Magnificent Obsession (1954) - August 20, 2019

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by bonehica

We dare to dream...

Until then, almost all his post-1951 films are available region-free from the Cinema Master Class series in France.

Unless Criterion somehow jumps in and does a mega-boxset, which frankly I can't see, the French releases are the only option. I feel like the French appreciate melodramas more than Americans ever will.

Most of the transfers looks pretty great, though a few have issues, notably Magnificent Obsession. Most of the titles have never had HD releases anywhere, I believe some have never even been released on home video before at all.

Cinema Master Class has released 14 titles (though one is DVD-only) so far from his Universal period in the 50s.

[bonehica]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Until then, almost all his post-1951 films are available region-free from the Cinema Master Class series in France.

Unless Criterion somehow jumps in and does a mega-boxset, which frankly I can't see, the French releases are the only option. I feel like the French appreciate melodramas more than Americans ever will.

Most of the transfers looks pretty great, though a few have issues, notably Magnificent Obsession. Most of the titles have never had HD releases anywhere, I believe some have never even been released on home video before at all.

Cinema Master Class has released 14 titles (though one is DVD-only) so far from his Universal period in the 50s.

No English subtitles, however. Deal breaker for me. Gotta have those subs due my tinnitus. I definitely appreciate the post, though.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by bonehica

No English subtitles, however. Deal breaker for me. Gotta have those subs due my tinnitus. I definitely appreciate the post, though.

Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately these are designed for the French market, so the subs are French. We're lucky to get the original English audio included on all the discs, and also that the French subs are removable, since they quite often aren't in France.

[miribeau]

It had been nearly ten years when I concluded they had scrapped plans to ever release this film on Blu-ray and bought it on DVD. Sometimes Criterion really ticks me off with their nonsensical scheduling. They'll acquire a film and put it out in a year and they'll get another, put out a DVD and wait over a decade to release the Blu-ray. I can't buy this. I'll let a friend buy it for me since several lurk here and two have a Barnes & Noble membership just for Criterion and Arrow sales.

Who waits over ten years and isn't James Cameron?

Also, Written on the Wind was 2001, so I'm just assuming they don't like Rock Hudson as much as I do over at Criterion. 2001. (I'm involuntarily shaking my head, I find that so disrespectful.) I'd have had a Rock Hudson boxed set out within two years of the HD revolution. Speaking of, will they be doing new special features or porting over an HD version of the old ones? I ask because the list looks like the same ones from the 2 DVD set, which I've watched very recently.