In case you haven't heard, Universal is lame with home video

[creid]

Unfortunately not everyone is Disney with their DVD releases where the biggest complaints are the kiddie games and ugly Chicken Little slipcovers. Universal in their limited view of video sales, is offering the Glamour Collection for three great women icons Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombarde, and Mae West. Despite getting 5 movies with videotape quality on DVD (which will likely be flippers), I will get the Mae West for myself and Merlene Dietrich for my mother’s birthday. Although Amazon is limited on information about the discs, I going to assume it was put together like the past Universal offerings:

· No Extras, commentaries, biographies, or making of featurettes, outside of trailers.
· No remastering or audio of the video and these 1930’s movies really could use some care.

If Warners (Disney does not have classic Hollywood in their library) was releasing these movies:
· There would at least some effort to remaster the video. It would not be Deathie Mouse dreams of 2001 on Blue-Ray on 75" big screen Plasma Projection system but it would improve the movies.
· A 40 - 50 minute biography of each glamour lady.
· At least a couple commentaries on the more noted movies
· They would have included the classic Mae West, She Done Him Wrong on the set.

I can’t speak for all three sets, but I am looking forward to Mae West. She was a great stage performer who belt out naughty (but not too blue) one-liners like nobody in history. Her most famous was “Is that a gun in your pocket or are just happy to see me.” But some of my other favorites are “A hard man is good to find” and “It is men in life but the life in your man.”

Lastly, Universal could have spent a moderate amount of money ($200,000 - $300,00 for the extras & minor video remastering) and increased the MSRP from $27 to $50 and made a lot more money.

[Escapay]

Didn't they do the same with their Gary Cooper and...Marlon Brando collections? Several movies squeezed onto two flipper discs? I heard Universal's also doing a Cecil B. DeMille collection, which likely is going to be five movies on two flippers as well.

One thing we can count on is that they'll be in digipaks, but that's no consolation for a commentary or two.

I always find that Universal is a distant third behind Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox when it comes to older movies released on DVD. WB is top notch with both boxsets and individual release, and Fox at least has several lines devoted to it where you're more that certain you'll get a commentary and a trailer (the discontinued Studio Classics, the new Cinema Classics, my favorite Fox Film Noir...).

Sometimes I wish WB would just buy out all the studios' film libraries and specialize in releasing decent editions. Then again, they still have yet to give a better edition of some classics like Jezebel, The Maltese Falcon, and Splendor in the Grass...

Escapay

[2099net]

Didn't they do the same with their Gary Cooper and...Marlon Brando collections? Several movies squeezed onto two flipper discs? I heard Universal's also doing a Cecil B. DeMille collection, which likely is going to be five movies on two flippers as well.

I'm pretty sure that the CBdM set has been announced for 5 discs.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60011

But yeah. I got the US Monster Legacy collection, and then bought the UK 15 disc set when it came down in price just to get a non-flipper version (plus the Universal Horrors documentary).

Oddly, I've never had problems with Universal DVD18s (touch wood) but I have had problems with Warners DVD18s in the past (and even some of their DVD9s). And Warners in the UK still insist on releasing ER on DVD18s!

In the UK, Universal don't seem to use the DVD18 format. Thus our The Frighteners came on 3 DVD9s rather than 1 DVD18 (so, yay 33% more storage! less compression and DTS to boot). The same is true with their TV on DVD releases, so I'm switching to the UK Knight Rider sets from S3 onwards.

Regardless of what they do with the "big" Hollywood films, Universal have done some stunning releases for their smaller "British" films - the UK Shaun of the Dead is a single disc crammed to the gills with content (and much more than the US release) which makes their 'Lesser' treatment of the recent Land of the Dead a mystery, and while disappointing due to it being a single disc while a 2 disc set was hinted (the Easter Egg says "Welcome to the Easter Egg on the second disc") the League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is another home run for Universal UK.

[Escapay]

Didn't they do the same with their Gary Cooper and...Marlon Brando collections? Several movies squeezed onto two flipper discs? I heard Universal's also doing a Cecil B. DeMille collection, which likely is going to be five movies on two flippers as well.

I'm pretty sure that the CBdM set has been announced for 5 discs.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60011

[snip]

Oddly, I've never had problems with Universal DVD18s (touch wood) but I have had problems with Warners DVD18s in the past (and even some of their DVD9s). And Warners in the UK still insist on releasing ER on DVD18s!

Ah, I see. I read about the CBdM at DVDActive, I think, and must've skimmed because I assumed it'd just be 2-discs like the other collections.

As for the Universal DVD18's, I haven't heard anything wrong with them here, though I read at TheDigitalBits once that a lot of people were experiencing problems with their early Universal DVDs (don't remember if they were flippers or not), that they didn't play anymore or started skipping.

