Criterion Close-Up - Ep. 1 - An Introduction To The Criterion Collection

every serious film buff recognizes their name but how did this proprietor of classic and contemporary films come to be my name is Matt and this is Criterion closeup welcome to the first in what I hope will be a series of videos dedicated to every North American cil's favorite collection the Criterion Collection within this series of videos I hope to take a closer look at this unique collection from various perspectives this will include reviewing some new releases looking back at some of the essential touchstones and Overlook gems within the collection and perhaps an occasional list or opinion piece regarding a variety of topics related to Criterion as an opening video to this series I thought that it might be interesting to take a look at the history of the Criterion Collection and how it has grown into an assortment of nearly 700 DVD and Blu-ray releases as well as over 300 laser disc releases that highlight and celebrate the vast array and boundless creativity of Cinema from all over the world and what they have done along the way to make their collection noteworthy and important within the realm of home video releases in order to understand how the Criterion Collection came to be B you must understand how its parent company us-based motion picture distributor Janice films was created and to understand why Janus films was started you must understand the evolution of film distribution in North America up until the United States Supreme Court lawsuit against Paramount Pictures in 1948 theaters in the United States were owned and controlled by the major Hollywood film studios as a part of their production line method of creating films this guaranteed that all films produced by each Studio would have some form of distribution which they could control as they did the making and marketing of each picture this meant that for example if you wanted to see James Kagney tossing grapefruits at girlfriends in the classic Warner Brothers gangster film the Public Enemy you had to see it at a theater that was either owned by or held exclusivity rights with Warner Brothers since theaters at the time were primarily only one screen as opposed to the modern multiplexes of today towns had several theaters that would each show a different Studios films however when an organization of independent film producers brought forth an Anti-Trust suit to the Supreme Court they found that the whole thing looked and smelled like a monopoly their verdict ordered these giant Hollywood dream factories to dissolve these ties to the movie theater chains across the country this gave theaters freedoms that they had not been afforded before and while the majority of theaters continued to look to the major Studio films for their offerings as they were still massively bankable popular and profitable for them others started to look outside the established system for new ideas this coincided with a gradual shift in the film tastes of American audiences in the post World War II era they were looking for not only grittier and more believable subject matter but also for fresh takes and interesting ideas that were becoming prominent in cinema from various parts of the world outside of North America it was in this climate that two men Bryant Halliday and Cyrus Harvey Jr began screening films at the historic Brattle theater in the early mid 1950s in Cambridge Massachusetts the Harvard Square Landmark became a well-known independent venue where foreign films were often screened for Discerning Harvard and MIT educated young crowds who often filled the theater's 300 seat capacity to and over its limits after years of these successful screenings holiday purchased the theater and together with Harvey turned it into one of the area best known venues that showed purely art films sensing the growing interest and upward Trends within the concept of Art House Cinema They seized on an opportunity to move to New York and in March of 1956 created Janice films as a film Distribution Company that would purchase distribution rights to foreign and art films and Screen them at the 55th Street Playhouse in New York City while the fledgling company found modest success in the beginning it was really put on the map when they secured the rights to screen the Swedish film the seventh seal directed by ingar Bergman the film became an international sensation which introduced many a non-european audience to the genius of Bergman as a director and it has gone on to become one of the most iconic and influential films of all time it was by far Janice's biggest early success and was responsible for the company's initial growth from Beyond the New York and Cambridge scene one can credit Janice film with introducing the works of many International masters of film making including Bergman Akira kurasawa Federico felini franois truo Michelangelo antonioni Jean Luke Gard yasahiro OU Carl Theodore Dreer Sergey eisenstein vitorio Desa and many others to North American audiences even though holiday and Harvey eventually sold the company to Saul Terrell and William Becker in 1965 as a result of the declining Art House Market in America Janice films continues to be one of the Premier Distributors of foreign films in North America to this day fast forward to the early 1980s and the rise of the Home Video market via VHS the VHS format was an easily produced if not technically or aesthetically perfect format for films to be reproduced on and the development of a large home video rental Marketplace made many little scene films much more accessible to the public at large taking cues from the compact disc form format that would eventually Drive the music industry forward a format known as laser disc entered the Home Video Market as a higher quality and much more expensive alternative to the VHS format due to the high costs of both the player and the dis titles themselves laser dis did not manage to become the widespread home video format that VHS did it did however find an audience with Discerning ciles who were clamoring for the best available version of the classic films they loved seeing an interest that needed to be catered to a group led by Brothers Robert and alen Stein founded the Criterion Collection in 1984 with the intention of producing laser dis releases of classic films their first several releases were revered English language Classics like citizen Kaine King Kong the third man High Noon Invasion of the Body Snatchers swing time and the 39 steps shortly after this in 198 5 the Steines along with William Becker and Sal Terrell's son Jonathan founded the Voyager company while the company was created chiefly to produce educational CD ROMs part of the deal made the Criterion Collection a division within Voyager thus began the working relationship between Criterion and Janice films and shortly afterward many International films like the seventh seal black orus the Hidden Fortress Grand Illusion and mure yulo holiday saw an early release as part of the Criterion collection's laser dis lineup We Now find ourselves in 2014 which marks almost 30 full years of the Criterion Collection and the company continues to be as strong as ever after all this time they've managed to do this for several reasons the first and likely most important reason for this is that Criterion is a company that is passionate about film and presenting films in a