Page 7 of 13
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:06 pm
by knives
knives wrote:That's Universal, not Sony though.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:08 pm
by domino harvey
Re: zedz: Yes, which is why that doesn't seem to mean anything. Although, the fact that they're turned into DVD-Rs seems to be an unpublicized secret that's only out because of consumers who've gotten screwed (Movies Unlimited didn't even know about it when I had to return my Universal sets)
Re: knives: They say "Like the Universal titles," but the Universal titles didn't stay pressed, so their info is wonky
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:11 pm
by knives
I think the switch over is just fairly obscure at this point. I do hope Sony does better since I haven't the opportunity to pick up the UPA or Noir sets yet.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:07 am
by Zaki
What a shame that this collection, like the 3rd film noir set, has no close captioning or English subtitles. TCM lost me again as a customer.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:36 pm
by zedz
domino harvey wrote:Re: zedz: Yes, which is why that doesn't seem to mean anything. Although, the fact that they're turned into DVD-Rs seems to be an unpublicized secret that's only out because of consumers who've gotten screwed (Movies Unlimited didn't even know about it when I had to return my Universal sets)
Re: knives: They say "Like the Universal titles," but the Universal titles didn't stay pressed, so their info is wonky
Just to throw a spanner in the works (and exasperate domino completely), I just received an order from Movies Unlimited that included the latest Film Noir set and the Sirk collection. And the Sirk collection had pressed discs.
I don't know if I lucked onto an original batch, or is Universal rethought burning (for) their customers, but they're pressed discs.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 2:34 am
by Max von Mayerling
I'm very pleased with the UPA collection. I think the package is nicely put together, and it has a booklet that I think is quite informative and pretty well designed. I've never seen any of these cartoons before, but the source materials seem to be pretty good and the transfers look good. I thought Maltin's intro was decent, but I haven't yet dug into any of the commentaries. Other bonus features are cool but not voluminous.
I'd actually never seen a Magoo short and I didn't have the fondest memories of the tv show ... but I was really entertained by the Ragtime Bear and am now quite looking forward to a set of the Magoo shorts.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 2:42 am
by knives
The Magoo set seems to have run into some difficulties. Shout! was originally going to release them in July, but something occurred to make them pull it.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:31 pm
by Max von Mayerling
There's a link on the Wikipedia Magoo entry that claims it is taking longer b/c they are trying to use better source materials. It also claims a release in late fall. Hopefully both things are true.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:06 pm
by domino harvey
New set:
1930s Rarities (09/06)
"Million Dollar Legs" (1932) offers W.C. Fields as the president of a tiny mythical nation whose residents are all superior athletes and which intends to make a name for itself in the Olympics. Jack Oakie, Ben Turpin, Hugh Herbert co-star. "Belle Of The Nineties" (1934) stars Mae West as a New Orleans chanteuse who juggles romances with a boxer and a millionaire while avoiding her flirtatious boss. Johnny Mack Brown, Roger Pryor also star. Jack Benny gets his first lead in Raoul Walsh's "Artists & Models" (1937) as an adman out to rig a beauty contest in favor of his biggest client. Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino, Gail Patrick also star. The nautical adventure "Souls At Sea" (1937) showcases Gary Cooper as the first mate on an 1800s slave ship who takes command of the vessel and frees its captives in the wake of a rebellion. George Raft, Frances Dee, Henry Wilcoxon also star. 5 1/2 hrs. total on four discs. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; photo gallery.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:16 pm
by knives
Are the later two available on their own elsewhere? I've already got the Fields and have no interest in the West.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:25 pm
by antnield
knives wrote:Are the later two available on their own elsewhere? I've already got the Fields and have no interest in the West.
Souls at Sea was released in the UK by Eureka. Details
here.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:54 am
by matrixschmatrix
Is Belle of the Nineties any good? It's a Leo McCarey from the middle of his hot streak, so it seems worth considering.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:03 am
by zedz
I think Mae West is more the auteur of those films than any of the credited directors. That said, Belle of the Nineties might be her best film, and I'm sure McCarey can take a lot of the credit for that.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:12 am
by matrixschmatrix
zedz wrote:I think Mae West is more the auteur of those films than any of the credited directors. That said, Belle of the Nineties might be her best film, and I'm sure McCarey can take a lot of the credit for that.
That seems to be a common thread for some of McCarey's best work- certainly
Duck Soup and
Ruggles of Red Gap seem as much defined by their stars as by their director, and I really liked his Harold Lloyd vehicle
The Milky Way. He got the best out of Charley Chase earlier in his career, too.
