Customer Reviews

Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It is a shame that it seems this holiday season so many studios are just double-dipping previously released material. Abbott and Costello are probably worthwhile purchases because, as someone else has already pointed out, the previous collections were on double-sided discs. However, this does seem to hurt the true fan who bought those double-sided disc collections by making them purchase the same films yet again in order to get something that will last long term. The following is the press release for this set, which indicates that 1943's "It Ain't Hay" will be the only film in this set that is a new release.

DISC 1:
One Night in the Tropics (1940) - Bud and Lou get mixed up in a "Love Insurance" scheme.
Buck Privates (1941)- The duo accidentally enlists in the U.S. Army to avoid getting arrested
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with Film Historians Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo (Buck Privates)
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 2:
In the Navy (1941) - Bud and Lou are sailors bound for duty on the high seas in this musical comedy.
Hold that Ghost (1941) - The boys inherit a haunted house formerly owned by a mobster.
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with Film Historian Jeff Miller (Hold That Ghost)
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 3:
Keep `Em Flying (1941) - Bud and Lou enlist in the Army Air Corps and get caught up in a love triangle.
Ride `Em Cowboy (1942) - The duo head to the Lazy S ranch to hide after Lou accidentally proposes to an Indian girl.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 4:
Pardon My Sarong (1942) - Bud and Lou travel to the South Seas where Lou is mistaken for a legend.
Who Done It? (1942) - The boys are suspected of murder while being targeted by the actual killer.
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with Film Historian Frank Coniff (Who Done It?)
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 5:
It Ain't Hay (1943) - Only film not previously on DVD
Hit the Ice (1943) - Bud and Lou hit the slopes at the Sun Valley Resort after getting mixed up with gangsters.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 6:
In Society (1944) - The boys find themselves in hot water after a plumbing job goes wrong at a high society bash.
Here Come the Co-Eds (1945) - Bud and Lou head to campus and attempt to save Bixby College from closing down.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 7:
The Naughty Nineties (1945) - Set aboard the River Queen showboat, Bud and Lou perform their legendary "Who's on First?" routine.
Little Giant (1946) - Lou plays a little man with big dreams and ends up selling vacuum cleaners.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 8:
The Time of Their Lives (1946) - Mistaken as a traitor, Lou's ghost is trapped in Danbury Mansion until his innocence is proven.
Buck Privates Come Home (1947) - Bud and Lou return to civilian life and get involved in midget car racing in the sequel to Buck Privates!
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with Film Historian Frank Thompson (The Time of Their Lives)
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 9:
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) - Accused of murder, Lou is forced to take care of a widow and her children on a farm.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) - Bud and Lou encounter Frankenstein's monster, Dracula and The Wolf Man.
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with Film Historian Gregory W. Mank (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein)
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 10:
Mexican Hayride (1948) - Bud and Lou head south of the border after getting mixed up in an oil stock scheme.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) - The boys meet up with Boris Karloff after a guest is murdered at their hotel.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 11:
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950) - Bud and Lou head to Algeria on business and are tricked into joining the Foreign Legion.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) - As novice private detectives, Bud and Lou come face to face with The Invisible Man.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 12:
Comin' Round the Mountain (1951) - Lou discovers he is heir to a secret fortune, and the boys search for the hidden treasure.
Lost in Alaska (1952) - Bud and Lou save an ex-sheriff, then discover he is the target of every hitman in the Yukon.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 13:
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) - The boys accidentally take off for Mars and end up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) - The duo are American cops in London to study police tactics. They wind up in jail and are bailed out by Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll has been murdering fellow doctors who laugh at his experiments. He has more murders in mind. At one point the doctor's serum gets injected into the pair.
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with Film Historians Tom Weaver and Richard Scrivani (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

DISC 14:
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955) - Harry and Willie buy the Edison Movie Studio in the year 1912 from Joseph Gorman, a confidence man. They follow Gorman to Hollywood where, as stunt men, they find him directing movies as Sergei Trumanoff and stealing the studio payroll.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) - In Egypt Peter and Freddie find the archaeologist Dr. Zoomer murdered before they can return to America. A medallion leads them to a crypt where a revived mummy provides the terror.
BONUS FEATURES:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

BONUS DISC (DISC 15):
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Monsters
The World of Abbott and Costello - A compilation of clips from 19 Abbott and Costello features.

A lot of people who are trashing Universal about this excellent release simply don't know what they're talking about:

1.) For starters, you have to know that when Universal originally released their other 4 volumes of Abbott & Costello on DVD, the movie IT AIN'T HAY was unable to be included due to rights issues and so it was not able to be included. Now this problem has been rectified.

2.) At the time of the other 4 Volumes of A&C, Universal was foolishly trying out a double-sided DVD technology called "DVD-18". As a result, many people who bought the old DVDs complained of all sorts of random issues like skipping and picture freezing. So if there is ever a bone to pick with Universal, it was because they were experimenting with those earlier DVD-18s. This NEW SET is much more reliable and durable, since it's going to be issued in tried-and-true "DVD-9" single-sided format, which is much better quality all around.

