Griiiiiiiiiiim.......... How can you not have seen PSYCHO???
Anyway first the good news: it's finally anamorphic.
Bad news: Special Edition my arse!!
Aside from the truly hideous packaging... the extras are piffle: 45 mins worth of excerpts from two Hitchcock docs. The 90m+ doc (yes, you read that length correctly) that was on the original R1 release is NOT on this new R2 SE. Even though - get this - the BBFC have already passed it!
A bloody insult to a classic.
I'm gonna keep my R1 until a REAL special edition comes along... it's a shame Universal aren't doing one in America (at present).
This so called "special edition" is nothing more than the original 1999 transfer (which was poor to start with, even when compared to the non-anamorphic US release), plus the two new extras that appeared in the new US "Masterpiece" box set ("AFI Salute" and "Masters of Cinema") They've not even bothered to include the 94 minute "Making Of" documentary! I can't think of a single reason why anyone should buy this new DVD - much better to use the money towards buying the US "Masterpiece" box set!
Not related - but -- The new UK DVD of The Breakfast Club has one of those annoying-as-fuck anti-piracy adverts at the beginning which you CANNOT skip!!
Universal cunts!!
As the BEAVER commentary suggests buy or keep the old R1 release of PSYCHO. And tell Universal UK they can still their so-called SE up their collective arse...
:shock:
P.S. When I type "di$gust" that little blue face appears(!)
Wierd...
I shouldn't buy it then eh? Maybe therell be a proper R1 SE.
The cover does look odd to me I agree.
Those piracy is a crime ads are REALLY, REALLY annoying! I had to watch one when I got one of those Shaw Bros UK DVDs.
I'll get the R1 then.
Strangely the R1 has the best image IMO even though its non anamorphic. The extras make it the winner too.
Just get the new remastered R1 Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection boxset, it's cheap as chips too. Each disc in the 15-disc boxset works out to like less than 4 pounds.
EvaUnit02 wrote:Just get the new remastered R1 Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection boxset, it's cheap as chips too. Each disc in the 15-disc boxset works out to like less than 4 pounds.
Vertigo is the only other Hitchcock film I have. And yes I would like it in Mono even if it's not remastered mono. But I'm not buying 14 films to get it. lol
Rear Window is good, not sure it'd be a keeper for me though. Didn't think much of The Birds, except for the attack on the gas station, which, aside for the typically dodgy mattework, is exceptional.
Markgway wrote:Vertigo is the only other Hitchcock film I have. And yes I would like it in Mono even if it's not remastered mono. But I'm not buying 14 films to get it. lol
Isn't it getting a separate release? I could be wrong.
I bet it will further down the line.
grim_tales wrote:That works out between £45-60, I'd hardly call that cheap as chips Eva
New Hitchcock 2 disc SE's are being released on R1 on 7 October by Universal as part of the Universal Legacy series
Import Forums wrote:Universal Studios have announced the R1 DVD release of new 2-Disc Special Editions of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo on 7th October, priced at $26.98 each
These two-disc sets are released under the Universal Legacy Series banner. The same collection as Double Indemnity, The Deer Hunter, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Sting.
Vertigo
Disc 1: Main Feature
* 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
* English DD5.1 Surround and DD2.0 Mono
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Feature Commentary with Associate Producer Herbert Coleman, Restoration Team Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz and Other Vertigo Participants
* Feature Commentary with Director William Friedkin
* Foreign Censorship Ending
* The Vertigo Archives
* Production Notes
* Original Theatrical Trailer
* Restoration Theatrical Trailer
Disc 2: Extra Features
* Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece
* Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators
* Hitchcock / Truffaut Interview Excerpts
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents "The Case of Mr. Pelham"
Psycho
Disc 1: Main Feature
* 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
* English and French DD2.0 Mono
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Feature Commentary with Stephen Rebello (author of "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho")
* Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho
* The Shower Scene
* The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass
* The Psycho Archives
* Posters and Psycho Ads
* Lobby Cards
* Behind-the-Scenes Photographs
* Production Photographs
* Production Notes
* Theatrical Trailer
* Re-Release Trailers
Disc 2: Extra Features
* The Making of Psycho
* In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
* Hitchcock / Truffaut Interview Excerpts
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents "Lamb to the Slaughter"
Rear Window
Disc 1: Main Feature
* 1.66:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
* English and French DD2.0 Mono
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Feature Commentary with John Fawell (author of "Hitchcock's Rear Window: The Well-Made Film")
* Production Photographs
* Production Notes
* Theatrical Trailer
* Re-Release Trailer Narrated by James Stewart
Disc 2: Extra Features
* Rear Window Ethics: An Original Documentary
* A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes
* Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of the Master
* Hitchcock / Truffaut Interview Excerpts
* Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents "Mr. Blanchard's Secret"
bradavon wrote:Personally I'm waiting for BDs, these look awesome but my existing DVDs are perfectly fine.
Do you have the R1 Signature Collection box? If not, I don't see how any other existing version of Psycho (image problems) or Vertigo (audio remix) can be considered fine. These are classics and I wouldn't mind rebuying on BD if and when the time comes.
I have the original Psycho UK DVD, the UK Vertigo DVD (DD5.1 galore , joke), UK R2 Rear Window and R1 Birds. Besides I really meant they're fine "until the BD comes". I'd more likely upgrade them if I wasn't now buying HD.
Psycho looks perfectly fine to me, yes the R1 is sharper but it doesn't mean an older release is rubbish as soon as a newer one comes along.
p.s - I'm not interested in all of Hitchcock's films to ever consider the expensive box set.
It's possible they will, Universal aren't Fox when it comes to HD! Not that I'd really care if they didn't. I can barely find the time to watch the movie, let alone the extras.