The Val Lewton Horror Collection

[Hofmeister]

A wonderful rollercoaster of a boxset - I just hope Warner put out Lewton's other two RKO pictures on another double bill disc at some point.

That would be nice. Plus, they could combine them with the other two pictures he made for MGM. We then could have double-bills of Youth Runs Wild with Please Believe Me and Mademoiselle Fifi with Apache Drums.

The excellent quality of WB's Lewton set makes the lack of these four titles all the more palpable. That's why I find it pertinent to this discussion that both Youth Runs Wild and Mademoiselle Fifi are available in R2. The editions are not perfect but not shabby either. I tried to post information on them here but the entry was moved to the "international DVD discussion" area; this was most likely because it referred to non-WB releases of these RKO films. A logical move, although it ignores the logic of this thread. To avoid cross-posting, I'll just insert this link to the post. Hope this is of interest.

[manicsounds]

This goes out to anyone who has bought the "new" set: are the discs housed in slimpacks?

Nope, its the same thick box as before, with the new documentary in a keepcase packaged next to it

[Le Samouraï]

Sorry, but do I understand you correctly? The new disc is not *in* the box itself, just packaged with it?

[Belmondo]

Sorry, but do I understand you correctly? The new disc is not *in* the box itself, just packaged with it?

Correct - I saw it in the store; same box with the new disc beside it, all shrink wrapped together.

[devlinnn]

This new Kent Jones documentary on Lewton (for 'Manny') is simply magnificent. Deeply heartfelt, intelligent, beautifully edited and constructed, it's one of the finest films of 'Movie History' I've ever seen, and just wants to make you live in the films again, and again. Scorsese's wonderful narration is the cherry on the cake.

[sevenarts]

a review of The Leopard Man

[onedimension]

Any info on whether these will come out on blu at some point?

[Finch]

The Leopard Man would have to be restored properly though. The print used for the DVD was in not-so-good shape, all the more frustrating for me because it is my favourite in the set.

[manicsounds]

wasn't there a Val Lewton title released on Blu-ray somewhere? I thought I read that somewhere.

[eatandoph]

Hi all — I've been having playback issues with my Val Lewton discs bought back in 2005. Visually the discs look fine, so I'm wondering if others have had issues with discs becoming unplayable with age.

[HerrSchreck]

From overuse, yeah. But not from simple age--but it might be possible.

If you have more than one player, try shifting it over to another one. Sometimes one player's reader doesn't like a disc, but another will play it.

[domino harvey]

It sounds like another disintegrating Warners disc

[hearthesilence]

From overuse, yeah.

"Overuse" can make a disc unplayable? How much is overuse? I didn't know that was possible, I've had CD's where the same track was played God knows how many times, and they still play fine, so I figured it was the same with DVD's as they'd be physically similar enough.

FWIW, I had the old DVD of The Hustler which was played probably a dozen times within a year, and then it started to have playback issues where it stalled at a specific chapter. It worsened quickly and soon it wouldn't play past that point, and yet the disc itself still looked pristine. I figured it was a defective disc though.

[Jonathan S]

In my Lewton set, the Cat People disc has developed misty concentric circles on the underside but a quick skim through suggests it's okay for now. Maybe that's irrelevant, as the completely unplayable Warner discs I have found had no blemishes on the playing surfaces.

Despite several reports of this Warner DVD rot problem on forums, such as here (scroll down for pics) and here, there doesn't seem to have been any scientific investigation, or comment from Warner - or have I missed it?

FWIW, I had the old DVD of The Hustler which was played probably a dozen times within a year, and then it started to have playback issues where it stalled at a specific chapter. It worsened quickly and soon it wouldn't play past that point, and yet the disc itself still looked pristine. I figured it was a defective disc though.

The Hustler is a Fox title and note that, in the first of those links, rotted Fox DVDs are also mentioned.

[HerrSchreck]

From overuse, yeah.

