Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection ---> 10/14/08

[LorenzoL]

Information courtesy of DVDActive:

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...ollection.html

MGM Home Entertainment has announced the Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection which includes Rebecca, The Lodger, The Paradine Case, Spellbound, Notorious, Young and Innocent, Sabotage, and Lifeboat. Each have been beautifully restored and remastered. As well as all the features listed below, the DVD collection also includes a 32-page notebook with trivia, production notes and more about the legendary director. Retail will be $119.98. We've attached the official package artwork and specs below:

Full Disc Specs

Rebecca
Synopsis
A young woman marries a fascinating older widower only to discover that she must live in the shadows of his first wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years before.

Special features:
• Commentary by film historian/author Richard Schickel
• Screen tests
• Making of Rebecca Featurette
• The Gothic World of Daphne Du Maurier Featurette
• Original 1938 Radio Play Starring Orson Welles
• 1941 Radio Play Presented by Cecil B. DeMille
• 1950 Radio Play with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Four-page booklet

The Lodger
Synopsis
Not long after a mysterious young “medical scientist” named Slade (Laird Cregar) rents a flat in the heart of London’s Whitechapel district, a series of brutal murders begins. But despite the fact that the murder victims are all female stage performers, the landlord’s niece Kitty (Merle Oberon), an ingénue, is unphased by the crimes – or by the unusual, brooding man in her family’s midst. As Kitty coquettishly interacts with a Scotland Yard detective (George Sanders), she becomes Slade’s object of obsession in this pulse-pounding thriller that “packs an unsettling punch.” (At-A-Glance Film Reviews).

Special features:
• 1999 Score by Ashley Irwin presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround
• 1997 Score by Paul Zaza presented in Mono
• Commentary with film historian Patrick McGilligan
• The Sound of Silence: The Making of The Lodger Featurette
• Hitchcock 101 Featurette
• 1940 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparison

The Paradine Case
Synopsis
Beautiful Anna Paradine (Alida Valli) is accused of poisoning her older wealthy husband. Her barrister, the happily married Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) takes the case but also lets his heart rule his head when he falls hard for his client.

Special features:
• Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• 1949 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Galleries
Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection

Spellbound
Synopsis
When John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), the new director of a mental asylum arrives on the job, the staff is concerned. He seems too young for the position and his answers to their questions are vague and detached. Dr. Peterson (Ingrid Bergman), while knowing he is an imposter with emotional issues, nevertheless falls in love with him. Turning to her mentor, Dr. Alex Brulov (Michael Checkhov) and the use of psychoanalysis she tries to get to the root of Ballantine’s emotional problems.

Special features:
• Commentary with film historians Thomas Schatz & Charles Ramirez Berg
• Guilt by Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound Featurette
• A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming Featurette
• Dreaming with Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali Featurette
• 1948 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Film Historian Rudy Belhemer Interviews Composer Miklós Rózsa
• Still Gallery
• 4-Page Booklet

Notorious
Synopsis
Daughter of an accused World War II traitor, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is enlisted to entrap one of her father’s colleagues in Brazil, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Raines). Her American contact, secret agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) is openly contemptuous of Alicia and instructs her to wed Sebastian. It is only after she is wed that Devlin lets himself admit that he’s fallen in love with her.

Special features:
• Commentary with film historian Rick Jewell
• Commentary with film historian Drew Casper
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious Featurette
• Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Spymaster Featurette
• AFI Tribute to Hitchcock
• 1948 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery
• 4-Page Booklet

Young and Innocent
Synopsis
In this witty, suspense thriller a police chief’s daughter helps a fugitive accused of murder prove his innocence.

Special features:
• Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection
Page 4 of 5
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery

Sabotage
Synopsis
A woman learns that her movie theater manager husband is actually a foreign agent when a bomb he has made kills her brother. Based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, The Secret Agent.

