As of this writing virtually no online retalier seems to have posted the 'recall' - the exception being DVDPlanet.

I hope there's some kind of exchange program for those who will inevitably get this faulty release.

Wow...I really am glad (and a little surprised) to see MGM taking action on this. It is back onto my must-have list now.

This item shows as "usually ships within 24 hours" on amazon.com, so I wonder if the "recall" is really going to happen?

Raxel, most retailers never received a recall notice.

USA Today today (2/10) has press release info about the recall from MGM.

"In a statement, MGM said it would release both films - individually ($25) and with the complete set - with the correct aspect ratio on April 20. Until then, the other films - 1966's Persona, 1969's The Passion of Anna and 1977's The Serpent's Egg - will be available individually."

Consumers with pre-orders in hand can contact MGM's customer service department at 877-646-4968.

Tower has them for sale in NYC

Thanks for the info! :up:

I just received my set today from Amazon....

I got the set at Laser Blazer in Los Angeles. I'm just going to sell Hour of the Wolf and Shame and pick them up in April when they release the corrected version. I didn't want to miss out on the bonus disc, otherwise I would have just bought the other films individually now and never have gotten the matted ones at all.

Just got my set from Overstock today. Guess it's time to call MGM.

Btw- Sweet lookin set though :up:

Just wondering, since there are such limited numbers of the first printing, would it fetch higher dollars down the road due to it being so rare?

Usually mistakes don't fetch much money for DVDs. It's not like coins.

Generally the mis-framed discs will be worthless once the new set is out.

It's "out of stock" at Amazon now, and was on the 13th, also. I'm not exactly sure when they changed it, but it looks like it was just after you made this post.

It also shows a release date of 4/20 on deepdiscountdvd.com. And both Hour of the Wolf and Shame are showing a 4/20 release date on Barnes & Nobles, and the 4/20 date is also up on the Best Buy site.

I think jough is really off base with all his "they're keeping it a secret" garbage. Seems like it's just taking some time...

I saw 2 copies at Fry's yesterday. I was looking at them, thinking of picking up a copy, when something in the back of my mind reminded me that I read on here of a re-release of 1 or more of these so I put it back.

If they don't issue the recall notice until well after retailers have already put out the product for sale, then yeah, it's a little underhanded.

I still think that MGM doesn't mind selling these, even if they won't be replenishing stock.

Hell, even Amazon.com had to SELL OUT of their current stock to stop selling this title and change to the new street date.

Your innocence and trust of MGM is touching, but I do not share it.

As the Ed Wood situation shows, recalls take time, especially once the DVDs have been shipped. That recall was fairly well publicized two weeks before the scheduled release, yet copies were still sold--even by retailers, such as Amazon, that accurately listed the title as being delayed.

Now, MGM announced its recall just a few days before release--the end of the business day on a Friday. Realistically, the wheels didn't start turning until Monday morning. Considering what happened with Ed Wood, you're really suprised that copies of the Bergman set were sold? That the Bergman recall was pretty much in hand in less than a week is actually remarkable.

You're certainly free to chide MGM for its motives, but I commend those people for doing the right thing, even if it was embarrassing for the company. I asked them eight days before the scheduled release of the Bergman set what had happened with the transfers--why two of the films in the set were misframed--and to give me a statement about it for publication. I expected to get excuses or a brush under the carpet; instead, they admitted that a mistake had been made and recalled the DVD. They were not aware of the mistake until I had made the inquiry through official channels.

MGM certainly got publicity out of the recall, but I wouldn't call it positive publicity. And there certainly is a great expense associated with calling back all those loose copies and redoing the set. In addition, anyone who has bought the set can simply call MGM's toll-free number and get replacement discs once they become available.

No, I'm the guy who ISN'T surprised. MGM made a half-hearted recall, and DIDN'T publicise it. The Ed Wood fiasco made the evening news. Good luck trying to find anything about the Berman set in even the video business trade magazines (which I read).

Right, which is why they were haphazard in how they "recalled" them. Most retailers never even got a recall notice, and those who did received it a full WEEK after the set was already put out for sale.

My point was that even though MGM was doing, as you say, the "right thing," they did so only after the initial week's sales were wrapping up (and even then there'd be some delay while stores got the message and pulled the product) thus mitigating their losses by having the retailers sell known-to-be-defective copies and having fewer to send back.

Remember, that first memo the Friday before release DID NOT MENTION that the discs were being recalled - just that there would be new versions available in May (and that notice wasn't sent to retailers - just press agencies).

The recall notice came the FOLLOWING Friday - which wouldn't have been read until Monday in many stores (since the end of business on the West Coast is three hours later than most managers leave for the weekend on the East) and so they were able to get those key weekend sales as well.

MGM, if you're going to try to do the right thing and recall a product, don't do it half-assed. Either recall it or don't, but don't try to look like the good guy while selling as many copies of the old defective set as you possibly can, hoping that people don't bother to call to get replacements (or better yet, hoping people who buy the set dont' even find out it's defective).

Ugh.

The title of the first email I received was RECALLED - "Ingmar Bergman Collection". The second one, the official one sent out to everyone, was INGMAR BERGMAN COLLECTION RECALL.

Oops, and I was wrong about the release day - it wasn't last Tuesday, it's today.

I'm going to head out and see if I can spot any copies on the shelves at Best Buy or Circuit City.

Once this becomes available on Amazon.com again, we're going to have to coordinate a mighty STL thread.

No, you were right originally. The initial release date was Feb. 10, last Tuesday. DVD Price Search had the date wrong in its database; maybe others, too.

Okay, Best Buy had four copies (about as many as they'd ever have for a boxed set like this), Circuit City didn't have it out yet, but they're supposed to, and Borders had six of them.

You can also order at Borders through Amazon.com and reserve a copy for in-store pickup.

Since MGM told me they'd be offering a mail-in programme for the defective discs, I see no reason not to pick up the set now and call for your mailer.

My reason is that MGM has already screwed up once. They still haven't answered the questions about Persona possibly being misframed. I'm waiting for reviews on the re-release set.

Sure, they have--by exclusion. My inquiry was about Shame, Hour of the Wolf and Persona. Their response to my questions about those three specific titles was that the first two were misframed and were being recalled along with the set.

The Persona disc is correctly framed at 1.33:1.

The R2 disc is 1.37:1, but the difference is negligible.

From Video Store Magazine Online: