The Val Lewton Horror Collection

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Foulard
Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:38 pm

#101 Post by Foulard » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:43 pm

It's also going to be showing on TCM on January 14th, a good option for those (like me) who bought the box set the first time and don't want to spring for another documentary.

indy81
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:36 pm

#102 Post by indy81 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:57 pm

For the record, Kent Jones wrote and directed this documentary. Scorsese just "presents" it. Looking forward to it.

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Lino
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#103 Post by Lino » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:41 pm

This goes out to anyone who has bought the "new" set: are the discs housed in slimpacks?

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Hofmeister
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#104 Post by Hofmeister » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:15 am

Lino wrote:
Narshty wrote:A wonderful rollercoaster of a boxset - I just hope Warner put out Lewton's other two RKO pictures on another double bill disc at some point.
That would be nice. Plus, they could combine them with the other two pictures he made for MGM. We then could have double-bills of Youth Runs Wild with Please Believe Me and Mademoiselle Fifi with Apache Drums.
The excellent quality of WB's Lewton set makes the lack of these four titles all the more palpable. That's why I find it pertinent to this discussion that both Youth Runs Wild and Mademoiselle Fifi are available in R2. The editions are not perfect but not shabby either. I tried to post information on them here but the entry was moved to the "international DVD discussion" area; this was most likely because it referred to non-WB releases of these RKO films. A logical move, although it ignores the logic of this thread. To avoid cross-posting, I'll just insert this link to the post. Hope this is of interest.

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manicsounds
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#105 Post by manicsounds » Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:44 pm

Lino wrote:This goes out to anyone who has bought the "new" set: are the discs housed in slimpacks?
Nope, its the same thick box as before, with the new documentary in a keepcase packaged next to it

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Le Samouraï
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#106 Post by Le Samouraï » Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:49 am

Sorry, but do I understand you correctly? The new disc is not *in* the box itself, just packaged with it?

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Belmondo
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#107 Post by Belmondo » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:41 am

Le Samouraï wrote:Sorry, but do I understand you correctly? The new disc is not *in* the box itself, just packaged with it?
Correct - I saw it in the store; same box with the new disc beside it, all shrink wrapped together.

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devlinnn
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#108 Post by devlinnn » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:34 pm

This new Kent Jones documentary on Lewton (for 'Manny') is simply magnificent. Deeply heartfelt, intelligent, beautifully edited and constructed, it's one of the finest films of 'Movie History' I've ever seen, and just wants to make you live in the films again, and again. Scorsese's wonderful narration is the cherry on the cake.


onedimension
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:35 pm

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#110 Post by onedimension » Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:49 am

Any info on whether these will come out on blu at some point?

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#111 Post by Finch » Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:34 am

The Leopard Man would have to be restored properly though. The print used for the DVD was in not-so-good shape, all the more frustrating for me because it is my favourite in the set.

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manicsounds
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#112 Post by manicsounds » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:48 pm

wasn't there a Val Lewton title released on Blu-ray somewhere? I thought I read that somewhere.

eatandoph
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2015 10:59 am

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#113 Post by eatandoph » Sat Nov 21, 2015 11:08 am

Hi all — I've been having playback issues with my Val Lewton discs bought back in 2005. Visually the discs look fine, so I'm wondering if others have had issues with discs becoming unplayable with age.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#114 Post by HerrSchreck » Sat Nov 21, 2015 10:23 pm

From overuse, yeah. But not from simple age--but it might be possible.

If you have more than one player, try shifting it over to another one. Sometimes one player's reader doesn't like a disc, but another will play it.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#115 Post by domino harvey » Sat Nov 21, 2015 10:56 pm

It sounds like another disintegrating Warners disc

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hearthesilence
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#116 Post by hearthesilence » Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:41 am

HerrSchreck wrote:From overuse, yeah.
"Overuse" can make a disc unplayable? How much is overuse? I didn't know that was possible, I've had CD's where the same track was played God knows how many times, and they still play fine, so I figured it was the same with DVDs as they'd be physically similar enough.

FWIW, I had the old DVD of The Hustler which was played probably a dozen times within a year, and then it started to have playback issues where it stalled at a specific chapter. It worsened quickly and soon it wouldn't play past that point, and yet the disc itself still looked pristine. I figured it was a defective disc though.

Jonathan S
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:31 am
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#117 Post by Jonathan S » Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:27 am

In my Lewton set, the Cat People disc has developed misty concentric circles on the underside but a quick skim through suggests it's okay for now. Maybe that's irrelevant, as the completely unplayable Warner discs I have found had no blemishes on the playing surfaces.

