Universal and TCM's Partnership For Made-To-Order DVD - Page 2

While I prefer pressed discs and cheaper prices(who doesn't?), this news isn't all bad. If we get some of the early Paramount films and obscure gems like James Whale's non horror output then I'm all for it.

Looks like some of the bonus features on these discs are:

• Behind the Scenes Photos
• Publicity Stills
• Lobby Cards
• Movie Posters
• In-Depth Info

The big question is how long after being made avasilable as part of this program will the films show up on TCM? 3 Months? 6 Months? A Year? Clearly the remastering isn't just for these limited releases but for future broadcasts.

If anything this program could help amorize the cost of remastering over both the releases and broadcast fees.

Did THE AFRICAN QUEEN ever come out on laserdisc?

Yeah. Taking a quick look at eBay, the prices seem reasonable on it too.

Could we now at last get the Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake film noirs ?  The Uninvited ? More Mitchell Leisen ?  The rest of the Marlene Dietrich titles ?  More Claudette Colbert....Deanna Durbin.....Barbara Stanwyck..... Carole Lombard ???   The rest of W.C. Fields/Bing Crosby and Bob Hope ??????   Thank you TCM and Universal.   Now if only something can happen with Fox and all the great remaining titles that are in limbo there.

I hear you and feel your pain and look forward to see what comes of this.  Perhaps, and I mean perhaps, Fox will look at this and do something through Fox Movie Channel. 

The question that no one has asked yet is the most important one: Who's doing the actual MOD? If it's Allied Vaughn again we're in trouble. In my last batch of Warner Archives, every single title freezes 30 seconds before the end. I don't object to DVD-Rs, just DVD-Rs that are shoddily produced.

That's a good question! :)

Are you sure it isn't a player issue? It seems curious that completely different discs would all freeze at the same spot.

I hope at least some of them will find their way into the Backlot Series?

Anyone in contact with Universal so that he/she can ask, whether the Backlot Series will be continued?

Curios to see, how the transfers will look like. The Horror set is indeed tempting.

Hopefully Uni will release Tobruk as one of the selections. I am also hoping Universal releases the rest of Kojak and Black Sheep Squadron. Studios should have thought of this years ago. Waste not want not.

Does anyone else think that it is strange for TCM and Universal to partnership in an archive collection that will certainly conflict (however little) with Warner Archives, I mean after all TCM and Warners are owned by the same company.  From the looks of it, it does not seem to be on the scale with Warner Archives, but not sure what the future holds.  I have ordered the Horror Collection and look forward to see what these look like, on the onset it appears to be more thought into the transfers and extras than Warner has done.

Even assuming that they'll ship internationally, considering Universal's track record to license titles or release them in R2 I think I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope the titles they own I want (mostly from their Paramount library) will make it to a pressed DVD that won't cost me $20 before anything else is added. Several Lubitsch, Sirk, Leisen and even some Wilder films I have, it's through European license deals, including REMEMBER THE NIGHT.

Uh, who released Remember the Night in Europe?

While I rather have pressed discs this is still pretty good news! I mean these actually have special features! And I hate to compare but I think the artwork is a little better than the Warner Archive artwork not that it should matter. I can't wait for the Deanna Durbin releases! I wonder what titles will be included and I hope they offer sets! I guess if this is the only way to get some classic releases then I'm guess I'm for it!

An Italian distributor called Teodora film  released a box set of Mitchell Leisen films and I have mentioned in another thread here before. I'm still hoping that Carlotta in France picks something similar and releases the two de Havilland films.

Well at least they're remastered.

Is Warner taking notes??? This is how it should be done!

The difference is that there's LESS releases each month. Universal basicly saw how you can do quality releases using the MOD format.

Plus as I suggested before, i'd expect will see all these films evenutally turning up on TCM.

Monthly? Quarterly.

I guess TCM is cherry-picking those titles that are not slated for a general release through Universal for the coming years.

I have yet to buy anything from the Warner Archive, but I'm kinda excited about this if Universal is really planning to dig deep into the vaults.  I'd love to see more Paulette Goddard films available - most of them haven't even seen the light of day on TV since the old old days of AMC.

I have the 'Limted Commemorative Edition' AFRICAN QUEEN box set. The disc is a 2-sided CLV, looks very good upscaled to 720p/1080i using DVDO Edge via SVHS connection to my Mitsubishi projector, 70" diagonal image. The catalog # is 5901-80, CBS FOX/FOX VIDEO, monaural sound, pressed in Japan. Also included are 8 lobby card reproductions, hardcover "Making of the African Queen" by Katherine Hepburn and softcover script. Must have retailed for $100 as the cost I logged to my collection notes was $68.  Just for the heck of it I recently compared it to a Region 2 DVD with an HDMI connection and got nearly the same result with a possible slight edge to the DVD for sharpness. I was surprised on the plus side in both cases.

