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Hitchcock Universal DVD box set - REMASTERED

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:47 pm
by MK
The word is, these will be NEW transfers. Most of the bonuses will be the same, with a few exceptions. Best news: Vertigo finally gets an anamorphic transfer. Bad new: I think they stuck with the crappy 5.1 soundtrack with the re-recorded foley effects.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection in October - UPDATE! Digitally Remastered
Universal Studios Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection for 4th October 2005 priced at $119.98 SRP. This 15 Disc collection brings together 14 Hitchcock classics plus a bonus disc in a special gift set collection.

All 14 films are digitally re-mastered for the best quality ever with all bonus features from the existing releases carried across. The films are: Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubth, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot.

The all-new bonus disc showcases Hitchcock's films, career and legacy, while the set is presented in ultra-premium velvet packaging which includes a 36-page collectible book.

Title: Hitchcock Collection
Starring: N/A (Various)
Released: 4th October 2005
SRP: $119.98

Further Details
Universal has announced a massive fifteen-disc Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection which brings together fourteen of Hitchcock's classic films, plus an exclusive bonus disc. The films included are Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubth, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot. Extras wise, every disc will be identical to those already on the market seperately. However, Universal has now confirmed digital remasters for each of the films too. The only exclusive extra material will be included on the bonus disc - and details have yet to be released on that! Stay tuned for further details on this shortly.

The June 11 edition of Video Business says that Psycho will include such new bonuses as making of footage, behind the scenes photos and storyboards. The bonus disc will include AFI's Salute to Alfred Hitchcock.

Universal's own site info:
http://homevideo.universalstudios.com/d ... ldId=35678

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:37 pm
by Rspaight
Argh. I want anamorphic transfers of Vertigo and Psycho, but already have perfectly good copies of Marnie, Rear Window, and The Birds.

Then again, those other movies are mostly worth having.

Argh.

Ryan

Re: Hitchcock Universal DVD box set - REMASTERED

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:56 pm
by Ess Ay Cee Dee
MK wrote:Best news: Vertigo finally gets an anamorphic transfer. Bad new: I think they stuck with the crappy 5.1 soundtrack with the re-recorded foley effects.


So they're still not going to include the original mono soundtrack? The "modernized" foley effects are bad enough; the re-recorded score just adds insult to injury.

Re: Hitchcock Universal DVD box set - REMASTERED

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:58 pm
by lukpac
Ess Ay Cee Dee wrote:
MK wrote:Best news: Vertigo finally gets an anamorphic transfer. Bad new: I think they stuck with the crappy 5.1 soundtrack with the re-recorded foley effects.


So they're still not going to include the original mono soundtrack? The "modernized" foley effects are bad enough; the re-recorded score just adds insult to injury.


Are you sure about the score?

http://www.theavclub.com/feature/index. ... e=3607&f=1

O: With Vertigo, you completely overhauled the foley work, correct?

RH: We had to, yeah. All the foley and the effects were totally redone. We had the same problem with the Vertigo track [as we did with the Rear Window track]. All that survived were used 35mm prints. We had no mag material, except for the music, which we found in the Paramount vaults. These weren't even the cut music takes; these were the original floor recordings that we found in three-track stereo. So, once we found those and they sounded so extraordinary, we discussed it with a number of critics we respect and Herbert Coleman, who was Hitchcock's producer, and Pat Hitchcock [the director's daughter], and a few other people. We said, "What do we do? Do we try and make the mono track, which is dirty and has holes in it, sound as good as we can make it sound? Or do we take the original music, which is stereo and which many people feel is [composer] Bernard Herrman's finest work, and redo the tracks?" And everyone, to an individual, said, "We want to hear it in stereo." The caveat, of course, was that we would have to re-foley and re-effect the entire picture.

O: That must have been a fearful thing to do.

RH: Not really, because we preserved what existed. Actually, on the DVD, we wanted the studio to put what was left of the original mono track optical on one track and run the stereo on the other. But they didn't want to do that, because it wasn't on the laserdisc. Anyway, the music sounded so extraordinary and the recordings were so well done, but there were problems. Put yourself back in 1958. You're putting film on a projector. How old do you think that projector was in 1958? Where do you think it came from? It's probably out of the mid-'30s, with a tube sound system and speakers out of the '30s. So all of the warts that are in that soundtrack would not come through on the speakers, which smooth everything out—lop off the high end, lop off the low end. But if you take that track and you run it on a new system today, you hear everything, including lots of holes where they would just cut in dead film—no room tone, nothing. So when we would add a foghorn, a couple of birds at the bridge, some wind rustling through the tower at the end of the film... Those were to cover holes. We had no room tone. We had to create everything.

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:52 am
by krabapple
I saw the restored Vertigo in a real theater back when it was re-released, and I thought the sound was excellent.

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:46 am
by Xenu
I'm surprised that any studio would bother using the excuse "it wasn't on the laserdisc." How many people actually care?

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:10 am
by Ess Ay Cee Dee
Hmmmm. For some reason, I thought I read back then that the score was re-recorded. It looks like that may not be the case. Thanks for the link, Luke.

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:20 am
by lukpac
Xenu wrote:I'm surprised that any studio would bother using the excuse "it wasn't on the laserdisc." How many people actually care?


There you go with your damn logic again. Tell that to ABKCO!

And EACD, I'm sure you know more about this stuff than I do. I just took notice of that Onion interview back when it was first published and remembered that.

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:00 am
by Rspaight
Xenu wrote:I'm surprised that any studio would bother using the excuse "it wasn't on the laserdisc." How many people actually care?


Back in '97 when this thing came out, they were probably worried about angering laserdisc consumers by making the DVD "better." The collector crowd still hadn't decided at that point if they loved or hated DVD.

Ryan