Criterion Newsletter: Clues and More, Volume Four

[HistoryProf]

No chance for pre-code Raoul Walsh's In Old Arizona?

I guess they would have done something silly like give Arizona mickey mouse hands and a cane or something.

[domino harvey]

It's obviously for Phoenix. Not a big fan like most here, but could be worth picking up for the Petzold related extras

[Minkin]

On Ana Lily Amirpour’s Top 10 Criterions, she had the following to say about Repo Man:

The Criterion packaging for this one, with the comic inside, is one of my favorites. I showed it to the distributors when I was packaging A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.

When I was at B&N yesterday, I picked up off the shelf what I thought was Repo Man, but was surprised to see Amirpour's film instead - as both are in a digipack and both have extremely similar black and white designs on the top of the packaging. I thought it was a bad attempt at aping the design, but interesting to see (a day later) that it was "inspired by" Criterion's Repo Man.

[J M Powell]

No chance for pre-code Raoul Walsh's In Old Arizona?

The current Fox region-A blu-ray disc may not have any bonus features, but the transfer is excellent. Hard to see how Criterion could improve on it, and if they want to add some Walsh to the collection there are a score of alternative Walsh films they likely have access to that don't have blu-rays available already (many of them actually directed by Walsh, unlike In Old Arizona!).

[knives]

Also maybe a good Walsh film which In Old Arizona doesn't muster to either.

[Saturnome]

Well, it's the best all-talkie from 1928. Though the only other one I've seen, Lights of New York, is so incredibly bad that I think it's more worthwhile to watch than In Old Arizona.

[britcom68]

I wonder if the Petzold release would include the source novel "Return from the Ashes," or even pair it with the earlier film version? I would think that the phantom page Criterion has for J. Lee Thompson is for Tiger Bay, but his version of Return from the Ashes is an interesting take.

[dustybooks]

Also maybe a good Walsh film which In Old Arizona doesn't muster to either.

The ending is something else, though.

[eerik]

In a Lonely Place?

[peerpee]

Friedkin's BLUE CHIPS

[phantomforce]

Fargo

[jorencain]

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

[FrauBlucher]

In a Lonely Place was the first thing I thought of. It's another Sony/Columbia Pictures title that Criterion seems to be prioritizing.

[britcom68]

Actually to me this month's clue looks exactly like a stack of pancakes. (But good luck figuring out where we've ever seen a stack of pancakes figure prominently enough in a film to warrant a clue of them).

[pzadvance]

Has to be In A Lonely Place ("lonely plates" - word balloon coming from withIN the stack) -- which is great news!

[domino harvey]

Actually to me this month's clue looks exactly like a stack of pancakes. (But good luck figuring out where we've ever seen a stack of pancakes figure prominently enough in a film to warrant a clue of them).

If it was pancakes, there would be a little pat of butter on top. Source: every cartoon ever

[Roger Ryan]

I thought it was someone inside a leaking oil barrel...but still guessed In A Lonely Place. I suppose the word balloon is all you need to figure it out.

[Kokomo Blues]

Really? Those are plates?

It's bad enough to deal with puns, but must we decipher bad drawing too?

[Roscoe]

They looked like poker chips to me -- I thought it might be CALIFORNIA SPLIT.

[johnnysnatchclub7]

What would the syrup/oil spill be then? Or is that bad shading?

[Luke M]

Part of me wants to rant about how those things don't look like plates but another better part of me is super excited it's In a Lonely Place.

[pzadvance]

What would the syrup/oil spill be then? Or is that bad shading?

It's bad shading, but it would be an even worse representation of syrup if that's the way you wanted to look at it. Again, reference any cartoon of a stack of pancakes ever--if it were syrup, it would be dripping over the edges from the top.

[Raymond Marble]

I immediately thought it was The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner, as in those are runners as if for a shower curtain. (What would make it long distance, I'm not so sure...)

[colinr0380]

Actually to me this month's clue looks exactly like a stack of pancakes. (But good luck figuring out where we've ever seen a stack of pancakes figure prominently enough in a film to warrant a clue of them).

[domino harvey]

Note the pat of butter and syrup!