Universal: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection

[zedz]

It'd be a bit of a repackage effort for Universal, as the (very good) supporting documentaries for Psycho and The Birds (any other R Pollard fans out there?) are included on the set's bonus disc. I suspect that with Universal's general laziness this is going to take a while. If I were you I'd just keep my eyes peeled for a really good sale on the box (so the customs won't sting so much).

[Gigi M.]

Are Universal going to get their act together and release Psycho, Vertigo and The Birds this year, or what? I'd love to buy the box, but I know I'll get a cutoms charge (I live in the UK). Bad marketing by Universal, I feel.

Since Double Indemnity has been announced under their Legacy Series label, I see no reason why Vertigo and Psycho couldn't get the same treatment. What do you think?

[kinjitsu]

Universal's first wave of discs from this set were Family Plot, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Shadow of a Doubt, and Torn Curtain, the second wave (pending) will include Frenzy, Rope, Saboteur, Topaz and The Trouble With Harry. My guess is that they won't release The Birds, Psycho, Rear Window, Rope and Vertigo until just before the holidays, so I wouldn't exactly call that bad marketing

[Lino]

Are Universal going to get their act together and release Psycho, Vertigo and The Birds this year, or what? I'd love to buy the box, but I know I'll get a cutoms charge (I live in the UK). Bad marketing by Universal, I feel.

Why don't you try ordering it through this one here. That's where I bought mine and it arrived safely and customs charges free.

[bjeggert82]

Universal's first wave of discs from this set were Family Plot, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Shadow of a Doubt, and Torn Curtain, the second wave (pending) will include Frenzy, Rope, Saboteur, Topaz and The Trouble With Harry. My guess is that they won't release The Birds, Psycho, Rear Window, Rope and Vertigo until just before the holidays, so I wouldn't exactly call that bad marketing

Not bad marketing at all.... and since those are the bigger titles in the set, it would be wonderful if we could get 2-disc Legacy Series editions, similar to the Double Indemnity and The Sting editions. Maybe that's why they're saviing the best for last.

[Kinsayder]

Watching the Masterpiece Collection Vertigo on a projection system last night, I was quite distracted by the edge enhancement halos on this transfer. I've seen worse examples, but this surprised me because of the good reviews I'd read.

Here's a cropped screenshot to show what I mean.

[dx23]

Digital Bits' Rumor Mill is reporting that Universal will be releasing Legacy Series DVDs of Psycho and the Birds on September.

September - 30 ... The Birds: Legacy Series, Psycho: Legacy Series

[barnyard078]

No mention of Vertigo or Rear Window, as of yet. However, I would not be surprised to see eventual Legacy Series releases for these films also.

[filmnoir1]

Does anyone know who or where to contact someone at Universal home video about replacing a defaulty disc of Rear Window?

[nick]

Does anyone know who or where to contact someone at Universal home video about replacing a defaulty disc of Rear Window?

In the past I've sent my email to: [email protected]

You will receive a response with instructions on the return.

cheers
nick

[filmnoir1]

Thanks for the tip Nick. I really appreciate your help.

[Person]

The old editions of Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo are now on moratorium. How great it would be if we saw Blu-Ray editions this year.

[denti alligator]

The old editions of Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo are now on moratorium. How great it would be if we saw Blu-Ray editions this year.

Those are the ones we'd like to see, for sure. Though I'd like to have Marnie and The Birds, too.

[Person]

The old editions of Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo are now on moratorium. How great it would be if we saw Blu-Ray editions this year.

Those are the ones we'd like to see, for sure. Though I'd like to have Marnie and The Birds, too.

Knowing Universal, they will probably bring out all of their Hitch titles in Blu-Ray, though perhaps in two waves - two boxed sets with no individual titles! I have the velvet box and I'd only replace Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds and perhaps Marnie. And no, I'm not sullying Shadow of a Doubt - it's masterpiece, but I have yet to see a Blu-Ray transfer of a black and white movie from the 40s, so I'm not sure how much better films of that period will look in full HD. Ah, it's early days. Only in the coming months will we begin to see if Blu-Ray is all its cracked up to be when it comes to classic movies.

