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Prison Break - Season 3

Actor: Prison Break
ASIN : B001934SNM
Sales Rank : 95
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543527275
UPC : 024543527275
Release Date : December 12, 2008
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 568

Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/12/2008 Run time: 609 minutes Rating: Nr

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After focusing on the breakout (season one) and the manhunt (season two), season three of Prison Break turns the concept on its head by throwing everyone involved with the show so far--fugitives, lawmen, villains--into the same prison. When we left off in season two's finale, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) had been exonerated of the murder for which he was framed since the beginning of the series, but Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) landed himself behind bars during the escape in Panama. It's no coincidence that he's placed in SONA, a remote place for the lowliest of criminals, along with his pursuers Agent Mahone (William Fichtner) and Bellick (Wade Willams), and fellow former inmate Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (Robert Kneppner), who naturally cozies up to the crime lord who rules the prison in an effort to move up in the ranks.

The main premise of Prison Break this time around is Michael needing to break someone else out of prison for The Company, the crime network responsible for all nefarious doings on the show. The Company's rep is a homicidal, sneering assassin named Susan (sometimes Gretchen) (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe), who's holding hostage both Lincoln's son LJ and Michael's love Sara until Michael carries out his mission. The typically false starts, double-crossings, and man-that-was-close moments you'd expect to come from a series like this are all there, but this time around episodes feel scattershot, a far cry from the white-knuckle tension builder that was season one. Fichtner, who joined in the second season, is a standout as a pill-popping agent-turned-inmate in withdrawal who must now collaborate with the man he chased across the country. The new characters introduced don't have much purpose; the many plot twists (he's a good guy... no, a bad guy... no, wait, a good guy) leave you a little less motivated each time to keep tuning in, and the final straw is one main character's death early in the season (reportedly because of a contract dispute between the producers and the actor). Originally planned as a jolt to the series, it instead angered many fans who had been long awaiting a just payoff. This would later be rectified before the fourth season, but there's no telling how many Prison Break fans may have skipped town before then. --Ellen A. Kim

Beyond Prison Break on DVD

Watch Burn Notice on DVD
Catch up on The Unit on DVD
Check out Boston Legal on DVD

Stills from Prison Break: Season Three (Click for larger image)

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The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Fando y Lis / El Topo / The Holy Mountain)

Actor: Alejandro Jodorowsky
ASIN : B000NY1E9E
Sales Rank : 4128
Director : Alejandro Jodorowsky
Brand : JODORWSKY,ALEJANDRO
Studio : Starz / Anchor Bay
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0013137600296
UPC : 013137600296
Release Date : December 01, 2007
Publisher : Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer : Starz / Anchor Bay
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Label : Starz / Anchor Bay
Running Time : 333

Description

Among the extras included in this collector’s box is previously unseen footage, a feature on the restoration process, an exclusive interview with Jodorowsky, optional director commentary tracks, subtitles, two special CDs of the films’ soundtracks and a separate DVD of the first film ever made by Jodorowsky, La Cravate.

EL TOPO:
-Original theatrical trailer- English V.O.
-2006 on camera interview with Jodorowsky (Language English/English subtitles)
-Photo Gallery/Original script excerpts
-Exclusive interview with Alejandro Jodorowsky

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
- Deleted scenes with director commentary (Language: Spanish with optional EN, SP, FR & BR PORT subtitles)
- Original theatrical trailer -English V.O
- The Tarot short with director commentary (Language: Spanish with optional EN, SP, FR & BR PORT subtitles)
- Restoration process short (Original Language English)
- Photo Gallery / Original Script excerpts
- Restoration Credits

FANDO Y LIS
-La Constellation Jodorowsky documentary
-Original language French and English Stereo

