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Amazon.com's Price: $850.00 as of 11/23/2009 12:35 EST details
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0715515021227
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Label: Criterion
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageFrenchOriginal LanguageRussianOriginal Language
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 50
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 24, 2006
Running Time: 5347 minutes
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: February 16, 1955
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films is a 50-disc celebration of international films collected under the auspices of the groundbreaking theatrical distributor. Packaged in a heavy slipcase set (remember, lift with your legs, not your back), one volume contains the DVDs in sturdy cardboard pages; the other volume is a hardback book with introductory essays and essays about each of the films. Janus Films is the precursor to the Criterion Collection, and this set is far and away the most beautiful art object the company has ever created. The substantial and subdued packaging is meant to stand the test of time, as are the films immortalized within. From The Seventh Seal to Jules and Jim to M and Pygmalion and The 39 Steps, this exquisite set is the art house DVD release of 2006, if not the decade.
The 200-page book provides context for the films and is worth reading in its own right. Martin Scorcese offers a brief and celebratory introduction, reminiscing about the thrill of seeing the antiquated Janus Films logo when attending a movie in one of New York City's art house theaters. Film historian Peter Cowie's essay about the history of art house cinema in America casts light on how films by directors like Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman first found American audiences. These days it's easy to take for granted our access to films from around the globe, but in the early 20th century it was only due to the efforts of a passionate few that these great films found theatrical life in the United States. Many of these films, particularly those from Europe, boasted more liberal attitudes about such things as sex and war, facing the threat of censorship and hostility from Hollywood-fed audiences who weren't accustomed to considering films as works of art. Janus Films evolved as a way to bridge these cultural gaps, introducing Americans to foreign sensibilities and big-screen stories that transcended language.
What DVDs Are Included?
The DVDs presented represent the cream of the crop of the Janus Films catalog, and the best of the Criterion Collection's bar-setting technical sophistication. Six of the films are being debuted on DVD on the occasion of the set's release, though they may be released separately later. These include Fires on the Plain, The Fallen Idol, Pandora's Box, Le Jour Se Leve, Miss Julie, and Three Documentaries by Saul J. Turell. Fans of copious extra features should take note--the discs contain only the films themselves. Those wishing to dig into the two bonus discs of material offered with Criterion's latest release of Seven Samurai, say, won't find that opportunity here. As for the selection of films, cinephiles may get into arguments about what's included and what's not, but any film school student would be far ahead of the game by devouring these fifty films. The treasures are listed below. --Ryan Boudinot
ALEXANDER NEVSKY (1938)
ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958)
L'AVVENTURA (1960)
BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (1959)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946)
BLACK ORPHEUS (1959)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)
THE FALLEN IDOL (1948)
FIRES ON THE PLAIN (1959)
FISTS IN THE POCKET (1965)
FLOATING WEEDS (1959)
FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952)
THE 400 BLOWS (1959)
GRAND ILLUSION (1937)
HÄXAN (1922)
IKIRU (1952)
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1952)
IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II (1958)
LE JOUR SE LÈVE (1939)
JULES AND JIM (1962)
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949)
KNIFE IN THE WATER (1962)
THE LADY VANISHES (1938)
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943)
LOVES OF A BLONDE (1965)
M (1931)
M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (1953)
MISS JULIE (1951)
PANDORA'S BOX (1929)
PÉPÉ LE MOKO (1937)
IL POSTO (1961)
PYGMALION (1938)
RASHOMON (1950) RICHARD III (1955)
THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)
SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)
THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (1973)
LA STRADA (1954)
SUMMERTIME (1955)
THE THIRD MAN (1949)
THE 39 STEPS (1935)
UGETSU (1953)
UMBERTO D. (1952)
THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960)
VIRIDIANA (1961)
THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953)
THE WHITE SHEIK (1952)
WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957)
THREE DOCUMENTARIES BY SAUL J. TURELL
Amazon.com:
50 Years, 50 Films
One Spectacular DVD Box Set Janus Films opened American viewers' eyes to the pleasures of Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, and François Truffaut at the height of their artistic powers. Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this world-renowned distribution company with Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films, an expansive collectors' box set featuring fifty classic films on DVD and a lavishly illustrated hardcover book that tells the story of Janus Films through an essay by film historian Peter Cowie, a tribute from Martin Scorsese, and notes on each of the fifty films.
• Eight Academy Awards
• Twenty-eight Academy Award nominations
• Two Palme d'or awards
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Not a review as much as a warning, you can buy this set new on the official website for Janus Films for $650.00.
Rating: -
Until Janus/Criterion come out with an equivalent, this one will stand as the gold standard for all movie collections.
One may quibble over what's included and not included, but I have a feeeling that this Collection is not the last for Janus. And even if it is, it stands on it's own as a survey of the film art. In format and presentation, I don't think they could improve. The box contains a heavy bound volume with the DVDs, each one distinctively labeled. There are no disk bonus ... Read More
Rating: -
This is one of the more tempting megasets available, as it offers a superlative selection of films in a handsomely bound book. Most if it not all of these films have been remastered, with lost footage restored. You get such a remarkable cross section of world cinema from classic Weimar films such as Pandora's Box to French new wave in Truffaut to Fellini's classic La Strada. You also get essential early Soviet films in Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. Not to mention Cocteau, Hitchcock and ... Read More
Rating:  -
The collection came after it was five weeks late & I called to find out what happened. The seller then overnight shipped the collection which did make it before the holidays so I could give it as a present. My wife loves the collection.
Rating:  -
Well, I finally got through this monster of a box set four months after buying it. I was already familiar with a couple of the films but hadn't even heard of many of the others since most were made in the generation preceding mine. One can argue over what could have been included and what could have been omitted, but remember that this is a collection put together from its stable of films by the company that distributed them and is not intended to be someone's idea of the fifty "best ever". At any rate, ... Read More
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