What's new

Another Hitchcock set from Universal....and NO BLU-Ray??? (1 Viewer)

bigshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
2,933
Real Name
Stephen
bgart13 said:
Since 1963?
Among the Universal controlled films, Shadow of a Doubt is a million times better than The Birds. It is right up there with Rear Window, Strangers on a Train and Notorious in my book. Even Man Who Knew Too Much or Frenzy would have been better choices.
 

Mark-P

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
6,487
Location
Camas, WA
Real Name
Mark Probst
From a film scholar point of view you are probably correct that "The Birds" is a lesser Hitchcock film, but in terms of popularity, it is considered one of Hitch's most iconic titles, right up there with "Psycho" and "North by Northwest."
bigshot said:
Among the Universal controlled films, Shadow of a Doubt is a million times better than The Birds. It is right up there with Rear Window, Strangers on a Train and Notorious in my book. Even Man Who Knew Too Much or Frenzy would have been better choices.
 

JoeDoakes

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
3,453
Real Name
Ray
2012 marks Universal's 100th Anniversary. Film elements allowing, I imagine 2012 would be a good bet for high prestige films like Rear Window and Vertigo to make blu ray. As for this set, I am all for repackaging. As long as studios show some committment to bring fresh material out, I don't mind them trying to get more out of their classic library by rereleasing them in new packaging. Universal has not done much so far in 2011, but I hope they are saving new material for next year. I bet that it will release several classic blu rays in 2012.
 

Osato

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2001
Messages
8,184
Real Name
Tim
dana martin said:
you know its not only universal, i am noticing a trend, repackage, bundel and push the dvd all over again, WB seems to be going that route as well, up comming Thin Man 4 film set.


Criterion and its Hitchcock box well i would love to see that if done corectly, but after criterion MGM/Fox released the premier collection that had some of those titles, and am uncertian if they still have those titles to release, the problem is so many good films, and work needed to present them corectly
Agreed. MGM did several new James Bond dvd sets. 2 sets of the Connery Bond's for sure. Saw set 2 at Target and all I could do was laugh... I guess the DVD sets of older catalog films still sell well then? To me it seems like they are just over saturating the market with releases. I also agree with Dana that it adds to customer confusion as well.
 

montrealfilmguy

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
541
Real Name
Ben Weaver
on that last note,i'd like to add.. could someone fix it so we get one giant Evil dead box set with every extra features of every edition ever made. And don't forget to add the Evil dead 30 min.short that helped raise the funding for the feature.Its in the worst condition ever and unsalvageable but i still want it nonetheless. thank you.:)
 

Mark B

Screenwriter
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Messages
1,070
Location
Saranac Lake, NY
Real Name
Mark
With Universal's Blu-Ray track record I'd rather wait for them to do the Hitchcock films right, rather than have them thrown out on disc now in waxy EE plagued reworkings of the masters from the red velvet boxed set.
 

Brisby

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
288
Real Name
Robert Knaus
Mark B said:
With Universal's Blu-Ray track record I'd rather wait for them to do the Hitchcock films right, rather than have them thrown out on disc now in waxy EE plagued reworkings of the masters from the red velvet boxed set.
Universal did a bang-up job with Psycho on Blu.
 

Paul_Warren

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 15, 2002
Messages
518
Location
London, England
Real Name
Paul
Its obvious that the cost of new HD transfers for the most popular Hitchcock movies is an issue as they need to put a lot of time/money into giving us something worth upgrading to! Sadly I think a lot of these will never see a BD release as most catalog releases from the 1950s-1970s just do not sell very well on BD as apart from us enthusiasts mainstream audiences will have little interest in upgrading.............. If the funds were there I think we would have seen or heard of it by now. NBNW is a great example of how Hitchcock should be treated on BD but even then I found a few minor compression issues on water especially overall though it was a terrific release. If only Universal would sell all their Hitchcock library to WB I know WB would make more of an effort to make these happen. Universal are the next MGM until someone buys them or they go bust! No mega box office hits for many years (Jurassic Park1 was their last global megahit!!!) & obviously little income to fund BD restoration projects...............
 

JoeBond

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
126
Real Name
Joseph Myers
I am disappointed with this news as well and it seems to me its an excuse to get rid of the already released DVD's by putting in a new box set. What is strange to me is that I found a press release which notes the bonus features for each film, each movie only gets one disc, but the strange thing is that the bonus features for Vertigo differ from the first disc from the Legacy DVD release which could mean to me at least the disc of Vertigo is either the first DVD or the Masterpiece DVD. The other thing is that Psycho doesn't include the making of Psycho documentary which rules out the original DVD but it could be either the Legacy DVD or the Masterpiece DVD. My whole point of it is that if Vertigo's disc is the one from The Masterpiece box set then it would include the original mono which the Legacy DVD didn't include. Still I would much rather this being a Blu-ray box set but since I don't own Vertigo, The Birds, and Rear Window and this seems to indicate that The Birds may not be coming to Blu-ray this year I may get it at the right price. Especially since the improved transfer of The Birds which was released with Masterpiece Box set has not been released individually and while the Bluray is on pre-order I'm starting to think we may not see any more Hitchcock on Blu-ray from Universal this year. I do believe Vertigo, Rear Window, and The Birds could be released on Blu-ray right now and look pretty good since the HD versions I have seen of all three look great and not overly processed unlike the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much which looked horribly waxy when I saw it in HD on Cinemax I believe. Here is a link to the press release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/from-universal-studios-home-entertainment--alfred-hitchcock-the-essentials-collection-limited-edition-126343623.html
 

