criterionforum.org

I'll try to repost some of the comments on Easter eggs here:

Jubilee "There are two Easter Eggs on the Jubilee disc: The disc is divided into 16 titles (one for the film itself, one for the doc, etc.). I haven't figured out how to get to them via the menus, but titles 4 and 5 feature short easter eggs. I got to them by going to the disc info and skipping through the titles. Title 4 features hilarious interview footage with Lee Drysdale, talking about Little Nell, Adam, Arnold Schwartzenegger, and Gene October(?). Title 5 is a silent film which looks like it features the cast getting plaster casts of their faces made."

The Third Man "go to the map of Vienna in the Production History section and press 'up' to select a series of experimental artworks around the film."

George Washington "In the cast reunion menu you can see early childhood pictures of the main actors. You just push the down button and then the right button twice and select that, and they come up."

"Let the film run through the credits and a scene from the interviews comes up."

In the Mood for Love "Go to the 'about the cast' section on disc 2, select Tony Leung, use the up arrow key to make the musical notes appear on Tony's picture and it will play a Tony Leung music video directed by Wong Kar-Wai"

Royal Tenenbaums "Select the Criterion Collection logo on disc 2 to get an intro from Ben Stiller."

"On the second disc, select the 'Murals' menu entry and then highlight the entry called 'Storyboards.' Then press the 'Down' arrow key and the Dalmatian mouse on the floor will be highlighted. If you press 'Enter' now you will get to see some behind-the-scenes footage of Bill Murray elaborating on mice and snakes."

Grey Gardens "Let the film run all the way through the credits, past the color bars and a taped phone conversation with Little Edie and David Maysles comes on."

Chasing Amy "A similar Interview Easter Egg appears during the color bars on the Chasing Amy DVD.

Beastie Boys Anthology "At the MAIN MENU of either disc, scroll down and click on SCHEMATIC OVERVIEW. Then press the right arrow on your remote control 5 times. Now select and watch the color bars, you should hear a funny audio clip with director Spike Jonze."

Solaris "On the subtitle menu, highlight 'Main' and then move the cursor to the left and you'll see a line appear. Select it and you'll see a picture of Sartorius with that dwarf that appears for a second or two in the film."

Pepe Le Moko "Go to 'Remembering Jean Gabin' and press up. An icon will show up next to the 'Remembering Jean Gabin' box. Press enter and get...er...something.

The Killers (1964) "Go to the biographies section and select Clu Gulager. on the screen that shows Gulager's photo, press up and a box will appear next to Gulager's name. Press enter to see a video of Gulager reading a section of Siegel's autobiography (some of the section read in the 'official' autobiography section) and commenting on it.

Il Posto "From the main menu, select 'Deleted Scene' then, with the cursor on 'Play', press the left arrow. This will highlight a hidden spot; press 'Enter' and enjoy Tullio Kezich speaking about the original ending of the film (which ran for another 20 minutes!). The feature is just over 3 minutes long."

Videodrome "On the second disc, go to 'Transmissions from Videodrome' in the 'Bootleg Video' section of the disc. Once you gone to the specific screen for that footage, highlight 'Bootleg Video' and press down. The arrow will point to a Beta cassette below. This leads to a clip discussing the use of Beta tapes in the film."

The Tin Drum "Select 'Volker Schlöndorff Remembers the Tin Drum' from the main menu on Disc 2. At the next screen, put your cursor on 'Main' and then press down. A small yellow circle should show up between the two hands. Press enter to see a still of Schlöndorff with his Oscar."

"Select 'News from the Front' from the main menu on Disc 2. At the next screen, put your cursor on "About the Footage" and press down. A small yellow circle should show up between the two hands. Press enter to see a brief news clip of Schlöndorff with...Jerry Lewis."

Onibaba "Go to the Interview menu. Highlight 'Main' and press up on your remote. A small red square should appear in the weeds next to Shindo's head. Press enter and you will be able to view a scroll painting and a demon mask, both from the Yoshizaki Temple in Japan."

Please feel free to add to the list.

There are further Easter Eggs on the Royal Tenenbaums disc. I'll have a play with it and see if I can remember how to access them. For those of you who want to look for yourself, I know that somewhere there is the take of the birthday scene (mentioned in the Commentary) in which Angelica Huston's hair catches fire.

In Traffic, if you really wanty to see a photo of Soderbergh in a swimming pool, you have to trawl through all of the drug dog photos, and find the one that is selectable by clicking the up arrow on each of them. Don't bother!

Slacker has an additional essay tucked away on the first disc.

