The Criterion Collection
Essays
Jan 23, 2017 — In his radical debut feature, Ousmane Sembène reveals the agony of the postcolonial experience through the story of a Senegalese migrant abused by her French employers.
On the Channel
Jan 23, 2017 — Over on the Criterion Channel, we’re premiering the second installment of Adventures in Moviegoing, an original series in which we invite filmmakers, actors, musicians, and other artists to talk about the role that movies have played in their lives. Following...
Essays
Jan 16, 2017 — Jack Garfein’s no-holds-barred account of sexual assault and trauma captures the volatile sensibility of the Actors Studio.
Sneak Peeks
Jan 12, 2017 — The Hollywood screwball canon is rife with witty zingers and provocative repartee, but when it comes to sheer speed, nothing in the genre holds a candle to Howard Hawks’s newsroom rom-com His Girl Friday. In what remains the most beloved...
Jan 11, 2017 — When the Academy Film Archive embarked on a new restoration of The Front Page, preservationists stumbled onto a mystery regarding the existing prints of the film.
Jan 11, 2017 — A revelatory restoration of Lewis Milestone’s underappreciated newsroom comedy accentuates the film’s punchy rhythms and breakneck banter.
On the Channel
Jan 10, 2017 — Mass culture is the subject of both celebration and critique in our latest Short + Feature, premiering today on the Criterion Channel. This week’s program highlights two French films that satirize the ubiquity of consumerism: Jean Luc Godard’s inventively free-form...
Essays
Dec 14, 2016 — Pseudodocumentary collides with pure fantasy in Federico Fellini’s intricately layered portrait of his adopted home.
Production Notes
Nov 30, 2016 — 1.Marlon Brando and his father founded Pennebaker, Inc., one of several companies in the 1950s that were started by leading actors and backed by a major studio. This business model became popular as the “Big Five” studio system began to...
Nov 28, 2016 — PerformancesAny paean to noir seductress nonpareil Gloria Grahame—mine included—can’t hope to surpass this encomium from Boyd McDonald, one of her most ardent and articulate devotees. Saluting Grahame’s performance in In a Lonely Place (1950) in his essential 1985 compendium, Cruising...