Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Collection - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Collection

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

WARNING: THE SCORES ABOVE ARE A COMBINED SCORE FROM ALL 15 FILMS,

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Movie
Alfred Hitchcock is a legend among classic “horror” or thriller fans, as he was the originator of many of our more common horror tropes to this day. Even though it doesn’t seem to hold much similarity to Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hitchcock’s Psycho is considered the great grandaddy of the slasher phenomenon. Not to mention how much Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and countless others thrived off of the thrillers that Hitchcock put out year after year. His influence has been so great that there have been several films chronicling his life and times, as well as multiple documentaries that delve into the rotund man’s many vices. In 2012 Universal made a grand effort by grabbing as many of his films that they were given rights to, as well as quite a few from other studios (North by Northwest was loaned to them from Warner Brothers, Saboteur and Shadow of a Doubt are on loan to Universal from David Selznick, Rope was purchased from a small studio that Hitchcock ran back In the day and was acquired by Universal back in the 80s after the legendary director died. Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man who Knew too Much, and Vertigo which Universal purchased from an Estate deal after the rights reverted from Paramount Pictures, and then there is Psycho, which Universal purchased back in 1963 from Paramount).

While I could wax eloquent about each of the films in the set, I have to say that there are a LOT of good films in this 17 disc set. 15 of them are from the original Masterpiece Collection released in 2012 (and re-released in 2016), with the exception of 2 DVDs that included some TV episodes from Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. That and it’s combined with a nice new cover art for the chipboard set. Other than those two small differences, this is the exact same 15 disc disc set (plus the two DVDs of course) that made up the 2012 and 2016 re-release sets.

That being said, the films are a blast to go back and watch, as I haven’t seen them since the original 2012 release was put out and I payed over $190 just to get all 15 films in my hands. Most of these are considered some of the best of Hitchcock, but a few of his really iconic ones are held by other studios at the moment (such as Criterion, Warner, and Paramount), but all of these movies are true jewels, with the exception of Topaz and Torn Curtain, which were some of Hitchcock’s weaker entries into his film database. Others, such as North by Northwest, and Rear Window are considered his best thrillers to date, and I still will re-watch Rear Window at 2:00 am with the lights off, as it was Jimmy Stewart’s best film in my humble opinion.

As with all these boxsets there are some problems, most of them pertaining to the video transfers that Warner used in the 2012/2016 sets, and those same issues are replicated here as well. From what I can tell, these are LITERALLY the exact same discs as were pressed before, just in a new package, so those same flaws will come across as well. A few that I wish would have been in an “Ultimate” box set would be To Catch a Thief and Rachel, but those can luckily be purchased individually as well. While this is not a perfect set, it is very much an enjoyable set that gives us 15 movies for a bargain basement price, many of which look and sound stellar on Blu-ray. The flaws that are present can be frustrating, but are not nearly enough to keep me from recommending the set to you all.




Rated PG, PG-13 and R by the MPAA



Video:

The variation of the quality of the transfers for this set is what Universal was initially criticized for when the Masterpiece Collection came out in 2012. Many of them were very good to incredible, while others were just weak, and a few were just plain ABYSMAL. As there are 15 films in the set and we don’t have room for 10 pages dissecting the films (as well as a myriad of much more detailed looks at the films due to this being a re-release), I’ll separate them into “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”.



The Good – This is where I’m grouping my 4/5 and 4.5/5 rated films in terms of transfers. That would included Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, Vertigo, North by Northwest (which has the same transfer as the earlier WB disc), Psycho, and Torn Curtain. This encompasses the greater half of the boxset, and their respective transfers are really well done. A few of them have some mild aliasing and some DNR applied, but for the most part these are stellar transfers. North by Northwest still has the fantastic WB transfer from the Digibook years ago, and Psycho has the same transfer as Universal’s single disc release that is now out of print. Colors are bright and cleanly done, and the grain structure is natural and cleand.



The Bad – While I jokingly refer to these as “the Bad”, none of the ones mentioned in this section are truly bad. Rather they are just a bit weaker than the great looking transfers above and rate from 3/5 – 3.5/5. These would include The Birds, Topaz, and Rope. The Reason they get in the mid tier is mainly because universal seems to have been using some older masters that are caked with edge enhancement, halos around people, and some baked in DNR that makes them a bit smeary and overly flat. Colors tend to be good, but The Birds special effects look really weak as they haven’t aged well from those days of original effects. Nothing too wild, but they all three look a bit overly processed and tampered with for their own good.



The Ugly – Now these last four (The Man who Knew too Much, Marnie, Frenzy and Family Plot) definitively fall into the “ugly” category. Some fare better than others, but all but Family Plot getting a 2.5/5 rating. These suffer much the same fate as the “Bad” section with overly processed looks to them, along with all the artifacts mentioned above, plus flickering contrast, poor color saturation, and low clarity. Then there’s Family Plot. This is truly the black sheep of the collection as it is an ABYSMAL transfer all around. I have NO IDEA where universal sourced the master from, as it looks like VHS sourced Youtube video with constantly changing contrast, flickering all over the place, and weak colors and almost no sense of or clarity. Honestly I have a hard time giving it a 1/5 rating and I have NEVER seen a Blu-ray look THIS weak in all my years of reviewing.



With that being said. The set is still the best that universal has been able to give and despite the varying degrees of quality among the film transfers, it is still a solid set that has more good going for it than bad.





Audio:

Once again, being that this is a 15 movie set, the audio scores are “lumped” together in this set. Honestly, there’s not a WHOLE lot of variation among the quality of the tracks. Except for Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho, all of the films sport a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track that serves the films well. Vocals are crisp and clean, and there is no major sound distortions. The tracks are 2.0 tracks by nature, and as such that limits them from running with Transformers or other modern tracks, but the limited sound stage of the times does well. The other three that I mentioned to rather well in 51., with North by Northwest showing the most encompassing feel, with the action oriented “thriller” that Hitchcock went with. Being that it was acquired from Warner brothers for this set, and was previously released on its own, the 5.1 TrueHD track is a direct replica of that single disc that Warner released early in the format’s infancy. Psycho’s 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is a bit front heavy, but still done well with the remix, and the same goes for Vertigo. The entire set is good to great, with the exception of Rope and Frenzy which have a bit of a weak audio presentation to them (along with their video scores). Frenzy has the most problems with an out of balance mix, and very weak effects utilization.








Extras:

Disc 1: Saboteur

1. Saboteur: A Closer Look
2. Storyboards (SD, 4 minutes): Original storyboards for the Statue of Liberty sequence.
3. Alfred Hitchcock's Sketches
4. Production Photographs
5. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 2: Shadow of a Doubt

1. Beyond Doubt: The Making of Hitchcock's Favorite Film
2. Production Drawings
3. Production Photographs
4. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 3: Rope

1. Rope Unleashed
2. Production Photographs
3. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 4: Rear Window

1. Audio Commentary with Author John Farwell
2. Rear Window Ethics
3. Masters of Cinema
4. A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes
5. Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of the Master
6. Breaking Barriers
7. Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts
8. Production Photographs
9. Theatrical and Re-Release Trailers

Disc 5: The Trouble with Harry

1. The Trouble with Harry Isn't Over
2. Production Photographs
3. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 6: The Man Who Knew Too Much

1. The Making of The Man Who Knew Too Much
2. Production Photographs
3. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 7: Vertigo

1. Audio Commentary
2. Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece
3. Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborations
4. Hitchcock and Truffaut Interview Excerpts
5. 100 Years of Universal: The Lew Wasserman Era
6. Foreign Censorship Ending
7. The Vertigo Archives
8. Theatrical and Restoration Trailers

Disc 8: North by Northwest

1. Audio Commentary
2. The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
3. Cary Grant: A Class Apart
4. North by Northwest: One for the Ages
5. Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest
6. Music-Only Track:
7. Stills Gallery
8. Theatrical Trailers and TV Spot

Disc 9: Psycho

1. Audio Commentary:
2. The Making of Psycho
3. Psycho Sound
4. In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
5. Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts
6. Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho
7. The Shower Scene: With and Without Music
8. The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass
9. The Psycho Archives
10. Posters and Psycho Ads
11. Behind-the-Scenes Photographs
12. Production and Publicity Photographs
13. Lobby Cards
14. Theatrical and Re-Release Trailers

Disc 10: The Birds

1. The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie
2. Deleted Scene and Original Ending
3. All About The Birds
4. Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts
5. 100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics
6. 100 Years of Universal: The Lot
7. The Birds is Coming
8. Suspense Story: National Press Club Hears Hitchcock
9. Storyboards
10. Tippi Hedren's Screen Test
11. Production Photographs
12. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 11: Marnie

1. The Trouble with Marnie
2. The Marnie Archives
3. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 12: Torn Curtain

1. Torn Curtain Rising
2. Scenes Scored by Bernard Herrmann
3. Production Photographs
4. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 13: Topaz

1. Topaz: An Appreciation
2. Alternate Endings
3. Storyboards: The Mendozas
4. Production Photographs
5. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 14: Frenzy

1. The Story of Frenzy
2. Production Photographs
3. Theatrical Trailer

Disc 15: Family Plot

1. Plotting Family Plot
2. Storyboards: The Chase Scene
3. Production Photographs
4. Theatrical Trailers

Discs 16 and 17

1. 7 TV Episodes from Alfred Hitchcock Presents
2. 3 TV Episodes from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Final Score: ​

The Alfred Hitchcock films are some of the most looked at and well regarded films in the golden age of cinema, and have been studied in many a film class for countless decades. This collection is just a slightly modded version of the Masterpiece Collection that has been out since 2012, with just the addition of a few discs worth of special features and TV episodes to differentiate itself from the previous box set. This in no way takes away from the well done nature of the set, but rather is just a warning for those of you who already HAVE the Masterpiece Collection that this really won’t be a significant upgrade unless you REALLY have to have those extra couple of discs worth of TV show eps. However, if you haven’t picked up the set before, or have just one or two of the individual releases, then this is a great way to pick up 15 of the most influential Hitchcock films out there in one clean sweep in a nice new repackage.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Anthony Perkins, Grace Kelly, Paul Newman, Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1, 1.78:1, 1.66:1, 1.36:1, 1.35:1, 1.33:1
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DTS-HD MA Mono, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese DD 2.0, DTS 2.0, DTS Mono
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG / PG-13 / R
Runtime: 1762
Blu-ray Release Date: October 17th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Check It Out​

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I do enjoy his movies. Will check it out.