"REBECCA" - Hitchcock classic why not at Warner? (1 Viewer)

[Damin J Toell]

Well, to start, their disc of The Lady Vanishes is now over 7 years old. It got (and deserved) rave reviews at the time.

DJ

 

[Mark B]

I agree. I was lucky and got the 5 film set for $60 when it was going out of print. But 39, LADY, SUMMERTIME, BLACK NARCISSUS, MOST DANGEROUS GAME, and CHARADE are not enough to merit more than $15-$20 price tags. Just my opinion. I really want the SPARTACUS set, but am not paying $50 for it.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Again, don't judge the cost by the MSRP.

The Third Man's MSRP is $39.98, yet it's $25.99 cheapest.

 

[Mark B]

And SPARTACUS is 35.96 at Deep Discount DVD, which is still more than I paid for the beautiful WB 4 disc BEN-HUR, GONE WITH THE WIND, and 3 disc OZ. I'm not trying to argue, I just never recovered from my initial dissapointments with Criterion and will never be able to warm to them, I guess. My loss...

 

[Patrick McCart]

I do have to agree that Spartacus could be reduced a little. However, I got BH for $29.99 and Oz for $32.99. $35.99 for Spartacus isn't too much of a stretch, but the price would probably be a little more justified if the film was split onto two discs and had DTS.

If you need "warming up" to Criterion, just check out the new M 2-disc, F for Fake, Eyes Without a Face, and 8 1/2.

 

[CameronMcC]

so where does Studio Canal stand on a stateside release?

 

[Lord Dalek]

They have deals with Lions Gate (T2, Stargate) and Criterion (Peppe le Moko). Maybe more.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Studio Canal dealt with Artisan which is now part of Lion's Gate. Would like to see Lion's Gate release early Hitchcock with the quality seen in Europe!

 

[Damin J Toell]

Studio Canal has also licensed titles to MGM, Anchor Bay...

DJ

 

[CameronMcC]

ok...so someone needs to liscence the films and get a new box set working.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Damin... that brings us back to the original question in this thread... Rebecca = MGM (aka Warner) with links to Studio Canal... why can't Warner get the rights to the earlier Hitchcock I know... I know, Rebecca is Disney held but I speak anything before it between 1925-1940

With so many movie mergers its a wonder anything gets released with who owns what these days?!?!?!

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

With that all said and done... does anyone have a compiled list of what pre 1940 Hitchcock movies available in Region 1 (or Region Free 0) "other than Criterion" that are worth picking up? I know of the Hitchcock site that offers screen capture comparisons but it isn't complete and how can you compare the overall movie with a couple captures? I don't want to waste my money on a few blind purchases So...

 

[Alejandro]

I own Criterion's Rebecca and although it's a beautiful print and has many rare bonus (the screen tests are amazing to look at) I missed the making of doc that usually acompanies Warner editions. Just my two cents.

 

[Patrick McCart]

No, Rebecca was licensed out by DISNEY to MGM (as in MGM DVD, the current MGM which was bought by Sony). Warner Bros. has absolutely no involvement with MGM, other than owning the company's pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films (plus the Associated Artists Productions package [1933-1957 Popeye cartoons, and all pre-1949 Warner Bros. films] and Gilligan's Island).

Rebecca has NO ties with StudioCanal. SC only controls some of the British Hitchcock films, which MGM DVD hasn't released yet.

Rebecca is a Selznick International film, owned by ABC (part of Disney), was originally licensed to Anchor Bay... when the license expired, Criterion was granted the license. That expired and MGM DVD got it... and has yet to utilize it.

The ONLY Hitchcock films that Warner Bros. controls are two RKO (Suspicion and Mr. & Mrs. Smith), one Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from Turner (North by Northwest), the 5 Warner Bros. films they've always owned (Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train, I Confess, Dial M for Murder, and The Wrong Man)... and they have distribution rights to the Castle Hill-owned film (Walter Wanger productions, originally RELEASED by UA) Foreign Correspondent.

That being said, I wish WB had the rights to the four Selznicks since MGM DVD isn't doing anything with them.

 

[seanOhara]

The only decent one I know of is the Kino edition of Jamaica Inn. On the other hand, public domain collections of all Hitch's British films cost about ten bucks -- the picture quality is about what you'd expect at that price, but at least you'll have them on video, and it won't be any great loss should any of the films ever get a decent R1 release.