Comments: It was a great year, there were so many great releases I had a very hard time nailing them down to ten. I tried to include as much diversity in my list as I could, trying to reflect my taste as best as possible. It isn’t really a ‘best of list’ purely in terms of DVD quality per se, but more a mixture of viewing pleasure, discoveries, personal treasures and important historical releases. And yeah, I did leave out the Rohmer set… don’t ask me why. Furthermore I want to put a word in for the amazing ‘Star Spangled To Death’ by Ken Jacobs which is available through his website.

Comments: With such an abundance of quality releases during 2006, choosing the final 10 is bound to reflect this week's preferences which could just as easily be modified next week, depending on mood: box sets and collections from WB, Fox, and Universal all contributed greatly to the general adrenalin rush, particularly The Astaire/Rogers Ultimate Collectors Edition, Film Noir 3, The 3-disc Maltese Falcon, both Clark Gable sets (WB and Fox), The Jayne Mansfield Tashlins, Betty Grable Vol 1 (with Alice Faye in the pipeline!!), various Dietrich Collections, many others. Other greatly prized acquisitions include Rediscovering Jacques Feyder (though it would be great to have a Rediscovering Jean Gremillon as a sequel!); Robert Webb's western sleeper The Proud Ones, with the estimable Robert Ryan; Fuller's Merrill's Marauders (R2, France) and The Saga of Gosta Berling (maybe the release of the Stillers will inspire some Sjostroms for the 2007 calendar).

Comments: A solid year. At first I thought it was going to be a problem coming up with ten new releases. But overall, a solid list. Also glad to see movies like Reds and The Conformist get released on DVD (only been able to catch on TCM). Now looking forward to Salo coming out in '07. Hopefully, Criterion will continue to re-release other discs in more definitive sets.

Daryl Chin
Brooklyn, NY
Daryl Chin is an artist and writer living in Brooklyn, New York who has been on the board of directors of NewFest and Apparatus Produtions, co-founded the Asian-American International Film Festival, and began his career as Managing Editor of Film Culture Magazine in 1976-77.

1. Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, 2004) starspangledtodeath.com; R0
2. John Wayne - John Ford Film Collection (John Ford, Various, 10 Discs) Warner; R1
3. Max Ophüls’ Films x4 (Madame De..., Le Plaisir, The Reckless Moment, Letter from an Unknown Woman) Second Sight; R2 PAL
4a. Mikio Naruse Vol. 1 [Repast 1951/Sound of the Mountain 1954/Flowing 1956] MoC; R2
4b. Toni (Jean Renoir, 1935) MoC; R0 PAL
5. Winter Soldier (Winter Collective, 1972) Milliarium Zero; R0
6. The Other Cinema Collection [15 discs, including Tribulation 99 1991/Sonic Outlaws 1995/Spectres of the Spectrum 1999/Sins of the Fleshapoids 1967/Anxious Animation] The Other Cinema; R0
7. Marlene Dietrich: The Glamour Collection (Josef von Sternberg, 1930, 35; Rene Clair, 1941; Mitchell Leisen, 1947) Universal; R1
8. The Complete Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles, 1955, 3 Discs) Criterion; R1
9. Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970) Parlour Pictures; R1
10. El Doctor, Joy Street & Asparagus (Suzan Pitt, 1979-2006) First Run Features; R1

Comments: This was one of the richest years yet for DVD releases, from every end of the spectrum, from "budget" releases (such as The Glamour Collections of Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Mae West) to massive releases (such as Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films, courtesy The Criterion Collection). Essential Arthouse was so overwhelming that it was impossible to process. Nevertheless, I tried to highlight some of the "essential" works of cinema which finally made their way to DVD this year (such as titles by John Ford, Max Ophüls and Mikio Naruse), as well as notable independent works on small labels or on self-distributed labels (cf. Wanda and Star Spangled to Death). I felt that the three-volume set of Mr. Arkadin was exemplary as an example of how the DVD format can be used as an educational medium to highlight the variations in release prints. This year, there was so much released on DVD that any list can only be the tip of the iceberg, but more, much more remains. Nevertheless, I've tried to highlight independent and experimental cinema as much as I can.

