Product Details

• Actors: James Stewart, Joseph Cotten, Robert Cummings, Grace Kelly, Teresa Wright
• Format: NTSC, Color
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Universal
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000M2LR12
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,357 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Four Disc Set Each disc contains bonus features for each film

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great price for 4 classics, January 19, 2010

By 

Gregory B. Beard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alfred Hitchcock The Masterpiece Collection - Rear Window / Saboteur / Shadow of a Doubt / Rope (DVD) (DVD)

I was all set to purchase Rear Window, which was going for about $13, when I saw this 4-pack of Hitchcock films also listed. I thought, 4 classics for just $7 more than the one Rear Window, that there must be some downfall...such as maybe the DVD quality wouldn't be that good. Well, I'll tell you, I ordered it and it just arrived today. I started with Rope and the picture quality is as good as I could hope for. This small collection of greats from the Master is absolutely worth the $20.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Hitchcock Starter Set, March 18, 2007

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alfred Hitchcock The Masterpiece Collection - Rear Window / Saboteur / Shadow of a Doubt / Rope (DVD) (DVD)

This is a terrific Hitchcock sampler that those unfamiliar with his films would especially enjoy. "Rear Window" is probably the most widely known of the four films and Hitchcock at his most entertaining. "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Saboteur" are great in their own right, however, and will surprise those who haven't seen them yet. "Rope" is the weakest of the set, in my opinion, but still is of interest for Hitchcock fans. The other three are truly special, however, and will stand up under repeated viewings.


REAR WINDOW

This terrific thriller from Alfred Hitchcock about our fear of intimacy and tendency toward voyeurism stars Jimmy Stewart and the lovely Grace Kelly and is one of his most entertaining films. There are no crop dusters or other devices to provide the tension this time and it works in the film's favor. Rear Window is a more character driven film and the suspense builds slowly to a fever pitch, a bonafide grab the edge of your seat nail-biter. Hitchcock understood that most people are more comfortable looking at the lives of others from a distance and explores this area of our personalities in a very enjoyable fashion.

Jeff (Jimmy Stewart) is a professional photographer laid up in a cast due to an accident while on assignment and Grace Kelly is his doting girlfriend. We should all be so lucky. But Jeff is feeling claustrophobic, not only about his situation but about his relationship with Lisa (Kelly), whose patience and elegant charm as she tends to his needs and waits for him to ask her to marry him are put to the test. The no nonsense practicality of his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) makes for great entertainment as Jeff is bored and begins watching his neighbors across the courtyard through the lens of his camera.

Jeff becomes involved in their lives like he is watching a daily soap opera, much to the disapproval of Lisa. He takes to heart their loneliness and finds pleasure in their finer moments. But something darker begins to take shape when Jeff begins to piece together what he has seen in one apartment and fears he may be spying on a killer. Both Lisa and his cop pal Lt. Doyle (Wendell Corey) think someone is letting their imagination run wild, at least in the beginning.

His own disbelief and Lisa's early scorn turns into an obsession that becomes evermore dangerous for all of them as Lisa begins to believe him and becomes his legs. But the man who may have murdered his wife may believe Jeff has seen too much, putting all their lives in danger. Hitchcock uses his own lens to show the voyeuristic climate Jeff has become comfortable with dangerously changing to a one on one confrontation.

This is wonderful entertainment. It moves deftly from a light and breezy beginning to a more concerned tone, graduating to heart pounding suspense. This is a teriffic and enjoyable film and one of Hitchcock's best. Raymond Burr as the possible murderer creates terror just by his glance across the courtyard at the spying Stewart. Kelly and Ritter give this film its footing, making the events completely believable.

But it is Jimmy Stewart who hits this one out of the park to dead center. He gives one of his finest performances, conveying the irritation of being in a cast and the emotional helplessness when he may not be able to escape the consequences of his own voyeurism because of it. You'll watch this one many times over. A great film to pop in the vcr late on a rainy night.


SABOTEUR

This is a fun to watch wartime thriller about an aircraft munitions worker forced to take it on the lam and find a Nazi saboteur named Fry when he is wrongly accused of the act of sabotage which killed his best friend. Hitchcock's films often get compared unfairly to each other, but taken on its own terms, this is a wonderfully entertaining suspense film with some genuinely memorable moments.

