The Criterion Collection logo

The Criterion Collection is a privately held company that distributes authoritative consumer versions of "important classic and contemporary films" on DVD. It was established in 1984 as a joint venture between Janus Films and the Voyager Company. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The term company may refer to a separate legal entity, as in English law, or may simply refer to a business, as is the common use in the United States. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Janus Films is a film distribution company. ... The Voyager Company was a pioneer in CD-ROM production in the 1980s and early 1990s. ...

Corporate history

Due to the company's private nature, very little publicly accessible information regarding the business or its relationships with other entities is available. Nevertheless, what information can be gathered from media sources reveals that the Criterion Collection shares a close business relationship with Janus Films and with Home Vision Entertainment (HVE), which was a publicly traded company in the US[1]. Janus Films is a film distribution company. ...

The Criterion Collection was founded in 1984 by Robert Stein, Aleen Stein (then Robert's wife), and Roger Smith. In 1985, the Steins, William Becker, and Jonathan B. Turell (son of Saul J. Turell) founded The Voyager Company. Voyager was a developer of multimedia CD-ROMs that released dozens of educational CD-ROMs between 1989 and 2000. During that time, the Criterion Collection became a division of Voyager. In March of 1994, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH purchased a twenty percent share of Voyager for US$6.7 million. The four founders themselves each retained a twenty percent share. Robert Stein (born April 20, 1946) is a multimedia pioneer, having founded The Voyager Company, the first commercial CD-ROM publisher, and The Criterion Collection a collection of definitive films on digital media with in-depth background information (including the first films with recorded audio commentary). ... William Becker can refer to: William D. Becker (1896-1943), American politican and 39th mayor of St. ... Saul J. Turell (January 20, 1921 - April 10, 1986) was a producer and maker of documentaries, and a distributor for classic film. ... The Voyager Company was a pioneer in CD-ROM production in the 1980s and early 1990s. ... ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group is a Stuttgart-based publishing holding company which owns publishing companies worldwide. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ...

In the late 1990s, Voyager was broken up. In the winter of 1994, Aleen Stein divorced Robert Stein and left the active management of the company to start another CD-ROM publishing company, Organa LLC, although she retained her share in Voyager. In the winter of 1997, Holtzbrinck Publishers sold 42 Voyager CD-ROM titles, the Voyager brand name, the Voyager Web site, and associated assets to Learn Technologies Interactive (LTI) LLC (Robert Stein had himself sold 42 Voyager CD-ROM titles to LTI some time earlier in exchange for his shares in Voyager/Criterion). At this time, the remaining founding partners, Aleen Stein, William Becker and Jonathan Turell retained complete ownership of Criterion, each with 1/3 share of the company; Turell became the CEO and Becker's son, Peter Becker, became the president (Peter Becker had been the president of Voyager and, before that, the director of its Criterion division). Aleen Stein no longer has a role in the day-to-day operations, but she continues to own one third of the company.[2] Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group is a Stuttgart-based publishing giant which owns publishing companies worldwide. ...

The company softball team's nickname is "the True Foes," punning on the name of French director François Truffaut. François Roland Truffaut (French IPA: ) (February 6, 1932 – October 21, 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking, and remains an icon of the French film industry. ...

Janus films

Janus Films Inc. was founded by Bryant Haliday and Cyrus Harvey Jr. in 1955 and was sold by them in 1966. At some point thereafter, the company was acquired by William Becker and Saul Turell. It is likely, although unverified, that Becker and Turell were the 1966 purchasers of Janus Films. Janus Films is a film distribution company. ... Bryant Haliday in The Projected Man (1967) Bryant Haliday (April 7, 1928 - July 28, 1996) was an American actor, as well as producer, of film and stage who was instrumental in providing a showcase for international film titles in the United States by co-founding Janus Films. ...

