Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Discuss releases in the Janus Contemporaries, Eclipse, and Essential Art House lines and the films on them.
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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

#201 Post by fdm » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:11 am

Got mine today, and "This book is totally awesome!!". Actually, haven't cracked it open, thinking it'll be more of a weekend (and daytime) activity, not unlike most of my (weekend/nighttime) movie watching any more. (Usually reserve the week for the supplements...) Book only, btw.

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

#202 Post by fdm » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:15 am

Think maybe one or more of the unreleased-by-Criterion films in the book will show up via Eclipse?

mikeohhh
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#203 Post by mikeohhh » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:25 pm

fdm wrote:Think maybe one or more of the unreleased-by-Criterion films in the book will show up via Eclipse?
the documentaries probably will

Nothing
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#204 Post by Nothing » Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:44 pm

Fires on the Plain is not a cult film, it should already have been released by Criterion years ago.

Cinesimilitude
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#205 Post by Cinesimilitude » Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:10 pm

Nothing wrote:Fires on the Plain is not a cult film, it should already have been released by Criterion years ago.
Eclipse isn't for cult films anymore.

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jorencain
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#206 Post by jorencain » Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:19 pm

Well, I'm not sure what to say about the book; it's just about what I expected. It's a nice, hefty coffee table book, with 2 pages of pictures and one page of text about each film. The text is new (i.e. not reprinted from the back of the discs or booklets) and fairly general in nature.

The Scorsese intro is a few paragraphs of "Hooray for Janus", and I've just glanced at the Cowie article (20 pages), which seems informative and dry.

Anyway, it's just what you would expect it to be, and definitely worth the price for me.

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hammock
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#207 Post by hammock » Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:21 am

Got my box yesterday. The DVDs look damn sweet lined up 4 by 4 and most of them have b/w labels. The over all quality is excellent and flipping the pages already had me going "oh, gotta see that again". Thank you "my self" for the nice Christmas gift!

DonShye
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:15 pm

#208 Post by DonShye » Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:06 pm

Any comments on Le Jour se Leve? This is one of my most eagerly awaited DVDs and I don't know if I should be frustated that Criterion chose to release it only as part of this set (which I have no intention of buying since I already own most of the DVDs) or heartened that it is at least on it's way (it should only be a matter of time before the title gets released separately).

In the case of DVDs that are part of multi-disc sets where the extras disc is excluded, does the movie disc say "Disc 1" or did they change the disc art for this release ? Just asking cause I was wondering if the upcoming Le Jour se Leve will be a single disc or two disc set.

Thanks,
-D

Cinesimilitude
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#209 Post by Cinesimilitude » Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:03 am

Based on the images of the set at the Janus Films website, I'm quite sure every one of the discs in the set got the title in the same font, laid over a screenshot of the film (hence hammock's comment that most of the disc art is in Black and white.

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hammock
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#210 Post by hammock » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:16 am

DonShye! The 50 discs only have the films and subs on them. Everything for the box is custom made as far as I can tell. Here you will find 2 examples on the discs + chapter indexing:

LE JOUR SE LEVE

FIRES ON THE PLAIN

The box sure as hell is of amazing quality and with the previous prediction that it would cost around $1,000 maybe $600 is not that bad. I was planning to re-sell it but I simply can let it go now. Got Family Guy season 5 this Friday as well so my weekend is gonna be fantastic!

