Alphaville (DVD, 1998, Criterion Collection)

Avant garde director, Jean-Luc Godard, stormed the Berlin Film Festival winning the Best Film prize with "Alphaville."

The place Alphaville, is a metal & glass city: Paris, in the future. Or is it, asks Godard? Isn't industrialism & human alienation already overtaking major cities, like Paris, in Western societies?

Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) is trying to discover what happened to the Professor Vonbraun who went missing before Cauion took his place. In order to do so, Caution has to travel across a vast intergalactic time & area. Natasha Vonbraun (Anna Karina), the missing professor's daughter goes with Caution, who uses as alias, Ivan Johnson.

Caution-Johnson learns that Professor Vonbraun isn't dead as he had been presumed. Instead, he's the secret inventor of the most powerful computer that controls Alphaville, the "Alpha 60." The Alpha 60 works to dehumanize individuals by forcing uniform conformity. Once Caution-Johnson figures this out, his next goal is to destroy Alpha 60 before it destroys the very spirit of humanity: it's soul.

Godard's genius with "Alphaville" was creating a science fiction setting without special visual effects. The film's deep, darkness makes it a film-noir. The space chase makes it a thriller. Godard's film defies being pegged into a single film genre as a result. The artistic Godard makes use of the abstract. The political Godard makes use of reality. The scholarly Godard makes use of a theme that appeals to intellectuals as well as everyday people. Although it's been called a "cult classic" in order to be so, the film would have first needed to have flopped, which it didn't. It is a classic that began being a success when first released in the 1960's and has remained as such for nearly 50 years. Now on DVD, "Alphaville" includes special features:


It's in French with optional subtitles in English.
The DVD version has Dolby Digital Mono sound.
The scene selections are broken into 21 "Chapters":

1) Logos
2) Opening Credits
3) Agent from the Outlands
4) 3rd Class Seductress
5) Natasha
6) Stupid Questions
7) Can't Hear the Music
8) Dying Words
9) The Teachings of Alpha 60
10) Deadly Bathing Beauties
11) The Love of Money and Women
12) Professors Eckle and Jeckel
13) A Guarantee to Electrify
14) The Meaning of Conscience
15) Remembering Broadway
16) Natasha Defines Love
17) A Man and a Cup of Coffee
18) Reporter and Revenger
19) Escape
20) Rescuing the Princess
21) Color Bars

Owning the VHS is the collectible item, not the DVD since it is not the original release format~