Favorite DVD Releases Of 2006

[oscar jubis]

FAVORITE DVD BOXES OF 2006 (Region 1)

LUBITSCH IN BERLIN (Kino)
ERIC ROHMER'S SIX MORAL TALES (Criterion)
PRESTON STURGES: FILMMAKER COLLECTION (Universal)
THE JOHN FORD-JOHN WAYNE COLLECTION (Warner)
THE JOHN FORD COLLECTION (Warner)
THE JANE MANSFIELD COLLECTION (Fox)
THE NOIR CLASSICS COLLECTION Vol 3 (Warner)

FAVORITE DVD BOXES OF 2006 (Rest of the World)

GODARD'S HISTOIRE(S) DU CINEMA (Intermedio Spain)
MIKIO NARUSE: 3 FILMS (Masters of Cinema UK)
OZU Volume 3 (Tartan UK)
MAX OPHULS COLLECTION (Second Sight UK)
COLECCION PHILIPPE GARREL (Intermedio Spain)
3 FILMS BY RAUL RUIZ (Blaq Out France)
LUC MOULLET COFFRET (Blaq Out France)
THE IM KWOK-TAEK COLLECTION (Taehung Korea)
BROTHERS QUAY:SHORT FILMS (BFI UK)

FAVORITE DVDs (Region 1)

THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (Criterion)
PLAYTIME (Criterion)
VIRIDIANA (Criterion)
LATE SPRING (Criterion)
EDVARD MUNCH (New Yorker Video)
CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH (New Yorker Video)
SWEETIE (Criterion)
MR. ARKADIN (Criterion)
PANDORA'S BOX (Criterion)
HUNGER (New Yorker Video)
WANDA (Parlony Pictures)
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (Paramount)
THE VIRGIN SPRING (Criterion)
VIDAS SECAS (New Yorker Video)
TRACK OF THE CAT (Paramount)
ALMANAC OF FALL (Facets)
PHANTOM (Flicker Alley)
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Disney)
FUSE (First Run Pictures)
RED ANGEL (Fantoma)
THAT DAY (Kino)

FAVORITE DVDs (Rest of the World)

SATANTANGO (Artificial Eye UK)
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (BFI UK)
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (Yume UK)
NAZARIN (Yume UK)
LOS MUERTOS (SBP Argentina)
PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT (BFI UK)
FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (Masters of Cinema UK)
FAUST (Masters of Cinema UK)
REGULAR LOVERS (Artificial Eye UK)
ROUTE ONE USA (Editions Montparnasse France)
SWAMP WATER (Fox UK)
PARTY GIRL (Warner France)
MADAME DE (Second Sight UK)
ASCENT TO HEAVEN (Yume UK)
THE HOST (KD Media Korea)

[Chris Knipp]

Essential Art House: 50 Years Of Janus Films: Criterion Collection.

Released at $850, available for under $600. Has this been mentioned before? Anyway it should be listed here since it's the major US DVD collection of the year for foreign film buffs. The NYFF initiatied a sidebar series of Janus releases now continuing in NYC at the IFC theater. http://www.janusfilms.com/ lists current regional locations where the series is now also playing as it continues to tour the country throught the year. This page also lists the films in the package. At the reduced price it comes to about $10 per film. Again, you will find the Kent Jones introduction to the seris for the NYFFhere. (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/program/janus.html) These are the classic foreign films of an earlier American era that formed an older generation of film buffs to which I belong; moreover, they are in beautiful new prints, every one.

ALEXANDER NEVSKY (1938)
ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958)
L'AVVENTURA (1960)
BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (1959)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946)
BLACK ORPHEUS (1959)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)
THE FALLEN IDOL (1948)
FIRES ON THE PLAIN (1959)
FISTS IN THE POCKET (1965)
FLOATING WEEDS (1959)
FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952)
THE 400 BLOWS (1959)
GRAND ILLUSION (1937)
HÄXAN (1922)
IKIRU (1952)
THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING EARNEST (1952) IVAN THE TERRIBLE,
PART II (1958)
LE JOUR SE LÈVE (1939)
JULES AND JIM (1962)
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949)
KNIFE IN THE WATER (1962)
THE LADY VANISHES (1938)
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF
COLONEL BLIMP (1943)
LOVES OF A BLONDE (1965)
M (1931)
M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (1953)
MISS JULIE (1951)
PANDORA'S BOX (1929)
PÉPÉ LE MOKO (1937)
IL POSTO (1961)
PYGMALION (1938)
RASHOMON (1950) RICHARD III (1955)
THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)
SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)
THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (1973)
LA STRADA (1954)
SUMMERTIME (1955)
THE THIRD MAN (1949)
THE 39 STEPS (1935)
UGETSU (1953)
UMBERTO D. (1952)
THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960)
VIRIDIANA (1961)
THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953)
THE WHITE SHEIK (1952)
WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957)
THREE DOCUMENTARIES
BY SAUL J. TURELL

[cinemabon]

That list reads like my first year's study at film school, or as a famous villain once said:

"Impressive, most impressive..."

For the uninitiated, it would only take you four and a half days (round the clock) watching the entire Janus collection to get a decent background in historically significiant and groundbreaking films. Therefore after which, you could say you were film literate; in other words, if you also had the time for someone to explain the details and intricacies of each film to you as well. Only then would you begin to scratch the surface of cinema's 300,000 plus vast library spanning over a century.

To examine a life truly dedicated to film, one need only read, follow, and then write the biography of one Oscar Jubis or Chris Knipp; if you could keep up with their pace, that is.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm sure you know as much as I do. I'm just very well up on current films. I grew up with that Janus list too, though there are a few gaps. I'd like to watch them again. And to some extent some of them formed my concept of what a great film is. A long time ago I formed the opinion that Kurosawa's IKIRU was my all-time favorite film, and it still expresses the ultimate in style and content, for me. There have been a lot since, and I don't make all-time best lists any more, but Oscar does.

[oscar jubis]

*Two lists guided my viewing in the 70s and 80s: The '72 and '82 Sight&Sound Critics' Poll and the lists by year at the end of "The American Cinema 1929-1968" by Andrew Sarris.
*I didn't list the Janus collection itself because the bulk of the dvd titles in it were released in previous years. I listed a few of its offerings individually, the ones that became available in 2006, notably Viridiana and The Spirit of the Beehive.
*Ikiru is wonderful.