Category: Alfred Hitchcock

Guide to Hitchcock on DVD – part 2

Following on from the first part of the guide, here’s the low down on the rest of Hitchcock’s films from the 1920s.
In the US, virtually of the DVD releases of the following films have been lower quality budget “public domain” discs.  Whilst these are a cheap way of getting hold of the films, you’ll probably be disappointed with the video quality.
4) The Ring (1927)
By far the best transfer to date is in the French Les Premières Oeuvres 1927/1929, volume 1 box set from Studio Canal.  For anyone considering this box set, it’s worth noting that the French subtitles (although generated by the DVD player) cannot be easily disabled during playback.
In 2007, there’ll be new DVDs released in the UK (by Optimum Releasing) and in the US (by Lionsgate Home Entertainment) — these should have transfers on par with the French box set.
5) Downhill (1927)
Currently unavailable in the US, “Downhill” has seen a number of good DVD releases (see this page to compare the transfer quality).
If I had to suggest one, then I’d recommend you purchase the German The Early Years box set from Concorde.  Although 3 years old, the set still contains some of the best transfers available.
Completists might want to note that none of the DVD releases of “Downhill” use the original green tinting for the sea-sickness scenes.
6) Champagne (1928)
For many years, “Champagne” was only available on low quality bootlegs — however, 2005 saw two releases on DVD.  Once again, it’s the French release which is the best.
7) Easy Virtue (1928)
“Easy Virtue” has seen numerous DVD releases, but all seem to be taken from the same low quality video source.  According to this 1937 newspaper articles, the British Film Institute may have a good quality print in their archives so there is still hope that we might see a decent quality release in the future.
8) The Farmer’s Wife (1928)
Once again, it’s that French box set from Studio Canal which contains the best transfer.
In 2007, we should see a new DVD in the UK from Optimum Releasing using the same high quality transfer.
9) The Manxman (1929)
In a repeat of the information for “The Ring”, the French box set contains the best transfer currently available, and 2007 releases from Optimum Releasing (UK) and Lionsgate Home Entertainment (USA) should have similar high quality transfers.
10) Blackmail (1929)
Although “Blackmail” is available in a box set from Studio Canal, I’d recommend the German release on the Arthaus label.
The German DVD contains both the “talkie” version of the film and also the the original silent version.  Although very similar, there are interesting differences between the two versions and some might even prefer the more natural performances in the silent version.
The French and German DVDs also contain the amusing “sound test“, shot to check how Anny Ondra‘s voice would sound on film.  Hitchcock takes the opportunity to embarrass Ondra with some good old English innuendo!
Summary
To date, the best releases of Hitchcock’s earliest films have been in France and Germany, but 2007 should see similar quality releases of some of the 1920 films in both the USA and the UK.  Fans in the UK should note that “Orbit Media” are planning to release a clutch of early Hitchcock films on DVD in early 2007, but these will be low quality “public domain” transfers — definitely a case of buyer beware!

Guide to Hitchcock on DVD – part 1

Welcome to the first part of my guide to Hitchcock on DVD!
Introduction
I’ve been running the Hitchcock DVD Site for over 3 years and, in that time, I’ve built up a collection of nearly 200 Hitchcock DVDs.  Over the course of the coming weeks and months, I’m going to try and cover Hitchcock’s entire career and, at the same time, discuss which are the best DVDs to buy.
To build up the best collection of Hitchcock on DVD, you need to have a region free DVD player.  You also need to be able to view both PAL and NTSC format DVDs — this requires either a DVD player that can convert from one to the other, or a television set that can display both.  To get the best of Hitchcock on DVD, you’ll be buying DVDs from around the world!
I’m going to split Hitchcock’s career up into decades, so the first article will cover the 1920s and that last will cover his final films from the 1970s.  Out of the 53 major films Hitchcock directed, 50 are now officially available on DVD.
A quick side note — for the film year, I’m using the IMDB entry.
Continue reading “Guide to Hitchcock on DVD – part 1”

Hitchcock update (w/c 4th Dec)

