Brian T

This is a fantastic deal. I picked this up in a previous fantastic deal a couple of years ago for £38 which was around $60 at the time. The all-encompassing set includes 18 films—from THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS through to the lamentable but fascinating PANDORA PEAKS)—on 12 discs (some double-features), commentaries by Meyer and/or various cast members on key films (especially FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL) and a few bonus interviews/documentaries (some archival) and trailer galleries. Just a fantastic overview of this entirely unique and uniquely obssessed filmmaker. The packaging and transfers in this set beat the equivalent versions put out by Meyer's own label in the U.S., RM Films, hands down. (the U.S. versions use beat-up prints, have horrendous artwork by the guy who wormed his way into the life of RM's assistant during Meyer's waning years, feature virtually no extras outside of the occasional trailer or nudie clip or gallery, and are ridiculously overpriced).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000FAOAX8

BSTNFAN

Thanks...Just ordered one. My total w/ shipping was $41.26.

Brian T

That's an even better deal!

I believe there's some sort of built-in tax or something (???) that's actually taken off the price of the product at checkout for overseas buyers (someone else can probably explain this), which makes it only £20.84, or just under $35 U.S., plus shipping of course (which appears to be about $6 overseas; try shipping something this heavy FROM the U.S. to the U.K for that price, though ). That's ridiculously cheap for a top-notch set like this. I'm almost tempted to grab a couple of these myself as I could flip them for far more than that here in Canada.

zombeaner

GREAT SET! I bought them all separately, and I don't regret it one bit. The movies are fantastic, even if the transfers aren't great. There are some wonderful extras, also! Oh, and they are all PAL and region free!

Brian T

Trust me, these are as good as it gets for Meyer's films, and compared to the U.S. versions, of which I was foolish enough to buy two at his company's grossly inflated pricing and rent several others, the difference is night and day: most of these look beautiful for their age. This set was made with respect and care, using the best available elements and with presumably a modest amount of cleanup work. The discs put out by Meyer when he was alive, and now by his estate, are just pathetic. And as far as I know, no other region/country has produced a comparable collection like this (perhaps Japan? Don't know for sure, and it would never be this cheap even if they did!).

visitor Q

Thanks for the head's up OP. Order placed.

PopcornBandit

Times like these I wish I had a region-free DVD player...

kenbenobi

Anyone see any other amazon.co.uk bargains right now? I'd like to order multiple things at once, if there are other deals out there like this one...

asianxcore

Definitely recommend anyone who is a Meyer fan to pick up this set.

I paid $110+ for this set originally and I don't regret it one bit.

mnementh

Don't you have a computer with a DVD drive?

Besides, as stated above, the set is region-free. It's just in PAL format.

NoirFan

You may already have one - have you checked around online to see if your player can be made region-free?

Brian T

There's little reason not to have one these days, they're so cheap and easy to find! Even as a supplement to your regular player, it can earn its keep. As mentioned Meyer's films are available in R1, in dreadfully shitty versions sold through the late director's own company, and thanks to the people currently running his estate, they're unlikely to be licensed to a U.S. distributor who might do versions approaching the quality of the ones in the U.K. set, especially this late in the DVD game. If you're a Meyer fan, you owe this to yourself . . .

zombeaner

Many "normal" players can output PAL video even if they aren't able to switch regions.

marty888

Much too tempting ....

PopcornBandit

I went ahead and ordered it, haha. I plan on getting a region-free player in the near future and for the price this was too good to pass up. I can watch them on my PC until I buy a player so it's not a problem. One question though, how long does Amazon UK standard shipping take on average? Just curious.

EDIT: One more question. Since PAL blu-rays play on the PS3, can the same be said for PAL DVD'S? Thanks.

SpinalGuffman

Can someone point me to a resource that explains this thoroughly? I've searched the forum but the search function here is no help.

I know the difference between PAL and NSTC in VHS, but I had thought that in DVD terms PAL was just another region, not a format.

I am very interested in this set, but it would be my first non-region 1 purchase.

/formatn00b

Brian T

Smart move.


Mine took around a week (from the shipping notice) back in April, as I recall.


On a Russ Meyer-related note: because Meyer's was a singular obsession that grew stranger (and wilder) over the course of his career, I highly recommend watching these in chronological order. I was also fortunate to stumble across a store selling remaindered copies of Jimmy McDonough's superlative Meyer biography "Big Bosoms and Square Jaws" which is like having an in-depth set of liner notes to liven up the experience. It's often said that some Meyer aficionados favour either the pre-Roger Ebert films or the films from BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS onward, many of which Ebert worked on without credit. Every title certainly has its charms—the most important of which is Meyer's wholly unique machine gun editing style—but I much prefer the snarky, in-your-face tone of the pre-Ebert films like PUSSYCAT, GOOD MORNING AND GOODBYE and COMMON LAW CABIN, all written by the amazingly cynical Jack Moran, and later, VIXEN! and FINDERS KEEPERS LOVERS WEEPERS, which all tend to espouse Meyer's darker personal philosophies about women and relationships more rigidly than his later, goofier 70's pictures, where big tits were pretty much it for the old fart. The boobage is in the 60's pictures as well, but everyone is so pissed off and pent up in these movies it's a joy to watch them blow off steam, sexually, metaphorically and verbally :

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I1RQnhelYBg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I1RQnhelYBg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Mr Pixies

Will these will play on a regular region 1 dvd or blu ray player?

ps I'm a big fan of UP, hot and super weird..

eh, I ordered thanks for the heads up,

Brian T

They may play, but if your player is strictly NTSC (fewer lines of vertical resolution), they may not display properly on your television, as they're formatted for PAL (more lines of vertical resolution). I believe the player might squeeze or stretch the image to compensate. (someone more technologically-oriented can probably explain this better, or you can google "PAL vs NTSC" etc.). You might be able to override this in your player's aspect ratio settings or some such (really not sure), but in the long run, a cheap PAL-NTSC, region-free player will be worth the investment.

mnementh

Wikipedia and Google should suffice.

It's a format issue: the two formats have different resolutions and frame rates. PAL isn't a region code; regions are 0 through 8 for DVDs and A, B, C (or 1 - 3) for Blu-ray discs.

You owe the Oracle a SECAM DVD.

NoirFan

McDonough's Andy Milligan bio is also a must read.

SpinalGuffman

Thanks!

DWilson

I've got an Oppo DVD player I bought a few years back (the DV-970HD to be exact). It does the PAL conversion (just never had any use for it until now). I was checking the manual and it doesn't mention being Region-Coded; does anyone happened to know if this will play ...?

Answered my own question: I did a Google search and was able to access the Region Code and it was set to 0. I assume I'm ok for this item?

I've been a Meyer fan for years, -bought that Meyer box set on laser disc (and quite a few others) back in the old days, but have been disappointed with the US output (I wouldn't buy the US DVDs based on what I've heard about them). This sounds like just what the doctor ordered...

RequiemX

Yes. Region 0 means region-free.

cultshock

Big thanks for the heads up on this. It worked out to $40 shipped from the UK which is a fantastic deal for this set. I ordered a set for my father as a Christmas present as he is a big Meyer fan (as am I, so I'll be borrowing some of these movies from him )