Despite several reports of this Warner DVD rot problem on forums, such as here (scroll down for pics) and here, there doesn't seem to have been any scientific investigation, or comment from Warner - or have I missed it?
hearthesilence wrote:FWIW, I had the old DVD of The Hustler which was played probably a dozen times within a year, and then it started to have playback issues where it stalled at a specific chapter. It worsened quickly and soon it wouldn't play past that point, and yet the disc itself still looked pristine. I figured it was a defective disc though.
The Hustler is a Fox title and note that, in the first of those links, rotted Fox DVDs are also mentioned.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#118 Post by HerrSchreck » Sun Nov 22, 2015 12:34 pm

hearthesilence wrote:
hearthesilence wrote:
HerrSchreck wrote:From overuse, yeah.
"Overuse" can make a disc unplayable? How much is overuse? I didn't know that was possible, I've had CD's where the same track was played God knows how many times, and they still play fine, so I figured it was the same with DVDs as they'd be physically similar enough.

FWIW, I had the old DVD of The Hustler which was played probably a dozen times within a year, and then it started to have playback issues where it stalled at a specific chapter. It worsened quickly and soon it wouldn't play past that point, and yet the disc itself still looked pristine. I figured it was a defective disc though.
Well er, when I mean overuse... I mean OVER U S E. There's another member here (not David or Knappen or such) here in NY that is mostly background shadow nowadays who has seen my discs and what I do/did to them, especially back then in my years of most extreme cinephilia. We did some trading that was so heavy that we pretty much completely plugged opposing holes in our collections, but I was pre-burning pre ripping knowledge days. So I would walk in with a heap of extremely beat up old discs that made a spalted maple guitar look clean and smooth.

How much is overuse? There are some discs like EARTH, or Kino Esper stuff, or some of the original Universal Horror DVDs, especially the silly sequels that I used to use like nightlights/lullabies, every night. The disc with HOuse of/Ghost of Frankenstein was played at least 250 nights on one year alone, and it took that kind of use for years. I can't get anything out of them now. They would not only play the films every night but would sit there spinning away for another 4-5 hours after the film ended running the menu cycle after I fell asleep.

12 plays a year is not overuse imho. That's light use by any videodisc library/service's accounting.

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Rsdio
Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 11:42 am
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#119 Post by Rsdio » Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:09 pm

I've just skimmed through the chapters on mine and everything seems fine, though the surfaces of a couple of the discs look a little bit 'off'. One has large, almost cross-hatched lines on it and the other has a series of small circles near the outer edge.

Hope the noir box sets are alright too. Warners were really on a roll around that time as I recall.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#120 Post by HerrSchreck » Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Second half of the first decade of the 2000's? Everyone was on a roll. Criterion, Kino, MoC, Ed Filmmuseum plus Image Ent who I miss terribly in the form they were back then, releasing tons of silents. Milestone.. it goes on and on. And yes, WB was rolling out the good stuff in droves, albeit pissing off people waiting for the Sjostroms, more Chaney, Greed, and the like.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#121 Post by Gregory » Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:49 pm

I recently loaned out my 2005 Cat People disc to a couple of friends, then watched it again myself, and there were no problems with it. So far, I've had problems with a few WAC burned discs not playing on multiple devices but no issues with pressed WHV DVDs becoming unplayable.

unclehulot
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#122 Post by unclehulot » Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:00 pm

I've got problems playing "The Ghost Ship" on that disc. Never played it, and it looks visually fine. I tried a library copy I was able to locate (which looks to be in new condition) and it has identical issues. I was unable to "rip" either copy to my HD either. Is there any recourse from WB on this kind of thing?

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Stephen
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:11 pm
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#123 Post by Stephen » Thu Nov 02, 2017 5:31 am

Some similar problems here. I brought the updated edition 5 years ago and attempted to play some disks last weekend for the first time. Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie all wouldn't play on 3 different multi region devices. I wasn't sure that this was a known issue and put it down to bad luck hoping that Criterion or Warner Archive would come to the rescue in the future.

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oldsheperd
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:18 pm
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#124 Post by oldsheperd » Tue Nov 07, 2017 5:13 pm

Glad to hear I'm not the only one as I've had the same issues with my Val Lewton set.

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Paul Moran
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:06 pm
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Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection

#125 Post by Paul Moran » Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:09 pm

Lucky me. I bought the original 2005 version in November 2013 (!) from amazon.com. It still seems to be OK. All 5 discs load correctly on my bedroom Oppo 103EU, and I've "chapter skipped" through the 9 films and the doc without any problems.

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