Press Release SPHE Press Release: Columbia Classics 4k Ultra HD Collection: Volume 4 (3 Viewers)

[BRAD1963]

I love these sets, and I have yet to be disappointed with them. Keep the coming Sony!

 

[PMF]

I love these sets, and I have yet to be disappointed with them. Keep the coming Sony!

I have not yet been disappointed, either. Once getting past the wish-lists that built in my head over the course of each ensuing year, and actually unearthing and watching ALL of what we’ve been given, it’s always a pleasure of great satisfactions and worth every penny.

Grover Crisp rocks.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Grover Crisp rocks.

He is the best!

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See on Amazon

 

[Garysb]

The price currently shown on Amazon of $215 is considerably higher than then the Volumes 1-3 sets list price of $164. I know the price will go down but it has much further to drop this time around before it gets to the price point I will be willing to pay.

 

[titch]

Let's see now:

- The brilliant black and white classic, from the original camera negative, which beats the five year old Criterion. Everyone likes His Girl Friday. Check.

- The Stanley Kramer Oscar winning classic, with another Sidney Poitier starring role. From the excellent 4K scan, which the Twilight Time disc from 2015 used. With the commentary from the Twilight Time that Sony omitted. I didn't get the Twilight Time disc. Check.

- I have really been enjoying the 70's Sydney Pollack classics on 4K UHD this year: The Way We Were, Three Days Of The Condor. They couldn't give us yet another comedy in this box with Tootsie, so why not the Dustin Hoffman/Meryl Streep acting powerhouse? An (quoting from Danny Peary) "excellent, thoughtful, humorous, sensitive film with terrific acting and real characters". Maltin: "Intelligent, beautifully crafted, intensely moving film". My blu-ray from 2009 looks crap. Check.

- More John Carpenter and Jeff Bridges in 4K - finally a decent 4K scan, what's not to like? Check.

- The Nora Ephron Meg Ryan, instead of the Rob Reiner one. But it has Rob Reiner in it. And with a much better transfer than the Twilight Time. Twilight Time again folks: Nick Redman knew what people liked and what sold out. Even though the he-men on this forum prefer westerns and hard-boiled film-noir, with a smattering of James Cameron: Sony is selling big time. Now you can invite your significant other in for a cosy snuggle on the sofa and justify all the big bucks you shell out for your hobby. Check.

- Er...the only Adam Sandler movie I've actually gone to the movies to see. Two decades ago. Wife hated it. Got divorced shortly afterwards. I've avoided Adam Sandler like the plague since. Tried Uncut Gems during COVID lock-down. It wasn't a success. Haven't opened the Criterion.

Thus for me: four out of five. Same as with the other three boxes. And I love the books and supplements that come with. Ker-ching!

 

[PMF]

What?!!

$215.99 before taxes?!!!

That’s hedging towards 40 bucks per film.

And since I couldn’t give a hoot for Punch Drunk Love this averages out to 48 bucks per title. I wouldn’t even pay 48 bucks for Funny Girl.

Someone at Sony/Columbia has become overly assumptive in our supports for this series. As one who purchased Volumes 1-3, I will have to stop right there and leave it at that; unless the price-point of this pre-fixe set of titles became accessible.

$215.99 before taxes feels more like an eBay price.

 

[dpippel]

What?!!

$215.99 before taxes?!!!

That’s hedging towards 40 bucks per film.

And since I couldn’t give a hoot for Punch Drunk Love this averages out to 48 bucks per title. I wouldn’t even pay that for Funny Girl or A Passage to India.

Someone at Sony/Columbia has become overly assumptive in our supports for this series. As an owner of Volume 1-3, I will have to stop right there and leave it at that..

Like the advertised pricing on practically EVERY new release, this is MSRP and the actual cost will be less on release day. I am concerned about the higher MSRP for this set than the previous three, however.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Like the advertised pricing on practically EVERY new release, this is MSRP and the actual cost will be less on release day. I am concerned about the higher MSRP for this set than the previous three, however.

I have the same MSRP concern. I'm hoping it's an error. To go from $164.99 to 215.99 is quite a price hike. That's like a 31% increase.

 

[dpippel]

I have the same MSRP concern. I'm hoping it's an error. To go from $164.99 to 215.99 is quite a price hike. That's like a 31% increase.

It's certainly not an insignificant difference. Like you, I hope it's either an error OR the actual price we pay will be in -line with the previous three sets when #4 finally hits street date.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It's certainly not an insignificant difference. Like you, I hope it's either an error OR the actual price we pay will be in -line with the previous three sets when #4 finally hits street date.

