Blind buys

I’ve had good luck with Criterion blind buys so far, Peeping Tom,The Third Man(original release) and Pandora’s Box.
Have you had good or bad luck with those financially “risky” Criterion blind buys?

I blind purchased the ECLIPSE LATE OZU set. Though when you are dealing with Ozu you know what you are getting.

I purchase By Brakhage without having seen the majority of the films that are on the disc. Though I did rent the disc previously so I knew what I was getting.

Dazed and Confused was a complete blind buy because I am a fan of Linklater’s work. So that paid off well.

I also recently purchased Bunuel’s Diary of a Chambermaid. I have yet to watch it. Though it came free with the purchase of two other Criterion DVD’s so that worked well. If I don’t like the movie I could simply sell it and actually make a profit off it.

“The Ring” I have only watched it once. I am too much of a pussy to watch it again.
“La Haine” Shit yeah.

I was able to watch about 15 minutes of Diary of a Chambermaid, found it a snooze-fest.

bad luck on most of them. My criterions generaly take a little while to grow on me. With the exception of My kurosawa films, La Jetee (i turned sans solei off half way through) le samorai, and a few others.

The man who fell to earth was a a blind purchase and one that honestly dissapointed me greatly.

Diary of a Chambermaid is brilliant! 15 mins is too early to judge a film.

I bought “if….”, Stranger Than Paradise, M, Brand Upon the Brain!, and Mon Oncle, having no idea what they were about besides their genre and a few very vague reviews. They are all some of my favorite movies. Never have I blind-bought and not liked the product.

Actually, I think Pandora’s Box is a creeper. I may not really like it until after a second viewing.

@Street Dude. I’ll go back and give it another chance :)

Diary of a Chambermaid gets very good in the last twenty minutes or so. The Fascist character is really unsettling.

who the hell can afford to buy Criterions blindly?

Well not a blind BUY but a blind watch for me was Hiroshima mon amour. I found it in my house. I still have no clue how it got in a shelf in my house. I was just cleaning it out and found it and when I noticed the Criterion label I freaked. I loved the movie by the way. In general there are too many Criterions I want and they are too expensive for me to just pick a random one off the shelf and buy it. I would only do that if it is by a favorite director.

Well not a blind BUY but a blind watch for me was Hiroshima mon amour. I found it in my house. I still have no clue how it got in a shelf in my house. I was just cleaning it out and found it and when I noticed the Criterion label I freaked. I loved the movie by the way. In general there are too many Criterions I want and they are too expensive for me to just pick a random one off the shelf and buy it. I would only do that if it is by a favorite director.

I dug Hiroshima Mon Amour. I think I rented it. Probably wouldn’t purchase that one though unless it was for a good price.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I found Kagemusha in a video game store for $3 a few years back. It doesn’t have the booklet, but I was dumbfounded. I don’t think the game store realized what they had.

I blind bought Kagemusha, the only kurosawa movie on Criterion that I have not seen yet, was it worth the buy?

@Filmy Andy-If you’ve liked the other Kurosawas than you should like Kagemusha as well.

I have blind bought a lot of Criterion DVDs (although most used). In almost all cases I have read gushing reviews of the film and the release.
Some examples that have been terrific: Ace in the Hole, Army of Shadows, Battle of Algiers, In the Mood for Love, Solaris, Ikiru, My Own Private Idaho

Some that haven’t thrilled me so much: Fighting Elegy, Samurai Spy

The Vanishing and Jubilee didn’t really go down well for me. The Vanishing was an OK movie, but I didn’t see what the big deal was after reading many positive reviews. Jubilee was just terrible in my mind, although I don’t remember much of it. A lot of my other criterion DVDs were blind buys and they were all good to excellent. I did end up selling Naked Lunch, I wasn’t really that into it and it was very expensive.

“White dog”, good idea, bad movie, one of the worst acted movies i’ve seen in a long time !!

Kagemusha is great.

My favorite blind buys: Raoul Ruiz box set by Blaq Out, restored Touch of Evil, Teshigahara set, Days of Being Wild, Celine and Julie Go Boating BFI release, Days of Heaven/Badlands, Last Year at Marienbad, Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women, Alice in the Cities, Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales

I love blind-buying since it has given me such a huge payoff, even if I didn’t like every movie I bought.

I love blind buys. nothings better than popping open a dvd and a beer late at night and having absolutley no expectations.
i think it mostly pays off, very rarely do i regret a purchase ,if i am concerned that i might regret it i rent from netflix if possible.

I’ve bought several Criterion discs blind. When b&n has a buy 2 get one free sale I can’t help myself. The recent releases of Le Doulos and Le duexieme souffle were two that I liked

I bought Kwaidan knowing nothing more than it was a Japanese ghost story film, it did not disappoint.

I bought Sanjuro, having seen Yojimbo, and loved it.

Other blind Criterions I bought were The River and Naked Lunch. Both were great.

I blind bought a couple recently. All have paid off. In particular I can’t say enough good things about CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS. It is a simply fantastic film. Like most of Jiri’s films it is so full of life. Another blind buy was the Teshigahara box set. It is probably my favorite box set out there and I knew next to nothing about his films (only that he frequently worked with abe and takemitsu). Right now I have LOVES OF A BLONDE, VENGEANCE IS MINE, and SLACKER on their way. I expect the best from all three.

Most of the movies I’ve purchased have been blind buys – It’s Criterion for God’s Sake, how can you go wrong?!

My List of Blind Buys:

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Andrei Rublev
L’Avventura
The BRD Trilogy
Dreyer Box Set
Carnival of Souls
The Cranes are Flying
Cries and Whispers
Diabolique
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
L’Eclisse
Equinox
Eyes Without a Face
Fanny and Alexander Box Set
A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds
Grand Illusion
Great Expectations
The Harder They Come
Ikiru
Insomnia
John Cassavetes: Five Films
Juliet of the Spirits
Le Million
The Leopard
The Most Dangerous Game
Night and Fog
Pandora’s Box
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Rules of the Game
Rushmore
Scenes from a Marriage
Six Moral Tales
Solaris
Tokyo Story
Ugestu
Variety Lights
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Days of Heaven
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
The Flowers of St. Francis
Contempt
Miss Julie

Most of the movies I’ve purchased have been blind buys – It’s Criterion for God’s Sake, how can you go wrong?!

My List of Blind Buys:

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Andrei Rublev
L’Avventura
The BRD Trilogy
Dreyer Box Set
Carnival of Souls
The Cranes are Flying
Cries and Whispers
Diabolique
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
L’Eclisse
Equinox
Eyes Without a Face
Fanny and Alexander Box Set
A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds
Grand Illusion
Great Expectations
The Harder They Come
Ikiru
Insomnia
John Cassavetes: Five Films
Juliet of the Spirits
Le Million
The Leopard
The Most Dangerous Game
Night and Fog
Pandora’s Box
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Rules of the Game
Rushmore
Scenes from a Marriage
Six Moral Tales
Solaris
Tokyo Story
Ugestu
Variety Lights
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Days of Heaven
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
The Flowers of St. Francis
Contempt
Miss Julie

If blind buy means having not seen the film first then 90 percent of the Criterions I purchase are blind buys.

I blind many, but I did buy Equinox when it was first released knowing nothing about it. I would have probably regretted if it wasn’t for the fact I watched it with people who could enjoy it for what it was and laugh at all its cheesy glory.