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hammock
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#211 Post by hammock » Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:36 am

Found this review on Amazon with an extensive discription of the packing and other details:

This is certainly the most remarkable collection of films to come out in one DVD package. And I would really like to thank Criterion for overpricing their DVDs so much that I had very little overlap with my existing library, having passed on most of their editions of these films. Here are a few observations that might be of use to potential buyers:
1) the widescreen movies are anamorphic
2) Haxen is 104 min, substantially longer than the 77 min version that has shown on premium cable.
3) I compared the Janus versions of two films, Wages of Fear and Seven Samurai, with the Criterion versions I had. I expected them to be identical (figuring that Criterion probably did the work for Janus) but they were considerably different. In both cases, the Janus copies were amazingly superior: much better (and louder)sound, crisper images with fewer defects, much better definition in shadowy areas, and a much more stable image. I never realized how poor the Criterion prints were until I saw the comparison. It's amazing the psychological effect of all that. In both cases, I was strongly tempted to continue watching the whole film with Janus, and found the Criterion copy 'tiring'. The translations also differed, with Janus having fewer errors (e.g. Samurai's "the rice we're eating now" v.s. "the rice we're eating, how"). I cannot wait to watch the rest of these films.
3. I could detect no difference between Anchor Bay's and Janus's Kind Hearts and Coronets.
4. The print of Lady Vanishes is the clearest I've seen. The el cheapo Brentwood print, in their Hitchcock collection, is unwatchable.
5. The one really bad aspect of the collection is that the DVDs are wedged tightly into paper slots. Every single disc was covered with tiny flecks of paper, and every disc was scratched, sometimes quite badly (but not enough to affect playback, I think). Whether this occurred putting the disc in, or taking it out, I can't say. However, repeating this process would rapidly damage the surface. I put all the discs into individual cases, and I STRONGLY recommend doing so. Some of the discs felt like they were glued to the page, the packaging was so tight. If you are a real fanatic about surface defects, and don't plan on reselling the set, you might even want to use a razor to cut the paper and LIFT the disc out. Whatever you do, don't rotate the disc as you try to unstick it or you may get a spiralling defect.
Despite that caveat, this is an incredible bargain - less than $12 per film instead of $30 for Criterion's. That makes those commentaries pretty bloody expensive.
One can only hope Janus will put out another 50 movies (hopefully in individual cases, though).

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Ashirg
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#212 Post by Ashirg » Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:42 am

He cleary compared to old versions of Wages of Fear and Seven Samurai.

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miless
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#213 Post by miless » Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:10 pm

Ashirg wrote:He cleary compared to old versions of Wages of Fear and Seven Samurai.
and he is obviously not aware of the Criterion version of The Lady Vanishes

Nothing
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#214 Post by Nothing » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:21 am

SncDthMnky wrote:Eclipse isn't for cult films anymore.
Well okay... Fires on the Plain is neither cult nor second tier.

Btw, there has been a decent English-subtitled DVD of Le Jour se lève out in France for years. The film itself is pretty minor, anyway.

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Matt
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#215 Post by Matt » Sun Nov 05, 2006 12:11 pm

Nothing wrote:Btw, there has been a decent English-subtitled DVD of Le Jour se Leve out in France for years. The film itself is pretty minor, anyway.
:shock: oooooookay....

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kinjitsu
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#216 Post by kinjitsu » Sun Nov 05, 2006 12:57 pm

Matt wrote:
Nothing wrote:Btw, there has been a decent English-subtitled DVD of Le Jour se lève out in France for years. The film itself is pretty minor, anyway.
:shock: oooooookay....
Oh, and that lead actor is second-rate, too.
Last edited by kinjitsu on Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Nothing
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#217 Post by Nothing » Sun Nov 05, 2006 1:32 pm

By that rationale, MEET THE FOCKERS is an instant classic...

But really, if it wasn't Carne/Gabin, would anyone care? It's a pretty ludicrous, overwrought film, especially in comparison to Renoir's work of the period.

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kinjitsu
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#218 Post by kinjitsu » Sun Nov 05, 2006 4:01 pm

Nothing wrote:By that rationale, MEET THE FOCKERS is an instant classic...
Have you actually seen Jour se lève?

Meet the Fockers is a masterpiece, so don't even go there...

