Universal Vault Series - Amazon.com exclusive DVD-Rs - Page 10

How about a 16x9 edition of William Castle's oh-so-rare (and expensive) I SAW WHAT YOU DID, which was issued by Anchor Bay for a time as a letterbox disc and is now fetching almost a hundred bucks everywhere.
I would also second the nomination for Castle's other Universal title, THE NIGHT WALKER.

Don't forget LET'S KILL UNCLE.  I'd like to see a Universal "box set" with THE NIGHT WALKER, LET'S KILL UNCLE, and I SAW WHAT YOU DID.

So is the Universal Vault program dead?

They haven't released any MOD discs since January.

I hope not . They still have plenty of good stuff they could release .

Hmmm and I bet they will use the cheapest, lowest grade DVD-R they can get their hands on.  Same as with pre-recorded VHS later days and pre-recorded audio cassettes.    There were a few high quality blanks used for some pre-recorded VHS releases (Paramount and Universal used Scotch and some others used Fuji and TDK) but it was rare.

I sure hope these DVD-R's can be backed up easily since they'll be on garbage media.

I'd love to buy some, but Amazon hasn't caught on to once and for all drop them all to $14.99 at the same time. 

Knowing Universal no news might be bad news.

I finally watched Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here. The final 20 minutes was infested with pixelation tiles, momentary freezes and wee skips. I gave the disque a visual inspection. Perfect. No scratches or smudges. I wonder if Amazon will give me a replacement.

Still no decent ($14.99) sale.

Amazon has always sent me replacements with no hassle . They resend yours free of charge right away . I always choose to drop my defective dvd at UPS for free . They do have other options for return .

They sent a replacement out right away. Also provided a UPS label. Since we have a regular UPS pick-up at work, I didn't have to go out of my way. An easy transaction.

 

And the replacement worked fine.

I agree with you.  I have not had a problem and we both tried three times to get a correct THE BEST MAN.  No questions asked.
 

I have heard that TCM will air the rare William Castle flick LET'S KILL UNCLE in October as part of their Halloween month festivities.  That would have been a perfect title for a subsequent batch of these Amazon/Universal MOD titles, but I guess that a second wave isn't forthcoming.  An even more perfect title would have been Castle's THE NIGHT WALKER.

Along with I SAW WHAT YOU DID.

At least I SAW WHAT YOU DID did make it to DVD, although the Anchor Bay release is long OOP.  In a perfect world, Universal would release a DVD three-fer of THE NIGHT WALKER, LET'S KILL UNCLE, and I SAW WHAT YOU DID.

No new releases for how long? Is this program now dead?

Hopefully- Universal's been putting out more catalog titles on REAL DVDs (including Pirates of Penzance which is coming in September) so support them by buying them!

Hopefully this program is dead, and those films that had the misfortune of being released through it will find their way to regular DVD by other means.

 

There are some lessons to be learned in the Universal, as well as the MGM, MOD experience. If you're going to do a MOD program, you have to have your own website for it; going through Amazon is too impersonal and isn't going to cut it.  It gives the impression that there's no customer service to help if things go wrong. Compare that to the Warner program, where they give you a number to call if there are any problems.

Also you have to have sales or bulk discounts. I haven't bought any of the Amazon MOD discs myself. The price is too high given the quality of the product.

While I agree if you are going to do a MOD program you need a better mousetrap than what Universal and MGM have, but I had problems with The Best Man and had no problem with customer service in returning it getting another, having the same problem and then getting a refund.  I have never had a problem with Amazon's customer service.  My problem is that I feel there is no support for the programs let alone any marketing.
 

I am trying to collect ALL 475 Best Picture winners and Nominees on DVD, and I only need 37 more. Some of them are NOT available, and if the only place to get them is from The Warner Archives or the like, then I am all for that!!! At least they are offering them to us! From Warner, I have already been able to obtain 6 films that were previously unavailable!!!

 

I realize they can't put out a costly dvd for EVERY film... look how many crappy films are already released on DVD and end up in the $4.99 bin! 

I hope this program isn't dead . I picked up 6 different films i wouldn't have had . I did wait for each film to go down to 15.99 . But it's better than not having the film at all.

 

I'm not convinced that any or all of the films released through the mod program would have found their way to regular dvd .

 

Now if it's betweem the tcm/Universal program and the mod program . I'll take the TCM dvds .

 

Just out of curiosity, what are the 37 you're missing?

 

I can't provide them, but it might give the rest of us an interesting "census" of what's out there and not out there.

 

I have also posted this on the 75th aniv. thread.

 

MISSING LIST

 

Well, these are the ones I CAN`T find. If I am wrong, feel free to correct me, but Amazon and Movies Unlimited (who has a great Oscars on DVD thingamajig, which tells which ones are available) don't have these titles.

 

Here are the films I have on bootleg DVDs, that ARE NOT AVAILABLE in Region one: Wings, State Fair, The Pied Piper, Cavalcade, Wurthering Heights.

 

Otherwise, these are the one I am missing:

 

1929-30

Disraeli (1929)

 

1930-31

East Lynne (1931)

Skippy (1931)

Trader Horn (1931)

 

1931-32

Shanghai Express (1932)

 

1932-33

Lady for a Day (1933) (recently went OOP)

Smilin' Through (1932)

 

1934

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Here Comes the Navy

The House of Rothschild

One Night of Love

Viva Villa!

The White Parade

 

1935

Naughty Marietta

 

1936

Anthony Adverse (Not Sure)

The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935)

 

1937

One Hundred Men and a Girl

 

1938

Test Pilot

 

 

1941

Hold Back the Dawn

One Foot in Heaven

 

1942

The Magnificent Ambersons

 

1943

The Human Comedy

 

1944

Wilson

  

 

1955

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

 

1956

Friendly Persuasion

 

1959

Room at the Top

 

1960

Sons and Lovers

 

1963

America, America

 

1965

A Thousand Clowns

 

1972

Utvandrana (1971)

 

1977

The Turning Point

 

1992

The Crying Game

 

1996

Secrets & Lies

 

2009

Avatar (Waiting for better edition)

Strange, The Crying Game was released by Artisan years ago and then re-released by Lionsgate.  It appears to be out of print but there are copies all over the secondary market.  Friendly Persuasion is still available and in print.

I have "The Crying Game." I still need the other 90's film, "Secrets and Lies." :/

I haven't had a problem with ANY of the 6 dvds I got from Warner Archive, and if this is the only way I can get the films on Studio Approved dvds, then I'm all for it! Sure they aren't the greatest quality, but Warner IS remastering a good deal of thier titles, and of the 6 DVDs I got, only one was less than good quality. Hell, "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" still had some of the two-strip technicolor scenes!

 

I know we all want A+ quality, scratch free pressed DVDs, but realistically, can Warner afford to make 100,000 pressed DVDs of a 1930's film that only a select niche group of people would want to see?

'Resurrection' would be great to see again and is definitely one of Ellen Burstyn's shining moments. As long as it's better quality than the bootleg I tried to watch years ago with the ending credits cut short. Also of interest and currently available via Amazon MOD is MGM's Charles Bronson vehicle 'White Buffalo' and 'Two on a Guillotine' from Warner Brothers. If there is a second wave of Universal MOD titles I second the motion for 'The Night Walker' being part of it.

The Universal/Amazon MOD disc of RESURRECTION is excellent, as are KITTEN WITH A WHIP, THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER, and THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH.

Gambit also looks very nice.