Some great news for Hitchcock fans in the UK — Network are planning to release a 10 DVD set of early Hitchcock films (all licensed from Granada International) in early 2008 (probably in February). Full details haven’t been confirmed yet, but the set should contain:
- The Pleasure Garden (1925)
- The Lodger (1927)
- Downhill (1927)
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
- The 39 Steps (1935)
- Secret Agent (1936)
- Sabotage (1936)
- Young and Innocent (1937)
- The Lady Vanishes (1938)
- Jamaica Inn (1939)
Unlike some of the more recent dodgy European transfers from the likes of Waterfall Home Ent. and AmCo Tonträger, these are licensed from the rights holder and should be up there with the best (e.g. the Concorde Early Years set from 2003).
The only negative so far is that Network were only able to source the Rohauer Collection version of The Pleasure Garden, rather than the more complete version currently residing in the British Film Institute vaults. The Rohauer Collection version turned up briefly in France earlier this year, when it was released on DVD with a magazine collection.
The special features haven’t been confirmed yet, but it might be worth keeping an eye on the British Board of Film Classification web site.
Amazon already have the set available for pre-order.
A friend of mine recently made what we can call an “ultimate” version of TPG on DVD, in mixing the’ Rohauer’ and the ‘British’ versions (the latter has been aired in Germany a few years ago).
PermalinkI provided the material and he did the job.
Only a few problems occured with the musical scores.
But it’s really fantastic!
Most of the specs now up at the Network website:
http://www.networkdvd.net/product_info.php?products_id=558
Special Features:
[] Digitally restored versions of The Lodger, The 39 Steps, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn
[] Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock – unseen for forty years, Mike Scott interviews Hitchcock about his life and career
[] Aquarius: Alfred the Great – taken from the 1972 arts programme, this show includes candid photography of Hitchcock filming Frenzy in London
[] Charles Barr On… – a series of featurettes in which film historian Charles Barr introduces and analyses each of the ten films contained within this set
[] On Location featurettes for both Sabotage and The 39 Steps, introduced by Robert Powell
[] Original theatrical trailer for The Lady Vanishes
[] Hitchcock: The Early Years – 25 minute documentary covering Hitchcock’s pre-war career
[] Script PDFs for The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn
[] Image Galleries
[] Introductory booklet written by Charles Barr
[] More TBC
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