Jean-Luc Godard's HISTOIRE(S) DU CINEMA

The Set can be bought from amazon.co.jp for $276 or so (32,900 Japanese Yen - shipped) As far as I know, this is the only DVD set available anywhere. Gaumont only released a VHS set. The Japanese set is R2 NTSC.

The Japanese Histoire(s) du Cinéma DVD set does not have English subtitles, only Japanese. However, there are many sources with the English translations (probably the best bet would be the ECM CD box set). Also, if you can learn katakana (which is very easy), you can benefit from some of the annotations done by the researchers, indicating many of the citations used in
the series.

The packaging is a smaller CD-sized black case that houses 4 black cardboard flip cases. Volumes 1A and 1B are actually 2 DVD's - the other volumes share a DVD (5 DVD's total). On the inside of each flip case is a series of small frames from the film. Everything is very tastefully designed... And I do like the smaller profile of the case - I wish all DVD cases were cut down to the CD case size.

The best thing about the Box Set is not even mentioned. The team behind the release researched all of the quotes (be they songs/books/films), and at any given time while watching the movie, you can click on a certain icon.

When you click on the icon, it stops the movie and pulls up a separate screen that shows the source of the quotation, and its possible meaning.

You can also view these screens separately in case you don't want to interrupt the movie.

This is the extra that probably drove up the cost, they must have spent months just doing the research. Some Reviews:

www.filmfestivals.com/can...ilmc19.htm

music.barnesandnoble.com/...NID=310535

www.sensesofcinema.com/co...oires.html

www.sensesofcinema.com/co...rwath.html

www.newmedia-arts.org/cgi...091&lg=GBR