The Remaining Herzog: Bad Lieutenant 2

It just occurred to me that I've covered every Werner Herzog film, barring those with physical releases still pending, save one.  So let's get 'er done!  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is an in-name-only sequel to Abel Ferrara's notorious cop drama starring Harvey Keitel.  It came about because one of the producers of the original, Edward R Pressman (American Psycho, Party Monster), wanted to cash in on the title and hired Herzog who's said he'd never even heard of the first film.  He wanted to drop the title but couldn't, contractually, so here we are, with a 2009 Herzog flick, based on a script by a television writer named William Finkelstein, with an arbitrary title that's maybe slightly annoying to Ferrara films, but so what?  It got a Herzog movie produced - I'll take it!

Admittedly, on the sliding Herzog scale, this leans more towards the For Completists Only end rather than the Masterpieces, but it's pretty entertaining if you can let go of your expectations from the original.  It's certainly wacky and should please any fan of the "Nicolas Cage goes nuts" oeuvre.  It's still basically about a bad cop who gets redeemed(ish) by solving a bigger crime.  But this one's the kind of movie where, when a criminal gets shot, his spirit come outs breakdance, and where local iguanas get as much screentime as lead characters in the story.  Even by Herzog standards, it's eccentric.

And Cage is just the tip of this wild cast spear.  Can you imagine another film where Jennifer Coolidge (White Lotus, The Minecraft Movie), Xzibit and Val Kilmer appear together?  Not enough star power?  We've also got Eva Mendes, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif and Michael Shannon.  We also get great footage of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and some more quality imagery from Herzog's frequent collaborator Peter Zeitlinger.  So maybe it's not a masterpiece, but now that it's had some time to get out from under Ferrara's shadow, it might be worth a reevaluation.  It's quite interesting, at least.  And it's one of those early blu-rays that was over-produced (in terms of quantity), so you can pick it up dirt cheap.

2009 First Look DVD top; 2009 First Look BD bottom.

First Look released this concurrently on DVD and BD as a new release, so the only difference between transfers should be between the SD and HD discs.  But there are some other differences.  The DVD's AR is slightly off at 1.83:1, with a vertical pinch compared to the BD's correct 1.85:1.  More importantly, the DVD is interlaced (look closely at the first comparison shot), while the BD is properly progressive.  So if you've got the DVD, that's a good reason to upgrade right there.  Another reason is the boost to HD, which is considerable.  There's a lot of additional fine detail on the BD, and less compression noise.

Both discs offer you the choice of lossy stereo mixes or 5.1s, which is uncompressed TrueHD on the blu.  They also both include optional English and Spanish subtitles.

And extras - the same across both discs - are pretty good here, too.  The main feature being a 31-minute behind the scenes making of documentary, which is quite good with lots of fly-on-the-wall footage.  Even if you're not huge on Bad Lieutenant 2, any serious Herzog fan should be glad to have this doc.  There's also a gallery of photos by Lena Herzog (Werner's wife), and the theatrical trailer.  Oh, and a bunch of bonus trailers are packed on there as well.

So yeah, if you haven't got it, I do recommend this one, especially given the price and everything.  If you want to spend a little bit more, though, it's worth pointing out that various import versions, including the UK and DE blus, include additional EPK interviews with the cast and crew as well.  And this might be the right time for it, as a third Bad Lieutenant film, directed by Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, As the Gods Will), is actually coming out later this year.  Make a trilogy of it.

And with that, I guess I close the book on Werner Herzog coverage, at least until a new film of his gets a disc release.  ...Or I update an older post with a 4k restoration, which I'm actually planning to do soon.  I've been threatening Update Week 2025 for a while now, and it's about due.

Carnal Knowledge Restored and Released In 4k

We conclude Import Week with a recent goodie.  The long-awaited restoration of Mike Nichols' 1971 classic Carnal Knowledge.  I remember a couple years ago when Studio Canal announced they were restoring the film in 4k, and everyone said "stay away from the old discs, now!"  But the actual 4k transfer on disc seemed to sneak out pretty quietly.  And of course, it didn't make it to America.

Update 8/9/23 - 8/10/25: Two years later and it's reached our shores!  And it's on a proper 4k disc to boot.  Also it's a special edition with some quality extras.  Woot!

