Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection Blu-ray
DigiPack / Saboteur / Shadow of a Doubt / Rope / Rear Window / The Trouble with Harry / The Man Who Knew Too Much / Vertigo / North by Northwest / Psycho / The Birds / Marnie / Torn Curtain / Topaz / Frenzy / Family PlotUniversal Studios | 1942-1976 | 15 Movies | 1759 min | Rated PG | Oct 30, 2012
Universal Studios | 1954 | 112 min | Rated PG | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
A magazine photographer, housebound on account of a broken leg, becomes voyeur to the
apartment building facing his rear window for lack of anything to do. Soon, he draws his
visiting girlfriend in on the thrill and...
Universal Studios | 1958 | 129 min | Rated PG | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's much-younger wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
Warner Bros. | 1959 | 136 min | Not rated | Region A (B, C untested) | Jan 10, 2012
A suave, succesful New York advertising executive finds himself, through a case of
mistaken
identity, embroiled in a web of intrigue and murder that takes him across the country to
prove
his innocence to the police and...
50th Anniversary Edition
Universal Studios | 1960 | 109 min | Rated R | Region free
| Oct 19, 2010
Marion Crane goes on the run after stealing $40,000 from one of her employer's clients. Taking a wrong turn in a storm, Marion arrives at the isolated Bates Motel, run by the twitchy Norman, who is constantly at the beck and call...
Universal Studios | 1964 | 130 min | Rated PG | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock creates a spellbinding portrait of a distrurbed woman, and the man who tries to save her, in this unrelenting psychological thriller.
Universal Studios | 1969 | 143 min | Rated PG | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, brought a best-selling spy novel to the screen with riveting results in this spellbinding espionage thriller. John Forsythe star as an American CIA agent who hires a French operative...
Universal Studios | 1972 | 116 min | Rated R | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
In modern-day London, a sex criminal known as the Necktie Murderer has the police on alert, and in typical Hitchcock fashion, the trail is leading to an innocent man, who must now elude the law and prove his innocence by finding...
Universal Studios | 1976 | 121 min | Rated PG | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
When a wealthy woman unwittingly hires a con man and a phoney psychic to find her missing heir, the results are diabolically funny in Alfred Hitchcock's tongue-in-cheek mystery thriller.
A man confronts his accuser atop the Statue of Liberty, where one false move will spell death. A wolf in sheep's clothing allows the beast lurking within to bear its teeth. A housemaster slowly, oh so slowly, pieces together the heinous crime perpetrated by two former students. A woman searches for clues in a suspected murderer's apartment just as the man returns home. Four people work to keep the demise of a fellow smalltown resident a secret from a local deputy. An assassin's gun slides out from behind a curtain as an ordinary man races to thwart his plot. An airplane buzzes then roars past as a man dives for cover. The hiss of a shower masks the approach of a madman with a knife in his hand. Countless birds gather on a jungle gym as a woman smokes a cigarette nearby. A husband barges into his new wife's bedroom and has his way with her as she retreats into a near-catatonic state. A physicist discovers killing a man isn't as easy as it might seem, wrestling with his victim right up until the violent end. A purple dress billows out beneath a dying woman like spilled blood. A serial killer retrieves his pin from a woman's grasp, one dead finger at a time. A fake psychic tries to squirm out of a thief's vice-like grip as he pushes a syringe closer and closer. Be it drama, horror or comedy, psychological stunner, monster movie or international spy thriller, is it any mystery that filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense? Is it any wonder his movies still hold hypnotic sway over filmfans all these years later?
The 15-disc Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection box set features fifteen different flavors of suspense, only two of which -- North by Northwest from Warner Bros. and Psycho from Universal -- have already been made available on Blu-ray. For the purposes of this review, I'll be highlighting the video and audio quality of each presentation, discussing the set's packaging, and outlining the special features included. More thorough and detailed reviews of each disc can be found by visiting each title's individual listing:
Click on any of the following links or a detailed analysis of each film's 1080p/VC-1 or AVC-encoded video presentation, as well as at least twenty screenshots for each title:
English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, German SDH, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles
Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection arrives just in time for Halloween (and, more importantly, the upcoming holiday season) in a striking box set (measuring 7" h x 5¾" w x 2" d), complete with a heavy cardboard sleeve that houses a tome-like DigiPak (with a thin, glossy page devoted to each film) and a copy of "The Master of Suspense," a 60-page booklet. The discs themselves slide into their corresponding DigiPak pages -- which unfortunately requires filmfans to grab the edge of a disc to remove it from its individual nook -- but I didn't encounter any major problems. The biggest issue with the case is its construction, which is flimsier than its Classics Monsters cousin. The biggest issue with the 15-disc set, though, is its relative lack of special features. While the usual suspects get the full supplemental treatment -- Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds -- the other films in The Masterpiece Colleciton do not.
