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Fron the Home Theater Forum:

On November 9th, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the Elia Kazan Film Collection, an 18-disc DVD gift set including A Letter to Elia and 15 of Kazan’s most acclaimed and noteworthy films. The full collection, in addition to the documentary, includes: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Boomerang! (1947), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Pinky (1949), Panic in the Streets (1950), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), Man on a Tightrope (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), East of Eden (1955), Baby Doll (1956), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Wild River (1960), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and America, America (1963). Of the collection, 5 films have never before been released on DVD: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Viva Zapata!, Man on a Tightrope, Wild River, and America, America. The Elia Kazan Film Collection will be available for $199.98 U.S. / $349.98 Canada.

I'll rob a bank if they release this baby in Blu-ray.

Frankinho007 wrote:Fron the Home Theater Forum:

On November 9th, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the Elia Kazan Film Collection, an 18-disc DVD gift set including A Letter to Elia and 15 of Kazan’s most acclaimed and noteworthy films. The full collection, in addition to the documentary, includes: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Boomerang! (1947), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Pinky (1949), Panic in the Streets (1950), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), Man on a Tightrope (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), East of Eden (1955), Baby Doll (1956), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Wild River (1960), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and America, America (1963). Of the collection, 5 films have never before been released on DVD: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Viva Zapata!, Man on a Tightrope, Wild River, and America, America. The Elia Kazan Film Collection will be available for $199.98 U.S. / $349.98 Canada.

OH MY GOD

Weird that they were able to finagle Splendor in the Grass and East of Eden, but not the Arrangement from WB

I wonder if any of the titles already out are going to be remasters or if they're just going to box the previous ones. I'd hate to pay $200 when I already have most of the films.

The set appears to include titles from Sony, Warner, and the Kazan estate via Julian Schlossberg/Weschester Films.

Jeff wrote: Warner

That stood out when I saw that Streetcar and East of Eden were mentioned as titles in an earlier thread about this box. If Warner will license to Fox, will Warner also license to . . .

I doubt Warner is licensing anything. These will probably be the existing DVDs from Warner, who will simply get a cut of each box.

My credit card and I are delighted that I have zero interest in this set, but I'm definitely happy that Fox is continuing this fine tradition (and maybe this time they'll get the packaging sorted!)

Raoul on 2011 and the next installment!

Nuh-uh. Raoul on 2012 if we can have an installment of Objective Blu-ray!

Amazing news.

domino harvey wrote:Weird that they were able to finagle Splendor in the Grass and East of Eden, but not the Arrangement from WB

I wonder why WB wouldn't let The Arrangement go, considering they put it OOP a while ago.

But I hope the 5 new titles will be released individually!

Howard Roark wrote:But I hope the 5 new titles will be released individually!

According to Classicflix.com they won't!

Also, we've confirmed with the studio that at this time singles will not be available. So anyone wishing to purchase the previously unreleased titles may only do so through this set. For renters, this also means that we will not have those titles available.

200 bucks for 15 films. You can already get the previously released dvds pretty cheap, so essentially you're paying 200 bucks for 5 previously unavailable films. That's good. Wayy to hold the consumer hostage, Fox.

I am pretty confident that this will retail for $140 or less on release date and after a few months you can have it for about a $100.
Considering i only own Boomerang and Panic in the Streets on DVD (i also have promotional newspaper discs of A Face In The Crowd and America, America) that's a must buy set for me.
On the other hand, won't the high profile titles get an HD bump in the next two years? I bet they will, but it's still worth spending up to a hundred bucks for the set.

Packaging reminding me a bit of

Yeah, Scorsese's name couldn't be bigger....

Well, it's happened before. Warner's disc of "Blazing Saddles" was included in the Fox set. Unfortunately, it was the old disc and not the remastered one.

Will they pull the same for Streetcar and dump the snappercase disc in the giftset?

Would really love to own this, if I were into owning such things. The only film I haven't seen here is America, America, and that's only because the dialogue was literally inaudible on the print that used to run on AMC six times a week.

