“A Very Small Robbery”: Guillermo del Toro raids Criterion vault

Visiting Criterion Collection headquarters to oversee finishing touches on the special edition of his debut film Cronos (to be released Dec. 7), Guillermo del Toro is invited to visit the storeroom and select any titles he wants. I like how del Toro picks up The Thin Red Line and reverently says “the master,” and appreciate that he asks about anticipated titles like Paths of Glory that aren’t even in stock yet. Cute how he turns his back on the massive wall of DVDs behind him. (standard def? no thanks.)

I had a related Moment of Geek this month when I discovered Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series in the UK and found their deluxe edition of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr — with full-length commentary by Guillermo del Toro who knows that movie inside out. Easily one of the most literate and entertaining commentary tracks I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing, it’s a 2-hour film seminar in a box. But I had to pay ¬£9.99 instead of grabbing an armload of goodies like del Toro can do — a kid in the Criterion candy store.