Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #322 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-21
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 14
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English, German
• Number of discs: 14
• Running time: 1605 minutes

Synopsis
DVD special features:

The Birds: All About The Birds - Making Of, Tippi Hedren's Screen Test, Universal News Reel Stories x 2, Storyboard Sequence: Deleted Scene (Script Pages), Alternative Ending (Sketches & Storyboards), Production Photographs.

Family Plot: Plotting Family Plot - Making Of, Storyboards.

Frenzy: The Story Of Frenzy - Making Of.

The Man Who Knew Too Much: The Making Of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Trailer Compilation.

"Marnie": The Trouble With Marnie - Making Of, Production Photographs.

Rear Window: Rear Window Ethics: Remembering & Restoring a Hitchcock Classic - Making Of, Featurette, Trailer Compilation.

Saboteur: A Closer Look - Making Of, Storyboards, Hitchcock Sketches.

Shadow Of A Doubt: Beyond Doubt: The Making Of Hitchcock's Favourite Film, Production Drawings.

Topaz: An Appreciation by Film Critic/Historian Leonard Maltin - Making Of, Alternative Endings x 3 - Duel/Airport/Suicide, Storyboards, Production Photographs.

Torn Curtain: Torn Curtain Rising - Making Of, Scenes Scored By Composer Bernard Herrmann.

The Trouble With Harry: The Trouble With Harry Isn't Over - Making Of, Trailer Compilation.

Rope: Rope Unleashed - Making Of, Trailer Compilation.

Vertigo: Obsessed with Vertigo, Feature Commentary, Cast And Filmmakers, Production Notes.

Psycho: Masters Of Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock, American Film Institute Salute to Alfred Hitchcock, Production Notes, Cast And Filmmakers.

Theatrical Trailers.

Art Gallery.

Customer Reviews

Panned, scanned and damned
A potentially fabulous box set is scuppered by the fact (as pointed out by other reviewers) that four of the films - The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain and Topaz - are presented in completely the wrong aspect ratio, despite information to the contrary on the boxes themselves. The upshot is that anyone who buys this set, tempted by the admittedly wonderful extra features, will still have to buy widescreen (Region 1) versions of these films if they want to see them in a form even approximating to what Hitchcock intended. How ridiculous. They might just as well have colorised Psycho while they were at it.

Fabulous Boxed Set
I have just purchased this set of Hitchcock films and aside from the missing 'North by Northwest' and 'Strangers on a Train' (both of which I already own anyway) and a few of the early British classics this is very nearly definitive.

Of the 14 films in this set five are ranked in the top 250 films of all time on the internet movie database (www.imdb.com):
Rope = 237
Shadow of Doubt = 155
Vertigo = 35
Psycho = 22
Rear Window = 13

Of the remaining nine films several are wonderful films in their own right and because Hitchcock was the director none of them are turkeys.
The films are packaged in the thin DVD cases and the box itself is well made and will look good on your shelf.

Having picked the set up quite cheap I assumed that there would be no extras on the discs, but in fact 'Psycho' is 2 DVD set, so you actually get 15 DVD's in the boxed set, and all the films contain extras.
For example on 'Rear Window' you get:

Rear Window Ethics: Remembering
& Restoring a Hitchcock Classic - Making Of
Featurette
Art Gallery
Trailer Compilation
Theatrical Trailor

So overall this is a simply a marvellous set of films, by one of the greatest ever filmmakers. You could watch one a night for two weeks and then start again. Now which one shall I watch first?

Completely restored films!!
Better quality than the originals.Bonus features show how the complete restoration from film was achieved to produce much sharper images and colours than the cinema showings.With a couple of notable omissions from the line up this is the best box set of Hitchcock I have seen. Well worth purchasing .