Lionsgate: Alfred Hitchcock Collection

[jmj713]

[htdm]

For extensive photos of box art, cover art, menus, and screen shots of each title click here.

[zombeaner]

That looks lovely

[daveyp]

Hi everyone

I've just added screen shots for the upcoming French release of "Walzes from Vienna" to the site:

Le Chant du Danube (1934) - Universal (France, 2007)

The DVD has separate English and French audio tracks, as well as French subtitles. The French audio track is taken from the same version as the previously available bootlegs -- that version had about 10 minutes of footage missing, so the French dub on the new DVD occasionally changes to English (with player generated French subtitles).

Enjoy!

[Kinsayder]

Thanks for the screen shots and the magnificent site!

[Greathinker]

I didn't see a thread. Has anyone got their hands on the new R1 set and is able to give impressions? I'm eager to know if it's quality or not.

[leo goldsmith]

I've just added screen shots for the upcoming French release of "Walzes from Vienna" to the site:

Le Chant du Danube (1934) - Universal (France, 2007)

The DVD has separate English and French audio tracks, as well as French subtitles. The French audio track is taken from the same version as the previously available bootlegs -- that version had about 10 minutes of footage missing, so the French dub on the new DVD occasionally changes to English (with player generated French subtitles).

Hold up a second there, Dave. This DVD have Downhill on it as well?! Am I reading this correctly?

If so, that is one hell of a special feature.

[Miguel]

I've just added screen shots for the upcoming French release of "Walzes from Vienna" to the site:

Le Chant du Danube (1934) - Universal (France, 2007)

The DVD has separate English and French audio tracks, as well as French subtitles. The French audio track is taken from the same version as the previously available bootlegs -- that version had about 10 minutes of footage missing, so the French dub on the new DVD occasionally changes to English (with player generated French subtitles).

Hold up a second there, Dave. This DVD have Downhill on it as well?! Am I reading this correctly?

If so, that is one hell of a special feature.

Indeed it is.

Universal France also included Mary (aka the German version of Murder!) as a special feature on their release of Jamaica Inn.

[Matt]

Has anyone got their hands on the new R1 set and is able to give impressions? I'm eager to know if it's quality or not.

Here are some very random, rushed screencaps. Overall, it looks extremely good, especially considering the price.

[justeleblanc]

Thanks Matt, they look pretty good. Any signs of poor conversions?

[Matt]

Thanks Matt, they look pretty good. Any signs of poor conversions?

I didn't really watch enough of them to provide an informed opinion, but I didn't see any ghosting or combing apparent (and if there's ghosting or combing present, my laptop will be sure to display it).

Here are the running times (starting after the Studio Canal logo), but I'm not sure how long the movies are supposed to be, so I don't know if these discs show evidence of PAL speedup:

The Manxman: 1:23:09
The Ring: 1:29:16
The Skin Game: 1:21:58
Murder!: 1:41:47
Rich and Strange: 1:22:50

Can anyone help?

Creepy bonus: the "death mask" on the slipcover is embossed.

EDIT: Hmm, from the information available on TCMDB.com (which uses AFI catalog info), I calculate a 4% reduction in running time in The Skin Game but not in Rich and Strange. All the other listed running times are wildly different (not surprising concerning the silents at least).

EDIT 2: DVD Beaver's comparison of the Studio Canal DVD with the Lionsgate DVD of Manxman shows that it is not a converted PAL transfer. I would imagine this is the same for the rest of the films in the set and that any published running time for these films is not to be trusted.

[denti alligator]

Yes, love rounded corners too - but only square ones on the Optimum. Looks to be the same as existing Studio Canal R2 France.

Check this splendid site (already referenced in this thread): Alfred Hitchcock DVD Wiki for captures from the set and comparisons to other available versions...

That settles it. The Lionsgate is clearly the way to go. Let's hope the missing films are given the same treatment.

[justeleblanc]

Amazing news. Here's hoping the Renoir and the Godard are just as solid.

[daveyp]

Hi everyone and thanks for the welcome

Here's the running times of the R2 Studio Canal & Optimum releases and, for what it's worth, the R1 Delta/Laserlight...

Manxman:
01:20:06 - R2 PAL Studio Canal
01:20:03 - R2 PAL Optimum Releasing
01:50:28 - R1 NTSC Delta/Laserlight

The Ring:
01:25:51 - R2 PAL Studio Canal
01:25:51 - R2 PAL Optimum Releasing
01:28:57 - R1 NTSC Delta/Laserlight

The Skin Game:
01:18:57 - R2 PAL Studio Canal
01:18:54 - R2 PAL Optimum Releasing
01:19:03 - R1 NTSC Delta/Laserlight

Murder!:
01:37:56 - R2 PAL Studio Canal
01:38:00 - R2 PAL Optimum Releasing
01:32:48 - R1 NTSC Delta/Laserlight

Rich and Strange:
01:19:48 - R2 PAL Studio Canal
01:19:48 - R2 PAL Optimum Releasing
01:23:15 - R1 NTSC Delta/Laserlight

...I'm pretty sure that the Delta/Laserlight Manxman doesn't actually contain any extra footage, but when I get a spare afternoon I'll double-check!