HVE

Charles Benton founded Public Media, Inc. (PMI) in 1968. PMI's home video division, HVE, was established in 1986. Charles' daughter, Adrianne B. Furniss, became PMI's president in 1996, and its CEO in 1999. Adrianne B. Furniss is also the Chief Executive Officer of HVE. Charles Benton is the Chairman of HVE.

HVE, which was also a privately held company, acted as distributor for Criterion's DVD releases as well as providing sales, advertising and marketing services. HVE released its own line of DVDs on its own HVE line, including The Merchant Ivory Collection [3], produced in association with the Criterion Collection and was dedicated to releasing DVDs of films of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, and the Classic Collection, "a joint venture between Home Vision Entertainment and Janus Films." The latter appears to be dedicated to releasing DVDs under the HVE imprint of films for which Janus Films holds DVD rights and are not currently available from the Criterion Collection. Films under the Classic Collection imprint, however, have also been released by the Criterion Collection. In 2005, HVE was acquired by Image Entertainment. As a result of this transaction, Image Entertainment became the exclusive distributor of the Criterion Collection. DVDs continue to be released under the HVE imprint, but it is unclear how long the practice will continue. James Ivory (left) and Ismail Merchant (right) in New York City in 1974. ... Ismail Merchant Ismail Merchant (December 25, 1936 – May 25, 2005) was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. ... James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an award-winning American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. ... Image Entertainment is a major home video and television distribution company that has handled digital media distribution of television programs, public domain and copyrighted feature films, and music concerts. ...

Contributions and influence

Criterion pioneered many innovations in the way movies are presented on video that have become standard today. These include the use of letterboxing, the release of multi-disc sets and special editions, and definitive versions.

Letterboxing

Letterboxing is a practice in which widescreen movies are presented in their original theatrical aspect ratios for viewing on the home television screen. Though initially disliked by some consumers, since the letterboxed image would not use the full area of the television, the practice was soon embraced by movie enthusiasts since it allowed the director's original framing to be presented at home for the first time — previous home video releases typically cropped significant portions (25%-50%) of the image to fit the 4:3 television screens which were common at the time. The 1987 Criterion laserdisc of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner was a seminal home video release that helped legitimize letterboxing. [4] [5] A 2. ... The inner box (green) is the format used in most pre-1952 films and pre-widescreen television. ... The aspect ratio of an image is its displayed width divided by its height (usually expressed as x:y or x×y, with the joining colon or multiplication symbol articulated as the preposition by or sometimes to). For instance, the aspect ratio of a traditional television screen is 4:3... 4:3 is a ratio. ... // May 9 - Actor Tom Cruise marries actress Mimi Rogers. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, England) is an influential Academy Award-nominated English film director and producer. ... Blade Runner is an influential 1982 cyberpunk, neo noir film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. ...

Special editions

The company's debut releases were the 1984 laserdiscs of Citizen Kane and King Kong. In both cases, Criterion pioneered the concept of the special edition, in which a movie is presented with numerous bonus materials including trailers, directors' audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes documentaries, alternate endings, deleted scenes, and more. Peter Becker calls this idea, "a film school in a box" [6]. This concept was quickly embraced by almost all other home video companies, from the mainstream to small speciality labels. Today, special edition DVDs, even for the most trivial of films, are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Citizen Kane is a 1941 mystery/drama film released by RKO Pictures and directed by Orson Welles, his first feature film. ... This is about the original movie and novel. ... Movie trailers are film advertisements for films that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema, on whose screen they are shown; they are commonly known as previews of coming attractions. ... A major selling point of DVD video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ...

Criterion occasionally issues the same DVD (e.g. The Red Shoes) with and without a silver special-edition sticker on the packaging, although there is no difference between discs with and without stickers.^{[citation needed]} Helpmann, Shearer and Massine in The Red Shoes. ...

In September of 2006, to tie in with their new design, Criterion re-released three of their earlier titles back onto DVD with enhanced picture and new supplements: Amarcord, Brazil, and Seven Samurai. Amarcord (1973), directed by Federico Fellini, is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale that combines poignancy with bawdy comedy. ... For other uses, see Seven Samurai (disambiguation). ...

