56

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The 39 Steps

Alfred Hitchcock

1935

86 minutes

1.33:1

English

The best known of Hitchcock’s British films, this civilized spy yarn follows the escapades of Richard Hannay (Robert Donat), who stumbles into a conspiracy that involves him in a hectic chase across the Scottish moors—a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store Price

$15.96

190

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Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa

1957

109 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

Japanese

Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood reimagines Macbeth in feudal Japan. Starring Kurosawa’s longtime collaborator Toshiro Mifune and the legendary Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife, the film tells of a valiant warrior’s savage rise to power and his ignominious fall.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store Price

$15.96

317

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The Tales of Hoffmann

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

1951

127 minutes

Color

1.33:1

English

A poet dreams of three women—a mechanical performing doll, a bejeweled siren, and the consumptive daughter of a famous composer—all of whom break his heart in different ways. Powell and Pressburger create a phantasmagoric marriage of cinema and opera in this one-of-a-kind classic.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store Price

$15.96

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Le Jour se lève

Marcel Carné

1939

93 minutes

1.33:1

French

In this compelling story of obsessive sexuality and murder, the working-class François (Jean Gabin) resorts to killing in order to free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store Price

$15.96

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Gervaise

René Clément

1956

117 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

French

Based on Émile Zola’s L’assommoir, Gervaise is an uncompromising depiction of a laundress’s struggles with an alcoholic husband while running her own business. The film was nominated for an Oscar and earned Maria Schell best actress honors at the Venice Film Festival.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store Price

$15.96

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Mayerling

Anatole Litvak

1936

91 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

French

In this sumptuous tragic romance from Anatole Litvak, Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux star as the doomed adulterous lovers Archduke Rudolf, heir to the Austrian throne, and the young and innocent baron’s daughter Marie Vetsera.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store Price

$15.96

Eah4_box_348x490_w100

The fourth volume of indispensable cinema classics from Janus and Criterion. For the devoted cinephile, these are the must-own fundamentals; for the novice film-lover, this is precisely where to begin. Featuring Clément, Carné, Litvak, Powell & Pressburger, Hitchcock, and Kurosawa.

15 Sep 2009

Essential Art House

DVD

6 Discs

SRP: $99.95

Criterion Store Price

$79.96