The Hitchcock Nine (1925–1929) - Imprint

[poisonmail]

The American vendors carrying this for preorder have not been told of any issues as yet.

I noticed that the Brenton Film “collectors guide” page for Pleasure Garden has a note at the top accusing ViaVision’s listing of being “riddled with errors,” not sure what the source there could be. See here.

[philthehip]

Originally Posted by poisonmail

The American vendors carrying this for preorder have not been told of any issues as yet.

I noticed that the Brentonwood “collectors guide” page for Pleasure Garden has a note at the top accusing ViaVision’s listing of being “riddled with errors,” not sure what the source there could be. See here.

Brenton Film have been trying to secure funding to get The Pleasure Garden released so I assume they have some more info about the release.

I was underwhelmed seeing the specs, especially that Daniel Cohen's score will not be included on the BD.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by DavidRoylance

It may be they are prevented, legally, from explaining the situation until a solution is found.

They could at least say something, I'm sure.

[DavidRoylance]

I'm pretty sure they know how important and popular these releases will be. It is possible lawyers have demanded they say nothing.

Originally Posted by koberulz

They could at least say something, I'm sure.

[PGW]

If there's a problem with the release, surely there's no legal reason they couldn't mark the release "delayed" on their website. As it is, the release date is still August 27th - a little more than a month from now.

I don't know how much I'd trust Amazon's listing, since their description is for a pill box, not a blu-ray set, but their release date is September 5th.

[Compson]

Release delayed, per email:

Unfortunately, due to complicated issues behind-the-scenes, we have been forced to delay this release to an October 29 release date. This title will be highly sought after, now strictly limited to 1000 copies only, all individually numbered, and with no possibility of a Standard Edition in the future.

[Aunt Peg]

Pre ordered.

[Reddington]

https://x.com/imprint_films/status/1950428784223564150

"The documentary 'Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail' and an Audio Commentary have been removed from the release."

[beantherio]

I decided against getting this one. It seems like a great set but I only lack two of these films in my collection (The Pleasure Garden + Easy Virtue). And spending that much money on a release that I would mostly get for "completism" purposes didn't seem like too good an idea. Kino's releases of (most of) these films don't get much viewing time in my house either.

[darrellmaclaine]

Originally Posted by beantherio

I decided against getting this one. It seems like a great set but I only lack two of these films in my collection (The Pleasure Garden + Easy Virtue). And spending that much money on a release that I would mostly get for "completism" purposes didn't seem like too good an idea. Kino's releases of (most of) these films don't get much viewing time in my house either.

That's the problem with Hitch's filmography pre-Man Who Knew Too Much. With the exception of perhaps Blackmail and bits of The Lodger, the only reason any of it is notable is because of its director credit. Until the 1940s, when the artists all came to the forefront, British film was rotten, prehistoric and largely unwatchable today, and even Hitch was sailing against the wind for most of that - at which point he fled at the earliest opportunity! That he managed to make Lady Vanishes, 39 Steps, Sabotage etc over here towards the end of that time was all the more remarkable.

So yeah, when anybody puts out any early Hitchcock, I am always slightly questioning of the sales pitch. Because this is a box set of mostly unwatchable films...!

[beantherio]

Originally Posted by darrellmaclaine

That's the problem with Hitch's filmography pre-Man Who Knew Too Much. With the exception of perhaps Blackmail and bits of The Lodger, the only reason any of it is notable is because of its director credit. Until the 1940s, when the artists all came to the forefront, British film was rotten, prehistoric and largely unwatchable today, and even Hitch was sailing against the wind for most of that - at which point he fled at the earliest opportunity! That he managed to make Lady Vanishes, 39 Steps, Sabotage etc over here towards the end of that time was all the more remarkable.

So yeah, when anybody puts out any early Hitchcock, I am always slightly questioning of the sales pitch. Because this is a box set of mostly unwatchable films...!

I wouldn't call them bad but I agree that watching these films is mostly interesting to see Hitchcock developing his skills. The Lodger and Blackmail are probably more significant than that but the rest tends to rate not very highly. The defining 'feature' of this set (Easy Virtue) is actually one of the lowest rated Hitchcocks on IMDB.

Something I remembered just now was that a somewhat similar set was released in the UK last year. Skipped that one as well.

[nateynate87]

Originally Posted by Reddington

https://x.com/imprint_films/status/1950428784223564150

"The documentary 'Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail' and an Audio Commentary have been removed from the release."

The wording of that makes me feel like my copy that I preordered with Orbit is NOT secure.....sigh....now I'm debating if I should preorder with them too and if I get both, just sell off the other one to a collector on here that missed out.

[poisonmail]

I'm so fascinated by what happened here with the special features. The removed commentary is Tim Lucas' on Blackmail, which appeared on both the Kino and Canal releases. But the other commentaries from the same source (the Kino releases in 2019, apart from Nick Pinkerton's which Canal also omitted) still remain, along with new ones and one they appear to have licensed from Criterion (Marian Keane on 39 Steps). The documentary that was announced and retracted was from the Canal box, so that's less surprising. No additions to the list of scores on Pleasure Garden as had been speculated.

[koberulz]

So if one buys the SC box as well, no bonus features will actually be missing?

[Draxen]

Originally Posted by nateynate87

The wording of that makes me feel like my copy that I preordered with Orbit is NOT secure.....sigh....now I'm debating if I should preorder with them too and if I get both, just sell off the other one to a collector on here that missed out.

This is now labeled as out of stock at Imprint's own site (same with "Hitchcock: The Early Years" -box)

[nateynate87]

Originally Posted by Draxen

This is now labeled as out of stock at Imprint's own site (same with "Hitchcock: The Early Years" -box)

welp, screw it. I guess I'll see what happens with my Orbit preorder...

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by Draxen

This is now labeled as out of stock at Imprint's own site (same with "Hitchcock: The Early Years" -box)

Wow, that was quick. Was going to wait until Friday to put an order in; glad I didn't.

[nateynate87]

Well I reached out to orbit and they say they're still good, so here's hoping they dont drop the number to 500 units or something lol

[nametag]

Eesh, this is a bit of a tough one. I do want to collect all of Hitchcock on Blu-ray, but with StudioCanal and Criterion it's only Pleasure Garden and Easy Virtue that I need... and Pleasure Garden the only one I actually haven't seen.

I do much prefer them all being in separate cases with original poster artwork though (I'd take them out of that outer box.

Anyway, can't afford to pay now which Orbit requires so I guess I'll keep an eye on them. Really feels like Pleasure Garden at least should be licensed to some other label in the UK/US...

[poisonmail]

Originally Posted by koberulz

So if one buys the SC box as well, no bonus features will actually be missing?

That’s correct, aside from the Nick Pinkerton track for The Ring which is on the Kino set but that Canal excluded for some reason.