Why I Own So Many Movies. (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

What's YOUR answer?

Now that a bunch of us have had a chance to weigh in, if you don't mind me asking, what's YOUR answer?

 

[English Invader]

I loved the essay. A written testament for a lot of my feelings over the years.

My passion for films began in the early 90s when I was 13 and my opportunities to buy video tapes were few and far between but I treasured the ones I got. A couple of years later and I had a little bit more money and some of the tapes came down a little bit in price but I still had to be selective with the ones I bought. I followed my nose and was rarely disappointed.

My first opportunity to fully indulge myself was around 2006 when there was a big boom of people dumping their VHS tapes in charity shops as they upgraded to DVD. My only income was £60 a week unemployment benefit but films were available for as little as 20p a time and I lived like a king.

Fast forward to 2018 and I'm about 4 months into my Blu-Ray collection and have hundreds of DVDs and VHS tapes that I should downsize but for some reason I just can't do it.

That's as close an answer to the question as I can manage.

 

[PMF]

View attachment 49977 View attachment 49978

I'm now inspired to run a BD and Breakfast.
Maybe I'll name it The 4Korners Inn.
One guest room w/ one custom selected viewing upon a projected 120" screen.
All proceeds shall go to every licensee towards future restorations.
Ah, yes, another collection of day-dreams; ongoing and never ending;
but still a collection, just the same.

 

[Dick]

Wow, 6000 titles! I think back to the 1960s, when the idea of actually owning a film, & being able to see it whenever I liked, & it looking as good as it did at the cinema, was pure fantasy, & now that's come to pass! I think I like buying & owning a film as much as I like viewing it, I don't know what that says about me.

It says you're like me and many others here. I have amassed about 4500 movies on disc (1500 DVD's, 3000 on Blu-ray) and just keep on plugging, except when times are hard, at which time I have to sell off a chunk of stuff (one of those times is happening now). Truth is, I haven't ever watched about 300-400 of these films even once yet, most of them foreign language films, which I generally love but have to be in a certain mood for.

When 8mm and Super 8mm were the only means a fan had of collecting (albeit mostly severely truncated editions), I owned hundreds of those. I can't even remember where the money came from! -- those little reels weren't cheap, especially the color/sound ones.

When VHS came around, I built up a very space-hogging collection of some 500 of these. Damn! To be able to own feature-length films and watch them anytime...it was alchemy! By then I was working and I can remember spending almost every penny of "disposable" income on this hobby. And t.v. screens were still small enough that even VHS looked passable.

But laser disc came along and I began to sell off my cassettes. I bought a 27" set and VHS was beginning to seem a little crappy, but those lasers were awesome. Freeze-frames. Incredible definition (425 lines!!), special bonus materials, commentaries and, soon enough, letterboxing! A film collector's friggin' paradise.

By the time DVD surfaced, I'd pretty much dumped all of my VHS tapes, even ones that hadn't yet been released on this better format (almost all of the ones I discarded are now available, I am relieved to say).

DVD was an exponential jump in PQ and led me to purchase a 46" display. Wow! A real theater-like experience in my own living space!

And, of course, Blu-ray followed, and I now watch my movies on a 65" 4K, 3D OLED. That is almost certainly as far as I'll ever get, but I am totally satisfied with it. In my small apartment, it is a completely immersive experience to watch movies on this with a 5.1 sound system.

I will cherish my DVD's and Blu-rays, even the unwatched titles, because I have always been devoted to film, and having such a great way to watch them in my apartment makes it worth it to me to have accrued what many would think was a ridiculously self-indulgent collection. I never used to understand why people collected stamps or coins that are hidden away inside books, but I think I get it now.

 

[Mike Frezon]

This IS a thread about why we love the movies so much and why we want to have them in our personal collections.

HERE is the essay...including RAF's remarks about why he so often referred to it. Maybe you'd like to give some more contemporary examples of certain movies (or performances) that are important to you...and which are "must haves" in your own collection.

Or maybe you've had to answer that very question "How can you have so many videodiscs?!?" when posed by a member of your own family (maybe even your own spouse!) or a friend.

