I managed to find The Third Man not so long ago.
I also know there are a number of places selling rip-off Criterion-type DVDs, but most of the films they sell are big-budget Hollywood junk of yore. Does anyone know where I may find a store specializing in the sale of older films, preferably the real Criterion Collection.
And I’m not looking for movies like Cleopatra or Ben Hur, I’m more after noir, silent, French, Bergman, Japanese, etc.
You know.
Here’s the CC: criterionco.com/asp/browse.asp
Dreaming…
Um, I did see a set of Kurosawa films in this tiny little bookshop near Raoher Night Market on Bateh recently. $99 for the likes of Yojimbo, Seven Samurai. I meant to pick it up.
Sometimes you luck out.
Also, the best sets are the classic collections from Costco for $319, of ten dvds.
But nowadays, just download all that stuff, burn a dvd, and you’re good to go. Doesn’t the same copyright law where somethings over fifty years old apply to films as well as books? Noir is from the 40s. The best films I’ve seen lately are nearly 60 years old. Hard to believe.
–alleycat–
actually, there are couple classic foreign flicks floatiing around out there.
The titles I have personally seen and/or purchased are:
the rules of the game - jean renoir
wild stawberries - ingmar bergman
jules et jim - francois truffaut
there are few others whose titles I did not recognize but these are the more recognizable “classics”. As for the criterion, yeah, I haven’t seen any but who knows.
If you run into some good titles do post to let us know where you found them. I’d be interested in digging up some classics meself. good luck
On a side note, one “classic” I personally recommend is Ikiru by Kurosawa. One of my favorite movies of all time. B/W in 53. Blows me away everytime.
There are more than a few Kurosawa box sets floating around. The only problem with them is that not all the movies in the set are equipped with English subtitles.
–fredricka–
FYI, I believe the USA updated the copyright law not too long ago and extended the period of copyright to something like 75 years. But in this day and age, does anybody care?
and of course, there’s citizen kane floating out there in the abyss.
The best selection of the cheapo Taiwan DVDs seems to be in the two stores (one with CDs and DVDs, the other with DVDs only) just a store away from each other in the area southwest of Guanghua Shangchang. And the store further to the south has some good things as well. Don’t forget to try to bargain if you buy a lot of titles.
The two-disc version of Singing in the Rain that’s available in local stores is wonderful. A beautiful print.
As for the Criterion Collection discs, with their wonderful quality and attention to detail, I haven’t seen 'em here. Fnac or Tower would be the first places I’d check. For that sort of thing, mail order is usually necessary. The Deep Discount DVD Web site offers good prices (though expensive, compared to what we’re used to in Taiwan) and relatively inexpensive shipping:
Order Total --> shipping
$0 - $25 --> $5.95
$25.01 - $50.00 --> $8.95
$50.01 - $100.00 --> $11.95
Over $100 --> $14.95
I ordered my copy of Bergman’s version of The Magic Flute through them. They have a fairly good selection of other Criterion Collection issues as well.
Lots of interesting points here.
Firstly, of the old classics that aren’t in English (the Eurpoean ones at least), I don’t thinkt hey have subtitles. I saw some Bergman films and some French films, but I think they don’t have English subs.
You can get a lot of Kurosawa movies, but only some have subs. Someone mentioned ‘Ikuru’ which is indeed a wonderful movie (American Beauty reminded me of it a little (thematically at least)). Does that have subs then? Maybe we can start a list. All I can say is that ‘Stray Dog’ doesn’t have subtitles, but ‘Seven Samurai’ does.
The budget DVDs are worth checkingout. Tehy’re often 99NT each or something like 500NT for 7 from the downstairs part fo the computer market. You can also get them from CD stores, and rental video chains. As Alleycat said, a lot of this is old Hollywood rubbish, but there are some great movies in there. You can get a lot of Hitchcock’s stuff (‘Rope’ was excellent), I also liked Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’, ‘High Noon’, ‘The Wild Bunch’, ‘Casablanca’, ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ and a few more I can’t remember off hand.
