USHE Press Release: ALFRED HITCHCOCK: THE MASTERPIECE COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[MichaelScott]

disagree, I think it's huge..these films deserve their own cases..no if ands or buts..that's just cheap. Gheez I hate Universal ,they really don't get it at all. That means you are forced to buy the set even if you don't want less then half the titles ,and also makes it pretty hard to sell off the titles you don't want..Why anyone thinks this is good practice is beyond me. As for the comment about the cost on another post..I am assuming many people would not buy them all at once but have a set budget on buying every month and would like the option to eventually get the ones they want as they go along. Not everyone spends without thought on every set that comes along. Might as well stick with the old versions..I am sure they will replace even these down the road anyways.

 

[TravisR]

I agree that they should have their own case but they also have to fit on store shelves. A box set that's like a foot long and $100 isn't something that's going to be stocked very heavily (if at all) in stores since it takes up too much space. If it's smaller and $100, they'll stock a couple of them. The better it sells, the more Universal will see that there's a market for their older titles.

Unfortunately, Universal has to make it as small as possible so they can sell more copies.

 

[Craig Beam]

It's a secondary concern, in my opinion. It's like judging the taste of the Cap'n Crunch by how pretty the box is.

In all seriousness, I'm a huge advocate for the use of original poster art for DVD covers. The Warner Hitchcock discs were beautiful for this very reason. Whenever I pull one out, I always pause and look at the cover for a bit, and silently thank Warner for their endless class. I had hoped I'd do the same for these... but oh well. I'll be enjoying the discs inside regardless.

 

[Chris Cheese]

I'm just happy that I sold six movies and for just a few bucks more than I made from that, I'm getting those six back plus an extra eight that I didn't own before. As long as the cases adequately prevent the discs from getting scratched, I'm satisfied.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I would prefer single keepcases in a box or single releases (which may happen in a few months; you never can tell with Universal) as I would prefer to store all my Hitchcock DVDs chronologically. This was possible with the Warner set and my copies of Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, etc. Even though I am a huge Hitch fan, I can live without this box for a few months, so I'll just wait and see what Universal do.

 

[Richard Hardbattle]

I've had box turn up at work today, so while I can't actually play the films, I've had a good look at the packaging... which is a dissapointment.

The box is a padded fake velvet deal, which initially looks nice. You open one end of the box by pulling a ribbon. Once the box is opened, the trouble begins. The 32 page book is simply a fluff piece, no real details or insight, apart from cast and crew details. The discs themselves are packaged in chronological order, 4 dics at a time in a cardboard case. the covers show original poster art for all four films split over the front, and look nice. When you open a box you find the the four discs are set out two each, like pages of a book, but they actually overlap - for example, to watch Psycho, you have to take out Vertigo - a really bad move.

What's annoying for me, is the box is only half full! The four disc boxes have plastic groves either side to hold the discs in place. I would suspect that if these groves were removed, the box is big enough to hold 15 of the very slim plastic dvd cases.....

I just hope the presentation of the films is better than the packaging...

 

[Richard Hardbattle]

In fact, I've just tried - the box is the right size for 15 thin dvd cases!

 

[John Hodson]

DVD Beaver is promising lots of screencaps soon. Meanwhile, Gary says:

...As some of the previous releases were not anamorphic, this time around they are getting the full 16x9 treatment, including both "Vertigo" and "Psycho"....

Yep, 16x9. But, to my eye, taken from the existing masters used for the last transfer. The real joys of the set are Torn Curtain and The Birds, both noticeably improved - brighter, sharper and better color. Topaz, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry and Family Plot also look sharper and better. Shadow of a Doubt and Rope are about the same.

Saboteur is the biggest revelation - night and day. The older DVD was way too dark and very dupey looking - this new transfer has great contrast and looks the way it should. Happily, the Paramount and VistaVision logo is restored. Rear Window is a bit sharper and brighter, but not by much - I personally hated the "restoration" which was excessively grainy and looks nothing like the 35mm IB Tech prints of that film.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Can you please post p[ictures of the box laid out Richard?

It sounds a little dissapointing...

 

[MichaelScott]

Let's face it the real problem is Universal just has no or little respect for it's classic titles unlike other studios. They did the same thing with the Gary Cooper set, can anyone really tell me with a straight face that Beau Geste didn't deserve it's own release?. As for the shelf space, come on that's a lame argument, were talking Hitchcock here not William Shatner. Universal, either get with the program like WB,Fox etc..or sell your classic catalog to a studio that appreciates them. They are holding on to a allot of wonderful films we will never see as long as they are in charge of them, and when they do let go of them they do it half assed. Look at the Noir titles they released, they didn't even really try. It's been proven they do sell if done right and with care. Which as I stated they have little of. Don't even get me started on the shoddy TV releases and defective DVD's.

