opera for crying out loud. Get a copy of the libretto. There are no subtitles on audio recordings either.

[Anonymous]

Overall DVD of the Year: Moses und Aron (Kinokuniya)

Are you referring to this DVD?

[fred]

That's the one. Worth every penny if you can live without English subs and have any affinity for the Straubs. Their other Straub dvds are just as nice.

N.B. Hmv.co.jp has much better prices than CD Japan on these.

[zedz]

Well, I know I rah-rah-ed for the Quay Brothers in the appropriate thread, but realistically I think it's only the second-best DVD of the year. I don't see how anything can top the Norman McLaren set, which must be one of the jewels in the crown of DVD production to date: the complete works of one of the medium's greatest animators, in stunning transfers, with copious supporting materials. They don't come any better than this.

(More thoughts on other categories when I have time to think.)

[Michael]

Bellissima - exquisite Magnani, luminous transfer...everything you ask for a perfect Italian drama bursting with pathos and emotions.

The Gay Divorcee - together with Top Hat which was released last year, the most heavenly Astaire/Rogers piece of them all.

Satantango - about time! I waited for years, years to see this film after reading so much love expressed for it on this forum. And it's worth the wait.

The Conformist - see just above. And the awesome price can't be beat!

Holiday - finally released separately from the wonderful Cary Grant Collection. Now I can buy this favorite of mine - a great stocking stuffer - for friends. I still can't make up my mind which I love more - Holiday or its sister, The Philadelphia Story.

Baby Doll - I praised this film to death here.

Liza with a Z - oh yes!

[colinr0380]

I've had a pretty slow film watching year this time and my 'to watch' pile is growing ever bigger, so with all those potential Top Ten films (and the Criterions excluded from this list) still waiting their turn in mind this is my list of films which I saw and really liked over the year:

1. The Passion of Anna (MGM R1 set)

2. Shame (MGM R1 set)

I posted some of my thoughts at the time here.

3. Tony Takitani (Strand R1)

4. London/Robinson In Space (BFI R2)

The BFI discs are excellent and a fascinating booklet with an interview with the director is included. It makes a great companion to the previous years release of Andrew Kotting's Gallivant, giving a unique perspective on Britain, even though the discs aren't as packed with stuff as Gallivant's were.

5. Asphalt (Masters of Cinema R2)

6. Birth

7. Moolade (Artificial Eye R2)

I actually saw this film on New Year's Eve so it should really have been in my 2005 list, but it was too late to add it!

8. Wallace and Gromit in "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"

If I have one criticism it is that both this and Chicken Run can't exactly compete with the fast paced, absolutely perfect shorts. Those cute rabbits make up for a lot though!

9. Nick Broomfield: The Early Works

10. Le Boucher

EDIT: I've re-entered my list at the bottom of the thread as per the request. I thought I'd take this opportunity to add a film I'd stupidly forgotten about when first making this list - I'd actually put the Reel 23 DVD release of The Atrocity Exhibition at my number 1 and bump the other titles down a notch!

[zedz]

Looking back, it's actually been a pretty impressive year. Good as Criterion and MoC have been in 2006, all of my top five come from other sources (now that's a heartening sign).

1. Norman McLaren: The Master's Edition: The definitive and annotated complete works of a film genius. The presentation is closely modeled on Criterion's Brakhage presentation (no bad thing) and it's simply indispensible. Some of these films pose extreme transferring challenges, but they've been beautifully done. Blinkity Blank leaps of the screen at you. (Pedant's quibble: the inept alphabetization in the accompanying book and on-screen - the 'view all' function for each disc plays the shorts in supposed alphabetical order - which correctly ignores definite articles but fails to ignore indefinite articles).

2. The Brothers Quay: The Short Films 1979-2003: Amazing films (it's official: Street of Crocodiles is inexhaustible), exquisite transfers, fantastic commentaries, and a wonderfully harmonious overall package. This is clearly a labour of love.