I despise the uses of flippers, even if they take up one less disc. Empire of the Sun, for example, is a DVD-14, where they could have easily put the 49-minute documentary and 90-second trailer on the same side as the movie. I'm always afraid of scratching my flippers that I'm usually thisclose to just buying a second copy of several of my flipper movies and putting custom-made disc art on them so they become two-disc sets. On the plus side, for movies that are widescreen/fullscreen flippers, I don't care if one side gets scratched up...

What I didn't like about Fox's TV releases of Dynasty and Remington Steele is that they could have easily fit the episodes on one side if they had made them single-sided dual-layered instead of single-sided single-layered. Are they that lazy when it comes to disc art or is it cheaper to use a flipper?

Escapay

[I am the Doctor]

I will say this much in Universal's defense: at least you are getting a deal on the movies that you are getting. I'm a big Abbott and Costello fan, so only having to spend $80 for almost every Universal A+C movie is a great deal (4 releases at $20 each).

That being said, I would have paid quite a bit more for a better version of the A+C films (especially if Universal could have worked out the music rights for It Ain't Hay, the one Universal film not included in the A+C sets), with extras and commentary tracks. My guess is that Universal felt that there was a limited market for some of these films (like A+C, Deanna Durbin, Mae West, etc.), and that a lower price point might make such releases more appealing to buyers. And for many, especially those without HDTVs, and non-videophiles, video and audio quality probably isn't an issue as much as price.

Of course, Universal isn't the only company to short-change classic films. I've often thought that Sony-Columbia has done a terrible job in releasing the Three Stooges to DVD (and VHS prior to that). I would much rather have chronological sets than the random sets we have now. Even better would be a Curly set (97 shorts), along with a Shemp-Joe set (77 Shemps plus 20 Joe Besser's) and a Curly-Joe movie set. Don't think this is gonna happen, but that would be a great way of releasing The Three Stooges to fans.

[2099net]

I can't understand why Universal still use DVD18 discs. As far as I know it still costs more to manufacture a dual-layered, dual-sided disc. Even if not, all the returns that seem to be getting must bump the cost up - not only in sending out replacements but also in the terms of bad publicity.

The other reason is space, especially in their TV releases, but the thin pack has solved that problem, especially the ones that hold two discs per case. Paramount use these for various TV releases, such as the six-disc War of the Worlds Season 1 which has six DVD9s in the same space as the 3 disc American Gothic from Universal.

So I can only guess Universal have somehow managed to negotiate a cut-down price on their DVD18s, which means, apparently, poorer quality judging from the public complaints. (Although like I say, I've not had any trouble with any of my discs yet - Knight Rider Season 2 has a dodgy looking surface on one side of one of the discs, but it seems to play OK - I've yet to go through that disc properly).

Universal are odd, in that if they want to they can do some superb releases, yet most of the time they seem content for settling for average. So many of their new films come with "bitty" extras, which are a lot of somethings which add up to nothing. All because, I assume, they would rather list a large number of 1 or 2 minute featurettes instead of a decent "meaty" making of.

Oh how I miss the early days of Universal DVDs and their satisfying LD to DVD ports such as Tremors, The Thing (16:9 enhancement aside) and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Even - my guilty pleasure - Street Fighter: The Movie. All were films with excellent informative, long running documentaries, with other surprises (my favourites being the CD Soundtrack playing as an alternative audio track on the documentary of most releases). And they had the trailers. These days we get upteen trailers per disc, but none for the film in question.

The problem is, these films are being put out with the knowledge that a better edition will be put out later if (a) sales are good enough or (b) a sequel is made.

Just try to name a recent 2 disc Universal release which has decent extras that actually look like some thought has gone into them. My guess is the only one you can name is Cinderella Man (being a DVD18 its like a 2 disc set) which was never going to get a sequel (so bang goes that upgrade potential) and never set the box office on fire (so the likelyhood of a re-release "by popular demand" was low). But even then, they still managed to release their "better" edition at the same time.

[The Lizard King]

In the UK, Universal don't seem to use the DVD18 format. Thus our The Frighteners came on 3 DVD9s rather than 1 DVD18 (so, yay 33% more storage! less compression and DTS to boot).

I don't mind the 4 hours of documentaries on one side of the DVD18 disc for the American release. After all, they're only documentaries and not the film itself. The DVD only put me back $15 during the first week of its release, so I have no complaints.

Usually, I would prefer DTS over DD 5.1, but not at the price of 4% PAL speedup.

TLK

[blaing]

For us in Oz. Universal don't bother making DVD18's

The Munsters: The Complete First Season was packaged as a six disc set, and The Best of Abbott and Costello (Volume 1) is presented as a four disc set.

I do agree on the poor quality of lack of features, though.

It seems the only company in Australia who still produces DVD18 releases are Sony Pictures (for their three movies on two disc sets.)

