Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Good points. My concern is that these companies may probably just be taking video copies from other p.d. distributors and then copying them over, as opposed to finding the best prints possible and trying to give the consumer the best versions of oft-circulated titles. (I don't know because I've never watched any DVDs from these multi-film sets.) And, granted, I understand that there's not necessarily any real money in finding the best prints. There are p.d. distributors that try to find the best prints. And there are indeed plenty of p.d. movies that can't be gotten any other way because the studios that made them (e.g. PRC) have long since closed down.

On the other hand, I cringe when I see p.d. releases of major studio titles where good prints do exist and the original copyright owner is still around (e.g. NOTHING SACRED, A STAR IS BORN). The more p.d. copies circulate of major studio releases from Universal, Fox and MGM, among others, the less chance for a good new legit edition from that copyright holder. I'm thinking of things like CHARADE, ONE-EYED JACKS, HIS GIRL FRIDAY, TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, SCARLET STREET, THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, MEET JOHN DOE, Roger Corman's THE TERROR, various studio-era cartoons, etc. (And, no, I haven't checked to see if any of these examples have been released in high-quality legit editions.)

But I have seen a lot of interesting movies in p.d. prints that I wouldn't have been able to see otherwise, esp. lots of the all-black films from the 1930s and '40s, including Paul Robeson in SONG OF FREEDOM, Lena Horne's first movie, THE DUKE IS TOPS, Nat King Cole in KILLER DILLER, and Cab Calloway in HI-DE-HO. Plus, how else would we have discovered what a great filmmaker Edgar G. Ulmer was if it wasn't for p.d. releases of such films as STRANGE ILLUSION, BLUEBEARD, and his masterpiece, DETOUR. But I tend not to see these in those 50-film sets.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Perfectly stated! :)

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Having seen every film you reference in the above paragraph via bargain bin public domain VHS releases up to 20 years ago (HIS GIRL, CLOUDS, and JOHN DOE via the Hal Roach label, which at least sourced decent prints for their SP releases), I often wondered why the studios that so obviously produced them didn't go after smaller outfits like that. But then I read the often complicated copyright histories behind many of the films themselves and learned that they had indeed, for one reason or another, simply fallen into the public domain, in many cases before the dawn of home video, or before the studios knew what a cash cow it would become from the 80's onward, and which ultimately saw the spoils going to so many little guys with sharp-eyed lawyers that legitimate releases were just plain pointless from a cost perspective. I think TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL by did ultimately score a legitimate release in recent years; not so sure about the others.



I have Bluebeard in a 3 film set called "The Black and Blue Collection" from Roan Group, but the print is pretty dodgy and wouldn't look out of place in one of the 50-Movie Collections. I believe Alpha released it as well, looking pretty much the same. I found a very nice print of DETOUR included in a Noir 3-pack I imported from England, and I've yet to see it topped. Odds are they'll turn up in the bigger sets sooner or later or, failing the release of any more of those this late in the life of DVD, online in one form or another (perhaps Mill Creek would be wise to start their own streaming website, or perhaps a YouTube-type channel, where they could eventually stream their "library" preceded by a harmless ad or two).

Incidentally, for those with a serious PD jones, check out the film collection hosted at Archive.org. Over 1600 feature films and counting, all rigorously vetted for inclusion, many of which have never seen DVD releases. If you're primary goal is just to SEE these pictures, this place is heaven:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...moviesandfilms

Main page:
http://www.archive.org/details/feature_films

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Got the same one. Mostly bought it for The Guy From Harlem :doh: Made the grave mistake of watching Night Train To Terror for the last Halloween Challenge here. As Chad noted, I still haven't recovered from that.

Someone else mentioned the "Cult Classics" set. Got that one too. BTW, Escort Girl might be the only movie in that set to be in the worst condition, but even when TCM aired the movie on Underground, it was the same jumpy print. So whatcha see is whatcha get.

Oh and I think every movie from the "Chiller" set has been uploaded online on those various "Free movie" sites.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

None of these collections have had any movies I felt worth wasting my money on. Even if they had a few good movies I wanted, I would dread the quality and would rather wait for an official release.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

As mentioned earlier, the waiting would never end for official releases of virtually everything in these sets, especially in an age of declining disc-based media sales and hard times for niche distributors, so it's probably a good thing if you don't see anything worthwhile. :)

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

All the 50 movie sets I own are cardboard. Haven't seen the plastic cases yet.

You can find Memorial Valley Massacre in this set which is conveniently named Deadtime Stories yet doesn't contain that movie you also wanted.
http://www.amazon.com/Deadtime-Stori...2787642&sr=1-2

This is the first set of movies like these I ever bought and some have real nice prints, in some cases they're restored. I used to like sets from this company until they stopped selling older stuff and went to newer low budget horror films that looked like they were made by college students with rich parents. Stuff similar to the movies put out by Dead Alive.

