Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

[Cinephrenic]

November
Border Radio
Pandora's Box
The Double Life of Veronique
A Janus Title
A Book

December
Sanjuro
Yojimbo

[denti alligator]

Has anyone thought that it might just be a Wes Anderson boxset with Rushmore, Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic?

Or, if the four mice mean anything: those 3 plus Bottle Rocket.

[toiletduck!]

November
...
A Janus Title
A Book

Let's keep this theme going, Criterion! How about A Movie as well?

[Antoine Doinel]

Or, if the four mice mean anything: those 3 plus Bottle Rocket.

That would be some kind of awesome.

[Matt]

Oh brother. It's like every time the newsletter comes out, the average IQ around here drops precipitously. Why has no one yet speculated that the box might be all Eclipse titles? Or that the box might be every out of print Criterion plus all those other ones that were "supposed" to come out.

You're all going to be very disappointed when you learn that it's just a fancy box full of previously-released titles.

Or maybe it will just be full of finger puppets. Jesus H. Christ.

[Gigi M.]

Or if it's a $1000 box. Who's going to buy the mother..........

[Antoine Doinel]

Oh brother. It's like every time the newsletter comes out, the average IQ around here drops precipitously. Why has no one yet speculated that the box might be all Eclipse titles? Or that the box might be every out of print Criterion plus all those other ones that were "supposed" to come out.

You're all going to be very disappointed when you learn that it's just a fancy box full of previously-released titles.

Or maybe it will just be full of finger puppets. Jesus H. Christ.

Well, we all can't be blessed with the levelheadedness and rationality you display at all times

[toiletduck!]

Well, we all can't be blessed with the levelheadedness and rationality you display at all times

Speak for yourself.

Anyway, A Movie, Criterion?

[domino harvey]

fifty... short films maybe?

[godardslave]

Oh brother. It's like every time the newsletter comes out, the average IQ around here drops precipitously.

My IQ is fine, thankyou Matt.

i dont really understand why you seem to get so annoyed about speculation.

I stand resolutely by my wonderful theory!

[George Kaplan]

Consider that the 50 films, one box concept might be a box of 50 DVDs, with many being already released titles and some yet to be released.

[Cinephrenic]

I'm wondering if they misprint all this coming in November instead of October? Doesn't make sense?? #-o

[skuhn8]

I think it's safe to say that there is no box of 50 films. Just not going to happen. These guys are a profit organization and that would just be asinine.
Each line has a period. As Cinephrenic caught on, each line should be taken independent of the others.
Box set (Ozu? Eisenstein? take your pick).
DVD with a book ala Man who Fell To Earth or Short Cuts.
Would be surprised if anything else is coming in October though.
The oracle has spoken.

[Matt]

Maybe the book... comes... in a BOX!

[oldsheperd]

What's in the box? What's in the box? Maybe it's your wife's pretty head.

[Lemdog]

Maybe the book... comes... in a BOX!

Sounds kinda David Lynchish to me.

[Cinephrenic]

Nah it's Pandora's Box.

[godardslave]

the Cornell BOX.

funny word isnt it?

BOX.

[Tribe]

I seem to remember, and I think it was on the previous version of this forum, that someone had come across a Janus catalog or something like that. At the time that the poster announced the find, the book had long been out of print. I wonder of the book is a reprint or second edition of that?

Tribe

[FilmFanSea]

I, too, doubt a 50-film boxset is in the works. Instead, I take the "hints" more literally.

I think this will be a maybe two-disc boxset that celebrates the history of the Janus Collection, complete with a beautiful commemorative book. Perhaps the staff at Janus have selected the 50 films they are most proud to have distributed. I could see a nice documentary with clips from those fifty films, as well as interviews with the principals, arthouse film exhibitors from the past and present, film critics; maybe a documentary on the evolution of Voyager, Home Vision, and Criterion out of Janus.

It would be given a spine number and called (get this): Janus Films: Fifty Years / Fifty Films

Pure speculation, but it makes sense to me.

[tryavna]

ONE BOOK, ONE BOX.

Pandora's Box

Since these cartoons often work like puns, I wonder if that might not be right. However, what "book" would they include? Is there another Janus-owned film with the word book in its title? At first, I thought the "book" clue might point to The Fallen Idol, but I looked at the Graham Greene story it's based on, "The Basement Room," and it's basically just a long short story -- certainly not book-length.

Oh, well, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[Jeff]

I, too, doubt a 50-film boxset is in the works. Instead, I take the "hints" more literally.

I think this will be a maybe two-disc boxset that celebrates the history of the Janus Collection, complete with a beautiful commemorative book. Perhaps the staff at Janus have selected the 50 films they are most proud to have distributed. I could see a nice documentary with clips from those fifty films, as well as interviews with the principals, arthouse film exhibitors from the past and present, film critics; maybe a documentary on the evolution of Voyager, Home Vision, and Criterion out of Janus.

It would be given a spine number and called (get this): Janus Films: Fifty Years / Fifty Films

Pure speculation, but it makes sense to me.

Ah, at last a voice of reason. I'm not sure why everyone is looking for codes and hints. The statement made by the mice may be vague, but it's not cryptic. What you described is more or less what I'm envisioning too.

[Brianruns10]

The mice clue intrigues me. Because of the connection to "Royal Tenenbaums," as a previous poster aptly noted, and by extension, Wes Anderson, I wonder what this could imply. This may be reading too much into things, but considering that there are FOUR mice depicted, and Wes Anderson has made FOUR feature films thus far (three of which are already Criterion titles), could this mean that a box set of Anderson's films is coming, an may include his fourth film, "Bottle Rocket"? Could be interesting. Personally, I'd be thrilled with "Pandora's Box."

[Cinephrenic]

I suppose we have to take it literal. We are getting a book celebrating the 50 Years of Janus available only through Criterion's store. And the box is just Pandora's Box.

[Antoine Doinel]

We are getting a book celebrating the 50 Years of Janus available only through Criterion's store.

I hope (and think) they'll give it a wider distribution than that. I certainly hope so since I'm in Canada and can't even get a t-shirt. ARGH!