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Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008 - Page 8

post #211 of 256
11/19/08 at 7:42pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Well, I give up. The "sturdy" plastic case on my second set broke (I returned my first set on release day for the same reason). Back to CostCo it went, and I didn't opt to bother getting a third. I'll pick these up individually or, even better, wait for the inevitable Blu-rays.
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post #212 of 256
11/20/08 at 3:13am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Beam
Well, I give up. The "sturdy" plastic case on my second set broke (I returned my first set on release day for the same reason). Back to CostCo it went, and I didn't opt to bother getting a third. I'll pick these up individually or, even better, wait for the inevitable Blu-rays.
I'm glad I decided to just wait for the individual discs I need (Sabotage, Paradine Case, Young and Innocent, The Lodger). I already have crappy public domain copies of those films, but have always wanted to replace them. Sure the new versions of Rebecca, Spellbound etc would be good, but I already have the Criterions.

I hate it when the studios release great sets in dumb packaging. I had to send back two Ford at Fox sets to Amazon because of scratched discs and broken packaging.

Why can't they just release things in double THINPaks with a cardboard slipcase? That would provide room for a nice DVD size hardcover book.
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post #213 of 256
11/20/08 at 5:10pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Picked up the singles out now from DeepDiscount with their 20% off sale, about eleven bucks each, for the extras, since I have the Criterions, and the improved transfers. Can't wait to get the others.
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post #214 of 256
11/21/08 at 6:06pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Consider me pissed at MGM/Fox for their shoddy treatment of these titles. I was tempted to buy the box set but after all the reviews from customers about the packaging warping the discs & causing loud noises when playing the discs in their player, I decided to just order the three individual titles. I just received them, and I have reason to believe it wasn't the packaging warping the discs that caused the problem. While I haven't had time to watch each film through yet, upon cursory scanning, Rebecca seemed fine. But both Notorious and Spellbound exhibited that loud grinding/humming noise described and both discs look pristine. So I can only chalk it up to shoddy DVD authoring.

Also, a rather minor quibble, each individual release comes with a little 4 page insert. It's printed on thin magazine-type paper, which I can live with. But who the hell decided to glue the pages together? There's two little dabs of glue holding the pages together that not only leaves an oily residue, it actually tore off poor Cary Grant's face from one of the inner pages from my "Notorious" insert!

It's all rather a shame. MGM/Fox seemed to go to good lengths to restore and create new supplements for these films, but they had to skimp out on the authoring/packaging? There's no reason these discs should make the same loud noise I get from my DVD player when I play my "public domain" Hitchcock set I got from the bargain bin at Walmart.

EDIT: Upon further tests, Notorious and Spellbound fail to play at all on my cheapie player & instead I get the noise followed by some screen about subfolders. They play without a hitch on my PC though.
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post #215 of 256
11/22/08 at 6:47am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I recently received my shipment from DVDEmpire to replace my first copy (which was shattered along the bottom) and, whew!, it's in immaculate condition. All of the discs are in better shape than the first copy I got, too, save for "The Paradine Case", which has a fair amount more hairline scratches than I'd prefer, but I doubt they'll affect playback. Therein lies the last test--I've tried playing none of these discs, so my fingers are crossed I will avoid the drama many are having in that respect. I really hope all is well because, outside of using sleeves-that-scratch for holding the discs (I've moved them all to jewel cases so they'll never be further abused), I think this is one of the most gorgeous (precarious, yes, but gorgeous) DVD packages I've ever seen...
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post #216 of 256
11/22/08 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Travis, can you please try playing "Notorious" & "Spellbound" to see if they exhibit the loud noise that many of us have gotten?
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post #217 of 256
11/22/08 at 10:03am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I finally watched all these. I had 2 issues, NOTORIOUS has one mutha bitch of a layer change at the 42 minute mark or so, but still played. and THE LODGER, NOTORIOUS and SPELLBOUND all made that noise. I have had that loud noise before on the odd disc, so I'm kinda in the "meh" camp as I'm not to worried about it. It wasn't all that distracting, or all that loud, more a case of hearing a sound as opposed to most discs that are silent. Also, the noise started as the movie played, I'm wondering if its a disc flaw where the disc warms up in the player that causes it?

still love the set, and still find the packaging to be top notch and durable. I think out of all the Hitchcock collections, this one might have the strongest films over all since I enjoyed all of them and didn't find any to be kinda dry or un-interesting which I can't say for the WArner and Universal sets. Now I got to find that Lionsgate set on the cheap!
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post #218 of 256
11/22/08 at 2:56pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell G
I finally watched all these. I had 2 issues, NOTORIOUS has one mutha bitch of a layer change at the 42 minute mark or so, but still played. and THE LODGER, NOTORIOUS and SPELLBOUND all made that noise. I have had that loud noise before on the odd disc, so I'm kinda in the "meh" camp as I'm not to worried about it. It wasn't all that distracting, or all that loud, more a case of hearing a sound as opposed to most discs that are silent. Also, the noise started as the movie played, I'm wondering if its a disc flaw where the disc warms up in the player that causes it?

still love the set, and still find the packaging to be top notch and durable. I think out of all the Hitchcock collections, this one might have the strongest films over all since I enjoyed all of them and didn't find any to be kinda dry or un-interesting which I can't say for the WArner and Universal sets. Now I got to find that Lionsgate set on the cheap!