[Escapay]

Just try to name a recent 2 disc Universal release which has decent extras that actually look like some thought has gone into them. My guess is the only one you can name is Cinderella Man (being a DVD18 its like a 2 disc set) which was never going to get a sequel (so bang goes that upgrade potential) and never set the box office on fire (so the likelyhood of a re-release "by popular demand" was low). But even then, they still managed to release their "better" edition at the same time.

If by recent we can mean "four years ago", their Ultimate Edition of Legend was pretty good. Instead of being like the other "Ultimate Editions" (where they just spread the single-disc edition on two discs), it was all-new to DVD, had two versions of the film, a 50-minute documentary, commentary, trailers, TV spots, deleted scenes, storyboards, photo gallery, and a godawful music video. Unfortunately, Universal's decided to reduce the Legend DVD to a single-disc now, though the 2-disc is still widely available.

Also, Universal's 2-disc set for To Kill A Mockingbird was really well-put together. It had a new anamorphic transfer, the same commentary, documentary, and trailer as the first disc, a new documentary called "Conversations with Gregory Peck", and several small featurettes like Peck's Oscar speech, a memorial about Gregory Peck, a piece called "Scout Remembers" with Mary Badham, and reproductions of international movie posters. I don't have it, but their 2-disc set for The Sting is supposed to be really well done as well (with commentary, documentaries, and trailer), though their 2-disc The Deer Hunter isn't that special (the second disc is merely deleted scenes and a trailer...).

The one thing against the ones I mentioned was they were catalog releases, not new releases, which I'm guessing is what you were asking for, netty?

Escapay

[deathie mouse]

Universal is the only big Studio that has no plans to release their movies in Blu-ray

Coincidence or sentient evil?

[dvdjunkie]

Creid, the correct quote is "It's not the men in your life but the life in your men!".............Mae West was a gem and I will reluctantly be getting this set also. Universal really ticks me off about their lack of concern about collector's sets like these.

[2099net]

The one thing against the ones I mentioned was they were catalog releases, not new releases, which I'm guessing is what you were asking for, netty?

Escapay

Yeah, sorry, that is what I meant.

There was some debate between me and Loomis about the UK Serenity release because we weren't sure if it would be a single disc or a double disc release like the Australia one. We batted backwards and forwards a number of times (like the Australia release the UK set is boasting UK exclusive features) and eventually Loomis said "But its not priced as a 2 disc set" and with a shock, I realised I couldn't think of a recent non-catalog Universal release to compare with (although the Universal distributed Dreamworks titles are often 2 disc, their own properties are not). (Anyhow, Serenity is 2 disc in Australia, and 1 disc in the UK - like the US it looks like they have a double-dip already in mind). I think the last Universal UK 2 disc release I can think of was Van Helsing, a film 2 and a half (?) years old.

Although Universal's had a bad year in 2005 (probably transitional problems from their NBC takeover) a lot of their films are ideally suited to 2 disc releases;

Serenity has a rabid fan base, but apparently only Australia is worthy of a 2 disc release.

Land of the Dead is another entry in the 'Dead' franchise, a series of films that are incredibily popular with horror film fans. But again, no 2 disc set, although we did get the choice of rated/unrated on seperate releases.

Doom may not be a work of art on par with Cinderella Man, but it does what it set out to do well, and I predict it will go down as a cult classic. 3 Releases, including an unrated version, but no 2 disc set.

The Constant Gardener smaller budgeted, but just as worthy of a 2 disc release as Cinderella Man if not more so - No 2 disc set (of course, Universal only released the 2 disc Cinderella Man in their quest for Oscar® glory)

I'm trying to think of major Universal released for 2005. There was Skeleton Key. I understand the film was disappointing, but that's no excuse for the hodge-podge of 3 and 5 minute featurettes that pepper the disc, with titles that promise a lot but deliver next to nothing. Same for Kicking and Screaming and even the 'lesser' Dreamworks released such as Ring Two (what a crappy disc that is, full of fluff).

I really can't see why Universal should have fallen so far. At the dawn of DVD I really did think that they were the best studio (mainly due to their LD ports, but I didn't know that at the time).

Paramount aren't much better but when they do special features, they generally make an effort to make them relevant and interesting, rather than throwing everything in but the kitchen sink.

The only decent Universal discs these days are re-releases, or smaller "independent-like" titles from Focus or Rouge Pictures. How sad that they look upon their primary market with such contempt.

[creid]

I understand the Universal has done good dvd releases including the DVD Monster Legacy series. It was put together with the basic needs: Restoring care for the keynote movie, a 40 minute feature on the monster's history, a commentary and the classic of "B" sequels on a flipper. (I do hate flippers though.) However, their releases of Mae West, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, W.C. Fields, and the masters of all masters, the Marx Brothers, have left everything to be desired. (Criterian solved the problem on some of the Sturges.) I know these movies have limited marketability but these discs have:

No remastering of the video and Lord knows Horsefeathers needed it. We are buying videotapes on disc.
No worthwhile extras. (Today show appearances...snooze.)
Flippers. (Although WB & Fox have been guilty.)

