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i really like the Varda covers.

The new covers to Cleo and Vagabond are great improvements. I can't wait to see the box set art that ties that bunch together. I love the This Sporting Life Cover, too.

Digging that Lindsay Anderson cover.

Don't really care too much for The Naked Prey. Reminds me too much of Under the Volcano and Clean, Shaven.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:Anyone else liking the font on "This Sporting Life".

I agree - it looks pitch-perfectly in period. They all look good, though Miss Julie doesn't really capture the look and feel of that film for me.

I think that all the cover art this month is strong, and while The Naked Prey may be the weakest link, at worst it's Criterion repeating itself. I'm betting TNP is Eric Skillman's work: not to take away from him, but he himself has professed his fondness for splitting covers horizontally into 2 seperate images (in the Clean, Shaven blog post, I believe). I think that the contrast works here, and is superior to similar recent covers like Clean, Shaven and Under the Volcano in effective simplicity and impact. It reminds me of the kind of cover that the (eventual[?]) Walkabout reissue would/will have (to a degree: I know the movies aren't too much alike, but in its starkness, this kind of cover would seem to suit them both).

EDIT- Ditto on the This Sporting Life font.

Anyone thinks the Miss Julie cover looks like the 100th edition of a paperback Jane Austin novel?

Sounds a little mean, but I'm not feeling it.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:Anyone thinks the Miss Julie cover looks like the 100th edition of a paperback Jane Austin novel?

Sounds a little mean, but I'm not feeling it.

The non-gimmicky vertical split makes it for me: the notion in the cover of "crossing the line" for some (to the uninitiated, like me) unknown emotional impact makes a strong impression despite otherwise looking a lot like The Devil and Daniel Webster's cover meets, as you say, a 100th edition Jane Austen book cover. It ultimately sells me on wanting to see the movie, though, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of covers, Criterion or otherwise

I am an English major, that might explain the appeal of the Miss Julie cover! It's so beautiful, I can't believe it's getting neg feedback

I think it's poorly done. What exactly is the man's hand doing in the left panel? I mean, her hand is clearly resting on his chest on the right. But his hand looks like it's kind of floating there.

denti alligator wrote:What exactly is the man's hand doing in the left panel?

getting ready to cop a feel?

or

choke her?

I, for one, didn't mean for my comments to come off as negative, though it would seem that I like it for somewhat different reasons than you, domino. Of the style it's done in (as I mentioned before, that kind of DaDW style-pastel look crossed with a romance novel cover), it's tops: I meant the slight criticism as a mild concession to Dandy Fop's argument.

souvenir wrote:

denti alligator wrote:What exactly is the man's hand doing in the left panel?

getting ready to cop a feel?

or

choke her?

The man's hand placement is indeed unfortunate, but, dirty minds aside, it still works, I think, even if the execution is a bit awkward. This is, perhaps, the intention to some degree- I can't say for sure not having seen the film, but perhaps it relates to the man (Jean[?])'s inability to connect with the woman (Miss Julie[?]).

denti alligator wrote:What exactly is the man's hand doing in the left panel?

Whatever it is, he better watch out because to me it looks like she is getting ready to bite the crap out of it.

Well, I got to say: the "Miss Julie" cover is very evocative of what little I know of August Strindberg and his work. So, in that way, it works.

-BJ

the miss julie cover is a good example of where an individual tastes is perhaps more important than other covers, hence the debate above.

This is because its done in a very specific style of art.
Its a painted old-fashioned style, and you either like it or you don't.

For example, I myself prefer more modern, minimalist clean graphic design, so in effect it doesn't matter how well a cover like Miss Julie might be constructed, its highly unlikely i am going to like it.

Dittos on the Varda set: great art, can't wait to own it. Probably digipacks, all told, but Criterion makes their digipacks pretty at least.

Aargh! Yet another expensive month where I want to pick up all of these films! I'm really glad to see Miss Julie finally turn up after all this time, and I'm looking forward to seeing the Strindberg documentary. I like the cover a lot - not just for the image but for the way it intergrates the wacky C and makes some use of the space that the previous line logo used to take up at the top. I like the look of the Naked Prey (and Under the Volcano and Clean, Shaven) covers, but it often felt as if those horizontally split covers would have worked better with the old line logo.

The Miss Julie vertical split looks great - is sort of looks like we are seeing the characters looking into a fractured mirror with the grope/choke impulses on each side!

I really like the Varda covers as well. I'd have been happy just with more Vard in the collection, but to have reissues of the previous films with some extra material is very exciting. I also think they did a really good job of updating the Cleo and Vagabond covers, making them look much better while still keeping to much the same original image! I'd like to think that it was Varda's own handwriting on the covers!

A great month - making me even more glad I only have to pick up Sawdust and Tinsel in December!

The bottom half of The Naked Prey is kinda cool.

Certainly all of these deserve their own stand alone editions, but considering the only Kurosawa releases so far this year were the The Quiet Duel and Drunken Angel, this announcement excites me. I'll definitely be holding onto my Masters of Cinema editions of Scandal and The Idiot, though.

We still get The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, Sanshiro Sugata, Dodes'ka-den, as already confirmed Criterion releases, so this makes A Silent Duel a guaranteed Criterion, which is good news.

Cinephrenic wrote:so this makes A Silent Duel a guaranteed Criterion, which is good news.

Doubtful, since it's already been released in a fairly good edition by another R1 company.

I thought that was a bootleg for a long time now. I didn't even notice it was official.

Nope, ADNESS is a good company. They happen to release through BCI (Brentwood), which is why the packaging looks so crappy.