TCM Vault Collection

[knives]

That's Universal, not Sony though.

[domino harvey]

Re: zedz: Yes, which is why that doesn't seem to mean anything. Although, the fact that they're turned into DVD-Rs seems to be an unpublicized secret that's only out because of consumers who've gotten screwed (Movies Unlimited didn't even know about it when I had to return my Universal sets)

Re: knives: They say "Like the Universal titles," but the Universal titles didn't stay pressed, so their info is wonky

[knives]

I think the switch over is just fairly obscure at this point. I do hope Sony does better since I haven't the opportunity to pick up the UPA or Noir sets yet.

[Zaki]

What a shame that this collection, like the 3rd film noir set, has no close captioning or English subtitles. TCM lost me again as a customer.

[zedz]

Re: zedz: Yes, which is why that doesn't seem to mean anything. Although, the fact that they're turned into DVD-Rs seems to be an unpublicized secret that's only out because of consumers who've gotten screwed (Movies Unlimited didn't even know about it when I had to return my Universal sets)

Re: knives: They say "Like the Universal titles," but the Universal titles didn't stay pressed, so their info is wonky

Just to throw a spanner in the works (and exasperate domino completely), I just received an order from Movies Unlimited that included the latest Film Noir set and the Sirk collection. And the Sirk collection had pressed discs.

I don't know if I lucked onto an original batch, or is Universal rethought burning (for) their customers, but they're pressed discs.

[Max von Mayerling]

I'm very pleased with the UPA collection. I think the package is nicely put together, and it has a booklet that I think is quite informative and pretty well designed. I've never seen any of these cartoons before, but the source materials seem to be pretty good and the transfers look good. I thought Maltin's intro was decent, but I haven't yet dug into any of the commentaries. Other bonus features are cool but not voluminous.

I'd actually never seen a Magoo short and I didn't have the fondest memories of the tv show ... but I was really entertained by the Ragtime Bear and am now quite looking forward to a set of the Magoo shorts.

[knives]

The Magoo set seems to have run into some difficulties. Shout! was originally going to release them in July, but something occurred to make them pull it.

[Max von Mayerling]

There's a link on the Wikipedia Magoo entry that claims it is taking longer b/c they are trying to use better source materials. It also claims a release in late fall. Hopefully both things are true.

[domino harvey]

New set: 1930s Rarities (09/06)

"Million Dollar Legs" (1932) offers W.C. Fields as the president of a tiny mythical nation whose residents are all superior athletes and which intends to make a name for itself in the Olympics. Jack Oakie, Ben Turpin, Hugh Herbert co-star. "Belle Of The Nineties" (1934) stars Mae West as a New Orleans chanteuse who juggles romances with a boxer and a millionaire while avoiding her flirtatious boss. Johnny Mack Brown, Roger Pryor also star. Jack Benny gets his first lead in Raoul Walsh's "Artists & Models" (1937) as an adman out to rig a beauty contest in favor of his biggest client. Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino, Gail Patrick also star. The nautical adventure "Souls At Sea" (1937) showcases Gary Cooper as the first mate on an 1800s slave ship who takes command of the vessel and frees its captives in the wake of a rebellion. George Raft, Frances Dee, Henry Wilcoxon also star. 5 1/2 hrs. total on four discs. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; photo gallery.

[knives]

Are the later two available on their own elsewhere? I've already got the Fields and have no interest in the West.

[antnield]

Are the later two available on their own elsewhere? I've already got the Fields and have no interest in the West.

Souls at Sea was released in the UK by Eureka. Details here.

[matrixschmatrix]

Is Belle of the Nineties any good? It's a Leo McCarey from the middle of his hot streak, so it seems worth considering.

[zedz]

I think Mae West is more the auteur of those films than any of the credited directors. That said, Belle of the Nineties might be her best film, and I'm sure McCarey can take a lot of the credit for that.

[matrixschmatrix]

I think Mae West is more the auteur of those films than any of the credited directors. That said, Belle of the Nineties might be her best film, and I'm sure McCarey can take a lot of the credit for that.

That seems to be a common thread for some of McCarey's best work- certainly Duck Soup and Ruggles of Red Gap seem as much defined by their stars as by their director, and I really liked his Harold Lloyd vehicle The Milky Way. He got the best out of Charley Chase earlier in his career, too.

