Cameron

Hitchcock and silent film fans rejoice (at least a little)

Spotted this on the cover of a new dvd coming this tuesaday. Blindsided me. As many of you, that have listened to me rant over the past few years about this hitchcock silent not coming out, i wanted to share the news. TCM was supposed to broadcast this well over a year ago, but it showed up with no soundtrack, and many people found their dvr/vcr's with a copy of the farmer's wife in its place. Since then I have waited for it to air. I honestly thought Warner might do a silent Hitch set (Chaney, Keaton, Garbo). Still nothing. They are supposed to have a wonderful print of the film, but this has yet to be seen.

To the best of my knowledge this is the region 1 premiere of champagne on dvd. I have not seen the disc, so i cannot comment on the quality. Most of these public domain releases are in pretty bad shape, however for the completist....it is a good day to be a hitchcock fan. I'm tired of waiting, so I will be picking this up. I'll try to report back on quality.

a direct link to amazon (who has it for 14.99)
and some cover art.

Rothlover

BCI tends to be decent with quality, right? I have a couple of their sets and thought they were worth the money.This is 11.99 at DDD, and if you can afford to hold out (for someone to comment on the quality), it'll be under $10 at the next sale. As someone who doesn't own 39 steps or farmer's wife either, I'll pick this up if the quality is passable. Gotta love Hitch.

marty888

I'm tempted!

Cameron

BCI has always been on the fringe...some good stuff...some bad.

I own the other movies, and will pick this up for that one movie alone. Mind you, I am a completist, and this is just another link in the chain for me. I will enjoy it, and will be proud to own it. I do hope TCM airs a restored version, and WB soon after releases a dvd.

bboisvert

I've seen the other BCI hitch film, and they are roughly on the same level as, say, Delta. Not amazing, but definitely watchable. I'm pretty tempted to pick this up (which usually means I will immediately).

Thanks for the heads up.

Paul Arnette

Excellent. More Hitchcock is always welcome.

I wonder if someone would mind giving me their opinion about which of the companies that produce DVDs of Hitch's public domain films is the best. I'm looking to purchase them, and I would be looking at a large set like the Delta, which comes in two box sets, I believe, or the Laserlight "Early Years" one, which is just a single box set. Which of these is better? Or is there an alternative better still?

Many thanks in advance.

bboisvert

Delta and Laserlight are the same company. The DVDs are identical.

Paul Arnette

Thanks for that. Are there any companies better than Delta/Laserlight?

Thanks again.

Cameron

the lady vanishes and 39 steps from criterion

jamacia inn from lino

everything else go laserlight/delta.

Steve Phillips

bci/eclipse/brentwood previously released a Hitchcock 10 movie set which contains all the PD stuff not found in their new "essential" 9 movie set...if you buy both you'll get decent quality versions of all the PD stuff much cheaper than from other companies....

Rothlover

Did anyone by any chance see this yet in store, or purchase it?

Cameron

have not had a chance to watch it yet, i'll try to get back to you over the weekend

Cameron

Ok...so i finally got the time to pop this one in the player. Good news, bad news.

The good news:
The print isn't bad. Better than most public domain copies of Chaplin, keaton, metropolis, Phantom of the Opera. It is watchable. Scratchy? Yes, but that is to be expected of most silent films with even good restorations. The film clocks in at right under 85 minutes, and nothing seems to be missing. The picture is stable, but the title cards are a bit shaky (also to be expected) It isn't watermarked as far as i could tell. Which suprised me, since this is the only version of Champagne out there. No doubt someone will be ripping it off from brentwood soon enough.

The bad news. It looks like it was mastered from a vhs. There are occasional video lines (think of the Pete & Pete debacle) Again it is watchable, just a little annoying. The contrast is very bright in a few scenes, and makes it look a little washed out. I see this with silent films often...it's a way to hide some of the scratches. The soundtrack is pitiful. They are working through what seems to be an original score for the first half hour of the film....it sounds like it was recorded from a mid grade keyboard trying to pass as an orchestra (also common on Public Domain silent film releases) Then it kicks into an orchestra playing Pomp & Circumstance...None of the music really seems to fit.

All in all I am happy to have it on the shelf...however again I say I am a Hitchcock completist, and this is far from his masterwork. It does however showcase some great silent film camera tricks, and the editing and intercutting is great. You can see Hitchcock coming into his own, and themes like food and curvy women are there as always. I assume sooner or later this will end up on one of Brentwood's 4 movie collections for half the price...Which is a shame because I already had all of the other films, and so champagne roughly cost me 13 bucks. The packaging is super cheap. One of those quad cases. the two middle trays like to pop off the hinge, but it does come with a slipcover to hold it all together. I do hope Warner puts out that pristine print i keep hearing about, but until then this should hold me. Hope this helps. Enjoy the movie.

Rothlover

Thanks for the detail on the release. Had a chance to look at the other titles in the set perchance? I am thinking of getting the two Brentwood/BCI hitch sets so as to get all his PD films at a reasonable price (there are only a few of them that I've seen that've really knocked me out.) Can't really spring for the criterion or the euro versions with better quality. Is this a worthwhile purchase?

Cameron

i have not viewed any of the other films. Hadn't really planned on it since i own other copies....i will try to take a peak. I would assume this is a safe bet for you if you don't have any of the films though.

Cameron

found another dvd from St. Clair Vision that has Champagne for those who still want it.



upc is 777966873695 best buy had it for 6.99 I'm sure this is the same transfer, but I have not seen this disc

jmj713

There is yet another Hitchcock set out there:

mike7162

This set is going for $20 - that's a buck a movie! Not a good sign...

Cameron

i think that set is just the two 3 disc st. clair sets combined into one box. The quality is sub par, as most of the titles are available in better editions, however Champagne is only available through these three titles the cheapest bing the St clair dvd i posted with the orange cover

jmj713

Would be nice if Lionsgate managed to release other volumes of early Hitchcock, so we'd have the complete catalog of the Master on restored DVDs.

Gunde

The R2 boxset 'Early Hitchcock' that was just released includes 'Champange' and is probably the best version available. FAR superior to those awful Laserlight/Delta releases.

Wick

I need to pick this one up. Hitchcock is my favourite director and I'm trying to collect all of his films (although it's a bitch, and an expensive one at that.) If I ever see it anywhere, I'll pick the set up. I think I'm at 35 Hitchcock DVDs or so, and I believe he directed around 48 films?

jmj713

Wick, check out the wiki

http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/hitchcock/wiki/Filmography