TWO AUDIO CDS
- El Topo soundtrack
- The Holy Mountain soundtrack

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How can so much mysticism be contained in a simple DVD box set? The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky is a divine collection of the director's early films, restored and ready for repeated viewings. For it does take several viewings to imbue Jodorowky's invented archetypes with personal meaning and to familiarize oneself with his avant-garde approach to communicating artistic concepts. In this box, El Topo and Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky's stories of spiritual journeys through barren deserts, are paired with Fando Y Lis and La Cravate, a never before seen gem from the 1950s. This alone justifies the box set. La Cravate is a Technicolor tale of a man whose sadistic girfriend urges him to visit the head shop to shop for a new head. Miming his way through rows of living human heads, and trying several on with the help of a shop manager skilled in stitching skin, this Frankensteinian story establishes Jodorowsky's affinity for pitting effusive love against cruelty for maximum tension between involved characters. Fando Y Lis, on the other hand, is an early version of the later two masterpieces, about a couple whose quest for an imaginary land in the future, called Tar, introduces them to wizened forest masters, wild packs of women bowling, and enlightened drag queens. Filmed in black and white, Fando Y Lis proves that Jodorowsky's radical use of color in El Topo and Holy Mountain is no simple trope. Here, he relies more heavily on dramatic physical action, including miming and a paraplegic protagonist who is wheeled around in a wagon by her lover.

The box set contains the film soundtracks, director commentaries, and several interviews with Jodorowsky, including the documentary, La Constellation, in which he discusses his reliance on intuition, the notion of absurdism versus mystery, and his infamous usage of violence, which he eloquently explains as creative violence versus the destructive. Though this talented director refuses the claim that he is a mystic, it becomes clear in watching this body of work that he is achieving the sublime in a visually transcendental fashion. --Trinie Dalton

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The Sissi Collection

Actors: Romy Schneider, Karlheinz Bohm, Magda Schneider, Gustav Knuth, Vilma Degischer
ASIN : B000RXZIJS
Sales Rank : 7383
Brand : Koch International
Studio : Koch Lorber Films
Format : Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0741952313793
UPC : 741952313793
Release Date : December 11, 2007
Publisher : Koch Lorber Films
Manufacturer : Koch Lorber Films
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Koch Lorber Films
Running Time : 574

Description

At the age of seventeen, Romy Schneider became an international star through her portrayal of Princess Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria in the first of three lavish films directed by Ernst Marischka. While she would go on to work with some of the most influential and daring European directors of the era, Schneider will always be remembered by this defining role. Now for the first time on DVD, KOCH LORBER Films proudly presents the restored "Sissi Trilogy" (Sissi, Sissi: The Young Empress, Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress) in its entirety along with the U.S. theatrically released, English-language dubbed version, Forever My Love, and Victoria in Dover (The Story of Vickie), a precursor to the trilogy in which Schneider plays Britain’s Princess Victoria.

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The Sissi trilogy presents through heartwarming storytelling and undeniable visual beauty a Cinderella story in scrupulous detail, in three chronologically biographical films that, together, take nearly six hours to watch. Made between 1955-1957 by German director Ernst Marischka, Sissi, Sissi: The Young Empress, and Sissi: The Fateful Years of An Empress chronicle, in not-strictly historical terms, Elisabeth of Bavaria's marriage to her cousin, Franz Josef (Karlheinz Böhm), for which she is crowned Princess of Austria and, later, Queen of Hungary. Nicknamed Sissi (Romy Schneider), Elisabeth possesses fairy tale beauty and charm, from her early days in her Austrian schlosse, where she raises dachshunds, doves, and pet deer, to her latter days as regal ambassador of love, honesty, and generosity. The three films, taken as one sprawling epic, are as saccharine and idealized as The Sound of Music, with similar alpine landscapes, rivers, and castles dotting the sets. But Romy Schneider's magnetism is as strong as Julie Andrews's, and as one watches her horseback riding, learning manners and politics, having a baby, winning the hearts of Hungarians and Italians, or suffering with tuberculosis, it is quite difficult to turn the films off! The costuming and ceremonial pomp alone is riveting and serves as a fascinating glimpse, even if fictionalized, into 19th century aristocratic life. Each character in Sissi's family, including the reproachful mother-in-law, Sophie (Vilma Degischer), who constantly reprimands Sissi for her lack of formality and sophistication, and her warm parents, Ludovika and Max (Magda Schneider and Gustav Knuth) add infinite depth to this ambitious tale. The extras in the Sissi Collection, including "Forever My Love," a condensed, English-dubbed version lacking original score, and "Victoria in Dover," a precusor to the Sissi trilogy in which Schneider plays Princess Victoria, contextualize but don't compare to the trilogy's vigorous cinematic power. To watch the Sissi trilogy in full effect is to revel in ostentatious filmic presentation, and in the fantastic possibility that fate instigates love, politics, and sheer, unabashed goodness. —Trinie Dalton