I'm going to pick up my copy of the Lionsgate set from the post office today, but it'll be Sunday evening before I get chance to upload screengrabs and full details for all the transfers.

Leo -- the French "Waltzes" should have "Downhill" as an extra, but it wasn't there on the preview DVD that I've saw and in the previous batch of French Universal releases, announced extras weren't included on the final release. Having said that, I'm 95% sure that it will have "Downhill".

[daveyp]

Judging by the DVD Beaver grabs of "Manxman", it looks like the R1 transfer doesn't have the faint green-ish horizontal bars during the second half of the film.

When viewed on a PC with WinDVD 4, they are just visible:



If you tweak the hue and saturation in a graphics package, then you can see some of the colour noise -- in particular, there's a persistent horizontal bar about 1/4 from the top (cutting across Ondra's hair):



The default settings of PowerDVD 6 on a PC amplify these so that they are visible without any tweaking of the image:



Looking at the DVD Beaver comparison, the Studio Canal grabs also exhibit the bars:



...but there's no sign on the problem in the Lionsgate grabs, which appear to be truly greyscale.

(click on any of the images to view a large lossless PNG version)

[denti alligator]

Are you saying that the Optimum release also has this color noise?

It's really too bad the Lions Gate is missing those other films. And what about Easy Virtue? Why is that one missing from every one of these editions?

[daveyp]

Sorry, I posted the last one in a rush!

The color noise appears on both the Studio Canal and Optimum R2 DVDs. I didn't notice similar noise on any of the other transfers though, and half-wondered at the time if the Manxman transfer was made from two separate sources?

Sadly, there's not been a decent release of "Easy Virtue" on DVD yet, and I've not been able to track down who owns the rights. As it was a Gainsborough Pictures film, Granada International probably has the rights -- I've tried contacting them numerous times in the past, but they never respond.

Even sadder -- when I got to the Post Office, the Hitchcock set wasn't amongst the DVDs that I collected, so it will be a little longer before I add screenshots & details to the site

[daveyp]

I've seen one or two comments on other sites where reviewers have said that the Studio Canal/Optimum/Lionsgate version of "Murder!" is missing a couple of scenes from the end of the film -- these comments seem to be based on a comparison with the US version of the film, which is a different cut to UK theatrical print used by Studio Canal.

The US theatrical cut (which is the one used on R1 "public domain" DVDs) has over 10 minutes of footage missing from the main bulk of the film (see IMDB for more info), but has two extra scenes added to the end sequence (see this page for more info).

Unfortunately I don't have any information as to why the US version was recut -- presumably the US distributor felt that the ending required further explanation? I've no idea if the two added scenes were originally shot by Hitchcock (and then not used in the UK version), or if they were filmed afterwards (either by Hitchcock or someone else).

And, as a rebuff to the comments that the Studio Canal version of "Murder!" has a new Foley track, I posted the following over at HTF:

I've just ripped the audio tracks from both the Laserlight/Delta and Studio Canal "Murder!" DVDs and I honestly can't detect any added Foley effects.

You can listen to a comparison of the "tea scene" by downloading this MP3 file (5.34MB): tea.mp3

The left channel contains the Laserlight/Delta audio and the right channel contains the Studio Canal. Both channels have been normalised to 100%, and the Studio Canal (right) lags slightly behind.

You can see a visual comparison in these two images (click to view larger versions):





The second image (spectral frequency analysis) clearly shows the how much noise has been removed by the audio restoration.

The "tea scene" ends with a clock ringing out the hour (although the time shown looks to be 6:08!). Following this, the Studio Canal audio clearly has the sound of distant traffic (which ends with curtain rising at the theatre). The traffic sound is inaudible against the background hiss/noise in the Laserlight/Delta audio, but the spectral analysis indicates that it is there (although extremely faint). I'm guessing that the traffic sound was lost during the multiple format conversions that the US DVD has undergone (i.e. reduction print to video, then video to DVD), all of which will have degraded the original audio track.

The relative amplitude of the Foley noises when compared to the spoken dialogue is roughly the same in both audio tracks. However, in the Studio Canal version, the Foley noises stand out more than they do in the Laserlight/Delta as the background noise/hiss has been removed. I think this is the only reason why they seem louder in the restored audio track.

As a final comparison, here's a version in which I've attempted to remove background hiss/noise from the Laserlight/Delta audio: tea2.mp3

[Kinsayder]

Dave, that's very interesting. Thank you. Is it your opinion that there is no "Foley augmentation" on the other titles in the Studio Canal sets? In Rich and Strange, for example, at 25'22", the prominent tippety-tap footsteps (on a carpeted staircase!) sound distinctly inauthentic. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are modern additions to the Foley.

[daveyp]

Kinsayder, the "tea scene" in "Murder!" was the only example I'd seen given of added Foley and I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I don't believe anything has been added in that particular case.