When I've been away from Carnal Knowledge for a while, I start to lose my affection for it.  "Do I really need to sit and revisit two guys being sexist for two hours with the lesson that sexism is bad?"  But as soon as I start to rewatch it, I'm instantly sucked in.  The writing is too real, the performances are too strong.  Yes, not just Jack Nicholson.  Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret and West Side Story's Rita Moreno are all operating on the same level (keep your eyes open for the onscreen debut of Carol Kane, too).  It's elegantly photographed and scored, but most importantly, the script feels like a stage play... in the best way.  And in fact, it sort of is.  It's based on an unproduced or published play written by Jules Feiffer, who actually won the Pulitzer Prize as an editorial cartoonist.  And I think it's that mix of satirical edge and observation insight that elevates this beyond some banal battle of the sexes think piece.

MGM released Carnal Knowledge on a barebones flipper DVD (fullscreen and widescreen) in 1999, and that's been the entire story in the United States until 2025.  So in the meantime, I'd had my eye on previous BDs from Japan (expensive) and Spain (forced subtitles) over the years, but that all went out the window when Studio Canal restored the film in 4k, and that transfer was released in France and Germany.  I went with the German one, co-released by Art Haus and Studio Canal.  That was pretty sweet, but now Criterion's given us the 4k restoration on a proper 4k UHD as a full-blown special edition combo-pack.

1) 1999 MGM fullscreen DVD top; 2) 1999 MGM widescreen DVD;
3) 2022 Art Haus BD; 4) 2025 Criterion BD; 5) 2025 Criterion UHD.

Wow!  MGM's DVD is a perfect example for novice viewers of why it's important to watch a film in the correct aspect ratio rather than avoiding "the black bars."  Their 1.33:1 fullscreen presentation just lops off both sides of the picture, almost removing more of the image than it leaves in.  Though they do at least Pan & Scan to keep the most important element in the frame.  MGM's widescreen 2.35:1 is actually drawn out slightly further, showing a sliver more than Art Haus's 2.35:1, but obviously in terms of picture quality, it's a whole different world.  For starters, apparently Anne Margaret's bathrobe isn't blue!  The DVD looks like it's taken from a print, with its excessive contrast, while Studio Canal is giving us a fresh 4k scan of the original camera negative and looks it.  Colors are more subtle and natural, detail is clearer, and information that was once lost to the shadows is now restored.  Film grain, that just came off as vague splotches on the DVD, is now rendered clearly and authentically.  It's generally brighter, but without blowing out the highlights.  In short, it's night and day.

Criterion, as you'd expect, are using Studio Canal's 4k restoration, which their booklet tells us was taken from the 35mm separation masters because the OCN is too damaged.  Comparing the two BDs, I'd say Art Haus has slightly better compression.  But they also gently tweaked the saturation and contrast, which is an equally slim improvement.  So if you're just getting a standard blu-ray, it's pretty much a tie.  But the UHD with HDR and naturally higher resolution is the obvious winner.  Any issue with the 1080p compression is wiped away, and the colors are even more attractive.

Every disc offers the original mono track, in DTS-HD on the BDs and UHD.  MGM also had English and French subs, while AH/ SC has additional French and German dubs, also in mono DTS-HD, and German and French subs.  Criterion brings back English subtitles, which is welcome.

MGM's DVD is completely barebones, without even the trailer.  The new BD doesn't have it either, but they did come up with something: an untranslated audio-only interview with a French critic.  I'm vaguely curious as to what he said and I certainly would've given it a listen if it were English friendly, but I'm not too brokenhearted about it.  It's not like they managed to interview someone from the cast or crew.  So unless you're fluent in French or German, this release is as barebones as every one in the past.

But now we've got some English stuff!  And I have to say, when the specs were announced, I thought, ehh... okay, definitely better than nothing.  But actually, it's better than better than nothing, it's a good little package.  Let's start with a vintage interview with Mike Leigh, done by Jason Reitman after a screening.  Again, I was thinking, well, best they could get since he passed... at least we get to hear from him in some capacity on the disc.  But actually, it's a really good interview, and the sound and picture quality are solid.  Neil Labute does a commentary, which starts out strong, though he runs out of things besides "I love this shot, too" by the second half.  I'd say start listening to it, and just shut it off when you get bored; you won't miss anything after that.

