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Criterion repackages Jean Renoir’s 1951 classic The River for Blu-ray, one of the master filmmaker’s several titles in the collection (fans may recall that Renoir’s Grand Illusion was the very first Criterion title). A title significant in many respects, being the first Technicolor film in India and Renoir’s first color feature, it’s simplistic beauty has gone on to influence future generations of filmmakers, including its prominently vocal champion Martin Scorsese. It also served as a launching pad for Satyajit Ray, who worked as an assistant on the film, and who would go on to create his own stunning debut four years later with the first chapter of his Apu trilogy, Pather Panchali (1955).

We experience the childhood of Harriet (Patricia Walters) in retrospect, her off-screen adult voice recounting one particular stretch of time while growing up in India with her mother (Nora Swinburne) and father (Esmond Knight...

Chicago – It’s a cause for celebration amongst film buffs when any picture—however minor or unremarkable—is miraculously resurrected from the dead, enabling us to view a lost piece of cinema history. That being said, there are countless titles more worthy of being reborn than “Perfect Understanding,” the latest alleged classic released by Cohen Media Group.

At first glance, this 1933 talkie promises to be fascinating. After making the intimidating transition to sound, while scoring two Oscar nominations in the process, one would imagine that Gloria Swanson’s career was on fire. Yet her popularity was waning with audiences, inspiring the star to form her own production company to make this comeback vehicle with a young up-and-comer named Laurence Olivier. Apparently the film fizzled during its initial release, inspiring Swanson to make only two more pictures before disappearing for nearly a decade.

Blu-ray Rating: 1.5/5.0

It wasn’t until 1950 when Swanson...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: June 4, 2013

Price: DVD $24.99, Blu-ray $34.99

Studio: Cohen Film Collection/Entertainment One

Gloria Swanson and Laurence Olivier test out the viability of their marriage vows in Perfect Understanding.

Cinema icons Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard) and Laurence Olivier (Richard III) star in the 1933 romantic comedy Perfect Understanding, the only film the pair made together.

Judy (Swanson) and Nicholas (Olivier) are a young society couple who marry based on the “perfect understanding” that they will be allowed to enjoy extramarital adventures and never let jealousy come between them.

That arrangement is soon put to the test when a drunk Nicholas sleeps with a former lover (Nora Swinburne, TV’s The Forsythe Saga). When he returns to Judy, he is guilt-ridden and confesses his indiscretion. Judy forgives him, but Nicholas is soon battling his own feelings of jealousy when he comes to believe that Judy has slept with an old friend of hers (John Halliday,...

Adrienne Corri (Mrs. Alexander in A Clockwork Orange) in Jean Renoir’s The River The Art Directors Guild (Adg) Film Society and the American Cinematheque (AC) will honor Production Designer Eugène Lourié with a double feature: Andrew Marton’s Crack in the World (1965), starring Dana Andrews and Janette Scott, and Jean Renoir’s classic The River (1951), with Nora Swinburne and Esmond Knight. The screenings will be held on Sunday, June 27, at 5:30 pm. at the Egyptian Theatre. A panel discussion will be held between screenings with panelists Bernard Glasser, producer of Crack in the World as well as Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red [...]...