3.) Somebody complained that there were several movies missing from this collection. No, there are NOT any UNIVERSAL features missing here. The titles he's thinking of are films that were RELEASD BY OTHER STUDIOS, (SUCH AS MGM). This box set is purely all of Abbott and Costello's UNIVERSAL films.

Well, that's it for now. It may be a pain in the neck for some to double-dip, but at least Universal has corrected the earlier double-sided disc catastrophe (they probably meant well with the old sets, but it turned out to be a faulty technonogy). And now they've cleared the rights to IT AIN'T HAY, where they couldn't release it previously. And to their credit they've compensated fans by adding MORE NEW EXTRA FEATURES to this set.

If there's one thing Universal could do right by the fans who feel they're being "gypped", they might consider releasing IT AIN'T HAY separately at a later date, as a "stand-alone" purchase for those buyers who choose to stubbornly hang onto their inferior double-sided DVD-18 volumes.

This is a FANTASTIC release and a great deal - thanks to Universal!

For Abbott and Costello fanatics, this is a great collection of the 28 movies the team made for their home studio, Universal. That said, however, there are some important factors (at least they're important to me) that prevent me from giving this set a full five-star rating.

First of all, I have to agree with all of you who feel disrespected by Universal's lack of marketing etiquette. It's bad enough that many devoted A&C fans who purchased those previous Franchise Collection volumes now feel like fools for loyally supporting those releases, but they can't even obtain the previously unavailable IT AIN'T HAY (1943) without having to purchase the other 27 movies all over again. Universal certainly hasn't shown any reluctance in re-releasing the same basic material over and over again (the 75th Anniversary Edition of DRACULA, the 75th Anniversary Edition of FRANKENSTEIN, etc.), so why not release a separate, single-disc edition of IT AIN'T HAY? Or a smaller 3-disc, 6-film set, like the one Universal released in the UK (which contained ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS, BUCK PRIVATES, PARDON MY SARONG, WHO DONE IT?, IN SOCIETY, and HERE COME THE CO-EDS). Given the choice of purchasing this new collection or purchasing IT AIN'T HAY by itself, I would have still purchased this new collection. But I still sympathize with consumers who don't want to or can't drop 84 bucks (or more) just to obtain one new title. Universal, you've done these good folks wrong...you should have provided them with an option. (Besides, as rare as it might be, IT AIN'T HAY is perhaps the weakest of the early A&C comedies.)

And if Universal went to the trouble of revamping this collection, why weren't more theatrical trailers included? Granted, there are a couple additional trailers this time around, but nowhere near as many as there should be. With the exception of AFRICA SCREAMS (United Artists, 1949), original-issue or re-release trailers for every Abbott and Costello feature exist in studio or private archives, or in the hands of private collectors. So what was the problem? Indifference or laziness? And if trailers weren't available for whatever reason, why not toss in a random episode of THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR or a couple of those antique Castle Films abridgements (HAVE BADGE, WILL CHASE; NO INDIANS, PLEASE; RIOT ON ICE, etc.)? Please, give us something...ANYTHING that will help justify purchasing the bulk of these movies all over again. If this were a thirty-dollar set, this sort of grumbling would be trivial. But for this kind of money (and figuring in the cost of those previous volumes to boot), I believe this complaint is valid.

And where did those reissue titles come from? When ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS was first released on VHS, I was one of many A&C fans who applauded Universal for making the effort to track down a copy of the full-length, original-release version (as opposed to the edited reissue version that aired on television for years). But the DVD release of TROPICS is taken from a print that has a replaced opening-cast title and End title, unlike the original titles seen in the VHS format. Also, this new collection contains a Realart Pictures reissue print of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. This is the best-quality version of this title that has ever been made available, though purists may grumble about the replaced footage. (If you're not familiar with the Realart version, it replaces the original "Universal-International presents" and "The End" titles, which obliterates some of the opening-credits animation and cuts short the final shot of Bud and Lou jumping into the water.)

If you didn't purchase any of the previous volumes, then now's the time to order this set. For the rest of us, it's yet another instance where the consumer has to grin and bear it.

Without restating too much of what other reviewers have already said, This is the complete collection of all 28 Abbott and Costello movies filmed for and distributed by Universal Studios. (Please don't post comments about the 8 "missing" films.They're from other studios) And despite what some reviewers have said the picture quality is very good. What's the little less you say? First off the box that resembles a steamer trunk that the discs are encased is a little bit bigger than it needs to be. There's about an inch in front and an inch and a half behind of spacer. The book is actually a thin softcover paperback, the same exact size as a disc cover. Only much thinner. It would have been nice if they opted for larger print and hardcover. Another minor concern is Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. As mentioned by another reviewer, the Realart title card covers the animated opening sequence in place of Universal International Presents for about 3 seconds. This can be annoying, but it's not catastropic. The ending is also bothersome as the Realart "The End" card is abruptly inserted covering over Chick (Abbott) and Wilbur (Costello) swimming away. I recommend getting the single disc release of A & C Meet Frankenstein. Even though most of the same features appear in this set, with the single disc it's all in one place. The positive aspect is the discs are inserted on each side of the covers and not overlapping for the first six of the seven covers. The seventh cover holds three discs. One on the left and two overlapping on the right. The Bonus Features disc contains the same features as the Volume 4 Franchise Collection. I own the four volume franchise collection. I'm not at all sorry I bought this. In fact I enjoy it immensely. I just think it could have been a tad bit better.