Of course, it looks like Fox has it rigged so I'll never be able to see just that one, unless I find a pal who springs for the set.

I'm really hoping America, America gets it's own release. It's Kazan's best I think, and blu would be exceptional. I saw a print of it in Toronto last year and I left convinced it was one of the greatest films ever made.

myrnaloyisdope wrote:America, America (...) one of the greatest films ever made.

It really is and I feel a world of gratitude to Fox for putting it out on the digital format together with all those amazing films from Kazan on such a special boxset. I really can't wait to revisit them all, one by one.

zedz wrote:(and maybe this time they'll get the packaging sorted!)

Nope. I haven't played any of the discs yet, but with what seems like three exceptions all of the discs look scratched. Thing's much smaller though even if it weighs as much.

Yikes, now I'm worried about my set arriving tomorrow

I do need to take them for a spin and only one disc looked particularly dire.

Edit: Guess I should give some info. All of the non-Fox titles are straight ports of their solo packages down to the rather clashing disc images. Everything else seems like a new set up with red disc art that matches the outer packaging. Even America, America is this way, I assume being identical to the just announced release. I've only plopped in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but everything's real nice. The image is clean and strong. Audio is decent too with all of the levels rights and no popping. I have no clue what extras may have been on R2 release, but this one's pretty stacked. Schickel has a commentary with clips of old interviews I assume seeing as how Kazan's dead. There's also a making of and Dorothy McGuire has an appreciation. I'm not sure what to make of them, but there's two more things titled movietonews, one claiming to be an interview with the author of the book on the movie and the other an oscar clip. I haven't checked to see if the extras are just duplicates on the old titles, but they probably are. The book's nicely organized too with a short prologue section and everything else covering a specific film (chronologically) in the set. On skimming I'm sure it won't hold any new information for most here, but it seems pleasant enough.

Are there any supplements other than A Letter to Elia, or are the discs all bare-bones? I'm assuming that the previously released titles contain all of their original bonus features. What about the five new films? Does America, America contain the Foster Hirsch commentary from the upcoming Warner disc? I can't really justify getting this set since I have every one of the previously available films, and will be able to get America, America soon.

Jeff wrote:Are there any supplements other than A Letter to Elia, or are the discs all bare-bones? I'm assuming that the previously released titles contain all of their original bonus features. What about the five new films? Does America, America contain the Foster Hirsch commentary from the upcoming Warner disc? I can't really justify getting this set since I have every one of the previously available films, and will be able to get America, America soon.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- Commentary by film historian Richard Schickel, with Elia Kazan, Ted Donaldson, and Norman Lloyd
- The making of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
- An Appreciation of Dorothy McGuire
- Movietonews Betty Smith Acknowledges Artist Renderings Of the Characters From Her Novel
- Movietonews Motion Picture Academy Awards Oscars For Film Achievements
- Sneak Peek (Trailers for Panic in the Streets and Gentleman's Agreement)

Viva Zapata!
- Theatrical Trailer
- Spanish Trailer
- Sneak Peek (Trailers for Panic in the Streets and Gentleman's Agreement)

Man on a Tightrope
- Sneak Peek (Trailers for Panic in the Streets and Gentleman's Agreement)

Wild River
- Commentary by film historian Richard Schickel
- Theatrical Trailer
- Sneak Peek (Trailers for Panic in the Streets and Gentleman's Agreement)

America, America
- Commentary by historian Foster Hirsh

Thanks, Domino. Don't know why I couldn't seem to find those specs. They really aren't exciting enough to nudge a purchase. I can't stand Richard Schickel. He admittedly hates cinema, so I don't know why he can't seem to shut up about it.

Fox has clearly been sitting on that disc of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for years. It was originally supposed to be part of their old Studio Classics line, and those specs show that it was ready to go. I think I even saw the cover art for it at one point. Surely they'll release it as a solo disc at some point. They invested too much money in it just to pack it in a pricey box that might net a couple hundred sales.

I really want a stacked, Schickeless Blu-ray release of the amazing Wild River, which is my second favorite Kazan (after A Face in the Crowd). I've pestered Criterion about it to no avail.