MOVIES > DVD Companies That Rock, Part 1

CINEMATICAL.COM: There's a disease called Criterionism, and it affects a shockingly large number of film nerds. Symptoms include but are not limited to: an obsession with foreign films; a knee-jerk tendency to blindly buy anything released by the Criterion Collection; a desperate need to know whether Jon Mulvaney actually exists. As a suffer myself (Hell, I used to help run a forum devoted to the label.), I have tremendous sympathy for the other people around the world who are late on rent and eat nothing but ramen because they've spent all of their money on those damn Criterion disc. For those of you unfamiliar with the label, the Criterion Collection is one of the best specialty DVD companies in the world, known for their attention to detail and willingness to release movies that are unlikely to make a profit simply because they feel the films need to be available. Yes, I love them.I bring this up today because I just read an incredible article detailing the work that went into the creation of Criterion's definitive disc of Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin. If you're interested at all in classic film, video restoration, or DVD production, go read it - it's mind-blowing, even to some like myself, who knows nothing about the technical side of DVDs. And the next time you watch a carelessly made DVD, or one that has obviously been rushed into production, remember that companies still exist that travel the world tracking down prints, and actually push release dates back (sometimes years back) in order to improve their product.