Does anyone know what happened to the Blu-rays of Notorious (1946) and Spellbound? These two were released along with Rebecca by MGM back in 2012. The Rebecca disc continues to be available and there is another Criterion Rebecca disc that was released in 2017. However, the Notorious (1946) and Spellbound are both of out print for some reason. My understanding is that ABC owns the rights to all three films… so what’s up? You could say Criterion is preparing discs for both, maybe but why is the Rebecca MGM blu ray still in print!?
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Most likely the rights are with Criterion, and it would not surprise me at all to see them both announced on any given 15th of the month.. or the 16th 🙂
I have the older mgm blu rays. I have been wanting to upgrade Rebecca to the criterion.
So far, I have not done so though..
You can still get the bluray combo of all three together for 99 bucks and separately for a small fortune. Don't worry, they'll get a new release then 4k and on and on. Hitchcock films aren't going anywhere.
I know where my copies of those Blu-rays are. On the shelf, next to the other Hitchcocks.
Although I did augment the group with the Criterion Rebecca. I'd be happy to augment the other two with Criterion editions as well.
Same here.
Nothing more than a guess but since Criterion released Rebecca last fall, I figure that Spellbound will come out this fall and Notorious will be out in fall 2019.
I'm sure Criterion will release all of those eventually, but the ABC versions were excellent, but bare bones. They were very cheap at first, but now they are being sold by private buyers for high prices.
I don’t find the ABC Blu-rays to be bare bones. They have commentaries, radio play versions directed by Hitchcock and other goodies. Granted, they may feel bare bones when compared to Criterion, but I always want to be fair on this stuff…
Wouldn't Kino have these films via their Disney deal which seems to include all the Selznick films in the ABC library.
Not necessarily. Mr. Lime mentioned that a small batch are not with Kino, and since Criterion has re-released two of their four OOP ABC titles, the odds are good that they regained the rights to these two.
What are the two?
Why do you think 2019 and not 2018?
I reviewed all three of those Hitchcock/MGM Blu-rays, so the bonus material is spelled out in those reviews. A simple search will lead anyone to them.
Since they're basically a re-release for many consumers, I figure they want to spread those out over time. I could be totally wrong though.
Straw Dogs and Rebecca, both came out last year in new 4K transfers. Unless there is a big problem with the elements, I suspect that both Notorious and Spellbound are coming later this year .
Hmm. May be a good time to sell my mgm copies then. I’ll want the new versions..
The Rebecca MGM disc is cheap but it's a good time to sell the other two.
If these are new 4K scans… how long till we see UHd releases?
I feel like I’m on a fence with purchases of blu rays even though I haven’t switched to 4K.
I doubt these will ever get a UHD release.
If you care about the special features, a Criterion release for Spellbound & Notorious probably will not carry over most of the special features from the MGM discs. Criterion's Rebecca disc didn't so I think I'm safe in assuming it won't happen for the other two either.
Yes, but hold on to the MGM's long enough to check the supplements. NOTORIOUS and SPELLBOUND were actually great discs, and loaded with bonus features, some of which might not turn up on any future releases.
Exactly, I’m keeping the MGM 3 disc set until I see what the special features are on the next Notorious and Spellbound
Good points. If you're a fan of Hitch and special features: The Criterion Rebecca disc has a good deal of supplemental material, however, none of the MGM bonus material is ported over (including a commentary by Richard Schickel). This means the other two discs will likely not see their materials on the Criterion disc (if it happens).