Customer Reviews

United Artists Deluxe Gift Set

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The United Artists Super Deluxe Gift Set gives you 90 films on 110 discs at under six dollars a disc. This smaller set gives you 30 films on 46 discs at under five dollars a disc. The advantages of this set over the Super Deluxe Gift Set are lower price per disc, a higher percentage of films are classic movies, there are fewer "turkey" movies in this set, and if you are more of a lover of older films there are less modern ones in this set.

The major disadvantage is that you are giving up some of the great classics that are in the Super Deluxe Gift Set. Specifically The Woman in the Window, Red River, The Barefoot Contessa, The Night of the Hunter, The Killing, Witness for the Prosecution, The Defiant Ones, I Want to Live, Inherit the Wind, Elmer Gantry, The Miracle Worker, and In the Heat of the Night are the best of the older classic films that are in the Super Deluxe collection and are not in this one. If you like the more modern films, you are being deprived of those almost entirely by buying this set.

Both sets are giving you the best versions they have available - widescreen and/or double disc editions if they are available. The only noteable exception I could find was perhaps "Annie Hall", which the product description says is in pan and scan format versus widescreen. Also note that single disc editions of United Artist films hardly ever have any extras at all - commentary tracks are almost unheard of.

This is a review of the packaging, not the movies. I just received this set from Amazon via UPS and, sadly, I am already experiencing buyer's remorse. If you enjoy receiving a brand new DVD set with discs floating around in the package and getting abraded, then you will love this collection. Otherwise, you may want to spend your money on something else.

The set is contained in a sturdy and beautiful binder about the size and style of a photo album, and is housed in an equally sturdy slipcase. Each movie is presented on two pages fabricated from a thin cardboard: the left-hand page has a description of the movie and slots that hold the DVD(s); the right-hand page has a print of an original poster and a single frame of the film.

The problem is the slots used to hold the DVDs. Even though I handled the package with care, it is clear that this was not true during all its travels from the manufacturer to my home. The shipping carton is a custom-made job with a foam-plastic frame--similar to that used for electronic equipment--that secures and protects the album. The carton is marked FRAGILE--it should also have been marked THIS END UP, because some orientations increase the probability that discs will slide out of the slots and frolic around in the album. Mine arrived with six (6) unsecured discs, and one fell out of the album when I removed it from the slipcase.

I see severe abrasions on the wandering discs, and I fear that playback will be impaired. However, I also inspected other discs that remained anchored in the slots and they, too, showed some scratches. The problem may be the cardboard itself and the force that must be applied to awkwardly slide the disc out of its slot; or maybe it was improper handling during the manufacturing process. All I know for sure is that I received damaged goods, and now I must decide whether to return the set, exchange it, or keep it.

Most of the films in this set are classics, with the main exceptions being Birdcage, Hotel Rwanda and Bowling for Columbine. Only a few of the films in the set are constantly cited as top notch; Annie Hall, Raging Bull, 12 Angry Men and Some Like It Hot. However if you look at AFIs list of 400 nominated films you will see most of the films included in the set are on the nomination list. Judgement and Nuremberg, Marty, The Manchurian Candidate, The Birdman of Alcatraz and Fiddler on the Roof are all excellent films.

The main problem is the packaging. The discs are put into slots on each page describing the film. However the discs easily slide out of these slots and can get damaged. If you do purchase this set I recommend you cheap disc cases.

At the end of the day the the low price of this set make it more than worth while. 30 films for a little over 100 bucks, AMAZING

I purchased this collection for my mother and father for Christmas. They absolutely love it! They love the fact that it's not just a collection of DVDs, but that it also contains great information about each individual movie.

I would highly recommend this product to movie lovers and to those who are looking for the perfect gift for a movie lover.

this set is made up of hard to find movies of years gone by. Really great for any collection or collector.

My husband and I gave this to our 17 year old son for his birthday. He is a big movie buff and this was a huge hit! He can watch classic movies that he has only heard about, and there is such a varied selection. He loves it!

Great selection of movies ..nice write-ups for each one . Good packaging and makes a fab gift or a neat way to have alot of movies in a small space...Just one stinker in the bunch...Bowling for Columbine..don t know what that nutcase's movie is doing in with these classics??!! Geez

With all the films in their library, UA could have done better. There are some great movies here, some average, and believe-it-or not "Bowling for Columbine". What were they thinking.

It is a wonderful collection of some very relevant and important pieces of american filmography.

Bowling for Columbine? Are you serious? In UA's massive library, they couldn't round out 30 films without Bowling for Columbine? Are they that hard up for thirty films? Anyway, thus the two-star deduction.

In another note, I wonder if this is the set that Barack Obama gave British PM Gordon Brown for his introductory gift. Brown gave him a priceless pen set made from the wood of a former British 1800's slave ship, as well as the framed original charter of another ship. B.O. cheaped out and bought him some DVDs. If he'd waited, he could've got them on Gold Box special!