Certainly the collection has some strong films (Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound, Young and Innocent, The Lodger, Lifeboat, Sabotage) and from top to bottom one could make the argument that even the lessor titles are still pretty good. But if your criteria is the "strongest films overall" certainly nothing compares to Universal with Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Marnie, Shadow of a Doubt, Psycho and The Man Who Knew Too Much. You don't even need to care a hoot for Topaz and the others, you already have more strong titles than any other collection can match.
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post #219 of 256
11/22/08 at 4:46pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich_d
But if your criteria is the "strongest films overall" certainly nothing compares to Universal with Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Marnie, Shadow of a Doubt, Psycho and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
I'm not so sure. I think Sabotage is as good as all of those films.
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post #220 of 256
11/22/08 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Perhaps the noise isn't to distracting for some. I've never had a nice home theater so when I watch a movie, it's typically in my small room on my small TV with my DVD player positioned right next to it. So for me at least, the noise is loud enough to compete with the movie's audio so that's why I find it distracting. It does seem to be loudest when the movie is first played though (it gets progressively quieter as I skip through to each subsequent scene). So maybe it's not too much of a problem for those with a better layout.
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post #221 of 256
12/13/08 at 4:20pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I'm tempted to buy it especially now that amazon has it 50% off ($59.99) but with all of these comments about bad quality control I've held off.

I'd like to hear from someone who has recently ordered the set to see if they're still getting faulty discs(?)
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post #222 of 256
12/15/08 at 2:31am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Z.
I'm tempted to buy it especially now that amazon has it 50% off ($59.99) but with all of these comments about bad quality control I've held off.

I'd like to hear from someone who has recently ordered the set to see if they're still getting faulty discs(?)
I just bought it as a Gold Box item for $56.99. If there are problems, I'll simply return it.
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post #223 of 256
12/16/08 at 10:51am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I ordered my from Deep Discount DVD early last week for an insanely low $47.99. I received it yesterday, so I'll probably begin inspecting the discs by watching The Lodger and Sabotage since I've never seen these two.
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post #224 of 256
12/16/08 at 7:30pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I borrowed the box set. The Lodger is a highlight as I haven't ever seen it look better. You have your choice of two scores. Personally, I like the Ashley Irwin version.

I'm a big fan of Young and Innocent and it also looks better than I've ever seen it. The Paradine Case also looks good. Sabotage really shows its age. These four films are the ones I watched so far and the ones coming in February as single releases.

I took a quick look at Rebecca. To be quite candid, Criterion's version isn't much better than a cheap release I picked up along the way and this version is no better looking than Criterion's version. I guess the source material is just not that good.

I tried all the discs (except Lifeboat and Notorious) and they all played fine, no noise. Again, this is a sample merely of one. I kinda like the binder approach they used although tabs would have been nice to get to the disc you want rather than just leafing through it.

I've already mentioned my thoughts about box sets made up substantially from previously released titles, but for free it's a really good box set.
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post #225 of 256
12/17/08 at 8:41am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray H
Consider me pissed at MGM/Fox for their shoddy treatment of these titles. I was tempted to buy the box set but after all the reviews from customers about the packaging warping the discs & causing loud noises when playing the discs in their player, I decided to just order the three individual titles. I just received them, and I have reason to believe it wasn't the packaging warping the discs that caused the problem. While I haven't had time to watch each film through yet, upon cursory scanning, Rebecca seemed fine. But both Notorious and Spellbound exhibited that loud grinding/humming noise described and both discs look pristine. So I can only chalk it up to shoddy DVD authoring...

EDIT: Upon further tests, Notorious and Spellbound fail to play at all on my cheapie player & instead I get the noise followed by some screen about subfolders. They play without a hitch on my PC though.

It's inexcusable and unbelievable that MGM would go the cheap route in 2008, effectively turning out virtually unplayable Hitchcock releases. Thanks to all for the warnings!
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post #226 of 256
12/18/08 at 9:49am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

By the way, I received my boxset the other day and after examining it, I can understand the complaints about this release's packaging. Not a good job by those hired by MGM/Fox.