3. Trois films de Raoul Ruiz: One of the greatest obscure films of the 70s (Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting) plus one of the greatest obscure films of the 80s (Three Crowns of a Sailor), plus a third sui generis feature (The Suspended Vocation) and some beguiling interviews. Seeing these films on DVD at all would be big news, so it's fantastic to see them treated so nicely. Hypothesis is the film Greenaway has been trying to make all his career - it's the phantom marriage of Resnais and Pynchon, overseen by Bunuel; Three Crowns is the apotheosis of Welles-in-exile, shooting on the run in spooky European cities with no money but boundless imagination. And the two films, side by side, also serve as a faintly mind-boggling encapsulation of the genius of Sacha Vierney (these films are shot by the same cinematographer?).

4. Werner Herzog: Documentaries and Shorts 1962-1999: Somehwat unprepossessing - drab design, scanty contextual information, no extras (or, conversely, nothing but extras), some duplication with stuff I've already got, a couple of less-than-ideal transfers or overdubbed versions of films that would be better subtitled - but the cumulative richness of this set is undeniable (and if you get the Australian version, it's about half the price of buying it direct). Purely in terms of content, this may be the set of the year, and it's what DVD is all about: a rare opportunity to gather together the most ephemeral and elusive elements of a filmmaker's oeuvre. I know it's blasphemy, but luxuriating in the glories of this set, Herzog's feature career almost seems irrelevant.

5. Astaire and Rogers: The Complete Film Collection: I know several of the films are sub-par (but the rest more than make up for it), and a lot of Warner's corporate extras are frankly not worth the effort, but this is a hell of a glamorous and seductive set in its 'complete' incarnation. If only all big-studio legacies were accorded this sort of respect.

And these are only the tip of the iceberg. I can hardly believe that in the year in which Satantango finally gets an exemplary release there would be at least five even more essential DVD sets. The same goes for Kino's glorious Stillers, and the utterly crucial Japanese New Wave Oshimas (actually, if these had been in a box, or above ground, they'd probably have bumped Astaire and Rogers - they're probably the most essential films released this year).

But if I could squeeze in only one more set into the above list, it would have to be Free Cinema, a glorious, sentimental favourite.

[vogler]

Non-CC Release of the year
Quay Bothers - The Short Films (BFI)
Norman Mclaren - The Master's Edition (if only the transfers weren't windowboxed)
Jean-Luc Godard/Anne-Marie Mieville - Four Short Films (ECM)
Sir Arne's Treasure (Kino)
Saraband (Tartan)
Faust (MOC)
Funeral Parade of Roses (MOC)
Dreams That Money Can Buy (BFI) (although that 'bonus' alternative soundtrack is a fucking disgrace.)
Woman of the Dunes (BFI)
The Films of James Broughton (Facets - Yes that's right, FACETS!)


Best Non-CC Commentary
I'm really not a commentary person at all, in general I disagree with the entire concept, but I made an exception in the case of the commentaries on the Quay Brothers set (although I only listened and didn't watch).

Best Non-CC Single Supplement
The booklet with Funeral Parade of Roses. Probably the best booklet I've ever seen with a dvd.

Best Non-CC Package Design
Quay Bothers - The Short Films (BFI)

Overall DVD of the year
Quay Bothers - The Short Films (BFI)

[zedz]

The Films of James Broughton (Facets - Yes that's right, FACETS!)

Yikes! Looks I will have to buy this after all. Can you elaborate on your recommendation?

Best Non-CC Commentary
I'm really not a commentary person at all, in general I disagree with the entire concept, but I made an exception in the case of the commentaries on the Quay Brothers set (although I only listened and didn't watch).

I completely forgot about the other categories. Generally I put commentaries on while I'm doing something else (it beats the radio), and about 80% of them just wash over me, 10% are useful enough to pay active attention to and 10% are so irritating or inane that I have to switch them off. Maybe it's because, being subtitled, I had to pay attention to it, but the best one I recall in recent months was Funeral Parade of Roses - animated, packed with information and insight. Subtitled commentaries can be well worth the effort, so thanks MoC.