Special features:
• Commentary with film historian Leonard Leff
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery

Lifeboat
Synopsis
Nominated for three Academy Awards®, Alfred Hitchcock’s World War II drama is a remarkable story of human survival. After their ship is sunk in the Atlantic by Germans, eight people are stranded in a lifeboat. Their problems are further compounded when they pick up a ninth passenger – the Nazi captain from the U-boat that torpedoed them. With powerful suspense and emotion, this legendary classic reveals the strengths and frailties of individuals under extraordinary duress.

Special features:
• Commentary by University of Southern California School of Cinema & Television Hitchcock professor and film critic, Drew Casper
• “The Making of Lifeboat” featurette
• The original theatrical trailer
• Still gallery featuring photographs from the set

[LorenzoL]

Fryinpan1 posted this in the Rebecca/Notorious OOP thread but I think this announcement deserves its own thread.

This is great news for those who were looking to buy the OOP Criterions. I wasn't expecting this boxset at all.

[tylergfoster]

In "Young and Innocent" and at the bottom of "The Paradine Case" speclists there are some lines you can delete.

[LorenzoL]

Here is a comparison of the special features between these new releases and the OOP Criterion:

Rebecca
MGM

Special features:

• Commentary by film historian/author Richard Schickel
• Screen tests
• Making of Rebecca Featurette
• The Gothic World of Daphne Du Maurier Featurette
• Original 1938 Radio Play Starring Orson Welles
• 1941 Radio Play Presented by Cecil B. DeMille
• 1950 Radio Play with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Four-page booklet

Criterion

- Commentary by film scholar Leonard J. Leff, author of Hitchcock and Selznick: The Rich and Strange Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood
- Isolated music and effects track
- Rare screen, hair, makeup and costume tests including Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter, Loretta Young, Margaret Sullavan, and Joan Fontaine
- Hitchcock on Rebecca, excerpts from his conversations with François Truffaut
- Phone interviews with stars Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson from 1986
- Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos chronicling the film’s production from location scouting, set photos, and wardrobe continuity to ads, posters, and promotional memorabilia
- Production correspondence and casting notes
- Deleted scene script excerpts
- 1939 test screening questionnaire
- Essay on Rebecca author Daphne du Maurier
- Footage from the 1940 13th Annual Academy Awards™ ceremony
- Re-issue trailer
- Three hours of complete radio show adaptations:
- * 1938 Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre broadcast, including an interview with Daphne du Maurier
- * 1941 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast starring Ronald Colman and Ida Lupino, including an interview with David O. Selznick
- * 1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
- PLUS: A 22-page booklet, including liner notes by Robin Wood, author of Hitchcock's Films and Hitchcock's Films Revisited, and George Turner’s essay “Du Maurier + Selznick + Hitchcock = Rebecca"

[LorenzoL]

Notorious
MGM

Special features:

• Commentary with film historian Rick Jewell
• Commentary with film historian Drew Casper
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious Featurette
• Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Spymaster Featurette
• AFI Tribute to Hitchcock
• 1948 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery
• 4-Page Booklet

Criterion

- Commentaries by Hitchcock film scholar Marian Keane and film historian Rudy Behlmer, editor of Memo from David O. Selznick
- Complete broadcast of the 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, starring Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten
- Rare production, publicity, and rear projection photos, as well as promotional posters and lobby cards
- Production correspondence
- Collection of trailers and teasers
- Script excerpts of deleted scenes and alternate endings
- Excerpts from the short story “The Song of the Dragon,” source material for Notorious
- Rare newsreel footage of Bergman and Hitchcock
- Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

[LorenzoL]

Spellbound

MGM

Special features:

• Commentary with film historians Thomas Schatz & Charles Ramirez Berg
• Guilt by Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound Featurette
• A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming Featurette
• Dreaming with Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali Featurette
• 1948 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Film Historian Rudy Belhemer Interviews Composer Miklós Rózsa
• Still Gallery
• 4-Page Booklet

Criterion

- Commentary by Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane
- "A Nightmare Ordered by Telephone," an in-depth, illustrated essay on the Salvador Dali-designed dream sequence by James Bigwood
- Excerpts from a 1973 audio interview with composer Miklos Rozsa
- Complete 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation starring Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli
- The Fishko Files: a WNYC/New York Public Radio piece on the theremin
- Essays by noted Hitchcock scholars Lesley Brill (The Hitchcock Romance) and Leonard Leff (Hitchcock and Selznick)
- Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos and documents chronicling the film’s production, from set photos to ads, posters, and publicity material
- Theatrical trailer
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

[wilky61]

Any news of individual releases, then?

