Let's Drink to Scholarship - Criterion's THE COMPLETE MR. ARKADIN

[Glenn Anders]

While I agree with ste's general proposition, and Jeff's, for that matter, I would not dismiss VIDEO WATCHDOG as simple movie trivia. Mr. Lucas does not maintain a gossip column on who married or slept with whom on a given shoot. If we believe that film, cinema, call what you will, deserves serious scholarship and consideration, VIDEO WATCHDOG is a valuable journal. Mr. Lucas has often unearthed important discoveries, reported valuable stories, usually provides sources, and deals with areas of film which have sometimes been overlooked.

In retrospect, his work seems to me to be at least as deserving of respect as, say, a Harvard scholar's annotations on the letters of an obscure 17th Somerset parson. Whenever Mr. Lucas is dealing with primary sources, I think he deserves all the credit he can get.

Frankly, I have not kept up with VIDEO WATCHDOG in recent years, but a group of professional film people I fell in with last week spoke very highly of it. Perhaps the sheer effort of producing a little magazine of usually such fine graphic quality has worn him down. Mr. Lucas, when I did read his magazine regularly, appeared to be pretty much a one man band.

Glenn

[Ste]

My sincere apologies to Mr. Chartrand. My last comment was made in fun; no offence intended.

I don't think I'm being particularly harsh on Mr. Lucas, however. I'm sure his work deserves a certain degree of recognition - within its field - and from what I can see it receives it. He has no reason to be bitter. But self-aggrandizement is an ugly trait, and that is what sparked this conversation to begin with.

Being a writer (particularly a journalist) is not some mystical thing bestowed from above on an elite few. It's a job (a skill more than an art, IMO) that takes a great deal of hard work. Sometimes you'll be credited, other times not. Sometimes the editor will pass on your article completely. I, myself, contribute to several small music magazines, and have had work go un-credited over the years. It's a bummer, but it's all part of the job.

Two minutes on Google reveals that Mr. Chartrand is also a writer of sorts, so I'm sure he can relate to all this.

Anyway, it's a lovely day in New Orleans, so I'm off out for some fresh air.

Peace, y'all!

[tonyw]

:( I don't think Tim Lucas can be described as an editor who publishes "film trivia." VIDEO WATCHDOG often contains detailed articles by expert film critics such as John Charles (HONG KONG CINEMA ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1977-1997), Brad Stevens (author of books on Abel Ferrrare and others), and Douglas Winter who contributes to the Audio Watchdog section, to say nothing of comic artist, editor, and film critic Steve Bissette.

A previous issue contained a detailed analysis of the DVD release of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST listing all the variants in existing and non-extant versions as well as Steve Bissette's analysis of the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN. As for concentrating on Jess Franco, did not Henri Langlois, the deceased curator of the Cinemateque Fancaise believe in preservbing everything? We must also remember that Welles appeared in many commercial films. He may have done these to fund his own films but the important issue is everything is important and it is good that people like Lucas are around. His book on Mario Bava really promises to be the definitive item since he has been working on this for years

The ARKADIN DVD contains many features which Tim Lucas has written about some 15 years ago. He is quite riight to be irritated but this is very far from "blowing his own horn." He has a particular point to make and we should understand why.

[Jeff Wilson]

I never said everything shouldn't be preserved, I just said I couldn't care less about most of VW's especial favorites. And Lucas may well have a point in bitching about not being included/acknowledged/whatever, but as he himself says in his post, he hasn't even gone through all of it to see if that was indeed the case. So why post all that without even checking first to see if it was merited?

[Harvey Chartrand]

Just to set the record straight:

Ste: I'm not a "writer of sorts". Writing is not my hobby. It is my métier. My avocation.

I am currently working on a Gary Graver career retrospective for Filmfax Magazine.

Here is a partial list of my published stories.