[GringoTex]

Sam Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection
The Prisoner of Shark Island
Toni
The Passenger
Sergeant York
Faust
7 Men From Now
Le Plasir
Reckless Moment
Shoeshine

[vogler]

Yikes! Looks I will have to buy this after all. Can you elaborate on your recommendation?

Zedz, I'm going to answer this question in the avant-garde thread here since it is probably more relevant there and this thread will no doubt be forgotten when the voting is over.

Generally I put commentaries on while I'm doing something else (it beats the radio), and about 80% of them just wash over me, 10% are useful enough to pay active attention to and 10% are so irritating or inane that I have to switch them off.

I think it was Gregory who once said on this forum (apologies if it wasn't Gregory!) that he doesn't listen to commentaries much because he doesn't like to experience films in that way and that pretty much sums up my feelings about them. I like to experience the film as close to how the director intended as possible and for me that doesn't include a scholar or academic talking over the top of it. I like to interpret films in my own way and dwell in the mysteries they may contain without an explanatory voice over. I find that it can actually take away from the viewing experience on repeat viewings and destroy the atmosphere and the magic of many films. A few high profile directors have expressed a dislike of commentaries - I believe Alain Resnais has been particularly vocal about this and someone like Luis Bunuel, for example, I think would have hated the idea. I imagine David Lynch would also be opposed to commentaries. It is of course different if the commentary is by the director of the film although I still generally don't want to watch with the commentary on. I find listening to commentaries without watching the film at the same time to be OK but usually I don't bother - I'd rather read a good book about the film instead.

[foggy eyes]

Not the most esoteric of lists, but unfortunately I can only go on what I've been able to lay my hands on (well, afford) this year:

1. The Busby Berkeley Collection (Warner, R1)
2. Le Plaisir (Second Sight, R2)
3. Sátántangó (Artificial Eye, R2)
4. The World (Zeitgeist, R1)
5. Free Cinema (BFI, R2)
6. Hidden (Artificial Eye, R2)
7. Blissfully Yours (Second Run, R2)
8. Hotel Du Nord (Soda Pictures, R2)
9. Twenty-Four Eyes (Eureka MoC, R2)
10. Woman of the Dunes (BFI, R2)

Honorary mentions: The Passenger (Sony), Marlene Dietrich (Universal, R2), Quay Brothers: The Short Films 1979-2003 (BFI), The Savage Innocents (MoC), I Wake Up Screaming (Fox), The Conformist (Paramount), Sam Peckinpah: Legendary Westerns (Warner), The Red Desert (Madman), Faust (MoC). I could go on. I imagine MoC's Naruse box will be exemplary too.

EDIT: Organised! And punctuated!

[Dylan]

My top ten DVD releases of 2006, in order:

1. The Conformist (Paramount)
A film that definitively represents its art form, and the holy grail of DVD releases. I can't stress enough how much of an event it is that this has finally been lifted out of obscurity and is now easily accessible in a gorgeous transfer to everyone who wants to see it.

2. Match Point (Dreamworks)
A magnificent film that looks great on DVD.

3. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: SE (Warner Brothers)
Overwhelming package of one of the greatest films of the ‘60s.

4. Brief Crossing (Second Sight R2)
No extras, but one of the greatest films I saw this year. Sarah Pratt's character is a brilliant and exquisitely layered feminist creation.

5. La Luna (Art Haus R2)
Another Bertolucci masterwork and another lush transfer…it looks like it was filmed yesterday, which is all the better for Storaro's incredible visuals.

6. When the Cat Comes (Czech all region)
The greatest film to ever come out of Czech. Lovely, rhythmic, colorful, romantic, eye-boggling. An amazing discovery.

7. Mysterious Skin (Second Sight)
Excellent film that looks great on DVD. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the greatest young actor of today.

8. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Warner Brothers)
Doesn't look as good as the Criterion, but at least it's no longer out of print. Great film, and one of the many outstanding testaments of Sven Nykvist's prowess.

