Criterion and StudioCanal

[HistoryProf]

Just got an email from amazon asking me if I want to keep my order for Marienbad open. They'll "keep trying" to obtain copies, they said...

i got the same the other day for Le Cercle Rouge. Not going to hold my breath.

[HistoryProf]

\:D/

Dear HistoryProf:

Your Amazon.com order of "Le Cercle Rouge" has shipped!

[teddyleevin]

After a few weeks, my second (just-in-case) Blu of Marienbad failed to come through (an Amazon seller, was allegedly lost in shipment...if that's true, it's devastating, but I hope some worthy person managed to find it abandoned on some church doorstep). Amazon order came through weeks ago anyone, so not a big deal, but now I have two copies of the plastic replacement case. #firstworldproblems

P.S. That case isn't for sale on the site anymore, so I'd be happy to sell or trade it via PM.

[Perkins Cobb]

Leon Morin Blu dropped to $19.99 on Amazon.

[Mr. Romberg]

What other Studio Canal titles are currently in print on Criterion? I think I'll make those titles my top priority next time I make a purchase before Studio Canal snatches those away as well.

[dad1153]

^^^ And $12.99 for the DVD.

[jw007]

Hello all,

This is my very first posting on this forum. I have been collecting Criterion DVDs and BDs for many years now.

I just wanted to say that I took advantage of the $19.99 "Léon Morin, Priest" BD deal on Amazon last night, and bought it. I couldn't believe how this now out of print title could have fallen to such a low price. I recently scoured all of the local Barnes & Noble stores in my city and was still able to find Léon Morin, Priest in two locations. Still, even with a 15% off coupon and 10% member discount, the cheapest I could have gotten this film would have been about $32 with tax included. Still nothing compared to the Amazon deal.

Furthermore, I miraculously bought "Last Year at Marienbad" today at one of the B&N stores. I used the 15% off Mothers Day coupon (expires on Sunday) along with the 10% member discount. Since I couldn't wait till the 50% off sale in July, I figured that for an OOP print title, I would pay a bit more than I would normally.

The craziest thing of all though is, I actually did something I'm a bit ashamed of. A few weeks ago, I went to one of the stores and hid both blu-rays of "Léon Morin" and "Last Year..." in a secret location in the video department. I returned 2-3 weeks later and they were still there. I felt ashamed for doing this because I'm sure other customers would have wanted to buy these titles. So instead, I returned "Léon Morin" back to the shelves (after only spending $19.99 last night on it) and purchased "Last Year..." today.

Has anyone else ever attempted to hide out of print Criterion DVDs or BDs in a Barnes & Noble store to wait for a 50% off sale?

[Noiradelic]

What other Studio Canal titles are currently in print on Criterion? I think I'll make those titles my top priority next time I make a purchase before Studio Canal snatches those away as well.

Nothing left but La Haine.

[Moe Dickstein]

Which is why I went and bought La Haine the day this last round got released.

I think there may be some titles within box-sets too, I think there is at least one in the Robeson but I'd have to look when I get home.

[krnash]

Has anyone else ever attempted to hide out of print Criterion DVDs or BDs in a Barnes & Noble store to wait for a 50% off sale?

As a former B&N employee, I wouldn't recommend this. Every three weeks or so we sorted through every DVD/blu-ray on every shelf, period. Scanning each bar code. With each scan, the system alerted us to items that needed to be sent back to the warehouse for OOP or lack of sale purposes. B&N isn't a store that holds onto items until they sell, they run a tight inventory and recall problematic items as soon as possible.

Anyway, no matter how cleverly you think you're hiding something, it's going to get found. Best case scenario, it's put back where it belongs. Worst case, it's going back to the warehouse.

[jw007]

Has anyone else ever attempted to hide out of print Criterion DVDs or BDs in a Barnes & Noble store to wait for a 50% off sale?

As a former B&N employee, I wouldn't recommend this. Every three weeks or so we sorted through every DVD/blu-ray on every shelf, period. Scanning each bar code. With each scan, the system alerted us to items that needed to be sent back to the warehouse for OOP or lack of sale purposes. B&N isn't a store that holds onto items until they sell, they run a tight inventory and recall problematic items as soon as possible.

Anyway, no matter how cleverly you think you're hiding something, it's going to get found. Best case scenario, it's put back where it belongs. Worst case, it's going back to the warehouse.

Hello sir,

Trust me, I quickly realized how unethical it is to hide Criterion releases in a B&N store. I asked the CSR at the store about whether they ship the OOP titles back to the distributor and he said it happens if they're not selling well. Some managers of the stores end up purchasing these OOP titles for themselves as well. Every store has a slightly different policy apparently. So yes, you are correct of course regarding which items sell and which do not and whether or not they hold onto the items or not. Nevertheless, I successfully hid the two items and they stayed there for about 3 weeks until I myself went back and did the right thing. I purchased one of the items and put the other item back on the shelf where it was originally.