It was nice when Mill Creek started these sets, especially for the price.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I recall one of these Brentwood/BCI 10-movie sets--possibly the one linked above--actually had the feature DEADTIME STORIES in it for a short time, until Brentwood was advised that it wasn't public domain and removed it.

Before I ended up with a big stack of the Mill Creek 50 packs, I put together a nice collection of the Brentwood 10's and 20's for very reasonable prices (the Blaxploitation collection "What It Is What It Was" is still a personal favourite). Definitely some overlap between companies, but still plenty of "exclusives".


Didn't notice this earlier, but the film in question here is Ruggero Deodato's HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, is I'm not mistaken. Gorgeous widescreen print in pretty much every PD release, likely sourced from a Laserdisc master, possibly Japanese as I recall reading somewhere many moons ago. I actually upgraded to the Shriek Show "official" edition because I figured the budget releases had to be compromised in some way, but was surprised to discover that the cheaper versions were virtually identical to the SS version, and just as uncut. Shriek Show may have done a proper anamorphic transfer (can't recall) and tossed in some worthwhile extras, but otherwise the two presentations of the movie were pretty much the same viewed on a regular television. Also, many PD versions of CARNIVAL OF SOULS utilize the exact same print as the Criterion Collection. This may very well be in violation of the laws governing "ownership" of restoration work, etc., so indeed some companies might be pushing the envelope a bit in that regard, but I can't say for sure.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Bought 3 or so of the Horror & Si-Fi collections. But then they released the 250 Horror Set so I bought that one and sold the 50 packs. Not bad, that came out to 32 cents per movie.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I have "Dark Crimes", "Mystery Classics" and "Nightmare Worlds", IIRC two were given to me and one I bought myself... can't remember which was which though. Haven't gotten around to watching any of them yet though.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I'll keep an eye out for "HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK", I haven't seen that one. I seem to recall someone here mentioning a great print & transfer of the Vincent Price "House on Haunted Hill" on one of the cheapie discs, too.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

That's the one and I have it on one of the Brentwood sets. Looks amazing.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

nope I've never bought any of these but might someday if there is ever some movies in these sets I wanna see or own :)

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I don't have any. There haven't been any movies in those kind of sets that I've had any interest in that I couldn't get by itself in a better release.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I generally like to have one of these on "play all" when I'm working in the garage, hobby room, shop, painting, cleaning house, etc.

It works great as I usually spend more time listening than watching.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I actually own that deadtime stories set, one of the few public domain dvd sets I owned before the millcreek ones I bought. The movie I wanted to get most in the chilling classics set was milpitas monster because it looked so unbelievably cheesey.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Check out this blog. This guy watched every movie in the "50 Horror Classics" set and wrote a review of each one.

http://ryanwatches.blogspot.com/

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

I have never bought any of the 50 dvd movie collections. Simple reason is I havent seen one that I really wanted to own.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Nope I rather watch 50 good movies instead.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Actually, I have a slightly different problem with these sets. I watch everything I buy. So, if I bought a set... I would have to watch every movie.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

That's how I am. The All-Stars collection has an Elizabeth Taylor tv movie series that ran two different nights called Divorce Hers and Divorce His. Each one had the marriage from one point of view with it ending up in divorce and what happened after.

The idea isn't bad but if you have to watch everything in the set and the first one isn't good, you know what you're in for on the second one.

I voted for the guy being the good guy and she was the bitch.

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Anyone who buys these dvd sets should be shot instantly!

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

Why?

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

because of inferiority. In fact, they should be shot, buried, wait a couple weeks, get unburied, be shot again, and then left to rot on the side of the road!














;)

Re: Okay admit it, how many of you have bought those 50 DVD movie collections?
 

That's highly unlikely. The films in these sets run the gamut from no-budget to large-budget, span multiple genres even within the same box, and were usually made with the same intentions--to employ, to entertain, to make money--as anything released by major studios with savvy copyright lawyers. Not everything that is in the public domain got there because it was a "bad" movie or some forgotten relic of ancient television. There could be five, ten, or even thirty movies in any of these collections that aren't "good" by one individual's standards (and any such opinions are entirely subjective, anyways), but that hardly means a "because of this, therefore this . . ." philosophy is appropriate when exploring the contents within.

I own six or seven of these sets. I have no intention of watching everything in them, nor should anyone else (talk about obsessive compulsive!). I bought them for literally dozens of movies I DID want to see for which there are NO "official" editions, nor will there ever be (despite many of the film's being utterly deserving of the treatment). And many of said films are worthy of watching, have rated thoughtful reviews and articles and even scholarly analysis in genre magazines over the years, and have acquired cult status over the years. And who here has NO cult pictures in their undoubtedly massive collections of DVDs? Come on . . .

Considering the title of the thread, I'm surprised so many people who've never bought one of these sets--and apparently never will--feel so compelled to join in . . . ;)