3 Criterions OOP! (1 Viewer)

[Dana Fillhart]

Wow, talk about a royal pain in the ass to find these, but I managed it today. Had to visit no less than THREE Border's to do it, and paid $25, $26, and $27 for the 3 titles -- the Livingston Border's had no copies, but Wayne's had Mon Oncle and Playtime; had to go to the GSP Mall in Paramus to get Holiday. NO COPIES ARE LEFT at ANY of these 3 stores...looks like I got the last of each! Talk about CLOSE!

 

[Enrique B Chamorro]

If you have all three discs, I would like to
recommend a nice collector's case. See;
Link Removed
I have several of his cases, they are "metal clad".
A metal film over a plastic sheet. Very firm and
very shiny. A nice addition to any collection.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I am having a devil of a time finding the two I need (already had M. Hulot's Holiday). Playtime actually wasn't too bad. Found it on my second call. I've placed around 15 calls and come up short on Mon Oncle. That plus two online orders that have been sitting there for a few days makes me wonder how these disappeared so quickly. Is Criterion pulling them off the market? I realize there's a certain demand when the announcement comes out, but criminy, these suckers have vanished!

 

[Dana Fillhart]

I don't think that's their normal practice, BUT...

Border's computers had a flag by each of those titles which (according to the guy at the info counter) explicitly denoted a recall, so it's possible.

 

[george kaplan]

I'm a bit confused. That's actually a case for 4 Tati films, all criterion, including Traffic. I didn't think Criterion had ever released that one. What's the story?

 

[Jon Robertson]

Recalled? Hmm...

 

[Enrique B Chamorro]

When Paul makes a case he tries to plan ahead.
When he first did the Kurosawa case, he made it
for 2,3,or 4 discs, depending on which movies you
want in the set. I believe he was trying to plan
ahead for the Tati case.
Criterion made 4 Tati laserdiscs;
Jour De Fete, Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle, & Parade.
Traffic was the final Hulot comedy in 1972.
So before the OOP situation, it would have been a
reasonable guess to include Traffic.
I am sure Paul will make a modification if you
request it, he is very accommodating.

 

[Mark-W]

I managed to "score" a copy ("score," since DVDs are
my drug of choice) of Mon Oncle at the
Fry's down the street, as I had remembered seeing it
there...and then Playtime should be coming
from that secondary vendor from www.amazon.com as well
as a second copy of Mon Oncle which I if
all goes well, will offer to someone in here
for the same price I got it for, and if there
are no takers, I'll probably move it off to eBay.
DeepDiscountDVD never did get back to me,
except to say they want an order number, yet it
clearly shows that I got a e-mail noting my order,
but NEVER the second e-mail with gives you an
order number, and something to track... *sigh*
Mark

 

[Richard Waller]

I guess since these are going out of print, we'll never see Traffic. :frowning:

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

My Barnes & Noble online order has now shipped according to the e-mail I received, so it looks like they might be a viable option. I'm looking to cancel the Deep Discount DVD order now that it has finally shown up on my account (both titles show backordered, so I'm probably killing it before they do anyways).

When I talked to many stores yesterday Borders employees did mention that these titles seemed to indicate a recall. I have found it really odd how quickly these titles went from being available to becoming difficult to find. Aside from those trying to gobble up these discs for eBay, I can't imagine the demand would have been so high that they would have become so hard to find, especially within a few days of the OOP announcement. Makes me wonder what's going on with the rights.

 

[george kaplan]

I was always under the impression that there were 4 Hulot films. But I've now read three different sources in the last week that talk about Traffic as his 5th and last Hulot flick. I'm assuming it's an error (although it's odd that multiple sources would make the same error), but is there one I don't know about?

 

[Dana Fillhart]

Traffic is a Steven Soderbergh film, and that is how it is listed on Criterion's website. Link Removed (1971) is Jacques Tati's Hulot film. It is NOT a Criterion release.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

Addendum...

IMDB has the title listed as "Trafic" (1 "f"), but the cover art has 2 f's. Which is correct?

 

[Lew Crippen]

Enrique, I believe Playtime is considered the best (or at least most artistic) of the 3, but it is also the least accessible.

I'd add that seeing Playtime in 70mm is one the Holy Grails of cinephiles.

Since it’s the film that ended Tati's career, not to mention his bank account, it has a certain notoriety that his other films lack. Even so, it is the one, that for me, has the very most interest in repeated viewings. There is always something more to see.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

Not true -- Playtime was '67, Trafic was '71.

 

[SteveGon]

Well, my order for Mon Oncle and Play Time from DVDPlanet fell through, so I made the long drive to my nearest Borders where I managed to score a copy of each. Yay! I also managed to snag a copy of M. Hulot's Holiday from Amazon.
Now I just need to find the time to watch them...

 

[george kaplan]

I think Trafic is the french title, and Traffic the English title.

 

[Enrique B Chamorro]

What is a shame is that Criterion's laserdisc of
Parade could have been an easy planned release,
but with the OOP situation, it is very unlikely.
To all of the people getting Playtime at the last
minute, are they the first pressing or the corrected
second pressing? You can tell from the bottom right
details on the back cover-jacket.
I thought that "Traffik" was the original that
"Traffic" was based on?
Now you are telling me that "Traffic" is "Trafic"?
What next, that Soderbergh is spelled Sondheim??
Just bring in the clowns!

 

[Dana Fillhart]

Enrique, what would I be looking for to know which one I have? And what was the error(s) they corrected?

Thanks!

 

[Ben Motley]

Dana, I'm not sure what the differences are exactly, but I think it had something to do with some of the extra features playing only in 16:9 mode, making people really really short and fat on 4:3 tv.s. This is on the first printing.
Anyway, just make sure the fine print on the back at the bottom says Second printing on it. That's the corrected one.