Does anyone collect Fox Studio Classics?
 

Because if you do, you are insane to collec movies just because of spine numbers!!! J/K I have All About Eve and An Affair To Remember. Would like to get more soon.

Spine numbers make the world go round.

Spine numbers rule!!!!!

I'm having numbers surgically grafted to my spine so that people will want me too.

I'm seriously considering it since the collection is currently smallish and all the movies are good. They are very affordable too. I currenlty own

All About Eve
How Green Was My Valley
Sunrise
Gentleman's Agreement

and will be getting

An Affair to Remember
The Mark of Zorro
Ghost and Mrs Muir

I remember liking Anastasia but it has been so long since I've seen it I don't know about it. I'm so-so about The Day the Earth Stood Still and haven't seen the rest although they look interesting.

How are the extras?

They are decent. The ones I have include a commentary and an AMC backstory which I've found to be very interesting. The picture quality is also very good, especially All About Eve. I think they are great deals for the price.

Complete List?
 

Is there somewhere I could get a complete list of Fox Studio Classics titles? I would be interested in collecting this series as well.

I've bought several and they are very well produced editions.

Song of Bernadette - interesting story, very analytical commentary and good doc on Jennifer Jones. Top transfer. Overall 9/10

Ghost and Mrs Muir - loved this flick, one commentary is good, other complete tosh. Excellent transfer. Overall 9/10

Inn of Sixth Happiness - pretty good transfer (bit soft), but top film - superb commentary absolutely facinating when discussing the real person behind the story - excellent. Overall 9/10

Anastasia - entertaining film, so-so commentary, but excellent documentary on real anastasia. Transfer good. Overall 7/10

Titanic - disappointed with this one, film only ok, transfer good. Commentaries dull, boring documentary. Not a touch on 'a night to remember'. Overall 5/10

link

http://www2.foxhome.com/studioclassics/


Coming soon:

6 Jan - My darling Clementine
Feb - Diary of Anne Frank
2 March - Peyton Place
6 April - Grapes of Wrath

I collect them, but not for the spine numbers. I thought it'd be nice to collect a particular movie line and so far I've loved (or at least enjoyed) every single release so far. I have all of them so far and plain of collecting the future releases.

Favorites being All About Eve (which was an upgrade) Sunrise, Gentlemen's Agreement and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Here's a list for all the current and upcoming releases- http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.ht...tudio+classics

I've considered, as they are mostly good and reasonably priced (plus they look kind of cool if you put them all together in your collection) but there are a couple I don't care that much for: Titanic is ok, but not really worth owning (IMHO), and I've just never been able to buy Jennifer Jones as an Asian (ok, "Eurasian") in Love is a Many Splendored Thing, so I'm unable to suspend my disbelief.

I do have them all so far and it is for two simple reasons. They've all been good classic movies and they are cheap. Many I've gotten for $11.00. Hard to pass up IMHO. Some are even blind bought and they have yet to let me down.

I agree that these movies are very good values, in addition to being very good pictures in their own right. However, I've already sunk too much money collecting the spine numbers from another collection, so I've decided to pass on these.... ;)

Very nice collection so far. I don't have them all, but will collect most of them. It's nice to see a studio treat some of their older films with respect and at a great price. Older movies are still under-represented on DVD, but this is nice series to correct some of that.

I actually was collecting them, with the intention of keeping up and getting the entire set. To date I have nine of them, including the "Sunrise" mail-in, but I'm not sure if I'll continue the collection because there are some titles that I'm less than enthusiastic about owning. For the most part, however, they are a great value. The "All About Eve" disc is steal at that price.

I see that it is not listed on the website, and breaks from aesthetic form, but is the new Planet of the Apes part of the collection. I ask because it appears that there are 13 currently in the collection and then I saw this picture:

http://www.davisdvd.com/bin/covers10.html

If it is not, can anyone explain the significance of the 14?

Thanks,

Dan

Yes, but I wouldn't purchase "Love is a Splendored Thing" on a bet.

Love is a Splendored Thing is a brilliant film.

If anyone wants to know why the studios crashed and burned in the late-'50s/early 60s, watch this clunker.

I own 3 so far:

All About Eve
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Ox-Bow Incident

They're very well done good video/audio/xtras

Looking forward to their 2004 releases especially "My Darling Clementine" Jan 6th. One of the best westerns ever :up:

Just Day the Earth Stood Still so far. I need Sunrise though. After that, I can pretty much take or leave the rest of 'em.

Firstly, they crashed in the 60's after Cleopatra (with only Sound of Music to save them). In the late '50s they did phenomonal business (especially with all those other R&H musicals).

Henry King is a highly underated director. Love is a Many Splendored Thing has some of the finest cinemaScope photography ever. William Holden is excellent. The film is poetic, dramatic, and highly filmic
The score is beautiful, the scenery fun and exotic, and the film's mix of contemporary political turmoil and social displacement pared with the romantic entanglements of lovers, has been highly influential among Hong Kong filmmakers like Wong Kar-Wei(especially Happy Together and In the Mood For Love).

...what Pants said...

. . . :o . . .

