Criterion Laserdiscs

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
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The Elegant Dandy Fop
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#226 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:42 pm

In the decade and a half since I grabbed my first laserdisc, for the first time ever, I encountered one of the recalled James Bond CAVs in the wild. I know the commentaries are now online, but how could I miss out on this mint copy of From Russia to Love? I have yet to hear the commentaries for Dr. No or Goldfinger, but I'm really surprised these commentaries were released the way they were, especially on a property like James Bond. Terrence Young casually drops a hard, homophobic epithet and Richard Maibaum complains about the women's rights movement. There's also a lot of cattiness about the producers (Young using a casually racist phrase I've never heard to describe them), plenty of criticism of the original Bond novels, and describing Daniela Bianchi's walk as "unattractive".

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#227 Post by Big Ben » Sat Sep 15, 2018 6:56 pm

Bond isn't exactly the most woke series but you all know that. The early novels for instance are really bad in some instances. Bond flat out states that Vesper Lynd is very rapeable in his thoughts in a passage from Casino Royale for instance. With this in mind it doesn't shock me that people involved in the film production also had very similar and awful views.

TheKetoKid
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:16 am

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#228 Post by TheKetoKid » Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:35 am

I am glad I found this board, because I still have a handful of Criterion laserdiscs I have been trying to get rid of. I'm not looking to charge for them, other than whatever it costs for shipping. I have the following titles, if anyone wants them. I have not played them in many, many years so I have no idea if there is anything wrong with them, but they are still in good shape, and have clear sleeve jackets.

She's Gotta Have It
Children of Paradise
Forbidden Planet
Andrei Rublev
King of Kings
Blackmail
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Man Who Fell To Earth

Sorry if this is not the proper forum, but I am new to the board. Let me know if I need to post elsewhere.

TheKetoKid
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:16 am

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#229 Post by TheKetoKid » Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:49 pm

Dustybooks, I got your PM, but as I just signed up, I am not allowed to reply to it yet. You are the only one to respond so you can have them all for shipping. I also have some other laserdiscs that are not Criterion if you would like a list. I guess we can conduct this via email if you would like.

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tullera
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:52 pm

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#230 Post by tullera » Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:33 pm

I thought this was super fun to see everything that came with spine #1, Citizen Kane CAV, including a questionnaire with self-addressed stamped envelope:

https://twitter.com/LaserDiscTurtle/sta ... 6189524997

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#231 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:44 pm

And here's this segment of BBC's Moving Pictures series from 1992 on the history of Criterion's laserdiscs.

DesertDweller
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:55 pm

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#232 Post by DesertDweller » Mon Mar 22, 2021 1:43 am

I recently picked up a Criterion Tokyo Olympiad laserdisc at a thrift store, along with a whole bunch of '90s title, for 25 cents!
And on top of that, I found a Pioneer CLD-D704 player for $10. I'm so excited to dip my toes into this area of film collecting.
Right now, my favorite aspect is the format's large size, it really allows for the artwork to be on display.

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captainsolo
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#233 Post by captainsolo » Fri Jan 21, 2022 2:13 pm

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:
Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:42 pm
In the decade and a half since I grabbed my first laserdisc, for the first time ever, I encountered one of the recalled James Bond CAVs in the wild. I know the commentaries are now online, but how could I miss out on this mint copy of From Russia to Love? I have yet to hear the commentaries for Dr. No or Goldfinger, but I'm really surprised these commentaries were released the way they were, especially on a property like James Bond. Terrence Young casually drops a hard, homophobic epithet and Richard Maibaum complains about the women's rights movement. There's also a lot of cattiness about the producers (Young using a casually racist phrase I've never heard to describe them), plenty of criticism of the original Bond novels, and describing Daniela Bianchi's walk as "unattractive".
These tracks are priceless because some of the key personnel weren’t around for the official documentaries made later and these tracks are completely unfiltered. However I think it is a bit unfair to pick holes in what is said and the notion of their “banned” status has led to many myths being spread online.

I think I know which bit you mean with Young, where he had accidentally dyed his hair green due to a shampoo mixup and had to meet the very macho Pedro Amendariz for the first time. Sure it’s not a term that should ever be used but of course most at the time were unaware of how insulting that could be.
With Maibaum, he was referring to the fact that they had to tiptoe around offending anyone to an increasing degree in terms of trying to have some of the pun names and the glamour girls in addition to the sexual and sensual content. What he was trying to convey was that frequently complaints were thrown about before anything had even been written. His statements on Fleming’s prose are about story construction from a screen standpoint plus he liked to highlight the tonal shifts they made at the start of the series to make the films play with US and UK general audiences.

They did have problems with Bianchi’s walk because she had a rather significant limp. This meant they had to cut around her moving a lot and in fact used a double in the office scene where Bond and Kerim look through the periscope. Maibaum said she was his favorite of the actresses due to her charming slight aloofness-and he’s right by pinpointing that factor as why Tatiana in the film is so charming.

They did have a lot of on and off issues with the producers which is usually covered up or sidestepped in all but the most dedicated research and materials. Ultimately these tracks are invaluable but occasionally once in a while there is a thing or two that you obviously wouldn’t say today. My favorite is Peter Hunt’s bluntness on the Goldfinger track explaining Connery’s natural charisma and his effect on women.

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#234 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:01 pm

Don't get me wrong! I love how unfiltered it is! But seeing as Eon Productions has such tight control over the property of Bond in the era of careful curation around brands, which James Bond absolutely has become, I'm just surprised anything with that level of frankness regarding a multi-billion dollar franchise was allowed. I'm glad these exist as they're so open and candid. I mentioned it in another thread once, but there's also the Boogie Nights commentary where PT Anderson talks about how much weed they smoked on set and Mark Wahlberg talking about severally spraining his penis during sex, things I'm not sure either one would want out in a commentary today, but it's neat to have this recorded somewhere!

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