What's the deal with these two movies? Why are they out-of-print and so damned expensive? Anybody know if a re-release is possible, or is there a rights issue that's preventing there from being ANY (not just CC) in-print R1 releases on these movies? One would think there'd be a tremendous market for the two of 'em...particularly Rebecca...

Ugh. They're definitey two of my favorite films that CC has distributed in the past.
So how much money did you guys end up paying for your copies of the two?

CC only had the license for these movies for a very short time. I believe the rights owner is MGM currently. There was supposed to be a box set coming out of all the MGM Hitchcock titles including Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound, and The Paradine Case (any others?), but it's never materialized.

Too bad too cause Rebecca should be out there. I love my CC edition.

Michael

I bought the Rebecca Korean import on Ebay from a USA seller for under $10. It is not a bootleg, but the region-free DVD released in Korea. It is exactly the same as the Criterion disc, but with different artwork. I would much rather have this disc than pay around $75 for the OOP Criterion DVD.

How can it be "exactly the same" and not be a bootleg? You mean this is two discs, has the commentary, the 3 hours of extra audio material, the booklet, the isolated score, and the extensive additional extras that are on the Criterion? Those extras are copyrighted material from Criterion, so if that's what you bought then you bought a bootleg.

Notorious can still be found at some B&M stores for list price. I know the Borders by my still has a copy. Rebecca, on the other hand, is difficult to find and costs a lot. I think I paid about $70 on ebay but it's a great disc and any future releases probably won't match the CC edition.

i think the region 2's of rebecca, notorious, paradine case, and spellbound are all still in print and reasonably priced. i own the region 2's of notorious and spellbound and the picture quality is good.

EDIT: nevermind, looks like only paradine case is still available...atleast on amazon.co.uk

Exactly the same? In both image/audio quality and extras, eh?

The one I bought was only disc one, but I also saw a two disc Korea import edition listed somewhere that would have all of the Criterion extras. It does not include the Criterion booklet, but everything else should be ported over directly from the Criterion edition (exact same menus, audio commentary, picture quality).

I was just trying to suggest a much cheaper option in case anyone wants the movie (with the same picture quality as the Criterion edition) and does not want to pay OOP prices. If this edition really is a bootleg, mods feel free to delete my posts, but everywhere that I see it listed it specifically states something similar to, "this is not a bootleg, official Korea import."

MGM was planning on releasing them but they found out that Disney/Buena Vista owns the rights to all of these films.

the Criterion of Rebecca is a rare case where the outrageous OoP prices aksed for it are actually justified (imo).
A package like that, for that film, will probably never be seen again. And I certainly wouldn't expect it from Disney/BV.

I bought both while they were available, so I paid DVDPlanet prices: MSRP - 35%.

I just wish that I had bought several more copies of each. I didn't because I assumed that since it was announced well ahead of time that they would be going OOP, everyone who wanted a copy would get one and there wouldn't be much demand afterwards. Oops!

How long have they been out-of-print? I hadn't seen either of them until about 2-3 months ago, so I'm sure I missed out by a long shot anyway.

I paid $40 for the entire Hitchcock CC set.

i paid a bout the same. And now I see it go for as much as $300.00.

Is this something recent or did this happen a while back? I heard just a couple months ago that MGM was planning on releasing Notorious, Rebecca and Spellbound, all movies that I've been wanting for a long time, but there wasn't an official release date. This would be a bummer if this is something that's happened recently.

It was a couple of years ago. Hopefully, they've gotten things straightened out.

I've got the Masterpiece and Signature collections. It would be nice to almost complete my Hitchcock library.

news has been around for a few years

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....ight=hitchcock

The strange thing to me is that Criterion and Buena Vista have worked together frequently. So unless there was some dispute on who owned the films, then I think we would have seen these titles liscenced by criterion again.

Rebecca: CC is probably even worth about $100 on the secondary market. That edition is simply amazing. I have owned this at two different times in my life. I would really love to own it again but may never really be able to afford it. They literally dug up a treasure trove of special features, my favorite being the numerous screen tests for the lead actress (who brilliantly goes unnamed). Despite its Best Oscar win, this movie remains underappreciated as the years go by.

eBay... Korea... all region DVD... cheap? Sorry to say but there's 99% chance that it's a bootleg.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Criterion holds the right for the commentaries and the other extras (including the menu artwork)?

Paid about 40-50 as well, some criterion sale years ago... love Rebecca, awesome film, even my wife enjoyed it

When a seller like that says "not a bootleg", they mean it's not a DVD-R rip of the DVD in question. Many sellers like this also use "Criterion" to mean "special edition".

That's eBay for you. You can get some great deals, but you have to be very careful, and if there's any doubt, "this isn't a bootleg" should not be enough to dissuade you.

I got Rebecca as a Christmas present. Think my parents bought it full MSRP at FYE *ouch! Yet, looking back on it, it was still a good investment. Notorious was one of the first Criterions I ever bought.

I paid about $76 for the set in 2003. There are plenty of Korean bootlegs of Criterion discs out there. I don't care if they claim "not a bootleg." They are inferior. No surprise this set is highly sought after.

I saw a used copy of this a couple days ago at my local FYE. It was behind the counter and marked $99.99

i regret not picking up Notorious: CC when it was still in print. i do have the original anchor bay release though. and i was smart enough to get Rebecca: CC. i don't remember what i paid for it, but it was something less than MSRP.