Crawdaddy
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post #227 of 256
12/18/08 at 10:43am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

The Murnau/Borzage collection (new) is in the same kind of packaging. It's a really bad way to store/sell disks.
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post #228 of 256
12/18/08 at 10:52am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I know, especially for double-sided discs. The first thing I did after opening up my Murnau/Borzage set last night was to remove the DVDs and to put them into two multi-disc keepcases.
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post #229 of 256
12/18/08 at 4:30pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

To be fair, after my plastic box fell apart, I did wind up using a little (stronger) adhesive to put it back together, and I do think it'll be fine now. And it is a very attractive package. That, and having to clean one of the discs. The biggest issue still lies in the cardboard sleeves, which I'll never understand why anyone thinks is a good idea.

Even with all of that said, I'm still ecstatic to have this set, as all of the movies look very good, and MGM/Fox deserves my praise for giving an official release to some of Hitchcock's earlier work that I never thought I'd see. I didn't have problems with "noisy discs", warped discs, nor anything else I haven't mentioned. I still find this set worth every penny that I spent.
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post #230 of 256
12/25/08 at 7:06am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

In light of the problems with this set, I waited and got mine about two weeks ago...I bought it from a secondary Amazon dealer, and lo and behold, my copy played nicely. Clearly, it's weird and non-standard packaging doesn't even fit well on my shelf, but after viewing "Sabotage" and "Young & Innocent", it's well worth getting.

NOW.....if MGM would get around to doing the same quality transferring to "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Secret Agent" and "Jamaica Inn", I can be a happy camper.
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post #231 of 256
12/25/08 at 12:37pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Perhaps it's different on a case to case business. I was at my local library and saw that they had a copy of this edition of "Spellbound" and since this was one of the titles that was "noisy" I thought I'd borrow to see if it was a widespread problem. I was surprised to see that the library's copy played without a hitch. And just to make sure, I popped in my copy and it was noisy as hell!

So I don't know what's going on.
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post #232 of 256
12/26/08 at 5:29pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

It is possible the library did not have the new MGM release, but the previous Image release. That would explain the difference in reproduction quality using the same DVD player.
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post #233 of 256
12/27/08 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

No, it's the same release. It's identical to the MGM/Fox one I own with the exception that it lacks the playback issues.
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post #234 of 256
2/17/09 at 8:01pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I couldn't find any info anywhere else so I hope I'm posting in the right place. I was just wondering if anybody went out and bought the individual releases from the premiere set that came out last week? I bought the box set when it came out but did not bother opening it and starting it until about 2 weeks ago and had problems with two of the first three discs I tried. I have since been reading about all of the problems people have had with the set. I can still return it but I'm just wondering if it's worth exchanging just for the individual titles or if those have the same problems? Has anybody heard about similar problems with the new releases of Lodger, Paradine Case, Young & Innocent and Sabotage? Thanks in advance.
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post #235 of 256
2/18/09 at 7:42am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I got my Hitch box on sale from DD and had some "noise" problems (didn't bother me too bad) but all of them played. I think the issues may stem from the fact that the book that the DVDs are in is shrinkwrapped and creates a visible bend in the front and back covers of it. Just my speculation. I don't know if it would've been put in there without the shrinkwrap if all of the problems and noises wouldn't be an issue. Unless we find out later that there was some sort of manufacturer's problem (MGM/Fox is being mum about it).
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post #236 of 256
2/18/09 at 9:05am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by schaggydog
Has anybody heard about similar problems with the new releases of Lodger, Paradine Case, Young & Innocent and Sabotage? Thanks in advance.
I purchased individual copies of these and they played flawlessly.
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post #237 of 256
2/18/09 at 10:25am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by BarryM
NOW.....if MGM would get around to doing the same quality transferring to "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Secret Agent" and "Jamaica Inn", I can be a happy camper.

I'm fairly sure the rest of the British Hitchcock films are StudioCanal properties.
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post #238 of 256
2/18/09 at 12:26pm

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Secret Agent and Jamaica Inn are all part of the Granada International catalogue.
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post #239 of 256
2/19/09 at 8:20am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray H
So for me at least, the noise is loud enough to compete with the movie's audio so that's why I find it distracting.

I think this is due to the printing/labeling on the front of the disc. I've had this problem with some releases from the UK (the Russ Meyer titles from Arrow come to mind), and in those cases I actually had to copy them to a different disc for them to play without that loud jitter sound from the player! I also noticed the discs with the problem felt thicker than those without a problem.

Just my thoughts.
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post #240 of 256
2/22/09 at 5:02am

Re: Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008

I just got this set on sale from Amazon.com for only $41.99! And guess what.... Nearly all of the discs make a large rattling sound when playing. One of my players even says "No Disc" when they are inserted and refuses to play them. They play on my computer fine, but that isn't why I bought them. Back to Amazon.com...
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