Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008 (1 Viewer)

[Rick Z.]

I'm tempted to buy it especially now that amazon has it 50% off ($59.99) but with all of these comments about bad quality control I've held off.

I'd like to hear from someone who has recently ordered the set to see if they're still getting faulty discs(?)

 

[Robert Crawford]

I just bought it as a Gold Box item for $56.99. If there are problems, I'll simply return it.

 

[ReggieW]

I ordered my from Deep Discount DVD early last week for an insanely low $47.99. I received it yesterday, so I'll probably begin inspecting the discs by watching The Lodger and Sabotage since I've never seen these two.

 

[rich_d]

I borrowed the box set. The Lodger is a highlight as I haven't ever seen it look better. You have your choice of two scores. Personally, I like the Ashley Irwin version.

I'm a big fan of Young and Innocent and it also looks better than I've ever seen it. The Paradine Case also looks good. Sabotage really shows its age. These four films are the ones I watched so far and the ones coming in February as single releases.

I took a quick look at Rebecca. To be quite candid, Criterion's version isn't much better than a cheap release I picked up along the way and this version is no better looking than Criterion's version. I guess the source material is just not that good.

I tried all the discs (except Lifeboat and Notorious) and they all played fine, no noise. Again, this is a sample merely of one. I kinda like the binder approach they used although tabs would have been nice to get to the disc you want rather than just leafing through it.

I've already mentioned my thoughts about box sets made up substantially from previously released titles, but for free it's a really good box set.

 

[Dan1]

It's inexcusable and unbelievable that MGM would go the cheap route in 2008, effectively turning out virtually unplayable Hitchcock releases. Thanks to all for the warnings!

 

[Robert Crawford]

By the way, I received my boxset the other day and after examining it, I can understand the complaints about this release's packaging. Not a good job by those hired by MGM/Fox.





Crawdaddy

 

[DeeF]

The Murnau/Borzage collection (new) is in the same kind of packaging. It's a really bad way to store/sell disks.

 

[Tim Tucker]

I know, especially for double-sided discs. The first thing I did after opening up my Murnau/Borzage set last night was to remove the DVDs and to put them into two multi-disc keepcases.

 

[WadeM]

To be fair, after my plastic box fell apart, I did wind up using a little (stronger) adhesive to put it back together, and I do think it'll be fine now. And it is a very attractive package. That, and having to clean one of the discs. The biggest issue still lies in the cardboard sleeves, which I'll never understand why anyone thinks is a good idea.

Even with all of that said, I'm still ecstatic to have this set, as all of the movies look very good, and MGM/Fox deserves my praise for giving an official release to some of Hitchcock's earlier work that I never thought I'd see. I didn't have problems with "noisy discs", warped discs, nor anything else I haven't mentioned. I still find this set worth every penny that I spent.

 

[BarryM]

In light of the problems with this set, I waited and got mine about two weeks ago...I bought it from a secondary Amazon dealer, and lo and behold, my copy played nicely. Clearly, it's weird and non-standard packaging doesn't even fit well on my shelf, but after viewing "Sabotage" and "Young & Innocent", it's well worth getting.

NOW.....if MGM would get around to doing the same quality transferring to "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Secret Agent" and "Jamaica Inn", I can be a happy camper.

 

[Ray H]

Perhaps it's different on a case to case business. I was at my local library and saw that they had a copy of this edition of "Spellbound" and since this was one of the titles that was "noisy" I thought I'd borrow to see if it was a widespread problem. I was surprised to see that the library's copy played without a hitch. And just to make sure, I popped in my copy and it was noisy as hell!

So I don't know what's going on.

 

[haroldS]

It is possible the library did not have the new MGM release, but the previous Image release. That would explain the difference in reproduction quality using the same DVD player.

 

[Ray H]

No, it's the same release. It's identical to the MGM/Fox one I own with the exception that it lacks the playback issues.

 

[schaggydog]

I couldn't find any info anywhere else so I hope I'm posting in the right place. I was just wondering if anybody went out and bought the individual releases from the premiere set that came out last week? I bought the box set when it came out but did not bother opening it and starting it until about 2 weeks ago and had problems with two of the first three discs I tried. I have since been reading about all of the problems people have had with the set. I can still return it but I'm just wondering if it's worth exchanging just for the individual titles or if those have the same problems? Has anybody heard about similar problems with the new releases of Lodger, Paradine Case, Young & Innocent and Sabotage? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

I got my Hitch box on sale from DD and had some "noise" problems (didn't bother me too bad) but all of them played. I think the issues may stem from the fact that the book that the DVDs are in is shrinkwrapped and creates a visible bend in the front and back covers of it. Just my speculation. I don't know if it would've been put in there without the shrinkwrap if all of the problems and noises wouldn't be an issue. Unless we find out later that there was some sort of manufacturer's problem (MGM/Fox is being mum about it).

 

[Bill:N]

I purchased individual copies of these and they played flawlessly.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I'm fairly sure the rest of the British Hitchcock films are StudioCanal properties.

 

[John Hodson]

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Secret Agent and Jamaica Inn are all part of the Granada International catalogue.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I think this is due to the printing/labeling on the front of the disc. I've had this problem with some releases from the UK (the Russ Meyer titles from Arrow come to mind), and in those cases I actually had to copy them to a different disc for them to play without that loud jitter sound from the player! I also noticed the discs with the problem felt thicker than those without a problem.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I just got this set on sale from Amazon.com for only $41.99! And guess what.... Nearly all of the discs make a large rattling sound when playing. One of my players even says "No Disc" when they are inserted and refuses to play them. They play on my computer fine, but that isn't why I bought them. Back to Amazon.com...