Kieslowski’s ‘Dekalogue’ series all have subs for those who liek a bit of Euro arthouse.
I got Takeshi Kitano’s ‘Hanabi’ with Subs for 100-200NT from that yellow rental chain ‘Ya-something’.
If anyone finds out where you can get some mroe good stuff, or that some French classic had subs afterall, please let us know the details.
Brian
If anyone’s interested in Ang Lee’s earlier stuff i just saw some of his early films (Pushing Hands, Eat Drink Man Woman, The Wedding Banquet) on DVD for NT$139. Small bookshop a couple of shops north of the Eslite on Hsin-Sheng South road (near Roosevelt).
FYI
SDB-- Ikiru - the white box collection version indeed has English subtitles - and is IMHO much better (and far more subtle and less shmarmy-if you know what I mean) than american beauty.
as for the others:
the renoir film is grand illusion – not rules of the game – and it does have english subtitles.
also wild strawberries has english subtitles.
i havent picked up jules et jim so I can’t confirm that it has them but they are put out by the same company as the other two above so I imagine that they should (but don’t hold me to it).
as well other films of note to check out with subs–
the celebration – thomas vinteberg (dogme 95)
lars von trier’s kingdom II and idiots. If anyone finds breaking the waves — please POST!
many zhang yimou flicks out there too. The one that is a bit hard to find is shanghai triad. If anyone knows where this one is floating around…
[ btw – HAPPY TIMES is in the theatres right now but will be pulled shortly. GO see this movie! It is a great flick that is sadly neglected! This is vintage Pre-HERO zhang yimou that is similar to NOT ONE LESS (which is great too!)]
and last but not least, for the bogie fans out there, “treasure of the sierra madre” is out on the cheapie racks. [“Badgers?? Badgers?? I don’t need no stinkin’ badgers!!”]
Thanks all for your contributions.
Ghetto you wrote [quote]the renoir film is grand illusion – not rules of the game – and it does have English subtitles.
also wild strawberries has English subtitles.
i havent picked up jules et jim so I can’t confirm that it has them but they are put out by the same company as the other two above so I imagine that they should (but don’t hold me to it).
as well other films of note to check out with subs–
the celebration – thomas vinteberg (dogme 95)
lars von trier’s kingdom II and idiots. If anyone finds breaking the waves — please POST! [/quote]
Where would I find these?
I am especially interested in FESTEN.
—mr. alleycat—
I don’t see FESTEN around very often anymore but I think there’s still a copy at the DVD shop near guang hua computer market. Its on the west side going north from the hsinsheng MRT. I thought the movie was good the first time. Then I saw it again…
as for the other flicks, you have to dig around the guang hua basement. I recommend doing a little “bai bai” before you go, as the hell of guang hua has no equal.
do tell us what you find.
–for any interested parties out there–
i’m doing a hard target search for john cassavetes’ DVDs. Anyone with information leading to their whereabouts in the Taiwan area will be justly rewarded.
Hey there
I found loads of German DVDs and a couple of other award-winning European movies including “Idioten” and “Elling” for 199NT in the CD shop right next to Kungkuan MRT yesterday. Supposedly, they have English subtitles. I’d seen most of them on VCD before, all around Kungkuan. But last night was the first time I actually saw them on DVD. Places I usually check out around Kungkuan are: the new green supermarket on Roosevelt opposite of Taipower building, the CD store on the corner Roosevelt/Hsinsheng, the new 69NT store a few stores down towards Hsingsheng/Hsinhai, the 69 NT store on the corner of Hsinsheng/Hsinhai, the big CD shop right next to Kungkuan MRT and the two smaller CD shops on Roosevelt walking towards Keelong Road. Guess where my money goes 
Unfortunately, they had neither “Festen” nor “Breaking the Waves”. If anyone finds these on DVD, I’d like a copy, too!
