A Few Words About A few words about... The Mel Brooks Collection (1 Viewer)

[DeeF]

It's interesting to me that not all packages are the same. Not off topic, I bought my Ben-Hur set from Warners last year, getting it early from a store in NYC. It's fine, but there is a big printing error on the box. I later saw the box at Tower, with the printing error corrected.

The non-"annie" (love that Dave!) disk of Young Frankenstein may have been a mistake that was corrected, but not before a few packages were made, perhaps several thousand.

 

[george kaplan]

Here's a review.

For what it's worth they say Young Frankenstein is anamorphic. Then again, they also say The Twelve Chairs has never been available on dvd before, which is not true since I have the Image/CBS Fox dvd in my hands as we speak. But hopefully the YF info is correct.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

George,

It's not in dispute whether YF is anamorphic-it is. It's just a matter of whether or not old discs found their way into some of the early boxes.

Also, I just watched History Of The World, and thought it looked great for its age. A little soft in long shots, but very smooth and nice colors.

 

[Michael Elliott]

My buddy's up watching the ballgames with us and he brought his copy of YF. It certainly is NOT anamorphic. It's the exact same disc as the older one right down to the UPC and everything else on the packages.

I sampled SILENT MOVIE and it looks great though.

 

[george kaplan]

Andrew,

Well, that's basically semantics. If I go to Costco and buy this set, unless my copy is anamorphic, I'm not going to be happy.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

It isn't semantics. It isn't as though there is no anamorphic transfer of YF, or that there is and it is not intended to be part of the set. There is finally an anamorphic YF and it is part of this set. That's confirmed now as fact.

That you may go to Costco and buy a defective set with a manufacturing defect (in this case the wrong disc in one of the boxes) doesn't prove the proposition that "the new set does not include an anamorphic YF" - which was the point being debated. You'd be equally unhappy if you went to Costco to buy King Kong and got two copies of the movie disc instead of the movie and the supplements - but that wouldn't be evidence that there was never a supplements disc. Setting your happiness to one side for a moment () that is obviously more than a semantic difference.

I'm certainly glad to see that review, as I already own two copies of YF and of Blazing Saddles, and was really on the fence about this set. (Since I think most of the movies here apart fromt those two are good, but not necessarily "must haves".) So I've been on the fence about this set, but I think an anamorphic YF is enough to tempt me to buy.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Michael,

Are you saying the slimpak of YF he brought has a UPC on the back art? It shouldn't.

 

[Michael Elliott]

It does and it's the same as my (old) copy of YF. The only difference is that it's in the slimpack.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Wow-sounds like more than just a wrong disc by Fox. Almost soundslike an intentional thing that was reversed.

What color is the text on the spine? Since the text is visible outside the shrinkwrap, maybe if it's a different color than the new disc, we could have a way to identify it before purchasing. I will check mine shortly.

 

[george kaplan]

People seem to be missing the point.

It doesn't matter why they are in there, if a significant portion of these sets have non-anamorphic Young Frankensteins, then, for me, it's not worth purchasing. I'll wait until I can be assured of getting the right one.

The fact that one review says it's anamorphic is good, but I've certainly read reviews that were wrong in that regard. For example, many of you will remember reviews raving about trailers, which it turned out were listed in the package, but weren't actually on the disc. Given at least one clear factual error in that review, I'm less than 100% that the YF in that set is actually anamorphic, but it certainly may be, and I hope it is.

If my Costco gets a whole batch with the non-anamorphic YF, I don't see how I'm going to buy the set, and be able to exchange the YF for the right disc. Which is why, until I hear something more definitive about this, I'm holding off. The fact that half, or nearly half of the sets that people are reporting about in this thread have a non-anamorphic YF, does not bode well for the probability of finding an anamorphic one in your set.

 

[Michael Elliott]

The spine has white letters. I just double checked and everything on the back (the text, photos, years) is the same.

I said earlier that I wasn't going to buy the set but that has changed. I flipped through a couple of the other titles and they all look like good discs. SILENT MOVIE looked like it was made yesterday from what I watched.

I'm sure Fox will exchange copies so I'll take the risk and buy the set.

 

[walter o]

Does anyone know if the old Image DVD of THE TWELVE CHAIRS is widescreen, and if it's the same transfer as the one in this box set?

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there a commentary track from Brooks in the ROBIN HOOD MEN IN TIGHTS LD?

 

[Andrew Bunk]

A-ha! The text on the spine for mine is yellow.

This won't help for online orders, but if you pick up a copy in a store, check the spines which are visible through the shrinkwrap. If Young Frankentstein's is yellow it should be good.

 

[Casey Neutron]

I rarely order anything online, but I did with this one. Plus, I opted for Amazon's free shipping which slows it down quite a bit. Could be another week or so before it arrives. If anyone else here receives this set from Amazon could you post and let me know if the 16x9 version of "Young Frankenstein" is included. Thanks in advance.

 

[george kaplan]

My dvd is non-anamorphic, approximately 1.82:1. The new dvd is apparently anamorphic, though it could be the same transfer. Unless some reviewer has the old dvd (which seems unlikely), we probably won't get comparison info.

 

[David_Blackwell]

Definitely a nice set. Just received mine a week ago. I had to give Young frankenstein a spin.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Here is a review from DVDtalk, he got a non-anamorphoric Young Frankenstein. (I didn't have time to read all the previous threads, so sorry if this review has been mentioned before). Wonder if Fox will replace them ...I will wait on this set until I know. They will probably release it separately, but I am assuming only when all their older versions have sold out. Time will tell. It's a shame too, because I really wanted Silent Movie and High Anxiety, but for now, they are on their way from Netflix.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=20937

 

[Andrew Bunk]

FWIW, I was just at Best Buy and every box set I saw had a yellow spine for YF.

 

[Haggai]

My boxset came in from Amazon, and Young Frankenstein IS anamorphic in the set I got.

 

[Justin W]

i can't decide if this is worth buying or not. i've only seen 4 mel brooks movies. i thought frankenstein, blazing saddles, and producers were brilliant. spaceballs was one of the worst movies i've ever seen. i dunno if i'm comfortable taking a chance on the other 5 movies in the set.