The Val Lewton Horror Collection
- porquenegar
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:33 pm
I got my set in yesterday from Amazon and the packaging was the standard Warner's for box sets, ala Gangsters, Noir, etc. Popped in Cat People and it looked great. I'm glad I got to finally see this one and it definitely lived up to the hype. I'm eagerly looking forward to plowing through the rest of the set.
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
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- thethirdman
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:26 pm
- Gordon
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am
Word on the street is that the transfers for Zombie and The Body Snatcher have brightness and contrast problems that are not present in recenty screened prints:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum ... ost2817430
Being HTF, they are more than likely exaggerating, but it does sound like little refurbishment work has been done to these two films. No info on the other films.
Incidentally, I ordered the Canadian set from DVD Import for $43.20 (£24.00), but the Canadian set doesn't street until the 18th of October. I was not aware of this, so I'm looking to you for answers.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum ... ost2817430
Being HTF, they are more than likely exaggerating, but it does sound like little refurbishment work has been done to these two films. No info on the other films.
Incidentally, I ordered the Canadian set from DVD Import for $43.20 (£24.00), but the Canadian set doesn't street until the 18th of October. I was not aware of this, so I'm looking to you for answers.
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- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:41 am
- Location: Florie-dah
- Gordon
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am
Reviews for The Leopard Man and the underrated, Ghost Ship at DVD Beaver:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... review.htm
Prime elements may not exist for The Leopard Man. A shame as this is an atmospheric gem. Incidentally, why was my hero Billy Friedkin invited to record his jive for this film and not Criterion's new Wages of Fear 2-disc?! The mind, as ever, boggles.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... review.htm
Prime elements may not exist for The Leopard Man. A shame as this is an atmospheric gem. Incidentally, why was my hero Billy Friedkin invited to record his jive for this film and not Criterion's new Wages of Fear 2-disc?! The mind, as ever, boggles.
- Alonzo the Armless
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:57 pm
- the dancing kid
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:35 pm
I watched Bedlam last night, which I had never seen or heard much of before, and I was very impressed with it. Karloff gets a great character to play, and even though he's still "the monster" he at least gets to play it with plenty of wit and style. And the movie was inspired by a painting. How cool is that? I thought the image quality was pretty decent as well, although I've only watched this and Isle of the Dead of the set so far, so I don't know how it stacks up in comparison to the other films.
- Gordon
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am
- porquenegar
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:33 pm
- Alonzo the Armless
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:57 pm
I am bummed that the transfer of THE LEOPARD MAN -- my favorite of the batch -- has some white scartches or fuzz every so often and that there's a gray vertical line on the right side of the screen most of the time. SEVENTH VICTIM looked okay mostly. I'm halfway through BEDLAM and it looks pretty good too.Gordon McMurphy wrote:What do you make of the transfers overall, Alonzo?
The sound is fine. Lewton loves to have loud and quick shock sounds that come out of nowhere to make you jump out of your seat. There's been a couple times when it worked on my wife and me.
-
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:54 am
- Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
The DVD Savant - Glen Erickson har posted an exellent review on DVD Talk.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1765val.html
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http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1765val.html
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- porquenegar
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:33 pm
On the Cat People commentary, Greg Mank talks about this and apparently Val Lewton refered to the sudden shock sound he used in many of his films as The Bus. Taken from the first stalking scene in Cat People.Alonzo the Armless wrote:I am bummed that the transfer of THE LEOPARD MAN -- my favorite of the batch -- has some white scartches or fuzz every so often and that there's a gray vertical line on the right side of the screen most of the time. SEVENTH VICTIM looked okay mostly. I'm halfway through BEDLAM and it looks pretty good too.Gordon McMurphy wrote:What do you make of the transfers overall, Alonzo?
The sound is fine. Lewton loves to have loud and quick shock sounds that come out of nowhere to make you jump out of your seat. There's been a couple times when it worked on my wife and me.
- justeleblanc
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 pm
- Location: Connecticut
- otis
- Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:43 am
You can read about the "bus" and other related matters here: http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue03/fe ... artle1.htmJusteLeblanc wrote:I love The Bus!
- porquenegar
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:33 pm
I viewed Curse of the Cat People for the first time last night and fell completely in love with it. It is wildly different than I was expecting and was obviously a very personal film for Lewton. The entire movie, but particularly the snow scene in the finale, felt like a child's fairy tale. Ann Carter gives the best child performance I've had the pleasure to see.
I continue to be astounded how Lewton was able to produce these magical films with such low budgets and being handicapped with studio selected movie titles.
I continue to be astounded how Lewton was able to produce these magical films with such low budgets and being handicapped with studio selected movie titles.
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
Having now watched everything on this set and enjoyed them all to varying degrees (Curse of the Cat People was the surprise title for me while I walked with a Zombie, the certified masterpiece), I have a major quibble to share: why is it that Warner couldn't have done a more extensive restoration on some of the titles? While a few look great, others look just awful and hardly inappropriate to 2005 DVD viewers.
I know that the reason is probably down to the condition of the masters but surely less dust and debri could be achieved with only minor effort (the software does exist). Maybe Warner thought that these weren't worth it or even profitable but I think that my complaint is pertinent. Not to say that they look shitty (far from that, the definition levels are always high and this is perhaps the transfers biggest asset) but they could have looked so much better. Maybe in a HD-DVD future, one hopes.