Disc 1: Saboteur
Saboteur: A Closer Look (SD, 35 minutes): Actor Norman Lloyd and associate art director Robert Boyle discuss the film and share memories from the production. It's Lloyd who takes ownership of the documentary after a few minutes, though, offering a firsthand overview, analysis and scene-by-scene, performance-by-performance dissection of Saboteur. Hitchcock's daughter Pat Hitchcock O'Connell also appears, but only briefly.
Storyboards (SD, 4 minutes): Original storyboards for the Statue of Liberty sequence.
Alfred Hitchcock's Sketches (SD, 1 minute): A small selection of drawings and storyboards from the director.
Production Photographs (SD, 8 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)
Disc 2: Shadow of a Doubt
Beyond Doubt: The Making of Hitchcock's Favorite Film (SD, 35 minutes): Hitchcock's daughter Pat Hitchcock O'Connell, associate art director Robert Boyle, and actors Teresa Wright (Charlie Newton) and Hume Cronyn (Herb Hawkins) reminisce about the film, while filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich chimes in with observations and insight into the characters, themes, story and unique place in Hitchcock's canon.
Production Drawings (SD, 6 minutes): A series of original drawings from Boyle's sketchbook.
Production Photographs (SD, 9 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 1 minute)
Disc 3: Rope
Rope Unleashed (SD, 32 minutes): Collaborator/treatment writer Hume Cronyn, screenwriter Arthur Laurents and actor Farley Granger (Phillip Morgan) dig into Hitchcock's adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's stage play, the homosexuality inherent in the film (dubbed "It" by the studio execs), the performances, Hitch's continuous long takes, the obstacles the tricky takes created, and much more. But the documentary is more notable for Laurents' criticism of the final cut. The screenwriter grumbles about decisions made by Hitchcock and the cast, complains about several performances, gripes about changes made to his script, and explains how his version of the film would have played out differently.
Production Photographs (SD, 8 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)
Disc 4: Rear Window
Audio Commentary: Author John Farwell ("Hitchcock's Rear Window: The Well-Made Film") provides a somewhat dry but undeniably detailed analysis of Rear Window, without so much as missing a shot or scene.
Rear Window Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic (SD, 55 minutes): From short story to screenplay to Hitchcock masterpiece, track the development, casting, production, performances, style and, eventually, the restoration of Rear Window.
Masters of Cinema (SD, 34 minutes): A lengthy "Masters of Cinema" interview with Hitchcock that, despite its age, is one of the must-see extras in the 15-disc Masterpiece Collection set.
A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes (SD, 13 minutes): Hayes covers a lot of ground, touching on his first meeting with Hitchcock, his first days on the job, his take on the director, his impressions of Stewart and Kelly, and more.
Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of the Master (SD, 25 minutes): An in-depth, career-spanning look at Hitchcock's filmmaking prowess, desires as a director, contributions to cinema, and influence on generations of filmmakers that followed. "Pure Cinema" doesn't focus on Rear Window, but it's no less welcome.
Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock (SD, 24 minutes): Hitchcock had a penchant for unforgettable visuals, but his meticulous mastery of sound was just as crucial to the impact, suspense, dread and mood of his films.
Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts (SD, 16 minutes): Excerpts from filmmaker Francois Truffaut's 1962 interview sessions with Hitchcock (for his book, the aptly titled "Hitchcock") are set to a montage of clips and stills from the film.
Production Photographs (SD, 3 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical and Re-Release Trailers (HD, 9 minutes)
Disc 5: The Trouble with Harry
The Trouble with Harry Isn't Over (SD, 32 minutes): "Frankly I don't care what you do with Harry as long as you don't bring him back to life!" Hitchcock's daughter Pat Hitchcock O'Connell returns for another documentary, this time with associate producer Herbert Coleman, screenwriter John Michael Hayes and actor John Forsythe (Sam Marlowe), to extensive ends. Topics covered include Paramount's initial resistance in financing the picture, the director's left turn into black comedy, the crucial role of his wife in his career, the casting of Shirley MacLaine and her co-stars (among them Harry's corpse), the film's mid-production weather troubles and subsequent challenges, the incorporation of music, Hitch's collaboration with Bernard Herrmann and more.
