"The Apartment" Collector's Edition coming Feb 5th. (1 Viewer)

[Jay E]

Here are the details (from DVDACTIVE):

MGM Home Entertainment has announced a collector's edition of The Apartment which stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. This Billy Wilder directed film will be available to own from the 5th February, and should retail at around $19.98. Extra material will include an audio commentary from Bruce Block, Film Producer, UCLA Professor and AFI Member, an “Inside the Apartment” documentary, and a “Tribute to Jack Lemmon”.

 

[Eric Peterson]

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

This is the best DVD news since "Ace in the Hole" was announced last year!!

I always watch "The Apartment" over New Years, so I might have to push it back a month this year.

Now if only Universal could release the early Wilder titles!

 

[Mark VH]

My all-time favorite film. Wonderful news. Was planning on introducing my g/f to it over the holidays, but now I may have to push back to Valentine's day

With this and the Lubitsch musicals, February is shaping up to be the most exciting DVD month for me in a long, long time.

 

[Mark VH]

An addendum:

The cover art is HORRENDOUS. I may have to just swap out the old cover in the amaray. Just awful.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Wow! That art is pretty bad. Where's the mention of Billy Wilder or the number of awards that it won. Certainly 3 Oscars for Wilder is worthy of a mention on the cover.

In defense though, the original poster and advertising materials aren't much either. They had to separate it from the original artwork which has been used since the VHS days. At least they used the keyhole motif from the original art.

 

[TravisR]

I don't care if this comes in a paper bag. I'm just happy a (hopefully) quality edition is coming at all.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Great news! Sony/MGM are definitely improving as far as special editions of their classics are concerned, with this following their recent announcements of 'New York, New York' (provided it's going to be anamorphic this time!), 'In The Heat Of The Night' and 'Tootsie'.

 

[John Hodson]

I'll put the celebrations on hold until the news is in that this is an improved transfer; for now, it's a very cautious thumbs up.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Exactly.
The relationship with Fox has resulted in major improvments to some titles (Jean de Florette/Manon for one)- hopefully the trend will continue here. I can't see how it would be worse...but I've been suprised before.

This is one title I would sell blood to get in HD. Unfortunately, being associated with Blu-ray, a black and white MGM catalog title from the 60s is going to be a long time in coming to that format.
If the transfer is improved, I won't hesitate to pick it up- since there is almost no chance of a further HD upgrade anytime soon.


(haven't seen the coverart yet, but I can't believe it could be worse than the current one)

 

[Michael Boyd]

Where is the Cameron Crowe interview with Wilder that I thought he offered up a few years ago. Supposedly there was enough from his book about Wilder to use on a new edition of The Apartment. :frowning:

And I know it wont happen . . . but Blu Ray please . . .

 

[george kaplan]

Having just read the press release on this that Ron posted in another thread, I'm worried that it doesn't even say remastered. But I'm praying that the picture quality is improved. This is my #1 film of all-time, and it deserves the best release possible.

 

[Eric Peterson]

It's also my #1 film and it desperately needs a new transfer. That said, I seem to remember another recent re-release from MGM that was re-mastered despite the lack of mention in the press release. Hopefully this is another case of this.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I CAN'T WAIT!!!


And it is true that the cover art is idiotic. The title text-font-style belongs on a National Lampoon dvd or dumb teen college movie. Never thought I'd upgrade discs but actually hang on to the awful current cover, but that's what I'll be doing! What a buncha maroons...

 

[Haggai]

I think the announcement for the latest release of The Graduate didn't say anything about it being anamorphic, even though it was the first time they released it that way.

 

[Eric Peterson]

That's the exact title that I was thinking of. Hopefully this is the case again.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The existing Apartment DVD is anamorphic - it just looks like death. So it's not that the film needs a 16X9 transfer - it needs a GOOD transfer!

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Have a look at this page.

 

[Mark B]

I'm not one to comment on cover art as a rule, but this one is BAD. I mean, BAD!

The least they could have done was altered one of the hands so it wasn't completely obvious that they are identical....just flopped. Ay, ay, ay.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

That is one hideous cover. Shirley MacLaine should sue (or meditate over some crystals to mystically intervene or something). They even try to bell her dress out to fit the shape of the keyhole, ballooning her figure. Oh, well, you could always just put the new disc in your older case. I've done that with several reissues (and, speaking of hideous covers, may have to do that with the Stanley Kubrick collection!)

 

[rich_d]

Agree. The cover ... truly awful!