Criterion will kick off the New Year with a wide variety of titles from all over the world, running the gamut from slapstick to suspense to intimate drama, all in Blu-ray and DVD dual editions. First there’s Stanley Kramer’s mega-madcap movie “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” in a jam-packed edition, featuring a newly reconstructed 197-minute extended cut of the film. Then, Criterion will offer two quintessential heist thrillers: Jules Dassin’s influential Paris caper “Rififi,” and “Thief,” the neo-noir that kicked off the career of action director Michael Mann. Plus, there’s Terence Davies’ aching masterpiece “The Long Day Closes,” and Aki Kaurismaki’s elegant, charming depiction of bohemian Paris life “La Vie de Boheme” — neither film has previously been available on DVD or Blu-ray in the U.S. And finally there’s Akira Kurosawa’s bold and bloody Macbeth iteration, “Throne of Blood” — surely one of cinema’s great Shakespeare adaptations. And add in a three-DVD box set celebrating the later films of Indian director Satyajit Ray, on Criterion’s Eclipse label.
Jan. 7: Eclipse Series 40: Late Satyajit Ray
Jan. 7: Throne of Blood
Jan. 14: Rififi
Jan. 14: Thief
Jan. 21: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Jan. 21: La Vie de Boheme
Jan. 28: The Long Day Closes
