Dr. Phibes

I found the Theater of Horror 6-disc set for $5 (The Boy from Hell / Dead Girl Walking / Lizard Baby / The Ravaged House / The Doll Cemetery / Death Train). The same set that was for sale on Oldies.com for like $6 a while ago.

I think this is the first time in about 4 months that I've actually bought a DVD at my store. They haven't been getting anything good lately.

Johnny Zhivago

Found Herzog... Although, I wouldn't really call it a set since it's just White Diamond/Wheel Of Time.

Regardless... More Herzog is always a welcome addition.

No luck on Godard though...

strangetramp

Meh, didn't find any of em. I did pick up All About My Mother which I look forward to seeing it whenever I find the time. It'll probably sit on my shelf for months with Talk to Her. Oh and they had Strangers on a Train though I already have that, but I'd highly recommend it if some of you don't have it. One of my favorite Hitchcock films.

And what was that Cary Grant set that was listed? Charade and His Girl Friday are in that thing? afdkja;klfdjakfd that is awesome.

newginafets

no Godard, no Herzog so i went with these:

Driving Miss Daisy
Dangerous Liaisons
Marriage on the Rocks
Frank Capra's You Can't Take it With Me
Duck Seasons
Love Finds Andy Hardy
Fame

GenPion

Found Godard and Herzog. Already owned Breathless from Criterion, as well as The Soldiers - so my sister purchased the Genius Entertainment discs from me. Awesome deal!

jwstl

Was it the single disc or 2 disc SE?

BobO'Link

^It's the single disk with the "Hollywood original" on one side and "The Alternate British Version" on the flip.

BobO'Link

There are *2* Cary Grant sets at many BL stores:

1 - "Cary Grant Collection" from St. Claire Vision (amazon link)
Contains: "Amazing Adventure" (1936), "Charade" (1963), and "His Girl Friday" (1940).
On this one "Charade" is presented in a flat WS ratio. It's a fairly good copy with colors a bit washed out in places and some red "smearing" on occasion. "Amazing Adventure" is a poor-OK copy and short at only 61 minutes (the original runs 70 minutes), but watchable. There are many places where short sections of dialog is missing due to film damage. I did a quick comparrison of "His Girl Friday" to the "official" CH release. While there's more noise (to be expected given the very low bit rate), especially in the blacks, it's very watchable. I'd rate the quality as good-very good with the CH being excellent (given the age and apparent condition of the negatives).

2 - "AMC Movies: Cary Grant Classics" from Genius Entertainment (amazon link)
Contains: "Amazing Adventure" (1936), "Charade" (1963), "His Girl Friday" (1940), and "Penny Serenade" (1941)
On this one "Charade" is reported to be a FS version (allmovie.com). I *may* pick this one up for the $2 entry fee just to get a copy of "Penny Serenade". I hesitate simply because every other "AMC Movies" collection I own is made up of some of the worst PD transfers I've seen. But then, based on set running times as posted on amazon it appears that "Amazing Adventure" may be complete with a 70 minute run time.

Note on #2: I'd take the single "review" on this one at amazon with a grain of salt as the reviewer mentions a title that is not on this collection. It appears this person has a slightly different copy.

Hmmm... the AMC one is 2 disks which *should* mean slightly better bit rates... I may have just talked myself into picking up a copy for "Penny Serenade" and the longer "Amazing Adventure".

Texan26

Found the new Warner batch. Some of the titles included:

Excalibur
Matchstick Men (Widescreen, finally)
Joe vs the Volcano
Spies Like Us
Fame (1980)

and a few others I can't remember

Pizza

My wife picked up on the game show releases. I noticed while putting them in the database that some of them are different than what's on Amazon.
The Very Best of All-Star Family Feud and the The Very Best of The Price is Right are 2 discs collections instead of 3 and have less eps. The Very Best of Match Game is 2 discs instead of 4 and has half the eps. The Very Best of Password appears to be the same release. Game Show Moments Gone Bananas may only be 1 disc despite the packaging, but I haven't opened it yet.
It's also possible that both versions of the above mentioned shows may be at Big Lots so I'd read carefully just in case. If not, still not bad for $5 a pop.

Cardsfan111

^ Don't quote me on it because I can't remember where I read it (here? An Amazon review?), but I think the company that put these out "repackaged" them at one time. Perhaps the Big Lots ones are an older release.

BobO'Link

I picked a copy of "AMC Movies: Cary Grant Classics" from Genius Entertainment.

Unless you are after a fair-good copy of "Penny Serenade" don't waste your time with this one.

Disk 1:
"Amazing Adventure" - listed on the cover as having a 70 minute run time. The cover lies as it's the 61 minute version. It's a much worse copy than what's on the St. Claire Vision set. Very poor contrast with lots of horizontal "noise" as if it were made from a bad VHS dupe plus lip-synch that's off by about a half second. Also lots of film damage (the St. Claire Vision set has damage too but it's at least watchable.)
"His Girl Friday" - Very washed out with lots of film damage. Quite possibly the worst copy of this I've seen.

