MovieGuy26

My local Best Buy rarely has any Criterion releases and when they do, it's only a few titles. But today I noticed it has 2 Hitchcock Criterion Box Sets for $118.00 each. Anyone think I should pick this up (I'm a huge fan of Hitchcock)? I only ask because I know that this set is out of print. Thanks for the help in advance.

MG26

Pressplay

Buy. Now. It's a great set at a cool price !

And if you don't like it much, you can always ebay it later and recoup your money (and more).

InnocentBlood

yeah i think u should grab it. not so much for the fact that it's OOP but only because every movie in that set is a great one.

ctyankee

MG26:

Right. You're a "huge fan of Hitchcock" yet your 200+ collection doesn't have one Hitch title.

All:

Only three of five films in the box set are OOP and all are still easily available. I own them all but would recommend them only to someone who really wants the special features. Why? Because you can bet the rights holders will be issuing their own DVDs and the movie will once again be available (and for less money). So, it really gets down to wanting the special features that come with the Criterion discs.

Son-volt

Well worth picking up, save for the fact that it, along with the Kurosawa box set, has caused me nothing but headaches in trying to decide where it should be placed alphabetically on the shelf. Curse you Criterion and your spines that look so cool when placed side by side!

whynotsmile

still got mine in the original shipping package. gonna sell that baby for when i really need the cash

Psychlowne

I picked this up today at Best Buy. Just to let you know, there are holepunches through the Barcode/UPCs. I asked around and it people said that's just how it is. This is a decent deal, and I think it was more of an impulse thing for me. I believe it's available on Barnes and Noble (http://video.barnesandnoble.com/sear...=0037429178324) for $99.96 -- probably be cheaper this way. Anyway, go for it!

MovieGuy26

I Know that I dont have any titles yet, sheesh. But i am a huge fan of the man and enjoy all of the films I have seen of his. I'm still a young collector so I'll get there.....calm down...

Julie Walker

Movieguy,don't let it get to you. Some people should realize not everyone can afford to buy 'every' dvd they like,especially at high prices(the Universal Hitchcock titles were always too expensive..& only a few have been reduced since).

I myself am a huge Hitch fan,but still have a very small Hitch collection based on lack of funds and lack of reduced prices on many of his Universal releases.


But I did rectify that dilema recently by purchasing Vertigo,Strangers on A Train & Rear Window within the past few months. I have also bough posters for North By Northwest,Psycho and Rear Window.

ctyankee

Sheesh yourself. A huge fan would have the essentials by now.

But wait ... you said that you were a young collector with a 200+ collection versus an old collector with a 200+ collection. That gives you plenty of time to get the stuff that is hugely important to you.

My bad dude. That makes a huge difference.

bigrederik

What is the problem here? I bet lots of people are hitchcock fans, yet don't have any DVDs yet. The guy is looking at buying some now. Cut him some slack!

ThatGuamGuy

Well done, yankee, you've proven your point which, apparently, is that he mis-used the word "huge". CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.

No, really, it was super-awesome of you to do that, it really contributed well. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.

That happens with boxsets ... if they didn't do that, people would try to return movies they didn't want which were part of box sets, or try to open the box and just buy the one they wanted, so it's an easy way to tell that the disc wasn't sold seperately.

I didn't notice it on my Criterions (though I'm sure it's there), but I saw it on my Universal boxes. [Which, to continue that part of the conversation, I got pretty cheap on E-bay; I found the eight-disc for somewhere between $60 and $70, and it was the better of the two eight-discs too.]

Ashirg

MGM got a deal from Buena Vista to release these in the future. I'm talking about Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound and, possibly, Paradine Case.

RKillgore

Try Columbia House DVD club. The Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955), Marnie, North by Northwest, Psycho, Rear Window, Saboteur, Strangers on a Train, To Catch A Thief and Vertigo all available as enrollment titles. If you've never considered Columbia House, check the DVD Talk CH DVD Club FAQ to learn how to maximize a membership.

The Exister

I heartily endorse this approach - it's how I got all the Hitchcocks in my collection (except for the CC box). I'm still waiting for the non-CH titles to price drop before I dive in.

