Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.5

[ianungstad]

The Fuller covers are fantastic.

Broadcast News is alright. I like the concept but not overly thrilled by the execution.

[Cinephrenic]

All covers are good.

[Tom Hagen]

The Blu sticker on Broadcast News must a Simpsons tribute to Brooks in honor of the episode where Moe wins the Duff bartender competition and gets his own calendar, only to have a dozen Duff stickers put over his face.

[domino harvey]

And that's why it's over William Hurt's picture?

On the plus side, overall these are the best Eclipse covers. yet

[Mr. Ned]

I'm happy Shock Corridor has finally been rereleased, but what a let-down those new covers are: "Hey, I have an idea! Samuel Fuller just screams pulp noir, right? So why don't we make the cover like a PULP COMIC BOOK?!" Yawn. And Yawn to January's titles, although that Eclipse looks like fun.

[zedz]

On the plus side, overall these are the best Eclipse covers yet

Agreed. Whoever did these is swinging that template.

Otherwise, I think the Broadcast News cover is a bit of a mess in execution, though a nice idea for dealing with the 'big heads' conundrum, and the Clowes Fuller ones yawnsome. Wishy-washy pink and lilac seem completely wrong choices for such vivid films.

[Tribe]

Those Fuller covers are Daniel Clowes, right? I love those!

EDIT: Ooops, just saws zeds' comments, they are. "Yawnsome?"

[HistoryProf]

Holy crap. that's a helluva month!

[swo17]

I like the illustrations but I agree with zedz that the colors seem wrong on the Fullers. Maybe something bolder, like the dark green/purple color scheme on the original Shock Corridor cover, would improve things.

[zedz]

Those Fuller covers are Daniel Clowes, right? I love those!

EDIT: Ooops, just saws zeds' comments, they are. "Yawnsome?"

Well, full disclosure: I've never been that much of a Clowes fan in terms of his cartooning. Some good writing, and I don't mind his rendering style, though it's a little arch, but I find him compositionally weak. And I don't find the 'split cover' Criterion cliche suddenly exciting simply because it's a cartoon.

[jbeall]

Good Eclipse covers, but I've been eagerly awaiting the reissue of Shock Corridor and I'm disappointed by the cover.

[Murdoch]

Sapphire's cover is my favorite of the bunch, that's a first for an Eclipse!

[Cash Flagg]

To my eyes, the two Fullers have the worst cover art Criterion has ever used.

[karmajuice]

The Fuller covers are alright, but that color scheme is a bizarre choice. The eclipse set is fantastic, though.

The specs for the Fuller discs suggest that Clowes will have illustrations throughout. While I'm iffy about those covers, I'd still be interested to see what the package as a whole look like. I wonder why they chose him to design them. Then again I don't think I've ever read Clowes' work, so if Fuller had any influence I wouldn't know.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

They chose Clowes because, if you've read his earlier work - particularly Lloyd Llewellyn - you'd recognize his infatuation with Russ Meyer/Sam Fuller/Jack Webb visual style, all punch and bluster and gusto. Frankly, though, he's been limply phoning it in ever since he started palling around with Adrian Tomine. I don't think they're so bad, myself. He's just obviously not dialled-in to that sort of tone any more.

[HistoryProf]

I guess I just don't understand the colors for the Fullers. It's very bubblegummy - which don't exactly scream "pulpy noir!" to me. That bubblegum color was a horrid choice. Anything else would have been better....should have stuck w/ the blue/green combo of the original SC cover. Or at least some deep reds. something. anything. eesh.

Sapphire's cover is my favorite of the bunch, that's a first for an Eclipse!

I was thinking the same thing - only for League of Gentleman. Very Peter Watkins-esque. Makes me want to own it now.

[Steven H]

I love the Clowes covers and while they are "pulpy" his style really brings out how paranoid and full of nervous energy the films feel to me. Good stuff, but the Dearden covers take the cake.

[movielocke]

I guess I just don't understand the colors for the Fullers. It's very bubblegummy - which don't exactly scream "pulpy noir!" to me. That bubblegum color was a horrid choice. Anything else would have been better....should have stuck w/ the blue/green combo of the original SC cover. Or at least some deep reds. something. anything. eesh.

I think it's the bubblegum color palate that I find most offputting about the fuller covers, There'll still quite nice but the color scheme is odd. I ran them through photoshop, and viewing the black and white red or green layers by themselves makes both look really excellent (as always a straight up desaturate looks terrible).

I love the Broadcast News cover, from the font to the image arrangement, to even the semi malicious covering of William Hurt's head. It's a really astute design that captures the feel of the movie so well. But I think my favorite bit is the "A Film By" and "James Brooks" parts, both of which are so well integrated into the piece and the feel of the studio control room. :-p

and I'm really glad the eclipse set went with the Kurasawa/Shepitko template as that's my favorite kind of eclipse cover. I really don't like it when they fully cheap out and just have a blank white front in both panels.

[knives]

I think it's the bubblegum color palate that I find most offputting about the fuller covers, There'll still quite nice but the color scheme is odd. I ran them through photoshop, and viewing the black and white red or green layers by themselves makes both look really excellent (as always a straight up desaturate looks terrible).

Really even easier for them would have been taking off the top of Naked Kiss and bottom of Shock Corridor. It may not have been perfect (I think his style is too fluid for Fuller) but it would seem less cluttered and off. That being said the covers aren't bad and certainly not enough to damper even a miligram of my excitement for these two.

[Doctor Sunshine]

Maybe it's just me, it's been a while since I've seen either Fuller, but I recall detecting a hint of camp.

[Mr. Ned]

When I first saw Shock Corridor, I had recently broken up with a girl I was in love with: I remember going "I'm heartbroken, but this movie was mad, insane genius." Bubblegum Pink and Honeysuckle Yellow are not the first things I think of when I think of heartbrokenness or insanity: I think deep reds, angry greens, and pictures that don't look like a shitty comic book. Sam Fuller deserves more than cartoons.

[karmajuice]

Well a lackluster cover is no reason to condescend to an entire art form.

[Steven H]

Well a lackluster cover is no reason to condescend to an entire art form.

The post makes a lot more sense when I imagine it as a page out of Wilson.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Sam Fuller deserves more than cartoons.

Are you kidding? Have you watched any Fuller films or read any comics? Because most of Fuller's movies are more hamfisted, knuckleheaded and didactic than the average comic book of the era, and that's a fact.

[HistoryProf]

I think the drawings themselves are fantastic...I actually really like them. It's just that dammed bubblegum color that grows more and more blech each time I look at it....especially paired with the paleish lemony color. It needed to be BOLD w/ Reds and Deep blues and greens.

oh well. I'm just glad we finally get to see them in high def.