I know that the reason is probably down to the condition of the masters but surely less dust and debri could be achieved with only minor effort (the software does exist). Maybe Warner thought that these weren't worth it or even profitable but I think that my complaint is pertinent. Not to say that they look shitty (far from that, the definition levels are always high and this is perhaps the transfers biggest asset) but they could have looked so much better. Maybe in a HD-DVD future, one hopes.
- cafeman
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:19 am
Well, Annie, you have to take into account that some of these were in pretty bad shape. Take Ghost Ship, which was essentially never shown for years, and look how great that transfer is, and even that probably needed restoration.
I don`t think these could look any better without a complete ground up restoration effort, and that`s never gonna happen.
As far as my picks from this box go: blown away by Curse of the Cat People and The 7th Victim, immensely enojoyed Cat People, Body Snatcher and The Leopard Man, liked Ghost Ship, kinda liked I Walked with a Zombie and Bedlam, disliked Isle of the Dead.
An amazing box, an amazing career.
And who keeps asking Friedkin to do commentaries? He had me begging for Bogdanovich in 2 minutes.
I don`t think these could look any better without a complete ground up restoration effort, and that`s never gonna happen.
As far as my picks from this box go: blown away by Curse of the Cat People and The 7th Victim, immensely enojoyed Cat People, Body Snatcher and The Leopard Man, liked Ghost Ship, kinda liked I Walked with a Zombie and Bedlam, disliked Isle of the Dead.
An amazing box, an amazing career.
And who keeps asking Friedkin to do commentaries? He had me begging for Bogdanovich in 2 minutes.
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
The whole reason for that is its very unavailability. It just never got shown until very recently and that's why it looks so good - the original materials were still in good shape.cafeman wrote:Take Ghost Ship, which was essentially never shown for years, and look how great that transfer is
My main problem is with the constant cracks and tears in the video department (on the other hand, the audio is perfectly acceptable). It just ruins the overall effect of the films to a point where it's really distracting. I know that over the years I've been spoiled rotten by recent restorations of even older films (Metropolis comes to mind) so that's why I'm whining on these ones. But as I said before, they don't look as bad as I'm painting them but there's definitely room for improvement and I'm pretty sure that if it was another company other than Warner that had put them out, we'd be all bitching to high heaven. Sad but true - Warner are indeed the new Criterion and our level of forgiveness has increased.
This case however is thankfully not to be applied to other truly fantastic releases that Warner has been putting out these past couple of years - Gone with the Wind comes to mind and that really is one heck of a DVD release!
- cafeman
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:19 am
Yeah, I know, that`s why I cite it as an example, in order to contrast it with other flicks whose sources were much worse. Maybe my wording was a little weird.Annie Mall wrote:The whole reason for that is its very unavailability. It just never got shown until very recently and that's why it looks so good - the original materials were still in good shape.cafeman wrote:Take Ghost Ship, which was essentially never shown for years, and look how great that transfer is
Well, as far as being spoiled, I`ve seen so many public domain flicks such as Big Combo, Little Shop of Horrors or VCI`s Mann noirs, that when it comes to these classic films, having OAR, sharp picture and deep contrast is almost more than I can ask for in regard to these types of films.
I actually felt that some of the WB noirs had more problems than the Lewton box. But it also might be that the first one I popped in from the set was Ghost Ship, and when I laid my eyes on what appeared to be the crispest of all crisp images ever on DVD, it immediately had a ripple effect on the rest of the box.
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
- Gordon
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am
I've got to say that Warner really ought to have applied a scratch/tear removal software system on I Walked With a Zombie has some seriously bad damage. Is it asking too much at these low prices to insist on digitally rectified (I just invented that term!) transfer for such landmark horror film? Sharpness is good throught this set, as is contrast and brightness levels, but the damage is very bad in places. The first Film Noir and Gangster box transfers all have less damage in comparison to I Walked With a Zombie.
On a more positive note, I was pleasantly surprised with William Friedkin's commentary on The Leopard Man, a film that I has always found disjointed, but Friedkin's insights are quite interesting and he obviously has a genuine love for this film that terrified him as a youngster in an early 60s re-run. It makes we wonder how these commentaries from Friedkin on Warner DVDs of films he did not participate in the making of. I wish that he would put a bit of pressure on Universal to do a SE of Sorcerer and on Paramount for a The Boys in the Band[/i[ DVD.
Dspite its flawed transfers, this was probably the DVD bargain of the year and I am looking forward to other such boxes from Warner in 2006, commencing with the Peckinpah set.
On a more positive note, I was pleasantly surprised with William Friedkin's commentary on The Leopard Man, a film that I has always found disjointed, but Friedkin's insights are quite interesting and he obviously has a genuine love for this film that terrified him as a youngster in an early 60s re-run. It makes we wonder how these commentaries from Friedkin on Warner DVDs of films he did not participate in the making of. I wish that he would put a bit of pressure on Universal to do a SE of Sorcerer and on Paramount for a The Boys in the Band[/i[ DVD.
Dspite its flawed transfers, this was probably the DVD bargain of the year and I am looking forward to other such boxes from Warner in 2006, commencing with the Peckinpah set.