Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection ---- 10/10/2006
07-06-06, 08:14 AM
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection ---- 10/10/2006
From DVDActive.com:
Link to Article and Cover Art
Warner Home Video has announced the Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection which includes the restored and remastered releases of David Copperfield, Marie Antoinette, Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities (1935), and Treasure Island. Extras will include Oscar nominated shorts ("The Great Heart", "Crime Doesn't Pay", "Audioscopiks" and "Strikes and Spares"), classic MGM cartoons, radio promos and more. The five-disc collection will be available to own from the 10th October, and should set you back around $49.92 or thereabouts. Each title will also be available seperately for around $19.97 a pop.
07-06-06, 04:27 PM
#5
DVD Talk Legend
I keep waiting for WB to announce a box set that I don''t want - guess it's never gonna happen. Not only great movies beautifully done, but at very consumer-friendly prices.
07-09-06, 08:11 PM
#6
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WOW...Finally going to get that Pride & Prejudice I've been waiting for all of these years. Can't wait for this set to come out. Hopefully the films are remastered and given the great attention to detail that Warner has been giving all of its releases in recent years.
08-03-06, 07:01 PM
#10
DVD Talk Legend
awesome titles here
Motion Picture Masterpieces
- David Copperfield ( Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger, The ) (1935)
- Marie Antoinette (1938)
- Tale of Two Cities, A (1935)
- Pride and Prejudice (1940)
- Treasure Island (1934)
+ Great Heart, The (Short) (1938)
+ Audioscopiks (Short) (1935)
+ Hey, Hey Fever (Short) (1935)
+ Honeyland (Short) (1935)
+ Eyes of the Navy (Short) (1940)
+ Fishing Bear, The (Short) (1940)
+ Spectacle Maker, The (Short) (1934)
+ Strikes and Spares (Short) (1934)
+ Tale of the Vienna Woods (Short) (1934)
Motion Picture Masterpieces
- David Copperfield ( Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger, The ) (1935)
- Marie Antoinette (1938)
- Tale of Two Cities, A (1935)
- Pride and Prejudice (1940)
- Treasure Island (1934)
+ Great Heart, The (Short) (1938)
+ Audioscopiks (Short) (1935)
+ Hey, Hey Fever (Short) (1935)
+ Honeyland (Short) (1935)
+ Eyes of the Navy (Short) (1940)
+ Fishing Bear, The (Short) (1940)
+ Spectacle Maker, The (Short) (1934)
+ Strikes and Spares (Short) (1934)
+ Tale of the Vienna Woods (Short) (1934)
10-09-06, 10:06 AM
#11
Suspended
"Marie Antoinette" (1938) on DVD for the first time, remastered from the original camera negative ... Oh... my... God!
The laserdisc transfer... was already so pristine... it could pass for 3-D!
Best of all, the films in the "Motion Picture Masterpieces" boxset will be sold separately...(pant, pant)... I can't believe my ears ...
... Willing to overlook fact DVD cover is plug-ugly ... Can't have everything... Must go now... Feeling faint...
Here... is... boxset... cover...
The laserdisc transfer... was already so pristine... it could pass for 3-D!
Best of all, the films in the "Motion Picture Masterpieces" boxset will be sold separately...(pant, pant)... I can't believe my ears ...
... Willing to overlook fact DVD cover is plug-ugly ... Can't have everything... Must go now... Feeling faint...
Here... is... boxset... cover...
Last edited by baracine; 10-09-06 at 10:26 AM.
10-09-06, 10:59 AM
#12
Suspended
Screencaps from dvdbeaver's review: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...sterpieces.htm
(Norma Shearer and Robert Morley)
(Gladys George)
(Tyrone Power)
(Norma Shearer and Robert Morley)
(Gladys George)
(Tyrone Power)
Last edited by baracine; 10-09-06 at 06:17 PM.