Then there's an interview with Feiffer.  Unfortunately, it's audio-only.  But it's over 45-minutes long and pretty great!  Be sure to listen to it if you have the patience to sit and stare at a still image for almost an hour.  There's an interview with two critics sitting very close together, which is pretty good, and gives out you the basic info about the film.  And there's a nice little interview with the editor's biographer, including a snippet of audio from the man himself, talking about his approach to the film.  There's also the trailer, a radio spot, and a full-color, 42 page booklet.

Outside of netting Nicholson or one of the other celebrity leads for a sit-down, Criterion's package was about as good as you could hope for.  And man, it looks great.  And it's a real must-have film, even if you might have to push yourself to go back every so often to remind yourself.  And now it's got a first-rate disc to help lure you.

You Can Count On Manchester By the Sea

Here at DVDExotica, we appreciate all kinds of movies, even those you don't have to hide from your parents and children.  Sure, usually I'm a wild-haired film snob waving his finger at the television screen shouting, "you're giving 'Best Picture' to that pandering piece of dumbed-down Hollywood pap?"  But sometimes I do stumble onto a film simply because it's been nominated and come out saying to myself, wow, that really was an excellent movie.  And here are two such examples, 2000's You Can Count On Me and this year's Manchester By the Sea, both by writer/ director Kenneth Lonergan.  In fact, I think I may've spotted a subtle similarity in their stories.

Update 5/13/17 - 8/6/25: Finally, we have You Can Count On Me in 4k, thanks to Criterion's new BD/ UHD combo-pack (also available as a single BD release).

You Can Count On Me stars Mark Ruffalo as a thirty-something, orphaned drifter, getting into bar fights and doing odd jobs to barely scrape by with no anchor or goal in life.  Following a death in the family, he returns home to the small town he grew up in, where he's widely known as an infamous trouble-maker.  At first he maintains a civil distance, but as they're staying together, he's pressured into reconnecting with his nephew who grew up with only one parent.  He winds up taking his nephew to see the father he'd never known, and it goes disastrously.  Still, it turns out to be a necessary growing experience for the boy, they ultimately wind up bonding and we see the strength of the drifter's character hidden by all the flaws he wears on his sleeve.  Though he ultimately [SPOILER technically, but not really, because it's clear this is the direction the story was always headed in.  Like, don't worry; this won't ruin the movie for you if you haven't seen it] leaves the town and his nephew behind to return to the seemingly empty life he left behind despite being pleaded with to stay and live in their hometown, we know they'll see each other again, because they've grown together into a genuine, loving family.  The supporting cast includes Matthew Broderick in a terrific, stuffy but scene-stealing comic role and Lonergan himself in an amusing and well-played bit part.

Manchester By the Sea stars Casey Affleck as a thirty-something, orphaned drifter, getting into bar fights and doing odd jobs to barely scrape by with no anchor or goal in life.  Following a death in the family, he returns home to the small town he grew up in, where he's widely known as an infamous trouble-maker.  At first he maintains a civil distance, but as they're staying together, he's pressured into reconnecting with his nephew who grew up with only one parent.  He winds up taking his nephew to see the mother he'd never known, and it goes disastrously.  Still, it turns out to be a necessary growing experience for the boy, they ultimately wind up bonding and we see the strength of the drifter's character hidden by all the flaws he wears on his sleeve.  Though he ultimately [SPOILER technically, but not really, because it's clear this is the direction the story was always headed in.  Like, don't worry; this won't ruin the movie for you if you haven't seen it] leaves the town and his nephew behind to return to the seemingly empty life he left behind despite being pleaded with to stay and live in their hometown, we know they'll see each other again, because they've grown together into a genuine, loving family.  The supporting cast includes Matthew Broderick in a terrific, stuffy but scene-stealing comic role and Lonergan himself in an amusing and well-played bit part.

Look, I'm not criticizing either film by playing up their similarities.  And obviously they're not strictly identical.  You Can Count On Me also co-stars Laura Linney as the nephew's mother, whose subplot is almost as important as Ruffalo's.  And the nephew character is now an older teen with more adult concerns, excellently played by Lucas Hedges, in Manchester By the Sea.  Manchester also delves deep into the drifter's backstory, which is only touched on in exposition in You Can Count On Me, unveiling a deeper tragedy.  They have unique scenes of humor and drama.  I actually think it's a compelling return to the first film's themes by Lonergan, and the two films actually play even stronger together than as separate, unconnected works.  Both deserved their Academy Award nods more than most of their peers, and I highly recommend the pair, especially if you've seen and enjoyed one, but not yet caught the other.

