Your thoughts on Kino-Lorber Blu-rays (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Tonight I planned on watching a Blu Ray I purchased from Kino Lorber I would guess over 1 year ago. I took the shrink wrap of the Blu Ray Case and opened it and to my surprise there was no disc inside!
This is the first time I have ever bought a New Blu Ray or New DVD for that matter that had no Disc inside.
Has this happened to anyone else I wonder?

Robert

The same thing happened to me with a Criterion Blu-ray I purchased from Target during one of their “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” sales. Since then I open every new disc I received to make sure the contents are in place.

 

[RichMurphy]

Since then I open every new disc I received to make sure the contents are in place.

Same here, although I've been lucky and never received an empty case. I have found the wrong disc inside a case, and the weirdest problem to date: a Warner Archive MOD DVD had TWO titles printed on the disc on top of each other, and of course the disc contained the movie I DIDN'T order. Both times I received a replacement with no question.

 

[borisfw]

I always open and check the disc and packaging. Even if i'm going to watch it soon. Probably my OCD. But i've caught a few issues over the years and had them corrected.

 

[Malcolm R]

I can only recall one incident where I bought the Back to the Future DVD set and opened it to find I had two copies of Part II and was missing Part III.

Though I do have hundreds of discs still in shrinkwrap, so I may have some additional time bombs waiting for me in the future.

 

[jayembee]

I always open and check the disc and packaging. Even if i'm going to watch it soon. Probably my OCD. But i've caught a few issues over the years and had them corrected.

I try my damnedest to not only open the package right away, but also to spin the disc up, and chapter-skip through it. There have been any number of discs that had frozen up doing that. Fortunately, more often than not, it can be fixed with a swipe of a microfiber cloth over the surface. But there've been enough times where it's a genuine problem, and it's preferable to find out while I can still return the disc for replacement. In a couple of instances, the disc in question wouldn't even load, as if the player couldn't find any files on the disc.

Chapter-skipping doesn't necessarily catch all flaws, but it catches the more egregious ones.

 

[uncledougie]

I can only recall one incident where I bought the Back to the Future DVD set and opened it to find I had two copies of Part II and was missing Part III.

Though I do have hundreds of discs still in shrinkwrap, so I may have some additional time bombs waiting for me in the future.

Same here. I rarely open discs until I’m ready to watch the films. Last night for instance I opened the ancient Criterion DVD of NOTORIOUS to show two of the nephews, one which I’d never upgraded to Blu-ray. The only problem was the sticky label on top, which was a real pain to peel off. Old glue I guess. But the disc played fine. I shudder to imagine out of print discs I may have that have a playback issue. Ugh! Never had a problem with a Kino disc to date, however.

 

[MCCLOUD]

I am just glad it wasn’t a movie that is out of print. That would be bad to open up a New Blu Ray or DVD and not have the Disc and the Movie would Be Out Of Print!

 

[Dick]

How I would much rather have 4K's of Richard Lester's THREE & FOUR MUSKETEERS from Kino than to have to order them from UK for 20 pounds sterling each + shipping to the U.S.

See on Amazon

See on Amazon

These superb comedy/adventures with great casts have never looked good on video, including imported Blu-rays.

I hope Kino can get these...Studio Canal owns them, I believe.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Update: though Kino has not responded to my email requesting a refund, I see that a credit has just been refunded to my card.

Though the communication and situation were less than ideal, I appreciate that they ultimately made it right.

Another update: ordered a copy from Amazon this morning and it arrived this afternoon, for about $10 less in total than what Kino refunded.

I am thrilled to have this lesser-known gem on Blu-ray at long last. Though it’s nearly 100 years old and a million doesn’t go as far as it used to, the premise is ultimately timeless. I hope others here are able to discover this charming, heartwarming and occasionally hilarious film.

 

[jayembee]

How I would much rather have 4K's of Richard Lester's THREE & FOUR MUSKETEERS from Kino than to have to order them from UK for 20 pounds sterling each + shipping to the U.S.

These superb comedy/adventures with great casts have never looked good on video, including imported Blu-rays.

I hope Kino can get these...Studio Canal owns them, I believe.

