Jack Benny Collection - Feb 24th (1 Viewer)

Brian_Linnen · Jan 20, 2004

Has anyone heard any details on how many and which episodes are on this set? At five discs, it has the potential to be a really great investment - Jack Benny is hysterical.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...d&vi=tech-info

Brian PB · Jan 20, 2004

I, too, LOVE Jack Benny, and would buy good quality sets of his best TV shows in a heartbeat (no way we'll ever see season sets, since his program ran for 20 years).

I wouldn't get your hopes up about this set, though. It's put out by Passport (and distributed by Koch), which doesn't have a sparkling reputation for these kinds of releases. Also, the price ($30 retail for five discs) tells me that this won't be a quality release (I expect the quality will be close to that of VHS).

I'd love to be wrong, though ...

David Von Pein · Jan 20, 2004

What Brian said.

I, too, was excited when I first saw that this Jack Benny boxed set was coming -- hoping, initially, that it'd be from a more "mainstream" (aka: "bigger") DVD outfit.

But, like Brian, I fear it'll be the very same PQ we have already on this exact same VHS release by Passport Video.

David Von Pein · Jan 20, 2004

Still .... at this bargain-basement price point, you sure won't be out much (even if the PQ is crappola). At least you know the shows will be good.

However -- IMO, this Passport selection of episodes is still not as good as what you can find in the 1994 Universal Studios VHS set of 6 videos, which includes the hilarious ep. with Peter Lorre obtaining Jack's face via plastic surgery.

Of course, these videos are OOP now, so they'll be hard to come by I imagine. I wish they'd re-release these onto DVD.

Mark Zimmer · Jan 20, 2004

Even crappy transfer Jack is better than no Jack, so I'll be after these. It's a shame that his work isn't better known.

Rodney · Jan 20, 2004

Where's "To Be Or Not To Be"?

Steve...O · Jan 20, 2004

That is the real question.

One of the funniest movies in cinematic history is still lacking a DVD release.

I'd also like to see a double bill of "George Washington Slept Here" and "The Horn Blows at Midnight".

"Horn" just ran on TCM recently. It holds up quite well. I've always been a fan of "GWSH".

Steve

Brian_Linnen · Jan 21, 2004

David VP - thanks for the link!

Wow! $16 + free shipping - even if the transfers aren't that great, it is definitely worth that much! I haven't ordered from that site before, but I couldn't resist the low, low price.

David Von Pein · Jan 21, 2004

YW

I might just have to get it as well.

Brian: You might be interested in this site for more Jack Bennys. I believe some of the episodes on that site at www.shokus.com are also included on that 10-episode set you just purchased from DDD. But many are not.

Shokus uses the el-cheapo DVD-R format, and the quality is far from perfect. But, still, it's not *too* terrible.

I just noted this week that www.radiospirits.com (which carries about every Old-Time Radio show known to man) has added a new Jack Benny On Radio Boxed Set of CDs.

Derek_McL · Jan 21, 2004

Who has the rights to "To Be or Not to Be (1942)"? It was originally produced by United Artists, not sure who did the remake, I take it they've probably got the rights. Is the inferior remake available ? Sadly with Mel Brooks its probably more likely to get a release in R1. The 1942 one would be an obvious title for Criterion : they already have Lubitsch's other classic "Trouble In Paradise".

There are at least two editions available in continental Europe of the 1942 version one I believe in France and one in Germany. I have the German one which is produced by Kinowelt the same company that does the Laurel and Hardy German DVDs. This is fine apart from redone titles. A big SE of this though in R1 is long overdue.

Brian PB · Jan 21, 2004

Warner released it on VHS (and perhaps laserdisc), so they should also have the DVD rights.

Barrie Maxwell in his Digital Bits column confirms that Warner owns the rights.

Michael Boyd · Jan 21, 2004

Just a warning about Passport video. I recently purchased thir Marx Bros. 5 disc set which was full of sll sorts of rare trailers, TV specials, news clips, etc . . . Now of course I didn't expect a stellar presentation of material such as this, I just wanted to see it. The first two discs were unwatchable because the programmers had neglected to allow the cursor to highlight "play" on the screen. Not saying this will be the case with Jack Benny, just a heads up.

Oh and I have no idea why the Marx Bros. was a five disc set (except of course to look like a bargain at $19.99). It was less than 4 hours of low quality video and 1 hour of audio.

David Von Pein · Jan 21, 2004

Isn't there any way to access the material through a sub-menu? Or are these things so cheap there are no menus for Chapter listings??

Michael Boyd · Jan 22, 2004

Probably, I was so pissed over the whole thing, I just returned the set to Frys.

I also figured I could probably see it on a DVD Rom, however mine is broken.

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