Complete Criterion Collection (1 Viewer)

[Moe Dickstein]

I realized that I need something to collect, and decided that I've always had it in the back of my mind to complete a total Criterion Collection.
I'm talking every spine number, Laserdisc, DVD and Blu.
Has anyone else done this? I figure someone must have done it from the beginning and kept up with it, but I've given myself until I hit 40 to do it, that's 7.5 years...
I have about 10% of the LD collection and about 5% of the DVD/BD collection, so not nothing, but still quite a long way to go.
Thought it would be good to slo start a thread to track progress and talk with other obsessives...

 

[bujaki]

Collecting Criterion releases is one of my obsessions. I do have a considerable number of LDs, but can't honestly give you a number.
As far as DVDs are concerned, I have every single spine number, including The Seven Samurai issue which had to be recalled due to legal reasons, and its replacement as well. (They both share the same UPC, but it is in a different location.)
I also collected all the reissued DVDs before Criterion switched to BD. Then I began collecting all the BD reissues as well as the new releases. But no, I will not collect new releases in both formats, just BD.
By the way, I also have every single Eclipse release.
As of this morning, both my Criterion and my Eclipse collections are complete.

 

[David Norman]

Well, I started my LD Criterion in 1989 so I have a few years on you (if you 33 I've got a whole lot of years on that end too), but I think I have 180 maybe 200, it's been awhile since I counted and haven't really been trying much over the last 7-8 years. Admittedly the majority of those were picked up b/w after 2000-2004 when people were offloading them relatively cheaply compared to list price back in the heyday. Then I got into the whole 1st/2nd/3rd pressings (and CLV/CAV versions) that were unique and got lost in the details.
I skipped the DVD Criterions for some reason and only have about 10 or 12, but my Bluray collection is pretty much complete thanks to the BN sales (well technically I've not picked up today's releases yet). I think I've spend well under 1/3 (maybe 1/5) for the entire Bluray compared to my LD's.
FWIW I do have a complete US DTS LD set (including Ransom and the Demo disc that was only released in Japan), plus a few of the Japanese duplicates though I gave up trying to pick up the last Japanese duplicates since they are pretty much identical except for the better import jackets..

 

[Moe Dickstein]

As of this morning, both my Criterion and my Eclipse collections are complete.

That's awesome! I definitely include Eclipse in my plans as they are numbered. The only non-numbered ones I am getting are the Criterion Television releases on LD, but that's because I already have 4 of the 5 (I Love Lucy and 3xTanner '88, just missing Addams Family)
I've been thinking about the grey area of the Blu reissues and reissues in general, as well as CAV/CLV versions on LD.
I'm not sure about the Seven Samurai situation - did they keep the same spine # when they re-issued? Its a similar situation with the Bond CAV LDs with commentary that were pulled and the Prince of Tides first version that wasn't officially isssued but copies are out there.
I've decided that you have to have rules about what you collect so you know when you're done so this is what I came up with
on the LD collection, I will have to get every unique spine number. So for example, that will mean finding multiple Citizen Kanes (the original spine #1, and the 50th anniversary which was a totally new spine #, unlike now when they recycle spines for reissues) This also includes "A" releases which were CLV versions of CAV titles (i.e. 45 and 45A)
For DVD/BD, I am, like you, not going to duplicate the same release in both formats, but I want to get all different releases when it comes to artwork and versions. For example, The Lady Vanishes, I would get the original Spine #3 DVD, but then for the re-issue I would just get the BD, not that and the DVD reissue of spine 3, so 2 boxes not 3.
I think the reason I went this way is to have a complete set of the spines from each design era of the collection. DVD era has three versions, Mark I, which copied over the design look of the LD titles and ran through (I believe) spine 46. Mark II was the thin line design and first DVD unique look, which I believe began with Insomnia, spine 47 (also the first 16:9 release). Then Mark III is the current angled "c" logo look.
I have them all in spine order now, but I will be happier when I can have the Mark I series in a row, then the Mark II DVDs in a row, then the Mark III series BD reissues and DVDs together.
There were also 3 series of design on the LD titles, the silver original design, then the top variable colored banners that didn't reach the edges, then finally the edge to edge black banners (which were carried into the early DVD titles)
It's fun to be crazy right?

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Well, I started my LD Criterion in 1989 so I have a few years on you (if you 33 I've got a whole lot of years on that end too), but I think I have 180 maybe 200, it's been awhile since I counted and haven't really been trying much over the last 7-8 years. Admittedly the majority of those were picked up b/w after 2000-2004 when people were offloading them relatively cheaply compared to list price back in the heyday. Then I got into the whole 1st/2nd/3rd pressings (and CLV/CAV versions) that were unique and got lost in the details.