9. The Passenger (Sony)
I had been waiting years to see it, and it was well worth the wait. Nice transfer, interesting Nicholson commentary.

10. 1900 (Paramount)
Breathtaking transfer supervised by Maestro Storaro, a revelation for me after having sat through two comparatively very poor quality transfers in the past. A strange and fascinating film from beginning to end, as it always has been, but the new transfer made me feel like I was watching it for the first time.

Best non-CC supplement: The Conformist documentary with Bertolucci and Storaro: an illuminating and infinitely inspirational discussion.

Best non-CC package design: I'm proudly displaying the covers for The Conformist (Paramount) and Match Point (Dreamworks) on my shelf

Overall DVD of the Year: The Conformist (Paramount)

I wasn't able to see: Regular Lovers, the Rivette titles, Love in the City, La Visita, Red Desert, the UK Malle collections, the new UK Orchestra Rehearsal, and pretty much every other Region 2 that looked great since they're all too damn expensive, but I think I did pretty well, all things considered (I only bought maybe 10 DVDs total this year, but I Netflixed a lot more).

Lets hope we see these in 2007: Senilita, Gli Indifferenti, Before the Revolution R1 (the current Italian release is perfect, but a US release would be wonderful for the many over here who haven't had the chance to experience it yet), The Spider's Stratagem, Fellini's Casanova R1, The Voice of the Moon, La Notte CC, Zabriskie Point, Red Desert, Face to Face, any pre-Summers Bergman on R1, The Magnificent Ambersons SE, The Green Room, Kubrick SEs, Cul de Sac, Repulsion, Last Year at Marienbad R1 (same as Before the Revolution, this needs to be made available in the US for all to experience), Vivre sa Vie SE R1, Rivette titles on R1, The Mother and the Whore, etc.

[HerrSchreck]

In no particular order:

MARLENE DIETRICH GLAMOUR COLLECTION (Universal-- MOROCCO & THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN, in beautiful transfers at last... at unbeatable prices)
SIR ARNE'S TREASURE (Kino.. honorable mention to EROTIKON which, alas, doesn't stand times test as well as the former)
WARNING SHADOWS (".. nuff said)
PHANTOM (Flicker Alley-- perhaps the most beautiful interlaced transfer of a tinted silent I have ever, ever seen. "Labor Of Love" defined)
FORBIDDEN PLANET SE (WB-- delivers the goods on a sentimental favorite, despite the lack of commentary)
PLANET OF THE APES BOX SET (FOX.. love these films)
WARNER BROS LEGENDS OF HORROR COLLECTION (For FU & MAD LOVE, on dvd at last)
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Universal delivers the goods at last.. glorious)
THE CONFORMIST (Ditto for Paramount)
FAUST (MoC
REDISCOVER JAQUES FEYDER (HVe.. I shake my collective fist at anyone who looks this gift mink in the nose)

Honorable mention: THIS ISLAND EARTH (despite the OAR blipup), GEULLE D'AMOUR (Rene Chat. Haven't seen yet but I'm fucking psychic) MOC KEATON COMPLETE SHORT FILMS (Same as prev entry), Sony GOJIRA (for adding the US release as well, commentaries on both vers, and correcting the color glitch on the bfi, despite being interlaced).

I had a biggest disappointment in my head before but now I can't remember it, burnout I am.

Still waiting on those Warner silents, furchrissakes...

[Steven H]

non-CC release of the year:

Yukoku (Patriotism), Mishima Yukio TOHO. The only thing unfortunate about this release is it's lack of subtitled extras, but having this rarity look so good, and with Mishima's original hand written english intertitles, is a fine thing.

Dragnet Girl, Ozu Yasujiro (PANORAMA HK). Maybe my favorite Ozu silent (or at least very highly ranked among them), all that's missing from this cheap and more than decent disc (though single layered and compressed from the Shochiku transfer) is a light jazz score to compliment.