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Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red)

Actors: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Régent, Florence Pernel, Charlotte Véry, Hélène Vincent
ASIN : B000083C5F
Sales Rank : 6020
Director : Krzysztof Kieslowski
Studio : Miramax
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0786936216790
UPC : 786936216790
Release Date : December 04, 2003
Publisher : Miramax
Manufacturer : Miramax
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Miramax
Running Time : 219

Description

Miramax Home Entertainment is proud to present BLUE, WHITE and RED, the acclaimed films by director Krzysztof Kieslowski. Hailed by filmgoers as some of the most absorbing, engaging, well-crafted dramas in recent memory, the box set of BLUE, WHITE and RED Each DVD disc includes lengthy bonus features.

BLUE: Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche ("The English Patient," Best Supporting Actress, 1996) stars as a young woman left devastated by the unexpected death of her husband and child. She retreats into the world around her, but is soon reluctantly drawn into an ever-widening web of lies and passion as the dark, secret life of her husband begins to unravel.

WHITE: Sexy Julie Delpy ("Before Sunrise") stars in a mysterious tale of a man whose life disintegrates when his beautiful wife of six months deserts him. Forced to begin anew, he rebuilds his life, only to plan a dangerous scheme of vengeance against her. Winner of the Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

RED: Irene Jacob ("The Double Life of Veronique") stars as a young model whose chance meeting with an unusual stranger leads her down a path of intrigue and secrecy. As her knowledge of the man deepens, she discovers an astonishing link between his past and her destiny.

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Even though one can view each segment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy on its own, it seems absurd to do so; why buy the slacks instead of the entire suit? Created by Kieslowski and his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz for France's bicentennial, the titles--and the themes of the films--come from the three colors of the French flag representing liberty, equality, and fraternity. Blue examines liberation through the eyes of a woman (Juliette Binoche) who loses her husband and daughter in an auto accident, and solemnly starts anew. White is an ironic comedy about a befuddled Polish husband (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who takes an odd path of revenge against his ex-wife (Julie Delpy). A Swiss model (Irène Jacob) strikes up a friendship with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who eavesdrops on his neighbors in Red. The trilogy is a snapshot of European life at a time of reconstruction after the Cold War, reflected through Kieslowski's moralist view of human nature and illumined by each title's palate color.

The DVD set has numerous extras spread throughout the three discs; the end result is a superior collection. Each disc has a short retrospective, culled together from new interviews with Kieslowski's crew, plus film critic Geoff Andrew, biographer Annette Insdorf (who also does the commentaries), and fellow Polish director Ageniska Holland. Producer Marin Karmitz also reminisces about the experience. There's an exceptional effort to show the magic of Kieslowski (who died two years after the trilogy) through a discussion of his various career phases, interviews with the three lead actresses, four student films, and archival materials including simple--and wonderful--glimpses of the director at work. Excellent insight is also provided by Dominique Rabourdin's filmed "cinema lessons" with Kieslowski. Without viewing any of his other films, this set illustrates the uniqueness of Kieslowski. --Doug Thomas

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The Battle of Algiers - Criterion Collection

Actors: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Samia Kerbash, Ugo Paletti
ASIN : B0002JP2OI
Sales Rank : 6187
Director : Gillo Pontecorvo
Brand : Image Entertainment
Studio : Criterion
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780028876
ISBN : 0780028872
UPC : 037429195628
Release Date : December 12, 2004
Publisher : Criterion
Manufacturer : Criterion
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Criterion
Running Time : 125

Description

One of the most influential films in the history of political cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers focuses on the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France. Shot in the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film vividly recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed. The Criterion Collection is proud present Gillo Pontecorvo’s tour de force—a film with astonishing relevance today.

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Director Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 movie The Battle of Algiers concerns the violent struggle in the late 1950s for Algerian independence from France, where the film was banned on its release for fear of creating civil disturbances. Certainly, the heady, insurrectionary mood of the film, enhanced by a relentlessly pulsating Ennio Morricone soundtrack, makes for an emotionally high temperature throughout. Decades later, the advent of the "war against terror" has only intensified the film's relevance.

Shot in a gripping, quasi-documentary style, The Battle of Algiers uses a cast of untrained actors coupled with a stern voiceover. Initially, the film focuses on the conversion of young hoodlum Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag) to F.L.N. (the Algerian Liberation Front). However, as a sequence of outrages and violent counter-terrorist measures ensue, it becomes clear that, as in Eisenstein's October, it is the Revolution itself that is the true star of the film.

Pontecorvo balances cinematic tension with grimly acute political insight. He also manages an evenhandedness in depicting the adversaries. He doesn't flinch from demonstrating the civilian consequences of the F.L.N.'s bombings, while Colonel Mathieu, the French office brought in to quell the nationalists, is played by Jean Martin as a determined, shrewd, and, in his own way, honorable man. However, the closing scenes of the movie--a welter of smoke, teeming street demonstrations, and the pealing white noise of ululations--leaves the viewer both intellectually and emotionally convinced of the rightfulness of the liberation struggle. This is surely among a handful of the finest movies ever made. --David Stubbs

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Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski: A Film Legacy

Actors: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Claudia Cardinale, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
ASIN : B00005YKXQ
Sales Rank : 8959
Director : Werner Herzog
Studio : Starz / Anchor Bay
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0013131172997
UPC : 013131172997
Release Date : December 10, 2004
Publisher : Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer : Starz / Anchor Bay
Availability : Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Label : Starz / Anchor Bay
Running Time : 648

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The six-film Herzog/Kinski boxed set is a sleek compilation of a visionary cinematic collaboration. The history of cinema is dotted with great directors who have found an actor whose face, voice, and style capture that director's point of view: Josef Von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich; John Ford and John Wayne; Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro. In 1972, the German director Werner Herzog cast Polish actor Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, the Wrath of God--the result was perhaps the definitive film for both. Kinski had previously made almost 100 films, but his malevolent role--as a Spanish conquistador obsessed with finding gold--shot him into international stardom. Though Herzog and the volatile Kinski were at each other's throats through much of the filming, seven years later the director cast Kinski as the tortured vampire of Nosferatu, Phantom of the Night (a color remake of the silent horror classic) and the title character of Woyzeck, based on the classic expressionistic German play about a jealous, unstable soldier who murders his lover. Both films continued the Herzog-Kinski trademark of intense unflinching emotion and the palpable presence of the raw physical world.

In 1982, Fitzcarraldo carried this ethos to new heights as Kinski portrayed a man who, in order to bring grand opera to the depths of Peru, has a huge steamship hauled over a mountainside using ropes, pulleys, and human endurance. The mad ambition of the film matched that of its hero as Herzog repeatedly placed crew and actors at risk of their lives. Nonetheless, the love-hate relationship between the director and his star carried them into one last film, the uneven but still remarkable Cobra Verde, about a Brazilian bandit sent to Africa to reopen the slave trade. After Kinski's death in 1991, Herzog made a documentary, My Best Fiend, about their decades of collaboration; the result rivals their previous work as a testament to human extremity. --Bret Fetzer

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Eclipse Series 6 - Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy (Blood Wedding / Carmen / El Amor Brujo) (Criterion Collection)

Actors: Maria Campano, Giovana, Paco de LucÃa, Enrique Ortega, GÃ³mez de Jerez
ASIN : B000TXNDVG
Sales Rank : 8172
Director : Carlos Saura
Studio : Eclipse from Criterion
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, Compilation, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0715515026024
UPC : 715515026024
Release Date : December 16, 2007
Publisher : Eclipse from Criterion
Manufacturer : Eclipse from Criterion
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Eclipse from Criterion
Running Time : 275

Description

One of Spanish cinema’s great auteurs, Carlos Saura brought international audiences closer to the art of his country’s dance than any other filmmaker, before or since. In his Flamenco Trilogy—Blood Wedding, Carmen, and El amor brujo—Saura merged his passion for music with his ongoing exploration of Spanish national identity. All starring and choreographed by legendary dancer Antonio Gades, the films feature thrilling physicality and electrifying cinematography and editing—colorful paeans to bodies in motion as well as to the cinema that so eloquently, and artfully, captured them.

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In the wake of Criterion's release of Cría Cuervos, his haunting Franco-era allegory, comes Carlos Saura's famed trilogy, crafted in collaboration with producer Emiliano Piedra, cinematographer Teodoro Escamilla, and choreographer Antonio Gades. Blood Wedding (1981) starts out like one of Robert Altman's behind-the-scenes efforts. As the reed-thin Gades describes his initiation into dance, Saura captures every backstage detail, from the bickering of the musicians to the mementos the dancers scatter about their stations. The action culminates in a dress rehearsal of Alfredo Manas's Bodas de Sangre, a flamenco-ballet version of Federico García Lorca's play. On the day of her betrothal, the Bride (Cristina Hoyos) runs off with Leonardo (Gades), a married man. To appease his Mother (Pilar Cárdenas), the Groom (Juan Antonio Jiménez) sets out to avenge the family name.

In Carmen (1983), Saura's biggest international hit, he takes on Georges Bizet's operatic adaptation of Prosper Mérimée's novella. Fiction bleeds into fact as the performers incarnate their parts. The narrative begins with Gades's search for a dancer to play the tragic heroine. He finds her in headstrong hoofer Carmen (Laura del Sol) with whom he embarks on an affair. As with Gades, Cristina Hoyos plays a character much like herself, a dancer relegated to a supporting role (composer/guitarist Paco de Lucía also appears under his own name). Instead of a full-length performance, Carmen proceeds through a series of rehearsals and offstage encounters. The more time he spends with his leading lady--described in the text as a "she-wolf"--the more possessive Gades becomes. He demands fidelity, Carmen longs for freedom. Finally, in a fit of rage, he solves their problem--permanently. Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo (1986) opens on a stage set made up like a gypsy village. (As with the previous films, there is no audience, though the dancers never break character.) Two men agree that their children, José and Candela, will marry when they are grown. The years go by and a wedding comes to pass, though Carmelo (Gades) secretly desires Candela (Hoyos), and Lucía (Carmen's Laura del Sol) feels the same about José (Jiménez). Then José is killed in a knife fight, but every evening Candela dances with his ghost, so she remains blind to Carmelo’s devotion. Of the trilogy, El Amor Brujo ("Love, the Magician") features the least dancing, making it less satisfying, but just as passionate--and more optimistic--than its tragic predecessors. For aficionados of dance on film, Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy belongs on the shelf with The Red Shoes and West Side Story (his trio is also filled with finger-snaps and switchblades). For those who wish to dig deeper, Saura followed up with the related documentaries Sevillanas (1992) and Flamenco (1995), which would have rounded out this set nicely. As with the other entries in Criterion's Eclipse Series (focusing on international masters, like Ingmar Bergman and Louis Malle), this collection may be devoid of extras, but it still represents one of the best deals around. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Fanny and Alexander (Special Edition Five-Disc Set) - Criterion Collection

Actors: Maria Campano, Giovana, Paco de LucÃa, Enrique Ortega, GÃ³mez de Jerez
ASIN : B000305ZYS
Sales Rank : 16098
Director : Ingmar Bergman
Brand : Image Entertainment
Studio : Criterion
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780029071
ISBN : 0780029070
UPC : 037429197622
Release Date : December 16, 2004
Publisher : Criterion
Manufacturer : Criterion
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Criterion
Running Time : 312

