Criterion Collection Films

In the mid-1980s, a video distribution company began gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them with supplemental features that would enhance a viewer’s appreciation of the art of film. Known as the Criterion Collection, these selections and others are available to borrow from the Lititz Public Library.

BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFEThe Ballad of the Sad Café (1991)
The owner of the town’s only café (and distributor of homemade moonshine) is jeopardized by the arrival of a dwarf who claims kinship and the reappearance of her rejected husband.

Good Morning (1959)
In a 1950s residential suburb of Tokyo, two young brothers refuse to talk until their parents agree to buy them a television set.

This Happy Breed (1944)
The household of a British family with three children is touched by joy and tragedy from the end of the World War I through the beginning of WWII.

Sapphire (1959)Stagecoach
When a beautiful female college student is found dead in a public park, the police discover her murder may have been racially motivated.

Stagecoach (1939)
A group of travelers crossing the American West face the perils of bandit and Apache attacks.

Walkabout (1971)
Stranded in the Australian desert, an English girl and her small brother are rescued by an aborigine boy who has journeyed into the outback on his “walkabout”, a tribal initiation into manhood.

That Hamilton WomanThat Hamilton Woman (1941)
Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, Emma Hart, wife of the British ambassador to Naples, begins a scandalous affair with British Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson.

Wings of DesireWings of Desire (1987)
Angel Damiel wishes he were mortal and is willing to fall from the sky if it means a chance to fall in love.

A Woman under the Influence (1974)
A suburban housewife begins an emotional breakdown and her family struggles to save her from herself.

This Sporting Life (1963)
A mean and ambitious coal miner, who becomes a professional rugby star, is frustrated when his angry nature prevents him from befriending a young widow.

Heaven Can Wait (1943)
When a doubtful Satan demands proof of his disreputable deeds, a newly deceased playboy recounts a lifetime of wooing and pursuing women.

PICKUP ON SOUTH STREETPickup on South Street (1953)
A petty crook picks the pocket of an unsuspecting man and finds a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. secrets.

Slacker (1991)
A day in the life of a subculture of marginal, eccentric and overeducated people in and around the University of Texas presents a look at the emerging generation.

SlackerTunes of Glory (1960)
A whiskey-drinking, up-by-the-bootstraps commander of a peacetime Scottish battalion is threatened by the educated, by-the-book officer from a traditional military family earmarked as his replacement.

The Bostonians (1984)
A militant suffragette takes on the education of a gifted but naïve young protégé engaged to a penniless young lawyer with views strenuously opposed to the Boston feminists.

The Rules of the GameThe Rules of the Game (1939)
The affairs of the French aristocracy and the working class are contrasted against the backdrop of a weekend house party.

Originally published on August 1, 2014 in the Lititz Record Express.