As if this year hasn’t bombarded us with enough major Blu-ray releases, this week brings us another highly-anticipated, expensive, multi-film box set. I hope you’ve been managing your finances in preparation.
Loading ...The Master of Suspense
‘The Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection‘ contains brand new Blu-ray editions of ‘Saboteur’, ‘Shadow of a Doubt’, ‘Rope’, ‘Rear Window’, ‘The Trouble with Harry’, ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ (1956 version), ‘Vertigo’, ‘The Birds’, ‘Marnie’, ‘Torn Curtain’, ‘Topaz’, ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Family Plot’, as well as copies of the existing Blu-ray discs for ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘Psycho’. While a few of these may be lesser Hitch, there are enough genuine masterpieces in here to make this an essential purchase for any film lover. Honestly, even the lesser Hitchcock movies are pretty interesting.
As was the case a few weeks back with Universal’s Classic Monsters collection, fans looking to save some money may want to consider importing the UK version of the box set , which lacks ‘North by Northwest’ but is substantially less expensive. (As mentioned, ‘North by Northwest’ was previously released on Blu-ray anyway.) That one will be released on November 12th.
New Releases
The only significant mainstream day-and-date release this week is Will Ferrell’s latest flop, the political satire ‘The Campaign‘. I think it may be time for Ferrell to take a break from movies for a few years and think about what he really wants to do with his career.
Other new titles were film festival favorites, including the time travel comedy ‘Safety Not Guaranteed‘, the magic realism rom-com ‘Ruby Sparks‘, and the horror thriller ‘Excision‘. I’ve heard good things about all of these.
Of much less interest is the belated direct-to-video sequel ‘A Christmas Story 2‘. Apparently, someone at Warner Bros. has forgotten that ‘A Christmas Story’ already had a sequel in 1994, called ‘It Runs in the Family’. That one wasn’t very good, and I don’t expect much from this either.
Catalog Titles
In time for Halloween, the Criterion Collection gives us a lovely high-def edition of Roman Polanski’s brilliant thriller ‘Rosemary’s Baby‘.
Meanwhile, Olive Films offers up Sidney Lumet’s 1962 film adaptation of ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night‘, starring Katharine Hepburn.
Television
On the TV front, Warner bundles together all five seasons of ‘Chuck‘ for a Complete Series box set, and gives us the fourth season of ‘Metalocalypse‘. BBC delivers the first season of ‘Copper‘, and Acorn digs up no less than 45 early episodes of Agatha Christie’s ‘Poirot‘.
—
Whenever I can get some cash together, I’ll definitely import the UK version of the Hitchcock box set. I’m also down for ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. What strikes your fancy this week?
HuskerGuy
Nothing this week. I already have all the Chuck seasons and nothing else is overly interesting. Ruby Sparks may warrant a rental though.
Julian
There’s also the beautiful “Limited Edition” of the Hitchcock Collection. And it’s only slighty more expensive!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008D1TNCE/panandscathed-20
Zaserov
There’s a box a little way down on that page that says “This Limited Edition is now sold out.”
Shayne Blakeley
I’ll pick up Rosemary’s Baby eventually, but the Hitchcock box will have to wait until some kind soul buys it for me.
paramedic0112
Rosemary’s Baby is must for me. Its 24.99 at Best Buy this week so I’ll go pick it up and watch it Halloween night. I would love to have the Hitchcock box, but it’s too pricy right now. I went ahead and picked up the Indiana Jones set yesterday for 49.99 at best buy!!
EM
Nothing to buy, but a few items I’d like to rent or borrow.
Coming closest to a must-purchase is the Hitchcock collection. However, it’s costly and I don’t want enough of it to justify the cost. I’ll look for single releases of Rope, Rear Window, and The Birds later (I already have the previous Blu release of Psycho, which I assure you I will be watching as part of my ongoing Halloween marathon). To judge from High-Def Digest’s review of the Rope disc, that flick will need some correction before I’d want to buy the Blu anyway.
The Brain somewhat interests me. I look forward to Safety Not Guaranteed—I kept looking for it in theaters. I saw House of Dark Shadows some time back and found it dismally lacking in the charm of its TV source; however, I’m willing to give Night of Dark Shadows a try.
William Henley
I am looking at The Stooges. I am a bit reluctant though – colorized and 3D converted? I normally like conversions, I normally like colorization, but the two together? Really want to see a review and a few screenshots before I take the plunge.