Production Photographs (SD, 6 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)
Disc 6: The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Making of The Man Who Knew Too Much (SD, 34 minutes): "The first film was done by an amateur and the remake by a professional." After a lengthy overview of Hitchcock's reluctance and eventual decision to remake his own 1934 film of the same name, Pat Hitchcock O'Connell, associate producer Herbert Coleman, screenwriter John Michael Hayes, production designer Henry Bumstead and other notable participants leave no stone unturned, laying out Man's plotting and script, Jimmy Stewart's friendship with Hitchcock, his casting in the movie, his castmates' performances (chief among them Doris Day) and just about everything else a fan of Htich's thriller might want to know.
Production Photographs (SD, 4 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 8 minutes)
Disc 7: Vertigo
Audio Commentary: Only one feature commentary is available: a solo track with filmmaker William Friedkin. The second previously available commentary with associate producer Herbert Coleman and restoration team leads Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz is nowhere to be found.
Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece (SD, 29 minutes): From AMC comes this Harrison Engle documentary, introduced by Vertigo restorer Robert A. Harris and restoration producer James C. Katz. Among those who sit down to talk about the film are Harris and Katz (of course), filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Hitch's daughter Pat Hitchcock O'Connell, associate producer Herbert Coleman, screenwriter Samuel Taylor and actresses Kim Novak (Madeleine/Judy) and Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge).
Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborations (SD, 55 minutes): Four featurettes focus on Hitch's collaborations: "Saul Bass: Title Champ" (opening credits), "Edith Head: Dressing the Master's Movies" (costumes), "Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's Maestro" (music) and "Alma: The Master's Muse" (Hitchcock's partnership with his wife).
Hitchcock and Truffaut Interview Excerpts (SD, 14 minutes): Excerpts from filmmaker Francois Truffaut's 1962 interview sessions with Hitchcock (for his book, the aptly titled "Hitchcock") are set to a montage of clips and stills from the film.
100 Years of Universal: The Lew Wasserman Era (HD, 9 minutes): Super agent turned visionary Lew Wasserman put power (and opportunity) in his actors' pockets and changed the business, all before purchasing the Paramount library, bringing Hitchcock to television and, ultimately, acquiring a major studio. That studio? Universal.
Foreign Censorship Ending (SD, 2 minutes): An extended ending tacked on for the film's overseas release.
The Vertigo Archives (SD, 69 minutes): Art director Henry Bumstead's sprawling production portfolio drawings.
Theatrical and Restoration Trailers (SD, 4 minutes)
Disc 8: North by Northwest - Extras reviewed by Casey Broadwater, October 2009
Audio Commentary: Lehman offers up a quiet, subdued, but ultimately enlightening commentary that owners of the film's DVD release will immediately recognize. Aside from the occasionally lagging pace, this is a great track filled with stories about working with Hitch and making movies the old-school Hollywood way.
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style (SD, 58 minutes): Like an introductory course on Hitchcock's directorial trademarks, this excellent documentary is broken into sections that cover the master's editing techniques, ideas about suspense, theory of the Macguffin, his use of music, and his love of glamour and Hollywood blonds. Several directors, including Martin Scorcese, William Friedkin, and Guillermo Del Toro dissect and pay tribute to Hitchcock's often-imitated style.
Cary Grant: A Class Apart (SD, 87 minutes): This PBS documentary gives a thorough and unflinching look at the inimitable British-born actor, covering his unhappy childhood in Bristol, his journey to America in 1920, his rise from vaudevillian to Hollywood leading man, and his often unhappy family life, marked by failed marriages and experimentation with LSD. Features interviews with ex-wives, friends, and colleagues, as well as footage from many of the actor's now-classic films.
North by Northwest: One for the Ages (SD, 25 minutes): Directors Curtis Hanson, Francis Lawrence, Guillermo Del Toro, William Friedkin, and writer Christopher McQuerrie examine North by Northwest from start to finish, giving their expert analysis of the film's character development and Hitchcock's visual acumen.
Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest (SD, 39 minutes): Eva Marie Saint hosts this retrospective look at the making of North by Northwest, guiding us through the shooting schedule with the help of screenwriter Ernest Lehman, actor Martin Landau, and Hitchcock's daughter Pat. There are a lot of great stories here, including the revelations that the entrance to the UN building was secretly, and illegally, filmed from a VistaVision camera hidden in a delivery truck and that Cary Grant, always the businessman, charged 15 cents for autographs.
Music-Only Track: Choose this option to isolate Bernard Herrmann's classy score, via a Dolby Digital 5.1 track.
Stills Gallery (SD, 6 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailers and TV Spot (SD, 7 minutes)
Disc 9: Psycho - Extras reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, October 2010
Audio Commentary: A very good and extremely informative audio commentary by Author Stephen Rebello ("Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho").
The Making of Psycho (SD, 94 minutes): An incredibly excellent feature length documentary on virtually every aspect of the film's production.
Psycho Sound (HD, 10 minutes): An interesting look at the new technologies employed to isolate discrete elements of a mono sound stem to create a 5.1 experience.
In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy (SD, 26 minutes): Offers some interesting comparisons of Hitchcock sequences with those in other films, and includes a wealth of interviews with directors like Martin Scorsese and John Carpenter who have been influenced by Hitch.
Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts (SD, 15 minutes): An interesting Psycho-centric snippet from Truffaut and Hitchcock's 1962 interview sessions.
Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho (SD, 8 minutes): This is somewhat misleadingly titled, as this is really a "pressbook on film" for exhibitors, describing the "no admittance after the film starts" policy that made Psycho's original roadshow exhibition such a sensation.
The Shower Scene: With and Without Music (SD, 3 minutes): Offers the iconic sequence with and without Herrmann's riveting score.
The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass (SD, 4 minutes): An interesting compendium of Bass sketches which helped Hitchcock to plan his setups for the sequence.
The Psycho Archives (SD, 8 minutes): A collection of publicity stills.
Posters and Psycho Ads (SD, 3 minutes): Posters and ads, including some international versions.
Behind-the-Scenes Photographs (SD, 8 minutes)
Production and Publicity Photographs (SD, 9 minutes)
Lobby Cards (SD, 2 minutes)
Theatrical and Re-Release Trailers (SD, 8 minutes)
Disc 10: The Birds
The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie (HD, 14 minutes): The only Blu-ray exclusive in The Masterpiece Collection amounts to a terrific but somewhat short analysis of The Birds' place in horror movie history, Hitchcock's attraction to the project, the mystery behind the avian monsters' attack, the birds as a manifestation of disharmony and disruption, and the film's ambiguous ending.
Deleted Scene and Original Ending (SD, 8 minutes): A deleted scene comprised of script pages and production photographs followed by an alternate ending, comprised of script pages and sketches.
All About The Birds (SD, 80 minutes): Rather than the retrospective analysis of the newly produced "Hitchcock's Monster Movie," this excellent DVD-era documentary pulls back the curtain on the production, from its inspiration to its development, scripting, story elements, characters, performances, special effects and more.
Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts (SD, 14 minutes): Excerpts from filmmaker Francois Truffaut's 1962 interview sessions with Hitchcock (for his book, the aptly titled "Hitchcock") are set to a montage of clips and stills from the film.
100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics (HD, 9 minutes): Rather than a Birds-centric restoration featurette, this is a general catalog-wide catch-all. It's appreciated, but not nearly as revealing as it could be.
100 Years of Universal: The Lot (HD, 9 minutes): The Universal backlot in all its glory.
The Birds is Coming (SD, 1 minute): A Universal international newsreel highlighting pigeon races with special guest Alfred Hitchcock and actress Tippi Hedren.
Suspense Story: National Press Club Hears Hitchcock (SD, 2 minutes): Another Universal international newsreel.
Storyboards (SD, 24 minutes): A lengthy storyboard/still comparison reel.
Tippi Hedren's Screen Test (SD, 10 minutes): Hedren's screen test, with audible instructions from Hitchcock.