While I'd greatly prefer a Backlot set/release, I'd really like to finally see The Glass Key, Blue Dahlia and remaining Alan Ladd Paramounts of the 40s and early 50s as well as the long overdue "The Uninvited". Like Warners disappointing Archive program however, my enthusiasm is held over until the reviews pour in from the first wave of releases... I hope they'll do this the right way. It certainly sounds a lot more promising than Warner's approach from the get-go. Ig this does take off, I hope it far surpasses sales of the Archives to the point of affecting the forthcoming direction of the way WHV releases their films.

You're the ideal customer - from the studio point of view. Both willing and able to buy the films you want at almost any price.

There can be little doubt that this is the sort of stuff you expect from a monopoly - charging hugely inflated prices that have little relation to the quality of the product being produced or the costs of producing it.

For example, if suddenly there was only one manufacturer of cars and they could only be bought direct from the maker, who only sold models clearly inferior yet hugely more expensive than the free market ones  - this would not be something to celebrate!

Any such model as the Warner Archive where the supplier has a stranglehold on the market is invariably bad news - for the consumer, at least. Under this model you will always get inferior goods at higher prices.

I don;t mean to offend, but you clearly have a large disposable income, so to you, this is no more than an inconvenience to have a bit of a grumble about. However, to many others, it will mean the films will be forever beyond our reach.

Certainly, I get your point about it being nice to just be able to have the films, but really, I see little cause for celebration.

I have no doubt at all that the films could have been licensed to a smaller label and released profitably on standard pressed discs via the usual commercial outlets - smaller overheads and an acceptance of lower profit margins make this work, whereas the big boys just wouldn;t bother with small fry. That is, unless they can find a way to charge very high prices per unit and persuade the customer to buy at those prices even though it's in complete opposition to the ongoing trend of cheaper discs and fierce price competition between the online stores. Well, they found a way. Unfortunately.

Clearly these made on demand things are just being grabbed as an opportunity to milk a captive customer base.

What I hate is that these will only be available from MoviesUnlimited.com and TCM.com. International postage is US$12.50 for the first item and US$6 for each additional item. I could buy postage for nearly 6 DVDs from DVDPacific for the postage price of 2 from M.U. or TCM.

Dear Nebiroth: No offense is taken, but I can only WISH I had "a large disposable income." I just wait for the WB films I want to be bundled. For example, it seemed a no-brainer that the Jolson films would be released as a bundle. I waited, they were, and now I've got the little suckers for ten bucks a pop. As Irving Berlin wrote, post WWI "Good things happen to those who wait ... I've got my Captain working for me now!" As for the rest of your points, all are well-taken and well-said. I just prefer to look at the dribble-glass as half full...

So, Peter, you agree that the standard price point is too high. Only when those Jolson films came bundled - an offer that wasn't present from the start and was not announced beforehand either - did you bother to buy.
(Are there indeed "over 100 titles" in bundled form already?)


What nonsense is that? Did you take any time, any at all, to read reactions on this forum and in this thread? Both, in the Warner Archives thread, as well as here, most people clearly expressed their joy for being able to buy some titles they had been waiting for a long time. And of course, they realized that some would probably never had seen the daylight as normal releases. But also, many of those posters wished they would have been offered at more reasonable conditions, e.g. better (standard) quality releases for that price, or a lower price for these burned versions. Note that currently many new Blu-ray discs are offered at a lower price than these....
And there's some understandable fear, that this practice may be tempting for the studios, resulting in made to order "releases" of titles that would have had a chance as normal releases otherwise.

Please don't patronize people who expressed their opinion with much more nuance than you do yourself.


Cees

As far as I'm concerned, I'm in the camp who feels it's better to have the films as "Made To Order DVD-Rs" rather than not at all, which is certainly going to be the case for so many of these Universal and Warner "vault" titles.

Would I much prefer that these were all "officially pressed DVDs"? Of course I would. But they can call 'em whatever they like - "DVDs" or "DVD-Rs" ... the only thing that matters to me is that the discs don't eventually freeze, skip, or turn into coasters that will not play. Up to now I believe this hasn't been a real problem for the majority of those who've bought a lot of "Vault" releases, and I'm hoping that there is some kind of quality control where these DVD-Rs are not as tricky as the blanks we buy and burn ourselves.

And I do NOT have a "large disposable income". FAR from it! Even so, we used to pay $19.99 and MORE for our DVDs, and never said "boo". Remember?

The ndifference is that for the cost involved, Universal is at least offering a REMASTERED film in addition to any extras/art work that one would come to expect from a pressed retail disc. This might seem a basic standard but for the value, a far greater quality product being offered, at least in writing at this point, than anything Warners Archives have given us. And the most promising aspect is that next to WHV's holding, Universal probably has the deppest vaults of unreleased classics to open up. I'm not too disappointed with this announcement given what little we've seeb from the studio in the past ten years, even during the high times of standard disc sales. This coming from a staunch Archives critic who hasn't and wouldn't spend any amount on what Warners are offering based on their whole approach to the program (non-progressive video ports, int'l sales, inflated cost, etc). Universal's Vault releases sound like they could be a very exciting thing...