DonnachaOne

MovieGuy26, I rrecommend picking up the set, but look around on the net first. I picked mine up for $90 when the box first went out of print. Some sites still have it.

As for the other Hitchcocks - I side with everyone else about Columbia House. Pick up your titles for less than $10 each! No, no, WE must apologize to YOU, mr. yankee. We never realized it was you who set the standards for fandom. Hell, I didn't even know there were standards! Silly me! God, this thread is so much better thanks to your input.

?

You know, I'm a big fan of Spielberg, but I don't have Indiana Jones yet. Or Schindler's List. Or The Color Purple. Or...
I think Polanski's brilliant, but I only own Chinatown.
I've liked every Woody Allen film I've seen, but I don't own a single DVD of his.
I really like Kurasowa films, but.... yep, that's right.



Since I've been here, I don't think I've seen such crass elitism.

ctyankee

Glad to see you've mastered sarcasm. I'm pretty good myself.

This guy starts a thread called Hitchcock Criterion Box Set when it should be in DVD Bargains under "Hitchcock Criterion Box Set @ $118 - Good price?" and you take me to task?

The value of this thread? Like we need another one?

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ght=spellbound

If some guy said he was a huge Metallica fan and I was invited to his house and his 200+ CD collection had no Metallica ...

I'd challenge whether he was a huge fan.

If he said "well I want to be" we move on. Time for a beer.

But (like Movieguy) if he comes back with ... I am a huge fan of the men in the band ... calm down ...???

Calm down? Well then, the gloves come off.

You wouldn't ... or don't like that I would?

I can live with that.

Either way, enjoy, moving on.

LorenzoL

For now, you can find this set below retail price even at Ebay.

I have the box set and I'm not dissapointed on this purchase at all.

chente

Great set. Go for it.

Johnny Zhivago

This is not always the rule... I picked this set up at Best Buy 8 months or so ago and my DVDs did not have the holepunches in the UPCs... Not sure why some sets do and some sets don't, but it is what it is... YMMV when buying.

It's also worth stressing a point here that ctyankee made... Rebecca, Notorious and Spellbound will be released again (who owns the rights now? - edit, MGM) and will most likely be released at a much lower MSRP... The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes are staying in print. So... Unless you really want the Criterions, you could save some money by waiting it out...

Great set of discs though, well worth it if you're a HUGE Hitchcock fan...

Corvin

Julie Walker

Also I think we the non-elitist usually buy the films we like,or are interested in seeing when we WANT to. We do not feel the need to own all our favorite films 'right' now immediately.

I have about 200 dvds now myself and the majority are a few all time favorites and plenty of rare/cult/obscure titles I have always wanted to see,but were previouslly not available.

So based on lack of funds,I usually purchase a dvd or two every once in awhile depending on the price...and take chances on discovering various films....and know my favorites will always be more easily available. So I can take my time collecting those.


So rather than end up with a 1000+ collection to be 'hip' & 'cool' with my collections bigger than yours,I'm a 'real' film fan elitist mindset and the majority of the titles I never watch or am interested in.

I think I will limit my collection to 500 titles in the long run. Since when adding up my favorites films,I don't think it would go over more than a couple hundred at most.

This way I save space,money(can't afford to buy everything)..and still have plenty of titles to choose from whenever I am in the mood for something.

I myself plan on getting the Hitch Criterion set,the Mondo Cane set and the Alien set once I have the funds for them. Those were my three most looked for releases of last year. But I could not afford one of them.

So I think people should cut others some slack and stop questioning whether they are 'true' fans or whatever.

LasVegasMichael

I recommend this set as well. I got it from overstock.com when they had it for like $82 a couple months ago (thanks to a tip on this forum).

Yes, the barcodes are punched, but that is irrelevant, as all I care about is the Spine numbers

Psychlowne

LasVegasMichael:

I don't care about the holepunches, either. All it really does is lower the resale value of the discs, and I don't plan on selling them anyway.

chente

My set had the barcodes punch too. Also, if I remember correctly, the disks weren't individually sealed within the sealed set box. I've got an extra sealed one that I've stashed away for some trade down the line.