When Kino announced Return of the Musketeers a couple of years ago, the Insider said that someone else had the first two. The way he put it --something like "we'll probably get our Musketeer film out long before they get theirs out" -- sounded like it must be Criterion, who is notorious for licensing more films than they can get released in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I am not sure what the state of Universal's element is, but I would love a quality release of Six of a Kind, a very funny film directed by Leo McCarey and featuring one of WC Fields's best bits. I know the release on the ancient George and Gracie was not great picture wise. Don't know about the later Vault offering.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I am not sure what the state of Universal's element is, but I would love a quality release of Six of a Kind, a very funny film directed by Leo McCarey and featuring one of WC Fields's best bits. I know the release on the ancient George and Gracie was not great picture wise. Don't know about the later Vault offering.

All the same 80s era home video master, complete with the MCA Home Video logo at the beginning. It’s a fantastic film ripe for rediscovery. I hope that other Fields-adjacent films like If I Have A Million sell enough units to justify kicking the tires on Six Of A Kind.

 

[borisfw]

I try my damnedest to not only open the package right away, but also to spin the disc up, and chapter-skip through it. There have been any number of discs that had frozen up doing that. Fortunately, more often than not, it can be fixed with a swipe of a microfiber cloth over the surface. But there've been enough times where it's a genuine problem, and it's preferable to find out while I can still return the disc for replacement. In a couple of instances, the disc in question wouldn't even load, as if the player couldn't find any files on the disc.

Chapter-skipping doesn't necessarily catch all flaws, but it catches the more egregious ones.

I do the same. Actually i go through the discs in ff. Only if i don't plan on watching them soon.

 

[Robert Crawford]

You would think they're catching up, but as of May 5th, Kino still behind their shipments to customers:

Service Announcement:

(May 5) Fulfillment center remains more than 11 business behind. They are now completing packages open through April 23rd (allow extra time before tracking notification) and moving over the weekend to pack orders placed 4/24 and 4/25. Most orders look fine and to help us better process backlog we kindly ask that hold off from asking status of order so we can focus on processing your packages. You will receive a tracking id when the order is ready to be shipped.

Also note, we do not split orders if you ordered out-of-stock or pre-orders. Allow additional time for shipping.

KNOWN DELAYS (Currently On Order):

• Dogtooth (Blu-ray)
• If I Had a Million (Blu-ray) (Just arrived)
• Love Letters (1945) (Blu-ray)
• Maigret: Season 1 (Blu-ray) (Just arrived)
• The Long Goodbye (Blu-ray)
• The Wild Life (Blu-ray)
• One Million Years, B.C. (Blu-ray)
• The Belle Starr Story (Blu-ray)

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Thanks for posting that announcement, Robert.

I’m still waiting on an order I placed on 4/21. While I’m patient about these things, I’m nearing the stage of getting slightly antsy about my status. Fortunately, none of the items in my order are part of that On Order list, so maybe mine might get shipped in the next few days. Also, reading the posts about Josh’s recent difficulties puts things in perspective, showing that things could always be worse.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for posting that announcement, Robert.

I’m still waiting on an order I placed on 4/21. While I’m patient about these things, I’m nearing the stage of getting slightly antsy about my status. Fortunately, none of the items in my order are part of that On Order list, so maybe mine might get shipped in the next few days. Also, reading the posts about Josh’s recent difficulties puts things in perspective, showing that things could always be worse.

According to what I posted; your order should have shipped by now.

 

[Carrie Beth]

As of late this week, the status listed on Kino Lorber's product page for Love Letters (1945) has changed from “Temporarily Out of Stock” to “In Stock.” Good news for me, as I’ve had a $74 order placed with Kino on March 8th delayed by that title. And while it's still listed on their service page among the "Known Delays," and I'm sure the current backlog they're facing means I'll need to wait a little longer, it's nice to see some change.

That same delay, though, had taught me to order any new releases from Amazon, rather than directly from Kino. And so I received If I Had a Million and You and Me on either release day or the day after. But here's a curious thing: I also had the Anna May Wong collection on pre-order from Amazon, with an estimated delivery of May 4th. And yesterday, rather than receiving the set, I received a notice that my approval was required for a new estimated delivery date of June 14th. Perhaps Kino is no longer fulfilling Amazon's allotments first?

 

[Capt D McMars]

At least these are positive signs for what some are tauting as the decline of interest in physical media. I'd rather receive it late than not at all, right?

 

[dana martin]

So is Human Desire (1954), the first in a deal with Sony / Columbia Pictures?

 

[borisfw]

So is Human Desire (1954), the first in a deal with Sony / Columbia Pictures?

I hope.