Criterion CAV Ghostbusters (45) was the very first LD I ever got when I got a player in 95. Soon after got the It's A Wonderful Life CAV (Spine 18) which is still my lowest number, and still has a fantastic commentary you can't get elsewhere.
I am hoping that I can build the LD set without massive expense, for those same reasons, that people don't hold on to them, and they certainly aren't $50+ each anymore. I just got the Sex Lies and Videotape CAV set for $4 at Amoeba in LA where everything is terribly overpriced.
Even things like the Salo disc that at one time were hundreds are likely to be had for relatively cheap. I hope.
I think there are a good deal of skipped numbers in the LD set. The last spine is #389 Armageddon but there aren't that many releases, more like 340 or so, so you are well over halfway there if it's still a goal. This page is helpful in beginning to research, and I'm going to do a complete count soon so I know what I'm looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Criterion_Collection_Laserdisc_releases
What is the story with multiple pressings? I know I'm planning to do both CLV and CAVs, but I think I'd draw the lines at multiple pressings of the same spine numbers. Maybe that's a goal for the next 10 years after the collection is complete. This is as much of a baseball card/coins/stamps type collection for me as it is to have the movies, but like I'm not getting Citizen Kane to watch, I'm getting it for the box. I'll watch the Warner's Blu disc when it's time to look at the actual movie.

 

[bujaki]

Criterion kept the same spine # for the Seven Samurai original issues. The difference lies in a featurette comparing Toho footage before and after being cleaned up by Criterion. Toho was not amused (so I've heard) because it made them look like they did not care about their assets. So Criterion had to pull the first issue, reissued it without the offending special "restoration" featurette, kept the same spine number (#2), and changed the location of the UPC on the back. They still identified both versions as "First Printing."
These are my rules I have followed regarding my collection of Criterion DVDs and BDs: First, I bought all the original DVD issues. Then I acquired titles as they were re-released in "upgraded" DVD editions. For example: Seven Samurai, M, Amarcord, Beauty and the Beast, Wages of Fear etc. Last, when these and other titles were released in BD format, I bought them as well. I will only buy BDs of the new releases.
Have I watched them all? No.
Fortunately, I'm old enough to have seen a great many of these titles on a big screen during the heyday of repertory cinema in New York (the '70s and the '80s).
Have some titles been blind buys? Yes, but I'm a collector.
I love the Barnes & Noble sales. At 50% off they are, at least, less damaging to my pocket.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Thanks for the info, I'm looking forward to learning more of the history of the releases like that. Must feel good to be able to look at those shelves and know it's all there.

 

[David Norman]

What is the story with multiple pressings? I know I'm planning to do both CLV and CAVs, but I think I'd draw the lines at multiple pressings of the same spine numbers. Maybe that's a goal for the next 10 years after the collection is complete. This is as much of a baseball card/coins/stamps type collection for me as it is to have the movies, but like I'm not getting Citizen Kane to watch, I'm getting it for the box. I'll watch the Warner's Blu disc when it's time to look at the actual movie.

I'm pretty sure my first 2 Criterions were the Close Encounters and Blade Runner big boxsets.
I also got the long OOP Bond CAV sets relatively cheaply possibly from Robert George (Obiwan) way back when Compuserve HT Forum was the King of the forums. This was well before the
days when the current WWW existed and the internet we know these days was mostly USENET Bulletin Boards. I think there are a few of use still around from that forum -- I know the late Dr Fowkes
was prominent there and I'm fairly sure some the Forum names crossed over (interesting that we all used names back then rather than pseudonyms and that one of the requirements of this HTF
in the early days was to use a real name instead of a handle -- much harder to do the Internet Name Calling when you think you are addressing a real person I think).
Some of the skipped numbers if I remember happened when there was a CAV and CLV set they would number those as 68/68A and the next set might be 70. I can't temember if some of CLV that weren't printed intially got different spine numbers down the line.
Multiple pressings came about for a few reasons -- sometimes a slight correction in the material, sometimes just a container change, sometimes the intial runs would sell out and Criterion would
fund another round of discs. I think the King Kong and Citizen Kane CAV sets came initially in grey boxes and at least a couple different sized and later changed to a Black box. I know I have the Citizen Kane #1 in both grey and black and #2 King Kong in a grey box.

