Isn't It Time To Revisit The Bates Motel? (1 Viewer)

[Chuck L]

Universal...while you have issued this film twice on DVD, there still is yet to be a definitive version of this much loved classic horror tale. My thoughts are already toward October and the month of Halloween, yet, even though I was hoping for Universal releases of the first two sequels of this series, my longing for what really should be on a disc for the one of Hitchcock's classics cannot escape my mind.

Commentaries from Janet Leigh (who also wrote a fine memoir on her making this film and her experiences with the master) and Vera Miles would be much appreciated.

A commentary from Patricia Hitchcock about not only her part in the film, but stories involving her father has he made this film.

Archived interviews with Anthony Perkins about the film and the legacy that would follow his wonderful work as the disturbed Norman Bates.

Commentaries and/or interviews with Robert Bloch and/or Joseph Stefano on Psycho's journey from novel to screen legend.

On the technical side, I'm sure many home theater enthusiasts would appreciate a new 16x9 remaster.

Universal, while I have been impressed with every one of the Master's films that you have brought to DVD, it is this one title that is still lacking what really should be there.

I am sure that many others would gladly return to Bates Motel for an evening...just don't stay in cabin one.

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

Doubt its gonna happen...at least for a while

Shouldn't this have gone under one of the many previous "Psycho and/or Vertigo needs a new release" threads that pop up all the time on here?

 

[Bill Burns]

This comes up every now and then, and it's always a welcome petition in my book. Both Psycho and Vertigo were good DVDs in their day, but they are past due for replacement. Neither are anamorphic ( ), and Vertigo's last theatrical re-release, which came after its excellent restoration, carried a newly recorded DTS soundtrack, one which was issued as DTS on a dedicated laserdisc release but does not appear on DVD (at least in Region 1). Due to the supplemental material available for both films (and anything new that might be generated), I'd suggest taking both of these to two disc special editions, with both the DD and DTS soundtracks of Vertigo available on the same release.

The current DVD (and earlier laserdisc) edition of Vertigo, according to Robert Harris, who restored it on behalf of Universal with his partner James Katz, was taken from a combination of eight perforation 35mm and the newly created restoration 65mm. Both of these are large format sources, and for VistaVision, an eight perforation 35mm process, this is proper (standard format 35mm is four perforations high; VistaVision and Technirama both use an eight perforation 35mm form photographed horizontally, so that it is twice as wide rather than twice as tall). Any new anamorphic re-release should also originate with large format sources and should not turn to reduction elements, as this best preserves the character of the original. They should be derived, also, from high definition downconversion (the film to tape process should only be accomplished with high definition tape).

I'd buy both, again, in a heartbeat if the above is observed (Psycho, incidentally, is four perforation 35mm, so the large format standard applies only to Vertigo among the two).

Another fine candidate for re-release, secondary in my book to these Hitchcock pictures but still greatly valued, would be WB's DVD of My Fair Lady, a 65mm film for which the above criteria is also paramount in any new edition.

 

[David Lambert]

I had convinced myself that this Halloween was gonna be the year for at least Universal re-releases of the sequels (2 & 3 previously done under license by Goodtimes), but it hasn't happened (no announcement, and everything else has been announced for that timeframe).

Maybe next year we'll get a nice package deal...