Universal Vault Series - Amazon.com exclusive DVD-Rs (1 Viewer)

[Jobla]

I believe that THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL is coming from Amazon/Universal MOD in the next month or so.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Not only is Universal doing MONSTER AND THE GIRL on DVD-R; they're also doing:
THE BLACK CAT (1934)
THE RAVEN (1935)
MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932)
BLACK FRIDAY (1940)
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Hammer Version, 1962)
I have real mixed feelings about these being MOD. But better than nothing I guess.

 

What happened to Jackie Cooper's "Skippy" (1931), which was announced last year?

 

[Nebiroth]

Oops, they missed out Tthe Invisible Ray. Then you could buy on MOD for $100 the five films that are in the Bela Lugosi Collection, which is still easily available at $20 for the whole set (and which I bought on first release for less than $10)!
I guess there is the upside that they won't be on those awful double-sided DVD-18 discs so many of which turned out to be faulty.
Likewise, Phantom of the Opera was in the Hammer Horror Series set, alongside seven other films, for about the same price as the new single MOD disc. Alstohugh again, there were many faulty sets due to the use of DVD-18 type discs.
It seems to be an increasing trend for studios to put out films they have already released on DVD as MOD versions - at around for or five times the price! The crazy thing is the much cheaper, and identical, DVD versions are very often still in stock in many stores.

 

Im getting Monster and the Girl, the others I have from the Lugosi set & not interested in Phantom of the Opera (sorry)

 

[Mark Pytel]

I'm a little disappointed by the new batch. ALL are re-releases of stuff already available cheaper. I was hoping there would be some new titles considering a new "batch" of these come every three months. Since these are probably the same transfers used for the multi-disc sets, there really was no excuse to wait three months to release these. Now we have at least another three months before the hopes of anything new comes out, based on their release windows. It would be nice if they released more and a lot quicker. The program is good. The titles I have are really great. However this program is the worst marketing program I have ever seen. The ONLY way to find out what is out or new is to type in the words universal vault and then scroll through the lists of movies. Couple that with the spotty release dates, I'd say whomever is working at marketing these at Universal needs to take a look at the Sony Choice collection or the Warner Archive.
Once again, I love the titles released. I have roughly 20 of them right now and want more. Universal has a great untapped catalog. The issue is that only people like us on this forum know about this program and even with that it is hard to decipher when or if new titles are coming out. I just want more titles in a more timely manner.

 

[Camps]

Amen, Amen and Amen, Mark!

 

[John Morgan]

I would think the real fans for the 30s and 40s horror films have already bought them in the collections and at great prices. I do hate those DVD18/flipper discs, but to pay $20 per title compared to around $5 a title in the collections is a bit disappointing. Also, they have good masters on such titles that never made it to DVD like the two last JUNGLE WOMAN films as well as MYSTERY OF EDWIND DROOD. And there are a handful of other Universal second (or third) tier horror films that have never made it to video like SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM, SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK, FLESH AND FANTASY, DESTINY, MYSTERY OF MARIA ROGET, THE HOUSE OF FEAR (1939), not to mention all the Paramount stuff they have and never released on video.

 

[GregoryMesh]

What a nightmare to find any of these, but here is more titles coming soon from the vault:
Every Day's a Holiday (1937)
The Red Pony (1973)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (available previously on Halloween II blu-ray)
Up in Central Park (1948)
Hammer's Phantom of the Opera is already out since last November...

 

[Camps]

I would think the real fans for the 30s and 40s horror films have already bought them in the collections and at great prices. I do hate those DVD18/flipper discs, but to pay $20 per title compared to around $5 a title in the collections is a bit disappointing. Also, they have good masters on such titles that never made it to DVD like the two last JUNGLE WOMAN films as well as MYSTERY OF EDWIND DROOD. And there are a handful of other Universal second (or third) tier horror films that have never made it to video like SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM, SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK, FLESH AND FANTASY, DESTINY, MYSTERY OF MARIA ROGET, THE HOUSE OF FEAR (1939), not to mention all the Paramount stuff they have and never released on video.