Definitive versions

Under license from the copyright holders, Criterion has released definitive, and in some cases unique, video editions of such films as Citizen Kane, A Hard Day's Night, It's a Wonderful Life, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts, as well as those noted below. Many of these editions are now out of print, usually where the film's copyrights have changed hands or where the copyright holders have decided to release their own version. As a result, many Criterion titles are now collectors' items. Citizen Kane is a 1941 mystery/drama film released by RKO Pictures and directed by Orson Welles, his first feature film. ... This article is about the film. ... Its a Wonderful Life is a 1946 drama film directed by Frank Capra, produced by his own Liberty Films and released originally by RKO Radio Pictures. ... Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a 1964 science fiction film retelling of the classic novel by Daniel Defoe. ... Jason and the Argonauts (1963) is a fictional fantasy adventure movie based upon the characters Jason and the Argonauts of Greek mythology, regarded by many critics as one of the best fantasy films ever made. ...

• The original Criterion DVD release of This Is Spinal Tap contains supplementary content absent from MGM's current DVD release (such as the 16 mm 'test' film) and an out of character commentary
• The Criterion laserdisc version of Blade Runner is the original unedited international version not included on subsequent laserdisc and DVD releases of the film due to legal disputes
• Midnight Cowboy is presented in its intended aspect ratio of 1.66:1 while later releases are all matted to 1.85:1 (causing the titles to be cropped), and includes a commentary
• Criterion's releases of the first three James Bond films on laserdisc (Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger) included commentaries not present on subsequent laserdisc and DVD releases
• Dr. Strangelove includes an original draft of the screenplay, and an extensive section of Cold War instructional pamphlets and films (including the full version of Duck and Cover)
• The Prince of Tides includes a commentary track by Barbra Streisand and other supplements not included on Columbia/TriStar's current DVD
• The Fisher King contains commentary by Terry Gilliam, an extensive deleted scenes section with commentary, trailers, storyboarded segments, and costume tests, while the current DVD release by Sony includes trailers as the only supplement
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind contains scenes from the original version (in film context) which are not represented on the later "collector's edition" video releases (they are available separately on Sony's recent DVD).

These laserdiscs can occasionally be found on Internet auction sites. DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... This Is Spinal Tap (which is officially spelled with a non-functional umlaut symbol over the N) is a 1984 mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner and starring members of the semi-fictional heavy-metal glam rock band Spinal Tap. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. ... For other uses, see Casino Royale (2006 film). ... Dr. No is the first James Bond film in the official EON Productions series, and the first to star Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent James Bond. ... From Russia with Love is the second James Bond film in the official EON Productions series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the suave and sophisticated British Secret Service agent James Bond. ... For the villain in this film, see Auric Goldfinger. ... Strangelove redirects here. ... The title screen from the film. ... The Prince of Tides is a 1986 novel by Pat Conroy. ... Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942) is an Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, liberal political activist, film producer and director. ... The Fisher King is a movie from 1991 written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam. ... This article is about the film; for the a definition of the UFO related phenomenon, see Close encounter. ...

Licensing

Some of Criterion's titles (e.g., Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca) are now "out-of-print" and unavailable, and sell at high prices on auction sites. Titles go out of print only when Criterion's license for them expires and is not renewed; this typically happens when the original licensor wishes to release its own version of the title, as happened with The Silence of the Lambs, RoboCop, Hard-Boiled, and The Killer. Rebecca is an Academy Award–winning 1940 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. ... The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 Academy Award-winning film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. ... RoboCop is a 1987 cyberpunk action movie and satire of business-driven capitalism, directed by Paul Verhoeven. ... Hard Boiled (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally: Hot-Handed God of Cops) is a 1992 action film by director John Woo. ... The Killer (Traditional Chinese: 喋血雙雄, Simplified Chinese: 喋血双雄; Cantonese IPA: , Jyutping: dip6 hyt3 seong1 hung4; Mandarin Pinyin: ; literally: Bloodshed of Two Heroes) is a 1989 Hong Kong thriller starring Chow Yun-Fat as the hitman Ah Jong, Danny Lee as the cop Li Ying and Sally Yeh as the singer Jennie. ...