What's YOUR answer?

Now that a bunch of us have had a chance to weigh in, if you don't mind me asking, what's YOUR answer?

I don't think I have much new to add on the subject, really.

I get the question a lot. I used to get it more when I had most of my movie collection on shelves in our living room (where our HT is located). After we became empty-nesters, Peg convinced me to relocate my discs (both music and film) into one of our newly-emptied bedrooms. Where the door is usually closed. And hidden away from visitors.

Many of those who know I purchase movies-on-disc--especially in this day-and-age of downloading and streaming and digital files--often give me a raised eyebrow. And both of my own children--who are now adults and finding their own way through the world (and the world of movie and TV entertainment) consider me a dinosaur. (Some earlier posts in this thread about what happens to our collections after our death gave me great pause. My dad, who died five years ago had built up a collected of dozens upon dozens of old, tube table-top radios. Buying old radios at auction, flea markets and garage sales and then putting them to working order was one of his joys in retirement. He was smart enough to know (and accept) that his end was coming and so figured out a way to suitably dispose of his collection--just so that his heirs would not have to--a pretty generous thing.)

I'm not the cinephile that many here on this forum are. There are HTF members who have very specific ties to various genres--Westerns, Noir, SciFi, etc. Some are dedicated to certain directors--Bergman, Kurosawa, Spielberg, etc. I like a lot of different things. Amongst my very favorite films (off the top of my head) are: Doubt, Groundhog Day. The Seventh Seal, That Thing You Do!, A Christmas Carol (1951), the Toy Story films and, most recently, La La Land. These are films I have watched countless times. And like others here, there are films in my collection I've only watched once and others I have yet to even open.

Full disclosure, I am thinking of paring discs from my collection (as I reorganize it). In particular, ones that Peg and I watched and hated and won't ever watch again. Also some contemporary films which I doubt we will ever watch again. This is for all the usual reasons: space is limited, life is short. And I've had the realization that it's not the sheer size of the collection that makes it impressive, it is the impact of that collection on the collection-holder. I'm the first to admit there are some films in my collection that can go and won't be missed. Yet there are others I go looking for, and when I can't find them, I get agita!

We all know that movie-making is a collaborative experience. Just look at the people listed in the closing credits of any contemporary film! Films result from the work of the writers and their story, the director and his vision, the actors and their abilities, the DP and their unique visual perspective and on and on. Well, I think the process continues after the films hit the theaters or our shelves in our homes as we, the viewers, then watch the film in our unique settings, on our own unique gear and with our own unique sensibilities and often our fleeting moods (which can enhance or detract from our enjoyment of what we watch). Hence, one man's treasure can be another man's trash...and why all our collections are different.

So, for me, being able to watch what I want, when I want, (usually factoring in my fairly constant viewing companion, Peg) is not an insignificant thing. Movies are a great entertainment and a great enjoyment. I am blessed to have my collection, the amazing gear on which I watch it and the roof over my head that houses it all.

 

[Alan Tully]

A comment by BarryR on the other thread interested me.

"I now have "The Sacred 300" as an estimate, followed by the "Nice to Have Around" 100, followed by recent movies or new acquisitions I may or may not keep in the long run. I'm always weeding out new and old that I doubt I'll ever view again."

I don't have that many "sacred" films, but thinking about the films I really love, they're nearly all films I saw in the late fifties & sixties, both on TV & at the cinema. A few seventies & not that much past 1980, & of course there's been lots of great films in the last forty years, films I've loved & am very happy to own on DVD & Blu-ray, but my theory is, films, albums, books that I loved before I was thirty (1980), are really part of my DNA now, there's a sort of magic to them for me. These days it's very rare that I listen to a pop/rock album that wasn't released in the seventies.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I used to collect DVDs but when blu rays came out decided to only buy favourites and large format films. Having disposed of the others I am now down to about 500 blu ray and 200 DVDs. Will upgrade the blu rays to 4k when possible and have 4 so far (including the wonderful La La Land).