Bradley-E

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Messages
1,019
I think I read that Uni was going through with restorations of the Hitchcock titles before releasing them on Blu ray. A few of them really looked bad on DVD. I'd rather them not rush anything out and take time in doing them correctly. The Birds was talked about for 2011 so I would guess we would hear about a release of it soon unless they feel it is not ready yet. I'd like Paramount to get off thier lazy asses and release To Catch a Thief though.
 

Mark Collins

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
2,552
Real Name
Mark
Here is another reason I am upset with Universal http://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-75th-Anniversary-Universal-Legacy/dp/B000GPIPT2/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1316714428&sr=8-11 What the heck is going on with them???
 

Craig Beam

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2000
Messages
2,181
Location
Pacific NW
Real Name
CraB
Mark Collins said:
Here is another reason I am upset with Universal http://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-75th-Anniversary-Universal-Legacy/dp/B000GPIPT2/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1316714428&sr=8-11 What the heck is going on with them???
What's the problem? That was released in 2006.
 

Moe Dickstein

Filmmaker
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2001
Messages
3,307
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Real Name
T R Wilkinson
We really need a restoration of "The Man Who Knew Too Much". It's never looked at all decent on DVD, and being a VistaVision film, it has the potential to look amazing. I'd love to see RAH work on that one, as well as update his fantastic work on Vertigo. Criterion is releasing "The Lady Vanishes" on BD this year.
 

Osato

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2001
Messages
8,184
Real Name
Tim
Maybe some Hitchcock titles are coming next year then?? From The Digital Bits: First, Universal is going to start releasing a series of new and reissue Universal: 100th Anniversary Editions of their various catalog titles on Blu-ray and DVD next year, starting with Billy Elliot on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack on 1/10/2012. Billy Elliot hasn't been released on Blu-ray in the U.S., though import versions are available. All the new titles will include those not yet released on Blu-ray. We expect to learn of more soon.
 

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy
Moderator
Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 9, 1998
Messages
67,615
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Robert
Originally Posted by Craig Beam
[url=http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0065N6K9Q/ref=nosim?tag=dvdbeavercom-20&link_code=as2&creativeASIN=B0065N6K9Q&creative=374929&camp=211189]Notorious
Spellbound
Rebecca

Which means they'll be available here in the near future.
 

nyguy2046

Agent
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Messages
39
Real Name
Chris
It doesn't look like Universal has any intentions of releasing any Hitchcock Blu-rays in the near future. I had written them an email about it in the last two weeks and the following was their reply: "Thank you for contacting us. No plans have been announced for the Blu-ray release of "Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection." A multitude of factors influence the timing and content of our releases. Unfortunately, no further information is available at this time. For a listing of upcoming releases, please check our website periodically at: www.nbcuniversalstore.com. You might also wish to subscribe to our online newsletter for product announcements at http://signup.universalstudios.com/form/39. We appreciate your interest and hope that you will continue to enjoy Universal products. Sincerely, Consumer Relations UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT" If anyone cares to write to them to communicate displeasure about this, the general email is [email protected]
 

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy
Moderator
Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 9, 1998
Messages
67,615
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Robert
Yet, we can preorder some of those titles from Amazon CA and they will play on our BRD players. I would take that email with a large grain of salt.







Crawdaddy
 

Adam Gregorich

What to watch tonight?
Moderator
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 20, 1999
Messages
16,530
Location
The Other Washington
Real Name
Adam
Originally Posted by nyguy2046

It doesn't look like Universal has any intentions of releasing any Hitchcock Blu-rays in the near future.

I had written them an email about it in the last two weeks and the following was their reply:

"Thank you for contacting us.

No plans have been announced for the Blu-ray release of "Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection." A multitude of factors influence the timing and content of our releases. Unfortunately, no further information is available at this time.

For a listing of upcoming releases, please check our website periodically at: www.nbcuniversalstore.com. You might also wish to subscribe to our online newsletter for product announcements at http://signup.universalstudios.com/form/39.

We appreciate your interest and hope that you will continue to enjoy Universal products.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT"

If anyone cares to write to them to communicate displeasure about this, the general email is [email protected]

That email is from Universal Customer Service, who know less about title availability that you can find here or on Amazon. I would be shocked if there wasn't a Hitchcock title or two coming out as part of their 100th Anniversary in 2012. We should know more by the end of first quarter next year.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,153
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
I thought I read somewhere after Psycho appeared last year that the next Blu-ray Hitchcock release from them was going to be The Birds.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,818
Messages
5,123,881
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top