version that is closest to the director's intention for the film Maverick filmmaker Terry Gilliam who has been notorious for his clashes with major Studio Executives in regards to the making and releasing of his films was asked about what working with Criterion was like he was quoted as saying it's nice working with people for whom profit isn't the only reason for existence they seem to actually be interested in film because the company is privately held it doesn't have a group of shareholders clamoring for a higher return on their multi-million Investments like a major Hollywood studio does they instead are able to put careful focus and efforts into presenting The Cinematic art form in a way that does Justice to the artistic visions that were put into each film they release with this in mind Criterion did pioneer several aspects of their releases that have now become the norm in the home video Marketplace one thing that Criterion spearheaded with their early release of Don seagull's classic sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers was the use of letter boxing or using black screen above and below the edges of a film on an older 4x3 ratio television as we Now understand this preserves the original aspect ratio of a film's framing to what the director and cinematographer intended to show on the larger stretched out theater screens before this the Dreadful practice of creating a quote unquote pan and scan version of a film was common where artificial camera movements were added to home video releases sometimes companies would even ignore this process altogether and simply chop off a chunk of the frame for the entire film this obviously was a detrimental practice to a huge number of films and one would think the idea of letter boxing to a wider format would be beneficial however the short-sightedness of Home Video producers rained for years until Criterion started this practice it was initially dismissed and ridiculed by other companies citing that Audi es would not tolerate the smaller images and distracting black bars on screen however Criterion made a point of this process for all of their releases and soon after over 700 other laser discs produced by Major Hollywood Studios followed suit and were released in widescreen format during the laser dis lifespan obviously with today's televisions being in a widescreen format already widescreen aspect ratios have become common practice another major contribution was made by Criterion in the development and creation of what they termed as a special edition release while previous home releases for films contained simply the film Criterion took the extra memory available on the laser discs to include a plethora of bonus extras their first two releases Citizen Kane and King Kong each contained the original film trailers documentaries about the film The behind the scenes going on and the legacy of each film deleted scenes and other extra film elements that lend people to coin the phrase Film School in a box for these special editions this again quickly became the gold standard for laser dis releases and has continued on through the life cycles of both DVD and Blu-ray one of the typical bonus features that frequently finds its way onto the releases of today was also created by Criterion the alternate audio commentary track the first of these also appeared on criterion's King Kong release where scene specific commentary tracks featuring film historian Ronald Haver could be accessed this enhanced the scholarly approach to criterion's releases and also became an often copied and then normal inclusion on many Studio releases another aspect that evolved into a big part of criterion's Allure came as their DVD line was gaining early steam where packaging artwork and liner notes and booklets started to become more and more unique and distinctive this sometimes involved finding obscure poster art for certain films and Licensing them for use on their covers and Digi packs while other times it could be called upon that an outside artist or creative Collective would develop an eye-catching unique piece of artwork for certain releases perhaps the most important contribution that Criterion has had to the releases they produce is the attention and desire they pay to film restoration as the Criterion Collection has grown and has highlighted releases of many foreign and obscure films they have made consistent and high efforts to seek out the best quality Source materials and have also worked with digital Technologies to provide Restorations and digital film transfers that have been enhanced by technologies that continue to improve to this day they have also at times included on disk bonus demonstrations of the before and after pictures of their restorative efforts one of the most amazing examples of the fruits of their restoration labor came in their DVD release of Carl theater Dryer's passion of Joan of Arc where an original negative that was believed to have been destroyed in a fire ages ago was discovered and utilized for a 24 frames per second digital transfer that improved upon every previously available print of the film they have also taken time to revisit some films several times to update and better their earlier digital track transfers examples of this have included the Seven Samurai diabolique M the red shoes and countless others this kind of Care Effort towards quality and attention to Artistic integrity in detail are what have made the Criterion Collection an overwhelming favorite within the film community over the years a Criterion release of a film might bring about a critical reappraisal of a previously neglected classic or a little scen gem it was also brought about definitive additions of films that for various reasons were butchered or lost in different versions throughout time they also created a separate line called Eclipse which gave release to some Fringe films that may not have seen a full Criterion release and released them in groups relevant to their filmmakers eras countries and movements they have also over the years managed to strike deals with certain larger Studios to involve some of their great films in Stellar editions under the criteria Banner Criterion has also cultivated an interactive online community in which their fans can be informed about upcoming releases purchase merchandise and artwork based on criteria releases and even take part in contests and create lists that users can browse read through and comment on anyone that loves the Criterion Collection likely has their own little reasons for it if you're watching this video chances are that you share an admiration for Criterion like I do but perhaps most most importantly we can all recognize that Criterion is a group of people who love the art of movies as much as you and I do and they're devoted to furthering and showcasing the art form in their own little way they are one of us they speak our language this is likely why they Inspire such a devoted following and I can certainly include myself as one of these devotees for all you Criterion fans out there thanks for watching and we'll see you again on the next Criterion closeup up

Channel: mattySdown

Views: 57,939

Keywords: Criterion, Criterion Collection, Criterion Close-Up, DVD (Invention), Blu-ray Disc (Invention), LaserDisc (Invention)

Id: JgCg5KYBBB8

Length: 15min 48sec (948 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 19 2014