I realize that some DVD and Abbott and Costello fans will feel cheated because this collection should have come before the three individual box set collections Universal experimented with previously. However, I'm grateful for an excellent remastering and the inclusion of It Ain't Hay for the first time. The extras and the booklet help to make this collection more valuable, but it's really Universal's good intentions and follow-up to satisfy us A&C fans that deserve our support. By all means buy this collection and hope that TCM will release the three films outside Universal not yet well mastered or available on DVD: Captain Kidd, Rio Rita, and Jack and The Beanstalk (needs an excellent restoration).

I love this set, this has all the A&C films from Universal + It Aint Hay. I thought the transfers were slightly better. I love the packaging & the DVD's are easier to get to. In the Volumes, for me I was yanking them out of the side of the outside sleeve, which was a hassle & could damage the sleeve. then you had to unfold inner sleeve to get to them. Plus 4 movies were on a disc.
With this treasure set, you just lift the lid, pull out the movies you want to see which are in a cool book like design and there you go. Open the book and there are 2 discs waiting to be watched. Less cumbersome. Plus it is 2 movies per disc which to me shows improved transfers. This also contains a very cool book about A & C
Going through every single title would take forever, but those that surf the web could easily find whats on this set ( if you dont own it) - it is every movie they did from Universal from One Night in the Tropics to A & C Meet the Mummy..
I love the packaging,design and all the A&C films..I am a huge fan so this was an easy pickup for me.
The co-stars that were in these pictures were also fantastic ranging from Dick Powell to Boris Karloff to the Andrews Sisters to even Tor Johnson...
I actually sold my Volumes before this was released so when it came out I had the money ready.
Worth every single penny. Abbott and Costello were a dynamic duo on the screen (certainly not off the screen at certain intervals of their career) and even their worst movies are better than a lot of these newer comedies...
I will take A&C over any Adam Sandler film, any Will Ferrell film, any Borat or Bruno , or any dumb teen comedy anytime anyday

This is the one I've been waiting for since the invention of the DVD. Universal has finally provided a package worthy of the comedy team that saved the studio during their amazing run as box office champs. While their film catalog is uneven, and many of the rushed productions don't are not on a par with the duo's talents, the overall body of work still stands the test of time. The high point for film buffs and historians must be the genre blending "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein." The film works on multiple levels and marked a comeback of sorts for Bud & Lou while providing a bookend for the Universal monsters era of big screen chills. Lon Chaney Jr. is particularly effective interacting with the boys and Bela Lugosi displays a surprising light touch in what is only his second (and final) appearance as the legendary vampire. The film was one of the original choices for a preservation project undertaken by the American Film Institute and the Library of Congress and it frequently appears on critic's lists of all-time great movies. My family watches it every Halloween and enjoys it every time. There are other gems as well... "Buck Privates," "Hold That Ghost," "Meet the Killer," and "In the Navy" are some of my other favorites. The packaging is excellently designed and the small book included is filled with useful information. Best of all, unlike previous releases, the discs are single sided. To top it off, the long missing film, "It Ain't Hay," that completes the Universal series, is included in the set... the first time it's been released finally freed from legal limbo. The collection is a time capsule of a simpler time in film making and in American history, and the good news is that the team of Abbott & Costello are talented and funny in any era. Without Bud & Lou it is likely that we would never have had "Seinfeld." If you are strangers to the comic team supreme, this is the package to help you explore what you've been missing.

This set is classic comedy at it's finest. I would but abbot and costello up against any comedian today and they would come out on top. No raunchiness here, as there comedy was always top notch! Many of today's comedians could learn a thing or two from this classic duo. I know some of today's youth might not get the jokes and such but it is just simply genius and hillarious.

I orginally watched abbott and costello when I was a teenager in the 80's on WPIX TV out of NYC every Sunday morning/early afternoon.

This set is a complete set of the universal years. Now I just need to find the non universal stuff and have even more laughs.

We have really enjoyed watching these classic old movies. They are fun for the whole family. We have loaned them out to friends to enjoy. It is unbelievable when the young kids are familiar with skits and routines that made Abbot and Costello so popular back in the 50's and 60's. The enclosed booklet is very informative and they are packaged in a nice collectors box. They will make great Christmas gifts.

Are you old enough to remember those Saturday Matinees where the movie was a quarter and the popcorn was a dime and the coke was a nickel? I was transported back to those wonderful days of my youth when I saw the first of these wonderful movies. This collection IS a "blast from the past" that had me laughing from the very beginning. Not only are the movies great to see again but the "added material" made this collection that much better. If you are a fan of Abbott and Costello, this IS a must for your movie collection!