Customer Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense DVD Set

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Audio and video quality of these movies is exactly the same as the Laserlight issues. Unfortunately most of these movies have not been re-issued on DVD by big name companies such as Kino, Criterion, Universal, or Image. In the mid 1980's Criterion released Laserdisc versions of "Blackmail", "Sabotage", "Secret Agent", and "Young and Innocent", however Criterion has no plans to release these titles on DVD. Audio and video quality is not bad, fairly standard for 1920's and 1930's nitrate films. If you are a Hitchcock enthusiast and are interested in buying these early films buy this box set, it is very economical and the quality is exactly the same as Laserlight's issues.

As an added bonus two episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" are included, you get a total of 12 presentations in this box set! A great value!

Criterion has released a re-mastered version of, "The Lady Vanishes" on DVD. I was shocked to see that the audio and video quality of the Criterion version is almost exactly the same as the version on this box set by the Bci Eclipse Company.

Here, in one neat bundle, are presented 10 very early Hitchcock films, from classics such as the early version of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and THE LADY VANISHES (one of my favorites) to more obscure films such as YOUNG & INNOCENT and JUNO & THE PAYCOCK (????).

I haven't watched them all yet, but here is what you get. Five two-sided DVD's, each side with one movie. The movies themselves are available in 2.0 sound or 5.1 "virtual" surround. There are "scene selections", which involve only a few chapters per movie. And that's about it. The quality of the transfer is not first rate, by any stretch. You would probably be able to get better quality on one of the Criterion editions, but you'd pay quite a bit more. If you plan to watch over and over...go that route. If this is a curiousity for you, then these DVDs will fit the bill nicely and economically.

I won't go into the movies themselves. These are early, pre-Hollywood Hitchcock films, and even the weakest of the bunch have many great Hitch moments. I feel like for the price, you simply can't beat it (hey, less than $2 a movie!!). And any serious film student ought to have THE LADY VANISHES on their list!

If you're looking to see Hitchcock in all his glory, absolutely go and find the Criterion Collection versions of your favourite Hitchcock films. However, if you don't know which ones are your favourite, yet, take a perusal through these movies. The films haven't been cleaned up and the audio is decent, so you can certainly go through the movies to see some older Hitchcock films, which are obvious seedlings of what was to come. "The Lady Vanishes" is worth the price of admission.

And yes! There really are ten movies included here. What are they?

(1927) LODGER - silent
(1927) THE RING - silent
(1929) BLACKMAIL - silent
(1930) JUNO & THE PAYCOCK
(1931) RICH & STRANGE
(1934) THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
(1936) SABOTAGE
(1936) SECRET AGENT
(1937) YOUNG & INNOCENT
(1938) THE LADY VANISHES

His other 9 movies from pre-Hollywood days (before 1940's "Rebecca") are available in the "The Essential Alfred Hitchcock Collection" (ASIN: B0009WPLVM).

The other reviews shown here are for a completely different Alfred Hitchcock collection. This 2-DVD set (as pictured above) is a 2010 release by Mill Creek Entertainment called "Legends Series/10 Movie Classics/Alfred Hitchcock Master of Suspense." Disc One has: The Lady Vanishes, The Farmer's Wife (silent film), The Manxman (silent film), and 2 Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes: The Chaney Vase and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Disc 2 has: Rich and Strange, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Secret Agent, Champagne (silent film), and Blackmail. Total time of both discs is 12 hours and 28 minutes. Hope this is helpful to others who are trying to sort through the numerous Alfred Hitchcock collections.

These are great Hitchcock movies but the video and audio quality is average at best. If you can look past that this is a nice set of movies for the money.

This collection of Hitchcock movies features his earliest movies. The main problem, however, with this collection is the audio. The audio quality on these films is so poor you can't understand the diologue half the time. And worse, when you can, the movies are just boring (with 2 of them being silent films). After watching Psycho and Dial M for Murder for the first time, I didn't expect this.

The morons who decided to review the movie and start our their ignorant review with "I haven't watched them all yet, but" should not be allowed to post.

This goes to the stupid people who didn't read the book yet but will post how difficult it was to stand in line at midnight and get new newest Harry Potter edition.

For the price, enough good films on this set to make it a worthwhile purchase. HOWEVER, the manufacturer Brentwood, decided to omit the fact that 2 of the films are silent movies. Personally, I find a big difference between a silent and spoken dialogue film, and I believe this was no accident. I sent the comapny an email regarding this, but as with most online customer service, the recepient most likely just mumbled "f**k y**" and deleted the message.