I have Shanghai Triad, bought it cheaply somewhere (but don’t ask me where I found it, I really don’t remember). Btw, the 69 NT stores carry quite a selection of Chinese movies at the moment, including all the aforementioned Ang Lee classics.
If anyone is in for “Happy Times”, I’d love some company (Rascal wouldn’t want to see this one, I’d guess). However, “Not one less” was a bit boring IMHO. I liked “The Road home” better, or the old ones, of course.
Iris
I got The Hot Chick the other night. It has English, Chinese and Spanish subtitles available.
For Criterion titles, Amazon ships to Taiwan. Regarding Charlie Chaplin cheapies, here I have tried two DVDs containing his 12 Mutual shorts (imo his masterpiece) at NT$120-150 each and found them to be reasonably good copies of David Shepard’s excellent transfer, done for KINO VIDEO and laserdiscs–worth the money I think. Glad I bought the Buster Keaton set while still in the US, as I don’t think these will appear in any local versions any time soon. No Harold Lloyd on DVD anywehre! 
I just bought “The Mouse That Roared” in Guanghua.
The only “Treasures of the Sierra Madre” DVD I found here–of the 69NT sort–is godawful insofar as it has fixed Japanese subtitles, being a direct dupe from Japanese laserdiscs.
Speaking of Kurosawa, I can’t seem to find any Ozu on DVD here, good or bad…the few on VCDs are not worth the plastic they are made of, as the one I tried, Floating Weeds, has the bottom of the picture cut out to make room for the Chinese subtitle, yuck!!
[quote=“f_hou”]The only “Treasures of the Sierra Madre” DVD I found here–of the 69NT sort–is godawful insofar as it has fixed Japanese subtitles, being a direct dupe from Japanese laserdiscs.
!![/quote]
I’m telling you, Costco has “Treasure of Sierra Madre” on one of their classics collections for $319. I now own five of those sets, equalling a total of fifty classic dvds. EXCELLENT QUALITY!
Some of the more obscure, and interesting dvds in the collections:
The Hustler (great music)
Black Narcissus
The Searchers
The Big Sleep
The Red Shoes
Letter the Three Wives
Pygmalian
Then there’s
Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window, Rope, Suspicion, Lifeboat, Strangers on a Train etc etc–Hitchcock. Yes, the man who left an imprint to judge all thrillers ever since.
Need I say more? Get thee to a Costco. They’ve had plenty in stock for at least a year now.
–iris–
good of you to post your DVD stomping grounds in the Kungkuan area. I’ll definitely have to swing by that area more often.
[besides, there’s a great restaurant called cinema paradiso around those parts. A movie-lover’s haven. I think perhaps you might enjoy the ambiance]
As for Happy Times, you better get to it soon. They’re pulling it out of the theatres any day now.
the Road Home vs. Not One Less: TRH in my mind a gushy sentimental TITANIC. NOL - less sentimental, more realistic (like bicycle thieves) and hits a little harder (though I understand why you might say it was a bit boring)
–f_hou–
stay away from the VCDS! I know it may be tempting to buy OZU on VCD just because there are no Ozu DVDs out there but do you really want to subject yourself to VCD quality?
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, like the other old ‘classics’, are a grab bag. The one I got has an orange cover and it is OK. Nothing special mind you but it does have the necessary subtitles. Try to stay away from completely dodgy looking DVDs.
–fredericka–
I dunno about those ‘greatest hits’ box sets. It looks like one good movie, bundled with nine overrated or completely obscure and not-so classic ‘classics’. It’s got dodgy written all over it. I mean they’re boxed as ‘the OSCAR collection’, branded with an Oscar trophy on the box. How shady is that?
besides, i think i’m morally opposed to costco in taiwan. I’m not sure why though.
