Woman of the Year: Criterion Collection
July 6, 2017
Woman of the Year (1942) marked the first on-screen pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Sparks flew both on and off screen in this memorable romantic comedy and they would go on to make eight more films together, eventually regarded in film...
The Before Trilogy: Criterion Collection
April 7, 2017
Few people saw Before Sunrise when it was released in 1995 but those who did really loved it. In its own subtle and unassuming way, Richard Linklater’s film flew in the face of most romantic films at the time. It refused to be dated by obvious, trendy...
The New World: Criterion Collection
July 28, 2016
After completing The Thin Red Line (1998), filmmaker Terrence Malick began working on a film about Che Guevara and his failed revolution in Bolivia (that was eventually made by Steven Soderbergh) but after financing fell through he was offered The New...
Sullivan’s Travels: Criterion Collection
April 21, 2015
Sullivan’s Travels (1942) came out of Preston Sturges’ desire to make fun comedies after finding that the genre had become too preachy. He wrote the film with Joel McCrea in mind even though the character he was going to play may have been inspired...
The Palm Beach Story: Criterion Collection
April 8, 2015
Fresh from his 1941 hit The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges drew partially from his own life for his next film, The Palm Beach Story (1942). His ex-wife was an heiress that traveled among European aristocracy and was even courted by Prince Jerome Rospigliosi-Gioeni....
All That Heaven Allows: Criterion Collection
June 9, 2014
During the 1950s, Douglas Sirk directed some of the most popular Hollywood melodramas, but was maligned by critics of the time. It wasn’t until years later when the Cahiers du cinema critics re-evaluated Sirk’s body of work and argued that he was...
Breaking the Waves: Criterion Collection
May 12, 2014
With Breaking the Waves (1996), Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier finally broke through into North America after several early efforts that were exercises in style more than anything else. This film saw him taking a page from the cinema of John Cassavetes...
Blue is the Warmest Color: Criterion Collection
March 28, 2014
From the moment it was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Blue is the Warmest Color (2013) was surrounded by controversy when it came out that several crew members not only complained of but quit the production over director Abdellatif Kechiche’s...
Breathless: Criterion Collection
March 19, 2014
Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960) is arguably the most famous example of the French New Wave, a group of film critics who were inspired by classic Hollywood films to become filmmakers themselves. Breathless certainly wasn’t the first French New...
Jules and Jim: Criterion Collection
February 18, 2014
Based on the novel by Henri-Pierre Roche, Jules and Jim (1962) is one of the most famous love triangles ever put on film. Film critic Francois Truffaut read the book in 1955 and wanted to make it into a film. The story stayed with him and once he became...