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Gate of Hell, why not use something from the film itself? The film is more colorful than any cartoon you could slap on that cover. I agree with domino, don't like that Richard III cover.

domino harvey wrote:Why is everyone jizzing over the Richard III cover? Long-held loyalty to Arial font?

That's not Arial.
I don't see what the big problem with the cover is.

No Arial found anywhere on that cover. The Shakespeare and Olivier credits appear to be in Futura, however.

I knew it! Wes Anderson is dominating Criterion even when they're not releasing his films!

Is the Gate of Hell cover by Robert Risko? That's one well I never thought Criterion would dip into.

Richard III is awful for all the reasons already mentioned plus purple.

Matt wrote:Richard III is awful for all the reasons already mentioned plus purple.

But no one has mentioned any reasons pro or con, unless "reasons" include "it's beautiful" or "it's ugly"

Yes, where are the usual well-reasoned arguments traditionally found in the Cover Art thread

White Futura text on a black background. Futura anywhere outside a Wes Anderson movie or the 1990s. Purple. Ugly woodcut that seems to have nothing to do with the style or content of the movie (except "dudes a king lol"). Unbalanced composition. Much better previous cover (even if it led people to believe it was a movie about the Klan).

According to Sam Smith, the Richard III cover is from an old poster

domino harvey wrote:Yes, where are the usual well-reasoned arguments traditionally found in the Cover Art thread

People often give reasons. (I purposely didn't say "well-reasoned arguments," which is something different.) Just as often not, of course, but it's more interesting when there's some substance given to the usual comments of "that's ugly/beautiful".

I might like the Richard III cover once I see it in person. Or I might just be even more distracted by the use of Futura. I like purple things, so there's that.

I always come to this topic thread to see the new releases, where I can quickly scan all the new covers at once. In those first few milliseconds of taking in the cover for Gate of Hell I thought Criterion had broken the (unwritten) "no animated movies" rule.

I quite like Gate of Hell's illustration, but not having seen the film yet I wonder if its the "right" cover on the "wrong" movie.

I dig Richard III because I feel like that could be a book cover.

The Richard III poster is on the Wikipedia article for the film:

It's from Janus Films re-release.

Repo Man is the most Swimming Horses cover they've ever done. it's horrid. Gate of Hell is just bizarrely WRONG in every way in addition to looking like shit. the original poster for Richard III is great...not sure how they managed to screw that up so badly. Etaix suggests it's a series of films starring an actual circus clown, which is creepy. the only one that doesn't suck is Naked Lunch, but only because they left it alone. The Eclipse is nice overall - especially the shots for THE THICK-WALLED ROOM and BLACK RIVER.

Very excited for Gate of Hell and the Kobayashi set. The rest not so much. Not a good month at all. blech.

I know Criterion is big on trying to make a film cover there own with original artwork and all, but how many would take the poster in this case, or at least a screenshot of the film:

I've never really cared for those 50s era Japanese posters (see also, the old MoC Mizoguchi covers)--they're just so hella busy.

I think the trouble with Gate of Hell is that it's so close to being a good cover and one totally incongruous thing makes the whole hideous. The intent was obviously to mimic a ukiyo-e woodblock, which would suit the film, and some parts of the poster get it--that hand and the print on the kimono look great!

And then that face.

Ivan's Childhood
Pina

Very odd having the tagline on the spine for Pina.

It's maybe a little more than just a tagline. That's presented as the full title of the film during the closing credits.

swo17 wrote:It's maybe a little more than just a tagline. That's presented as the full title of the film during the closing credits.

Oh, okay. Good to know. I still haven't seen it. Still seems odd but makes sense now.

The Ballad of Narayama
The Kid With a Bike

The Narayama photos aren't showing up.

Fixed.