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I've just been watching some of these wonderful looking sets of early Hitchcock (see DVDbeaver.com in the reviews section). The silents are leaps and bounds better than the versions I've seen, certainly.

However, once again, the French restoration-eurs have seen fit to tinker with the audio in the sound films! I first thought something was afoot during TCM's recent airing of Murder, which I suspected being from these Studio Canal masterings....the audio was full of extraneous added sound effects... various clanks, footsteps and paper scratchings, which for me, really takes me out of the experience of what Hitchcock put onto celluloid. The issue should be the clarity of the dialogue, which IS much improved in Murder, but that should be enough, please... none of this IMPROVING on Hitchcock crap! Well, I'm afraid Rich and Strange is full of more of the same. I don't have the set with Blackmail, but if they've tinkered with that classic of early sound design I think I'll puke! Maybe they've added special KNIFE sounds for that famous scene! Yecch!

Anyhow, I say, the French have done it again, because the recent set of the Pagnol trilogy that Kino ported for release here, is also full of this kind of chicanery, and it stopped me dead in my tracks on the way to sell my old LD's of those films! The worst thing is that critics seem utterly unaware of what is being done. Or they don't care, I suppose.

I haven't seen the Hitchcocks yet (and will hesitate before buying them now), but I agree about the French Pagnol set. The sound effects that the restorers appear to have added are indeed very distracting, the more so since the original sound has degraded so much. In some scenes you can bearly make out the dialogue, while every footstep and scrape of a chair is sharp and clear.

If restorers insist on doing this kind of thing, they could at least leave us the unmodified audio as a DVD option.

Kinsayder wrote:If restorers insist on doing this kind of thing, they could at least leave us the unmodified audio as a DVD option.

"Restoration" seems quite the wrong term for this kind of idiotic vandalism: how about "renovation" (as in knocking out all the internal walls of your Victorian villa in order to install a pool room)?

I tried to run a search but came up empty -- I was gonna pick up the HItchcock early years box set (from a company called Delta) which includes his silent films (lodger etc.) but was wondering about the quality of the materials. Anyone own this set? Thanks.

Delta, along with companies like Brentwood, Laserlight, Oldies, and Aplah, are shite in quality.

They take very bad quality elements to make their cheap public domain boxsets. If you want good quality, then I'd rather recommend the German boxset from Kinowelt..... But if you want to just check them out, go for el cheapo boxset

Or French sets from Studio Canal

For the early Hitch go for the Concord R2 box set ("Early Years"), the R2 Arthaus "Blackmail" DVD and the French Studio Canal discs. Then get Criterion's 39 Steps and you're set for the 20s and 30s.

I just went through all of the available information that I could find about Hitchcock's films on DVD in order to ferret out the best ones (irregardless of region and PAL/NTSC issues). Here is what I have come up with, which may be of use:

1. The Pleasure Garden - only as bootlegs (recommended from hardtofindfilms)
2. The Mountain Eagle - destroyed
3. The Lodger - German The Early Years (note 1)
4. The Ring - R2 Studio Canal set
5. Downhill - German The Early Years
6. Champagne - R2 Studio Canal
7. Easy Virtue - they all suck (Laserlight is probably the easiest to find)
8. The Farmer's Wife - R2 Studio Canal set
9. Blackmail - R2 Studio Canal set
9.A. Blackmail (silent) - ArtHaus German version
10. The Manxman - R2 Studio Canal
11. Juno and the Paycock - they all suck; various skanky public domain releases, also on R2 Universal 1934 Man Who Knew Too Much (noted as a poor transfer, but perhaps superior to the other losers)
12. Murder! - R2 Studio Canal
13. The Skin Game - R2 Studio Canal
14. Mary (German version of Murder!) - Comes with ArtHaus Murder! release but no English subs; also comes with French Universal Jamaica Inn release (with French subs)
15. Rich and Strange - R2 Studio Canal
16. Number Seventeen - R2 Studio Canal
17. Waltzes from Vienna - lame French TV bootleg from hardtofindfilms
18. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - UK Carlton (OOP) or German The Early Years; French Universal version includes Juno and the Paycock (poor transfer)
19. The 39 Steps - Criterion
20. Secret Agent - German The Early Years
21. Sabotage - German The Early Years
22. Young and Innocent - German The Early Years
23. The Lady Vanishes - German The Early Years is better than Criterion
24. Jamaica Inn - R2 Carlton (aka Granada Ventures) or French Universal (Note 2)
25. Rebecca - Criterion
26. Foreign Correspondent - Signature Collection
27. Mr & Mrs Smith - Signature Collection
28. Suspicion - Signature Collection
29. Saboteur - Masterpiece Collection
30. Shadow of a Doubt - Masterpiece Collection
31. Aventure malgache - Image (sucks)
32. Bon Voyage - Image (sucks)
33. Lifeboat - R1 Fox or R2 with tin and second disc (Amazon.co.uk won't deliver it to US though Bensons will)
34. Spellbound - Criterion
35. Notorious - Criterion
36. The Paradine Case - German EuroVideo version or new R2 UK Prism version (probably same as their initial R2 release now OOP)
37. Rope - Masterpiece Collection
38. Under Capricorn - R2 French Universal
39. Stage Fright - Signature Collection
40. Strangers on a Train - Signature Collection
41. I Confess - Signature Collection
42. Dial M for Murder - Signature Collection
43. Rear Window - Masterpiece Collection
44. To Catch a Thief - Paramount
45. The Trouble with Harry - Masterpiece Collection
46. The Man Who Knew Too Much - Masterpiece Collection
47. The Wrong Man - Signature Collection
48. Vertigo - Masterpiece Collection
49. North by Northwest - Signature Collection
50. Psycho - Masterpiece Collection
51. The Birds - Masterpiece Collection
52. Marnie - Masterpiece Collection
53. Torn Curtain - Masterpiece Collection
54. Topaz - Masterpiece Collection
55. Frenzy - Masterpiece Collection
56. Family Plot - Masterpiece Collection

Note 1: This is reputed to be the best version of The Lodger, but it is noted as being run at the wrong speed (sped up). That doesn't sound too great to me.
Note 2: I have not seen a comparison between these versions of Jamaica Inn, and they may in fact be the same transfer. The French Universal one includes Mary (with French subs) and also has the usual forced French subtitle issue many other French DVD releases have. Therefore the British Carlton DVD may be the superior choice.

The total price is around $550, ordering from the various regional Amazons for DVDs outside the US, and wherever is cheapest on dvdpricesearch.com within the US.

I updated this list to include some different recommendations for the foreign DVDs and to reflect the availability of some bootleg versions

Thanks for that list ximenes, that's going to help me also.
Cheers.

Can anyone confirm that the recommended R2 Jamaica Inn is the longer version as presented on the R1 Image disc (which is 10 mins. longer than the other US editions)? Perhaps with PAL speedup they really are the same. In any case, if one is limited to US versions, the Delta IS cut, so can't be recommended to those on a budget kick, despite similar image (crappy) quality.

Nice list, ximenes.

ximenes wrote:1. The Pleasure Garden - not available (except as bootlegs)

And these look quite good, give the rarity and age. Any reason why this one is MIA?

ximenes wrote:11. Juno and the Paycock - they all suck

No. The R2 Studio Canal is quite nice, if I remember correctly.

ximenes wrote:14. Mary (German version of Murder!) - Comes with ArtHaus release but no English subs

But that's the whole point, isn't it? I mean, if you want to see the film in English, watch Murder!

ximenes wrote:17. Waltzes from Vienna - not available]

It's available as a bootleg, but in VERY bad quality, taped from French TV (yes, it's dubbed in French). Obviously no subs.

denti alligator wrote:

ximenes wrote:11. Juno and the Paycock - they all suck

No. The R2 Studio Canal is quite nice, if I remember correctly.

Nope, it's not in any of those sets.

denti alligator wrote:Nice list, ximenes.

ximenes wrote:1. The Pleasure Garden - not available (except as bootlegs)

And these look quite good, give the rarity and age. Any reason why this one is MIA?

