I’ve always wondered this too. I’ve also wondered if I should just get a PS3 for Blu-Ray instead (& Little Big Planet).
Not all their films are available on demand. As far as I know, Criterion titles are not available streaming.
For the movies they do have on-demand, the quality is frankly sub-par. I only watch documentaries streaming; for everything else, go DVD.
I own a Xbox360 and have the service stream through my Live account. Frankly, I don’t remember any Criterion titles. However, the quality so far has been as good as DVD for me. Occasionally, the connection will slow and the quality dips subsequently, but for the most part, I’ve been happy with the service. I think your enjoyment of the service will really depend on how good your connection is as well as what kind of movies you’re looking for. There are plenty of worthwhile titles to watch but I wouldn’t say enough to warrant the service solely based on it. However, their streaming library has been growing consistently.
EDIT
Oh wait. I know they have Breathless by Godard. Perhaps, there might be a couple others too.
Check out this thread for the best of what is on NetFlix….
“http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/2016/comments”
In my opinion it is worth it.
they’ve got a handful including: bottle rocket, the grand illusion, brd, pierrot le fou, and fitzcarraldo
Just off-hand, I know that the Criterion two-fer of The Red Balloon and The White Mane are available via Netflix streaming — likely because the films were reissued in conjunction with Netflix’s Red Envelope distribution label.
get a ps3 i has awesome games, bluray, and now supports netflix.
get a ps3 i has awesome games, bluray, and now supports netflix.
There a good number of Criterion titles streaming online (these are just the ones that i know of):
- Grand Illusion - Vampyr - In the Mood for Love- The English Patient
- Thieves’ Highway - The Red Balloon - 8 1/2 - The Third MAn - Written On the Wind - The Ruling Class - White Maine - Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler - Ivan The Terrible - Alexander Nevsky - Boudu Saved from DrowningPlus, lots of great non-criterion releases:
- Strike (Eisenstein) - Battleship Potemkin ( – ) - October ( – ) - Leaves from Satan’s Book (Dreyer) - The Parson’s Widow ( – ) - Man with the Movie Camera - Nosferatu - Intolerance - Metropolis (Lang) - To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch) - The Stranger (Welles) - My Darling Clementine - Network - Love in the Afternoon (Wilder) - Seven Year Itch - The Short Films of David Lynch - Das Boot - Bonnie and Clyde - Steamboat Bill, Jr. - The Dominici Affair (Welles) - America (Griffith) - Le Cercle Rouge - Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams - Tazi Driver - Unfaithfully Yours - La Notte (Antonioni) - etc. - etc. - etc.So, yeah. There are definitely lots of great films streaming on Netflix.
Yeah, there are a good many available for streaming most of which were mentioned here. Just scanning over my queue I see Grand Illusion, Red Balloon, 8 1/2, Thieves Highway, The Most Dangerous Game, A Woman is a Woman, A Nous la Liberte, Boudu Saved from Drowning, Hoop Dreams, Charade, Hopscotch, Slacker, White Mane, The 39 Steps, Vampyr, The Bicycle Thieves, The Third Man, Pierrot Le Fou, Le Cercle Rouge, Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, The Lady Vanishes, Written on the Wind, The Ruling Class, Alexander Nevsky, Bottle Rocket, Ivan the Terrible.
That was just a scan through so there could be more and don’t quote me on all of those because some of them might not be the Criterion release. As mentioned there are good movies beyond those.
It’s just the movie, no extra features, with English subtitles in any foreign-language case.
They’re adding Children of Paradise, Au Revoir, Les Enfants, The Spirit of the Beehive, Black Orpheus, Amarcord, Shoot the Piano Player, The Virgin Spring, La Strada, Grey Gardens (and not the Drew Barrymore one), Ballad of a Soldier, Harlan County, U.S.A., La belle et la bête, Bed and Board, Knife in the Water, and Ratcatcher in the near future, too.
Wow! As soon as I plow through my stack of DVDs that I haven’t watch yet, I’ll probably get netflix just so I can stream all of these
Just to clarify, you guys are talking about streaming to a TV versus the instant viewing feature, which is watched on the computer and doesn’t require additional hardware.
You can just ask Netflix for a disc for your PS3 which allows it to show the steaming on your TV. No extra charge.
Based on my past 3 days with it, technical quality is good, especially the films labeled as available in HD.
Hey guys, I made a list of EVERY Criterion that’s on Netflix On-Demand so far. This took too much time, and I clearly need a life, but here you are: http://periphery.org/post/481238929/criterions-on-netflix-streaming
Many thanks, Zac!
Fantastic work, Zac. Much appreciated.
RaySquirrel
Anyone here have Netflix’s on-demand service.
I am moving into a new apartment soon, and I am thinking of getting an X-Box 360 to accompany the room. As some of you may know X-Box Live now comes with Netflix steaming on-demand service. For anyone who has this service, how does Criterion movies come out on this service especially foreign language films?
Is it a virtual DVD or just a single streaming track?
Is there the option for multiple audio and subtitle tracks?