Disk 2:
"Penny Serenade" - Fair to good copy. Contrast is OK but the image is a bit soft. It's not great, but very watchable.
"Charade" is a FS version with horrible, washed out, color. Lots of grain and film damage.

I just don't understand AMC putting their name on such junk... like the other "AMC Movies" collections I own this is made up of some of the worst PD transfers I've seen.

So... $2 for a watchable copy of "Penny Serenade" with mostly ghastly transfers/copies on the others. If you're after watchable copies of "Charade" and/or "His Girl Friday" look for the "Cary Grant Collection" from St. Claire Vision. "Amazing Adventure" on that set is just passable at best but still better than the AMC collection.

PopcornBandit

I checked two Big Lots and no sign of either the Theater of Horror or the Unknown Lives of Comedians sets.

I will be checking the BL in Hendersonville later as I will be up that way to go to a wrestling show. I hope I find them.

bse

My girlfriend and I hit up a couple Big Lots we never go to, there was really nothing new, but was able to grab some of the older stock titles:

Terms of Endearment
Beverly Hills Cop
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Funny Face
My Blue Heaven / The Man With Two Brains Comedy Double Feature
Pieces of April
Slither
Sunset Boulevard
Chinatown (Centennial Collection)

collector_cliff

ALL the TV and Game Show sets at Big Lots were the newer Mills Creek releases
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Price-Right-26-Episodes/dp/B002WBYDPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1273949955&sr=1-1

not the older OOP ones.
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Price-Right-Bob-Barker/dp/B00125JPN0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1273949955&sr=1-2

Just be careful if you are looking to pick up season sets for some of these titles. The older oop ones are seasons while some of the Mills Creek are not complete Seasons (noted on my list with Vol. 1 on them).

Edit @cardsfan111 - I see what you are saying now. Mills Creek has a complete Season set for Hunter, but at Big Lots they have Season 1 Volume 1. So they have re-packaged them with fewer episodes.

Pizza

Sorry to disagree but the one we got is 2 discs and has "14 priceless episodes" not 26 or 3 discs and therefore is not exactly like the one you link to Amazon. It is the same cover except for the "14" instead of "26." Again, I'm just trying to give folks a heads up in case more than one version is available at Big Lots. I would certainly rather have the 26 episode one if it is an option. The same goes for "All-Star Family Feud" and "Match Game."

The point I'm making is, there are at least two different versions of these releases with one having more episodes than the other. I don't care if they're older or newer, there's more than one: one with 2 discs, one with 3 discs.

MooMooMooMoo

Went to 2 more BL's. So far no sign of the AMC's or Godard/Herzog.

bse

I was psyched to screen a "clean" "His Girl Friday" tonight, I figured since it was an AMC disc.....was I ever wrong, I'm glad I checked it before putting it on the nights schedule, what a disgrace. This makes 3 or 4 versions of this film I have in unacceptable quality.

http://www.amazon.com/Cary-Grant-Collection/dp/B000N3SS0S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1273956119&sr=8-6

Is this the set your talking about? the reviews on Amazon look terrible, but I'd take yours over theirs.

Quatermass

Just got back from my local store. Lots of stuff but nothing that interested me and nothing that wasn't already mentioned. I was mainly looking for the Godard and herzog sets but they didn't have any. I was actually glad because the place was packed and they only had one register open.

collector_cliff

Yes, that was the point of my edit at the bottom. I agree. :-)

darkhawk

Just bought:

Thief of Hearts
The Road to Guantanamo

strangetramp

Ah, that's a shame about the Grant sets. Though I have His Girl Friday already, I was hoping to check out the others. Still probably no better set than the one that includes Only Angels Have Wings, Holiday, The Awful truth and so on, Lord I wish that was showing up at BLs...

BobO'Link

Yes. It's the better of the 2 found at BL. FWIW: most of the bad "reviews' on amazon are because there's no listing of the titles on the "set". Only 1 or 2 barely addressed the quality or lack of...

I did a "quickie" review of this set along with links in post #312 (a few back). Here's the jist of "His Girl Friday" from that release. I did a quick comparison to the "official" CH release. While there's more noise (to be expected given the very low bit rate), especially in the blacks, it's very watchable. I'd rate the quality as good-very good with the CH being excellent (given the age and apparent condition of the negatives).

BobO'Link

So true...

But keep in mind that "Penny Serenade", and "Amazing Adventure" still do not have "official" i.e. *good* releases.

If you want a watchable copy of "Penny Serenade", the AMC/Genius set for $2 is not a bad price for just that one film. Plus the bit rate on it is 100% higher than the other films. Just ignore/avoid watching the other 3 films on that set. It'll damage your eyes...

If you want "Amazing Adventure" or "Charade" the St. Clair Vision set (also $2 where found) offers acceptable copies.

"His Girl Friday" is acceptable on the St. Clair Vision set, but you're truly better off getting the "official" release. Either in the set you mentioned (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth) or purchasing it separately.

"Charade" is available as a Criterion Collection title which may cost more than you're willing to pay (it is for me).

Johnny Zhivago

Um... Charade has been released by Criterion. Twice.

Unless you mean a not so pricey release... Then yeah. But the CC is worth every penny.