I know WHAT the cover was taken from, but like most Criterion fans, I just don't know WHY.
(Hence the citing of the "Pretentious nut" who does their covers, except for that relatively cool Godzilla-book one.)
Every disk cover is copyrighted by its designer, so each one has to be legally...
Possibly...But Criterion makes a career out of crazy non-intuitive covers (never mind the Great Dictator cover, what pretentious nut designed the David Cronenberg "The Brood" cover??), so this is nothing new.
Still, isn't it nice to have all the out-of-copyright MGM, UA, Orion and Paramount...