Criterion Files
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‘Limelight’ and the Exile of Charlie Chaplin
In honor of The Criterion Collection’s special edition Blu-ray of ‘Limelight,’ we look back at the 1952 film and how its initial release coincided with Chaplin’s banishment from America.
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Dissecting the Incredible Opening Scene of Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’
The opening sequence of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is a masterclass in film editing. Effortlessly maneuvering between siblings playing outside a rural English estate…
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The Prototype For Alfred Hitchcock’s American Movies
After directing more than twenty feature films in Britain, Alfred Hitchcock’s big introduction to Hollywood came in the form of two films released only four…
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13 Important Lessons This Year’s Movies Can Learn From the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is an ever-expanding accumulation of canonical works of cinema. Yet Criterion’s selections don’t only represent deliberate attempts to construct a pristine archive…
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John Frankenheimer’s ‘Seconds’: The Loneliest Studio Film of the 1960s
It’s difficult to imagine what it must have been like to see Seconds in 1966. The third entry in John Frankenheimer’s unofficial “paranoia trilogy” (the other…
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Comparing The Indie Movies of Summer 2013 to Criterion Favorites
There are many reasons to compare and contrast current films with historical ones. One is to attempt to explain why some films have been spotlighted…
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Savoring ‘Babette’s Feast’ on Criterion as Cuisine for Your Eyes
I had a roommate in college who, every day like clockwork, ate dry toast for lunch while watching The Food Network. While he never explained…
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This Week’s Criterion Releases: ‘Safety Last!’ and ‘Marketa Lazarová’ Define Discovery
At the risk of generalization, The Criterion Collection is probably best known for packaging two types of films: celebrated canonical works that deserve pristine treatment;…
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The Spirit of ’68 in the Criterion Collection: ‘Medium Cool’ and 11 Other Films About Revolution
Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool is a film whose immediacy and docu-realism was all too fitting for an America that could, for the first time, see…