[dx23]

Weren't all this title Disney properties? I remember someone mentioning that to me on this thread:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk/429385-hitchcock-dvd-confusion.html

What happened then?

[macnorton]

I don't have the Criterion version of Rebecca and I have Notorious and Spellbound, which I am happy with. Although the others sound like they might be worth a look (sans Lifeboat, I have seen that one).

[Geofferson]

I may have to pick this up to compliment my existing Hitchcock collection.

[Cosmic Bus]

I can't justify buying this one, unfortunately, since I already own the Criterion releases of Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious, along with Fox's release of Lifeboat. Hopefully the others become available individually at some point.

Originally Posted by LorenzoL

Information courtesy of DVDActive:

The Lodger
Synopsis
Not long after a mysterious young “medical scientist” named Slade (Laird Cregar) rents a flat in the heart of London’s Whitechapel district, a series of brutal murders begins. But despite the fact that the murder victims are all female stage performers, the landlord’s niece Kitty (Merle Oberon), an ingénue, is unphased by the crimes – or by the unusual, brooding man in her family’s midst. As Kitty coquettishly interacts with a Scotland Yard detective (George Sanders), she becomes Slade’s object of obsession in this pulse-pounding thriller that “packs an unsettling punch.” (At-A-Glance Film Reviews).

Heh, Fox/MGM need to do a better job checking these press releases. That isn't for the Hitchock film...

[Rizor]

Huh. This sounds pretty good. I don't know if they'll stand up against the Criterions, but it looks like a good effort at least. I expected barebones releases. Pretty cool as I was just pondering why these hadn't been re-released (or the Criterion titles either way) the other day, as can be seen in the OOP thread.

It'd a bit pricey (it's got the same price as the Universal masterpiece set which had twice as many films). But at least they'll be available.

[jmj713]

I have the Criterions plus Lifeboat. The others I would love to pick separately.

On second thought, looks like the extras are almost mutually exclusive. Hmm.

[jmj713]

Looks a bit too expensive, though. Will have to pick it up in the November sale.

[kefrank]

come on mgm. daddy needs these on blu-ray real bad.

[Living Dead]

The only one I need from this set is The Paradine Case. I hope they sell them seperately.

[Sondheim]

I really hope these are released individually. I already own four of the eight in very satisfactory editions - but I really want to own the other four being offered.

But, considering how much I love Hitchcock, I'd probably be willing to buy the whole set (even at that price) if they don't offer any alternative way of getting the other four. Heck, I already own three boxsets of Hitchcock's films (one Universal, one Criterion, one Warner) - I might as well get an MGM one too.

[jmj713]

I think the extras being pretty much mutually exclusive, this whole set is a must for Hitchcock fans. This is a very exciting collection, and fills more holes in the canon of one of the greatest directors of all time.

[scott1598]

i would love to get "Lifeboat" remastered as an indiviudal release as well.

[domino harvey]

Um, your wish was granted last year

[sauce07]

well I guess I will sell my Criterion Rebecca, Notorious and Spellbound

[PatrickMcCart]

Originally Posted by scott1598

i would love to get "Lifeboat" remastered as an indiviudal release as well.

It's been out for a while. Great DVD. The first reel has some mild nitrate decomposition, so there's not a lot that can be done about it.

[mike7162]

Fantastic, but pricey; I will have this!

Now lets work on those silents, and the rest of the British films!

[alfonsosoriano]

This is fucking AWESOME!!!

[NoirFan]

With the alternate commentary tracks, I'm in for the double dips. This should be a hot title during the fall sale. Underwhelming cover art though.