Alfred Hitchcock Collectors Guide, Part 3

American movie collections: ABC and Warner Bros.

• The Master’s higher profile later movies are the works cementing his towering legend
• However, his artistry cannot be fully appreciated via seriously substandard transfers
• Despite the seemingly endless choices, most releases are exactly the same originals
• On all three latest disc formats, they’re simply repackaged and reissued endlessly
• There’s much variation between countries: some are good but many are very bad
• The same applies to many streaming copies with altered, inauthentic versions
• Physical media still the best way to be sure of experiencing true Hitch genius
• Best box sets ideal way to collect big chunks of his oeuvre in one fell swoop

Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.

Collectors Guide: Setting the scene, Pt 2: British films, 3: US ABC and Warner Bros., 4: US Universal Studios Collections

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock by Justin Reed (archive)

Contents

• Introduction
• ABC Television box sets
• Warner Bros. DVD box sets
• Warner Bros. Blu-ray box sets
• Related articles

Introduction

Retrospective | American Heritage: Hitchcock’s America/On Location

You’d be forgiven for thinking things become much simpler when it comes to collecting Alfred Hitchcock’s 30 American works, as opposed to those from his generally lesser known British years. After all, they were big-budget bonanzas made for major stateside studios and have always been well looked-after, right? Well, no: one of those is not true. Most of them are now owned or distributed in at least the US by just three companies: Universal Studios (14), Warner Bros. (8) and Disney (5). The exceptions are Foreign Correspondent (owned by Shout! Factory via Westchester Films), Under Capricorn (CBS Television Distribution) and To Catch a Thief (Paramount). All three, but especially the latter, regularly pop up in some countries’ box sets; see their individual listings. A fourth, Lifeboat, was also a loner until its recent acquisition by Disney.

All of Hitch’s American movies have been regularly remastered, restored and repackaged over the years but believe it or not, all but six of them have releases with common issues severely compromising his artistry. These include problematic visuals, re-edited versions, drastically altered soundtracks and even transfers in completely the wrong aspect ratio. How can you begin to appreciate Hitch’s craft if his films don’t even look or sound the way he originally envisioned and created them? But many releases do the job just fine, providing you know which ones to pick. For in-depth details on the very best – and worst – of each of them, see the individual guides.

From Dial M for Murder onwards, Hitch’s films were all shot for widescreen projection, but on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc every one of them, bar a few very late releases, were transferred incorrectly. To fill tube TV screens, they were either open matte (too much picture top and bottom – visible boom mikes!) or panned and scanned (sides cropped), and a handful of them are still afflicted thus on DVD. Not all their soundtracks escaped unharmed either; as explained previously, six American Hitchcocks have revisionist surround-remixed audio by default though at least some – but not all – releases have the original as an option. It’s completely disappeared on others or, rather, been suppressed; the most notable example being North by Northwest, whose original non-remixed soundtrack has never been issued on DVD or any more recent format.

Apart from regional sub and dub options, most titles from Warner Bros. and Universal Studios have the exact same Blu-rays and DVDs issued worldwide, with a few notable exceptions. Of course, the PAL discs do have 4% speed-up but most viewers are not not sensitive to it and those that are have the option of slowing it down again, although this may require further adjustment to the audio as it’s usually also been pitch-corrected.

In addition to home-made DVD-Rs from eBay, iOffer, etc, obscure, non-western releases being bootlegs is almost a given, especially from Eastern Asia. Though far fewer than the countless rip-offs of Hitch’s British films, there are numerous pressed discs from known western bootleg labels, particularly in Spain, Italy and Germany, which I’ve indicated in the individual entries.

AH: Visionary Cinematic Language | Three Techniques We Should Copy More | Dialogue versus Pure Cinema | 10 Tips for Screenwriters and Directors | Four-step System to a Great Scene

ABC Television box sets

Carlotta’s lavish French Blu-ray and DVD set of all four ABC TV-owned films comes with an exclusive 300-page hardback book

During his 1940–1947 contract to über-producer David O. Selznick, Hitch made seven features on loan-out to other studios, five of which now reside with Warner and Universal. In the event, his union with Selznick yielded only three titles: Rebecca, Spellbound and The Paradine Case. Following Selznick’s 1965 death all three, along with Selznick-owned RKO loan-out Notorious, were sold to ABC Television and the quartet have been regularly packaged together under license to various labels throughout the home video era. However, note that none of them are officially available on streaming anywhere. In 1995, ABC was bought by Disney who also, via their 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox, now own Lifeboat. However, there have been no new releases of that film since and it’s only appeared in two box sets, one of which should be avoided.