Robert Cummings is excellent as munitions worker Barry Kane, in constant danger both from the police and the bad guys, as he traces a network of saboteurs to a man named Tobin (Otto Kruger) at "Deep Springs Ranch." Tobin knows who Fry is but also knows no one will believe Kane. But as Kane narrowly escapes the police and the Nazi sympathizers he is aided by some along the way who can see he is a stand-up guy, wrongly accused.

One of those people is the blind father of Pat (Priscilla Lane), a billboard model who doesn't share her father's faith in Kane. She starts out doing everthing she can to turn him over to the police but ends up falling in love instead, and in just as much danger as he is. There is a particularly tense scene at a huge party as Kane confronts the cool and slimy Tobin but can't expose the house full of secret agents because Pat has been captured and will be killed if he does.

This film has some great moments of suspense. One such moment, is a plea for help written in lipstick from a trapped Pat, floating down a skyscraper in New York, waiting to be found. The troop of a circus sideshow play a part in the couple's plight also, as his quest to clear himself takes him from Boulder Dam to Rockefeller Center to the Statue of Liberty.

There is a tight and witty script from Dorothy Parker, among others, and Hitchcock's famous little touches keep this one interesting. Robert Cummings, who had proved himself in comedy the previous year in "It Started With Eve" with Deanna Durbin, showed his versatility in this film. Priscilla Lane, pretty and likable, gives another nice performance here.

Taken on its own merits, this is a really good film, a great popcorn movie for a rainy night or a lazy weekend. There's nothing wrong with that.


SHADOW OF A DOUBT

Teresa Wright truly shines in Hitchcock's tale of darkness and evil coming to stay in Santa Rosa, California. A story by Gordon McDonnell was adapted for the screen by Thorton Wilder, Alma Reville, and Sally Benson and this slice of Americana is played out perfectly by a wonderful cast.

Teresa Wright is the bored young daughter of Emma (Patricia Collinge) and Joseph (Henry Travers) Newton. Life for her in the small town of Santa Rosa has become boring for the wholesome American girl. Wright's "Charlie" is the picture of lovely innocence that matches her small town.

The change she desires to shake things up comes to town in the form of her namesake, Uncle Charle (Joseph Cotten). Hitchcock has shown the audience that something is not quite right for the charming Uncle Charlie, however. But the special bond between he and Charlie will not be broken easily. Their unusual connection is explored in the happy and charming moments after Cotten's arrival.

Charlie's adoration of her uncle borders on a crush and leaves her open and vulnerable to anything Charlie wants. Hitchcock creates some almost uncomfortable scenes as you get the feeling any moment Cotton might just take the smiling and adoring Charlie in his arms and kiss her. And Charlie might remain passive if he were to do so, unsure of her feelings.

But strange behavior in her uncle and the attentions of a government agent after him who falls in love with her will change everything and break Uncle Charlie's spell, revealing a warped and twisted view of the world. The tune he whistles is the key to what Charlie has become in the years he has been absent.

Hume Cronyn steals every scene he is in as Joseph's good pal and mystery lover, Herbie. Their long talks on the porch as the two attempt to devise the perfect murder plays in humorous contrast to the real evil right under their noses. Even once Charlie knows about her uncle she can not tell and destroy her weak mother. But she has Agent Jack Graham's (Macdonald Carey) number and may have to use it when Uncle Charlie realizes the only thing standing between he and the gallows is young Charlie.

This is both a beautiful portrait of small-town America and a suspenseful thriller. Cotten underplays his role to marvelous effect and Teresa Wright is simply wonderful in this Hitchcock masterpiece. You'll have hours of fun and become a Hitchcock fan for certain after viewing this fabulous sampler of one of the great directors.

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Hitchcock...need I say more?, September 3, 2011

By 

K. Dooley "amazonite" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alfred Hitchcock The Masterpiece Collection - Rear Window / Saboteur / Shadow of a Doubt / Rope (DVD) (DVD)

If you are a Hitchcock nut like I am, jump on this! Though my favorite is Shadow of a Doubt, I really enjoyed watching Sabotuer. I had seen Rear Window many times and I often watch Hitchcock films over and over. The quality of the DVD is good and I like the vintage look of the packaging.