Blu-ray Review T-Men: Special Edition Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[larryKR]

Amazon Canada doesn't have it in stock, and says shipping in 1 or 2 months. It's listed at $46.35 which is what you would expect from them. I should have it before Christmas.

 

[bigshot]

Our target customer for this release and all our special editions is not the $15 range and nor should it be with a title like T-Men as all we could do at that price is re-issue the same lousy transfer that's been out there for 20 years.

My guess is this and other special editions will end up in the mid-$20's like most Criterion titles do, but they will never be $15. - David

Lo and behold... They've got a three movie set with T-Men, Raw Deal and He Walked By night for $34 at Amazon. That price hits my sweet spot and beats it by a ten spot. I guess "never" isn't that long of a time after all! I am VERY glad I waited for the right price.

 

[ClassicFlix]

Lo and behold... They've got a three movie set with T-Men, Raw Deal and He Walked By night for $34 at Amazon. That price hits my sweet spot and beats it by a ten spot. I guess "never" isn't that long of a time after all! I am VERY glad I waited for the right price.

Keep in mind the JOHN ALTON COLLECTION are the films only. No bonus content or booklets.

- David

 

[bigshot]

I don't need the bonus content or booklets. I just want great old movies and lots of them. $70 for three movies, commentaries and booklets vs $30 for just the three movies? No brainer!

Packaged like this, I'll take all the classic movies you can dish up.

 

[Mark Booth]

I purchased the 7-film noir collection during Classic Flix's sale at the beginning of the month. I'm really enjoying these films. We watched 'T-Men' last night and it's the best one so far. We plan to watch 'He Walked By Night' today.

The 7-film deal includes the Special Edition versions of 'T-Men', 'Raw Deal', and 'He Walked By Night'. I don't usually watch bonus material but I did watch one of the bonus videos on 'T-Men', the interview with Nina Mann, Anthony Mann's daughter. I learned he was abondoned by his parents from age 3 to 13. They left him here in San Diego (Point Loma) at the Theosophical Society. The grounds are now the home of Point Loma Nazarene University. The video gave me a glimpse of some San Diego history I was unaware of.

HIGHLY recommended!

Mark

 

[ClassicFlix]

I purchased the 7-film noir collection during Classic Flix's sale at the beginning of the month. I'm really enjoying these films. We watched 'T-Men' last night and it's the best one so far. We plan to watch 'He Walked By Night' today.

The 7-film deal includes the Special Edition versions of 'T-Men', 'Raw Deal', and 'He Walked By Night'. I don't usually watch bonus material but I did watch one of the bonus videos on 'T-Men', the interview with Nina Mann, Anthony Mann's daughter. I learned he was abondoned by his parents from age 3 to 13. They left him here in San Diego (Point Loma) at the Theosophical Society. The grounds are now the home of Point Loma Nazarene University. The video gave me a glimpse of some San Diego history I was unaware of.

HIGHLY recommended!

Mark

Thanks for the HIGH recommendation Mark! T-MEN is not only entertaining but is a clinic on cinematography by John Alton. It should be recommended viewing for every film 101 class.

Glad you like the Nina Mann interview too. Hope you get around to the commentary and the featurette about the making of T-MEN too!

- David

 

[Mark Booth]

Thanks for the HIGH recommendation Mark! T-MEN is not only entertaining but is a clinic on cinematography by John Alton. It should be recommended viewing for every film 101 class.

Glad you like the Nina Mann interview too. Hope you get around to the commentary and the featurette about the making of T-MEN too!

- David

Thanks, David.

I watched 'He Walked by Night' this morning. Another excellent film. I also watched the Below the Surface: He Walked by Night bonus material. Also very entertaining!

Thanks to your sale I got the three Special Edition noir titles, plus four additional noir titles for about $12.85 each. A heck of a deal!

Thanks for offering the deal!

Mark

 

[PatrickDA]

Can Nina Mann and Mia Farrow meet or talk? That really needs to happen. She clearly wants to talk to Mia about her father's death.

 

[ClassicFlix]

Can Nina Mann and Mia Farrow meet or talk? That really needs to happen. She clearly wants to talk to Mia about her father's death.

I know. Hopefully it comes to fruition. That was a wonderful interview Ms. Mann gave.

- David

 

[Detour (1945)]

Keep in mind the JOHN ALTON COLLECTION are the films only. No bonus content or booklets.

- David

Ugh. Wish I'd know that before pre-ordering the set. I wanted the commentaries, too. Oh well, I'm certainly not double-dipping. And it's too late to cancel the order on the set.