I've been looking for "Ox-Bow Incident" (Fox Studio Classic DVD) ever since it was released last month, and no-one seems to have it. I've checked Best Buy, Borders, Circuit City, Fye, Newbury Comics, Tower Records, HMV, and B&N. Repeated times.

Anyone gotten this recently released classic yet? How come no bricks-and-mortar retailers are carrying it?

Yeah, these are sometimes hard to find. It is probably best to order it online.

I also collect the Fox Studio Classics. I've yet to be disappointed with these fantastic releases - yes, even "Love is a Many Splendored Thing". I had never seen most of these films before I bought them.

I also had trouble finding "The Ox-Bow Incident", and I ended up ordering it from Amazon. Perhaps the canellation of "Laura", and the rescheduling of "Ox-Bow" screwed things up.

Actually, attendance decreased (steadily) by more than 30% over the course of the '50s. The studios introduced "gimmicks" like widescreen, 3-D and stereo in an attempt to reverse their fortunes.

They also began to produce "event pictures" derived from high-profile novels, plays or musical, featuring "serious" themes and lavished with all the "quality" money could buy. "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" [derived from Han Suyin's hugely successful memoir] is a prime example of this kind of filmmaking which racked up Academy Awards, but bored audiences to tears. Thankfully, the Cahiers group punched a hole in Hollywood's backward thinking a few short years later...

At one time, Henry King was a good director. He was responsible for "Tol’able David" (1921), "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), and "Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1952), but he also made more than his share of boring "Tradition of Quality" crap [much in the '50s and beyond], including "Splendored", "The Sun Also Rises" (1957), "Tender is the Night" (1962) and the excruciating "Carousel" (1956).

The images are certainly well lit and composed [very painterly], but they are hardly use Cinemascope as dynamically as say, any widescreen film lensed by Nick Ray. Martin Scorsese put together a long list of great Cinemascope films from the '50s and '60s and "Splendored" is not included.

I would be surprised if "Splendored" can be found on any reputable "best of" list (Cinemascope or otherwise), but if you find one, I would love to look it over.

Sorry about the lengthy, non-DVD post.

I love Scorsese too, but just because he didn't put it on a list doesn't mean the cinematography is inferior.

All the "gimicks" you speak of (stereo, 3-D, widescreen) started in 1953, the begining of the decade! But I thought we were talking strickly about 20th Century Fox specifically and not the entire industry, which did suffer from competition with television throughout the decade. But Fox did very well during that period. They were the most lavish studio next to MGM and they did big box office. It wasn't untill '63 and Cleopatra that they got themselves into financial trouble. Even if audiences were "bored" by these films as you say, they sure went to see them a lot.

For those who are spine number addicts, what's the list?

There is a great thread on the Fox Classics over at Home Theater Forum. It lists all the titles available, soon to be released, and rumored to be released. Also includes links to reviews. Worth checking out if you are interested.


http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=182450

FYI, these all seem to be available at DDD for $10.xx

I currently have and am enjoying

All About Eve
How Green was my Valley
Genteleman's Agreement
Sunrise
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
An Affair to Remember

and have preordered

Peyton Place
Grapes of Wrath

I need to make it down to Costco to pick up the Polypak with Mark of Zorro.

I really liked all of these films with the exception of An Affair to Remember which was way to saccharine for me.

Fox recently dropped the list price of all their Fox Classics to $14.95 with the exception of the Diary of Anne Frank, the most recent release. I'm sure that one will also eventually be reduced in price.

Costco's got a nice deal going:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...5&pagenumber=2

I was collecting them... but Anastasia, Inn of the Sixth Whatever and Song of Bernadette left a bad taste in my mouth.

Why so? I haven't seen any of the three, but my wife loves Anastasia and says Song of Bernadette is awesome. Just curious.

I am now thanks to the Costco deal :). I only need 3 to complete my current set.

I started collecting because of the mail-in "Sunrise" offer. Unfortunately I encountered a glitch when the studio put out "Song of Bernadette" instead of "The Grapes of Wrath". The stupid "contest organizers" were not told of this change of plan and refused to mail me my copy of "Sunrise". As soon as I notified the Fox people in Canada, they had the DVD delivered to my doorstep by messenger, which was rather nice...

The absolute must-own classics:
"Sunrise" (if you can beg, steal or borrow it)
"Song of Bernadette" (in ersatz stereo)
"The Ghost and Mrs Muir" (in ersatz stereo)
"The Day the Eart Stood Still" (the music is in real stereo)
"All About Eve" (in fake stereo)

I own "Titanic" but aside from the great acting jobs, it can be viewed as a turgid melodrama with not much suspense and production values that pale in comparison to other versions. Still, it has its charm and its fans.

BTW, Henry King's "Carousel" is a great film. I still get goosebumps from just the opening credits. It's just too bad it's not available in an anamorphic version.

This is from The Digital Bits:

"Next up today... 20th Century Fox. We have word that new Studio Classics DVDs for 2004 will include Desk Set (5/4), The Snake Pit (6/1), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (7/6) and Zorba the Greek (8/3). All will include audio commentary (Brodie & Zorba are director commentaries) and all SRP for $14.98."

The Snake Pit and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie are must-buys for me.

But it is not as good as Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.

Buy, yes. Collect, no.