The Criterion Collection
May 16, 1988 — Prior to the success of Scaramouche in 1952, many in Hollywood felt that the big-budget “swashbuckler” film was no longer a safe investment. While such motion pictures as MGM’s version of The Three Musketeers (directed by George Sidney, 1948) and...
Essays
Feb 1, 1988 — Based on the novel by W.T. Burnett, this heist film set in a nameless midwestern city offered moviegoers in 1950 a new view of crime.
Essays
Oct 12, 1987 — Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling Cinemascope epic is set squarely within the traditions of the Japanese film genre known as the “Chambara.”
Essays
Dec 11, 1986 — If events had turned out differently, Orson Welles’s second film might well be widely regarded as “the greatest film of all time.”
Breathlessly kinetic, meticulously choreographed, and sometimes hauntingly meditative, this selection from the martial-arts film canon stretches across cultures and eras.
The musician, producer, and composer praises the sonic world of Brian De Palma’s movies, shares why he thinks The Color of Pomegranates is the most beautiful film ever made, and discusses what The Game taught him about the interplay between...
A groundbreaking visual stylist, this iconic American director has captivated generations of film lovers with his meticulously crafted epics about war, violence, and history.
The general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival and the director of the Institut Lumière—whose film Lumière, le cinéma! is now playing on the Criterion Channel—shares his personal journey through cinema, highlighting such favorites as Pierrot le fou, 2046, Budd...
The actor praises the honest and vulnerable performances in John Schlesinger’s films, shares how Klute awakened her love for film noir, and talks about why she keeps returning to The Mother and the Whore.