"Rich and Strange" seems to be a different kettle of fish though...

The Laserlight/Delta does have an occasional dull footstep, but nothing like the Studio Canal track. Also, the noise of the door closing at 00:27:28 on the Studio Canal does not appear in the Laserlight.

The tune played on the squeeze box as they walk up the carpeted stairs is different on each audio track -- unfortunately neither even remotely resembles what the sailor appears to be playing on it! The sounds of the waves crashing against the side of the ship don't appear in the Laserlight.

If you listen to the line starting "Like to see a ship..." on the Studio Canal disc, then I think it's just possible to detect that the squeeze box tune changes as Percy Marmont speaks his lines. This would indicate that the audio track has been reconstructed.

There are a few other examples (e.g. the rickshaw ride) where the Laserlight/Delta audio track appears to be more "natural" (although it has lots of distracting bass noises) -- again, the Studio Canal audio sounds to have been reconstructed in that segment.

It would be interesting to know if the changes were made because (a) the original audio on the print used was damaged and needed to be rebuilt, or (b) the restorer felt he/she could improve on the original theatrical audio.

[unclehulot]

Thanks for the detailed comparison of that scene, and apologies for not being able to follow up some of my comments, made WAY back for Dave Kehr's blog, and several other forums. I've also posted this message at the HTF, so pardon those having to read it twice. The scene you excerpt is interesting, but is not one of the instances I noted, actually. It's very odd how they have picked and chosen some places to do this and others to leave untouched. I should qualify that if something VERY drastically has been done to isolate sounds against the background, squash ANY other "noise" and punch up the sound effects, that indeed is something different from what I described, but not necessarily any more desirable......it's not Hitchcock's careful sound balance......but it is not strictly added foley in THOSE cases.

Try this sequence (from Murder) though: at 8:15 in on the French Studio Canal disc. Now compare to 7:45 or so on the Delta. No matter how much you increase the volume on the Delta there are not the same shuffling and tapping footsteps that are VERY prominent (and I believe added) to the Studio Canal version (this is probably a bit later on the Lionsgate, without the PAL speedup, but is the scene just after the chiming clock. There's also, what seems to be an added train sound over the "owing to indisposition" sign.

Just past this at 8:25 on the Delta, when the screen is raised, there is NO sound effect at all here. Now listen to 8:52 on Studio Canal, and there is an added sound of the screen being raised.......I simply don't hear a vestige of this on the Delta.

At 11:38 on the Delta is a clip-clop effect......this HAS been left alone on the Studio Canal, probably because it's clearly audible, and is the right effect, and nothing could be ammended to provide what's "missing"......which SEEMS to be the reason all of this other stuff has been added.

Now, let's go to 19:22 on Delta. Some of these effects are audible here on both versions, but when the "guilty" pieces of paper are placed in piles, there are NO sound effects for that, whereas they have been added on the Studio Canal starting at around the 20:00 mark, with a VERY heavy hand! Same thing at 23:10 on the Studio Canal, compared to 22:34 on the Delta, NO pen or envelope sound effects!

That's all I've got time for now. If anyone can synch these areas of both versions up, then I'd be curious to see if my findings stand up, but I think they are plain to hear.

[daveyp]

unclehulot -- many thanks for the other examples! I'll do some similar comparisons for those scenes, although I'm beginning to be swayed that there are extra Foley in the Studio Canal transfers after listening to "Rich and Strange".

[denti alligator]

Davey

As soon as you're able to make caps of the Lions Gate set, let us know. I'm holding off purchasing it until I get a good look at all the films in the set compared to the Optimum and Studio Canal. Thanks.

[denti alligator]

Davey has caps of all the Lions Gate films up at his site. For my eyes, the Lions Gate are uniformly sharper, though Rich and Strange appears to be cropped at the bottom and right side. The Manxman is the only one that shows more of the negative than the Studio Canal or Optimum releases.

Gary (at the Beaver) insists the Studio Canal releases look better. Are my eyes deceiving me?

[daveyp]

For my eyes, the R1 "Manxman" is better too -- it's not often that I wouldn't agree with Gary!

Ignoring the colour noise, the R2 has less visible film grain and is also softer. Here are some comparisons:






(the last two show how "soft" the R2 is in the second half of the film, which made me wonder if the R2 transfer uses a combination of print and video sources)

And some comments about the other transfers...

Murder!
The R1 is cropped slightly tighter than the R2 releases -- it's very difficult to say if the R1 has more visible grain.



Rich and Strange
The R1 is cropped slightly tighter than R2 releases. The film grain in on a par with the German Arthaus release, which is slight sharper than the UK Optimum and French Studio Canal.



The Skin Game
Again, slightly tighter cropping and more visible grain. The R1 is sharper (e.g. the mesh of the veil).



The Ring
Same as before -- the grab below doesn't use the exact same frame, hence the slight change in brightness/contrast.



...and, just for fun, here's some comparisons with the Delta/Laserlight discs: