From the Vaults: What Exactly is The Criterion Collection? (from 2007-something)

*editor's note: as things have invariably changed since this was written, please disregard any erroneous information about potential "future" releases mentioned in the post. If it helps, click on the "Criterion" tag to find out more contemporaneous information pertaining to those damned spine numbers*

Today I'm going to divulge a little bit about this thing I keep referring to, the mysterious word "Criterion".

You've probably heard me talk about them. You may even have seen one while you were shopping and said "Geez! Why is that dvd so expensive?!" Allow me to give you a little bit of background information, and then I'll discuss some finer points concerning this awesome (if financially draining) branch of dvd viewing.

The Criterion Collection is a joint venture of Janus Films and the Voyager Company, two groups devoted to the preservation and distribution of film. They started out releasing laserdiscs in the 90's, and moved on to dvd when the format emerged.

It might be easier now to let them explain in their own words:

"The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion began with a mission to pull the treasures of world cinema out of the film vaults and put them in the hands of collectors. All of the films published under the Criterion banner represent cinema at its finest. In our seventeen years, we've seen a lot of things change, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema in the world's best digital editions."

To date, the collection includes nearly 400 titles (numbered on the spine), including everything from classics of foreign cinema to obscure and rarely seen films to definitive editions of popular entries. Every film receives the same amount of care towards restoration and attention towards providing supplements that create a kind of "film school in a box" for viewers.

Because of the time and effort put into Criterion Collection discs, they tend to be more expensive than the average dvd, but the quality of the film and supplements is almost always worth the price.

The Criterion Collection tends to focus on particular directors, releasing back catalogs from directors like Francois Truffuat, Akira Kurosawa, Igmar Bergman, Orson Welles, Jules Dassin, Louis Malle, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, Jean Luc-Godard, Preston Sturges, Carol Reed, Luis Bunuel, Robert Altman, Frederico Fellini, John Cassavetes, Jean Renoir, and Ranier Warner Fassbinder.

More recently, they've worked closely with Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, David Cronenberg, and Richard Linklater on Director Approved editions of films like Rushmore, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Videdrome, Dazed and Confused, and Kicking and Screaming.

Now I'm going to dispel a rumour that I hear a lot:

"Why can't I find the Criterion collection of Fight Club/2001/Touch of Evil?"

There isn't one. In fact, the most common misconception is that there a Criterion editions of movies that have existing dvds, or that there should be Criterion editions. While in many instances, I agree, the truth is that because the collection is an independent company, the availability of films does not always include movies that we assume would be in the "best of classic, contemporary, and world cinema".

When Criterion was releasing Laserdiscs, it is true that they had access to films like Taxi Driver, Citizen Kane, High Noon, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Trainspotting, but we must consider that at the time most major studios didn't consider Laserdiscs to be a viable alternative to VHS, and they were much more likely to give Criterion the license to release them.

As DVD began taking off, studios realized the potential moneymaking strategy of releasing the films themselves, and early Criterion releases like This Is Spinal Tap, The Silence of the Lambs, and Robocop were taken back by MGM, leaving the discs out of print. Now that dvd is a major market for revenue, the studios have very little interest in allowing an independent company to release their films and take a share of the profit, and accordingly, major catalog titles can be produced by Warner Brothers, Fox, Columbia/Sony/MGM, Universal, and Disney.

Occasionally, a studio will enter into a joint partnership with Criterion, most notably Universal and Buena Vista, particularly if a director works closely with Criterion. Steven Sodebergh's Traffic is an example, as are Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Linklater's Dazed and Confused. Universal stands to make money from sales of their dvd of the movie, and Criterion's deluxe treatment discs. Wes Anderson, on the other hand, has released every one of his films since Rushmore as a Criterion exclusively, with Buena Vista kicking in distribution to cut the cost down. As a result, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou don't have non-Criterion discs, whereas Rushmore does.

So why do films like Armageddon and The Rock get Criterion treatment? I don't really know. Why do obscure fifties and sixties horror movies get Criterion discs? Are we really to believe Corridors of Blood is as important as The Seventh Seal? I don't pretend to know how Criterion chooses the films they choose, but they do pick interesting and often unavailable movies to share with their devoted fanbase. I certainly know I would've never seen a movies Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages or Equinox: A Journey into the Supernatural otherwise, and I'd certainly never heard of Salesman or Symbiopsychotaxiplasm before they came out as Criterion discs. Or King Kong's sister film, The Most Dangerous Game, which used many of the same actors and all of the standing jungle sets RKO had set up for Merian Cooper's ape film.

Criterion was kind enough to put together a comprehensive version of Mr. Arkadin, a multi-versioned Orson Welles thriller that languished in public domain for years, and to provide background information on his many unfinished films as part of the F for Fake disc.

In keeping with their "film school in a box" mentality, the Criterion Battle of Algiers has an extra disc devoted to the making of the film, and another devoted to the historical background that helped inspire it.

It's difficult to predict if we'll ever see Criterion Collection editions of movies like The Magnificent Ambersons or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which they released on laserdisc, and it's always fun to joke about movies like Cannibal! The Musical or House of the Dead getting the treatment, but the truth is that until we see a spine number on the side of the disc, there's no telling.

That being said, considering dvd as it is now, I can say with some certainty that you will never see I Heart Huckabees or Pan's Labyrinth with a Criterion spine number. To be honest, if you see a new release that you think should be a Criterion, don't hold your breath. 20th Century Fox (who owns Huckabees) and New Line Cinema / Warners (who own Pan's Labyrinth) haven't ever licensed their films to Criterion on dvd, and I don't expect them to start now. They know how to market their discs, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Postscript: I feel the need to correct something from my Criterion post the other day: I erroneously mentioned that Twentieth Century Fox had never worked with Criterion, which isn't true. Kagemusha, Akira Kurosawa's "comeback" film, produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, was released domestically by Fox, and it's noted on the back of Criterion's two disc set. However, until Criterion can actually release a packaged set of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset for Richard Linklater, Warner Brothers is still a holdout. No one mentioned it, but I thought I'd clarify the curious double existence of movies like Time Bandits, which has both a Criterion disc and a two disc set from Anchor Bay. The answer to this is that both independent companies have a license to produce dvds of the film, so more than one version exists. It's all fair when you talk about the various indie distributors like Anchor Bay, Blue Underground, Lion's Gate, Synapse, and Media Blasters. My only hope is that someday Kino films and Criterion will join forces to create the ultimate in awesomeness. (Kino takes great pains to do full restorations of movies like Nosferatu, Buster Keaton's The General, and Metropolis, but often lack the kind of supplements Criterion does.)