What's the connection between the iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey and art-house purveyors The Criterion Collection? It may seem the obvious link is direct, that 2001 is part of the Criterion Collection but that's not the case—Criterion offers five of Kubrick's works and 2001 isn't among them. The connection is a terrible little English B movie from 1964 titled Devil Doll. This low-budget horror film stars Bryant Haliday, William Sylvester and Yvonne Romain but it's the first two names we're interested in today.
Bryant Haliday, in 1959 with business partner Cyrus Harvey, Jr, founded Janus Films, an American film distribution company famous for essentially creating the American market for foreign film. Janus Films imported and distributed some the most iconic films to be created outside of American borders. Ultimately, riding out the wave of success the partners sold Janus Films in 1965, with present-day Criterion doing the distribution of the Janus Films library.
On the other hand, William Sylvester, the "token American"" in many British productions in the 1950s and 1960s, portrayed Dr Heywood Floyd in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Permit me an aside: personally speaking, I always thought Sylvester had the makings of a bigger career. He certainly was handsome and talented enough, maybe with a small streak of ham in him. Even after his appearance in 2001 he (and/or his agent) never made the jump to bigger and better things, remaining in mostly smaller films and one-off television roles on both sides of the ocean.
But back to our nexus at hand. Despite any positive reviews you may have read, I can't recommend this film even at a historic level. Usually I'll try to identify with the era of a film but even so in this case, Rod Serling did this type of thing better with one hand tied behind his back. In fact, he did…twice[^1][^2]! That's what Devil Doll feels like: a Twilight Zone episode that goes on far too long. Apparently film critic Leonard Maltin (who?) found the film "…An exquisitely tailored, sharply edited sleeper." Well, I'll grant you the sleeper bit.
Prepare to not be scared. For your snoozing pleasure MovieSnob Horror Theatre presents the wasted opportunity Devil Doll! Waste an hour and twenty minutes of your precious time…if you dare!
[^1]: "The Twilight Zone," The Dummy (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb
[^2]: "The Twilight Zone," Caesar and Me (TV Episode 1964) - IMDb
Criterion released 2001 on laserdisc. They just no longer have the rights to it. (I'm old.)
Wow! Then again, on second thought I'm not too surprised, not because of the art-house/historic value of the film but because the aforementioned co-founder's appearance (and most likely paying a song for licensing).
Regarding no longer having the licensing rights, I'd guess (but could be wrong) they sold eleven copies of this dog, on laserdisc no less (that probably only sold a few hundred units /jk), and decided to cut their losses!
I think you've misinterpreted what I said. 2001: A Space Odyssey was released by Criterion on laserdisc, not Devil Doll. Not that Criterion hasn't had a few questionable films in their catalog. They released The Rock and Armageddon. Still scratching my head on those.
HA! Color me embarassed! I have a daily quota on misinterpreting things people tell me. I parsed that as "In the year 2001 Criterion released Devil Doll in laserdisc format! 🤦
I should edit the article to say "present-day Criterion"…but I won't (evil laugh)! 🦹 Do you remember when that 2001 release was from? Guessing from the format, 1980s or early 1990s? It's actually surprising (to me, anyway) how long the format survived; according to Wikipedia, Scorsese's Bringing Out The Dead was released on Laserdisc in the year 2000, the final Laserdisc (North American) release for Paramount.
And finally, we're both scratching our heads in unison regarding Criterion's occasional lapses of judgment of their releases. What's next? Zack Synder's Justice League: Justice Is Gray? Eww…I just got a little sick there.
Looks like 1988. There were quite a few Criterion releases that were laserdisc-only.
Thanks, pal!
You bet!