Comments: For me this was a great year because a number of titles I'd been hanging out for finally saw release (Satantango, The Spirit of the Beehive, Funeral Parade of Roses), and also it was the year that Australian Region 4 DVDs houses started to really step up and produce work that was competitive on the world stage. On the down side, low resolution of NTSC continues to be a limiting factor on enjoyment, especially with the great number of essential titles released on NTSC in great transfers, but still limited by those 480 lines of vertical resolution. And no resolution of the HD wars in sight.

Comments: I've spent part of the year exploring classic Indian cinema. Most people know only Satyajit Ray if they know any names at all, but he's only one of several world-class directors that country has produced. Unfortunately, the DVDs released so far are horrible, with MoC/Eureka's Abhijan being perhaps the only classic Indian film on DVD in a decent edition. My wish is that they, Criterion's new label, or someone else, will see fit to release not only more Ray, but also the films of Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, and some of the Raj Kapoors, in better quality DVDs.

Comments: Not a 10-best list, but a list of significant films released for the first time on DVD and a pair of special editions that repay study. Retour de Flamme 05 merits inclusion for a 1908 stop-motion version of A Trip to the Moon, a hand-tinted 1912 Cyrano de Bergerac with sound on disc, and a newly discovered early John Ford western, By Indian Post (1919), lacking the first reel. 

Comments: Louis Malle Collection - Vol. 1 is listed solely for its inclusion of Le Feu Follet. Also, this is the second year that an edition of Saraband has made my list (the former list including the best edition available, the latter list including the best edition available for English-speaking audiences). If one is ever in a cinematic slump, then one only needs to watch the films on this list in order to be reminded of the power of cinema. From Sátántangó to Keane, this list includes films -- presented rather nicely on the DVD format -- that foster insight into the human psyche on the part of the viewer. According to Roethke, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” How true. Enjoy. (P.S. “Best Contemporary releases” that were made slightly before 2004 include Bergman’s Saraband (Sony R1; MK2 R2), as well as Gallo’s The Brown Bunny (Sony R1; Kinétique R2).

Comments: While my list seems to indicate a preference for Criterion’s products, I think that Criterion as a whole is (slightly) over-praised. Criterion releases many stand-out DVDs, but Warner Bros. releases hundreds of catalog titles each year with decent video and audio as well as low, low prices. Comparatively speaking, Warner offers consumers the most bang for the buck. Just missing my Top Ten is the ERA release of Raise the Red Lantern, which is bare-bones but has high-quality video and audio--essential for one of the greatest movies ever made.

Comments: I was happier with DVD releases this year than what came out in theaters. Some long awaited titles finally made it to DVD and quite a few of them were films I had only heard about and finally was able to experience.

Comments: Exciting year. Filled in many vacuums, films that have been longed for and hunted for ages. My vote went to titles we haven’t had before like (Lombard) rather than (Dietrich) which were available in other regions. Missing from above Shoeshine, Seven Men from Now, Bellissima, L’armee des Ombres, Herzog docs, Red Desert, The Double Life of Veronique, Criterion’s Mr. Arkadinn, À nos amours, Children are Watching, Hands Over City and Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, Ginger and Fred, Funeral Parade of Roses, Harlan County, the 2 John Ford boxes from Warners, The Nun's Story. It has been a great year.

Comments: As I posted on this list last year, to me the strong point of DVD is its affordability and accessibility, leading me to get excited about films that I can enjoy again and again in my own home (preferably with subtitles, but sometimes without.) I believe this list reflects this, and shines a somewhat dimmer light on contextual material and ideal video representation (though those companies that aspire to such heights of quality have my utmost respect.) Some other discs that deserve mentioning are Fantoma's R1 Red Angel (Masumura), TOHO's R2 Yukoku AKA Patriotism (Mishima), Criterion's R1 The Spirit of the Beehive (Erice), and MoC's R2 Funeral Parade of Roses (Matsumoto) and Fantastic Planet (LaLoux).