In a few cases, early releases (such as the laserdisc edition of Citizen Kane, or the DVD editions of Beauty and the Beast, M, Seven Samurai, and The Wages of Fear) are taken out of print temporarily to make way for Criterion's own re-releases, which typically feature improved transfers and more comprehensive supplements. Citizen Kane is a 1941 mystery/drama film released by RKO Pictures and directed by Orson Welles, his first feature film. ... Beauty and the Beast (in French: La Belle et la Bête) is a French film, made in 1946, based on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The film was directed by Jean Cocteau, and starred his gay lover Jean Marais as the Beast and Josette Day as Beauty. ... M (original German title: M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder, M - a city in search of a murderer) is a 1931 German film noir directed by Fritz Lang and written by Thea von Harbou. ... For other uses, see Seven Samurai (disambiguation). ... Le Salaire de la peur (released in English-speaking countries as The Wages of Fear) is a 1953 film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Yves Montand. ...

The comedy Charade featuring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant became public domain on its release due to the absence of a copyright notice which was required at that time. This means that any home video distributor may release the film without paying royalties. While some budget labels have released lower quality versions, the Criterion Collection produced a digitally-cleaned DVD edition of the film using high-quality source materials, under license from Universal Pictures, and included extras. They repeated this process for their later Anamorphic re-release. Charade is a 1963 film written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm, directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. ... Audrey Hepburn (May 5, 1929 – January 20, 1993) was an Academy Award-winning actress of film and theatre, Broadway stage performer, ballerina, fashion model, and humanitarian. ... Archibald Alec Leach (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his screen name, Cary Grant, was an English film actor. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... Anamorphic widescreen is a cinematography and photography technique for capturing a widescreen picture on standard 35mm film. ...

Restorations

Criterion usually selects foreign films, established classics and obscure (albeit critically admired) movies over mainstream Hollywood fare, although it has released the occasional mainstream blockbuster such as Armageddon and The Rock. Criterion is noted for spending a great deal of effort and money tracing the best source materials for classic films, and engaging in thorough video clean-ups — a practice that has influenced other companies, most notably Warner Home Video. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other films with this name, see Armageddon (disambiguation). ... The Rock (1996) is an action movie that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island, and the San Francisco Bay area. ...

Some Criterion DVDs, such as The Passion of Joan of Arc, M and Children of Paradise, contain short restoration demonstrations, which compare unrestored prints with the painstakingly restored new master. The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne dArc) was a silent film released in France in 1928 based on the trial records of Joan of Arc. ... M is a 1931 German crime film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. ... This article is about Children of Paradise, the film. ...

Laserdisc and DVD

Criterion was a laserdisc pioneer, but was a late entrant into the DVD market, not releasing its first titles on the new format until DVD had been on the market for approximately a year. Indeed, Criterion's early DVD releases of widescreen films were presented in letterbox format as was the case with widescreen laserdisc films, rather than being anamorphically enhanced: Criterion's first anamorphic release was #47, Insomnia, [7] although there would not be another release of an anamorphically enhanced film in a widescreen ratio until #55: The Unbearable Lightness of Being). Anamorphic widescreen is a cinematography and photography technique for capturing a widescreen picture on standard 35mm film. ... Insomnia is the name of two movies – a Norwegian original and an American remake – about a police officer investigating a murder above the Arctic Circle during the summer with the midnight sun. ... The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera. ...

