If you like classic films and film history, if you like to savour the greatest work by the greatest writers, actors and directors who FILM DOWN STRUCK STRUCK 70 OVER THE TOP FilmStruck Causes and effects of the recent closure of FilmStruck
were told that they would be able to find any title they wanted at any time. Sadly, this proved not to be the case. If you wanted to see the best of the best, it was a desert. FILMSTRUCK STRIKES What a great gift to all humanity then that Turner launched Filmstruck in November 2016. The Turner library is one of the great treasures of moving picture content. With FilmStruck, Turner would make the historically and critically valuable content on its Turner Classic Movies cable channel available online for streaming and on top of that, FilmStruck would license the Criterion Collection. And the pants of film lovers around the world became very un-dry instantly. However, the FilmStruck goldmine was only available in the US, leaving many worldwide fans having to use VPNs to access the service. At the beginning of this year, FilmStruck launched FilmStruck International in the UK, with plans to roll it out in France and Spain. The International offshoot did not offer the treasures of the US FilmStruck, but instead offered a limited mix of classic films and carefully curated indy content, but no Criterion titles. European streamers whose conscience prevented them from using a VPN to access the American version, waited in hope that the Criterion service would be expanded. THE ANNOUNCEMENT Then, earlier this month, this announcement appeared on the FilmStruck website: “We regret to inform you that FilmStruck will be shutting down. Our last day of service will be November 29, 2018, and we are currently no longer enrolling new subscribers. “We would like to thank our many fans and loyal customers who supported us. FilmStruck was truly a labor of love, and in a world with an abundance of entertainment options – THANK YOU for choosing us.” On the FilmStruck International site, a similar message was posted – also in French and Spanish.
phonograph generations. The Criterion Collection itself also became a catalyst for its own content. Knowing that there was an outlet and an audience for such content, rights holders restored their premiere titles specifically for Criterion releases. The Criterion Collection was a collection, too – it was irresistible geek bait, featuring spine numbering starting with Jean Renoir’s The Grand Illusion at #1. The avid laserdisc collector fantasised about owning the entire collection, even as it continued to grow. Then DVDs came. Laserdiscs were kicked to the curb and Criterion quickly adopted the new format, and now it’s Blu-ray that is the preferred format for new Criterion releases. But what about streaming? As the streaming revolution took off, consumers
ever lived, the Golden Age of TV has largely left you behind. If you search for ‘classics’ on Netflix, you’re likely to get Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn/Stanley Donen classic Charade (because the film fell through the legal cracks and is now in the public domain) or The Godfather or Scarface or Goodfellas . You aren’t going to get The Searchers, Persona or War of the Gargantuas . You could go to a service like Amazon Prime and pay for these films a la carte, but that is going to get expensive (relative to your other video subscriptions), very, very quickly. The Criterion Collection started as a laserdisc offering. In a land before DVDs, laserdisc was the best home video format and Criterion was a company dedicated to putting the best possible films, in their best possible versions on to the best possible formats – usually with great extras. There were documentaries, cut scenes, commentary tracks, even the odd collectible booklet. The big format of laserdiscs, made the sleeve/box and its contents a part of the experience – like LPs were for the
THE AVID LASERDISC COLLECTOR FANTASISED ABOUT OWNING THE ENTIRE COLLECTION EVEN AS IT CONTINUED TO GROW
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