Knives, if you wind up picking up that set I'd gladly take
Belle off your hands.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:23 am
by zedz
I think it's a credit to McCarey that he can accommodate such big personalities in 'his' work, playing to their strengths rather than (necessarily) his own, while simultaneously directing great films that more straightforwardly reflect his own personality. There are a lot of great directors who don't have that kind of flexibility.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:39 am
by CR2
I'm not a huge fan of Miss West, but the other stuff in that set sounds way too good to miss. Any chance to grab a box with Fields and Ida Lupino in it surely makes up for everything else as it is.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:44 pm
by domino harvey
Mine's in transit as I type but am I reading the
DVDBeaver review correctly and the Esther Williams movie in the Women in Danger set is really non-anamorphic?
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:12 pm
by Ashirg
You are correct. I posted the review and I can confirm that The Unguarded Moment is letterboxed and piss-poor quality.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:46 pm
by vsski
I talked with TCM Customer Service today and asked the question as to whether they can tell if a disc I'm ordering is a pressed disc or a DVD-R and I was told in no uncertain terms that if a pressed disc has reverted to a DVD-R and the initial run is sold out, that it would clearly show this on the technical specs tab of the respective disc and the format DVD would be replaced with DVD (MOD).
While it is correct that all the Warner Archives titles they are selling are labeled as MODs none of the the Sony's and Universal's I looked at show any MOD classification. Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.
Is it safe to assume that the information given to me by TCM customer service is therefore incorrect and there simply is no way of telling which title by now is only available on DVD-Rs?
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:51 pm
by Murdoch
I talked with TCM Customer Service today and asked the question as to whether they can tell if a disc I'm ordering is a pressed disc or a DVD-R and I was told in no uncertain terms that if a pressed disc has reverted to a DVD-R and the initial run is sold out, that it would clearly show this on the technical specs tab of the respective disc and the format DVD would be replaced with DVD (MOD).
While it is correct that all the Warner Archives titles they are selling are labeled as MODs none of the the Sony's and Universal's I looked at show any MOD classification. Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.
Is it safe to assume that the information given to me by TCM customer service is therefore incorrect and there simply is no way of telling which title by now is only available on DVD-Rs?
I emailed them before and they gave me the same response, saying that a couple of titles that are definitely MOD were pressed (e.g. the RKO collection, which appears still to be listed as normal DVD).
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:02 pm
by souvenir
Murdoch wrote:I talked with TCM Customer Service today and asked the question as to whether they can tell if a disc I'm ordering is a pressed disc or a DVD-R and I was told in no uncertain terms that if a pressed disc has reverted to a DVD-R and the initial run is sold out, that it would clearly show this on the technical specs tab of the respective disc and the format DVD would be replaced with DVD (MOD).
While it is correct that all the Warner Archives titles they are selling are labeled as MODs none of the the Sony's and Universal's I looked at show any MOD classification. Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.
Is it safe to assume that the information given to me by TCM customer service is therefore incorrect and there simply is no way of telling which title by now is only available on DVD-Rs?
I emailed them before and they gave me the same response, saying that a couple of titles that are definitely MOD were pressed (e.g. the RKO collection, which appears still to be listed as normal DVD).
The RKO Collection, I believe, was MOD from the start because I remember ordering it very soon after it came out and my discs were burned.
The Cary Grant set, on the other hand, was initially reported to contain pressed DVDs yet my set, bought weeks after release, is MOD.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:25 am
by zedz
vsski wrote: Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.
It ain't necessarily so. I bought this earlier this year and received pressed discs (at least a year after domino received DVD-Rs). Not exactly helpful, I know!
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:40 pm
by Ashirg
I wonder if there is a difference if you order from Movies Unlimited or TCM Shop since they seem to be separate now...
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:07 pm
by vsski
I think it's safe to assume that Customer Service doesn't have a clue and there is really no telling. I have found the same scenario with Warner.
Re: TCM Vault Collection
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 12:19 am
by Matt
I'm watching
Shopworn on TCM right now and it looks amazing. Sharp picture, nice contrast, fine grain; if it and the rest of the films in the pre-code set look this good, it's well worth the price.
Someone on Amazon is saying that these are cut-for-re-release versions. I don't know enough about these films to know if that's a credible claim. The
AFI catalog info on Shopworn indicates that cuts were made before the original release and then again before a later re-release, but I don't have the set myself to verify running times.