Cary Grant - The Vault Collection for April 2016 (1 Viewer)

[Konstantinos]

well, still it would be great if we had a Bluray set of this..

 

[Josh Steinberg]

well, still it would be great if we had a Bluray set of this..

For sure. I'd love to get all of the other Cary Grant titles out on Blu-ray too. Warner Archive has nine Grant titles that are MOD DVD, so I'm not holding my breath for them to make it to Blu-ray anytime soon though.

I think some are these are titles that third party distributors would snap up pretty quickly for Blu-rays, like Olive has done with the later Cary Grant movies. But Warner definitely won't license theirs out, and if Universal is just bringing these to DVD now, they're probably not bending over backwards to do new HD scans either. Would love to be wrong, though.

 

[ColbyCo82]

I received this in the mail yesterday and watched THE WOMAN ACCUSED (1933). Enjoyed the film, and the picture was fine, but there was an annoying hum in the soundtrack throughout. DId anyone else have this problem? I'm guessing it's not a disc problem but a problem with the source they used.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Can you post a picture of the packaging? I know I've shared the stock photo but it's always nice to see the actual product.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm not at home this second, but I can say that it is two regular Amaray sized cases within a slipcase. Each Amaray has a hinged flap and holds three discs. One of the Amaray cases is designated as drama films and the other is comedy.

 

[JoHud]

All of these have subtitles available for those that care about them.

I received this in the mail yesterday and watched THE WOMAN ACCUSED (1933). Enjoyed the film, and the picture was fine, but there was an annoying hum in the soundtrack throughout. DId anyone else have this problem? I'm guessing it's not a disc problem but a problem with the source they used.

It's the source. It came and went. Lowering the volume mitigates the issue.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Let's not forget that these films are approaching 90 years and the elements are going to be problematic in many respects.

 

[BobO'Link]

Yet, at the moment, Sony appears to only have the HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) DVD as part of a boxed set!

For what the set currently costs on Amazon Canada, I'll wait for the Blu-ray!

CHEERS!

Tony,

Columbia released a single of His Girl Friday as part of the "Columbia Classics" line. Here's a Amazon US link and a Amazon CA one. With shipping, it looks like it would be less expensive to order a used copy from the US. FWIW, I've ordered media many times from Round3 (the current least expensive US copy) and have been happy with the products.

I'll be waiting for a sale on this new set. As much as anything because I have far too much unopened content sitting around and need to make my wife happy by watching some of it before adding more.

 

[Konstantinos]

I love Cary Grant and I would like to have his complete filmography on home video.
I wonder if I should get this or wait in the slight chance that this could be released on Bluray...
I don't buy DVDs anymore.
Unless it's an old series or something, which is almost certain that it won't get a Bluray release.

Josh, since you saw one film how is the compression?

By the way, here's some images from a rare unofficial DVD of the same film:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Woman...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

i guess the one you saw seems better with visible grain?

 

[Nick*Z]

I'll just go on record with this: that it wouldn't break the bank for Universal to have spread the films across a few more discs - maximum 2 movies per disc - thus, maximizing the bit rate for each and thoroughly avoiding compression artifacts. We're talking less than a dollar for the actual physical disc, so really 3 more discs to accommodate this spread wouldn't have been cost prohibitive.

I am always sincerely amazed - perplexed, even - as to why studio logic loves to squish as much content on a single disc as possible. Personally, I'm not lazy. I'd rather have a higher bit rate and have to get off the couch now and then to switch discs than all this information packed on. Just an opinion. But honestly, when you start to blow up these images with a larger TV - and especially a projector, you can clearly see where cost cutting has been done and the results are not satisfying!

PS - in a perfect world we'd have 1 movie per disc with a maxed out bit rate. But we don't live in a perfect world...remember?

 

[ColbyCo82]

I love Cary Grant and I would like to have his complete filmography on home video.
I wonder if I should get this or wait in the slight chance that this could be released on Bluray...
I don't buy DVDs anymore.
Unless it's an old series or something, which is almost certain that it won't get a Bluray release.

Josh, since you saw one film how is the compression?

By the way, here's some images from a rare unofficial DVD of the same film:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Woman-Accused-DVD-Nancy-Carroll-Cary-Grant-Very-Rare-1933-/261800312942?nma=true&si=pkQ%2Bk6pXdToMvRRYiTEc9OZnNMQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

i guess the one you saw seems better with visible grain?

The image quality was much better for this official release. Very glad to have a nice copy even if the audio leaves much to be desired.