 

[Bert Greene]

It's no mystery to me why I collect film/tv. When I was a kid, I had access to three tv-channels, and they were actually quite obliging when it came to airing old movies. Lots of afternoon theaters and late-shows. I developed a real love for vintage film fare. Then, my family moved to a different locality, where there were also three tv-channels available. But these three local stations were very, very weak on airing old films. No option of cable-tv, no option of VCR's yet. Several years I endured this dreary situation, and it was such an intense ache to again view the type of old films I loved, from Universal horrors to B-westerns to slapstick comedies to detective film series. Losing access to such things for several years was almost viscerally painful to me. That feeling of 'loss,' and my genuine questioning of whether I'd ever again get to see some of my favored films, really seared into me. When VHS became available, cable-tv had already arrived, and I became a tape-recording madman, trying to capture copies of anything and everything that might even marginally appeal to my tastes.

During that fallow period, however, there WAS one distant independent station that did air rare old films almost all night long. But the station was so weak and so far away, I could never get a signal during the daylight hours, and only about once-a-week during nighttime hours. I'd attempt to watch so many films through a thick curtain of snow. Very often I'd get an acceptable picture when a movie started, but then totally lose it into complete snow thirty minutes later. I'd see so many 'bits and pieces' of old movies. But it was all I had at the time. The only way to quench my thirst for vintage film, for several years. I suppose it seems rather pathetic in retrospect, but in those pre-cable, pre-vcr days, I had to grasp at straws.

Undoubtedly due to all these experiences, I don't really trust streaming, the cloud, even the internet as a whole. In the back of my mind, it's all a rug that can pulled away from me at a moment's notice. I have to have a disc, and hold it in my hands.

 

[BarryR]

A comment by BarryR on the other thread interested me.

"I now have "The Sacred 300" as an estimate, followed by the "Nice to Have Around" 100, followed by recent movies or new acquisitions I may or may not keep in the long run. I'm always weeding out new and old that I doubt I'll ever view again."

I don't have that many "sacred" films, but thinking about the films I really love, they're nearly all films I saw in the late fifties & sixties, both on TV & at the cinema. A few seventies & not that much past 1980, & of course there's been lots of great films in the last forty years, films I've loved & am very happy to own on DVD & Blu-ray, but my theory is, films, albums, books that I loved before I was thirty (1980), are really part of my DNA now, there's a sort of magic to them for me. These days it's very rare that I listen to a pop/rock album that wasn't released in the seventies.

Thank you for reprinting part of my post from the other thread! It was the essential message I wanted to say.

To me the Sacred 300 are the movies that have become part of my DNA, to borrow your term. I find myself especially revisiting the '60s/'70s, my most impressionable years growing up. No surprise they make up the bulk of my collection. New movies have to prove themselves more, particularly in an age so overwrought with CGI spectacle I get bored to tears with.

I do though have quite a generous amount of movies from all other decades, but the '60s/'70s are the most "autobiographical," as it were. They have a special resonance since I saw so many in a theater back then, an experience so rare nowadays for a lot of reasons. One reason is "going to the movies" is not the event it used to be. But at least with my collection I have such a wonderous array of movies at the ready.

 

[CarlosMeat]

Thank you for reprinting part of my post from the other thread! It was the essential message I wanted to say.

To me the Sacred 300 are the movies that have become part of my DNA, to borrow your term. I find myself especially revisiting the '60s/'70s, my most impressionable years growing up. No surprise they make up the bulk of my collection. New movies have to prove themselves more, particularly in an age so overwrought with CGI spectacle I get bored to tears with.

Nice post very very similar to my take although often 30's to early 60's have a special place for me. I can't say why except perhaps this was my fathers time and he spoke of those days many many books around our home from that period etc.. not sure why.

 

[BarryR]

Growing up in the '60s, my watching movies from the '30s and '40s was not a big deal because those decades were still rather "recent." My parents's generation too. Second nature for them to refer to the '40s and earlier. The '50s seemed like yesterday, historically, though I was too young to remember.

I'm glad Buster Keaton has admirers under the age of 30.

