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USHE Announcement: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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Gary,

Thank you so much for that link. I have added it to the
press release and it will appear in the this thread's sidebar
shortly.
 

Yorkshire

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benbess said:
Is RAH involved in this release? I hope so...
I don't think so. I have no knowledge, this is just an educated guess.
When RAH has been involved in restorations previously, for example with Lawrence of Arabia, he's mentioned it. He's maybe not given us a blow-by-blow account, but we've had just a little bit of something from him here and there. I can't remember a title being announced which it turns out he was involved with, and he hasn't said at least something about it.
My memory may be flawed on that - don't take me as gospel, and I'll be more than happy to be corrected.
But he's said absolutely nothing about Vertigo since he said extra work would be needed to bring it to Blu-ray Disc.
I really have to add that all of the above is 'as far as I'm aware'. He may have said something and I missed it.
Steve W
 

adklz

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What do we know about the Euro version of this? Will it be all region? It includes all the same films except North by Northwest, which most of us already have, and, at the moment, there is about a $35 difference in price. There is a better picture of the packaging on Amazon's German site than on the UK site and it looks like it will be comparable to the US version. If it is all region it could be a better deal than the US release.
 

Craig S

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Originally Posted by adklz /t/321703/ushe-announcement-alfred-hitchcock-the-masterpiece-collection-blu-ray/60#post_3942010
What do we know about the Euro version of this? Will it be all region? It includes all the same films except North by Northwest, which most of us already have, and, at the moment, there is about a $35 difference in price. There is a better picture of the packaging on Amazon's German site than on the UK site and it looks like it will be comparable to the US version. If it is all region it could be a better deal than the US release.

There's some discussion of the Euro box in this earlier thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/320682/alfred-hitchcock-collection-box-in-2012

Incidentally, there's a pic in there from Amazon's German site that indicates that NxNW IS included in the Euro set (you can actually see the NxNW disc sticking out of the book).
 

Osato

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Doctorossi said:
Personally, I very much prefer the US packaging, for a number of reasons.
I like both, but I like the US artwork better as well.
 

rich_d

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I know it was announced as one of the film (and the only Hitchcock) to receive full restoration (whatever that truly means) as part of this Universal 100 celebration - - but the timing seems a bit odd that the THE BIRDS is being released as a single disc release since they are trying to sell the big box set too. What with PSYCHO AND NBNW already issued that just seems to steal more thunder from the box set release. However, as box sets are often given as gift items, perhaps they expect that many gift-givers are not aware or bothered by the issue.
 

ShellOilJunior

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I know Universal's history for blu-ray releases but I'm optimistic. It's been a long wait for these but I'm glad Universal isn't trickling them out -- I want them all!
 

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ShellOilJunior said:
I know Universal's history for blu-ray releases but I'm optimistic. It's been a long wait for these but I'm glad Universal isn't trickling them out -- I want them all!
And it gives me hope that Universal will do something similar for their horror films. Leaving out THE MUMMY and INVISIBLE MAN series, if they bundle their DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN and WOLF MAN films, it would represent a 12 title set if you include the Spanish Dracula. And although not part of the series, it would be nice to throw in WEREWOLF OF LONDON. Most of the later films look pretty good, but I would hope they would spend the time and money to fix that awful main title splice in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (they tried fixing it on the laser) and get rid of that low frequency hum throughout HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, that seems to have appeared with the first DVD release. As I remember, the laser was okay.
DRACULA
DRACULA (Spanish)
FRANKENSTEIN
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
DRACULA'S DAUGHTER
SON OF FRANKENSTEIN
THE WOLF MAN
THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN
SON OF DRACULA
HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
HOUSE OF DRACULA
 

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I have a few short Vertigo questions for RAH (or for anyone else who might know)....
The famous Saul Bass credit sequence for Vertigo begins with extreme close ups of a mysterious woman's face. Were these close ups done with a VistaVision camera? It's hard to tell on the DVD, but the image is quite detailed and has little film grain. I thought I read somewhere that VV cameras weren't good for close-ups, but is that true? Would the correct lenses make a difference? Since VV cameras have been used for special effects over the years that probably involve close-ups, I assume a close up is possible with the right lens.
Second question: Does anyone know who that woman is in the Saul Bass credit sequence? It's been sometimes thought to be the little known actress, Joanne Genthon, who plays Carlotta in the dream sequence later. But to me they look a bit different, and I'm not actually convinced that it's the same person. I think there's a chance that Bass used a different model whose name has been lost to us. The outstanding new book on Bass, "Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design" by Pat Kirkham says that it was a little-known model, but does not mention Genthon's name.
Thanks in advance, Ben
 

