Sunday, 19 September 2010

The Lost Criterion Commentaries

It’s a real shame that the Criterion-recorded commentaries for Taxi Driver and David Cronenberg's Crash are still marooned in laserdisc limbo, such is the habit of Criterion for hanging onto their extras, when they lose the rights to a particular film. Luckily, mp3 rips have been made of the director commentaries for their Taxi Driver and Crash laserdiscs, and both are presented here...

David Cronenberg always delivers fascinating commentary tracks for his films but the Crash commentary is especially illuminating as Cronenberg discusses and elaborates on some of the more esoteric ideas in the film, as well as the controversy that followed the release of the film.

The Taxi Driver track is one of Scorsese's better commentaries, recorded as Scorsese watched the film (and not stitched together from interviews). Joining Scorsese on the track (but recorded separately) is writer Paul Schrader, and both men deliver an excellent and comprehensive overview of their iconic film. Listen out for Scorsese in a rare slip, bungling a Jean-Luc Godard title !

Late addition: John Sturges commentary for Bad Bay at Black Rock, from the Criterion laser (Many thanks to Rob for this!)

Crash - David Cronenberg (Mediafire)
Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader (Mediafire)
Bad Day At Black Rock - John Sturges (Mediafire)



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14 comments:

  1. Silver Ferox Design19 September 2010 at 13:51

    Nice one Wes - I will be checking CRASH soon!

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  2. Anonymous24 September 2010 at 15:32

    Great stuff, Wes! Thans for providing these. Am listening to the Cronenberg one right now.
    barry from mondomovie

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  3. Vic Arpeggio18 January 2011 at 22:05

    Thank you so much! I'm getting rid of a bunch of my laserdiscs (moving in with my fiancee after the wedding and there's just no room) and definitely looking for long-OOP Criterion commentaries (BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK and THE GREAT ESCAPE are the two I'm after now).

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  4. Wes19 January 2011 at 12:35

    Thanks for the comment Vic. I'm moving house at the moment as well and I gotta say it's a huge pain ! So good luck with that. I was looking for the Bad Day commentary as well but so far have not found it - if I do come across it (and The Great Escape!) I'll post it up or throw you a link...

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  5. Unknown3 February 2011 at 03:58

    I have the Great Escape and Bad Day at Black Rock commentaries archived. I would be happy to trade for others. Get in touch if interested. It is a shame these aren't more available.

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    Replies
    1. Jane6 September 2012 at 20:17

      Hello JMalina! I am desperate for an mp3 of the Bad Day at Black Rock commentary. Please, please get in touch, my email is " janekarpovsky@gmail.com ". Thanks very much!!

      Delete
    2. Rob8 September 2012 at 06:44

      Hi,
      I've been looking for the Bad Day at Black Rock commentary for a while. Any way you'd share it?

      Thanks.

      Delete
    3. Unknown11 September 2012 at 17:33

      I have been looking for the Bad Day at Black Rock commentary for months now. Just bumped into your post. I don't really have anything to trade... any other way you might be willing to share?

      Thanks,

      Rob

      Delete
  6. Don't Get Nasty Brother13 August 2012 at 05:22

    Thank you very much for this!, Especially the Cronenberg one.

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  7. Wes11 September 2012 at 20:51

    If I had the Sturges commentary I would happily post a dl link but this one is exceptionally rare and since Paul Thomas Anderson mentioned it on Boogie Nights, it's easily become the most sought after commentary track ever recorded. I regularly check two places for commentaries so I'll keep a look out - someone, somewhere will post this eventually !

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  8. Unknown21 September 2012 at 17:39

    A lead:

    cinephilearchive.tumblr.com/

    @LaFamiliaFilm on twitter

    Check this guy's blog, he says he has the commentary and will be posting it soon.

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  9. Unknown31 October 2012 at 19:41

    At long last, here it is:

    https://twitter.com/myPDFscripts/status/259415680615596032

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  10. Wes31 October 2012 at 20:22

    Many thanks Rob on behalf of everyone !

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  11. Craig Edwards29 September 2014 at 14:25

    What a great resource! Thanks Wes and everybody!

    ReplyDelete

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