10-09-06, 11:42 AM
#13
Suspended
DVDBeaver review of the boxset:
The 5 films are also sold individually on DVD, but there is a significant savings by purchasing in one package (currently $34.88 for the collection vs. $14.88 X 5 = $74.40 - a savings of almost $40.00... or better than double the price of the lone 5-pack).
NOTE: If we have time we will review the titles individually as well.
The 5 films are spread over 5 single-sided discs - all dual-layered and in their own keep cases. They are encoded in the NTSC standard for regions 1,2,3 and 4 (set to sell in South America and possibly some Asian countries). All are progressively transferred and have short featurettes of the period as extras. Each have original audio and optional English, Spanish, Portuguese or French, subtitles (except Treasure Island which does not offer Portuguese).
Minimal damage and flickering contrast are prevalent to varying degrees throughout all 5 editions, but they look far better than I have ever seen on television in the past 30 years. Some restoration and decent contrast help round out these transfers as well above-average (especially considering the age of the films - 3 are over 70 years old). A Tale of Two Cities might be the best and Treasure Island/David Copperfield the weakest, but I am not going to quibble too much as I am so appreciative that these classic are now available at such a reasonable price. Personally, this is one of the great benefits to the DVD medium - having great old classics and hard to see films available at any time I choose.
There are a lot of supplements but I would have traded them all for a decent commentary. Unfortunately, these films are all quite long and a complete commentary might be difficult to arrange. I was kind of enjoying some of these shorts, but overall I wouldn't rate them too highly - understandable filler from Warner's vault is certainly better than nothing. Some of the cartoons were very amusing - I do always enjoy them.
Overall, for fans of classic cinema - this package is a must-own. None of the films have been released before on DVD and seeing Freddie Bartholomew, Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper either in their primes or early in their careers makes this collection all the more desirable. We recommend - (five stars) out of (five stars)
Gary W. Tooze
NOTE: If we have time we will review the titles individually as well.
The 5 films are spread over 5 single-sided discs - all dual-layered and in their own keep cases. They are encoded in the NTSC standard for regions 1,2,3 and 4 (set to sell in South America and possibly some Asian countries). All are progressively transferred and have short featurettes of the period as extras. Each have original audio and optional English, Spanish, Portuguese or French, subtitles (except Treasure Island which does not offer Portuguese).
Minimal damage and flickering contrast are prevalent to varying degrees throughout all 5 editions, but they look far better than I have ever seen on television in the past 30 years. Some restoration and decent contrast help round out these transfers as well above-average (especially considering the age of the films - 3 are over 70 years old). A Tale of Two Cities might be the best and Treasure Island/David Copperfield the weakest, but I am not going to quibble too much as I am so appreciative that these classic are now available at such a reasonable price. Personally, this is one of the great benefits to the DVD medium - having great old classics and hard to see films available at any time I choose.
There are a lot of supplements but I would have traded them all for a decent commentary. Unfortunately, these films are all quite long and a complete commentary might be difficult to arrange. I was kind of enjoying some of these shorts, but overall I wouldn't rate them too highly - understandable filler from Warner's vault is certainly better than nothing. Some of the cartoons were very amusing - I do always enjoy them.
Overall, for fans of classic cinema - this package is a must-own. None of the films have been released before on DVD and seeing Freddie Bartholomew, Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper either in their primes or early in their careers makes this collection all the more desirable. We recommend - (five stars) out of (five stars)
Gary W. Tooze
Last edited by baracine; 10-09-06 at 12:03 PM.
10-09-06, 07:58 PM
#15
Suspended
Short excerpt of Marie Antoinette on youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYp1ciILkYQ
Mme DuBarry (Gladys George), mistress of Louis XV (John Barrymore), confronts Philippe D'Orléans (Joseph Schildkraut).
Mme DuBarry (Gladys George), mistress of Louis XV (John Barrymore), confronts Philippe D'Orléans (Joseph Schildkraut).
10-17-06, 07:31 PM
#17
Suspended
The boxset just came out in Canada and I'm watching Marie Antoinette, natch... The biggest surprise here is the sweetening of the sound which is discreetly in Dolby Surround 2.0, which gives unheard emphasis to the Herbert Stothart score and makes the crowd scenes especially threatening.