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Tribe
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#219 Post by Tribe » Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:29 am

From today's NY Times:

New DVDs: Formidable 50: A DVD Collection Drawn From the Janus Vaults

In 1909 P. F. Collier & Son published a 50-volume set of the world's great literature as chosen by Charles William Eliot, the president of Harvard. For the ambitious, go-getting Americans of the time, always eager to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, the collection became an immediate success, and Mr. Eliot's “five-foot shelfâ€

Cinesimilitude
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#220 Post by Cinesimilitude » Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:00 am

davidhare wrote:youre the new choice dick
He's no TechNoir.

Nothing
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:04 am

#221 Post by Nothing » Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:00 pm

That was, erm, coherent :|

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Mr Sausage
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#222 Post by Mr Sausage » Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:04 pm

davidhare wrote:Balls!

If youre going to make broad sweeping statements back them up with argument.

Or doesnt that count on this forum anymore?
Well, I think part of the problem may be that the severity of your response doesn't really seem warranted by Nothing's tame, if misguided, posts. People are going to look for something far more provoking to match your response and, not finding much, might be confused, as though some post were left out.

Actually I was pretty confused too, back before some nice person put all of your posts together.

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tryavna
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#223 Post by tryavna » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:09 pm

I've found that, like most forums, this one has lulls every now and again. Remember, it was really only a few weeks ago that the Abel Gance thread was humming, and there have been some interesting posts in the Boutique section lately -- not to mention the conversation John Cope and Gregory have been carrying on in the Oliveira thread. Perhaps the Eclipse news and things like the general Warner announcement for '07 have made a larger number of recent posts about speculation rather than anything else.

Sorry, I don't mean to turn this into a "state-of-the-forum" thread, but there are still some nice nuggets to be found throughout the forum.

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Mr Sausage
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#224 Post by Mr Sausage » Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:24 pm

davidhare wrote:So we dont care that posters just make broad statements, never choose to argue their points and swan off to the next subject or target.
Where did I, or anyone else, say that? Nowhere that I can see.
davidhare wrote:And the "severity" of my responses I suppose is in proportion to the simple mindedness of others' "harmless" baiting.
Hostility can be no less simple-minded, whatever side you are on. Matt handled this issue reasonably some posts ago, there is no reason why you cannot do the same. Nothing was not pulling a Barmy; his "baiting" was merely an off-the-cuff remark, ill-advised as I said, but for the most part harmless.
davidhare wrote:Thus it's preferable to politely ignore the silliness and forget about any sort of response. God forbid any real passion for the subject might color the tone of the reply (not to mention a couple of stiff ones.)
You do like to invent arguments to justify your actions. The problem with this argument is it assumes there are only two ways to handle this: to ignore it, or to become rude and harsh. That is not so, and other board members have demonstrated it.

If this were Barmy I could understand your rage, but frankly it just seems excessive here.
davidhare wrote:I really dont care any more. I used to get a lot out of the forum, and I hope I put a fair bit in. These days, actually since Matt relinquished the proprietorship, the whole place seems to be largely swimming in generalizations and cover art tragedies. While the forum was never solely intended as a cinephile haven it certainly became one of the best and most interesting places on the web for securing and engaging in serious film discussion - a nice take off from the basic brief it began with. There are still people here I read with great dedication and affection. But there's just too much twaddle .
I've never found it convincing when a clearly angry, impassioned person says that they do not care.

It's too bad you're dissapointed in the forum; you are one of the better posters on this thing. But forums fluctuate, and there was an equal if not greater amount of generalizations and cover-art tragedies in Matt's day as there are now. Matt didn't hand over the forum for no reason.

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HerrSchreck
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#225 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Nov 08, 2006 12:10 am

Just let it blow over Dave (I recall how you'd publicly appeal to my more civilzed side from time to time when some wonk would get under my skin and my brain would start shortcircuiting sparks & frying pan splats, so maybe can do the same for you here). So the kid thinks Carne is blah & JOUR SE LEVE is overrated. You been thru worse (someone say "bourgoise fans of Malle"?) & come out unvarnished, so let this little bubble pop pop. Aint worth it my friend. And watch the spirits' response to grain spirits.

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