 

[stevenHa]

I don't know if anyone else has the same basis for collecting dvds, but I am interested in visual effects including stop motion animation and matte paintings so I wanted to collect as many examples of films that showcase them. I also have a small number of just great or favorite films and comedies. When I moved I was forced to get rid of about 1/4 of my belongings so I had to go from collecting every example of movies with matte paintings to deciding which movies had the best examples. I had to decide to keep Laurel and Hardy but get rid of The Three Stooges since the former isn't on tv too often but the later is on everyday. I would keep Ben Hur, Spartacus, and The Robe but get rid of King of Kings (both versions) and Helen of Troy. Keep the 3 Willis O'Brien ape films but get rid of The Lost World and Black Scorpion. I had all the Sean Connery Bond films but only kept Russia and Diamonds (also have the flawed blu of Goldeneye). I tried to pick the best examples of matte paintings from each studio which also showed different types of scene extensions (grand ceilings, cliffs, trees, buildings, etc.)

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

I blame this guy. Admittedly, his collection is pretty damned impressive.

 

[BobO'Link]

It's really pretty simple for me: I love movies. The reason I own so many is so that I can watch what *I* want to watch *when* I want to watch it. At my house there's *always* something "good" on...

 

[Sam Posten]

RAF's widow marked that it has been 7 years since his passing this week. Still sorely missed!

 

[Steven Simon]

Raf was truly an awesome guy! I recall so many great HTF Events we went on over the years. He made many of the Los Angeles Meets. I miss him too, and think of him often. It was an honor being a Moderator along side him for many years. He taught me much of what I know today as far as Home Theater expertise, computers, and even about life... He always had this strange ability to calm me down, when I was a young pup years ago......

Bada Bing RAF!!!!

 

[PMF]

RAF's widow marked that it has been 7 years since his passing this week. Still sorely missed!

Positive contributions made by those now gone becomes all the more meaningful when continued on;
by those still present.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Full disclosure, I am thinking of paring discs from my collection (as I reorganize it). In particular, ones that Peg and I watched and hated and won't ever watch again. Also some contemporary films which I doubt we will ever watch again. This is for all the usual reasons: space is limited, life is short. And I've had the realization that it's not the sheer size of the collection that makes it impressive, it is the impact of that collection on the collection-holder. I'm the first to admit there are some films in my collection that can go and won't be missed. Yet there are others I go looking for, and when I can't find them, I get agita!

I have been doing that for a few years now, Mike. I only have so much storage space, so I'll look at a title critically and decide if I'll ever want to watch it again. If I cannot say "yes", then it usually goes on the "sell" list. Sometimes I convert a DVD to digital copy if I'm on the fence. If I upgrade a favorite title to a new format or newer transfer, the old one always goes up for sale. I don't keep duplicates, as the extras on the discs are not a big deal to me -- I am mainly interested in the film itself. I'll watch some of the extras, but I never keep an older disc because the new version is lacking a feature from the old release.

 

[ABaglivi]

Why I own so many movies? TCM again ran The Thing cropped, and cut off the ending of The Mummy's Hand mid-scene.

 

[Kevin Hovis]

This thread prompted me to join the forum and give my 2 cents.

When I was a child growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, we would buy these 8mm samplers from Blackhawk Films that featured clips from old silent films like The Phantom of The Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. From that experience grew my desire to collect films. With VHS, that dream finally became feasible and I've been buying movies ever since.

My interest in films are primarily limited to films pre-1980 with a particular emphasis now on silent films and precode films. I also enjoy exploitation films (Especially European) of the late 60's and 70s into the 80s. I have all of the classics and many rarities as a result. Not so interested in new films anymore as they mostly seem generic these days with heavy CGI and little else. I refuse to buy into UHD as I am happy with Blu-ray now and see no further need to double-dip on movies yet again. All told, I have around 10,000 movies and while I've slowed down I'm still buying several hundred titles a year. I usually buy my DVD's and blu-rays from Kino, Criterion, Warner Archive, Twilight Time, Arrow, Flicker Alley, Severin, Blue Underground and a few other sites. I'd rather have the physical media as they usually include commentaries and extras that you can't get when you stream.

I guess I'll donate my films to a library when I die. I'm sure they will need some copies of films from the dawn of film.