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Essential Art House: Volume Three

Synopsis

The third volume of indispensable cinema classics from Janus Films and the Criterion Collection. For the devoted cinephile, these are the must-own fundamentals; for the novice film-lover, this is precisely where to begin. For Volume 3, we present six films from directors Andrzej Wajda, René Clément, Akira Kurosawa, Henry Cass, Laurence Olivier, and Federico Fellini.

Collector's set includes

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Ashes and Diamonds

Andrzej Wajda, 1958

On the last day of World War II, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment, we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki, who has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar.

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Forbidden Games

René Clément, 1952

A timeless evocation of childhood innocence corrupted, René Clément’s mythical and heartbreakingly real Forbidden Games tells the story of a young girl orphaned by war and the farm boy she joins in a fantastical world of macabre play.

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The Hidden Fortress

Akira Kurosawa, 1958

A general and a princess must dodge enemy clans while smuggling the royal treasure out of hostile territory with two bumbling, conniving peasants at their sides; it’s a spirited adventure that only Akira Kurosawa could create.

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Last Holiday

Henry Cass, 1950

Told by his doctor he has no more than a few months to live, drab British workingman George Bird (Alec Guinness) decides to spend his savings on lodging at a seaside resort. Once there, however, he finds his identity caught between upstairs and downstairs, the guests and the “help.”

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Richard III

Laurence Olivier, 1955

As director, producer, and star, Laurence Olivier transfigures Shakespeare’s great historical drama Richard III into a mesmerizing vision of Machiavellian villainy.

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Variety Lights

Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada, 1950

A beautiful ingenue joins a tawdry music hall troupe and quickly becomes its feature attraction in Federico Fellini’s stunning debut film (directed in collaboration with neorealist filmmaker Alberto Lattuada).

Disc Features

  • Pristine digital transfer
  • Informative liner notes
  • New and improved English subtitle translation

Available Editions

Essential Art House: Volume Three Essential Art House DVD Add to Cart

Essential Art House DVD

6 Discs

SRP: $99.95

Criterion Store price

$74.96