Yikes — it’s 2 months since the last Hitchcock update, so here’s the latest news!
Finally! After years of craptastic “public domain” releases from the likes of Laserlight and Brentwood, fans in the USA should be getting some decent transfers of Hitchcock’s early films.  Lionsgate Home Entertainment will be releasing a 3 disc box set on 06/Feb/2007.
The upcoming UK Optimum Releasing box set (scheduled for the end of January) has been expanded and now includes 4 extra titles (“The Ring”, “Champagne”, “The Farmer’s Wife”, and “Murder!”).  The transfers have been licensed from the likes of Studio Canal and Granada, so should be top notch.  Be warned that Orbit Media might be releasing low quality PD transfers of the same films around about the same time in the UK!
The French release of Bon Voyage / Aventure Malgache proves that there are decent prints of both films available.  Sadly (for non French speakers), this release is French only with no subtitles.  Speaking of which, Alain Kerzoncuf has a new article over at “sense of cinema” — “Hitchcock’s Aventure Malgache (or the True Story of DZ 91)“.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two has been out for a while now.  The good news is that Universal has seen sense and released the second series on standard DVD9 discs, rather than the more unreliable DVD18.  I’m still busy adding info to the page in the wiki for this release.  There’s no sign of a non-US release for this set yet.
To be honest, I think Universal in Europe have just given up and will never release any half decent Hitchcock DVDs — they seem happy just to repackage and rebundle the same old transfers.  Germany is the latest victim of Universal’s greed, with a collection of new DVDs that just contain the same old tired transfers… seriously folks, it’s nearly 2007 and the only place in the world where you can buy a widescreen (i.e. non pan&scan) transfer of “The Birds” is in the US & Canada!
I haven’t quite managed a new wallpaper every week, but here are the recent ones (click to download larger versions):

Finally, some sad news — two of the surviving “Topaz” actors have passed away during the last couple of weeks from cancer.  Firstly, Philippe Noiret (23/Nov) and then Claude Jade (01/Dec).

left: Philippe Noiret (1930-2006) and right: Hitchcock and Claude Jade (1948-2006)

Hitchcock update (w/c 2nd Oct)

The desktop wallpaper this week is a poster from “Family Plot“:

(click to view different resolutions)
On the wiki, I’ve started adding Hitchcock soundtrack albums.
Over at the BBFC site, they’ve just classified “Number Seventeen” from Optimum Releasing.  Also spotted that they’ve classified “Downhill” from Sound & Media — the running time matches the transfer used in the excellent German Concorde box set, so fingers crossed that we’re going to get a decent transfer in the UK!
Finally, Amazon France have posted my copy of “Bon Voyage / Aventure Malgache“, so I’ll post images as soon as it arrives.

Hitchcock update (w/c 25th Sep)

I’ve stated adding a weekly Hitchcock desktop wallpaper to the new wiki, so I’m going to try and get back into the habit of regular Hitch related blogging at the same time.
The wallpaper this week is a poster from the 1936 film “Secret Agent“, starring John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, and Madeleine Carroll:

(click to view different resolutions)
October 1st sees the French release of Bon Voyage & Aventure Malgache by Éditions Montparnasse.

I spotted last week that Optimum Releasing had submitted a couple of early Hitchcock films to the British Board of Film Classification, so I emailed them and Emilie Barra was kind enough to reply and let me know that they’re planning a Hitchcock box set for UK release in early 2007. What’s exciting is that Optimum were recently acquired by Studio Canal, so they should have access to high quality transfers used in “Les Premières Oeuvres” box sets (vol 1/vol 2/vol 3). The planned Optimum box set will include:

Finally, recent additions & updates to the site include screengrabs for:

Hitchcock and The Simpsons

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted something Hitchcock related on the blog, so here’s the first in an infrequent series of Hitchcock/Simpsons comparisons that I’ve just added to the wiki.
To start off, there’s “Saboteur” and “Three Men and a Comic Book”:

And secondly, here’s “Psycho” and “Itchy and Scratchy and Marge”:

(click on the images to view larger versions in the wiki)

new UK “Psycho” release


To anyone thinking of buying the new region 2 release of Psycho, my advice would be…

…don’t bother!

To be honest, I’m getting utterly tired of the way Universal UK is treating Hitchcock fans and this release is just another shining example of how little the UK branch of the company cares.
First of all, the film transfer is exactly the same one they used for the original 1999 release in the UK – the bitrate graphs are exactly the same.
For crying out loud – it says “SPECIAL EDITION” on the packaging! What on earth is special about re-re-releasing a 6 year old transfer that was regarded as being poor to start with?
Secondly, we have the extras… but wait, where’s the excellent 94 minute “Making of” documentary that’s been available on every US release of the DVD since 1999? Heck, it even appeared in the UK Psycho Collection set! Sadly, it’s not included in this so-called “special edition”.
Instead of that, we get the heavily edited “AFI Salute” (15 minutes instead of the original 71 minute broadcast) and the “Masters of Cinema” interviews (again, edited down to 34 minutes from the original 55 minutes).
So, don’t even think about buying this DVD – put the money towards getting the US “Masterpiece Collection” instead!

Happy Birthday Hitch!

It hardly seems two minutes since the centenary in 1999, but it was 106 years ago today that Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, London.
As all good Hitchcock fans will know, that means tomorrow marks the 106th anniversary of the birth of Hitchcock’s future wife, Alma Lucy Reville, in Nottingham.
For those of you in the UK, don’t forget that BBC2 and BBC4 are broadcasting three Hitchcock films today (“Dial M”, “Mr & Mrs Smith”, and “Blackmail”)!