A few words about...™ Notorious -- in Blu-ray

Unfortunately, I do not live near a Costco so I'll have to wait a bit to pick up these Hitchcocks relatively inexpensively online. Good news about the transfers though.

Those two never even got DVD releases. Their last official home video releases were Anchor Bay VHS tapes, so a future release of these two in particular would be most welcome.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was on DVD and I have it and the LD. Anchor Bay got the issuing rights from ABC Films who owned the Selznick package. Disney bought ABC and were supposed to have spent a lot of time restoring A Star is Born(1937). Anchor Bay were also going to release some Disney titles at one time and not sure if they did or not. Anchor Bay(in Michigan) was sold to another party so I am hazy about all these things Anchor Bay. I never got around to buying A Portrait of Jennie when it was available.

Still can't find a Region 1 DVD (OOP or not) of that film that's not a bootleg, though there was a laserdisc. There does seem to be a quality UK DVD release.

I am so glad to read this. I was most likely going to pick it up on Blu anyway, but I hadn't per-ordered it in case it had serious flaws with the transfer. I'm happy to read that is not the case.

I'm really glad to see these 3 Hitchcock films are out on BD. I hadn't seen any information about them prior, so a very pleasant surprise. Worth the Amazon price if Costco isn't stocking it.

Notorious is high on my list of Hitchcock films to be on blu ray! Thanks for the review Mr. Harris. Hmmm, vintage sand...

You may be able to check Costco's website and see if your local Costco has them.  Find your location on Costco's website and click on the new items link.  This is what mine looks like: http://www.costco.com/InTheWarehouse/Detail.aspx?whsNo=747  Notice the Hitchcock Blu-ray Assortment under Media.
 

 

I haven't seen Notorious in several years (or Rebecca and Spellbound) -- I can't wait to dig into these again this weekend. So glad to see MGM handle this release properly!

In case those two were mentioned as being amongst his titles that needed a Blu-ray release. Kino has/is releasing both ('Nothing Sacred' already out and 'A Star Is Born' in a couple of weeks).

A couple of more titles that Disney restored that I think were somehow related to Selznick:
GONE TO EARTH and THE WILD HEART (Both versions were restored)
INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE (I think only the short version was restored, but am not 100% sure.

Still can't find a Region 1 DVD (OOP or not) of that film that's not a bootleg, though there was a laserdisc. There does seem to be a quality UK DVD release.

 

You are right and I have both and the DVD is legit. It is amazing how many items that were on VHS and never made it to LD or DVD but then there are some on LD still not on DVD but the gap has narrowed. Many VHS that came out of lesser, obscure films were of poor VHS quality thru small distributors and are not worthy of being dubbed on to DVD from that source but then it is, often, the only source of the title. I often see bundles of VHS turfed but that I have never seen before and the titles, and, even the performers are unknown to me on many and I had a shop selling VHS. Some Red Shield type stores sell these things for 50c and even free. Few want them now even free. I got given a large tub full last Sunday from a stallholder at a market. I did not bother to look at them yet. Not much point. I guess they had a stall and didn't sell any.

Gone to Earth.

 

This title got a goof UK release a while back.

Really?  Being a Technicolor fanatic, I remember looking and looking for it when the others were released and could never find a listing anywhere.  It came out in Region 1 from Anchor Bay?  I wanted it on DVD so badly and never found it for sale.  

 

The entire movie was uploaded to youtube a while back and looked great.

 

Edit:  Sorry, I see now it WAS released in Region 2 but damnit, I didn't have my region-free Oppo player back in 2005 so that's why it was never on my radar.  Hmmmmm........

I only have The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on VHS, and I haven't watched it in quite some time. I'd relish a Blu-ray of this terrific film.

I don't remember a DVD of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  I did have the laserdisc and I did get the UK Region 2 DVD a few years back.  I pretty much got all of the Anchor Bay releases of the Selznick films when they were released and still have most of them, but never saw a Tom Sawyer DVD. 

 

The Region 2 DVD is not bad and is certainly better than the laser and I recommend it to anyone that is region free.

 

This title was played every summer at a neighborhood theatre on Saturday Afternoon Kid Show.  The titles also included, Jack the Giant Killer, The Magic Sword, Zotz!, The 13 Ghosts, and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. They also played a Stooges short and serial, Batman and The Purple Monster Strikes are two that I remember. 
 

 

Edited by ahollis - 1/27/12 at 8:44am

I bought all 3 of these Hitchcock films at Costco today, 9.95 each.

Rebecca looks very nice, I am watching it now.

Packaging is amateurish to say the least.

I thought that ASiB 1937 was a PD title. I have a few copies from PD distributors, and it is available on PD sites on the web.

As with most PD titles, I have never seen a video of it that looked any good at all, so hoping for the new release to rectify that.

 

Kino announced that it will be releasing a Blu-ray of the 1937 A STAR IS BORN on February 7th. I think that WB owns the negatives to the 1937 version, for they announced that this version would be added as an extra to the Judy Garland 1954 A STAR IS BORN Blu-ray, but it did not happen.  Kino may be getting the transfer materials from the Selznick estate as they did for NOTHING SACRED. 
 

 

I wish someone would license the UCLA restoration of A Star is Born. I ran their print of it about 5 or 6 years ago and it looked as good as any studio film from that time period. If I recall correctly, we paid Warner the exhibition fee.

When comparing the Criterion and MGM DVDs I always preferred the look of the Criterion. Judging from some of the review screencaps, this new disc adds a great amount of detail and is about as good as this film can look on video but I still can't shake the feeling that the Criterion disc looks better somehow.

A few words about...

I replaced the artwork with these absolutely gorgeous covers:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/5713718-post9092.html

A few words about...

As they look now. My, there is talent out there...

I finally had a chance last night to visit my local Costco and got all three. The cashier tossed the discs into the cart! I couldnt believe it, he might as well have stomped on them. I only watched Notorious up to when they land in Brazil. I wanted to be sure the discs were okay.

I have the Criterion laser disc and DVD and the Anchor Bay disc. I haven't compared to the Criterion disc yet. I only mention this because at $9.99, what a great deal for great movies! I paid nearly $100 for the Criterion laserdisc back in the day.

Cary Grant's hair does look very rich in texture. And as does Ingrid Bergman's hair. I'm also seeing it for the first time on a new larger screen I recently got. So it's like a first on many fronts. I never noticed the smoke before coming from the building near the right during the opening titles.

Yeah, I was at CostCo earlier today, and saw the $9.99 price sticker on all three. I paid a total of $62.93 through Amazon. I'm feeling kinda like a chump right now.

Now to download those beautiful custom covers.....

Of my top 10 favorite films of all time (well, so far), Notorious is the 8th to make its way to blu-ray. The 9th, Vertigo, will be out later this year. This leaves Portrait of Jennie as the sole missing title. I doubt it'll ever happen, but I'd love to be proven wrong....

Oh, that is nice...

 

Love to see more DVD/blu-ray cover art based off the original movie posters myself.