Criterion Collection

[Randall]

Good grief, yes. I don't know if I need Fellini, but it's yet another big box set to consider. But I think my wish list is already full for November. I am still getting caught up, and Bruce ate up a lot of budget this time around.

Ben and I placed our order at Canada's Unobstructed View. Just 40% off, but free shipping for me and no duty. I grabbed the Lee box, of course. I got Showboat on a preorder sale earlier. War of the Worlds was my most exciting pick, though it's on backorder along with Leave Her to Heaven. I also got Dance, Girl, Dance, for the early Lucille Ball appearance.

[Ben]

Just for the record...

Bruce Lee
The Graduate (finally...its a long story)
The Lady Eve
Fail Safe
The Cameraman
The Great Escape
The Grand Budapest Hotel (from Rand's previous Show Boat-acquiring sale)
In The Heat Of The Night
War Of The Worlds

Fellini? Hmmm...kind of glad I didn’t pick up 8 1/2 now, but wonder if I need another big set like that. I don’t have the Bergman yet either, but have been catching the occasional film and can’t say that they’re repeaters that I feel I need on disc or would gather pals around for a movie night and say "hey, you gotta watch this!"

But Fellini makes a good movie, mostly. Whether I need them is another matter, especially with Covid looming on the finances and, again, a lack of true repeaters in there. Eager to see the contents though... Here we go again!

[Dan]

Essential Fellini is 15 discs and contains the following:

Variety Lights (Previously out of print, First time on Blu ray)
The White Sheik (Previously out of print, First time on Blu ray)
I vitelloni (First time on Blu ray)
La strada (Became unavailable recently, First time on Blu ray)
Il bidone (New to Criterion Collection)
Nights of Cabiria (Previously out of print, First time on Blu ray)
La dolce vita
8 1/2
Juliet of the Spirits (First time on Blu ray)
Fellini Satyricon
Roma
Amarcord
And the Ship Sails On (First time on Blu ray)
Intervista (New to Criterion Collection)

Special Features:

• New 4K restorations of 11 theatrical features, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks for all films

• New digital restorations of the short film Toby Dammit (1968) and the television film Fellini: A Director’s Notebook (1969), with uncompressed monaural soundtracks

• Feature documentaries Fellini: I’m a Born Liar (2002) and Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember (1997), the latter presented in its 193-minute version

• Two-hour, four-part 1960 interview with director Federico Fellini by filmmaker André Delvaux for Belgian television

• Four behind-the-scenes documentaries: Reporter’s Diary: “Zoom on Fellini” (1965), Ciao, Federico! (1969), The Secret Diary of “Amarcord” (1974), and Fellini racconta: On the Set of “And the Ship Sails On” (1983)

• Fellini racconta: Passegiatte nella memoria, a 2000 documentary featuring interviews with a late-in-life Fellini

• Giulietta Masina: The Power of a Smile, a 2004 documentary about Fellini’s wife and frequent collaborator

• Once Upon a Time: “La dolce vita,” a French television documentary about the film

• Audio commentaries on six of the films

• Program from 2003 on Fellini's 1980s television advertising work

• Archival interviews with Fellini stars and collaborators, including Mastroianni, Sandra Milo, Anouk Aimée, and Magali Noël

• Archival audio interviews by film critic Gideon Bachmann with Fellini, Mastroianni, and Fellini's friends and family

• Video essays, trailers, and more

• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of content: notes on the films by scholar David Forgacs, essays by filmmakers Michael Almereyda, Kogonada, and Carol Morley; film critics Bilge Ebiri and Stephanie Zacharek; and novelist Colm Tóibín, and dozens of images spotlighting Don Young’s renowned collection of Fellini memorabilia

Auto-buy for me. I only ever got Amarcord and 8 1/2 on blu and was lucky to nab White Sheik when I had the chance, so it's not much of a double-dip. But I'm actually surprised just now many Fellini films ever made it to blu.

[Randall]

I'm sure they're great films, but not really of my interests, especially with so many other discs still unwatched in my collection. I might check out one or two on the Channel when I can.

[Ben]

Of course this being a stacked release of an important filmmaker makes it a "must", but I’m with Rand and wonder just how *much* of a must it is. Like Rand, and probably most of us, I have so many discs sitting unwatched, and to be frank, much higher in my priorities for enjoyment and getting to earlier than some, and apart from the three or four Fellinis that I have seen (The White Sheik long ago, La strada, La dolce vita, 8 1/2), I must say that 8 1/2 aside, I usually find them a little bit of a slog to get through if I’m not in the right mood.

I may just stick with the singles for Vita and 8 1/2, though just as a set this is tempting, if only to see the other films and learn a lot more about the man. But *when* will it all be watched!??!!?