| Seasons greetings! This month’s releases finish a terrific year for us, and we hope you’ve enjoyed watching them as much as we’ve enjoyed working on them. This also marks our sixth newsletter. We’ve had a great time getting to know you better through your kind letters and feedback. Please continue to let us know what’s working, what’s not, and what you might like to see, at newsletter@criterionco.com. We look forward to staying in touch in 2006, but until then, we wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season, filled with good friends and good films. Happy viewing! |
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Street date: 12/6 |
Forbidden Games marks our first film from director René Clément, one of several directors introduced into the collection in 2005. Clément began the film as a short. But then, in a strange twist, Jacques Tati entered the picture. The comic genius behind Playtime, Mon oncle, and Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday – films at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum from Clément’s serious World War II subject – saw Clément’s effort and encouraged him to take it further. Shooting resumed six months later, but not without a few problems brought on by the passage of time. Among them, the very young Bridget Fossey had lost two teeth, and had to wear false ones so the new scenes would match!
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Street date: 12/6 |
What a difference a name makes. Actress Marie Dubois was born Claudine Huzé, an unfortunate name for a young actress. Huzé is pronounced like the French word usé, which means old or used up. When François Truffaut cast her in Shoot the Piano Player, he proposed she change her name to Marie Dubois – after a character in an unrelated novel by Jacques Audiberti. And she's been known that way ever since.
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When we set out to create last month’s contest, Six Degrees of Criterion, asking you to link actors and directors from the collection, we had no idea what it would reveal about us. But it turns out Jean Renoir is the center of our universe! No matter how many linkings we tried, he was always there. Well, maybe not always, but he was there a lot of the time. Many of you came up with answers that we could have never imagined (like getting from Tony Curtis to Pasolini through Orson Welles in Pasolini’s short La Ricotta, which appears on our Mamma Roma disc). We can’t print all of the responses, but here’s one way for each pairing:
Jean Renoir/Jack Palance
Jean Renoir directed French Can Can, featuring Michel Piccoli.
Michel Piccoli is featured in Contempt, also featuring Jack Palance.
Monica Vitti/Cary Grant
Monica Vitti appeared in L'eclisse, with Alain Delon.
Alain Delon appeared in The Leopard, directed by Luchino Visconti.
Luchino Visconti directed Jean Marais in Le notti bianchi.
Jean Marais appeared in Elena and Her Men (also directed by Jean Renoir) with Ingrid Bergman.
Ingrid Bergman starred in Notorious with Cary Grant.
Tony Curtis/Pier Paolo Pasolini
Tony Curtis is featured in Spartacus, also featuring Laurence Olivier.
Laurence Olivier is featured in Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock directed Spellbound, featuring Ingrid Bergman.
Ingrid Bergman is featured in Elena and Her Men, directed by Jean Renoir.
Jean Renoir directed The Golden Coach, featuring Anna Magnani.
Anna Magnani is featured in Mamma Roma, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
And congratulations to our winners: Lee Farber, Matthew Packwood, and Carly Reemeyer.
Click here to see their responses.
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©2005 The Criterion Collection
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This month we salute Ronald Neame. The director of three Criterion releases – Tunes of Glory, The Horse’s Mouth, and Hopscotch – is going strong at 94.
On November 10, in Los Angeles, Mr. Neame was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Criterion producer Karen Stetler and telecine supervisor Maria Palazzola were able to attend and sent back this behind-the-scenes perspective:
Mr. Neame was introduced by Jon Voight (who starred in Neame’s The Odessa File) and a very sweet video message from Martin Scorsese, who, in his usual respectful way, referred to "Ronnie" as "Mr. Neame." Voight did not mention Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt. The event was sponsored by Cunard, and there were many funny jokes about Mr. Neame getting an award sponsored by Cunard, after using their ship the Queen Mary to film The Poseidon Adventure.
Mr. Neame gave a great speech, concluding with the statement that his longevity was due to his wife, Dona, and "something else": "one large vodka at lunch, two huge scotches at dinner ... and sometimes a third." We sat at a table with some friends of the Neames’ – one very drunk producer and several very elderly people, including Pat Medina, whom we recognized as Joseph Cotten's eighty-five-year-old widow and one of the stars of Mr. Arkadin.
They also honored Liz Taylor, who gave a really lovely and funny speech. She talked a lot about Richard Burton and said she was proud of her film career, but was most proud of her work on the AIDS crisis. She was introduced by Shirley MacLaine, who was also funny and had one great Warren Beatty joke.
The other highlight was Johnny Depp introducing Mike Newell, who got the John Schlesinger Award. He told an extremely funny story about Newell's drinking exploits with mobsters on Donnie Brasco. The Hunter Thompson influence seemed evident in his speech.
The traffic was horrible, the food was decent, and the Neames and BAFTA were very grateful for our donation of The Horse’s Mouth to the goodie bags. We will ship one of the bags to the office. It weighs a lot, so we will definitely remember to use UPS Ground.
Mr. Neame’s charm is always present and never more evident than in his lovely interview on our Hopscotch DVD. Click here to hear him describe his first encounter with its star, Walter Matthau.
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As the holiday shopping season heats up, look for ongoing pricing promotions at Barnes and Noble stores and BN.com. DVD Empire is also running a special promotion on specific titles. Let us know if you see any retailer/e-tailer doing an outstanding job of bringing Criterion to you.
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