Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection: Saboteur / Shadow Of A Doubt / Rope / Rear Window / The Trouble With Harry / ... (DVD)

Are all the former films such as Psyco and VERTIGO NOW 16:9 anamorphic? Some sites including Universal's home video site seems to be unclear on the matter? I would hope they are at this point otherwise everyone should just hold onto their old DVDs and or sets that were about 174.99 a few years back. Too bad they don't seem to want to include the DTS track for VERTIGO that was on LaserDisc.

Well, 16x9 is a ratio of about 1.78:1.



Most movies shown theatrically at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 show up at about 1.74 to 1.77:1 when transferred to DVD. So they pretty much fill up a widescreen television.



John

I think what he meant was, are they going to be enhanced for widescreen televisions. I know I was dissapointed that, in the old set, Psycho and others weren't Anamorphically encoded.

Is it just the same discs that Universal has been putting out over the past couple of years? If they really didn't update each disc a lot, it doesn't really seem like a worthwhile purchase, unless you want to have a pretty velvet box on your mantle. I already own thier releases of Rear Window, Psycho & Vertigo, and the set includes some films which are certainlly worth seeing at least once, but nothing really worth dishing out 100+ for (The Trouble With Harry, Topaz, etc. aren't really the best Hitchcock films in my opinion).

Though they may not be Hitch's best films, they are excellent in their own right. I think The Trouble with Harry is a wonderful Dark Comedy. Rope is a great period piece and exploration of the criminal mind.



As I understand it, these films will have new audio/video transfers, which means I'm certainly in. In fact, I just sold my old box sets for more than what this new one will cost me. Bonus!

I agree - I already own all previously released theatrical Hitchcock that is available on DVD and I am looking forward to LIFEBOAT finally being put out on DVD later this fall.



As far as this Masterpiece collection goes, if they put a lot of new stuff on these discs in terms of supplemental material (such as, but not limited to: new transfers, better sound, new interviews, new trailers, new documentaries, new commentaries by film historians and critics or even famous fans --- eg. a commentary by say Martin Scorsese on Vertigo) at a reasonable price, then I would consider picking up the set, but if it's the exact same thing as before, then forget it.

Justin,



I haven't seen any of these DVDs yet, but I have read some reviews. The standout review is one from "The New York Times" that laments what Universal has done to "Vertigo". Apparently, the video is an abomination, and the DD 5.1 re-mix is way too loud and harsh, essentially undoing what Hitchcock intended for the movie's soundtrack to accomplish. This is one of the reasons why I feel that it is so important to keep a movie's original audio (cleaned up to get rid of analog hiss, of course).



Eddie

Though I agree that it is a bit extreme, I didn't find it as objectionable as some. I'm still on the fence about Original Soundtracks, though.



I stand by what I said about the set, however, and think it's an improvement. The original Vertigo was a MESS on DVD, and the audio was barely intelligible. This is an improvement.

Justin,



Well, the longer that you sit on the fence, the longer you run the risk of crushing you-know-what. :.(



Seriously, though...while I have no objections to multi-channel re-mixes that preserve the artistic sensibilities of mono or stereo soundtracks, there are times when re-mixes give viewers entirely new experiences that run counter to what a director wanted in the first place. This is highly undesirable.



Eddie