when he falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, he is willing to give up his immortality to come back to earth to be with her. Made not long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, this stunning tapestry of sounds and images, shot in black and white and color by the legendary Henri Alekan, is movie poetry. And it forever made the name Wim Wenders synonymous with film art. DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Wim Wenders with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack • Audio commentary featuring Wenders and actor Peter Falk • The Angels Among Us (2003), a documentary featuring interviews with Wenders, Falk, actors Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander, wr...  (less)

and the pageantry of war, Kurosawa creates a soaring historical epic that is also a somber meditation on the nature of power.  (less)

for her dynamic portrayal of Margaret Schlegel, a flighty yet compassionate middle-class intellectual whose friendship with the dying wife (Vanessa Redgrave) of rich capitalist Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) commences an intricately woven tale of money, love, and death that encompasses the country’s highest and lowest social echelons. With a brilliant, layered script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (who also won an Oscar) and a roster of gripping performances, Howards End is a work of both great beauty and vivid darkness, and one of cinema’s greatest literary adaptations. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • High-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, with uncompressed Dolby...  (less)

having an affair with a married TV host; she’s never met her husband to be, who lives in Houston; the wedding has worsened her father’s hidden financial troubles; even the wedding planner has become a nervous wreck—as well as buried family secrets. But Nair’s celebration is ultimately joyful and cathartic: a love song to her home city of Delhi and her own Punjabi family. DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Mira Nair and director of photography Declan Quinn with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack • Audio commentary featuring Nair • Nair’s short documentaries So Far from India (1983), India Cabaret (1985), and The L...  (less)

along with a host of other lost souls, into a bafflingtly modernist Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting testament to a modern age tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.  (less)

and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied, imitated, even parodied, but never outdone, Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning was one of the benchmark foreign imports of America’s 1950s art house heyday, pushing cinema’s boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: New, restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Introduction by Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003 Audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie A new afterword to the commentary by Cowie Bergman Island (2006), an 83-minute documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd, featuring in-depth and revealing interviews with the director Archival audio interview with Max von Sydo...  (less)

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 soundtrack Video interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff and Henri-Georges Clouzot biographer Marc Godin Interview with Yves Montand from 1988 Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant, a 2004 documentary on the director s career Censored, an analysis of cuts made to the film for its 1955 U.S. release PLUS: An booklet featuring an essay by novelist Dennis Lehane  (less)

her vacationing sister in their London flat, Carole is haunted by specters real and imagined, and her insanity grows to a violent pitch. Thanks to its unforgettable attention to disturbing detail and Polanski’s unparalleled adeptness at turning claustrophobic space into an emotional minefield, Repulsion remains one of cinema’s most shocking psychological thrillers. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: • New, restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Audio commentary featuring director Roman Polanski and actress Catherine Deneuve • A British Horror Film (2003), a documentary on the making of Repulsion, featuring interviews with Polanski, producer Gene Gutowski, and cinematographer ...  (less)

wholly original universe, it's easy to miss the depth and complexity of Anderson's brand of comedy. Here, it revolves around Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), the errant patriarch of a dysfunctional family of geniuses, including precocious playwright Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), boyish financier and grieving widower Chas (Ben Stiller), and has-been tennis pro Richie (Luke Wilson). All were raised with supportive detachment by mother Etheline (Anjelica Huston), and all ache profoundly for a togetherness they never really had. The Tenenbaums reconcile somehow, but only after Anderson and Wilson (who costars as a loopy literary celebrity) put them through a compassionate series of quirky confrontations and...  (less)

Chappellet, a ruthlessly ambitious skier competing with an underdog American team in Europe for Olympic gold, and Gene Hackman provides tough support as the coach who tries to temper the upstart’s narcissistic drive for glory. With a subtle screenplay by acclaimed novelist James Salter, Downhill Racer is a vivid character portrait buoyed by breathtakingly fast and furious imagery that brings the viewer directly into the mind of the competitor.  (less)

as the Camorra), Garrone links five disparate tales in which men and children are caught up in a corrupt system that extends from the housing projects to the world of haute couture. Filmed with an exquisite detachment interrupted by bursts of violence, Gomorrah is a shattering, socially engaged true-crime story from a major new voice in Italian cinema. DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: New high-definition transfer, supervised and approved by director Matteo Garrone Five Stories, a 60-minute documentary on the making of Gomorrah New video interviews with Garrone and actor Toni Servillo Interviews with writer Roberto Saviano and actors Gianfelice Imparato and Salvatore Cantalupo Delet...  (less)

(Marius Goring), and the impresario determined to fashion her into a great dancer (Anton Walbrook). Criterion is proud to present The Red Shoes in its DVD premiere.  (less)