The 10 Best DVDs of 2006

1. Eric Rohmer-Six Moral Tales: Criterion Collection
2006 was a huge year for Criterion, who clearly ran away with the torch this year after suffering stiff competition from Warner Brothers last year. Featuring everything from Rohmer’s novella and essay “For a Talking Cinema,” a barrage of his early shorts and an interview with him film in the past year, Criterion’s treatment of “Six Moral Tales,” reviewed previously here, was a cinephile’s dream.

2. The Searchers: Ultimate Collector’s Edition
John Ford’s epic had long deserved the deluxe treatment, which Warner Brothers had been rising the bar on the past few years with their revisions of “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” and it does not disappoint. Featuring a newly restored transfer, commentary with Ford scholar Peter Bogdanovich, a number of featurettes, and a reproduction of the original press book and Dell comic book, this edition easily justified its forty dollar price tag.

3. The Double Life of Veronique: Criterion Collection
The second Criterion effort to chart my list, Krzysztof Kieslowski’s long-awaited “The Double Life of Veronique” stands as another gem from Criterion. Featuring early films, a wonderfully illuminating commentary track with Annette Insdorf, documentaries, and a 2005 interview with Kieslowski’s muse, Irene Jacob, “The Double Life of Veronique” is a great spot to start for Kieslowski beginners.

4. A History of Violence
One of the best films of 2005 was also granted one of the best DVD releases, featuring a barrage of documentaries including one looking at the film’s reception at Cannes, an engaging commentary with director David Cronenberg, and a rather surreal deleted scene, New Line’s treatment of “A History of Violence” was hardly lacking. The small exception? More of a focus on the film’s inspiration, a graphic novel.

5. Six Feet Under: The Complete Series
One of the best television series of the last twenty-five years, Alan “American Beauty” Ball’s intimate and comical look at a family that runs a funeral home is best cherished in this extensive collection. Containing all five seasons, a small book, two soundtrack CDs within a grave-like box, complete with fake grass, “Six Feet Under: The Complete Series” is extremely rewarding of its $200 price tag.

6. Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier
Next to Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner,” Francis Ford Coppola’s excessive masterpiece was one of the early DVD releases crying out for the special edition treatment. While the “Hearts of Darkness” documentary is notably absent from this “Complete Dossier,” the set does come complete with both versions of the film (the original and Redux), a small sequence of deleted scenes, commentary by Coppola, and a handful of featurettes chronicling everything from the unique sound mix of the film, its extensive editing, and Coppola’s rather drug/ego hazed plan to release the film in only one theater in the geographical center of the United States, “The Complete Dossier,” a disappointment in a sense, but extensive enough for the more-than casual viewer.

7. The Complete Mr. Arkadin: Criterion Collection
Unlike “The Complete Dossier,” “The Complete Mr. Arkadin” is not a misnomer. Criterion’s three-disc set, decked out with three restored cuts of the elusive Orson Welles film, including a new edit completed specifically for the DVD, Welles’ original novel, three episodes of “The Lives of Harry Lime” from which the film drew inspiration, Jonathan Rosenbaum’s essay on the film’s multiple versions, and a commentary with Rosenbaum and James Naremore, “Mr. Arkadin,” while not “The Magnificent Ambersons,” is a film full of flashes of Welles’ genius, even if it is awkwardly uneven and it has been given more than a noteworthy treatment.

8. The Maltese Falcon: Special Edition
Warner Brothers’ modestly priced “Maltese Falcon: Special Edition” features not only a new transfer of John Huston’s classic noir, but two of the film’s previous screen incarnations, “Satan Met a Lady” (starring Bette Davis) and “The Maltese Falcon,” three radio show adaptations, a commentary with Humphrey Bogart scholar Eric Lax, and several shorts, “The Maltese Falcon: Special Edition” is the stuff dreams are made of.

9. Bubble
While Steven Soderbergh’s stunning experiment “Bubble” will probably go overshadowed by “The Good German,” its frighteningly simple story, performances, brevity, and exhibition history (released on DVD four days after its debut in theaters), make the DVD more than worthy of purchase, the extras, including Soderbergh’s commentary with Mark Romanek, a commentary by the film’s three leads and the film’s writer, and a couple little featurettes, seal the deal.

10. The Conformist: Extended Edition
Long-awaited on DVD for justifiable reasons, Bernardo Bertolucci’s masterpiece “The Conformist,” while lacking slightly on the special features side of things, more than redeems itself with a ten to fifteen dollar price tag, an “extended edition” of the film, and a stunning new transfer of Vittorio Storaro’s breathtaking cinematography.

[Note: I would have loved to put the Janus Collection in the top slot or even on this list at all, but it’s six hundred dollar price tag ultimately voided it from contention.]