[denti alligator]

I finally watched the HD DVD of Casablanca the other day and--to follow Person's doubts about HD presentations of pre-1950s films--was not all that impressed. Half of it looked no better than its SD counterpart. Admittedly, the other half was pretty stunning, but still...

[Person]

Heh heh! Funnily enough, the very second after I posted that comment, I checked for a review of the HD Casablanca, and it turns out that Beaver has a comparison. The HD brings out the finer detail better, but I would imagine that viewing the film in HD at a distance on a mid-sized set wouldn't be a noticeably superior experience. What I have noticed thus far with Blu-Ray is that it is the colours that are instantly recognisably superior to SD, often by a jaw-dropping margin. The detail, too, of course. But what I suspect is that with Eastmancolor films of the 50s and 60s, as well as black and white 1.37:1 films, the benefits of Blu-Ray won't be as great as with a vintage, lushly photographed film that has been well-preserved/restored and certainly not as good as a film from the last 10 years. But it would be with films from 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s that are not on SD DVD that were to be released on Blu-Ray that would over-rule this creed. For instance, I'd spend $150 on a Blu-Ray set of the 330-minute version of Gance's Napoleon in a heartbeat. But I wouldn't spend $20 on a bare-bones Blu-Ray of Mamoulian's Jekyll and Hide to replace my SD double-pack set, if that makes sense.

[denti alligator]

We're getting off topic, but the Warner HD DVD of Adventures of Robin Hood is stunning. Well worth the upgrade.

[Gigi M.]

David, is there a big difference on your PJ between 720p and 1080p?

There's none what so ever in mine. By the way in almost 99.9 inches away from ordering your Pj. How's it comming along after 100h on the bulb?

[MilkManX]

I just nabbed this set yesterday. So far I am very impressed with the Discs. The picture looks better on Psycho and Vertigo and that was easily worth the cost. I traded in a bunch of old Anime and my old Kubrick boxset and it came out about even for me.

Edit: I am still working through my Universal Hitchcock boxset. That anamorhic Vertigo was very nice. I know its not perfect but it beat the single disc release I use to have.

[Person]

Comparisons of 1998 non anamorphic vs 2005 anamorphic vs. HDTV presentations of some Universal Hitchcock films.

A considerable improvement. The Birds, especially looks far more detailed than before. Hopefully, we'll see Blu-Ray titles soon.

[sevenarts]

Review of Torn Curtain. Pretty lackluster effort from Hitchcock, overall. There are a few scenes, almost all of them in the first half, that are quite good and distinctively Hitchcockian: the farmhouse murder, the chase scene through the eerily empty matte-painted museum with its seemingly impossible perspectives, the interrogation sequence. Otherwise, complete dullsville, especially that endless bus ride towards the end and the really pointless introduction of the Polish Countess. So horrible.

[domino harvey]

I'm quite fond of Torn Curtain and how it shows Hitchcock grasping at the last strands of the classical Hollywood style-- the rear-projection bus chase is terrific in its own curtain call fashion and the pacing is fascinating-- that first thirty minutes or so of complete audience identification confusion is genius. I'd wait to throw around negative hyperbole for Topaz, which truly is an indefensible piece of shit.

[Haggai]

I'm with domino on the bus ride in Torn Curtain. I've always loved that sequence. Actually, I think all the set pieces in that movie are quite good, but a lot of the connecting stuff drags. Admittedly, that's a pretty big knock against what should have been a better movie.

Topaz has a couple of good set pieces as well--I really like the opening sequence, and the famous business with the dress is also good. But overall, it's a mess. It's Hitchcock's longest movie, yet most of it either doesn't work at all or just isn't very interesting.

[jules]

I'd wait to throw around negative hyperbole for Topaz, which truly is an indefensible piece of shit.

Maybe so, but murder of Juanita de Cordoba is great scene and it does have Claude Jade in small role. So it's worth seeing for those reasons.

[Svevan]

Worst thing about Topaz is that Universal admits on the DVD that they fucked up the ending, and that they have the elements for both endings (actually three, but the third doesn't count), but they only attach one of these to the film. The duel ending test-marketed poorly, but Hitch preferred it: it's a no brainer to include both endings as an option.