Nonetheless, in 1998, the company discontinued its line of laserdisc releases [8]. While these laserdiscs are no longer available, bonus materials from them, such as commentary tracks, have appeared on DVD releases issued by other companies. For example, Martin Scorsese's commentary track for Raging Bull appears on the MGM special edition DVD. It is suspected that these commentary releases are the result of business transactions between Criterion and other studios that could potentially allow Criterion to release films on DVD to which it otherwise would not have access. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (born November 17, 1942) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America award winning American film director, writer and producer. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

While the Criterion Company pioneered the production of quality home video releases, in recent years, they have received more competition. Distributors such as Warner Home Video and Fox have received considerable acclaim for their recent releases.^{[citation needed]} However, in terms of academic approach, attention to detail and artistic cover art, the Criterion Collection remains unsurpassed. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ...

Pricing

The price range as of 2006 is about US$30 for a one-disc set and US$40 for a two-disc set. The rare discs to break the pricing structure are generally films produced and/or distributed by Disney's Buena Vista Motion Picture Group, including The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Chasing Amy. In 2003, Criterion departed from their usual pricing structure when they released the short film Night and Fog at US$14.95, presumably due to its brief running time.^[1] The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... The Royal Tenenbaums is the 2001 dramatic comedy about three genius siblings who experience great success in youth, and even greater disappointment and failure after their eccentric father leaves them in their adolescent years. ... The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is Wes Andersons fourth feature length film and was released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004. ... Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy about two comic book artists: Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), a heterosexual male, and Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), a lesbian-identified bisexual woman. ... Nacht und Nebel (Night and Fog ) was an incident and edict in Nazi Germany. ...

In 2004, Criterion released a DVD holiday gift set exclusively on Amazon.com, with 282 discs at a cost of about US$5,000.00. It was not a complete set of the Criterion releases at that point, since Criterion no longer had the rights to certain films. It was however, one of the biggest and most expensive DVD products available to consumers. As of January 2007, Criterion had issued over 380 DVD releases. shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Amazon. ...

Since there is significant demand for out-of-print Criterion releases, they are often bootlegged and these bootleg editions are sometimes advertised as "Asian editions".^[2] The Criterion company has urged buyers to "proceed with caution when shopping for out-of-print DVDs," and on its website offers advice on how to spot bootlegs. The company also points out that it has never issued Asian editions. Bootlegs of many out-of-print Criterion editions, particularly the above-mentioned Salò, are often seen on Internet auction sites, while legitimate discs can command prices far in excess of their original retail price.^[3] Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom) is a 1975 film by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade. ...

Lists of Criterion releases

• List of Criterion Collection releases

The Criterion Collection has released or announced the future release of the following films on DVD. The list number corresponds to the spine number of the title, which roughly corresponds to the release order, although this can sometimes vary due to outside factors involving a titles production (for example...

References

• Robert Stein by John Brockman
• "The Teachings of Bob Stein", Wired Magazine, July 1996
• DVD Audio commentary Research Paper
• Peter Becker interview on NPR (2004).

1. ^ [Jason] (2003-06-24). Night and Fog: the Criterion Collection (HTML). DVD Talk. DVD Talk. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
2. ^ Criterion FAQ (HTML). Criterion.com. The Criterion Collection. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
3. ^ Out of Print Criterion DVDs (HTML). Amazon.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

NPR logo For other meanings of NPR see NPR (disambiguation) National Public Radio (NPR) is a private, not-for-profit corporation that sells programming to member radio stations; together they are a loosely organized public radio network in the United States. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Amazon. ... Amazon. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Janus Films
• Masters of Cinema
• First Run Features
• Kino International
• Eclipse (DVD)

Janus Films is a film distribution company. ... Masters of Cinema is a line of classic and contemporary films on DVD and a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kino International is a film and video distributor, based in New York City that specializes in art-house films, such as low-budget current films and classic films from earlier periods in the history of cinema. ... Eclipse is a line of DVDs by the Criterion Collection. ...

External links

• The Criterion Collection official Web site
• The Criterion Collection Resource Site
• Listen to Makers of Criterion DVDs
• On Five - Blog by the Criterion Collection team
• The Criterion Collection at the Internet Movie Database