Michael Moriarty’s Prescription for Law and Order (National Post, June 27/1999)
Christopher Jones: The Comeback Kid (Globe & Mail, December 31/1999)
Keeping up with Christopher Jones – (Outré Magazine, Summer 2000)
Harold J. Stone: A Life in the Movies (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 1, 2000)
Hitchcock and Art: Fatal Coincidences – (Filmfax Magazine, January 2001)
Pascale Bussières: Today Quebec, Tomorrow the World (Take One Magazine March 2001)
An Xchange of Genres: Allan Moyle Tackles Action Adventure (Take One Magazine March 2001)
James Gregory: A Commanding Presence (Filmfax Magazine, April-May 2001)
Hitler Meets Christ -- and it's a comedy... But it's also a tragedy, says star Michael Moriarty (Ottawa Citizen, May 1, 2001)
Herbert Lom: The Life and Times of a Mysterious Pink Phantom: (Filmfax Magazine, December 2001-January 2002)
Moriarty Plays Evil Cleric In Troubled Dead Zone Production (Rue Morgue Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2001)
Nick Mancuso: Feeding Caviar to the Masses (Take One Magazine, December 2001-January 2002)
Harold J. Stone: How this Reluctant Character Actor Became a Familiar Face on Stage, Screen and Television (Filmfax Magazine, April-May 2002)
Michael Moriarty: Every Last Detail (Shock Cinema Magazine, April 2002)
Out of the Shadows with Karen Black (Filmfax Magazine, February-March 2002)
Glenn Ford: The Multi-Purpose Star (Filmfax Magazine, Feb.-March 03)
Bradford Dillman: A Compulsion to Create (Shock Cinema Magazine, April 2003)
Nick Mancuso: A Tenacious Talent in the Hollywood Jungle (Shock Cinema Magazine, April 2003)
Curtis Harrington “USHERS” in a New Millennium (Filmfax, Dec. 2003-January 2004)
Jewish Actors: Gibson’s ‘Passion’ Not Anti-Semitic (Jerusalem Post, January 14, 2004)
Timothy Carey: The World’s Greatest Director (FilmfaxPlus, April-June 2004)
Edmund Purdom: International Man of Cinema (Shock Cinema, Spring-Summer 2004)
Introduction for ‘Joan Crawford: Dearest Mommy’ by John Ireland (Scarlet Street Magazine Issue 50, Spring 2004)
Witchfinder Memorial – a review of Benjamin Halligan's ‘Michael Reeves: British Film Makers’ (Rue Morgue, July-August 2004)
Ted Rusoff: The High Priest of Dubbing (The Film Journal, Oct. 2004)
The Art of Next-to-no-budget Cult Filmmaking: Curtis Harrington and Lee Demarbre (Green Cine, October 20, 2004)
Follow the Movies (An Interview with Director Norman Jewison), Jerusalem Post, December 3, 2004
Paul Picerni: A Very Approachable Untouchable (Green Cine, January 10, 2005)
Jon Finch: No Frenzy for Stardom (Shock Cinema, Spring 2005)
The Tawdry Terrors of Cameron Mitchell (Horror-Wood Webzine, February 2005)
Hitler, Christ and Michael Moriarty (Green Cine, March 14, 2005)
The Horror Legacy of Donald Pleasence (Horror-Wood Webzine, May-June-July 2005)
John Flynn: Out for Action (Shock Cinema, Fall 2005)
Curtis Harrington: Living in Dangerous Houses (DVD Drive-in, June 2005)
The Short, Tragic Life of Michael Reeves (The Dark Side, December 2005-January 2006)
Curtis Harrington’s Dangerous Company (The Dark Side, February-March 2006)
Larry Cohen: The Weary Wings of a Holy Fool (The Horror Channel, Jan. 16/06)
Per Oscarsson: An International Career Lost in Translation (Shock Cinema, Spring 2006)

[Ste]

I repeat, self-aggrandizement is an ugly trait.

[Jeff Wilson]

Seeing as how this is heading toward unpleasantness, I'm closing this thread down.

[Terry]

Somehow, Arkadin is #24 in the Amazon.com editor's picks for the top 100 dvd releases of 2006. You think maybe FCAM would have placed in the top 3?

Herr Satan also appears in the Art House/International subcategory, where it's #6 out of 15.

Go Washa! It's your birthday!

[Tony]

What's FCAM?

[Terry]

Falstaff Chimes at Midnight. Sorry to muddy the water.

[Nate H]

...

[Glenn Anders]

Thank you, Hadji, but did anyone else have the problem I did in finding the list?

Glenn Anders [who has always had a yen for Target Stores rather than for Amazons].:blues

[Terry]

ooops. yeah, a link would have helped!

top 100 dvds 2006

[Glenn Anders]

Thank you, Hadji.

MR. ARKADIN's position is remarkable. Of older films in the Amazon Editors' Top 100 List, it was beaten out only by Kurasawa's SEVEN SAMURAI Box Set which was picked on an average of all the lists the best DVD Buy of 2006.

The ARKADIN DVD Set, we might note, also comes at Number 6 in the Amazon 15 Top Art House and International selections, again being bested only by SEVEN SAMURAI among older films. And it made the fourth spot in the 15 Classics division. Only SEVEN SAMURAI, THE ASTAIRE & ROGERS ULTIMATE COLLECTORS EDITION, and THE JOHN WAYNE/JOHN FORD COLLECTION were ahead of it in the older films.

Pretty good for a labor of love.

A number of contributors here, especially Stefan Droessler, should be toasted on this one. And a number of others, like Larry French, can take some greater or smaller pride in what they did to make this Criterion Selection happen.

A Merry Christmas, for sure.

Glenn