Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years

Starring:Alfred Hitchcock Collection
Studio: Delta
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
12 DVD SET INCLUDES:
The Lady Vanishes  The Secret Agent
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Skin Game  Jamaica Inn
Number 17/The Ring  Murder!
Young & Innocent  Rich & Strange
Sabotage/The Lodger
Blackmail/Easy Virtue
The Manxman

Description

12 DVD SET INCLUDES:
The Lady Vanishes • The Secret Agent
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Skin Game • Jamaica Inn
Number 17/The Ring • Murder!
Young & Innocent • Rich & Strange
Sabotage/The Lodger
Blackmail/Easy Virtue
The Manxman

B&W/1294 min.

Customer Reviews:

Some Early Signs of Genius.......2006-09-01

Alfred Hitchcock has always been one of my favorite directors and I'm sure that I'm not alone in saying that. As a teenager, I was always anxious to see his next movie and, although some disappointed me, most were well worth the wait. Over the years, after there were to be no more new Hitchcock releases, I started looking backwards to see the "new" movies. I knew that his early movies were probably not in the class of his later films otherwise I would have had the chance to see them as well. After all, most great movies eventually make it to the Late Show unless they're non-Chaplin silent movies or foreign language films. With this attitiude, I decided that I was willing to pay to see just what Hitchcock's early films were like and I ordered "Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years".

I will admit that I did not watch all of these movies over the course of a week a month or a year; I watched them over the period of two years. After the first one I saw ("Sabotage"), I realized that my apprehensions were correct and there wasn't going to be a dream sequence, shower scene, or an attack by a menagerie of birds. Whenever I felt in the mood, I would pick out another to watch. Some of the movies such as "The Skin Game", "The Ring", "Easy Virtue", "Rich and Strange", and "The Farmer's Wife", were either mediocre or passably interesting. However, there were some movies that made me realize that a true talent was emerging from obscurity. "Jamaica Inn" had a fairly entertaining plot that reminded me of the Japanese novel "Shipwrecked" that I had just recently read. "Number 17" showed great use of shadow and light with a suspenseful story and an above-average chase scene. "Murder" was an excellent movie for its' time and showed a lot of the early genius of Hitchcock. "The Lodger" is a good silent movie that has some memorable images. It falls short in some areas but is worth watching. The "entrance" of the lodger is a work of visual art. "Blackmail" is another excellent suspense film that has a real Hitchcock chase scene and a real Hitchcock twist at the end. The actual murder takes place behind a curtain but the limited images that the director gave us let us know exactly what was happening

Granted these movies lack the polish of a later-day Hitchcock but there are some that are really worth watching and made me satisfied that I bought this set.

Disappointing.......2006-01-06

I found this set to be disappointing because of the hard to understand British dialogue, and the fact that there are no English subtitles. I realize that the films are old and bound to have some breaks here and there, but all could have been avoided with subtitles. The amazing thing to me is that the manufacturer found it okay to include Chinese, Japanese and Spanish subtitles, but not English. It's too bad because a good set could have been great.

Some shaky early films, but some classic ones too in this impressive collection.......2005-06-29

The Alfred Hitchcock Collection DVD box set contains some of the directors' earliest films, including rarities like NUMBER 17 (1932) and THE MANXMAN (1929), movies that while not always perfect, showed growing enthusiasm for the art of filmmaking and hinted at the talent of such a visionary director. THE LADY VANISHES (1938) is the best movie in this collection, displaying some kinetic camerawork and visual flair that would be used to great effect in later pictures like REAR WINDOW and VERTIGO. Made in 1936, THE SECRET AGENT was less experimental than earlier films and relied mostly on character actors like John Gielgud, Peter Lorre and Robert Young to give strong performances. The finale ten minutes is classic cinema, with a slow tracking shot with the camera on a large gimble, that went from the back of the dance hall right to the face of the suspected criminal mastermind, a shot taking 2 minutes of screen time that cost the studio a bundle, but its worth it, showing just how the mind of the young director worked.

