Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008 - Page 7

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Only watched The Lodger and so far no playback issues.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Randy,

One thing I love about their return policy (including what you've written above) is that they will take back items even after the thirty days have expired. I don't believe they advertise this as such, but I have had to do it about three or four times, and have had no problem. And another aspect that I really appreciate is that one can, with their thirty-day window, 'mix' and 'match' the replacement item with the first bought item, pretty much assuring that you will eventually get a pristine copy.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Assuming they have another 20% off sale at DeepDiscount, I think I'll pick this one up during said sale. I already have Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rebecca, and Notorious, but I've not yet had a chance to pick up any of the PD releases or Paradine Case, so I'll probably double dip on this one and just keep my Criterions for collecting purposes.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

There have not been any PD releases of Paradine Case. Anchor Bay licensed it from the ABC library/Disney in the late 1990s.

Regards,

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Consumer reviews at Amazon.com reveal a great many people having the same defective disc problem that I experienced....sound like a bad batch??

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Ken,

I believe that you may have misread Wesley's post, as I do not think that he was implying that there have been any public domain releases of Paradine Case -- he said "but I've not yet had a chance to pick up any of the PD releases or (emphasis added) Paradine Case".

Regards,

Jay

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

As expected the plastic case of my set was slightly cracked when it arrived at my German home (sent by Axelmusic from Britain). Well, I've never complained about slightly damaged packages before - I guess I don't care too much about the packaging anyway. At least I understand we can't expect all sets to be in pristine shape after having been shipped halfway around the globe.

But what I'm really picky about is the lack of quality control regarding the discs themselves. NOTORIOUS actually had some remnants of glue at the edge of the disc - on the recorded side! You'd have to scratch it off with your fingernail or treat it with alcohol to get it off. Of my 3000+ DVDs I've never encountered such a badly produced DVD as this one. Luckily the disc played fine and I'm not afraid to mention I instantly produced a private copy of that disc for safekeeping.

ALL of the discs in the set produce a moderate humming sound on my one standalone, but a very distracting loud noise on the other - loud enough for me to have trouble listening to the dialogue.

Some of the discs were scratched but I'm happy to say only slightly so.
All of them played flawlessly on my gear, but with quality issues like these, one can easily imagine sensitive DVD players having trouble playing all of them correctly.

As I understand Fox distributes this set for MGM. I sure hope they put a little more effort in their forthcoming expensive BORZAGE and MURNAU collection.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Ahhh...[Gilda Radner sheepish Emily Litella voice]Never mind.[/Gilda Radner sheepish Emily Litella voice]

Regards,

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

My replacement set from Amazon came today, and the Rebecca disc still will not load.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Great news:

Classicflix.com : - Articles - - Young and Innocent 1937 The Lodger 1927 Sabotage 1936 The Paradine Case 1947

MGM will release Young and Innocent, The Lodger, Sabotage, and The Paradine Case separately. This in addition to the already released single editions of the remaining films in this set (save for Lifeboat).

Personally, I'll just pick up each title individually, after all the trouble folks are having with the set.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I'm really happy about this, but also annoyed because I already bought the set. I guess I'll try to plow through the box ASAP, eBay it, and the pick up the titles I really want to own (Rebecca, Notorious, Young and Innocent, maybe Sabotage).

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I read something on DVD Beaver about the discs on one side being warped due to the shrinkwrap being too tight.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

If I already own all the Criterion versions of these films along with the individual release of Lifeboat, is there really any reason to purchase the entire set rather than pick up the singles of "The Lodger", Sabotage", Young And Innocent", and "The Paradine Case"?

In other words, are the new transfers, supplements and book included in this new collection of quality enough to merit repurchasing all of these movies?

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I think the commentaries on the 3 titles previously available on Criterion are superior...anyhow, I really needed the earlier titles and Paradine Case, so I bought it...still trying to get one without defective discs, though.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Fantastic news. I was starting to consider doling out for this set just to get the one film I don't have (and want) Young & Innocent. Great to find out I'll be able to grab this lesser-known classic without buying 5 other discs I don't need.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

So:

Upset people that already have some of the films, enticing some to double-dip or sell off their other copies

Upset the boxset purchasers when they can't play what they bought

Upset the boxset purchasers when they learn that the titles they really wanted are now going to be available as single film releases

Just beautiful.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

You missed the 4th group Rich D:

Happy people who never had any of the titles previously, got an amazingly classy looking box set that's sturdy, discs with no scratches and play fine on their LG and SONY players, all for a really good price.

Honestly, with all the problems you guys are having, I'm thinking my boxset got made at a different factory or off planet. And you have to remember, the companies aren't out to serve you personally, they're out to move units. MGM never released these titles before, CRITERION and FOX did. You can't really blame the new MGFOX whatever it is to not bundle up all the Hitchcock they can into one wheeler dealer set? WARNERS and UNIVERSAL did, and no ones kicking their balls up their throats are they?

I'm extremely pleased with this set (and yeah, I had one the titles, LIFEBOAT. I gave it to a friend) and my hats off to FoxGM for releasing it. It eases the pain of the even more impressivly Murnau set that's just too pricey for me to blind buy. Thanks Fox/MGM!

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Russell, I'm happy that you're happy but your post is way off the mark.

Criterion didn't have the distribution rights to Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious they purchased the rights. If MGM HAD just released these films many a Hitchcock fan would have had a quality release of these films at a lot lower price point. Why should we give MGM a pass on that? So saying that MGM didn't double dip on these titles is nonsense. They just got our money through a transaction with another company, nothing more.

When Universal released their Masterpiece set of Hitchcock titles in 2005, Hitch fans BLASTED them for not releasing those titles individually. Now Universal is trolling for suckers by releasing the big titles yet again before the eventual Blu-Ray release and some of us have commented on that as well.

It would be one thing if the vast majority of this Hitchcock set was new AND the customer won't regret paying a good chunk of change for it a year later. But, hells bells some for sure are already regretting it with individual releases coming out before six months have gone by. How are they going to feel when this stuff gets released in Blu-Ray?

Face it. There is only one reason that Notorious and some of their other big titles are not being released on Blu-Ray now. That's to hoover some more sucker change before they do.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Exactly, the old owners of this part of the MGM catalog licensed the titles to Criterion, which means that a huge sweeping chunk of the public probably never knew these were out in the first place. It sucks for YOU, cause your a hobbyist. It's great for those of us who were late to jump on and those same Criterions are now being sold by hobbyists at greatly and irrationally inflated prices. For the new distributors of this catalog, this is a first time release. You'll note that previous distributors were more notorious for just sitting on titles instead of releasing them. I don't think we should fault the new rights owners for doing a kitchen sink release like this.

Allot of those complaints stopped when it was seen that there were new transfers being used that improved on the previous editions. Uni also eventually released many of those titles seperately. Most companies will do a deluxe edition of their big sellers so those legacy editions aren't too surprising.


As far as Blu-Ray, everything gets double dipped to Blu-Ray, So get used to it. And no ones forcing anyone to buy any of these titles. Don't be angry with the studios just because you decide to buy every version of every title released.

The studios could be doing this:
Hmm... looks like sales are stagnant on Hitchcock. It would be nice to get more money out of these titles, especially with remasters done for HDTV but the fans hate double dips, let's just sit on these.

Also, it worked out to about $9 a title for me. In the land of double dips, this is hardly the rack of pain screw job that it's being portrayed as.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I always love the 'it only works out to X per title' rationale. That's the sort of logic that gets someone ... living in a van down by the river.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

??? If your $50 away from bankruptcy, this may not be the hobby for you....

As far as the rational, it is a simple rational, I own one title, I can get 7 new ones (or whatevers in the set) for a good price. it's about $8 a title, which is cheaper then buying them as singles is going to be. If this is a logical mystery to you... well, I don't know what to say frankly. I understand that to those who did buy all the previous releases, this might seem like a bit of a burn. It doesn't however make this a horrible release.

You also seem to miss that you do have a thing called "Personal Choice" right? If you don't like what the studios are doing, nothing hits home like low sales. So don't buy it. Some of us forget that we don't actually have to own every DVD ever made....

If FOX/MGM or whoever is responsible for this set is following this thread, I would like to once again thank them for the effort and congratulate them for great release. now I just need time to watch them all properly, as opposed to just checking the discs.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

That's rather 'rich' coming from someone that's labeled their DVD collection link "who knew a credit card could scream?" Looks like I've struck a nerve.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

no, it looks like your out of argument with absolutely nothing left to say to support your views so you have to "sting" me with a comment about my link, which is a joke. *Russ sadly has to explain the obvious...*

Anyways, I'm hopping off this treadmill since I love the set.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

No, what's sadly obvious is anyone that refers to themselves in the third person.


Good for you. Let's move on.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Isn't it OK if someone likes this set?

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

The fact that one person, or even a majority of people, are happy with the set shouldn't negate the fact that there have been widespread technical problems as a result of shoddy quality control. MGM/Fox can't be let off the hook for this. Fox needs to start focusing on practical packaging vs. pretty but unwieldy packaging that wrecks the discs (see Ford at Fox for another example). Oooh, it comes in a cool binder...except all the discs are warped. Whoops.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Wow, glad I waited.

How does The Paradine Case compare to the Anchor Bay version, if anyone has both?

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Yeah, I have the ford set too, and had no problems with warped discs or playback.....

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Well, just returned my second set to Amazon...decided to try local source (Costco)...3 of the discs won't play. Heading back for a fourth attempt. This is getting tiresome.

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Just got it today thanks to the DDD sale ($60!).

All the discs work, no scratches, and the case is 100% intact. Lucky me.

Just from skimming, they did a great job remastering. My observations...

- Notorious is now progressive (Criterion was interlaced)
- Sabotage and Young & Innocent are a revelation after all the "PD" editions.
- The Lodger is easily one of the best silent film transfers. Fox even encoded it progressive with proper 2-3 pulldown so it's both silent speed and 24p.

It's great to have 100% of Hitchcock's American films on DVD now. Plus three more of his British films finally in legit R1 editions to go along with the Lionsgate box and the two Criterions.