Look into the series Criterion Channel have programmed for August and this lineup is revealed as (in scientific terms) quite something. “Hollywood Chinese” proves an especially deep bench, spanning “cinema’s first hundred years to explore the ways in which the Chinese people have been imagined in American feature films” and bringing with it the likes of Cronenberg’s M. Butterfly, Cimino’s Year of the Dragon, Griffith’s Broken Blossoms, and Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet—among 20-or-so others. A three-film Marguerite Duras series brings one of the greatest films ever (India Song) and two lesser-screened experiments (Baxter, Vera Baxter and Le navire Night); films featuring Yaphet Kotto include Blue Collar, Across 110th Street, and Midnight Run; and lest we ignore a Myrna Loy retro that goes no later than 1949.
Criterion editions include The Asphalt Jungle, Husbands, Rouge, and Sweet Smell of Success; streaming premieres for Loznitsa’s Donbass, Béla Tarr’s watershed Damnation, and I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing; and bonus easter egg: congratulations to Battle for the Planet of the Apes on its new title, Worst Film Ever Put on the Criterion Channel.
See the full list of August titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
7 Faces of Dr. Lao, George Pal, 1964
Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys, Jessica Oreck, 2013
Acting Our Age, Gurinder Chadha, 1992
After the Thin Man, W. S. Van Dyke, 1936*
All These Sleepless Nights, Michał Marczak, 2016
Another Country, Molly Reynolds, 2015
Arabesque, Stanley Donen, 1966
The Asphalt Jungle, John Huston, 1950*
August Sky, Jasmin Tenucci, 2020
Battle for the Planet of the Apes, J. Lee Thompson, 1973
Baxter, Vera Baxter, Marguerite Duras, 1977
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, Jessica Oreck, 2009
Better Luck Tomorrow, Justin Lim, 2002
Blue Collar, Paul Schrader, 1978
Bone, Larry Cohen, 1972
Brigadoon, Vincente Minnelli, 1954*
Broken Blossoms, D. W. Griffith, 1919
Charlie Chan in Honolulu, H. Bruce Humberstone, 1939
Charlie’s Country, Rolf de Heer, 2013
China Doll, Frank Borzage, 1958
China Sky, Ray Enright, 1945
The Curse of Quon Gwon, Marion E. Wong, 2005
Damnation, Béla Tarr, 1988
Daughter of the Dragon, Lloyd Corrigan, 1931
Donbass, Sergei Loznitsa, 2018
Double Wedding, Richard Thorpe, 1937
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange, Iryna Tsilyk, 2020
Flatbush! Flatbush!, Alex Ramírez-Mallis, 2021
Flower Drum Song, Henry Koster, 1961
Fran, Glenda Hambly, 1985
The Good Earth, Sidney Franklin, 1937
Gulpilil—One Red Blood, Darlene Johnson, 2002
The Heathen Chinese and the Sunday School Teachers, 1904
A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich, Ralph Nelson, 1978
A House Divided: Denmark Vesey’s Rebellion, Stan Lathan, 1982
Husbands, John Cassavetes, 1970
I Love You Again, W. S. Van Dyke, 1940
I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, Patricia Rozema, 1987
King of Chinatown, Nick Grinde, 1939
Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy, Lewie Kloster, 2016
The Letter, Jean de Limur, 1929
Libeled Lady, Jack Conway, 1936
Life Without Dreams, Jessica Bardsley, 2022
Little Miss Marker, Walter Bernstein, 1980
Lost Horizon, Frank Capra, 1937
Love Crazy, Jack Conway, 1941
Love Me Tonight, Rouben Mamoulian, 1932
M. Butterfly, David Cronenberg, 1993
Mad Dog Morgan, Philippe Mora, 1976
Manhattan Melodrama, W. S. Van Dyke, 1934
Massacre of the Christians by the Chinese, 1900
Midnight Run, Martin Brest, 1988
Misty, James B. Clark, 1961
Mizuko, Kira Dane, Katelyn Rebelo, 2019
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, H. C. Potter, 1948
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Henry Koster, 1962
My Name Is Gulpilil, Molly Reynolds, 2021
A Nice Arrangement, Gurinder Chadha, 1994
Nonstop, Zac Manuel, Marta Rodriguez Maleck, 2021
Once Is Not Enough, Guy Green, 1975
Past Perfect, Jorge Jácome, 2019
Penthouse, W. S. Van Dyke, 1933
Piccadilly, E. A. Dupont, 1929
Portrait of Kaye, Ben Reed, 2021
The Proposition, John Hillcoat, 2005*
Queenie, Cai Thomas, 2020
Rabbit-Proof Fence, Phillip Noyce, 2002
The Red Pony, Lewis Milestone, 1949
Rider on a Dead Horse, Herbert L. Strock, 1962
Rouge, Stanley Kwan, 1988
The Sand Pebbles, Robert Wise, 1966
Silver Streak, Arthur Hiller, 1976
Stamboul Quest, Sam Wood, 1934
Stay Close, Luther Clement and Shuhan Fan, 2019
Storm Boy, Colin Thiele, 1976
Sunflower, Vittorio De Sica, 1970
Sweet Smell of Success, Alexander Mackendrick, 1957
Ten Canoes, Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr, 2006
Test Pilot, Victor Fleming, 1938
The Thin Man, W. S. Van Dyke, 1934
Touch of Evil, Orson Welles, 1958
The Tracker, Rolf de Heer, 2002
Two for the Road, Stanley Donen, 1967
Valley Girl, Martha Coolidge, 1983
The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, Jessica Oreck, 2014
The Wedding Banquet, Ang Lee, 1993
We Are the Best!, Lukas Moodysson, 2013
What Do You Call an Indian Woman Who’s Funny?, Gurinder Chadha, 1994
Whipsaw, Sam Wood, 1935
The Wolfpack, Crystal Moselle, 2015
The World of Suzie Wong, Richard Quine, 1960
Wood and Water, Jonas Bak, 2021
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, Joan Chen, 1998
Year of the Dragon, Michael Cimino, 1985
*Available in the U.S. only