 

[David Norman]

I'm pretty sure my first 2 Criterions were the Close Encounters and Blade Runner big boxsets.
I also got the long OOP Bond CAV sets relatively cheaply possibly from Robert George (Obiwan) way back when Compuserve HT Forum was the King of the forums. This was well before the
days when the current WWW existed and the internet we know these days was mostly USENET Bulletin Boards. I think there are a few of use still around from that forum -- I know the late Dr Fowkes
was prominent there and I'm fairly sure some the Forum names crossed over (interesting that we all used names back then rather than pseudonyms and that one of the requirements of this HTF
in the early days was to use a real name instead of a handle -- much harder to do the Internet Name Calling when you think you are addressing a real person I think).
Some of the skipped numbers if I remember happened when there was a CAV and CLV set they would number those as 68/68A and the next set might be 70. I can't temember if some of CLV that weren't printed intially got different spine numbers down the line -- I know the CAV and CLV versions of Robocop have different numbers.
Multiple pressings came about for a few reasons -- sometimes a slight correction in the material, sometimes just a container change, sometimes the intial runs would sell out and Criterion would
fund another round of discs. I think the King Kong and Citizen Kane CAV sets came initially in grey boxes and at least a couple different sized and later changed to a Black box. I know I have the Citizen Kane #1 in both grey and black and #2 King Kong in a grey box.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I think there are a few of use still around from that forum -- I know the late Dr Fowkes
was prominent there.
Some of the skipped numbers if I remember happened when there was a CAV and CLV set they would number those as 68/68A and the next set might be 70. I can't temember if some of CLV that weren't printed intially got different spine numbers down the line.
Multiple pressings came about for a few reasons -- sometimes a slight correction in the material, sometimes just a container change, sometimes the intial runs would sell out and Criterion would
fund another round of discs. I think the King Kong and Citizen Kane CAV sets came initially in grey boxes and at least a couple different sized and later changed to a Black box. I know I have the Citizen Kane #1 in both grey and black and #2 King Kong in a grey box.

I'm honored to have placed one of Dr. Fowkes LDs (1776) in the collection of the film's director.
Later CLV versions did get different numbers, Brazil is an example, so that was just a policy shift at some point. Maybe it was when a CLV version came out much later, not sure when that was the case.
That I didn't know and is very interesting, that grey design and then black design were different pressings with the same number. Under my own rules, I would collect those both then, because I want to have each art design for each item. I know I remember seeing Ambersons in grey at one point. I wonder how high they went before introducing the first narrow banner design?

 

[David Norman]

You can look at a lot of cover scans at LDDB.com in the Criterion section. Quite a few of those scans were mine at one point in time. It can get confusion trying to find spine number
and pressing information, but that site probably is the most complete source of information avaiable to LD people. Julien Wilk did a tremendous job getting that site up and running a
decade ago and has been pretty diligent at keeping it going and as up to date as possible.
LD Special Collections

 

[Moe Dickstein]

LD Special Collections

There goes my evening...

 

[David Norman]

There goes my evening...

In the immortal words of Jeremy Irons -- You have no idea!
At some point jump over the forums and read some of the Criterion section. I lot of real collectors there who are far more into than I ever was.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Haha. Reversal of Fortune is one of my all time favorite movies. Too bad it's not in the Collection.
It's time for lunch here, so perhaps I'd better get my own individual order of ginger prawns...
The Criterion section at the HTF (Didn't know there was one)? or on the LD site you linked?

 

[David Norman]

Haha. Reversal of Fortune is one of my all time favorite movies. Too bad it's not in the Collection.
It's time for lunch here, so perhaps I'd better get my own individual order of ginger prawns...
The Criterion section at the HTF (Didn't know there was one)? or on the LD site you linked?

I was talking about the Criterion Subsection of the LDDB Forum. You should be able to find out a lot about some of the alternate covers available on various pressings.

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

I have about 10% of the LD collection and about 5% of the DVD/BD collection, so not nothing, but still quite a long way to go.

If you are starting just now it may be quite an expensive proposition to find the numerous DVDs and BDs that have gone OOP over the years and sell for crazy prices. I have been collecting Criterions since the early days of DVD (was never into LDs though) and I have at least 50% of all the DVDs and BDs released so far but my goal has never been to have a complete collection. In any case good luck with your quest !
-D

 

[Moe Dickstein]

If you are starting just now it may be quite an expensive proposition to find the numerous DVDs and BDs that have gone OOP over the years and sell for crazy prices. I have been collecting Criterions since the early days of DVD (was never into LDs though) and I have at least 50% of all the DVDs and BDs released so far but my goal has never been to have a complete collection. In any case good luck with your quest !
-D

The good thing about being single with no kids is that I can blow my fun money on things like this

 

[David Norman]

Almost 6 days and no word -- think we need to send out a rescue party.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Haha, no updates. After taking advantage of the BN sale I have to be good for a little while. My next step is going to be to make lists to keep on the iPad and hit local used stores and see what deals are to be had

 

[David Norman]

Glad to see you didn't get lost in the database