Not sure why you couldn't leave the commentaries on the discs for the set.

Have to say, this is the first time I've been disappointed with ClassicFlix, but I consider it a big disappointment.

P.S. - I've just found out the "John Alton Collection" is all three films crammed on one disc. WTF?

P.P.S. - Luckily I was just able to cancel my order. I would have been mighty pissed to receive a bare bones release of three films crammed on one DVD. Is ClassicFlix the new Millcreek?

Definitely be reconsidering purchasing any more of their releases.

 

[ClassicFlix]

Ugh. Wish I'd know that before pre-ordering the set. I wanted the commentaries, too. Oh well, I'm certainly not double-dipping. And it's too late to cancel the order on the set.

Not sure why you couldn't leave the commentaries on the discs for the set.

Have to say, this is the first time I've been disappointed with ClassicFlix, but I consider it a big disappointment.

P.S. - I've just found out the "John Alton Collection" is all three films crammed on one disc. WTF?

Thank you for your purchase and sorry that it wasn't what you were expecting. To address your issues specifically, a little insight:

The Special Editions are exactly that: Special Editions. We spent A LOT OF MONEY restoring and putting together the supplemental materials for all three films. These are "premium" releases in every sense of the word.

We originally had no intent of releasing "bare bones" versions, but since we heard from many who only wanted the films, we put out the John Alton Film Noir Collection, at a very affordable price, so that "film only" fans could buy them.

Helping to make the film affordable is the fact that it is produced on a single Blu-ray disc. The image quality did not suffer at all as they are relatively short films. In fact, two of the three are the exact same encoding as on the special editions with only HE WALKED BY NIGHT having the bit rate brought down from over 30 to around a still very high 23.

If you are willing, PM me and we'll be glad to set up a refund (even if it's opened) whether or not you decide to buy the special editions.

- David

 

[Mark-P]

I’m one of those who appreciated the single-disc price break as it was a bargain and I don’t care about extras!

 

[Detour (1945)]

Thank you for your purchase and sorry that it wasn't what you were expecting.

If you are willing, PM me and we'll be glad to set up a refund (even if it's opened) whether or not you decide to buy the special editions.

- David

Thanks, David. I am sorry if I came across a little harsh, but I was taken off guard when I realized the triple release was "bare bones". I am a big fan of commentaries and always look forward to releases that have them.

The other extras, interviews and booklets, aren't essential to me, but I thought the 3-film release would at least have the commentaries. And I certainly didn't realize they had all been put on one disc.

I think you guys should make that much more clear in the future, if you do this type of thing again.

As for a refund, not necessary. I was able to cancel my order for the set. But I do appreciate the offer.

Unfortunately, up here in Canada, each of the individual releases is going for about $42, which is too much for one film, commentary or not. And to get all three releases would set me back more than 3 times the price of the combined set.

It looks like, at this point, I will have to pass on them. A shame, they all look interesting.

 

[Detour (1945)]

I’m one of those who appreciated the single-disc price break as it was a bargain and I don’t care about extras!

I'm happy for those that just want the films, but I'm a fan of commentaries, and they also give you a second reason to view a film, added value in my book, even for a bad film.

 

[ClassicFlix]

Thanks, David. I am sorry if I came across a little harsh, but I was taken off guard when I realized the triple release was "bare bones". I am a big fan of commentaries and always look forward to releases that have them.

The other extras, interviews and booklets, aren't essential to me, but I thought the 3-film release would at least have the commentaries. And I certainly didn't realize they had all been put on one disc.

I think you guys should make that much more clear in the future, if you do this type of thing again.

As for a refund, not necessary. I was able to cancel my order for the set. But I do appreciate the offer.

Unfortunately, up here in Canada, each of the individual releases is going for about $42, which is too much for one film, commentary or not. And to get all three releases would set me back more than 3 times the price of the combined set.

It looks like, at this point, I will have to pass on them. A shame, they all look interesting.

Glad you were able to cancel it and thanks for the suggestions.

- David

 

[Brent Reid]

David, I think what you and your team has done with these films is magnificent and deserves nothing but the highest praise. Though the individual titles may appear expensive to some, I'm certain those people are being unrealistic about the actual unit and distribution cost of producing editions to this standard.