Production Photographs (SD, 14 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads, production photos and more.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 5 minutes)
Disc 11: Marnie
The Trouble with Marnie (SD, 58 minutes): "One might call Marnie a sex mystery. That is, if one used such words." Hitch's daughter Pat Hitchcock O'Donnell, Marnie contributors and treatment writers Joseph Stefano (Psycho) and Evan Hunter (The Birds), screenwriter Jay Presson Allen, unit production manager Hilton A. Green, production designer Robert Boyle, author Robin Wood ("Hitchcock's Films Revisited"), filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, and actresses Tippi Hedren (Marnie Edgar), Diane Baker (Lil Mainwaring) and Louise Latham (Bernice Edgar) dive into Marnie, from its adaptation and script development to its Hunter-disputed rape scene, psychological unravelings, flashbacks, violence, expressionist devices, and its reception and legacy.
The Marnie Archives (SD, 9 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 5 minutes)
Disc 12: Torn Curtain
Torn Curtain Rising (SD, 32 minutes): "Ordinary and sluggish." That was just one of many criticisms leveled at Torn Curtain upon its original release, and "Rising" doesn't attempt to sidestep such harsh reactions. Instead, it tackles the film's reception head on, detailing its troubled development, rushed shoot, soundstage and location challenges, Hitchcock's resistance and uncertainty in casting Julie Andrews, his clashes with Paul Newman, filmmaking techniques that defied current trends, and Hitch and composer Bernard Herrmann's falling out. And yet the documentary retains a respect and appreciation for the movie and delivers a compelling argument for Curtain's value, even in the wake of classics like Vertigo and Psycho.
Scenes Scored by Bernard Herrmann (SD, 14 minutes): View scenes with music cues and arrangements from Bernard Herrmann's original score (among them the murder sequence), composed before he was replaced by John Addison.
Production Photographs (SD, 22 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads, production photos and more.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 minutes)
Disc 13: Topaz
Topaz: An Appreciation (SD, 29 minutes): "In some ways I feel it's ungrateful of us to criticize Hitchcock at all." Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin all but apologizes for Topaz and Hitchcock's lesser '60s films, peeling back the complications and complaints surrounding the film's lack of familiar stars (minus John Forsythe), its departures from the director's traditional interests and style, the difficulties of adapting a best-selling novel, and other things Maltin attributes to the film's failure with audiences. It's an informative docu-pology, mind you, it just spends more time defending Topaz than dissecting it.
Alternate Endings (SD, 6 minutes): Three alternate endings are included: "The Duel," "The Airport" and "The Suicide."
Storyboards: The Mendozas (SD, 12 minutes): A storyboards-to-stills comparison reel.
Production Photographs (SD, 6 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 minutes)
Disc 14: Frenzy
The Story of Frenzy (SD, 45 minutes): Laurent Bouzereau explores Hitchcock's 1972 return to form, as well as its darker, more explicit and more violent themes and imagery. Along the way, interviews with Pat Hitchcock O'Donnell, screenwriter Anthony Shaffer, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, and actors Jon Finch (Richard Blaney), Barry Foster (Robert Rusk) and Anna Massey (Babs Milligan) tell the tale of the film's production and reception.
Production Photographs (SD, 17 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads, production photos and more.
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 minutes)
Disc 15: Family Plot
Plotting Family Plot (SD, 48 minutes): Pat Hitchcock O'Donnell, assistant director Howard G. Kazanjian (who doggedly pursued the director before landing the job), Universal head of production Hilton Green, set designer Henry Bumstead, composer John Williams and actors Bruce Dern, Karen Black and William Devane discuss Hitchcock's final film, its dialogue and innuendo, comedy, casting and on-set anecdotes, as well as Hitch and his wife's failing health, his realization that Family Plot would be his last film and his retirement.
Storyboards: The Chase Scene (SD, 9 minutes): A series of storyboards.
Production Photographs (SD, 15 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads and production photos.
The 15-film Alfred Hitchcock: Masterpiece Collection isn't the be-all, end-all Hitchcock classics compendium fans might be hoping for. Its lossless audio tracks are excellent all around, but the quality of its video presentations vary (in some cases quite dramatically) and the only extra new to the set is a 15-minute Birds retrospective. The Masterpiece Collection is by no means a dud, but it does have some drawbacks regardless of how low or high its price point comes to rest. Of course, it also has some big draws. With the holiday season rapidly approaching, the Alfred Hitchcock box set is the sort of high-dollar gift item sure to make a fan or completist jump for joy. Will it do the same for the casual collector shelling out their own cash to add it to their own collection? I doubt it. This will be a bittersweet box set for most.
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