The Russian Woodpecker

Manufacturer: Criterion Collection (Direct) Model: 29279706

A New York crime reporter exposes a Nazi spy ring fronted by a peace organization. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Manufacturer: Koch Lorber Films Brand: Koch International

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. 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...

Manufacturer: Criterion Collection (Direct) Brand: CRITERION COLLECTIONS Model: 34392706

One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai), Ikiru presents the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of death. Takashi Shimura (Rashomon) beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two-part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Audio commentary from 2004 by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa • A Message from Akira Kurosawa (2000), a ninety-minute documentary produced by Kurosawa Productions and featuring interviews with Kurosawa • Documentary on Ikiru from 2003, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura, and others • Trailer • Essays by critic and travel writer Pico Iyer and critic Donald Richie

Manufacturer: Criterion Collection Brand: Image Entertainment Color: black & white

In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their expensive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France s legendary master of suspense Henri Georges-Clouzot.BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:Restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrackVideo interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff and Henri-Georges Clouzot biographer Marc GodinInterview with Yves Montand from 1988Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant, a 2004 documentary on the director s careerCensored, an analysis of cuts made to the film for its 1955 U.S. releasePLUS: An booklet featuring an essay by novelist Dennis Lehane

Manufacturer: Criterion Collection Brand: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT Color: color

The Samurai Trilogy, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (The Rickshaw Man) and starring the inimitable Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai), was one of Japan’s most successful exports of the 1950s, a rousing, emotionally gripping tale of combat and self-discovery. Based on a novel that’s often called Japan’s Gone with the Wind, this sweeping saga fictionalizes the life of the legendary seventeenth-century swordsman (and writer and artist) Musashi Miyamoto, following him on his path from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. With these three films—1954’s Oscar-winning Musashi Miyamoto, 1955’s Duel at Ichijoji Temple, and 1956’s Duel at Ganryu Island—Inagaki created a passionate epic that’s equal parts tender love story and bloody action.

Manufacturer: Criterion Brand: CRITERION COLLECTIONS Model: 35176846

Manufacturer: Criterion Collection Color: black & white

A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is the crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu (Late Spring). The film, which follows an aging couple as they leave their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu (There Was a Father) and Setsuko Hara (Late Autumn), Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring themes of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema’s mightiest masterpieces.