My comments to follow after work…
A DEFINITIVE ANTHOLOGY FROM
THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
PREMIERE COLLECTION
Brilliantly Restored And Remastered, The Eight-Disc Set Includes All-New Commentaries, Featurettes, Screen Tests, Vintage Radio Interviews,
An AFI Tribute To The Director And More
Arriving On DVD October 14 From MGM Home Entertainment
LOS ANGELES, CA – One of the most influential filmmakers in all of cinema and voted the greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, MGM Home Entertainment presents an extensive compilation featuring the works of a true Hollywood legend when the Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection arrives on DVD October 14. Nominated collectively for a total of 23 Academy Awards, these films are beautifully restored and remastered and feature titles out of print on DVD for several years. The eight-disc set is highlighted by Hitchcock’s Oscar winner for Best Picture Rebecca, starring Joan Fontaine (Suspicion) and Laurence Olivier (Hamlet) in a dark tale of love and obsession. Silver screen siren Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca) makes an appearance in two Hitchcock classics; first alongside Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird) in Spellbound, as a young doctor in pursuit of the truth and next alongside Cary Grant (North by Northwest) in Notorious, a tale of crime, passion and espionage. Rounding out the collection is Peck once again in The Paradine Case as a lawyer defending a beautiful woman accused of poisoning her husband, the spy thriller Sabotage, the romantic murder-mystery drama Young and Innocent, the suspenseful high seas thriller Lifeboat and one of Hitchcock’s earliest films, the terrifying whodunit The Lodger featuring an all-new anniversary score.
With hours of all-new special features including audio commentaries, featurettes, screen tests, still galleries, vintage radio interviews, an AFI Tribute to Hitchcock and more, the DVD collection also includes a 32-page notebook with trivia, production notes and more about the legendary director. Available for a suggested retail price of $119.98 U.S. / $159.98 Canada, Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious will also be available as singe discs for a suggested retail price of $19.98. Prebook is September 17.
Rebecca Synopsis
A young woman marries a fascinating older widower only to discover that she must live in the shadows of his first wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years before.
Special features:
· Commentary by film historian/author Richard Schickel
· Screen tests
· Making of Rebecca Featurette
· The Gothic World of Daphne Du Maurier Featurette
· Original 1938 Radio Play Starring Orson Welles
· 1941 Radio Play Presented by Cecil B. DeMille
· 1950 Radio Play with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
· Four-page booklet
The Lodger Synopsis
During a rash of gruesome murders by a serial killer known only as “The Avenger,” a mysterious stranger arrives in London and rents a room with the Bunting family. Intriguing and reclusive, the Buntings’ new guest soon earns the interest of their beautiful daughter. But when the lodger’s strange habits and odd hours start to coincide with The Avenger’s killings, the Buntings suspect they may have let a murderer into their home…and given him the key to destroying their lives!
Special features:
· 1999 Score by Ashley Irwin presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround
· 1997 Score by Paul Zaza presented in Mono
· Commentary with film historian Patrick McGilligan
· The Sound of Silence: The Making of The Lodger Featurette
· Hitchcock 101 Featurette
· 1940 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
· Restoration Comparison
The Paradine Case Synopsis
Beautiful Anna Paradine (Alida Valli) is accused of poisoning her older wealthy husband. Her barrister, the happily married Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) takes the case but also lets his heart rule his head when he falls hard for his client.
Special features:
· Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
· Isolated Music and Effects Track
· 1949 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Restoration Comparision
· Still Galleries
Spellbound Synopsis
When John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), the new director of a mental asylum arrives on the job, the staff is concerned. He seems too young for the position and his answers to their questions are vague and detached. Dr. Peterson (Ingrid Bergman), while knowing he is an imposter with emotional issues, nevertheless falls in love with him. Turning to her mentor, Dr. Alex Brulov (Michael Checkhov) and the use of psychoanalysis she tries to get to the root of Ballantine’s emotional problems.
Special features:
· Commentary with film historians Thomas Schatz & Charles Ramirez Berg
· Guilt by Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound Featurette
· A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming Featurette
· Dreaming with Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali Featurette
· 1948 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: Film Historian Rudy Belhemer Interviews Composer Miklós Rózsa
· Still Gallery
· 4-Page Booklet
Notorious Synopsis
Daughter of an accused World War II traitor, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is enlisted to entrap one of her father’s colleagues in Brazil, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Raines). Her American contact, secret agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) is openly contemptuous of Alicia and instructs her to wed Sebastian. It is only after she is wed that Devlin lets himself admit that he’s fallen in love with her.
Special features:
· Commentary with film historian Rick Jewell
· Commentary with film historian Drew Casper
· Isolated Music and Effects Track
· The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious Featurette
· Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Spymaster Featurette
· AFI Tribute to Hitchcock
· 1948 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
· Restoration Comparision
· Still Gallery
· 4-Page Booklet
Young and Innocent Synopsis
In this witty, suspense thriller a police chief’s daughter helps a fugitive accused of murder prove his innocence.
Special features:
· Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
· Isolated Music and Effects Track
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
· Restoration Comparision
· Still Gallery
Sabotage Synopsis
A woman learns that her movie theater manager husband is actually a foreign agent when a bomb he has made kills her brother. Based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, The Secret Agent.
Special features:
· Commentary with film historian Leonard Leff
· Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
· Restoration Comparision
· Still Gallery
Lifeboat Synopsis
Nominated for three Academy Awards®, Alfred Hitchcock’s World War II drama is a remarkable story of human survival. After their ship is sunk in the Atlantic by Germans, eight people are stranded in a lifeboat. Their problems are further compounded when they pick up a ninth passenger – the Nazi captain from the U-boat that torpedoed them. With powerful suspense and emotion, this legendary classic reveals the strengths and frailties of individuals under extraordinary duress.
Special features:
· Commentary by University of Southern California School of Cinema & Television Hitchcock professor and film critic, Drew Casper
· “The Making of Lifeboat” featurette
· The original theatrical trailer
· Still gallery featuring photographs from the set
Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection
DVD Price: $119.98 U.S. / $159.98 Canada
Order Due Date: September 17, 2008
Street Date: October 14, 2008
Catalog Number: M110985
Total Run Time: 594 minutes
Screen Format: 1.33:1 Full Screen
Audio Features: English Mono
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Closed Captioned: Yes