Universal Vault Series - Amazon.com exclusive DVD-Rs (2 Viewers)

[Bob Cashill]

Just read the list of the latest ten Universal Vault Series DVDr releases. The five titles that are post 1952 ...
THE APPALOOSA, BENGAL BRIGADE, MAN WITHOUT A STAR, WALK THE PROUD LAND and one I've
long hoped for: MY MAN GODFREY (1957) ... are, of course, ALL being released in Pan and Scan. I
continue to find their marketing strategy to be bizarre, at the very least.

Is there a notation regarding this somewhere? It does seem unusual for Universal.

 

[Robin9]

I've received an email from Classic Flix in which they list the new Universal Vault titles. In the details about each disc, Classic Flix state they are in full screen format. It's possible of course that Classic Flix have got it wrong.

This is their full list, including pre 1952 titles:

QUOTE:
Three months since their last wave of titles, Universal's MOD program kicks back into high gear with the announcement of ten titles newly available on DVD as part of their Vault Series including Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney in City Streets (1931). The rest are:

• The Accused (1949) - Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey, Sam Jaffe
• The Appaloosa (1966) - Marlon Brando, Anjanette Comer, John Saxon
• Behind the Eight Ball (1942) - Al Ritz, Jimmy Ritz, Harry Ritz, Carol Bruce, Dick Foran
• Bengal Brigade (1956) - Rock Hudson, Arlene Dahl
• Disputed Passage (1939) - Dorothy Lamour, Akim Tamiroff
• Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) - Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster
• Man Without a Star (1955) - Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor
• My Man Godfrey (1957) - June Allyson, David Niven, Jessie Royce Landis, Eva Gabor, Martha Hyer
• Walk the Proud Land (1956) - Audie Murphy, Anne Bancroft, Tommy Rall

All will be available here at ClassicFlix on November 1st.
UNQUOTE

 

[borisfw]

Picked up My Man Godfrey and Kiss the Blood off My Hands . Both looked pretty good to me .

 

[Robert Crawford]

Picked up My Man Godfrey and Kiss the Blood off My Hands . Both looked pretty good to me .

Are the aspect ratios incorrect?

 

[Thomas T]

Are the aspect ratios incorrect?

Well, Kiss The Blood Off My Hands is a 1948 film so I assume a 1.37 aspect ratio is a no brainer but I'm crossing my fingers that My Man Godfrey is anamorphic scope and or at very least 4x3 letterbox as opposed to pan and scan. I already have anamorphic DVDs of Bengal Brigade (England), The Appaloosa (Germany), Man Without A Star (Australia) and Walk The Proud Land (England) so I'm okay there.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Universal, please, The Bad Sister. A young Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis in her film debut.

Waaaay overdue, especially for Davis fans.

 

[Thomas T]

Universal, please, The Bad Sister. A young Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis in her film debut.

Waaaay overdue, especially for Davis fans.

If you have a region free player, there's a very nice looking DVD from England of Bad Sister available.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Thomas, are you referring to this edition from Simply Media?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Sister-DVD-Conrad-Nagel/dp/B0177XV2CC

 

[John Hermes]

I am wondering about Walk The Proud Land. Is it 16x9 2.35, and sharp? The German one is horrible, looks like VHS.

 

[borisfw]

Are the aspect ratios incorrect?

My Man Godfrey was in 2:35 anamorphic . KTBOMH is 1:33.

 

[Thomas T]

My Man Godfrey was in 2:35 anamorphic . KTBOMH is 1:33.

Thank you Boris, you've made me a very happy man!

 

[Robin9]

My Man Godfrey was in 2:35 anamorphic . KTBOMH is 1:33.

Many thanks. In that case I'll buy My Man Godfrey even though it co-stars someone I can't stand. In compensation - for me, at least - is David Niven and Martha Hyer, both of whom I like a lot.

Incidentally, in her very slim memoirs Finding My Way, Martha Hyer has just one sentence about David Niven: I've never met anyone who didn't like David Niven. I think most people would love to have something like that said about them.

