Product Details

• Actors: James Aubrey, Jean Gabin, Jean Marais, Toshiro Mifune, Leon Niemczyk
• Directors: Ingmar Bergman, Peter Brook, Jean Cocteau
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: French, Japanese, Swedish, Polish, English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: September 9, 2008
• Run Time: 570 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001BEK8D8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,371 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

ESSENTIAL ART HOUSE:V1 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Investment, January 24, 2010

By 

John C. Rosenberger - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential Art House, Vol. 1 (DVD)

I found this six-pack online here for only $50 (that's only $8.33 per movie!). These movies cost $20 individually, so buying them in bulk is practically stealing them. This volume in particular (there are four altogether) has a great range of films. A terrific addition to your dvd collection for sure.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One way to choose which "Essential Art House Collection" to buy, November 7, 2011

By 

Just a consumer "justconsume" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential Art House, Vol. 1 (DVD)

As I write this, there are five volumes of Essential Art House collections. If you are wondering which of those five collections to start with, here's how I decided.

I consulted 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, a sort of dead-tree version of websites like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic. It provides half-page or full-page reviews of 1001 films from around the world, with films chosen from a list of 1300 aggregated from "best film" lists that others have assembled. The book is weighted towards cinephiles, but it casts a wider net, with blockbusters, cult films, slapstick, and some harder-to-label genres. For more on what criteria were used by that book, check Amazon's page (here is a link to the 2011 edition).

I used "1001 Movies" to narrow my choice down to two collections: Volume I (this one), and Volume II. Four of the six films in Volume I are also in "1001 Movies": Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, Renoir's Grand Illusion, Kurosawa's Rashomon, and Bergman's Wild Strawberries. The only collection with more matches was Volume II, which has five. Both volumes had a Kurosawa film; Vol. I has Renoir and Bergman, while Vol. II has Fellini and the Archers. Based purely on what I knew about the films it was hard to choose, but Amazon's prices in fall 2011 were the tie breaker: at $76, Volume II was more than twice the price of Volume I. If later on, their prices are comparable, it'll be a harder decision, unless you decide to buy both. :-)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Addition To Any Collection..., July 8, 2010

By 

4-Legged Defender "Anthony C. Rubbo" (ATL. GA.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Essential Art House, Vol. 1 (DVD)

And, if you're lucky to find them cheap like I and the reviewer before me did, you're treated to an inexpensive means to fill gaps in your collection of some of the greatest films of all time. And with directors like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski, Peter Brook, Jean Cocteau, and Jean Renoir helming the cinematic saints directorial chairs, it's time to kick back and be guaranteed hours of enchanting enjoyment. The only drawback is, unlike the full-blown Criterion releases, these come bare-bones - no supplements whatsoever, but this is inconsequential considering some of the minutia in the extras don't necessarily add much to your enjoyment of the treasures enclosed here. A great place to begin your exploration of older celluloid masterworks.