 

[JoHud]

By the way, here's some images from a rare unofficial DVD of the same film:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Woman-Accused-DVD-Nancy-Carroll-Cary-Grant-Very-Rare-1933-/261800312942?nma=true&si=pkQ%2Bk6pXdToMvRRYiTEc9OZnNMQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

i guess the one you saw seems better with visible grain?

Far superior to that, certainly. It's as good as one can expect from a DVD release.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I love Cary Grant and I would like to have his complete filmography on home video.
I wonder if I should get this or wait in the slight chance that this could be released on Bluray...
I don't buy DVDs anymore.
Unless it's an old series or something, which is almost certain that it won't get a Bluray release.

Josh, since you saw one film how is the compression?

Sorry for the late response, just seeing this now.

I'm currently on a quest to build the best possible Cary Grant collection, so I've had to settle for a mix of Blu-rays and DVDs. I've picked up all the Warner Archive Grant titles on DVD-R too.

About this set, I've watched two movies now (Ladies Should Listen from the comedy part of the set and The Eagle And The Hawk from the drama part) and I haven't noticed any compression issues projected on a 100" screen. They're not Blu-ray, but they're pleasing for DVD quality. (They all have English subtitles which is a nice bonus too.) Most of the movies in the set run about 75 minutes (I think the shortest is 60 and the longest 90). Three movies a disc, 4x3 black and white and mono, seem to work OK.

For how long it took these to come out on DVD, I'm not holding out much hope for Blu-ray versions, though I'd love to be wrong. But this are nice enough to work if nothing else comes along. I don't know what the set is priced at now, but I worked it out to less than $3 a movie.

If you're interested in early Cary Grant before he's fully established the screen persona, so far, I can't recommend this set highly enough. It fills a huge gap in my collection at a reasonable price and so far has been good enough in terms of quality. (There are other Grant titles in far lesser quality editions that cost a lot more!)

 

[classicmovieguy]

The set is currently going for $49.99 on Amazon, a bargain price, but these types of sets plummet to even cheaper prices down the track.

 

[davidmatychuk]

"Merrily We Go To Hell", which is on the same Universal "Pre-Code Hollywood Collection" that "Hot Saturday" is on, isn't on this collection. Don't get me wrong, I'm all over this one big time, it has 6 movies I need for my Cary Grant collection, I am thrilled, but wasn't there room on the 6 DVD's for one more 84-minute Cary Grant movie? It's incomplete as a collection of early Universal Cary Grant movies because they left out one that they already issued on a Universal DVD collection, is my point. My other point would be that I still want one more DVD with "Sinners In The Sun" and "When You're In Love" (Robert Riskin directed that one so it might be a Columbia picture) to complete my Cary Grant collection. My Cary Grant obsession thanks you.

And look what Josh Steinberg just found, speaking of "When You're In Love" and Columbia:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...you-re-in-love-cary-grant-20160407-story.html

Good catch, buddy! One down, one to go...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One down, one to go...

Best (and only complete version) I've been able to find anywhere, so far.. I watched it, and it's just barely watchable:

 

[Thomas T]

Regarding that annoying hum that permeates several films in this release. I noticed it on Ladies Should Listen, Big Brown Eyes, Woman Accused, Gambling Ship and Wedding Present. In this case, I'm not giving Universal a pass that it's the age of the film. I have the Cary Grant Screen Legend Collection previously released by Universal which duplicates several titles in this collection. Big Brown Eyes and Wedding Present which have that annoying hum on the new release sound perfect on the old release. Why would they sound quiet on the first release but constantly humming on the new release? I chalk it up to quality control. I'm not parting with the old collection so at least I'll be able to hear a "quiet" Wedding Present and Big Brown Eyes.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Regarding that annoying hum that permeates several films in this release. I noticed it on Ladies Should Listen, Big Brown Eyes, Woman Accused, Gambling Ship and Wedding Present. In this case, I'm not giving Universal a pass that it's the age of the film. I have the Cary Grant Screen Legend Collection previously released by Universal which duplicates several titles in this collection. Big Brown Eyes and Wedding Present which have that annoying hum on the new release sound perfect on the old release. Why would they sound quiet on the first release but constantly humming on the new release? I chalk it up to quality control. I'm not parting with the old collection so at least I'll be able to hear a "quiet" Wedding Present and Big Brown Eyes.

That is very interesting....

 

[JoHud]

I agree with Thomas T now that I watched more of these, that hum looks like an encoding error that somehow passed QC.

A serious issue in this set.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Oh dear... I may hold off buying this.