At Criterion, another great year is coming to a close. Our titles in 2006 have reflected perhaps our widest range yet of genres and eras: from silent German expressionism to J-Horror to contemporary indie comedies to films from the new-wave masters. And this month, we have a couple of holiday treats: Countercultural icons and true originals Big and Little Edie Beale return in the new Maysles film The Beales of Grey Gardens, the follow-up to their 1975 cult landmark Grey Gardens. The original Criterion release of Grey Gardens is now available as part of a two-disc box set with The Beales of Grey Gardens, or both movies can be purchased individually. And then, immerse yourselves in the fascinating behind-the-scenes world of filmmaker extraordinaire William Greaves, whose brilliant fiction-documentary hybrid Symbiopsychotaxiplasm is one of the great tales of cinematic rediscovery. This month, truth is definitely stranger than fiction.
Happy viewing!
Also look out for our new blog, “On Five,” now online at criterion.com/blog.
Writer and filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin collaborated for many years with Jean-Luc Godard, on the Dziga Vertov Group films as well as Tout va bien. He also made three popular films, Poto and Cabengo, Routine Pleasures, and My Crasy Life.
1. Fists in the Pocket
2. Young Mr. Lincoln
3. The Pornographers
4. The Honeymoon Killers
5. Winter Light
6. Salesman
7. Playtime
8. John Cassavetes: Five Films
9. Le trou
10. Pandora's Box
To read more on Jean-Pierre Gorin's top ten, click here.
There have been countless adaptations and reimaginings of Charles Dickens’s ultimate ghost story, A Christmas Carol, over the past century. If you can name at least three of the four actors who have at one time portrayed the haunted miser Ebenezer Scrooge on-screen and who have also appeared in Criterion titles, you’ll be entered in a special holiday drawing. The first-place winner will receive a two-disc Criterion special edition title of his or her choice, while four runners-up will receive a Criterion T-shirt.
Send your entries to contest@criterion.com.
No holiday season is complete without Bergman’s luxurious trip into his childhood memories. The first third of his epic family melodrama Fanny and Alexander depicts a turn-of-the-century Christmas so elaborate, warm, and spirited that you might want to jump right into the screen to join the party. Sure, things go a little downhill for the Ekdahls postcelebration, but no matter how many times you see this masterpiece, Bergman’s winter bash never fails to enchant.
STREET DATE: 12/5
The Maysles brothers’ 1976 cult classic documentary about Jackie Onassis’s eccentric, reclusive East Hampton cousins, Big and Little Edie Beale, is now available in a two-disc box set, which contains the original Criterion release of Grey Gardens along with The Beales of Grey Gardens, its 2006 theatrical follow-up, culled from hours of never-before-seen footage. Additionally, both films will be available separately, with The Beales of Grey Gardens at the affordable price of $19.95—if you’ve been a Beales fan for years, it’s a must-have.
STREET DATE: 12/5
When Grey Gardens was originally released, in 1976, the only thing Big and Little Edie Beale felt was missing was more singing and dancing. The Beales of Grey Gardens fulfills their wish, featuring rediscovered footage of both women doing what they most love to do. There are a number of songs, including Little Edie’s performance of “You Oughta Be in Pictures” and Big Edie’s rendition of “Around the World in 80 Days,” both revealing their natural star quality, which has sustained their cult status and recently turned them into the subjects of a Broadway show.
Recently, it seems that Grey Gardens has become a bona fide cultural phenomenon, with an acclaimed Broadway musical currently playing and a big-screen fictional adaptation on the way, reportedly starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore. If you’ve been a fan of the Beales for some time, you probably already own the Criterion release of Grey Gardens, and the good news is you don’t have to buy it again. We will continue to sell the original DVD, with the same transfer and supplements. ’Cause if it ain’t broke . . .
STREET DATE: 12/5
In 1991, upon reviewing a list of director William Greaves’s films for a retrospective of his work, Brooklyn Museum curator Dara Myer-Kingsley noticed an odd title that Greaves hadn’t screened for her: Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One. When she asked about it, Greaves steered her away, claiming, “No one likes that film, and no one wants to see it.” She persisted. When she finally saw it, she was blown away by its originality and audacity and decided that Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One had to open the retrospective. After that fateful rediscovery, the film went on to play at the Flaherty Film Seminar, where it astounded film scholar Scott MacDonald, who says that afterward “everybody wanted to show it.” Soon it played at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival and amassed a following, including Steve Buscemi and Steven Soderbergh, both of whom pledged their support to Greaves. Thus, thirty-five years after Take One was made, Buscemi helped Greaves realize his dream of a sequel, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2, also available on this special edition DVD.
Border Radio
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Monsters and Madmen
(featuring The Haunted Strangler, Corridors of Blood, First Man into Space, The Atomic Submarine)
For further information on Criterion and our products, please visit our website at www.criterion.com. The Criterion Collection Newsletter is e-mailed every month. If you are not already on our e-mailing list and would like to be added, please consult our Newsletter sign-up page. Click here if you wish to be removed from Criterion's e-mailing list. © 2006 The Criterion Collection