Hitchcock DVDS (1 Viewer)

[DAN NEIR]

How many of Hitchcock's films are available on dvd and which would you recommend?

So far I have:
Spellbound
Notorious
Psycho
North by Northwest
Rear Window
Vertigo
Strangers on a Train
Marnie
The Birds.

 

[Greg Black]

There are many Hitchcock DVDs out right now (and my wallet is hurting from trying to collect them all). I would recommend adding Paramount's fine disc of "To Catch A Thief" to your collection.

 

[MartinTeller]

Warner Bros:
Strangers on a Train
North by Northwest

Paramount:
To Catch a Thief

Anchor Bay:
The Paradine Case

Criterion:
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
Rebecca
Spellbound
Notorious

Universal:
Saboteur
Shadow of a Doubt
Rope
Rear Window
The Trouble With Harry
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
Psycho
The Birds
Marnie
Frenzy
Topaz
Torn Curtain
Family Plot

I have all of the above except the last 3, and Paradine Case (which I'll probably pick up someday). I also have the Laserlight editions of Sabotage/The Lodger and Young and Innocent. Keep in mind that the Laserlight DVDs (and any DVDs from other studios not listed above) are cheap, low-quality, and allegedly unauthorized bootlegs (though for some reason widely available).

It sounds like you're already hooked on Hitch, so I recommend all of them. If you can appreciate his "weaker" films like Spellbound and Marnie, then you'll probably like everything listed above (well, maybe not Family Plot). You've got all of what most people consider to be the "top tier" Hitchcocks that except for the other 3 Criterions and Shadow of a Doubt.


EDIT: not sure if these are legit or not:
Image Entertainment - Under Capricorn, Jamaica Inn

 

[DAN NEIR]

Is Spellbound considered one of his weaker films? I loved it. As a psych student it's one of my favorite Hitch films. Marnie I do agree is probable the weakest of the ones I own.

I saw To Catch a Thief on cable recently and will be adding that one to my collection soon.
How are Rebecca and The Lady Vanishes? I never got to see those. I wish they would release Dial M for Murder.

 

[Matthew^Johnson]

Spellbound is considered popularly (and by me) to be one of Hitchcock's lesser outings. But, I am a Dali fan, so it nonetheless has a warm spot in my heart. Ok, Dali and Ingrid Bergman. Me-ow. Rebecca is a Hitchcock/O'Selznik joint, so its a little heavy on the melodrama. But, then again, so was the book. And a subpar Hitch beats most any other film anyway.
Anyhow, I'd advise you to pick up the Criterion editions of Rebecca, Spellbound, and particularly Notorious before January if those aren't the editions you have. MGM has picked up the rights to these films and these, in many respects, archival editions (complete with several commentaries, promotional material, and even Orson Welles's Lux Radio Theater radio plays) will be going out of print at year's end. Criterion will retain the rights to The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps and it is hinted that more Hitchcock is on the way from this studio in 2004.

 

[Mark-W]

Of those you don't have, I would add next
the one Hitchcock thought was his best film:
Shadow of a Doubt and
then add the one that I had heard was
his favorite (though I do not remember
the source of that information):
The Trouble With Harry.

It depends on what aspects of Hitchcock
you like. It is a frothy film, but
To Catch a Theif is the
one that features the two actors born
to be Hitchcock's ideals: Grace Kelly
and Cary Grant, and, at least for me,
it is one of the most re-watchable because
it is so fun and does feature them.

Mark

 

[Eric Paddon]

Thanks for the heads-up info on the Criterion versions of Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious going out of print soon. Glad I've got them all safe and secure already! (Spellbound was one of those copies that didn't play on my old DVD player but plays fine on my new one)

What other Hitchcock titles might conceivably come out from Criterion?

 

[Larry Talbot]

How about anamorphic Hitchcock? Anything available? I'd love to see Psycho, Vertigo and North by Northwest in widescreen anamorphic...

 

[Greg Black]

Warner Bros. disc of North By Northwest features a beautiful anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film. But yes, I would like to see a new 16x9 transfer of Psycho, and to a lesser extent, Vertigo.

 

[Thomas Agermose]

I can recommend Foreign Correspondent (R2) if you have multiregion capability. Not sure if it is coming out in US. It's a Universal release so it should surface sometime in the future.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...637763-5263832

How about anamorphic Hitchcock? Anything available? I'd love to see Psycho, Vertigo and North by Northwest in widescreen anamorphic...

An anamophic Vertigo is available in R2. However comparisons indicate that the R1 transfer is superior so I'd stick with that until something better happens.

BTW if you like Hitchcock I totally recommend Charade (1963). It's very Hitchcock like.