"Overuse" can make a disc unplayable? How much is overuse? I didn't know that was possible, I've had CD's where the same track was played God knows how many times, and they still play fine, so I figured it was the same with DVDs as they'd be physically similar enough.

FWIW, I had the old DVD of The Hustler which was played probably a dozen times within a year, and then it started to have playback issues where it stalled at a specific chapter. It worsened quickly and soon it wouldn't play past that point, and yet the disc itself still looked pristine. I figured it was a defective disc though.

Well er, when I mean overuse... I mean OVER U S E. There's another member here (not David or Knappen or such) here in NY that is mostly background shadow nowadays who has seen my discs and what I do/did to them, especially back then in my years of most extreme cinephilia. We did some trading that was so heavy that we pretty much completely plugged opposing holes in our collections, but I was pre-burning pre ripping knowledge days. So I would walk in with a heap of extremely beat up old discs that made a spalted maple guitar look clean and smooth.

How much is overuse? There are some discs like EARTH, or Kino Esper stuff, or some of the original Universal Horror DVD's, especially the silly sequels that I used to use like nightlights/lullabies, every night. The disc with HOuse of/Ghost of Frankenstein was played at least 250 nights on one year alone, and it took that kind of use for years. I can't get anything out of them now. They would not only play the films every night but would sit there spinning away for another 4-5 hours after the film ended running the menu cycle after I fell asleep.

12 plays a year is not overuse imho. That's light use by any videodisc library/service's accounting.

[Rsdio]

I've just skimmed through the chapters on mine and everything seems fine, though the surfaces of a couple of the discs look a little bit 'off'. One has large, almost cross-hatched lines on it and the other has a series of small circles near the outer edge.

Hope the noir box sets are alright too. Warners were really on a roll around that time as I recall.

[HerrSchreck]

Second half of the first decade of the 2000's? Everyone was on a roll. Criterion, Kino, MoC, Ed Filmmuseum plus Image Ent who I miss terribly in the form they were back then, releasing tons of silents. Milestone.. it goes on and on. And yes, WB was rolling out the good stuff in droves, albeit pissing off people waiting for the Sjostroms, more Chaney, Greed, and the like.

[Gregory]

I recently loaned out my 2005 Cat People disc to a couple of friends, then watched it again myself, and there were no problems with it. So far, I've had problems with a few WAC burned discs not playing on multiple devices but no issues with pressed WHV DVDs becoming unplayable.

[unclehulot]

I've got problems playing "The Ghost Ship" on that disc. Never played it, and it looks visually fine. I tried a library copy I was able to locate (which looks to be in new condition) and it has identical issues. I was unable to "rip" either copy to my HD either. Is there any recourse from WB on this kind of thing?

[Stephen]

Some similar problems here. I brought the updated edition 5 years ago and attempted to play some disks last weekend for the first time. Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie all wouldn't play on 3 different multi region devices. I wasn't sure that this was a known issue and put it down to bad luck hoping that Criterion or Warner Archive would come to the rescue in the future.

[oldsheperd]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one as I've had the same issues with my Val Lewton set.

[Paul Moran]

Lucky me. I bought the original 2005 version in November 2013 (!) from amazon.com. It still seems to be OK. All 5 discs load correctly on my bedroom Oppo 103EU, and I've "chapter skipped" through the 9 films and the doc without any problems.

[sabbath]

Just done the same thing and luckily my box set was OK.

But I'm familiar with the problem since I've lost several other Warner DVDs, mainly from Warner Gangsters Collection. But the most painful loss was my TCM Archives: Lon Chaney Collection which I couldn't afford a new one.

BTW, while checking out my Val Lewton box, I had to admit that now they look messy on my new TV. Damn it, Criterion. You and your missed opportunities.

[domino harvey]

This is a common problem with all Warners DVDs. It's random, and could hit any DVD you have from them. One copy of a title will be fine, and another effected. If you own a lot of Warner DVDs you haven't checked lately, I guarantee you have a couple that have succumbed in the interim

[Never Cursed]

Do any of the Blus have the same problem, or is it just the DVDs?