Top ten Criterion films

No order

King Kong
Bladerunner
Godzilla
Princess Bride
Wizard of Oz
Citizen Kane
The Blob
Equinox
Beauty and the Beast
Brazil

 

This is more or less in the order I can recall buying them.

• Sisters
  • Psycho-killer mystery with an off-the-wall conclusion. Have the old DVD but will likely upgrade to a blu-ray one day.
  Repulsion
  • Catherine Deneuve, memorable hallucination scenes, weird camera angles, unmitigated tension, and also Catherine Deneuve

• Black Narcissus
  • My favorite Powell-Pressberger. I'm not sure why watching nuns in the Himalayas go insane is so entertaining. Also, the making-of features are fascinating, whole thing shot in England in the studio

• Diabolique
  • Excellent suspense-mystery, I'd compare it to Hitchcock but I guess that was the idea in the first place
• Notorious
  • I think my favorite film with Ingrid Bergman. One of my favorite Cary Grants also. And Claude Rains' dialogues with his bloody-minded Nazi Mom, that's worth watching the film just for that!
• The Lady Vanishes
  • Holds up well every time I see it, an early suspense-comedy that likely influenced many that came after, particularly Night Train To Munich (which is almost as good but not quite)
• I Married A Witch
  • I probably watch this one once per year (around Halloween). Had the DVD, upgraded to blu-ray
• Anatomy Of A Murder
  • My favorite Jimmy Stewart film. In another life, I'd like to be something like his character in this film
• His Girl Friday
  • It's hard to look away from this for more than a few seconds for fear of missing out on some rapid fire dialogue or changes in expressions
• The Philadelphia Story
  • See "His Girl Friday"

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My most treasured Criterion volumes in no particular order would be Cocteau's Orpheus, The Last Picture Show, Beauty And The Beast, Rumble Fish, Pandora's Box, Children Of Paradise, I Know Where I'm Going, Nanook Of The North, Significance and the Monterey Pop box (there, that's ten).

 

My list will change constantly but these are some that really lit my fire this year:
In a Lonely Place
Pickup on South Street
Only Angels Have Wings
The Lady Eve
In the Mood for Love
High Sierra
The Gunfighter
Persona
Repulsion
Black Narcissus (!!)
Forty Guns
The Samurai Trilogy (!!)
Orpheus
Le Doulos