It averages out to $8.50 increase per movie.

 

[dpippel]

It averages out to $8.50 increase per movie.

Crazy, isn't it? It just doesn't make much sense.

 

[PMF]

It averages out to $8.50 increase per movie.

$8.50 x 6 = $51.00 before taxes.

Such a difference in monies could go towards a 3 film boxed set from Criterion, such as Rosselini’s War Trilogy, Pagnol’s The Marseilles Trilogy, Wender’s The Road Trilogy; or even Lanzmann’s 9.5 hour documenraty of Shoah; plus more commercial fare such as the 4K/UHD of The Equalizer 1,2,3.

 

[PMF]

I have the same MSRP concern. I'm hoping it's an error. To go from $164.99 to 215.99 is quite a price hike. That's like a 31% increase.

By comparison in pricing, one can purchase all 3 volumes of The Alfred Hitchcock Collection in 4K/UHD for $125.00. And $165.00 at its original street dates, to split hairs, is still of major value.

That’s 14 Hitchcock films in the 4K/UHD format for just $125.00 versus 6 4K/UHD titles from Sony/Columbia at the current MSRP of $215.00.

‘nuff said.

 

[DarkVader]

While I do love these boxed sets I am irked. I purchased the last one because I wanted THE LAST PICTURE SHOW on 4K and then Sony went ahead and licensed it out to Criterion for an individual 4K release with TEXASVILLE as an added extra, so now I find myself "double dipping" because as a completist I want TEXASVILLE.

 

[SD_Brian]

Sony has only released one title as a standalone from any of these sets to date.

2-3, actually, depending if you count The Last Picture Show. Dr. Strangelove and Lawrence of Arabia are the others.

The Last Picture Show came from Criterion, with a different set of extras, and didn't include the original theatrical cut, so while it's had a standalone release, it's not a standalone release of what was in the Columbia box.

 

[SD_Brian]

While I do love these boxed sets I am irked. I purchased the last one because I wanted THE LAST PICTURE SHOW on 4K and then Sony went ahead and licensed it out to Criterion for an individual 4K release with TEXASVILLE as an added extra, so now I find myself "double dipping" because as a completist I want TEXASVILLE.

I opted to save a couple bucks and only got the Blu-Ray version of the Criterion, since I already had the 4K via the Columbia set. Being a completist is hell.

 

[PMF]

If Columbia lowers their price for Volume 4 and the series continues, I would hope to see a 4K/UHD provided of the following overall titles; before their 100th anniversary begins to lose its meaning or impact:

The Age of Innocence
All the Kings Men
The Big Heat
Born Free
Born Yesterday
Bugsy
Bye Bye Birdie
Cactus Flower
The Cardinal
Five Easy Pieces
Funny Girl
Legends of the Fall
The Long Gray Line
Lost Horizon (Capra)
A Man for All Seasons
On the Waterfront
A Passage to India
Places in the Heart
The Prince of Tides
Tootsie
You Can’t Take it with You

NOTE: The Last Emperor was omitted from my list, as it is already available through Arrow; unless Grover Crisp and his good team already has something up their sleeves to better it.

 

[SD_Brian]

If Columbia lowers their price for Volume 4 and the series continues, I would hope to see a 4K/UHD provided of the following overall titles; before their 100th anniversary begins to lose its meaning or impact:

The Age of Innocence
All the Kings Men
Born Free
Born Yesterday
Bugsy
Bye Bye Birdie
Cactus Flower
The Cardinal
Five Easy Pieces
The Flight of the Doves
Funny Girl
Legends of the Fall
Lost Horizon (Capra)
A Man for All Seasons
On the Waterfront
A Passage to India
Places in the Heart
Private Benjamin
The Prince of Tides
Tootsie
You Can’t Take it with You

NOTE: The Last Emperor is already available through Arrow, unless Grover Crisp has something up his sleeve to better it.

I'd second many of those on your list. An upgrade of Bugsy is long overdue, but it's technically a Tri-Star title so Columbia may/may not consider it as part of their 100th anniversary celebration. Private Benjamin is Warner Bros.

 

[PMF]

I'd second many of those on your list. An upgrade of Bugsy is long overdue, but it's technically a Tri-Star title so Columbia may/may not consider it as part of their 100th anniversary celebration. Private Benjamin is Warner Bros.

Thanks for the correction on Private Benjamin, to which I’ve now removed from the list.

Tri-Star films will work in the series for they’ve already given us As Good As It Gets.

 

[titch]

Volume 4 is the first set which is only announced for sale in the US. Neither Canada, nor Europe.