Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

[eerik]

At around $9 US per film you can't beat it!

List price for the boxset is £129.99, with Amazon's regular 33% off it could go down another ten pounds from the current £97.49.

[cdnchris]

I have the warner Northwest disc as well so this makes it very worthwhile. I've preordered it with the hope it might go down even further.

[mfunk9786]

I'm not going to be able to afford it when it's initially released - I'm going to hold off anyway just in case it gets the inevitable UK boxset price plummet - it's not unheard of with Universal sets (see: Back to the Future Trilogy), but it is a bit harder to come by than a big dip on a FOX set, for example.

[peerpee]

What's the reasoning behind the US edition of the Hitchcock set adding the Warner NORTH BY NORTHWEST? It's not at all an issue for me, because (I assume, like most others interested in this set) I already have the NxNW Blu, but I can't understand why one Warner title would be added to the usual Universal titles in the US (and not in the UK)?

EDIT: Ah, just discovered someone at HTF claiming that it was a straight swap between Uni and WB for allowing SPARTACUS in the US WB Kubrick set? How interesting!

[Gregory]

Lots of potential purchasers don't have the NxNW blu yet (after reading about others' disappointment, I was never in a hurry to upgrade it) and I believe it's in the top 4 most widely viewed and regarded of Hitchcock's films (along with Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window), so its inclusion will be a big draw. Not that I think this makes the higher US price worth it, but it'll help justify that price for many purchasers in the US, most of whom wouldn't consider the UK alternative anyway.

[manicsounds]

What's the reasoning behind the US edition of the Hitchcock set adding the Warner NORTH BY NORTHWEST?

I thought it was so they could make that cover with 15 letters of his name from the 15 movie titles fonts. They just needed one more, and went for North By Northwest I guess.

[dustybooks]

Universal is releasing in October this boxset called Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection which is essentially another reissue

Does anyone know conclusively if this package contains the mono track of Vertigo? Or is the Masterpiece Collection still the only way to get it on DVD?

[pmunger]

Does anyone know if the UK version of the the Hitchock Masterpiece collection has dubbed tracks (French to be specific)? According to Amazon.com, the US version seems to have it although this piece of info is often inaccurate. I don't really need those but my girlfriend prefer watching films in French. I'd rather get the nicer and cheaper UK set.

[peerpee]

We'll know very soon, reviewers are receiving them right now.

[peerpee]

I'm reviewing the UK BDs at the moment. The UK BD does not have the original mono track unfortunately.

For the next ten days or so, I'm going to get pretty deep into this box set.

[David M.]

I'm reviewing the UK BDs at the moment. The UK BD does not have the original mono track unfortunately.

Thanks for the info, preorder cancelled.

I'm assuming that's only for the European version? Are there many different foreign language dubbed tracks on there?

[John Hodson]

That's...not good.

[dustybooks]

Incredible that a film as celebrated as that one has to struggle to be presented in its original form. Though I suppose that also applies to the now-canonical use of the censored Psycho.

[cdnchris]

Since these are apparently region free aren't the chances more than good these will be the same discs in North America as well? The only reason I can think of as to why these would be region free is because they're saving costs and just reusing the same encodes/discs everywhere. Otherwise I'm positive they'd be locked.

[peerpee]

We don't know yet - but the UK JAWS had the new "icon" menus, like these UK Hitchcock discs, but the US JAWS had "text" on the menus (according to someone who tweeted me).

[Feego]

Weren't there differences between the UK and US Psycho blu-rays (menus and maybe even some of the supplements), and they were both region free?

[peerpee]

I'll try and keep this VERTIGO page updated with pure fact. Not from press releases, or Amazon, or anywhere secondhand – all this info derives from me looking at the UK Blu-ray disc:
http://enthusiasm.org/post/31062742832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[David M.]

We don't know yet - but the UK JAWS had the new "icon" menus, like these UK Hitchcock discs, but the US JAWS had "text" on the menus (according to someone who tweeted me).

Certainly sounds like a Euro-centric SKU to me. The US JAWS has text in the menu, so we know they're still treating both markets differently.

Hopefully the US versions have the original audio tracks.

[PfR73]

Weren't there differences between the UK and US Psycho blu-rays (menus and maybe even some of the supplements), and they were both region free?

The UK release had the mono track in DTS HDMA while the US release only had it in DTS. Also the UK release had the AHP episode "Lamb To The Slaughter" while the US release omitted it. I'm curious if the UK box set has the UK Psycho or the US Psycho.

[hearthesilence]

Crap man, I really want to hear the original mix, I don't care if it sounds less than ideal, I can't stand listening to those out-of-place foley effects.

[manicsounds]

The UK box will include more language options than the US box, with the exception of "Topaz" being identical to the US disc for some reason.

I recently watched the US DVD of "Vertigo" and the 5.1 track was very distracting with the gunshots, waves, etc. I know they used the 'original' props and materials much as they could, but since they were recorded with pristine technology, it just sounded out of place. Had to switch to mono eventually.

[andyli]

Sad to learn from Nick's tweets that Frenzy is 'DNVRed to within an inch of its life'.

[peerpee]

I'm dipping into each disc... about 6 in now (of 14). The first one that shows sign of some heavy handedness is THE BIRDS, unfortunately.

The grain structure seems to be moving more slowly than it should (because software's trying to control it) and when the camera pans, the grain structure looks like gauze that takes time to react. Particularly noticeable on patterned fabrics.

Beginning of Chapter 17, 01:33:55. Look in the sky at the black dots?

Most people will probably think it all looks great. For the most part, it does. I just know it could have been better.

--

FRENZY also falls into this category of "havingbeenmuckedwith". This time there's no grain at all. You can see the software fighting to suppress the grain, which occasionally fights to be seen in light areas but is completely absent most of the time. When Hitch holds that shot on the door for 20 seconds, I thought I'd sat on the pause button. No movement in the picture whatsoever.

I've discovered that the opening credits of FRENZY have been completely redone. They looked too clean and digital to me. They've obviously found some better clean underlying footage of the fly in to London Bridge and entirely reconfigured all the white text from scratch over it, but I noticed all apostrophes and quote marks were "unintelligent". Checked the DVD and they're all "intelligent" there. Then I started spotting typos in the re-typed text. What a bloody mess. Poor "Angela Martelli" and "Peter Handford" suffer multiple typos to become "Angelea Mertelli" and "Peter Hanford". I wonder when this was done?

[Gregory]

Won't that mean a recall of the set, or at least a rushed-out second printing? They're legally required to have the correct, full names visible of all the cast and crew per the originally designed credit sequence, no?

Rank incompetence.

[warren oates]

I was thinking that myself, Gregory. Doesn't peerpee know anyone at Universal to alert? It seems like there's still time to stop the presses, or at least to catch most consumer-bound discs at the warehouse before they ship. I'd rather have the set delayed now than have to deal with the hassle of getting a replacement disc. And I can imagine that so would many others.