The situation regarding the Selznick four’s different versions and transfers is quite complicated, so their sets are all detailed individually. The bottom line is their distribution rights, like those of Foreign Correspondent, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Suspicion and Under Capricorn, are split between different labels overseas. On DVD, they’ve mostly issued lesser quality transfers struck from localised theatrical prints, as opposed to the original, superior pre-print materials held in the States and used for domestic releases. Thankfully, all Blu-rays correct these deficiencies by consistently featuring only the best transfers available at the time of release. Another notable aspect of these films is the sheer amount of extras on their restored releases, both contemporary (screen tests, isolated music and effects tracks, radio shows, etc) and modern (audio commentaries, documentaries, etc), making them amongst the most stacked of all Hitchcocks.

Warner Bros. DVD box sets

US 10-DVD Signature Collection

• US: 2/4-DVD/4-film TCM Greatest Classic Films: H Thrillers*, 6-DVD AH Suspense Films and 10-DVD/9-film AH Signature Collection
• UK: 4-DVD AH Collection (reissue), 7-DVD/6-film AH Signature Collection (reissue)
• Italy: 4 Grandi Film AH (reissue), 4-Film Collection

*Initially two flipper discs, reissued as four singles

Warner own eight of Hitch’s American films and for the most part they’re self-distributed worldwide. They also had stateside distribution of Foreign Correspondent for a while, releasing it there on VHS, LD and DVD from 1990–2004. Throughout DVD’s peak years, Warner consistently had the best quality releases of any major studio with excellent transfers, copious extras and many acclaimed box sets of their classic titles. They issued their Hitchcocks in many complete and near-complete collections which, largely depending on their release date, often contain one or both discs of Strangers on a Train’s remastered reissue (2004), as opposed to its single flipper original (1997). Likewise with North by Northwest: some later sets have disc one of its two-disc remastered reissue (2009), as opposed to the prior single-disc edition (2000).

• Germany: 7-DVD/6-film AH Signature Collection (metal tin reissue) and 21-DVD AH Collection – 21 Filme
• France: 6-DVD La Collection AH, 7-DVD/6-film AH Signature Collection (metal tin reissue/alt) and AH Collection 8 Films (reissue/Fnac exclusive)
• Spain: 4-DVD Colección AH, 5-DVD AH Selection and 6-DVD Colección 6 películas AH

Across the board, Warner only made one technical boo-boo but it’s a biggie: all American DVDs of Dial M for Murder, like several Universals, were transferred in the wrong aspect ratio – ‘fullscreen’ instead of widescreen – and have never been corrected. These are the most comprehensive collections, all with four films or more, but note the 21-disc German set includes every Warner and Universal Hitchcock bar Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

• Denmark: 7-DVD/6-film H Collection
• Poland: 7-DVD/6-film AH Kolekcja
• Brazil: 5-DVD AH Signature Collection
• Japan: 6-DVD/5-film AH Signature Collection

Warner Bros. Blu-ray box sets

• US: 4-BD WB Archive Collection: AH
• UK: 3-BD AH Collection, 20-BD Definitive Collection/alt/alt
• Italy: 3-BD AH Collection/alt

Warner are expectedly meticulous about the quality of their BD transfers and many of them, including their eight Hitchcocks, are among the best looking and sounding classic films available. Although the DVDs all feature great preserved transfers, all films are fully restored before they’re considered BD-worthy. An additional bonus is that unlike their classic DVDs, Warner always issue the exact same region free disc worldwide with a host of sub/dub options. But unfortunately, due to extensive restructuring of their deep catalogue home video division, Warner haven’t carried the DVD policy of complete Hitch collections through to BD.

• Germany: 3-BD AH Collection, AH Collection – 18 Filme
• France: AH Collection 5 Films
• Spain: 3-BD AH Colección (reissue, steelbook), 4-BD Colección AH

As part of said restructuring, the Warner Archive Collection was spun off from Warner Home Video and is run as a separate company. It’s responsible for restoring their classic titles and an important point is that any restorations débuting on WAC BDs do not automatically replace Warner’s HD streaming copies. In Hitch’s case, that means only the earlier restorations for Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest are online; all others are exclusive to BD. In those cases, streaming copies are the still-excellent preserved HD masters used to strike the DVDs.

The most comprehensive Hitchcock BD box set yet, the UK Definitive Collection includes all 14 Universal and six Warner BDs available at the time of release. Of the remainder, Stage Fright wasn’t released on US BD until three months later and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, whose current HD stream looks great, hadn’t yet been fully restored to make it BD-worthy by Warner’s standards. Close behind HMV’s offering is an 18-BD German set with identically-specced discs, though other Warners regularly crop up in Universal box sets.

There are also just three smaller sets from the US, France and Spain, with the latter being a limited edition that’s now as rare as hen’s teeth. But just about everywhere outside of the Americas, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest are regularly packaged as a trio; those sets can be found in their individual listings. Note that all discs concerned are region free and completely playable worldwide.

Collectors Guide: Setting the scene, Pt 2: British films, 3: US ABC and Warner Bros., 4: US Universal Studios Collections

Related articles

This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.