It seemed crazy that You Can Count On Me had not been released on blu-ray, not even to coincide with the recent release of Manchester By the Sea.  All we had was the 2001 DVD from Paramount, which was at least widescreen and has some decent special features.  The exact same thing could be said for Lions Gate's 2017 Manchester By the Sea release, except they did also release a blu-ray version.  In fact, it's a combo-pack, so we can compare the DVD and blu.  And now, finally in 2025, we have You Can Count On Me on blu, and UHD even, thank to Criterion wisely picking up and restoring the film in 4k from the original 35mm interpositive.  So let's look at that first.

2001 Paramount DVD top; 2025 Criterion BD mid; 2025 Criterion UHD bottom.

Paramount's You Can Count On Me DVD isn't bad for being so old, at least it's anamorphic and uninterlaced.  It's framed at 1.77:1, with a slight pillarbox bar on the right-hand side, that was probably hidden in its day by the TV overscan area.  It looks soft and murky by today's standards and sure was ready for Criterion's boost to HD.  The reflection on that lake looks pretty jittery in motion.  So Criterion fixes the AR to 1.85:1, revealing more picture along the sides, an d even a smidgen vertically.  It also color corrects that feint red hue that seemed to gently plague so many DVDs of that era.  Film grain is barely visible even on the UHD.  Honestly, it looks DNR'd; I had to double-check that this wasn't shot digitally.  But there's no question the image is crisper and clearer on the new Criterion discs compared to the old DVD, and we can now make out plenty of detail (like Rory Culkin's eyes in the shot above) we couldn't before.  So despite my reservations, it's a major upgrade.

The DVD includes the option of a 5.1 mix or a 2.0 stereo track, both in Dolby.  Criterion does away with the stereo option (which is just fine; your player will naturally handle that mix-down anyway) and bumps up the 5.1 to DTS-HD.  Both discs include optional English subtitles.

2017 Lions Gate DVD top; 2017 Lions Gate BD bottom.

blu-ray left; DVD right.

In comparison, Manchester By the Sea looks so much clearer and more vibrant.  Seeing the shots on the same page like this really illustrates how much You Can Count On Me could use a new release.  But, anyway, taken on its own terms, Manchester's blu is a pretty sharp; even its DVD counterpart looks almost as good.  But of course, when you get in close, you see all the texture that's lost in SD (was fake film grain added to this movie?).  Lions Gate letterboxes it to 1.85:1, and gives us a 5.1 mix (in DTS-HD on the blu), with an additional Spanish dub and optional English and Spanish subtitles.

You Can Count On Me's DVD isn't exactly a packed special edition, but it has a small, somewhat satisfying selection of extras.  The main asset is an audio commentary by Lonergan, who's a good guide through his work.  There's also a brief featurette, which talks to Lonergan and the cast.  It's short, but not overloaded with clips from the film, making it a bit more filling than many of its ilk.  There's also the film's trailer, some bonus trailers and an insert.

Criterion keeps the commentary and conducts some really good, brand new interviews with Lonergan and stars Ruffalo, Linney and Broderick.  It's pretty impressive they were able to get Ruffalo now that he's a Marvel Avenger.  They also have the trailer, and a 32-page, full color booklet with an essay by Rebecca Gilman and a reproduction and Lonergan's original one-act play.  One disappointing, small step backwards, though: Criterion dropped the featurette.

For Manchester, Lonergan's back with another audio commentary, which is about as good as the first, though frustratingly he never once mentions You Can Count On Me; suggesting this story was completely invented on its own by Matt Damon and himself, with no connection to any previous work.  Okay.  There's a similar featurette, as well, which gets some nice quotes from the cast and takes a look at the filming location, again without getting bogged down in promotional clips.  This time we also get three deleted scenes, and again some bonus trailers. There's no insert (except for one of those digital download code sheets), but it does come in a slipcover.  In fact, if you're a collector, you should know there are actually two alternate slipcovers out there.  The one I have pictured above, and a newer repressing that swaps out the Golden Globes banner with one touting its Academy Awards instead.

So yeah, I heartily recommend both films; the Academy got it right in these cases.  And hey, here's how I ended this in 2017: "[m]aybe if we hold a candle light vigil or something, we can get a nice 4k scan of You Can Count On Me from Criterion or somebody?"  Never doubt the power of candlelight!

