This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden’s London Underground, four films that portray various aspects of English life in a period of cultural transition.

About the films:

After mastering the mix of comedy, suspense, and horror that helped define the golden age of British cinema, Basil Dearden (along with his producing partner Michael Relph) left the legendary Ealing Studios and struck out on his own. In the late fifties and early sixties, he created a series of gripping, groundbreaking, even controversial films that dealt with racism, homophobia, and the lingering effects of World War II, noir-tinged dramas that burrowed into corners of London rarely seen on-screen. This set of elegantly crafted films brings this quintessential figure of British cinema out of the shadows.normal

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Timeline for the podcast:

Introduction/Background (00:00:01 – 00:12:27)

Sapphire (00:12:28 – 00:30:17)

The League of Gentlemen (00:30:18 – 01:00:15)

Victim (01:00:16 – 01:31:08)

All Night Long (01:31:09 – 01:58:29)

Conclusion (01:58:30 – 02:07:35)

Buy The Box Set On Amazon:

Episode Links:

Director Overview:

Box Set Reviews:

Sapphire:

The League of Gentlemen:

Victim:

All Night Long:

Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 15: Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu

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This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor are joined by Ryan Gallagher to discuss Eclipse Series 30: Sabu!

About the films:

In the thirties and forties, the young Indian actor known as Sabu (born Selar Shaik) captured the hearts of moviegoers in Britain and the United States as a completely new kind of big-screen icon. Sabu was a maharaja’s elephant driver when he was cast in Elephant Boy, a Rudyard Kipling adaptation directed by documentary trailblazer Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda that would prove to be enormously popular. Sabu went on to headline a series of fantasies and adventures for the British film titans the Korda brothers, transcending the exoticism projected onto him by commanding the screen with effortless grace and humor. This series collects three of those lavish productions (which also included the classic The Thief of Bagdad): Elephant Boy, the colonialist adventure The Drum, and the timeless Jungle Book.

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Timeline for the podcast:

Introduction/Background (00:00:01 – 00:12:47)

Elephant Boy (00:12:48 – 00:33:19)

The Drum (00:33:20 – 00:57:28)

Interlude: The Thief of Bagdad (00:57:29 -01:01:40)

Jungle Book (01:01:41 – 01:22:00)

Conclusion (01:22:01 – 01:39:15)

Buy The Box Set On Amazon:

Episode Links:

Background and Overview:

Box Set Reviews:

Elephant Boy:

The Drum:

The Thief of Bagdad:

Jungle Book:

Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden’s London Underground

Contact us:

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Email: theeclipseviewer (at) gmail.com

David Blakeslee ( Twitter / Website )

Trevor Berrett ( Twitter / Website )

Ryan Gallagher ( Twitter / Website )

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System, four films (three early, one mid-career) that help provide a well-rounded understanding of one of Japan’s greatest directors and cultural iconoclasts.

About the films:

One of the most important filmmakers to emerge from Japan’s cinematic golden age, Masaki Kobayashi is remembered in great part today for his three-part epic The Human Condition (1959–61), but that is just one of the blistering films he made in a career dedicated to criticizing his country’s rigid social and political orders. He first found his voice—rebellious, angry, engaged—in the fifties, following his life-altering experiences as a soldier in World War II; the four films collected here, made during the same period as The Human Condition, reflect Kobayashi’s coming into his own as an artist. He fought to get these powerful dramas made at a studio more oriented at the time toward quiet family melodramas, and they are unforgettable depictions of a postwar Japan troubled by identity crises and moral corruption on scales both intimate and institutional.

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Timeline for the podcast:

Introduction/Background (00:00:01 – 00:18:27)

The Thick Walled Room (00:18:28 – 00:48:22)

I Will Buy You (00:48:23 – 01:08:26)

Black River (01:08:27 – 01:28:59)

The Inheritance (01:29:00 – 01:58:15)

Conclusion (01:58:16 – 02:04:51)

Buy The Box Set On Amazon:

Episode Links:

Director Overview:

Box Set Reviews: 

The Thick Walled Room:

I Will Buy You:

Black River:

The Inheritance

Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 30: Sabu!

Contact us:

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This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor conclude their conversation about Eclipse Series 1: Early Bergman, a collection of five films that helped Ingmar Bergman establish one of the richest bodies of work in 20th century cinema.

About the films:

Before The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries established him as one of the great masters of cinema, Ingmar Bergman created a series of devastating but less well-known psychological character studies, marked by intricate, layered narratives, gritty environments, and haunting visuals. These early films, which show the stirrings of the genius to come, remain the hidden treasures of a European cinema on the cusp of a golden age.

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Timeline for the podcast:

Introduction/Background (00:00:01 – 00:09:14)

Thirst (00:09:15 – 00:39:00)

To Joy (00:39:01 – 01:18:45)

Conclusion (01:18:46 – 01:46:22)

Buy The Box Set On Amazon:

Episode Links:

Director Overview:

Ingmar Bergman in The Criterion Collection

Thirst:

To Joy:

Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System

Contact us:

Twitter