Amen again. Other than MONSTER AND THE GIRL, DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY and HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES (all of which were previously issued on VHS) all these Universal classic-horror MODs have previously been issued on DVD. (Feel free to correct me, anyone, if I missed something.)
I'm not getting into the whole DVD-18 vs MOD vs better-quality pressed discs debate (nor the pricing debate). I just wish Universal would get busy digging the never-before-released titles out of the vaults -- or communicate to fans like those on this board why they'd be unable to. Just a little communication.
After they did what I considered a noble job for many years, I'm incredibly disenchanted with the management at Universal Home Vid in recent years.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Amen again. Other than MONSTER AND THE GIRL, DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY and HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES (all of which were previously issued on VHS) all these Universal classic-horror MODs have previously been issued on DVD. (Feel free to correct me, anyone, if I missed something.)
I'm not getting into the whole DVD-18 vs MOD vs better-quality pressed discs debate (nor the pricing debate). I just wish Universal would get busy digging the never-before-released titles out of the vaults -- or communicate to fans like those on this board why they'd be unable to. Just a little communication.
After they did what I considered a noble job for many years, I'm incredibly disenchanted with the management at Universal Home Vid in recent years.

Not sure what genre you would put it in, but I don't think Cult of the Cobra (or is it Cobra Woman) had been on DVD before.

 

[JoHud]

Not only is Universal doing MONSTER AND THE GIRL on DVD-R; they're also doing:
THE BLACK CAT (1934)
THE RAVEN (1935)
MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932)
BLACK FRIDAY (1940)

Every Day's a Holiday (1937)
The Red Pony (1973)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (available previously on Halloween II blu-ray)
Up in Central Park (1948)

In addition to all these, there are still more listed:
Comanche Territory (1950)
Flame of Araby (1951)
Every Day's a Holiday (1937) (Finally!)
Texas Across the River (1966)
Counterpoint (1967) (Finally!)
The Questor Tapes (1974)
All these, including those in Gregory Mesh's post and Monster and the Girl are new to DVD
Also this is a rare instance in which the new releases actually outnumber the DVD boxed set/collection re-releases.

 

[GregoryMesh]

I uncovered another title - Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940)

 

[JoHud]

Thanks, overlooked that one. And another new one to boot!

Other than MONSTER AND THE GIRL, DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY and HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES (all of which were previously issued on VHS) all these Universal classic-horror MODs have previously been issued on DVD. (Feel free to correct me, anyone, if I missed something.)

Does Killdozer count?

 

[Camps]

Thanks, overlooked that one. And another new one to boot!
Does Killdozer count?

Well, I did write "classic-horror" but why split hairs? I'll allow '70s stuff into the "classic" category at this point, Joe.
Hey, I'm glad they cranked out KILLDOZER. Every little bit is a good sign. I'm just mystified that there's not a peep from Uni about the '30s/'40s/'50s unreleased titles, like the elusive Paramount horrors/mysteries of the era. Not a peep.

 

[Camps]

Not sure what genre you would put it in, but I don't think Cult of the Cobra (or is it Cobra Woman) had been on DVD before.

COBRA WOMAN (1944) is indeed new to US DVD but had been released in the UK (a nice print; I have that one). CULT OF THE COBRA (1955) was issued on DVD as part of one of Universal's Sci-Fi collections several years ago (back when they issued genre collections as opposed to one-offs -- and one-offs are OK, just so long as they're entirely new-to-home-vid one-offs...).
Really, can anyone honestly argue that Universal Home Vid's output these last 3 years has cut the mustard when compared to WB, MGM, Sony/Columbia... and now even Fox (via their new MOD program) and Paramount post-1948 (via Olive)??

 

[borisfw]

I got Cobra Woman from the Universal Vault series months ago from Amazon .

 

[John Morgan]

I got Cobra Woman from the Universal Vault series months ago from Amazon .

I got it too, but the running time of the film on the DVD is 68 minutes, and my old AMC copy was nearer 72 mins., so knowing it was released in Europe first, I wonder if the transfer was PAL and we have a sped up version. Would a 72 minute film loose 4 minutes like this? My math skills are poor.

 

[Worth]

PAL runs 4% faster, so it would be about 69 minutes.

 

[Nebiroth]

DVDCompare lists the UK DVD as running time 67mins 27secs and indicates that it is uncut.
Our film censor/certification board (the BBFC) list that the original movie was 70m 15s. Unusually they do not list the DVD details but they show no cuts for the original theatrical showings.
However, they only show cuts that they have imposed. If a studio has voluntarily imposed cuts before submitting as movie for certification, these are not shown on the BBFC site. Studios sometimes impose their own pre-cert changes to achieve a specific age rating for cinema audiences as it's AFAIK cheaper than having the BBFC review and then say what changes need to be made. There are certain things that are automatic cuts here - horse-falls, for example, or the use of nunchuks will not make it even in the highest ratings.
Which is why we Brits often have to import DVD editions from the USA...