There is a 3.5 minute overture at the beginning, playing the film's main grand-standing and dance themes, which was never on any medium, and a 3-minute Entr'Acte - just after Fersen's departure for America - which ends - are you sitting down? - with a sung version (by an unknown crooner) of the film's love theme with uncredited lyrics ending with the words "Our Secret Heart". It turns out this song, according to the IMDb, is "Amour Eternal Amour" written by Bob Wright, Herbert Stothart and Chet Forrest. It's also one of the earliest instances of a tie-in song to a dramatic Hollywood movie, six years ahead of "Laura" and fourteen years before "High Noon".
The Exit Music is about 90-second long and starts with an extremely rousing rendition of the French folksong "Auprès de ma blonde" ("How good it is to be near my blonde") which is a love song that has the rhythm of a revolutionary chant and does a lot to pick up the mood of the viewer who has just survived half a dozen heart-rending scenes in a row, followed by a reprise of the love theme for grand orchestra.
The extras are surprising. The self-promotional MGM documentary "Another Romance of Celluloid" is preceded by a very long disclaimer warning the viewer that some scenes are politically incorrect, which is probably an allusion to the fact that the film shows two seconds' worth of Black workers picking cotton down South (celluloid is extracted from cotton fibre). How this is supposed to be shocking, I have no clue.
The other documentary, "Hollywood Goes to Town", about Marie Antoinette's premiere, is carried over from the laserdisc edition and is still missing its music score. If you normally watch your films on a widescreen TV, you' ll probably be more than a little surprised to see this 1.33:1 document presented in a "widescreen windowboxed" format (in reality, 1.33:1 surrounded by left and right vertical bars), which may or may not be the wave of the future. I don't know how it plays on a regular television screen...
All in all, a very good value. I only wish it had a commentary or at least production notes telling about the origin of the print used and where the overture, entr'acte and exit music music has been hiding all those years.
There is a 3.5 minute overture at the beginning, playing the film's main grand-standing and dance themes, which was never on any medium, and a 3-minute Entr'Acte - just after Fersen's departure for America - which ends - are you sitting down? - with a sung version (by an unknown crooner) of the film's love theme with uncredited lyrics ending with the words "Our Secret Heart". It turns out this song, according to the IMDb, is "Amour Eternal Amour" written by Bob Wright, Herbert Stothart and Chet Forrest. It's also one of the earliest instances of a tie-in song to a dramatic Hollywood movie, six years ahead of "Laura" and fourteen years before "High Noon".
The Exit Music is about 90-second long and starts with an extremely rousing rendition of the French folksong "Auprès de ma blonde" ("How good it is to be near my blonde") which is a love song that has the rhythm of a revolutionary chant and does a lot to pick up the mood of the viewer who has just survived half a dozen heart-rending scenes in a row, followed by a reprise of the love theme for grand orchestra.
The extras are surprising. The self-promotional MGM documentary "Another Romance of Celluloid" is preceded by a very long disclaimer warning the viewer that some scenes are politically incorrect, which is probably an allusion to the fact that the film shows two seconds' worth of Black workers picking cotton down South (celluloid is extracted from cotton fibre). How this is supposed to be shocking, I have no clue.
The other documentary, "Hollywood Goes to Town", about Marie Antoinette's premiere, is carried over from the laserdisc edition and is still missing its music score. If you normally watch your films on a widescreen TV, you' ll probably be more than a little surprised to see this 1.33:1 document presented in a "widescreen windowboxed" format (in reality, 1.33:1 surrounded by left and right vertical bars), which may or may not be the wave of the future. I don't know how it plays on a regular television screen...
All in all, a very good value. I only wish it had a commentary or at least production notes telling about the origin of the print used and where the overture, entr'acte and exit music music has been hiding all those years.
Last edited by baracine; 10-18-06 at 01:33 PM.