Criterion Catch-Up 2, Part 6B: The Other Five Moral Tales

...continued from Criterion Catch-Up 2, Part 6A.

Ah, color, lovely color!  Yes, even though 1967's The Collector is Tale #4, it was made third, meaning Eric Rohmer went from early black and white, to color, then back to black and white: one more small reason viewing these films in the intended order rather than release order feels right.  Anyway, color is especially appropriate for this tale about the power of external beauty.  Lazing around on an old chateau by the beach, two chauvinist cads (one in particular) wind up throwing themselves on the rocky shores of a young woman named , with a reputation for being a temptress.  The humor is up in this one, and you'll learn a lot about the philosophy of dandyism.  Probably more than you're ready for.  But it's worth it; this movie is so fun.

2006 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

We've moved onto a new page, so I'll just reiterate, all of these Criterion DVD transfers are letterboxed, which was arguably a good thing on old tube TVs, but it's a welcome improvement to see the new BDs take advantage of their full potential resolution.  The previous Tales all started at 1.31:1 on DVD, which was adjusted to 1.37 for their blus.  The same is true here except this DVD is 1.32:1.  Just casually tossing your eyes down the page, immediately you'll have noticed that the blu-ray's colors are more vivid and the contrast is stronger.  This one's a new 2k scan of the original 35mm negative, and the difference is obvious.  Not just film grain (although, yes) but lots of fine detail is restored compared to the soft, milky image of the old transfer.  All these blu-rays are clear improvements, but it's all the more appreciable with these later ones.

And again, while both discs have the original French mono with optional English subtitles, the blu-ray bumps it up to an uncompressed LPCM track.

Also again, we're saving all the short films in these sets 'till the end, but there are a couple of Collector-specific extras on hand, in both the DVD and BD boxed sets.  Well, primarily one, a vintage television interview with Rohmer that runs almost an hour (presumably it originally filled the entire hour slot with commercials).  Anyway, it's great and very direct, revealing a lot of his history and thinking behind the film.  There's also the original theatrical trailer.

Finally (because, again, Moral Tale #6, Love In the Afternoon, has already been covered here), we arrive at Claire's Knee from 1970.  The beautiful lakeside property in this film makes The Collector's chateau look like a dump.  Unfortunately, we've hit the cosmically ordained "creepy middle-aged guy leches over teenage girls" story in our saga, but Rohmer handles it as elegantly as anybody could, and it's far more self aware than most modern attempts.  This isn't a Woody Allen-style romanticization of line-crossing May/ December relationships - though it may come off that way at first - but a sincere and critical exploration of that more unfortunate aspect of human nature.  But admittedly, it comes off more skeevy now than it did in its day.

2006 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Well, we're back to 1.31:1 versus 1.37:1.  This DVD has a bit of a red hue, which the blu-ray color corrects, despite having a more natural warm tone.  You can see how much richer the colors are in that first set of shots, where the DVD comes off as far more pale.  This is another fresh 2k scan of an original 35mm camera negative, and while grain capture is a bit patchy, it's light years beyond the DVD's transfer, which doesn't even hint at it's film grain origins. 

As always, both discs provide the original French mono with optional English subtitles, but the blu-ray kicks it up to LPCM.

For extras, we get the theatrical trailer again.  And as with My Night At Maud's, we get another vintage television clip.  This time it's nine minutes with stars Beatrice Romand (who's gone on to appear in at least five other Rohmer films), Jean-Claude Brialy and Lawrence de Monaghan.  We're told Rohmer doesn't appear because he refuses to be filmed as he is "quite unsociable."  It's rather superficial and chatty, with the actors basically just pressed to give their impressions of Rohmer as a person.  Also, the picture quality's pretty rough.  But it's a rare bit of video, so it's nice to have it preserved here.

And so now it's finally time for those shorts, which I guess we shall tackle chronologically.  And I'll just take this moment to remind you the 1958 short Veronique and her Dunce, which is in both Criterion boxes (indeed, all the shorts and extras are the same across the 2006 and 2020 sets) has already been covered here.  We'll start with Charlotte and Her Steak, a brief 1951 clip starring Jean Luc Goddard as a young man who tries to make one woman jealous by visiting the titular Charlotte, who does indeed cook and eat a steak.  It plays like a brief chapter in a story otherwise left untold - in an opening screed, they call it a sketch - but it's a well written scene for what it is.

