Criterion box set - 50 films!

[ejp626]

I know I have bought some enormous box sets in the past (Jazz in Paris comes to mind), but this box set (and the complete RVG Edition) spring to mind as really weird marketing decisions. Who would possibly shell out this kind of money when if they were that much of a film buff, they would have been buying the films individually? Granted the box set comes with a fancy book, but really ...

I think of the 50 films, there are probably only 5 that I don't have that I might pick up.

Only $850 ($650 if you pre-order)

• ALEXANDER NEVSKY (1938), Sergei Eisenstein • ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958), Andrzej Wajda • L'AVVENTURA (1960), Michelangelo Antonioni • BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (1959), Grigori Chukhrai • BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946), Jean Cocteau • BLACK ORPHEUS (1959), Marcel Camus • BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945), David Lean • THE FALLEN IDOL (1948), Carol Reed • FIRES ON THE PLAIN (1959), Kon Ichikawa • FISTS IN THE POCKET (1965), Marco Bellocchio • FLOATING WEEDS (1959), Yasujiro Ozu • FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952), René Clement • THE 400 BLOWS (1959), François Truffaut • GRAND ILLUSION (1937), Jean Renoir • HÄXAN (1922), Benjamin Christensen • IKIRU (1952), Akira Kurosawa • THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1952), Anthony Asquith • IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II (1958), Sergei Eisenstein • LE JOUR SE LÈVE (1939), Marcel Carné • JULES AND JIM (1962), François Truffaut • KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949), Robert Hamer • KNIFE IN THE WATER (1962), Roman Polanski • THE LADY VANISHES (1938), Alfred Hitchcock • THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger • LOVES OF A BLONDE (1965), Milos Forman • M (1931), Fritz Lang • M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (1953), Jacques Tati • MISS JULIE (1951), Alf Sjöberg • PANDORA'S BOX (1929), G.W. Pabst • PÉPÉ LE MOKO (1937), Jean Duvivier • IL POSTO (1961), Ermanno Olmi • PYGMALION (1938), Anthony Asquith • RASHOMON (1950), Akira Kurosawa • RICHARD III (1955), Laurence Olivier • THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939), Jean Renoir • SEVEN SAMURAI (1954), Akira Kurosawa • THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957), Ingmar Bergman • THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (1973), Víctor Erice • LA STRADA (1954), Federico Fellini • SUMMERTIME (1955), David Lean • THE THIRD MAN (1949), Carol Reed • THE 39 STEPS (1935), Alfred Hitchcock • UGETSU (1953), Kenji Mizoguchi • UMBERTO D. (1952), Vittorio De Sica • THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960), Ingmar Bergman • VIRIDIANA (1961), Luis Buñuel • THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953), Henri-Georges Clouzot • THE WHITE SHEIK (1952), Federico Fellini • WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957), Ingmar Bergman • THREE DOCUMENTARIES: THE GREAT CHASE (1962), THE LOVE GODDESSES (1965), and PAUL ROBESON: TRIBUTE TO AN ARTIST (1979), Saul J. Turell

Criterion 50 film box set

[BERIGAN]

Well, only way it might be a good idea is that at $13 a film with the pre-order, you could sell off the copies you already had after buying this set, which would pay a fair chunk of the cost of the set, impress your friend with what a badass film fanatic you were, and have that swell book to boot.

[Claude]

It's not just a box of 50 films reissued by Criterion, it's a 50th anniversary celebration box of distributor Janus Films. I think this concept makes it a very interesting collector's item. The list price ($17 per DVD) is rather steep though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_Films

Edited September 1, 2006 by Claude

[Stefan Wood]

It's not just a box of 50 films reissued by Criterion, it's a 50th anniversary celebration box of distributor Janus Films. I think this concept makes it a very interesting collector's item. The list price ($17 per DVD) is rather steep though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_Films

Not that expensive when Criterions normally list for $25 - $40.

[ejp626]

Well, only way it might be a good idea is that at $13 a film with the pre-order, you could sell off the copies you already had after buying this set, which would pay a fair chunk of the cost of the set, impress your friend with what a badass film fanatic you were, and have that swell book to boot.

Well, maybe we could start a pool with everyone claiming one or two of the films and then we have a lottery to determine who gets the book and runner up getting the t-shirts.

Anyway, it still a bit much, given how many of the films I already have.

[DukeCity]

Who would possibly shell out this kind of money when if they were that much of a film buff, they would have been buying the films individually? Granted the box set comes with a fancy book, but really ...

You're asking this question on a board where 45% of poll responses are from folks with more than 21 Mosaic sets?

[ejp626]

Who would possibly shell out this kind of money when if they were that much of a film buff, they would have been buying the films individually? Granted the box set comes with a fancy book, but really ...

You're asking this question on a board where 45% of poll responses are from folks with more than 21 Mosaic sets?

Yeah, but this is also the board where people gripe about Mosaic including all these albums they already have. I just think most people that might possibly be interested in this set would already have 10-30 of the individual DVDs already. I do.

[BruceH]

I already have too many of these.

[Adam]

It's not clear whether the bonus feature discs that come with the Criterion version for Jules et Jim and a variety of others are part of this.

[Tjazz]

I know I have bought some enormous box sets in the past (Jazz in Paris comes to mind), but this box set (and the complete RVG Edition) spring to mind as really weird marketing decisions.

Criterion 50 film box set

So where can we buy the Complete RVG collection?

[ejp626]

I know I have bought some enormous box sets in the past (Jazz in Paris comes to mind), but this box set (and the complete RVG Edition) spring to mind as really weird marketing decisions.

Criterion 50 film box set

So where can we buy the Complete RVG collection?

There was a thread about this, but I'm too lazy to search.

Complete RVG

Of course, they call this the complete collection, but if they come out with new RVG Editions in the future, are they going to send them to you? I think not.