 

[Matthew^Johnson]

What other Hitchcock titles might conceivably come out from Criterion?

I'm a member of the Criterion Colletion Forum, and there's a spot on the board for questions asked of Criterion bigwig Jon Mulvaney via the feedback section of their website. One of his answers intimated that they were working on "more Hitchcock" for 2004. I haven't taken the time to narrow the list of possibilities using current rights' holdings, but its an absolute certainty that it won't be a film currently held by MGM, Paramount, or Universal-- since the DVD format took off, they don't license to Criterion anymore.

A similar email response from Mulvaney said that Criterion "hoped to include Welles in the Collection" next year. Using the rights test, standing rumors, and Criterion's laserdisc catalog, its been pretty well narrowed down to F is for Fake (which I am quite excited about-- hope it works out). I'm sure a little deductive reasoning will narrow the field as far as the Hitchcock possibilities go.

 

[Michael Hughes]

My Favorites:
1) North By Northwest
2) RearWindow
3) Psycho
4) Rebecca
5) Vertigo
6) The Birds
7) 39 Steps
8) Spellbound
9) Notorious
10) Shadow of a Doubt
11) To Catch a Thief
12) Strangers on a Train
13) The Man Who Knew Too Much
14) The Lady Vanishes
15) Rope

 

[ChristianLiemke]

If you can play PAL-discs with RC2, there is a 6-DVD-Box named "Alfred Hitchcock - The Early Years" from German label "Concorde". It features the following films:

- The Man Who knew to much (1934)
- Sabotage
- Secret Agent
- Yound and Innocent
- The Lady Vanishes
- The Lodger
- Downhill

The first five are placed on separate discs, the last two are on a bonus disc, featuring a documentary about Hitchcock. The docu has an english audio track with german subtitles.

The movies are presented in English with optional german subtitles. The silent movies have english intertitles with optional german subtitles. All discs are mastered from BFI-materials, so "The Lodger" is the restored and tinted BFI-version.

Cover-Artwork:


The box contains a 12-page booklet and a mini-poster with artworks of all 7 movies.

Here's a comparison-review of "The Lady vanishes" between the Concorde disc and the one from Criterion. The Concorde-DVD has better picture quality than the Criterion.

 

[Jack_TN]

Anyhow, I'd advise you to pick up the Criterion editions of Rebecca, Spellbound, and particularly Notorious before January if those aren't the editions you have. MGM has picked up the rights to these films and these, in many respects, archival editions (complete with several commentaries, promotional material, and even Orson Welles's Lux Radio Theater radio plays) will be going out of print at year's end.

The FAQ at the Criterion Collectors Forum says these will go OOP at the end of 2004, though it may have changed since that was written. Can anyone here confirm whether it will be the end of this year or a year from now? I definitely want to get them, but would like to have another year to do so, since they're rather expensive.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Matthew^Johnson]

The FAQ at the Criterion Collectors Forum says these will go OOP at the end of 2004

Could you provide a link, Jack? I don't see that on the Forum nor Criterion's website FAQ. It's definitely at the end of 2003, though. That's the reason Criterion issued that Wrong Men and Notorious Women boxset this year-- to get rid of the inventory before they went OOP. DVD Empire has this box (which includes all of Criterion's Hitchcock releases heretofore) on sale now at 35% off. Shakes out to about 16$ per title, which is a great deal.

 

[Jack_TN]

http://pub125.ezboard.com/fcriterion...ID= 418.topic

About 2/3 down the page you'll find

Q. What Criterion titles are going out of print next?

A. For the most part, nobody knows. However, we are aware that Spellbound, Rebecca, Notorious, and Straw Dogs will be going out of print at the end of 2004 when their rights will revert back to Buena Vista, who has licensed them to MGM.

I know some of the individual releases have 2 discs. Does the new box set have all the extras with just 1 disc per movie?

Jack

 

[MartinTeller]

The box set is the exact same releases stuffed into a box. Rebecca still has 2 discs.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

No one has recommended the recent Image release of Under Capricorn, so just a caution: this one is for Hitchcock completists only. It's a talky and boring costume drama with one of the worst performances I've ever seen from Ingrid Bergman. It's shocking how poor it is; there are a couple striking if not innovative camera techniques used but on the whole it's best skipped by those with a casual interest in Hitch. The transfer's not too bad, though, despite fairly heavy speckling.

 

[TheLongshot]

I just recently saw Rebecca on TCM last week. Great movie, even with all the heavy melodrama.

Just as a note, DVDEmpire is running a deal on some Criterion discs, including the Hitchcock collection. I recommend checking it out.

Jason

 

[Patrick McCart]

I just recently saw Rebecca on TCM last week.

Interestingly, TCM aired the Criterion Collection transfer of the film.