Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

It seems that Universal has join the trend of studios releasing catalog titles through a DVD-R program. The list comes from Criterionforum.org:

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995)
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
40 Pounds of Trouble (1963)
Gambit (1966)
Resurrection (1980)
The House of Seven Gables (1940)
The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
Pure Luck (1991)
A Bronx Tale (1993)
Stick (1985)
Dragnet (1954)
The List of Adrian Messinger (1963)
The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
The Perfect Furlough (1958)
A Good Man in Africa (1994)
Kitten With a Whip (1964)
Spawn of the North (1938)
Shout (1991)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Shoot Out (1971)
Tell Them Willie Boy is Here (1969)
The Brass Bottle (1964)
Death Takes a Holiday (1934)
The Chalk Garden (1964)
Blue Collar (1978)

I'm really surprised that A Bronx Tale, Death Takes a Holiday and Blue Collar are being re-released in this format, since I think they would sell well if they got a proper release.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) :banana:

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

YAY! More over priced DVD-Rs + shipping! Woo hoo! :brickwl2:

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

How does everyone like the fact that some of these were pressed discs that have gone OOP? Lovely.

The irony, of course, is that in another thread folks are worried about whether Blu-ray is going to take over and put DVD out to pasture. Yeah, 'cause all these DVD-R titles are going to be flying off the shelves in Blu. -rolleyes-

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

So much for a Criterion disc of Blue Collar.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Desired titles.

DRAGNET (1954) is in color and it's pretty amazing stuff. Think L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, but filmed on location when it actually took place and really really streamlined.

PERFECT FURLOUGH is a comedy with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and directed by Blake Edwards. I'm not a fan of Edwards' later stuff, but I think this is one of his funniest.

BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH - Tony Curtis as a Bronx-accented knight. "Yonduh lies da castle of my fadduh." (He never said this line, but it's often attributed to this film.) Janet Leigh (his wife at the time) is in this too and looks gorgeous. I enjoy this movie a great deal.

THE BRASS BOTTLE - a movie about a genie with Barbara Eden that came out the same year "I Dream of Jeannie" premiered.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Since when is A Bronx Tale a Universal release? If it is indeed the DeNiro film and it's anamorphic, I'll be all over it regardless of the price.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I had a feeling Stick and The Incredible Shrinking Woman were to be on DVD soon since they have been in rotation on MAXHD. A bit overpriced, but I'll buy Stick for sure.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Great to see this stuff finally getting released. Would be nice if the initial price was in the $10 range, which is what all of these burned versions should be selling for, instead of $19.99, but I'm sure they'll get there some day. Probably only a matter of time before other studios start doing this to. I'm continually amazed at some of the rare and offbeat stuff Warner has put out through its Archives—stuff that never would've sold on pressed DVDs—so it'd be nice to see all the studios offer this option for as long as the disc-based formats will allow. Pairing with Amazon seems like a logical step as well, where these do count toward free shipping. Still, that price . . .

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

http://www.amazon.com/Bronx-Tale-Ama...345998&sr=1-13

Damn, it really is the DeNiro film. Completely shocked considering it does seem to have somewhat of a following. Universal probably acquired it and didn't know what to do with it.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Resurrection (1980)--(Ellen Burstyn) now this movie is a must own (I have it on VHS) I just hope it's widescreen as it full-screen on VHS.
It was on Sundance Channel a few months ago and it looked remasterd and really pop-off the screen!

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

The only two on that list I'd be remotely interested in are The Incredible Shrinking Woman, which I already have on a DVD-R, and Death Takes a Holiday, which I already have on the Meet Joe Black Ultimate Edition.

Rob

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

DVD-Rs. The trend continues I'd really like to get the brass bottle, too. Oh, well.

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They should have put Dragnet on as an extra on the tv set released. I dont like these DVD-R programs at all.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I would suggest that you get the OOP version, which is pressed and cheap to find.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

ugh. i want BLUE COLLAR and A BRONX TALE.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I'm genuinely surprised about A Bronx Tale. I frequently have people ask about that film at work. I guarantee that Universal could press copies of it and it would sell.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I just watched Pure Luck on hulu the other day.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Yeah, really. I would have KILLED for one.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

This is most likely going to be the future. We'll be seeing more things going to "burn on demand" and the number of material on pressed discs decrease.

Several factors at play here, chief among them declining DVD sales and decreasing shelf space. The latter is a big one; we've seen chains like Circuit City and Suncoast go under, which only leaves Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy as national chains that carry significant numbers of DVDs. And Wal-Mart and Target aren't going to carry everything, and even Best Buy seems to be decreasing the area of their stores that carry DVDs, Blus, and CDs. At the Best Buys near me, a fairly significant chunk of the area once devoted to CDs is now home to phones.

Before long, the only things that will be available on DVD and Blu-ray are new releases, A-list titles, evergreen titles, and cult classics.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

It might be cheap, but it's not anamorphic. Still no word on if the new release is going to be though.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

If its the same master, then I would stick with the OOP version, at least it woun't be a DVD-R!

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Universal seems to be pretty good about remastering titles for rereleases. I'm not buying it until there is some confirmation from either Universal or Amazon on the disc's specs.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Are these purchase only? Or will Netflix eventually offer them?

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I'm sure that Netflix (or any rental outfit) can buy them and then rent them out. If there's a market, Netflix will eventually carry some copies.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Netflix is pushing the streaming crap. I would bet releases like this end up there. Per there new WB deal they are getting more materials for streaming. Dragnet appears to be already available there for streaming.

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I can't imagine that DVD-Rs would hold up in the mail, let alone what the customers would do with them.