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benbess said:
Second question: Does anyone know who that woman is in the Saul Bass credit sequence? It's been sometimes thought to be the little known actress, Joanne Genthon, who plays Carlotta in the dream sequence later. But to me they look a bit different, and I'm not actually convinced that it's the same person. I think there's a chance that Bass used a different model whose name has been lost to us. The outstanding new book on Bass, "Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design" by Pat Kirkham says that it was a little-known model, but does not mention Genthon's name.
Thanks in advance, Ben
Sorry, I can't answer either question, but just wanted to post this observation: The way the woman was filmed, her makeup style, and her extremely trimmed eyebrows, always made me think of a woman from the silent era. I don't think many women looked like her circa 1958, but I could be wrong.
Doug
 

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benbess said:
I have a few short Vertigo questions for RAH (or for anyone else who might know)....
The famous Saul Bass credit sequence for Vertigo begins with extreme close ups of a mysterious woman's face. Were these close ups done with a VistaVision camera? It's hard to tell on the DVD, but the image is quite detailed and has little film grain. I thought I read somewhere that VV cameras weren't good for close-ups, but is that true? Would the correct lenses make a difference? Since VV cameras have been used for special effects over the years that probably involve close-ups, I assume a close up is possible with the right lens.
Second question: Does anyone know who that woman is in the Saul Bass credit sequence? It's been sometimes thought to be the little known actress, Joanne Genthon, who plays Carlotta in the dream sequence later. But to me they look a bit different, and I'm not actually convinced that it's the same person. I think there's a chance that Bass used a different model whose name has been lost to us. The outstanding new book on Bass, "Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design" by Pat Kirkham says that it was a little-known model, but does not mention Genthon's name.
Thanks in advance, Ben
I've been researching this question since I saw your post. IMDB credits a woman named Diane Cummings as an uncredited photo double/stand in, but does not mention the title sequence. Then I Googled several sites that discussed the Vertigo Main titles and many state that it's Kim Novak. I have seen the film many times and I never thought it was her, but..maybe. I'm not convinced.:confused:
 

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Forgive me if I am just not seeing it in the press release - are these discs Region coded? Thanks.
 

Dick

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Sorry if someone else already noted this:
Yes, the Blu-ray Hitchcock set listed in the U.K. is cheaper from the get-go (and does not contain NORTH BY NORTHWEST), but for me, at least, it was cheaper still after pre-order check-out, when the final price dropped to only 83.33 pounds, plus 3.08 pounds shipping to the U.S. At current exchange rates, that is roughly $134.00! That's about $90.00 less than the U.S. price. You can try your own pre-order to see if the same thing happens to you, and cancel if you are not pleased. I do not know whether these will be region-free.
Same kind of thing happened with the Classic Monsters Blu-ray set, which when :"checked out" came to a final price of 31.24 + 3.08 pounds sterling = $53.25, compared to Amazon U.S. preorder rate of $120. That's a pretty drastic difference!
 

Doug Otte

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mikeyhitchfan said:
I've been researching this question since I saw your post. IMDB credits a woman named Diane Cummings as an uncredited photo double/stand in, but does not mention the title sequence. Then I Googled several sites that discussed the Vertigo Main titles and many state that it's Kim Novak. I have seen the film many times and I never thought it was her, but..maybe. I'm not convinced.:confused:
Agreed. It doesn't look a bit like Novak.
Doug
 
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Dick,
It drops more at check-out because, I think, it sees that you're in the U.S. so it takes off the VAT which they have to pay in the U.K.
 

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bryan4999 said:
Forgive me if I am just not seeing it in the press release - are these discs Region coded? Thanks.
I've been paying attention to the region coding as I prefer the US boxed set to the larger UK one. So far I've seen no specific information to confirm the region coding on either set. The presence of the non-Universal owned North by Northwest in the US set and not in the UK set is likely to complicate the matter and may prevent either set from being completely region free.
 

Dick

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Persianimmortal said:
I've been paying attention to the region coding as I prefer the US boxed set to the larger UK one. So far I've seen no specific information to confirm the region coding on either set. The presence of the non-Universal owned North by Northwest in the US set and not in the UK set is likely to complicate the matter and may prevent either set from being completely region free.
Except that, in the U.K., that title is not included at all.
 

Patrick Mason

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Originally Posted by bryan4999 /t/321703/ushe-announcement-alfred-hitchcock-the-masterpiece-collection-blu-ray/60#post_3944901
Forgive me if I am just not seeing it in the press release - are these discs Region coded? Thanks.

Universal has never region coded a U.S. release, and only region codes international titles in extremely rare cases (where they have limited regional rights, such as the recent David Lynch UK releases.) This set will not be the exception, as Universal has world-wide rights to these titles. The North by Northwest disc from Warner that will be included is also region free. They will likely release this set in many international territories using the same discs as the UK box, meaning the discs will need to be region free by necessity. Buy the release you want with confidence.
 

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