Search - Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection (Lifeboat / Spellbound / Notorious / The Paradine Case / Sabotage / Young and Innocent / Rebecca / The Lodger) on DVD

Great transfers, but MGM should recall the set

David Pattern | Huddersfield, UK | 10/29/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is a fantasic set, featuring some of the best transfers I've seen and some great new extras... however, it's becoming clear that MGM needs to recall this set a.s.a.p. In the set I bought, three of the discs refuse to play completely in my standalone DVD player, and the other jitter and jump occasionally.

I run the Alfred Hitchcock Wiki site and I've received dozens of emails and messages from people who've bought the set and are unable to play one or more of the discs. Clearly whoever handled the physical manufacturing of the DVDs has foobar'd big time.

Ideally I'd have given this set 5 stars but, under the cirmcustances, I've got to say "buyer beware" and that you should wait for MGM to recall the set."

I love it, but there are problems!

C Wahlman | Merrillville, IN | 10/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I received my collection last night and what a treat!

I love the casing. I think the plastic case is durable and great. The spiral notebook feature could not be nicer.

However, I too had problems getting the discs out without scratching them. And I watched Notorious last night ... well at least I tried to.
About an hour into the film the most unbearable stops, starts, pixels, lack of sound all started destroying the movie!

Right when Dev and Alicia get out of the wine cellar and are in the garden devising a way to get out of the situation, the picture becomes distorted. After a while it returns to normal, only to start up again! Whole scenes are skipped until the final scene.

The disc is defective and Rebecca looks as though it is too : ((.

A replacement should already be on the way (thank you Amazon!), but I warn you to check the discs carefully right away.

Hitchcock and the movies are amazing nonetheless.

***UPDATE***

Even after replacements, still the same problems! Notorious is unplayable from certain scenes in the scene selection option on the menu. I have watched every other DVD in the collection and although there were some slight distortions, nothing as bad as Notorious.

I am so disappointed in this product.

***Update for the Update***
I have finally received a quality product. It took a very long time, and many attempts to get it. I think Amazon has discovered the bad batch and removed them from their stock. Thank goodness too, right in time for the holidays!"

YES, YES, YES!!!

Alex B. Parrish | Lexington, KY USA | 08/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had just started to think that it wasn't possible.

This collection truly bridges the gap in the Hitchcock freak's DVD collection. Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound and The Paradine Case having been out of print for a little while now, I'd gladly buy the collection just for those. Rebecca was Hitchcock's only Oscar win (best picture), and if any film of his needs to be in circulation, that's the one. Spellbound may have a little dated psycho-babble in it, but look beyond that: it's one of Hitchcock's most imaginative films, complete with a really cool dream sequence by Salvador Dali.

Those films aren't all we get, though. The Lodger is in there (Hitch's best silent film according to many), as well as two other old classics previously only available in public domain titles, Sabotage and Young and Innocent. Then you have Lifeboat... which as of this writing is, I think, the only film of the bunch that you can buy by itself.

All in all, a collection of Hitchcock films very much worth having. Thank you, MGM! You guys are my heroes!

****UPDATE*****

I got this in the mail today, after writing one review already about how excited I was about the films in this set that weren't available... and I'm still thrilled with that. This review will focus completely on the 8-disc set itself, the transfers, and the packaging.

I'll start with the packaging: it sucks. Big time. How manufacturers continue to produce this expensive sets and package the DVDs in cardboard sleeves is BEYOND me. I opened the set, saw the cardboard sleeves, and quickly removed the discs from the sleeves and put them in a slim case for shelving. As careful as I was... and I was VERY careful... I still ended up scratching the discs a little. I popped the discs in to check to see if, slight as the scratches were, they affected playback... and they seem to play fine. Still, I have a set that's 2 hours in my possession, and the discs are scuffed... and that bothers me.

They made an effort at cool packaging which caused this... the discs come in a very cool spiral-bound book that has a few pages on each movie, and then you flip to where the disc sets. I admire the design, I even like the book, but it would have been better served if the movies were OUTSIDE it. In cases, maybe? Anyway.

The transfers seem very, very good. Given a lot of these movies are probably from significantly degraded transfers, I have to applaud the restoration efforts. I've watched The Paradine Case and am now watching Young and Innocent... Paradine was practically spotless, Young and Innocent looks the same. Audio is crisp, noise and film scratches are gone. I'm impressed... this set will make a dandy replacement for the Criterion set featuring Notorious, Spellbound and Rebecca, assuming the same standards hold throughout the set.

All in all, I'd have still bought the set, it's the only way to get a lot of these movies, and the quality is good. I really wish I'd been in the marketing meeting when they decided on the blasted cardboard sleeves, but what can ya do, ya know?"

Defective DVD's

Jakadoo | NJ United States | 10/26/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I've been ordering from Amazon since they started. This is the first product I've ever returned. The buzzing, humming and vibrating occurs on several of the DVD's. I've asked for a replacement, but based on the other reviews, it seems I'll eventually be looking for a refund. It's a shame as I've been wanting many of the movies in the set. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I'm not hopeful about this set.

Addendum: I returned the Premiere Collection for a refund. I purchased the single copy versions of Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious. Only Rebecca will not play in my DVD player. It plays without a problem in a friend's DVD player, so I will keep it for now. When I buy a new DVD player, I'll bring Rebecca along and try to find a player in which it will work. Alot of effort to simply watch one of my favorite movies, but well worth it."