There's a second Easter Egg (at least) on Videodrome. I think it's a British trailer, and you access it from the poster gallery.

And from memory there are some extra posters concealed within the poster gallery on Eyes Without a Face.

Sorry this is all so vague, but hopefully this will get you looking in the right place (and posting more useful directions!)[/b]

zedz wrote:There are further Easter Eggs on the Royal Tenenbaums disc. I'll have a play with it and see if I can remember how to access them. For those of you who want to look for yourself, I know that somewhere there is the take of the birthday scene (mentioned in the Commentary) in which Angelica Huston's hair catches fire.

On Disc 2, go to the scrapbook and select the picture of fire at the top of the screen to see Angelica's conflagration.
At the bottom of the screen, if you navigate right from the Dalmatian Mouse you can select the picture next to it and see Kumar entertaining the cast and crew.

In Traffic, if you really wanty to see a photo of Soderbergh in a swimming pool, you have to trawl through all of the drug dog photos, and find the one that is selectable by clicking the up arrow on each of them. Don't bother!

OK, if you really want to see this, you need to find the second dog named Buster and navigate up.

Slacker has an additional essay tucked away on the first disc.

It's called Austin and the Fine Tradition of Slack, by R.U. Steinberg, and you access it from the Supplements-a-Go-Go submenu. Go down to Shooting from the Hip, navigate left and select.

There's a second Easter Egg (at least) on Videodrome. I think it's a British trailer, and you access it from the poster gallery.

Disc 2: Marketing. Find the red British Quad poster and navigate up to select the trailer.
Also on Disc 2, under Stills Gallery: Cast and Crew, if you navigate up when you get to Cronenberg's director's chair you get a mini-gallery relating to the audience preview of the film.

And from memory there are some extra posters concealed within the poster gallery on Eyes Without a Face.

Easter Eggs for the sake of Easter Eggs. in Dr Genessier's Clinic: Medical Charts, find the original American poster for Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus and navigate up to see a couple of additional posters (Polish and French - both pretty cool).

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I posted two on the old board from the Cassavettes set, but I don't remember where they are. I know one is on A Woman Under The Influence which shows an interview snipped with Falk and Rowlands where they talk about Sayles' love of Cassavettes. The other is a hidden trailer on one of the Killing of a Chinese Bookie discs. I don't have the boxset with me (someone's borrowing it) but as soon as I get it back I'll edit this post with the directions.

harri wrote:I posted two on the old board from the Cassavettes set, but I don't remember where they are.

Why, simply click here for an explanation (albeit in German, though there are also helpful screen captures).

The site also explains how you can use computer DVD player software to view the "restoration demonstration" of Seven Samurai that still exists as a VOB file on the disc, though there no longer any way to access it via watching the disc.

harri wrote:I posted two on the old board from the Cassavettes set, but I don't remember where they are. I know one is on A Woman Under The Influence which shows an interview snipped with Falk and Rowlands where they talk about Sayles' love of Cassavettes. The other is a hidden trailer on one of the Killing of a Chinese Bookie discs. I don't have the boxset with me (someone's borrowing it) but as soon as I get it back I'll edit this post with the directions.

Wouldn't it be "funny" if the original version of Shadows were an easter egg on the disc? #-o

For the BOOKIE trailer click on "about the 2 versions" [78 cut, menu] then click in the middle of the picture [in section].

For the WOMAN snippet click on the interview [in menu] then click on the title "Falk and Rowlands" [in section]

I'm sure there must be more. I will check today.

Wouldn't it be "funny" if the original version of Shadows were an easter egg on the disc?

Not to Gena it wouldn't.

There is an easter egg on the Young Torless disc. Go to the interview with Schlondorff and down to the index button. Then press left and a box should appear over Schlondorff's eyes in the picture at the bottom of the screen. This leads to a picture of Schlondorff when he was at boarding school himself and presumably the same age as the characters shown in the film.

On the first disc, when the arrow is on the Starz on the Set feature press up to get an up arrow. Clicking on that takes you to a five minute outtake from Zissou's trainer scene, with Murray having to jump around a lot! I guess the only way to describe it is "Wow, that was great!"

Easter Eggs are annoying. The average viewer (and myself too) doesn't even know/care to look for them.

However, with Criterion you expect they might actually be material that is worth a look and so it is a damn shame that they are Easter Eggs.

Therefore I am disgusted that Criterion would employ Easter Eggs. Not everyone belongs to the criterionforum.org and can find out what they are.
So they are deprived of them.