Although, these movies have limited marketability, their fans are loyal. Universal could have increased the MSRP price by 20% and made a larger splash in the marketplace with a quality release.

[deathie mouse]

I understand the Universal has done good dvd releases including the DVD Monster Legacy series. It was put together with the basic needs: Restoring care for the keynote movie

Mmmm. actually, no. The Legacy Dracula is not restored. If fact the version there is WORSE than some of the other previous DVD editions, for this edition they "lost" again some of the sounds that had been censored many years ago and that they had found and included in other DVD releases, it's transfered wrong, and the image looks dark and murky, worse than my other DVD of it the TV presentation i saw last of it and the theatrical presentation i saw last of it. I've even read that even the Laserdisc looks better. On top of that, it's missing it's original ending...

And guess what? In 2 weeks it's the 75th anniversary of this movie. A movie that practically cemented Universal in their place of Studios history spawning the great Classic Horror/Monster series which more or less represent Universal to the moviegoer. It was also the first great Horror sound picture (even to the point that it was shot with a Silent Aperture camera cus the Academy Aperture was tooled practically after it) to the point that it's the earliest sound picture I own in my collection (Sound starts with "I am Dracula" to me)

And mmm do we have an esquisite release of it? Any plans? An announcent that Dracula will be Universal's first simultaneous DVD/ High Definition disc completely "restored and remastered for its 75th anniversary beyond its original brilliance"?

uh. No.
_________________
I read the news today, oh MMBoy..

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[2099net]

And mmm do we have an esquisite release of it? Any plans? An announcent that Dracula will be Universal's first simultaneous DVD/ High Definition disc completely "restored and remastered for its 75th anniversary beyond its original brilliance"?

uh. No.

But I bet their doing another American Pie release! So yay Universal. Now everyone gets a piece of the pie!

[creid]

Yes, for all the trouble I give Disney on cheapquels, Universal is proving they can create their own crap. At least some Disney cheapquels are not half bad and entertaining but I can imagine how bad Band Camp 4: More Bad Playboy Cameos will be.

Universal should hold Dracula and Frankenstein with the highest regard because Universal would have gone bankrupt without them in the early sound era. These Monsters and later Abbot t& Costello saved the studio. Also, even it was originally another studio, it has been said Mae West saved Paramount from bankruptcy in 1933 with She Done Him Wrong. (Even though the 1930's is considered the golden age of Hollywood Part II, most studios in the early 1930's were in serious financial problems. RKO might have gone under without King Kong and Warners stayed above water with the gangster pictures.)

[2099net]

Universal should hold Dracula and Frankenstein with the highest regard because Universal would have gone bankrupt without them in the early sound era. These Monsters and later Abbot t& Costello saved the studio.

Well, technically Universal did go bankrupt! They ran out of money, defaulted on a loan and the bank took over - it became New Universal - the only think it kept was it's title, behind the scenes everyone and everything changed. Think Eisner was bad at Disney? He was nothing compared to the bankers that owned and ran New Universal. Now there was a studio turning out cheapquels....

James Whale's Showboat remake was the last of the big Universal epics for which the studio was so well known, and ironically its cost was the reason for the loan defaulting. New Universal had no use for such flamboyant directors as Whale, and he worked out his contract on films he didn't want to make and had no interest in.

New Universal didn't last that long before being merged with anotehr company and landing in more deserving hands, again resulting in a massive backroom cull and repopulation.

[Escapay]

Figured this be the best thread to bump up (and moved to the DVD forum).

From TheDigitalBits...

In other news, Universal has announced the standard DVD release of a series of Universal Cinema Classics: Screwball Comedies titles on 4/22 (SRP $14.98 each), including Easy Living, The Major and the Minor, Midnight and She Done Him Wrong.

The last title is definitely of interest (and embarrassed as I am to say it...the only one I've actually heard of), as it was excluded from the Mae West Glamour Collection that was released a couple years ago. I caught the first half of it on TCM last year, so I look forward to seeing it in its entirety now.

I doubt any of these discs will have extras, unforunately.

Also, regarding Universal being lame at home video, I tried watching a couple discs from my "Sliders": Seasons One & Two, and certain episodes would skip or refuse to play on one player, but played fine on another. Don't know who to fault (Universal or the DVD player), but it reminded me of this thread. And isn't it ironic that there were complaints in this thread about no new Dracula release in early 2006, without knowing that it'd get a two-disc 75th Anniversary Edition later that year?

Scapsta