Knives, if you wind up picking up that set I'd gladly take Belle off your hands.

[zedz]

I think it's a credit to McCarey that he can accommodate such big personalities in 'his' work, playing to their strengths rather than (necessarily) his own, while simultaneously directing great films that more straightforwardly reflect his own personality. There are a lot of great directors who don't have that kind of flexibility.

[CR2]

I'm not a huge fan of Miss West, but the other stuff in that set sounds way too good to miss. Any chance to grab a box with Fields and Ida Lupino in it surely makes up for everything else as it is.

[domino harvey]

Mine's in transit as I type but am I reading the DVDBeaver review correctly and the Esther Williams movie in the Women in Danger set is really non-anamorphic?

[Ashirg]

You are correct. I posted the review and I can confirm that The Unguarded Moment is letterboxed and piss-poor quality.

[vsski]

I talked with TCM Customer Service today and asked the question as to whether they can tell if a disc I'm ordering is a pressed disc or a DVD-R and I was told in no uncertain terms that if a pressed disc has reverted to a DVD-R and the initial run is sold out, that it would clearly show this on the technical specs tab of the respective disc and the format DVD would be replaced with DVD (MOD).
While it is correct that all the Warner Archives titles they are selling are labeled as MODs none of the the Sony's and Universal's I looked at show any MOD classification. Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.

Is it safe to assume that the information given to me by TCM customer service is therefore incorrect and there simply is no way of telling which title by now is only available on DVD-Rs?

[Murdoch]

I talked with TCM Customer Service today and asked the question as to whether they can tell if a disc I'm ordering is a pressed disc or a DVD-R and I was told in no uncertain terms that if a pressed disc has reverted to a DVD-R and the initial run is sold out, that it would clearly show this on the technical specs tab of the respective disc and the format DVD would be replaced with DVD (MOD).
While it is correct that all the Warner Archives titles they are selling are labeled as MODs none of the the Sony's and Universal's I looked at show any MOD classification. Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.

Is it safe to assume that the information given to me by TCM customer service is therefore incorrect and there simply is no way of telling which title by now is only available on DVD-Rs?

I emailed them before and they gave me the same response, saying that a couple of titles that are definitely MOD were pressed (e.g. the RKO collection, which appears still to be listed as normal DVD).

[souvenir]

I talked with TCM Customer Service today and asked the question as to whether they can tell if a disc I'm ordering is a pressed disc or a DVD-R and I was told in no uncertain terms that if a pressed disc has reverted to a DVD-R and the initial run is sold out, that it would clearly show this on the technical specs tab of the respective disc and the format DVD would be replaced with DVD (MOD).
While it is correct that all the Warner Archives titles they are selling are labeled as MODs none of the the Sony's and Universal's I looked at show any MOD classification. Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.

Is it safe to assume that the information given to me by TCM customer service is therefore incorrect and there simply is no way of telling which title by now is only available on DVD-Rs?

I emailed them before and they gave me the same response, saying that a couple of titles that are definitely MOD were pressed (e.g. the RKO collection, which appears still to be listed as normal DVD).

The RKO Collection, I believe, was MOD from the start because I remember ordering it very soon after it came out and my discs were burned.

The Cary Grant set, on the other hand, was initially reported to contain pressed DVDs yet my set, bought weeks after release, is MOD.

[zedz]

Yet reading this thread it appears that the Sirk set is only DVD-R any longer, even though it shows on the website as a regular pressed disc, as do the invidivual titles from this set.

It ain't necessarily so. I bought this earlier this year and received pressed discs (at least a year after domino received DVD-Rs). Not exactly helpful, I know!

[Ashirg]

I wonder if there is a difference if you order from Movies Unlimited or TCM Shop since they seem to be separate now...

[vsski]

I think it's safe to assume that Customer Service doesn't have a clue and there is really no telling. I have found the same scenario with Warner.

[Matt]

I'm watching Shopworn on TCM right now and it looks amazing. Sharp picture, nice contrast, fine grain; if it and the rest of the films in the pre-code set look this good, it's well worth the price.

Someone on Amazon is saying that these are cut-for-re-release versions. I don't know enough about these films to know if that's a credible claim. The AFI catalog info on Shopworn indicates that cuts were made before the original release and then again before a later re-release, but I don't have the set myself to verify running times.