criterionforum.org

Just opened my copy of Western Horizons -- same story domino reports, Pillars of The Sky and Saskatchewan are DVD-R, the rest pressed.

EDIT: Also, a note on the A/V quality, all are reasonably ok-ish though underwhelming, probably looking slightly lesser than the Audie Murphy and Joel McCrea sets, but none as atrocious as The Unguarded Moment from the 'Women In Danger' set. My guess is they're all older transfers that have had little work done to them. Both Horizons West and Dawn At Socorro appear to have slight greenish tints that could have easily been fixed. Backlash probably fares best -- the colors at least look right, and it is finally available in it's proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio, though it does appear a bit soft.

Same discs are DVD-Rs in my set as well. And I can agree with kingofthejungle about the only title I've previously seen, Backlash, which looks much better to my eye than the previous U.K. release.

Since this hasn't happened to me before, anyone care to shed a little light on how the DVD-R thing could be some kind of innocent negligence on Universal or TCM's part? Some talk above seemed to imply that certain other sets, like some film noir boxes, had shipped previously in their earliest versions with DVD-Rs but later on all titles ended up coming pressed? Why would that be? At this point it's hard for me to see what's happened as anything but a fully conscious and cynical attempt to deceive the only consumers left who would pay for physical media. The DVD-Rs in the set look exactly the same on the label side and there's no indication anywhere on the box that not all discs are pressed.

Update: Unsurprisingly, the "replacement" set was identical to the one I'd already received, and over on HTF everyone's been getting the same deal. But hey, my loss can be your gain: I'll sell anyone reading this my second set (3 pressed, 2 DVD-Rs, remember) for $25, half what it'd cost you from TCM. Just PM me

Has TCM abandoned this experiment? The last forthcoming set is the Karloff, announced months ago, and silence ever since...

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics IV is up (for August release).

Max von Mayerling wrote:Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics IV is up (for August release).

Title list.

A "Randolph Scott" 4 disc collection is up for September 2013. The Doolins of Oklahoma, the Walking Hills, Coroner Creek, and 7th Cavalry.

Something foul is afoot with the Randolph Scott TCM set, which was supposed to come out September 2nd-- release date on TCM is now December 2nd and on MoviesUnlimited it's January 2nd of next year?

John Ford: The Columbia Films on October 10th. Contains The Whole Town's Talking, The Long Gray Line, Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Last Hurrah and Two Rode Together.

Hmm... the Long Gray Line and the Last Hurrah already had pressed R1 releases from Sony and Two Rode Together has a R2 plus the forthcoming Twilight Time Blu. Gideon of Scotland Yard is pretty lackluster and I have not seen the Whole Town's Talking but only TCM rips circulate to my knowledge

Glad we know about the forthcoming Twilight Time Two Rode Together. I might have bought the set for that title alone.

Man, I consider myself a Ford completist, but the only one of those titles I need is Gideon of Scotland Yard. It's hard to justify spending $50 for that one.

If Twilight Time is going to be the only outlet for catalog Columbia pics in HD, I do hope they'll consider The Long Gray Line.

domino harvey wrote:Hmm... the Long Gray Line and the Last Hurrah already had pressed R1 releases from Sony and Two Rode Together has a R2 plus the forthcoming Twilight Time Blu. Gideon of Scotland Yard is pretty lackluster and I have not seen the Whole Town's Talking but only TCM rips circulate to my knowledge

The Whole Town's Talking is pretty fun and not a typical Ford picture, but it doesn't offer anything unique once you get a hold of the premise.

In case anyone was trigger-shy in the wake of Western Horizons Gate, the forthcoming Noir set just arrived and is all pressed discs

domino harvey wrote:In case anyone was trigger-shy in the wake of Western Horizons Gate, the forthcoming Noir set just arrived and is all pressed discs

Regarding the Western Horizons set, the copies I received around a month ago both came with entirely pressed discs.

That's hilarious. TCM, in classic Western villain form, played the heavy and punished those who supported the release by preordering and rewarded those who sat it out! You are a lucky son of a gun

I suspect the answer is "no", but could anyone confirm whether the Western Horizons box dvd's have SDH?

No TCM Vault sets have subtitles, to my knowledge

domino harvey wrote:Something foul is afoot with the Randolph Scott TCM set, which was supposed to come out September 2nd-- release date on TCM is now December 2nd and on MoviesUnlimited it's January 2nd of next year?

So this exists because my copy arrived even though street date isn't til next month. Two pressed discs with two films on each disc. I would speculate this release might be immune to DVD-R replacement since the discs would be double-layer and all previous TCM set fill-ins have been single-movie discs only. But who knows!

Thanks, domino.

They just reissued Remember the Night with a new transfer. This was previously available as a DVD-R, with only a very limited run of pressed DVDs to start. Is there a way to tell whether this new version will be pressed or not?

I actually got this new edition in the mail on Monday and it is pressed.

Based on the menu screens with Library of Congress logo, DVD Beaver review is for the new edition.

The Lady From Shanghai Vault release has been split off here

Midnight Lace DVD coming in March-- guess they couldn't figure out a boxed set to create around it?

EDIT: This has already been released in a region-free Blu-ray in Australia FYI

If anyone is still trying to sort out the "Sony titles remain pressed" theory in the face of some contradictory evidence, I can report that I just ordered the Karloff, Jolly Frolics, and both Jean Arthur sets (which are the oldest Sony TCM sets and thus most likely to be repressed by now) and all were still on pressed discs

Uh.... TCM Vault's next release is just some Robert Osbourne interviews. Did they give up on this line or something?