 

[Richard Hardbattle]

I would if I could Marco - I'm at work at the mo... It's killing me with this set sitting here! Also had the Hitchcock TV season 1 turn up too....

 

[Jay*W]

Since I also prefer to store my Hitchcock chronologically, I guess I'll be putting the new discs into the old cases.

Jay

 

[Dale MA]

I think we should all calm down a little and wait & see for ourselves what the set is like.

They've given us the original mono track for Vertigo & have cleaned up all the transfers, giving them all the anamorphic treatment

Sure slim cases would've been great but c'mon, this is a great release for a great price.

 

[Richard Hardbattle]

I'm with you Dale - Although I'm moaning about the box, it's the discs that count. It's just a shame that this could have been as nice a box as the recent Warners noir/gangster sets. They are only a simple cardboard slipcase, then standard plastic cases with original cover art for each film. Easy really! This velvety box for this Hitchcock set could have been so much more...and cost less for Universal to make, and us to buy!

Anyways - Looking forward to an evening with my favorite Hitch - Vertigo

 

[MichaelScott]

So we should be thankful for something they should have done right the first time?..hmmmm...then still managed to goof up.

 

[DeeF]

Gary must have made a mistake when he listed the original VistaVision logo for Saboteur, which is a black and white film from 1942.

I think... he must be talking about The Man Who Knew Too Much.

 

[Member 323668]

First impressions: Except for "Saboteur", I doubt that there is any new high definition telecine / film to video transfer involved. All titles seem to derive from the old masters, just with some "digital enhancements" made, like adding brightness and artificially sharpening the picture, along with more efficient encoding. This results only in part in visually "improved" DVDs, but certainly is far from the quality that could have been achieved by making real high-definition transfers from the original camera negatives.

By no means even close to Warner standard!

Excessive use of a noise filter in combination with artificially adding sharpness often results in visible edge enhancments, halos, jitter and aliasing effects. Best visible in "The Man Who Knew Too Much". A totally faulty transfer, partly unwatchable, where the edge enhancement sometimes makes the picture jitter so much that it almost seems to move vertically. (giving the audience the real feeling of "vertigo" - to be sarcastic)

Vertigo anamorphic with improved picture quality and the original monaural soundtrack. A plus.

Psycho anamorphic, but - in my opinion- looking worse than the original release. Don't get me wrong: I love to see film grain and hate plain filtered transfers, but this is not FINE grain, it is "macro grain" of a standard definition master digitally framed for anamorphic encoding. Nothing else. Disappointing.

This is Universal, and I am almost sure, they will release the same transfers on HD sometime, just digitally scaled to 1080i. I do not think they will give us transfers from a high defintion master for a very long time, so this box probably is the best we can get for now...

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

If Universal have, for the most part, used the old standard-definition transfers for this release and just adjusted the brightness and made faux-duplicate anamorphic transfers for Vertigo and Psycho then I would really be surprised, as all of their recent remastered DVDs (Animal House, Scarface, Dracula '79, The Thing, Twelve Monkeys) had new HD-sourced anamorphic transfers with clean-up, so one would have to wonder why they would fudge this Hitchcock set.

As I stated above, I will wait and see what Universal does. Maybe once I see a comprehensive DVD Beaver (or any other) comparison, I will have a better idea of what's what.

 

[Rich Malloy]

It's a good price. Original mono track and anamorphic enhancement for "Vertigo". Exceptionally better transfer for "Saboteur", notably better transfers for "The Birds" and "Marnie", and a slightly better transfer for "Rear Window". "Psycho" transfer somewhat controversial, eliciting a few negatives, but at least anamorphic (and not colorized, 5.1-ized or otherwise crapified).

Yup, that's my rationalization.

It would be very easy to pile on Universal here, and I can only wonder why they don't get it in anyway that resembles the way that Criterion and Warner Brothers do. Rob Gardiner's post about the deficiencies in the press release back on page one is illustrative -- Universal doesn't bother to include any of the crucial info we'd been dying to know, just the same ol' generic marketing speak, demonstrating how utterly out-of-touch they are with the customer base.

But it's a good price, assuming you want most of these films. At some point, likely in the near future, I'll repeat that ten times, swallow hard, and make the order...

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

DVDBeaver is promising reviews within the next 48 hours
Hopefully they will also do comparisons with the original releases. Gives us plenty of time to make up our minds about preordering this set which isn't due out for at least another week.

-D