 

[borisfw]

David Niven was fine as Godfrey and Martha Hyer was as beautiful as ever . But June Allyson was a bit grating . Maybe she was trying too hard to fill Lombards shoes .

 

[lionel59]

Thanks boris for revealing that MY MAN GODFREY has been released in the way it was originally shot. Universal Vault has released ROMANOFF AND JULIET and THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON in Pan/Scan. Both were released in cinemas in 1.85:1 Wide Screen and the dvds look cropped, not 'Open Matte', GODFREY is only ever shown Pan/Sso I'm glad they have surprised us with a CinemaScope transfer. June Allyson was taking on more than she could handle at this time by redoing classic roles previously portrayed by Claudette Colbert (YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM IT, a remake of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, GODFREY (previously portrayed by Carole Lombard) and THE OPPOSITE SEX (in Norma Shearer's lead role in THE WOMEN). None of these remakes measured up but probably were moderately successful in their day, gussied up in color and CinemaScope. As a '50's Scope buff, I'd like to see them in their intended ratio, but until now only MGM (ie Warner Home Video) has come through with a nice 16:9, 2.35:1 transfer (in stereo.)
Thanks to the person who alerted me to the UK 16:9 transfer of BENGAL BRIGADE, which could mean this will also be in Wide Screen from the Vault people. WALK THE PROUD LAND was released in 2.35:1 Letterbox in Australia very cheaply. It appears to be slightly cropped (from 2.55 :1 ?) but is quite watchable. I am looking forward to good prints of KISS THE BLOOD... and CITY STREETS, which was little seen for many years due to its pre-Code content. Sylvia Sidney (in the similarly titled STREET SCENE made one year earlier) replaced Clara Bow and Nancy Carroll in the lead role.

 

[Thomas T]

Many thanks. In that case I'll buy My Man Godfrey even though it co-stars someone I can't stand.

Say it isn't so, Robin! I adore June Allyson and long for her other 50s projects like The Shrike, Stranger In My Arms and You Can't Run Away From It to be released from captivity. Once again, taking on the role of contrarian, Lombard drove me nuts in the original Godfrey as I found her charmless, obnoxious and annoying and I find her that way in Twentieth Century and To Be Or Not To Be too. She's okay in Nothing Sacred but I find her preferable in her dramas like In Name Only and Made For Each Other. But I find the Junebug adorable.

 

[Robin9]

Say it isn't so, Robin! I adore June Allyson and long for her other 50s projects like The Shrike, Stranger In My Arms and You Can't Run Away From It to be released from captivity. Once again, taking on the role of contrarian, Lombard drove me nuts in the original Godfrey as I found her charmless, obnoxious and annoying and I find her that way in Twentieth Century and To Be Or Not To Be too. She's okay in Nothing Sacred but I find her preferable in her dramas like In Name Only and Made For Each Other. But I find the Junebug adorable.

Well, each to their own etc. You will note I gave no name!

I am a Carole Lombard fan and just this week have watched two of the four films she made with Fred MacMurray, one of my favorite film stars. (I think the Lombard/MacMurray partnership should be celebrated more than it is) However I also prefer her in more serious mode, as in In Name Only. I'd love to have a good presentation of Swing High, Swing Low on disc.

 

[borisfw]

I don't mind June Allyson as an actress . I like her in the many MGM films she did . But in My Man Godfrey she just seems to be trying too hard to be the mad cap heiress . At times i just wanted her to shut up .

 

[TJPC]

I usually don't mind June Allyson, and I know she first came to notice in a Broadway musical, but who in the world decided that girl could sing? Why she was ever a star in movie musicals is beyond me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I like June Allyson too, but I agree, I can't stand her singing voice.

 

[Rob_Ray]

June Allyson is no Kathryn Grayson (nothing wrong with that) and can sing just fine. Her voice is uniquely her own and quite pleasing in it's own way. She's always on pitch and can sustain the notes as well as anyone. She was born to play in lighthearted musicals, which is why her dramatic roles are so eye-opening.