Naruse Mikio Volume 1, Naruse (MOC). I don't have the set yet, but I've seen all of these films (loved them all), and I've seen the transfers MoC probably used (gorgeous), so this is a no-brainer.

Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa, 2005) Strand. Easily one of my favorite contemporary Japanese films, and this R1 release does the job of presenting it just fine (at a fraction of the cost of the R2 Japan).

Whisper of the Heart, Kondo (BEUNA VISTA). Who couldn't watch this film on repeat forever? Maybe that's going too far, but still.

Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002) Second Run [R2-UK]. Stunning film, and in my opinion, the best DVD presentation of it.

Phantom (F.W. Murnau, 1922) Flicker Alley. Finally! Maybe not the strongest Murnau, but still worth every penny, and except for the english intertitles (a substantial quibble, for sure), an excellent release. Fantastic textual material included with this one. edit: how could I not mention MoC's Faust? amazing.

Funeral Parade of Roses, Matsumoto (MOC). One of the Japanese new wave greats, with subtitled director's commentary (I wish more companies did this.)

Japan's Longest Day, Okamoto (ANIMEIGO). Despite the annoying subtitles, a great film that's otherwise unavailable with subtitles.

Oshima Nagisa Vol. 1, 2, 3, Oshima (SHOCHIKU HOME VIDEO) Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3. A master filmmaker if there ever was one, it was well past due that Shochiku issue the early and mid 60s work of this master filmmaker. The highlights of these sets are, well, all nine films.

Best non-CC commentary: Matsumoto on Funeral Parade of Roses MOC
Best non-CC supplement: Kwaidan booklet, also MOC
Best non-CC package design: Faust... MOC.
Overall, DVD of the year: can't pick

[manicsounds]

Non-CC Release of the year -

"Beyond The Rocks" Milestone R1
"Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" Fox R1
"Dog Day Afternoon" Warner R1
"Faust" Eureka MoC R2
"A History Of Violence" New Line R1
"Kingdom Of Heaven 4 Disc" Fox R1
"Kwaidan" Eureka MoC R2
"Lady And The Tramp" Disney R1
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Disc" Dark Sky R1
"The Wild Bunch" Warner R1

Best Non-CC Commentary -
Roger Ebert on "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" Fox R1

Best Non-CC Single Supplement -
"United 93: The Familes And The Film" from "United 93" Universal R1

Best Non-CC Package Design -
"Thank You For Smoking" Fox R1

Overall DVD of the year -
Seven Samurai CC Reissue

[jt]

Non-CC release of the year, no order:

Ozu set 3 - Equinox Flower, Tokyo Twilight and Good Morning (Tartan R2)
Pretty bare-bones but three solid transfers ranging thematically from Ozu's darkest to lightest. Great as stop-gap till CC get round to all of these by about 2021...

L'Armee Des Ombres (BFI R2)
Stunning. Film, transfer, extras. Stunning.

Quay Brothers - Short Films (BFI R2)
I don't really understand them, but I like them. Beautiful packaging.

The Passenger (Sony R1)
About time.

Kwaidan (MoC R2)
Massive booklet, beautiful transfer, haunting film.

Faust (MoC R2)
I can't think of any way this could be better.

A History of Violence (SF Film R2)
Hollywood at its darkest, most brutal and best.

Cache (AI R2)
Unsettling film. Haneke is one of very few directors who genuinely scares me.

The Maltese Falcon (Warner Bros R1)
They really went to town on this release. Not sure if I'll ever get round to watching both the previous versions of the film but it's nice to know they're there in case I want to.

The Innocents (BFI R2)
Completely new to me before hearing about it on this forum. I can't believe that this film isn't more famous. Hopefully, the BFI's glorious package will help to that end.

Best Non-CC Commentary - Ginette Vincendeau on L'Armee des Ombres

Best Non-CC Single Supplement - Booklet with L'Armee Des Ombres

Best Non-CC Package Design - Faust (MoC)

Overall DVD of the year - Faust (MoC)