Universal Studios Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection on 28th October 2008 priced at $119.98 SRP. This collection brings together 28 films across 15 discs in premium packaging which also features an exclusive book "Abbott & Costello: The Universal Story" with details on the team's legacy and their films at Universal Pictures.
The films: One Night in the Tropics; Buck Privates; In the Navy; Hold that Ghost; Keep ‘Em Flying; Ride ‘Em Cowboy; Pardon My Sarong; Who Done It?; It Ani’t Hay; Hit the Ice; In Society; Here Come the Co-Eds; The Naughty Nineties; Little Giant; The Time of Their Lives; Buck Privates Come Home; The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap; Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein; Mexican Hayride; Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff; Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion; Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man; Comin’ Round the Mountain; Lost in Alaska; Abbott and Costello Go To Mars; Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops; Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.
All 28 films are presented in 1.33:1 Full Frame with English DD2.0 Mono audio and English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. There are 2 films per disc, with all titles including Production Notes and the majority also include Theatrical Trailers. Additionally there are 6 films with audio commentary by film historians.
Commentaries:
Buck Privates - with Film Historians Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo
Hold That Ghost - with Film Historian Jeff Miller
Who Done It? - with Film Historian Frank Coniff
The Time of Their Lives - with Film Historian Frank Thompson
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - with Film Historian Gregory W. Mank
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - with Film Historians Tom Weaver and Richard Scrivani
The films without trailers are: Pardon My Sarong; It Ani’t Hay; The Naughty Nineties; Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff; Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion; Comin’ Round the Mountain; Lost in Alaska; Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.
Disc 29 is a bonus-disc with the following additional extras:
# The World of Abbott and Costello (1965)
# Abbott & Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld (1994)
# Abbott & Costello Meet the Monsters (2000)
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These boxsets will be the death of me one of these days, there's just too many that I want and not enough time to be able to go through them (unless I go hide myself in a cabin for two months). This one is essentially the four "Franchise Collection" sets re-authored onto single-sided discs (making it 15 discs instead of 8!), and I think some of the commentaries are new (the one for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein is from its old single-disc release), while all the other extras (the bonus disc docs, trailers, etc.) are from the previous collections and the few single-disc releases there were. Still, I'd rather get this megaset than the Franchise Collections, as I hate double-sided discs and I want the commentaries.
Albert!
ETA: for some reason, the date didn't show up (28 ), though the month did. Fixed it.
ETAA: it didn't show up again, so I removed "Universal".
I'm still getting by on my lone VHS of "Treasure of the Peacock's Eye".