Two days ago, another Barnes & Noble store agreed to ship an OOP Criterion title to a more local store also for me. I told them I didn't want to drive several hours to purchase this in their store and the CSR on the phone apparently was ok with sending this item to a more local store for me to purchase. This item is all out of stock in every B&N store here in my city.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

- J

[Mouse]

What other Studio Canal titles are currently in print on Criterion? I think I'll make those titles my top priority next time I make a purchase before Studio Canal snatches those away as well.

Nothing left but La Haine.

Incorrect. Big Deal on Madonna Street and two films on the Robeson set are licensed from Studiocanal and are likely the next and final set to go. La Haine, Hopscotch, and Carlos all have the Canal logo, but have different licensing ownership in the U.S., so they can't touch those.

[tenia]

And to say I'm used to hide (usually, it's just taking the only remaining copy I'm interested in further in the video dept and putting in behind titles that never moves) BDs all the time, either in my local FNAC or in my local supermarket (which happens to have quite a big BD dept).

[Perkins Cobb]

As a former B&N employee, I wouldn't recommend this. Every three weeks or so we sorted through every DVD/blu-ray on every shelf, period. Scanning each bar code. With each scan, the system alerted us to items that needed to be sent back to the warehouse for OOP or lack of sale purposes. B&N isn't a store that holds onto items until they sell, they run a tight inventory and recall problematic items as soon as possible.

Anyway, no matter how cleverly you think you're hiding something, it's going to get found. Best case scenario, it's put back where it belongs. Worst case, it's going back to the warehouse.

Ah, but what if I take an X-Acto knife, hollow out the pages of Dan Brown's latest opus, and tuck my OOP disc in there? Then I gotcha.

But seriously folks, Kim's Video turned up another couple copies of Army of Shadows and, after staring balefully at them for a couple of weeks, I bought the last one. It better be worth a fortune by the time I get around to watching it.

[jw007]

I am happy to say that I was able to purchase the now OOP Criterion of "Le Cercle Rouge" at B&N today for $36 + tax.

I didn't have any coupons other than my 10% member discount but I still fared better than buying it for $50 or 60 that it is going for on Amazon and other online retailers.

Also there is something else I should mention. Since "Le Cercle Rouge" was out of stock in every store in my region, I had another B&N store from another state ship this blu-ray to another store in my city. This is something that could never happen normally because it is against company policy to ship from one store to another store. Yet, the store manager from my local store just happened to be at that other store (in a neighboring state) and brought the title with her personally to my store. I think this is a rarity in general and if I had a chance, I would like to personally thank her for doing this. I doubt such a favor will ever be done again. :-)

[duck duck]

anyone know anything about this:
http://www.amazon.com/Morin-Priest-Crit ... EA560FP40A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have never seen an "item under review" notice and it seems strange after the price slashing thing.

[domino harvey]

Prob the box Amazon was sent of these had damaged copies and enough customers reported it that Amazon put a temporary kibosh. This happens frequently with poorly packaged sets (the F13th box and the stupid Hithcock MGM set are two that come to mind)

[Donald Brown]

Amazon is again taking orders for Army of Shadows Blu at list price, saying it'll be back in stock next week.

[dad1153]

^^^ "Army of Shadows" seems to be back in stock for $39.98 (nothing about delayed shipping).

[SeanJoyce]

Well I'll be damned, headed to B&N today for the sale and Last Year at Marienbad was still sitting there on the shelf. I have no interest in it whatsoever, but I gave it to the guy to include in my "under-the-shelf" pile that will rapidly dwindle as the sale progresses.

Perhaps it's worth just buying the OOP disc for the sweet sale price and selling it down the road? Maybe...

[rrenault]

I found A Woman is a Woman with a white case at J&R in Manhattan a little over a year after it officially went out of print. And at around the same time, a cache of Rans turned up and was stocked in the store. This was summer of 2011. I bought three copies of Ran and sold two of them sealed on ebay but only wound up getting roughly MSRP for each one. I eventually wound up selling the third one I had kept for myself when I needed some cash. I still have A Woman is a Woman though. A B&N outlet would never wind up with a stash like that, but J&R tends to get that sort of stuff from time to time.

[dad1153]

^^^ But, since J&R relocated its block of stores to just one corner building (and their video section to a portion of the 2nd floor), I doubt extra stock inventory like OOP Criterions can fit into a space that's about 1/4 the space that was available on the old basement/top floor.

[rrenault]

When did this happen? I've been outside the US for quite a while. So what happened to the music section at J&R? So is it safe to say digital files and streaming are killing the DVD/Blu-ray industry already?

[dad1153]

About 3-4 months ago. The entire block of stores are now 'For Rent' and the corner building (the one closest to the church and nearer to Wall St.) that used to have the computers and videogames has the entire J&R stores in the upper floors. The music/CD section takes about 1/4 of one floor. The DVD/Blu-ray section is right next to the reduced-in-size TV section (only two of the salesmen remain), both of which had their own basements as of a few months ago (and which combined now take less half of what one of the basements would fit). Yep, lean and mean time for independent brick & mortar retailers like J&R. :(

[rrenault]

I always figured there'd be sufficient demand that at least one store of that nature could survive in the city, even if only one.