[quote=“ghettostyle”]
–fredericka–
I dunno about those ‘greatest hits’ box sets. It looks like one good movie, bundled with nine overrated or completely obscure and not-so classic ‘classics’. It’s got dodgy written all over it. I mean they’re boxed as ‘the OSCAR collection’, branded with an Oscar trophy on the box. How shady is that?
besides, I think I’m morally opposed to costco in Taiwan. I’m not sure why though.[/quote]
Morally opposed to Costco? This wouldn’t have something to do with that globe, would it?
In my post above, I just listed a few films from different collections that I thought were excellent. They weren’t bundled together like that. Two of the collections are Hitchcocks, for example. One, his older works, the other, the fifties and sixties stuff, with Manchurian Candidate tossed in for good measure.
The films are not so obscure. Have checked most of them versus Rotten Tomatoes ratings and all are ranked at 100%.
Check them out yourself. If you haven’t seen Powell films like ‘The Red Shoes’ or ‘Black Narcissus’, you probably wouldnt have realised how much LSD people did in the 40s, it seems! The thing I’ve learned mostly from these five perfectly legitimate box sets, is that the forties films were actually quite similar to some of the better films we find today in terms of direction, acting styles, and even writing.
For example, did you know that Thorton Wilder scripted ‘Shadow of a Doubt’? Or that Salvador Dali designed the dream sequence for ‘Spellbound’? The cool jazz used in spurts, breaking long silences during Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman’s pool game in The Hustler, are edgy and the lighting on this black and white film is noteworthy. A young Newman at his best, and sexiest.
God knows how West Side Story won the Oscar in 1961 versus a film like The Hustler. It’s as ridiculous as Chicago winning this year.
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]
Morally opposed to Costco? This wouldn’t have something to do with that globe, would it?[/quote]
I don’t know. Something about a huge warehouse that sells memberships irks me.
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]
In my post above, I just listed a few films from different collections that I thought were excellent. They weren’t bundled together like that. Two of the collections are Hitchcocks, for example. One, his older works, the other, the fifties and sixties stuff, with Manchurian Candidate tossed in for good measure.
The films are not so obscure. Have checked most of them versus Rotten Tomatoes ratings and all are ranked at 100%.
Check them out yourself. If you haven’t seen Powell films like ‘The Red Shoes’ or ‘Black Narcissus’, you probably wouldnt have realised how much LSD people did in the 40s, it seems! The thing I’ve learned mostly from these five perfectly legitimate box sets, is that the forties films were actually quite similar to some of the better films we find today in terms of direction, acting styles, and even writing. [/quote]
my ears are pricked. Some would argue the movies of the late thirties and forties are FAR BETTER than the junk we get today. But that would show a bit of age, methinks.
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]
For example, did you know that Thorton Wilder scripted ‘Shadow of a Doubt’? Or that Salvador Dali designed the dream sequence for ‘Spellbound’? [/quote]
my hand is firmly rested under my chin as my head nods ever-so- slightly: “hmmmm…interesting.”
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]
The cool jazz used in spurts, breaking long silences during Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman’s pool game in The Hustler, are edgy and the lighting on this black and white film is noteworthy. A young Newman at his best, and sexiest.[/quote]
To be honest, your mention of the hustler did catch my attention. If that movie was bundled with some other decent movies, I might consider it.
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]
God knows how West Side Story won the Oscar in 1961 versus a film like The Hustler. It’s as ridiculous as Chicago winning this year.[/quote]
I haven’t seen chicago but somehow i get the feeling we’re on the same page here. Sort of like when quiz show lost out to pulp fiction in 94, though that was when the QT thing was at its height (pulp fiction was great but quiz show was more deserving). The oscars are a sham.
i think i’ll give the sets a second look and go from there. Some interesting tidbits. I’m a little wary of buying any hitchcock DVD as much as I like some of his films. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will just lead to an impulse purchase of the entire set. Your compelling sales pitch isn’t helping. 
I’ve started a