Kino Lorber Studio Classics: Alfred Hitchcock Releases

[dustybooks]

It will be nice to finally discard my bad pseudo-PD copies of these, although with Rich and Strange gone I don’t have strongly positive memories of any of the included titles, though I remember liking all except The Farmer’s Wife. But I’m a Hitchcock completist so I will be happy to have better quality copies, and I’m looking forward to the Pinkerton commentary.

[L.A.]

Beaver.

[TMDaines]

I really want this. Don't particularly understand why they all remain unreleased in the UK.

[Calvin]

I really want this. Don't particularly understand why they all remain unreleased in the UK.

Seeing as they're owned by Studio Canal, I hope that Indicator would have licensed them in their recent deal. I'm sure they'd relish the chance to work on some Hitchcock.

[htdm]

And hopefully with the addition of Easy Virtue.

[MichaelB]

And hopefully with the addition of Easy Virtue.

Owned by ITV, which is presumably why it's not in this box and why it wouldn't be in a hypothetical UK equivalent either.

(The early Hitchcocks are divvied up between ITV and StudioCanal depending on which ended up with the relevant production company catalogue. And if it's ITV, the most likely label to release it is Network.)

[kcota17]

Hopefully a UK release of Blackmail is more adequately presented on blu-ray

[FrauBlucher]

A Hitchcock I've never seen....

Kino Lorber will release on Blu-ray Alfred Hitchcock's Number Seventeen (1932), starring Leon M. Lion, Anne Grey, John Stuart, Donald Calthrop, and Barry Jones. The release will be available for purchase on December 7.

Description: In an empty London house, a hobo named Ben (Leon M. Lion) looks for shelter—but instead finds a corpse. When a detective (John Stuart) shows up, he questions Ben, but is interrupted when a girl (Ann Casson) falls through the roof. Her father has vanished, and she's received an inscrutable telegram that mentions both the house and a missing necklace. Soon more suspicious characters turn up, all looking for the necklace, and none of them who they claim to be. With its exhilarating climactic chase sequence and masterful mix of suspense, scares and humor, Number Seventeen is pure, classic Hitchcock!

Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM COMPLETED BY THE BFI
NEW Audio Commentary by critic Peter Tonguette
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Icon Interviews Icon (Audio)
Hitchcock: The Early Years – Documentary
Hitchcock Trailers

[dustybooks]

It’s a virtually incomprehensible film, likely Hitchcock’s worst for me, but some (including William K. Everson!) have championed it. It’s also quite possible that I dislike it primarily because the prints I’ve seen over the years have been dreadful, though this certainly didn’t do much to help The Farmer’s Wife.

All the same, I am looking forward to the release! Hoping for Rich and Strange to finally be announced as well. (Edit: I see now that it was announced today for Dec. 7th!)

[L.A.]

All the same, I am looking forward to the release! Hoping for Rich and Strange to finally be announced as well. (Edit: I see now that it was announced today for Dec. 7th!)

Coming December 7th on Blu-ray & DVD!
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/rich ... ai-blu-ray

Rich and Strange (1931) aka East of Shanghai
• Brand New 4K Restoration by the BFI
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Critic Nick Pinkerton
• Hitchcock/Truffaut: Icon Interviews Icon (Audio)
• Hitchcock Trailers

B&W 83 Minutes 1.20:1 Not Rated
Rich and Strange, also known as East of Shanghai, is the splendid seafaring comedy from legendary director Alfred Hitchcock’s early years in the British film industry. Fred Hill (Henry Kendall) and his wife Emily (Joan Barry) lead a boring existence in the London suburbs. When the Hills come into an inheritance from a wealthy uncle, Fred quits his mundane job and they embark on a world cruise to get a taste of the high life. But all does not go as planned as the couple’s voyage becomes fraught with treacherous romantic duplicities. Money does not buy happiness when Hitchcock steers the ship! A visually dazzling and slyly hilarious portrait of a marriage in crisis, Rich and Strange is a one-of-a-kind classic from the Master of Suspense!

[Finch]

Anyone care to chime in about the worth of the sound version of Blackmail compared to the silent version? I only watched the silent which I loved, and the Kino BD at least presents the silent version in the correct ratio. According to Kino's specs, the sound version is 9 minutes longer. Does it have more footage? You'd think the silent cut would be longer with the intertitles. Or did Kino get the running times mixed up? I'm kinda getting tired of waiting for a UK label getting round to releasing this film (though with my luck, Indicator licensed this from Studio Canal and announce it next month) and I'd be quite happy with the silent version unless someone can make a case for the sound version to be equally good or better.

[hearthesilence]

Anyone care to chime in about the worth of the sound version of Blackmail compared to the silent version? I only watched the silent which I loved, and the Kino BD at least presents the silent version in the correct ratio. According to Kino's specs, the sound version is 9 minutes longer. Does it have more footage? You'd think the silent cut would be longer with the intertitles. Or did Kino get the running times mixed up? I'm kinda getting tired of waiting for a UK label getting round to releasing this film (though with my luck, Indicator licensed this from Studio Canal and announce it next month) and I'd be quite happy with the silent version unless someone can make a case for the sound version to be equally good or better.

I can't remember the specifics of the sound version, but I was really underwhelmed by the changes. The silent version really is THE one to have if you had to pick between the two, so I think of the inclusion of the sound version as a "bonus."

[swo17]

Doesn't the sound version contain completely different takes?

[Finch]

Thank you, hearthesilence!

[Roscoe]

Anyone care to chime in about the worth of the sound version of Blackmail compared to the silent version? I only watched the silent which I loved, and the Kino BD at least presents the silent version in the correct ratio. According to Kino's specs, the sound version is 9 minutes longer. Does it have more footage? You'd think the silent cut would be longer with the intertitles. Or did Kino get the running times mixed up? I'm kinda getting tired of waiting for a UK label getting round to releasing this film (though with my luck, Indicator licensed this from Studio Canal and announce it next month) and I'd be quite happy with the silent version unless someone can make a case for the sound version to be equally good or better.

The chief differences, as I recall, between the sound and silent versions (other than the obvious) come in the scene leading up the killing, in the painter's apartment. He's a lot more insinuating, somehow, and more sinister. There's one shot taken over his shoulder as he approaches a cowering Alice that isn't in the sound version at all.

[Jack Phillips]

Anyone care to chime in about the worth of the sound version of Blackmail compared to the silent version? I only watched the silent which I loved, and the Kino BD at least presents the silent version in the correct ratio. According to Kino's specs, the sound version is 9 minutes longer. Does it have more footage? You'd think the silent cut would be longer with the intertitles. Or did Kino get the running times mixed up? I'm kinda getting tired of waiting for a UK label getting round to releasing this film (though with my luck, Indicator licensed this from Studio Canal and announce it next month) and I'd be quite happy with the silent version unless someone can make a case for the sound version to be equally good or better.

I can't remember the specifics of the sound version, but I was really underwhelmed by the changes. The silent version really is THE one to have if you had to pick between the two, so I think of the inclusion of the sound version as a "bonus."

Maybe. But Hitchcock's first experiments with sound are in the talkie version, some are quite innovative, and I wouldn't ever want to give those up.

[Finch]

Thank you all for the feedback; I appreciate it so much. I got Blackmail along with Charley Varrick, Canyon Passage and Port of Shadows (which I thought I had the Studio Canal of, but did not) in the Kino sale earlier today (shipping was $11 but I can live with that; couldn't find two more titles to take it over $50).