Ultimate gift for the cinephile
Art house or fun house, which compendium are you?
Every so often someone comes out with a compendium – an ultimate, definitive, last-say collection of anything from food to design to language itself (think the OED). It’s an intimidating idea, and maybe an even more intimidating gift, not to mention an expensive one. The latest of these is the “90th Anniversary Prestige Collection,” ($870) courtesy of United Artists, which means that while there are 90 films in this “book” (it’s over a foot wide and deep) they’re all produced by UA. Of course, when you’re talking about every major film from SOME LIKE IT HOT to MANHATTAN, who cares? Some of UA’s more recent releases are included too, like HOTEL RWANDA, but I was a little surprised to see PIECES OF APRIL sharing space with Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne.
I started looking around to see what other film compendiums were out there and I finally landed on “Essential Art House – 50 Years of Janus Films.” It’s not much cheaper (the list price is $850, but you can find it for less) and you get 50 DVDs instead of UA’s 90, but you only have to read the first few titles to know it’s a better deal: L’AVVENTURA, BLACK ORPHEUS, JULES AND JIM, M. HULOT’S HOLIDAY, PANDORA’S BOX, THE 400 BLOWS and WILD STRAWBERRIES are just a few. Of course, if you like big Hollywood musicals and black and white subtitled films, Amazon gives you the option to buy both and save, a bargain $1,555.