But let me repeat something I mentioned in another thread -- why don't the studios take a page from Mill Creek and put out sets of 50 Sci-Fi Classics and 50 Film Noirs using these transfers? I'd rather have that than expensive DVD-Rs.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

They might just not want to give up the margins or to 'train' consumers to expect that sort of thing from them.

Plus this is what Mill Creek's entire business model is -- lotsa stuff for cheap -- and they have the experience to know how to get it all in front of people. If a studio like Universal were going to do that, they'd have to figure out how to market and distribute these titles, build the relationships, etc., and the beancounters would probably say it's not worth it.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Mill Creek gets away with it because they use public domain titles that they rip off from other distributors. They don't have any original "prints," only VHS and DVD copies (and other tape formats--I bet some of this stuff is on 3/4" tape) that they copy then again to make these multi-disc sets. It's easy to pile a lot of films onto multiple discs when the films don't cost anything and you don't have to give them any special treatment before transferring.

I would hope Universal would refrain from treating its valuable film library that way.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

The only Universal movie which has never been released on DVD that I would want bad enough to get a DVD-R of would be "The King of Jazz" (1930). My old VHS is getting a bit ragged.

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They have recently done some legitimate licensing for sure. I wonder if they're trying to get away from the public domain stuff (at least in part?) in the same way that Brentwood transformed itself into BCI.

...but yeah, I don't see what the benefit would be to Universal to try to adopt that firesale type of model.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Agreed. As much as I would like it as a buyer, I'd be really depressed as a film fan.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Leaving aside the lack of features on most burned DVD-Rs, stuff like subtitles and complete menus, the longevity of these DVD-Rs has to be less than pressed DVDs. Dyes wear out faster than physically stamped pits.

Warner Archive claims it uses a proprietary process to make its DVD-R better. Anyone believe that? The main competition to these DVD-Rs would have been DVD recorders with a hard disc drive, recorders the entertainment giants got the FCC to pretty much get rid of by requiring all DVD recorders with TV tuners to have ATSC tuners.

This selection of Universal movies on DVD-R is pretty pathetic, mostly sweepings from the studio vault. Gambit is a pretty good movie, but not good enough to buy as a low grade DVD-R at what will be an inflated price.

For all the talk of Blu-ray sales of new movies, compared to the sales of SD DVDs until 2008, BD sales are a bust for most movies. Into to this bad retail market comes the plan by Universal to copy Warner Archive by spending as little as possible to milk their film libraries, a plan that will be a wash-out. These on-demand DVD-Rs from Universal will be even less successful than the Warner Archive DVD-Rs. Warner has those pre-Code gems when Zanuck ran the studio.

The target audience for many of these older movies are, naturally, mostly older customers, customers who in some cases have crummy hearing. When these buyers find out these DVD-Rs have either no subtitle options or closed captioning for the hearing impaired, there goes a good part of that market. Not much of a market anyway. Most people under 30 don't even know who Gary Cooper is. Anything relating to movies over 20 years old is ancient or unkown history to most moviegoers, outside of Star Wars.

Good thing Universal released the pre-Code movie Hot Saturday as a regular DVD before they decided to cut mastering and duplication costs by going the DVD-R cutrate route. That DVD was worth buying. Not these, at least for me.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I guess they're just doing the math

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I really doubt that the longevity of DVD-Rs should be much of an issue for most people. How many times are people going to watch these films? Maybe once or twice a year. VHS tapes sold well once they were available at affordable prices, and they have far more of a wearing-out potential than DVDs do. This is more of an issue as far as Netflix possibly renting these titles than any realistic purchaser. I'd be glad to buy one at an affordable price.

The key of course is "affordable price." Most catalogue titles nowadays have a street price under $10, especially for bare bones efforts, and less if they are packaged in a box set. I don't know how well the Warner Archive titles are selling, but I refuse to pay more than $10 apiece for them. I bought during Warner's Xmas sale, and I'll do it again if the price point is right, but I won't patronize them at a higher point.

I have to scratch my head when people here on the one hand bemoan the high prices and then 'fess up that they just had to buy a few titles anyway. Don't you realize that by paying the $20, you are telling Warner (and now Universal) that $20 is a viable price point on these films? If cutting the price to $10 only results in a 10-20% increase in sales, then it's silly for them to do so. One reason I made it a point to buy at $10 was to help convince them to lower their overall prices.

People should get used to it. Warner has over 400 titles up on the Archive right now. My guess is that in three years, except for the handful of top tier catalog titles, the only way you'll be able to get catalog movies on DVD (and you can forget about Blu Ray) will be on DVD-R.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I've wanted to see Blue Collar ever since I read a very glowing review of it written by Patton Oswalt.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

It seems most of these are selling for about 10% off MSRP (which comes out to $17.99) each ..

Some of them are dropping down to 25% off MSRP (which comes out to $14.99)

A Bronx Tale an Dragnet (1954) are two of those that have dropped to 25% off....just wanted to point it out that they may not stick around at $17.99, and some may even drop lower than $14.99 if people wait long enough...

Dragnet was $17.99 two days ago, was $15.99 yesterday and now $14.99 today.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

When they start dropping down to $10, I might consider buying a few. But knowing that some are not even anamorphic will make it a tough sell to me even at $10.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

I just checked out a few titles I'd be interested in. Carny $23.88
Bad Ronald $15.96 (this is one title I really want)
Reckless $23.88
Big Circus $23.88

Maybe when (and if) prices come down.

Re: Universal Vault Series (Amazon.com exclusives)
 

Those are Warner Archive releases, not the Universal Vault Series.