In case anyone's in any doubt, no one ever goes into the niche home video label business with the intention of becoming rich. Quite the opposite is often the reality and if they didn't do it for love, most wouldn't do it at all. It takes an untold amount of time, energy and expense to bring projects like this to fruition. And then, when they've finally welcomed their babies into the world, they have to stand silently by while the keyboard warriors, armchair experts and chattering classes in general get to it, gleefully attempting to destroy all their hard work. So much effort expended in trying to find something – anything – to complain about. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Personally, I can't fault the way the individual Alton releases have been handled and combining all three films onto one budget priced disc is an incredibly generous gesture. For those of us who don't live in the states and don't anticipate them being released elsewhere anytime soon, it makes acquiring them actually affordable.

We are truly spoiled. If a tiny minority don't recognise that fact or simply refuse to, pay them no heed. For myself and many others I'm sure, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and look forward to many more years of ClassicFlix.

 

[smithbrad]

I am sure I am not the only one who will be surprised/disappointed that the budget release has no extras and all three films are on one disc.

As for the pricing, I only mentioned that the prices for the special editions are a little high in Canada, mostly due to the exchange rate and not Classicflix's fault. We're not all millionaires. Some of us have to budget our entertainment spending.

I can totally understand the pricing issue when purchasing from Canada. I would also have difficulty justifying $42 per movie when I could easily get two others in the same genre for that price. That said, I do like to support smaller companies trying to fill a niche area, while also going out of their way to produce a high quality product, so for around $25 each US, I will continue to show my support for the special editions with purchases.

However, I do think you sell short the budget release concept they appear to be trying out. Whether it be a booklet, special packaging, interviews, or commentaries, they are all equally considered extras with each having their own following. The fact you would prefer commentaries over the rest shows their value to you. It shouldn't be surprising they would cut all of the extras when charging 1/3 the price per movie. Especially, given that the cost of restoration is their biggest expense. If they did it any other way they would jeopardize marketability of their special editions, which needs to foot the bill for the restoration work.

Also, the comment of fitting all three movies on one disk is deceptive. It implies each movie suffered a 67% degradation in quality to fit on one disk. However, as stated by ClassicFlix two of the movies suffered absolutely no loss in quality, and only one took a 23% degradation in bitrate (the benefit of moving up to a 50G disk), which actually aligned it with the original bitrate of the other two. You might be surprised at how many movies are released on one disk at a similar bitrate as HE WALKED BY NIGHT, but it doesn't get much attention because it is still a single disk. While bitrate gets tossed around a lot as a method of judging quality, what really makes these releases standout is the restoration performed, not the bitrate.

I don't think anyone going the budget route is going to be disappointed once they see the results.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Amongst other discs, I received Down Three Dark Streets and The Maze blu-rays in the mail today. Difficult to know which to watch first. I would never have expected either to be released, so very grateful.

Have I previously mentioned that Slightly Scarlet (John Alton 1956) is my most wanted title!

 

[ClassicFlix]

David, I think what you and your team has done with these films is magnificent and deserves nothing but the highest praise. Though the individual titles may appear expensive to some, I'm certain those people are being unrealistic about the actual unit and distribution cost of producing editions to this standard.

In case anyone's in any doubt, no one ever goes into the niche home video label business with the intention of becoming rich. Quite the opposite is often the reality and if they didn't do it for love, most wouldn't do it at all. It takes an untold amount of time, energy and expense to bring projects like this to fruition. And then, when they've finally welcomed their babies into the world, they have to stand silently by while the keyboard warriors, armchair experts and chattering classes in general get to it, gleefully attempting to destroy all their hard work. So much effort expended in trying to find something – anything – to complain about. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Personally, I can't fault the way the individual Alton releases have been handled and combining all three films onto one budget priced disc is an incredibly generous gesture. For those of us who don't live in the states and don't anticipate them being released elsewhere anytime soon, it makes acquiring them actually affordable.

We are truly spoiled. If a tiny minority don't recognise that fact or simply refuse to, pay them no heed. For myself and many others I'm sure, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and look forward to many more years of ClassicFlix.

Thanks for the kind words Brent.

You 100% nailed the niche label profile. We do it for the love of film. No deep pockets, no huge corporate infrastructure and our survival really does depend on how our brand is accepted and received by our fellow cinephiles.

Regarding Steve, he apologized and I have no desire for this to get personal. I stated the reasons there were no commentaries and his skepticism about "cramming" is justified given what some labels will do to save money. We don't sacrifice quality and I hope that is the message that comes across in this whole conversation.

- David

 

[Robert Crawford]

One post was deleted for quoting a member and then posting a personal insult in response to that quoted post. We do not allow such personal attacks on this forum. Any further such activity will be met with stronger disciplinary action including possible suspensions. Just stop it! Furthermore, this posted warning isn't up for debate. Now, back on topic.