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934) was to be remade later to great effect in 1956 with James Stewart in the Leslie Banks role. The remake is superior in terms of fast-paced action, but the original is worth watching for some great character acting from Peter Lorre, and Arthur Benjamin's speedy musical score turns up the tension and excitement. THE SKIN GAME (1931) and JAMAICA INN (1939 Charles Laughton) don't quite match the witticism and art house fun of Hitch's later work, with some sub-standard direction on JAMAICA and a vaguely un-inspired plot with SKIN GAME. Still interesting for completists though and JAMAICA has a powerful performance from screen veteran Frederick Piper. NUMBER 17 is one of Hitch's better British movies, with some nifty camerawork and smooth editing which sharply throws into effect the master's unique talent for gripping story telling. Watch out for Henry Caine as Mr. Ackroyd, a scene-stealing character throughout the film.

Running at a meager 72 minutes, THE RING is a B&W silent movie made in 1927, which doesn't quite play like a classic, but still shows some bourgeoning talent. I'm fascinated by early sound films and by how some directors are stopped dead in their tracks by the new unwieldy technology. It's amazing that 1930 gave us such a fluid, masterful sound film as "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT" and such a point-and-click snooze as "DRACULA" (filmed the same year). Hitch's MURDER! Falls somewhere between the two. He's really trying to avoid the camera-never-moves trap of earlier talkies, but it's obvious he's having a fight. For example, there's an interesting montage of the individual jurors' faces, but the momentum is destroyed by the distracting glue edits and audio clicks caused by the editing. In another jury scene, hiding the microphone must have been a task as a lot of the dialog is hard to hear. Honestly, an enhanced story would have helped a lot, but at least Hitchcock is trying to keep the film moving.

Adapted from Josephine Tey's book, YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937) is possibly the first of Hitch's films to use revolutionary film techniques to give the story style and substance. Many people think of Hitchcock, and when many of them do, they think of 3 movies: Birds, Psycho and Rear Window. But RICH AND STRANGE (1931) is a fantastic slice of action cinema. This one particularly because it was Hitchcock's first use of a blonde in sound films. Many would follow. Hitchcock also made this film sort of autobiographical of himself. SABOTAGE, THE LODGER, BLAKMAIL, EASY VIRTUE and THE MANXMAN are all fantastic movies, and after watching all the selective films on DVD, you start to realize how exhaustive his resume really was. Highly recommended.

Great for Hitchcock fans.......2005-03-18

I got this as a gift and loved it! If you're a Hitchcock fan you will thoroughly enjoy "The Early Years". It includes his very first movies--including a few silent movies as well. Great buy.

Average customer rating:

Amazon's description is inaccurate
THESE REVIEWS ARE FOR THE WRONG ITEM
I cannot stand reviewers who have not seen it but want to review it anyway.
A great value, quality is the same as Laserlight DVD's
Not Quite As Expected...

Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years
Starring: Ned Beatty , Lee Ving , Tony Frank , John Shearin , and Arthur Taxier
Director: Joel Oliansky , Fred Walton (II) , and Randa Haines
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery & Suspense | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Deals Over $10 | DVD Blowouts | Stores | DVD | Video

All Blowouts | DVD Blowouts | Stores | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Essential Alfred Hitchcock Collection
The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection (Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Edition / North by Northwest / Dial M for Murder / Foreign Correspondent / Suspicion / The Wrong Man / Stage Fright / I Confess / Mr. and Mrs. Smith)
Under Capricorn
Alfred Hitchcock's Bon Voyage & Aventure Malgache
Lifeboat (Special Edition)

ASIN: B0000897CU
Release Date: 2003-02-18

Description

8 DVD SET INCLUDES:
The Skin Game
Number 17
The Ring
Jamaica Inn
Murder!
Sabotage
The Lodger
Blackmail
Easy Virtue
Rich & Strange
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Farmer's Wife

B&W/809 min.

Customer Reviews:

Amazon's description is inaccurate.......2007-01-11

The plot synopsis for this product says that this set includes 4 episodes from the 1980's televison series, including Man from the South. This was the reason I purchased this set.
I was disappointed to find there are no episodes from that series in this set. This set is exclusively early movies Hitchcock directed, including from the silent era.
While they are good movies, and certainly interesting from the perspective of studying the great director as a young filmmaker, I was unhappy Amazon did nothing to rectify their mistake, and still hasn't changed their product description.

THESE REVIEWS ARE FOR THE WRONG ITEM.......2007-01-04

THIS ITEM SHOULD BE THE SINGLE DISC OF 4 EPISODES OF THE 1985 TELEVISION REMAKE OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. IT IS IN COLOR. THESE REVIEWS APPEAR TO BE FOR SOME MULTIDISC COMPILATION OF VERY EARLY HITCHCOCK FILMS IN B&W. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I ORDERED ONE OF THESE AND GOT THE LATTER AND SENT IT BACK TO SELLER. THERE IS SOME SCREWUP IN THE BARCODING OR SOMETHING BY AMAZON!

I cannot stand reviewers who have not seen it but want to review it anyway........2006-07-01

The morons who decided to review the movie and start our their ignorant review with "I haven't watched them all yet, but" should not be allowed to post.

This goes to the stupid people who didn't read the book yet but will post how difficult it was to stand in line at midnight and get new newest Harry Potter edition.

A great value, quality is the same as Laserlight DVD's.......2004-09-03

Audio and video quality of these movies is exactly the same as the Laserlight issues. Unfortunately most of these movies have not been re-issued on DVD by big name companies such as Kino, Criterion, Universal, or Image. In the mid 1980's Criterion released Laserdisc versions of "Blackmail", "Sabotage", "Secret Agent", and "Young and Innocent", however Criterion has no plans to release these titles on DVD. Audio and video quality is not bad, fairly standard for 1920's and 1930's nitrate films. If you are a Hitchcock enthusiast and are interested in buying these early films buy this box set, it is very economical and the quality is exactly the same as Laserlight's issues.

As an added bonus two episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" are included, you get a total of 12 presentations in this box set! A great value!

Criterion has released a re-mastered version of, "The Lady Vanishes" on DVD. I was shocked to see that the audio and video quality of the Criterion version is almost exactly the same as the version on this box set by the Bci Eclipse Company.

Not Quite As Expected..........2004-07-25

This collection of Hitchcock movies features his earliest movies. The main problem, however, with this collection is the audio. The audio quality on these films is so poor you can't understand the diologue half the time. And worse, when you can, the movies are just boring (with 2 of them being silent films). After watching Psycho and Dial M for Murder for the first time, I didn't expect this.

Average customer rating:

Whats in this collection?
Hitchcock classics

Hitchcock Collection - Early Years
Starring: Alfred Hitchcock
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Mystery & Suspense | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection (Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Edition / North by Northwest / Dial M for Murder / Foreign Correspondent / Suspicion / The Wrong Man / Stage Fright / I Confess / Mr. and Mrs. Smith)
Alfred Hitchcock - The Masterpiece Collection (Psycho / Vertigo / Rear Window / The Birds / Shadow of a Doubt / Family Plot / Frenzy / The Man Who Knew Too Much / Marnie / Rope / Saboteur / Topaz / Torn Curtain / The Trouble with Harry)
Alfred Hitchcock's Bon Voyage & Aventure Malgache
Lifeboat (Special Edition)
Under Capricorn

ASIN: B000055WJ2
Release Date: 2001-07-03

Description

14 DVD SET INCLUDES: The 39 Steps • The Lady Vanishes • The Man Who Knew Too Much • The Secret Agent • The Skin Game • Young & Innocent • Sabotage • The Lodger • Blackmail • Easy Virtue • Rich & Strange • The Sorcerer's Apprentice • The Farmer's Wife • The Manxman • Number 17 • The Ring • Jamaica Inn • Murder!

B&W/1509 min.

Customer Reviews:

Whats in this collection?.......2001-12-04

I had to e-mail Amazon to find out, here's the list: The Lodger (1926), Easy Virtue (1927, The Ring (1927), The Farmer's Wife (1928), The Manxman (1929), Blackmail (1929), Murder (1930), The Skin Game (1931), Rich and Strange (1932), number 17 (1932), The man who Knew Too Much (1934), the Thirty Nine Steps (1935), The Secret Agent (1936), Sabatoge (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Jamaica Inn (1939) and The Sorcerers Apprentice. I personnaly feel his older works are bit slow, bu the ones from the 30's get better. With 15+ movies in one collection - It's worth it.

Hitchcock classics.......2001-04-16

These DVS's are great classics to watch, especially on a dark and late night. But I wouldsn't think these DVD's are great. I would go more recent to the 50's and 60's movies. My favorite Hitchcock movie is Rear Window. That will keep you watching.

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