Perkinsun Dzees

I notice that on Amazon, a new copy of the Anchor Bay DVD of "Dead Ringers" is selling for $119.95 while a new copy of the Criterion version is $73.69 (roughly $45 less).

I realize that both versions are OOP, but one would think the Criterion would be more valuable since it has a lot more special features.

Is the Anchor Bay DVD more scarce or does it have better picture quality than the Criterion? What's the deal with the big discrepancy in prices?

speedyray

Both those prices sound quite high. I sold my Criterion a while back and I did research that showed the DVD going for between $40 and $55. I was excited to trade it for Sopranos Season 2. I thought I got a great deal.

TomOpus

I've seen a lot of "wishful thinking" pricing on Amazon.

If you check the completed auctions on eBay you'll see prices that are more in line with what speedyray stated.

prince_of_saturn

Well my guess is Anchor Bay is a much more popular label than Criterion to the average DVD buyer, so it is more "valuable", plus since it's Anchor Bay, I assume the transfer is anamorphic, and perhaps they kick Criterions butt wiht the extras (as Anchor Bay, to me anyway, usually does?)?

dick_grayson

exactly. Most of those people that sell rare stuff on amazon has their prices way too high. Their stuff won't sell, unless some rich sucker comes along and buys without research.

ThatGuamGuy

You must not look on Amazon that much; everything remotely rare is ridiculously overpriced.

I was replacing a stolen copy and, yeah, that's about what I saw. You can get it for less than $40 if you keep a really sharp eye on it.

That doesn't really make sense, though, because Criterion is never the more popular label but often the more expensive disc.

Beyond that, I tend to doubt that the average DVD buyer is interested in 'Dead Ringers', if for no other reason that the rarity of Criterion being allowed to release a disc for a movie which would appeal to the average DVD buyer. (But, also, I've *seen* the movie, and it wouldn't.)

For future reference, posting unfounded speculation when somebody asks a question like this just confuses the issue. Fact is, neither was anamorphic. Fact is, Criterion's has a commentary track and various special effects stuff (the thing about the "twinning" effect is really cool), while Anchor Bay doesn't even have the trailer.

Why is Anchor Bay more valuable? It's not; people aren't actually *paying* that price. But it was out before the Criterion, which is to say before a lot of people were buying, so it's probably just a pretty rare to own. If you want that specific version, for whatever reason, the only people who still sell it are people who realize that it's "ultra-rare", but want to fudge the fact that the reason it's ultra-rare is that the Criterion came along and nobody wanted the Anchor Bay one anymore.

Johnny Zhivago

It's not.

prince_of_saturn: What ThatGuamGuy ^ said... The Anchor Bay disc is barebones and does not have an anamorphic transfer...

The Criterion is the current "disc to own" of this great film (in R1 anyhoo, not sure about the other regions). Eventually, some studio will release Dead Ringers again with a nice new anamorphic transfer... Until then, I'm stuck with the Criterion. But when it is re-released with a nice new transfer, I'll most likely dump the CC ala Silence, Robocop, etc. Or maybe not (I still have Sid & Nancy for the extras).

ThatGuamGuy

Not only does it trump all other regions, but it's region 0 too! Technically, the Dutch disc has all the same extras, but it's slightly cropped (1.89 vs. 1.66, Cronenberg's preferred ratio for the film).

Hey, I've always wondered, how do the deleted scenes compare on the two 'Silence' discs? I've yet to buy the new one, and do have the Criterion (I wanted the commentary track), but I was never sure whether the "20 minutes of deleted scenes" [MGM] were the same as the "7 deleted scenes" [Criterion]. (More confusingly, other regions' releases have "21 deleted scenes".)

Johnny Zhivago

Man, I'm going completely by memory here, it's been a couple of years since I watched the extras on the CC (or owned it for that matter). IIRC, the deleted scenes were more or less the same, but I've only spun the extras on the MGM once.... Someone else is better qualified to answer, I'd wager.

But yeah, if you need the commentary, you gotta keep the CC.