2006 AE DVD top; 2006 Criterion DVD mid; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Well, I'll tell you up front: don't expect remasters for any of these shorts.  They're included as extras and treated as such.  The just barely shifts from 1.34 to 1.33 to 1.35, respectively, and that's not down any difference in the framing, just a very imperceptible pinching of the image.  The blu-ray's an upconvert, so they're all just using the same master, which has some damage, dirt, scratches, judder and just a generally old and gruff presentation.  The opening credits are literally crooked.  And then there's some modern edge enhancement added to the mix.  All three discs have lossy French mono, but at least the subtitles are removable.

2006 AE DVD top; 2006 Criterion DVD mid; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Next we have the 1964 short, Nadja In Paris.  She's an exchange student studying abroad in... some French city, I can't remember which.  It's a sort of a brief, personal travelogue essay as she narrates footage of her time wandering around, chatting with the locals and visiting the museum.  It doesn't look that much fun to me.  The blu-ray is a pinch wider (1.35:1, as opposed to the DVDs' 1.33), but otherwise there's really no notable difference between the transfers.  The French audio is mono (obviously), and the English subtitles are removable on all three discs, so that's nice.

Now, these next three shorts aren't in the Artificial Eye set, only the Criterion(s).

2006 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

First up is a twenty-minute education film about the philosopher Blaise Pascal from 1965, appropriately titled On Pascal.  It's really an episode of a vintage TV show (En profil dans le texte), where two guests, an author and a priest, discuss/ debate their feelings on his writings.  The DVD is 1.32:1 and the BD is 1.34.  Both discs have lossy audio with removable subtitles.  The DVD has a faintly blueish hue, while the BD is more green.  Both are interlaced, but one benefit of HD is that the combing is smaller/ subtler, so it's by a very thin margin, but I'd actually call the 2020 release an improvement.

2006 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Next we have the 1966 short A Modern Coed.  This is another documentary piece, not a fictional work, where a female student stars and narrates, a la Nadja In Paris, but this one spends more time actually at school.  It's kind of an early feminist observational piece.  The only real difference in terms of the image is a slight pinch in the DVD's AR, which is 1.33:1, that the BD shifts to 1.34.  The French audio is lossy mono on both discs, which each have removable English subtitles.

2006 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

This leaves us at the last Criterion short, the considerably more modern The Curve from 1999.  It's not really a Rohmer film, written and directed by actress Edwige Shakti, who of course also stars.  Rohmer is just credited as technical adviser, but she's clearly taking a lot of inspiration from him.  She plays the model of an art student who meets up with his grandfather to discuss the curve of her back as a symbol of female beauty and comparing her to various works of art.  It plays like a clunky student film, and probably was something along those lines.  For Rohmer completists, though, it's a nice little bonus.  The film is 1.32 on the DVD and 1.34 on the BD and interlaced on both.  It was shot on miniDV, though, so that's likely inherent to the footage.  Even though it's a new film, the audio is still mono, and lossy on both discs.  As always, the subtitles are removable.

But wait, we have one more short film - this one's only in the Early Rohmer set, and not the Six Moral Tales boxes.  It's an hour+ 1968 TV documentary called The Lumiere Brothers, about the early cinematic pioneers.  It's basically two sit-down interviews with fellow filmmakers Jean Renoir and Henri Langlois with some clips inserted.  It's a bit dry, mostly just static shots of these guys in their chairs talking towards the cameras, but a rare and knowledgeable discussion by and about some important film masters.  It's framed at 1.31:1, and the film has some flecks, but looks pretty good overall.  The audio is mono in Dolby Digital 2.0 with removable subtitles.

Eric Rohmer: The Early Works just has the two DVDs in a clear amary case.  But the Criterion boxes are packed.  The discs are housed a fold-out digi-pack that's housed in a slipbox.  Also inside is a 64-page booklet with a series of essays and a vintage Rohmer interview.  And more impressively, a 262-page collection of all of Rohmer's original Six Moral Tales stories.  Criterion's BD box is easily the way to go for all six films and the accompanying shorts.  But Sign Of the Lion is only available on DVD as part of the massive French Potemkine set (briefly discussed here), so many of us Rohmer fans are still holding onto the AE DVDs, too.