Claudine (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Great movie

This movie checks off all the boxes for a great film. How does one speak of Love Jones... Jason's Lyric...and Love & Basketball and yet never ever mention . . . CLAUDINE ?!? How sway?? "FRAUD‼️" is all I'll say (iykyk 👀) The movie is so honest and authentic that one could easily forget that you are in fact watching a movie. I personally was amazed by the many dynamics it addressed in the relationships it presented particularly because each dynamic was given enough depth and breadth to satisfy the viewer so as to not short change any of them. And being that I've never seen Diahann Carroll in an acting role before, I have to ask WAS SHE EVEN ACTING?? She was phenomenal! I mean, Wow. Don't get me wrong tho because the WHOLE ENTIRE CAST were in their bag! I could do a whole reaction video on this movie but I'll end it by saying that I don't know if I can ever watch another so called black love movie the same ever again. To every one that had a hand in this production Please just take these ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and these 💐💐💐💐💐 and get etched into stone as one of the greatest cinematic love films ever. #Top5. . . easily #Number1. . .quite possibly #Claudine. . . did it better

Remember this movie growing up and when I saw on DVD format, I had to have. Really loved Diahnn Carroll

Love this movie.

Good story and great production

Great movie, I love how it shows the protest against welfare and the love story.

Love movie with James earl Jones and Dihann Carol.

Man, this film took what seemed like 100 years to come out on blu-ray! I had the worn out, old DVD since it came out and I had been waiting since BD came out in order to get this movie in HD! After having viewed it, I almost see why it took so long... I cannot recall having bought a Criterion Collection BD before, so I cannot compare it to anything in particular, I wished that this WAS NOT a CC BD - so that the price could have been lower! I waited for some time for this and it was going to be a blind buy regardless, but at $30? That was a lot and I almost did not want to do it - until I saw Ebay prices! That kind of told me that this is rare and may be out of print rather quickly, so I needed to snatch this up. Besides, once this was confirmed, I sold my old DVD. The case is nice - albeit plain. There is no branded audio, only mono PCM - which I did not mind! I prefer the original audio and for mono tracks to be in mono. I like for my center channel to work and it sounds more theater-like with the mono sound coming from the center channel speaker. I have my settings set up the right way and I tried again, but the main audio track kept coming through as stereo even if the player said mono, but output to stereo. The second audio track with commentary had the actual mono sound, but it was with commentary. I think they messed up, and that was Dolby Digital, not PCM. The sound was very clear and detailed. The picture is a mixed bag! When I first fired it up - I was wondering how I would argue to get my money back, then I remembered that films from the period with wide shots usually look fuzzy, even though this was dark as well. I figured I would wait for a proper shot. Those shots came as Claudine entered the home where she works. Everything was much brighter, clearer and more detailed than we've ever seen this film before. However... Even with that, from actual camera shot to camera shot within the SAME scenes, one fixed shot can be bright and detailed, while the other can be darker and not as detailed. This kept me thinking about the price that I paid! All of those things take place within the first 15 minutes, then the pictures gets more consistent, with details being high, colors being distinct - which is important for 70's styles! James Earl Jones high-powered suits ring out in detail to the point that you think that you can feel the odd patterns on his jacket! I doubt if they ever make them like that again! Every now and then, a shot with that murky, darkness with reappear, which kind of ruins things - when taking the PRICE into consideration! They say it was a 4K remaster and I can tell by the grain. It almost looked as if I had been watching a 4K BD. It had that 4K kind of fine grain structure. As this pro review stated, parts of it looked to be slightly artificial, but I think it came as a result of the 4K remaster, although when the grain is very fine (but visible), faces seem to lack a little detail at times, with hotter whites on the lower details of the faces. This suggests what the reviewer saw - a possible sharpening of things. Overall, this may be the best that this can look. However, the MAIN reason to own this is not just because of the HD presentation - but because this is the first time that Claudine has been presented in it's native WIDE SCREEN on home video! THAT was one of the main things that I was waiting for. Of course, this gave it a truly cinematic feel that only fans of the film can appreciate since we never saw it before - unless you were old enough to have seen it in theaters. I was not and most of my viewings came from channels 5 and/or 11 in NYC. That was back in the 80's and 90's until time went on and they started to fall back on films over 20 years old on TV. The price I do not like, but if you wait for too long - it may be gone and the price will rise. The only thing worse than paying this price, is if they release a 4K version! Well, watching this again was bittersweet because Dianne Carroll (Harlem native) is not around anymore, and each time I watched this throughout my life, I always felt good knowing that everyone was still around. You still get that good feeling from before, except that being a grown man means that I can better understand the adult themes. Seeing old, crummy NYC brought back childhood memories too and it made me realize that time is still going, and all of these old films are of the age of the old black and white films while the 80's and 90's were here.