I wasn't aware that the bootlegs were worth anything. Theres one for $30 from http://shop.vendio.com/hardtofindfilms/category/23/ and another for $45 from http://www.alfredsplace.com/pleasure.htm

I would be inclined to order the first one. $45 for a DVD-R is pretty absurd (and some people sort of look down on alfredsplace.com).

denti alligator wrote:

ximenes wrote:11. Juno and the Paycock - they all suck

No. The R2 Studio Canal is quite nice, if I remember correctly.

Unfortunately it isn't on the Studio Canal sets. The newest version is a British DVD from Waterfall, who are pretty much comparable to Delta and Madacy from what I've read. For instance, its a R2 DVD but is NTSC; I bet people in Britain really appreciate that.

denti alligator wrote:

ximenes wrote:14. Mary (German version of Murder!) - Comes with ArtHaus release but no English subs

But that's the whole point, isn't it? I mean, if you want to see the film in English, watch Murder!

Well, they're actually two different movies (different actors and some scenes are restaged), and I don't speak German fluently, so it would be nice to have subtitles.

denti alligator wrote:

ximenes wrote:17. Waltzes from Vienna - not available]

It's available as a bootleg, but in VERY bad quality, taped from French TV (yes, it's dubbed in French). Obviously no subs.

Yeah, I'm definitely not paying top dollar for that one. It is available from the same two sources as The Pleasure Garden though.

It was supposed to be an extra on the new French Jamaica Inn DVD, but wound up not being true. Oh well.

unclehulot wrote:Can anyone confirm that the recommended R2 Jamaica Inn is the longer version as presented on the R1 Image disc (which is 10 mins. longer than the other US editions)? Perhaps with PAL speedup they really are the same. In any case, if one is limited to US versions, the Delta IS cut, so can't be recommended to those on a budget kick, despite similar image (crappy) quality.

I haven't actually purchased it yet, but dvdfr.com claims that the French Universal Jamaica Inn DVD runs 108 minutes (http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f24554_la_tave ... aique.html) while the R1 Image disc runs 99 minutes. The British Carlton version is 95 minutes (which is acceptable based on the PAL speedup).

I see that someone is claiming the French Universal and British Carlton releases appear to be from the same print, and the British Carlton one is noted as being complete. This is also one of many French releases with forced French subtitles, although this can usually be dealt with by playing on a computer rather than a standalone DVD player.

Since the French Jamaica Inn also contains Mary (and is double layer), it may not actually be any improvement at all over the British disc.

If you wanted Mary, the German Murder!/Mary release from ArtHaus might make more sense (although still no English subtitles) than the French Jamaica Inn; although if you don't speak German you may as well just stick with the Murder! that comes with the Studio Canal release I think.

There is currently a French partwork series (magazine + DVD) of Hitchcock films, which is to include Le Chant du Danube (Waltzes from Vienna) and The Pleasure Garden (both announced but not yet published).

More information, including purchase links and reviews of some of the titles, in this French discussion thread.

This is the full list of titles in the series:



Incidentally, a DVD of The Pleasure Garden was recently posted at alt.binaries.multimedia.vintage-film. This is from the info file that came with the post:

"The Pleasure Garden" is taken from a very good quality print which nevertheless
shows some burned out details. These faults can be ignored easily enough given
the rarity of the movie, which is currently available only from bootleg
sources. The original source for this particular version may have been a
television broadcast, as evidenced by the ubiquitous logo at the top right of
the screen, but I am not certain of this. The opening titles state that the
print is from the Raymond Rohauer collection and was restored ca. 1981.
Examination of the VOB files in VirtualDubMod reveals that the original source
for this encode was PAL and conversion to NTSC was achieved by repeating every
fifth frame. There's apparently another bootleg DVD of this movie floating
around, taken from a German television broadcast and with less footage:
http://www.daveyp.com/hitchcock/wiki/Image:0302.gif . Picture quality on that
release is clearly inferior to this one. However, that version appears to
include Hitchcock's original title cards, which are replaced in this version of
the movie by generic intertitles with burned in Japanese (?) language subtitles.