Vertigo and Psycho anamorphic DVD petition (1 Viewer)

[Joseph Goodman]

I'd rather Universal spent the money on giving "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "The Trouble With Harry" full restorations.

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

I support Ken's idea of 2-disc special editions for these two titles. Universal will have to include something really special that would make people buy these discs for a second time (new anamorphic transfer alone may not be a significant selling point that can be advertised). I wonder if Universal can get rights to any the wonderful documentaries made on the life and career of Hitchcock/Herrmann (especially the Hitchcock documentaries that include interview clips - I love the one in which he explains the concept of the MacGuffin). I have not been able to find any of the documentaries on DVD except the one that Image released (A Talk with Hitchcock). 'Vertigo' and Psycho (being two of Hitchcock's most important movies) deserve to be released as 2-disc Ultimate Editions that include "career retrospective" documentaries.

Here's my wishlist of features :

Disc 1 :

New 16x9 high bit-rate transfer
5.1 DD & DTS track (in the case of 'Vertigo')
Original Mono Track
Isolated Bernard Herrmann Score
Feature Commentary ('Vertigo' disc already has one)

Disc 2 :

Documentaries on Hitchcock's life and career
Movie-specific Making-of documentary
Trailers and newsreel footage
Production notes and Drawings
Talent Bios

 

[JeremySt]

Would the sales numbers for re-pressings of The Stanley Kubrick Collection be an indication of what re-releasing a DVD with a better transfer can do to sales? WB and Fox have been re-releasing new transfers of their films. If it is worthwile for JFK, Predator, or Last of The Mohicans, to be re-issued as anamorphic, why not VERTIGO, PSYCHO or the other non anamorphic Universal Collector's Editions?

I understand that the existing releases were done to expectation at the time, but why so much resistance to offering newer, improved transfers today?

 

[Jay Blair]

Let me clarify my earlier post by saying that I have seen both the US releases of Psycho and Vertigo and the PAL anamorphic transfers for both films, and I watch the PAL discs on an NTSC system, so I am not getting the extra hundred lines of resolution (as noted by Mr. Harris) the way I would if I had a PAL TV. My Malata N996 is converting PAL to NTSC and the extra lines of resolution are going by-by. And I stand by my earlier post that the anamorphic transfers look far better than the US releases, especially for Vertigo. I'm spoiled, I can no longer watch the US release.

Any money spent for a new anamorphic DVD transfer would be money well-spent for these two great films, in my opinion. My set by the way is a Sony KP-53HS20. And I would love to repurchase US anamorphic releases because my other DVD player is the Pioneer DV-37A, which overall produces a better image than the Malata I'm forced to use for all PAL discs.

 

[greg_t]

I think it's simple economics. Universal has already put thousands into the restoration of Vertigo and it's LD and DVD releases. Re-mastering for anamaphoric R1 release and pressing and distrubting new dvd's will also likely cost a large sum. I see no way for them to make a profit on re-releasing Vertigo or Psycho. And lets be honest, profit is the bottom line. Universal can release multiple versions of American Pie because the masses will buy them. The general DVD buying public has no idea what anamaphoric is and don't usually own widescreen TV's, so this release would cater to film lovers such as us. Would I buy re-releases of either of these two, no. I feel that current release are excellent and my RP-91 will scale them well. I think it's fine to petition Universal for new releases, but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.