It's childish, and this is supposed to be (mostly) a serious film school series. (Or characterize it however you want, but certainly "serious".)

Just lame. Lame, lame, lame.

I expect it from Star Wars and fanboy movies, not on a frickin' John Cassavetes DVD. Give me a break and grow up. (Not you guys. I mean Criterion. Thank you all for posting them when you find them at least, but perhaps disparage them at the same time so they don't take the posts gleefully finding them as further encouragement.)

jesus... it's not like these are those fucking annoying simpsons eastereggs or the shit on the swingers disc where you have to figure out/key in some password to find the eastereggs, these are, for the most part really easy to find little bits as long as you explore your menus. yes, i guess it's a little annoying that eastereggs have moved on from "funny little things the people threw onto the dvd to entertain themselves" to "worthwhile extras 'hidden' on the disc," but lighten up.

Oh well, I agree they are stupid, but to each his own. Personally, the only reason I think there should be easter eggs is to include something that might be a bit dodgy with the rights' clearance, so it's not actually issued.

Donald Trampoline wrote:Easter Eggs are annoying. The average viewer (and myself too) doesn't even know/care to look for them.

Who cares about the average viewer? And if you don't care to look for them, they shouldn't bother you. It's not like they ever contain significant content, unless the only reason you bought the Videodrome DVD was to find out why they used Beta tapes.

Donald Trampoline wrote:It's childish, and this is supposed to be (mostly) a serious film school series. (Or characterize it however you want, but certainly "serious".)
...
I expect it from Star Wars and fanboy movies, not on a frickin' John Cassavetes DVD. Give me a break and grow up.

I'm sorry that you feel that hidden features completely denigrate the seriousness of a DVD release. Personally, I don't let such things bother me; the "seriousness" of the packaging or presentation takes a back seat to, well, every other consideration imaginable.

Donald Trampoline wrote:disparage them...so they don't take the posts gleefully finding them as further encouragement

Come on...we have enough (at times legitimate) gripes about what Criterion doesn't put on their DVDs...do we really have to start griping about what they do put on their DVDs, or how it's presented?

Wow, thank you so much about the hidden restoration on Seven Samurai. Now I really pity the fools who spent more than $200 on eBay to get an 1st printing copy just to see this.

The sites outlining how to find the Seven Samurai restoration demo must be relatively new (within the last year and a half maybe). I posted about this in the old forum after I discovered this and to my surprise no one else had already checked their discs. I always check for this sort of thing if a disc has been re-issued with something 'removed'. ie. Ed Wood.

Back then I went one nerdy step further and dumped the disc onto my hard drive, edited the menus and burned it to a blank. I keep it in a flipper case with my regular Seven Samurai so the demo is playable on any regular DVD player.

I never heard of this before, so thanks for posting it. Unfortunately, the restoration clip is completely scrambled, or heavily broken up with digital artifacts everywhere. In fact, PowerDVD had to shut down with errors, and I'm running it with Win2K. Nero Showtime shows it scrambled, too... Are there any solutions for this? Thanks.

exte wrote:Unfortunately, the restoration clip is completely scrambled, or heavily broken up with digital artifacts everywhere.

I played mine last night with PowerDVD too and it played fine. No digital artifacts on mine.

mbalson wrote:The sites outlining how to find the Seven Samurai restoration demo must be relatively new (within the last year and a half maybe). I posted about this in the old forum after I discovered this and to my surprise no one else had already checked their discs. I always check for this sort of thing if a disc has been re-issued with something 'removed'. ie. Ed Wood.

I started DVDuell.de in January 2004.

The easter egg is on disc 2. Go to The Making Of My Own Private Idaho and then to the Index. Highlight the Back button and press left to bring up an arrow.

You get a video clip of Trey Shannon, the co-owner of Voodoo Doughnut (their slogan: the magic is in the hole (!)) telling his story about snooping around Van Sant's house! From the story I think John Waters is going to be enlightened about all those phone calls!

There is one in "Gate of Flesh"

Go to Still Gallery, and press the "UP" button.
It will show a poster for 1998 Suzuki's retrospect in USA (forgot which city).

Another one on Gate of Flesh: During the credits from the interviews section, an arrow will appear on the right side of the screen, push 'enter' and there's about four silent minutes of books and Japanese texts and sketches that must relate to the film somehow.

There is an egg on the first disk of Harakiri - watch for three drops of blood during credits after Ritchie's introduction (11:45)

Go to deleted scenes on the Bad Timing disc, highlight the main menu button and press up. The cursor will disappear and pressing enter will play the easter egg of the Rank film logo that was taken off the film.