Description

Through the wide eyes of ten-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve), we witness the great delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family—a sprawling, convivial bourgeois clan living in turn-of-the-century Sweden. Intended as Ingmar Bergman’s swan song, Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) is the legendary filmmaker’s warmest and most autobiographical film, a triumph that combines his trademark melancholy and emotional rigor with immense joyfulness and sensuality. The Criterion Collection is proud to present not only the theatrical version—winner of the 1984 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film—but also, for the first time on home video in the U.S., the original five-hour television version, together in a single boxed set. Also included is Bergman’s own feature-length documentary The Making of Fanny and Alexander (Dokument Fanny och Alexander), offering a unique glimpse into his creative process and a candid behind-the-scenes look at a monumental film in the making. INCLUDED WITH FANNY AND ALEXANDER, FOR THE FIRST TIME ON DVD: THE MAKING OF FANNY AND ALEXANDER The Making of Fanny and Alexander is a fascinating look at the creation of a masterpiece. Directed by Ingmar Bergman himself, this feature-length documentary chronicles the methods of one of cinema’s true luminaries as he labors to realize his crowning production. Featuring Bergman at work with many of his longtime collaborators—including cinematographer Sven Nykvist and actors Erland Josephson, Gunnar Björnstrand, and Harriet Andersson—The Making of Fanny and Alexander is a witty and revealing portrait of a virtuoso filmmaker.

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It was instantly acclaimed the crowning masterwork of Ingmar Bergman's career, and time has not dimmed the Olympian status of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman drew upon memories of his own childhood for this portrait of the Ekdahls, the upper-class Swedish family whose celebrations and tribulations are seen through the eyes of 10-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve). The world of the theater, of puppet shows and magic lanterns, does battle in this scenario with the cold realities of the palace of the bishop--a man whose influence over Alexander's mother gives the movie the stark outlines of a fairy tale.

As for the Criterion five-disc DVD: This may be the most beautiful DVD release ever devoted to a single film. The original 188-minute international release is here, of course, in all its original glory. (It won four Oscars: foreign language film, costumes, art direction/set decoration, and cinematography--the last to longtime Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist.) An audio commentary by Peter Cowie gives useful background.

That film was carved out of Bergman's preferred 312-minute version, telecast on Swedish TV and included here. While the shorter cut remains a wonderful movie, and complete unto itself, the five-hour film is a deep, luxurious expansion. There is more of the Christmas Eve party that begins the film, more of the theater, more of Alexander's imagination. Especially meaningful is a long sequence between Fanny and Alexander and their doomed father, as he demonstrates the nature of storytelling with a simple chair.

Also here is The Making of Fanny and Alexander, Bergman's feature-length self-portrait, and a fascinating look at the rapt attention he bestows on actors and camera. DVD extras include a penetrating hourlong TV interview Bergman gave in 1984, and a 40-minute documentary shot in 2004 with reminiscences from cast and crew (including actors Guve, Pernilla August, and Erland Josephson). A handsome booklet includes essays by Rick Moody and Paul Arthur, and one disc is made up of pithy introductions shot by Bergman in 2003, for 11 of his classics, plus a sampling of trailers. Fanny and Alexander was Bergman's final theatrical film, though he has gone right on making TV movies and writing screenplays. This is a fitting treatment of his triumph. --Robert Horton

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Prison Break - Season 3

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The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Fando y Lis / El Topo / The Holy Mountain)

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The Godzilla Collection

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The Sissi Collection

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Ingmar Bergman - Four Masterworks (Criterion Collection)

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Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red)

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The Battle of Algiers - Criterion Collection

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Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski: A Film Legacy

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Eclipse Series 6 - Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy (Blood Wedding / Carmen / El Amor Brujo) (Criterion Collection)

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Fanny and Alexander (Special Edition Five-Disc Set) - Criterion Collection

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