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very good thread
the abyss is a great box set,
and it was also one of the only ways to get the movie UNCUT,
as they removed the mouse in fluid scene in the UK ,
also the criterion KILLER was very good
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I still have my old, but when new state-of-the-art, Pioneer LD player (the last one they manufactured) and it works perfectly. Also still have shelves with 6 feet of LDs (don’t know an exact count) – and a small collection of about 12 VCDs (does anyone remember THOSE?). I did sell off a few rare LDs many years ago (including the Japanese release of “Song of the South” which I do regret letting go). I was/am an avid collector of Japanese and Hong Kong films – so many of the LDS are Asian imports. Boy oh boy but some of those imports are just plain gorgeous in packaging and design – for example I have many of the CAV Box Sets of the later Godzilla films (“Godzilla vs. Destroyah” etc.) and they are really beautiful. The films themselves mostly look fine on my HD TV – and I watch them all of the time.
I chuckle now and then when I read some of the complaints here about the “high” cost of DVDs, blurays, and CDs. Most of the Criterion CAV LD Box Sets retailed for over $100 – and it wasn’t unusual for me to pay $150 - $200 for a Japanese or Hong Kong import of a single film. Hong Kong imports, in particular, were expensive – and were usually spread out over two discs. For example my set of the 5 “Once Upon a Time in China” films takes up 10 LDs in total – not including “Once Upon a Time in China and America” and a couple VCDs devoted to the TV series which featured the same cast as the films.
As for rot – only a couple of my discs have succumbed – the worst case being Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast: A Work in Progress” which does play but is plagued with dots and lots of artifacting. I transferred it to a DVD-r last year.
I’m not sure if these LDs will make my next move – they are hellish to pack and get from one location to another.
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I loved laserdiscs because they were like pre-DVDs in that, for a long time, laserdiscs were the only format that presented movies in their original widescreen aspect ratios. That was the sell for me. Loved 'em. I remember the ones before that, too, that were in big ole white-bordered cartridges! I think there were, what, maybe 20 movies available in that format? haha. all I remember is that anybody who had one of those early players, they all had the same handful of movies like The Godfather.
I think S7ven was one of the coolest laserdisc sets ever, as were the sets for Alien and Aliens.
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The only thing that ever bothered me about laser discs was the way the studios seemed to be milking the collector. First, there'd be a full screen, mono edition. Then a full screen, stereo edition. Then a remastered full screen, mono ediiton. Then a remastered full screen, stereo edition. Then a widescreen, mono edition. Then a widescreen, stereo edition. Then a remastered... You get the idea. I'm exaggerating, but there sure was a lot of redundancy in releases.
Anyway, my point is that I had a friend who, on any title he liked, bought every one of these upgrades. Finally, I asked him why he was buying a full screen, mono edition of a film that I knew was in widescreen and stereo and would, no doubt, and it did, eventually come out that way.
His answer was, "I can either wait until the perfect version is released, which may never happen or may never happen in my lifetime, or I can buy what's available now and enjoy it now." Since he had the money to do that I thought that made perfect sense for him.
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The only thing that ever bothered me about laser discs was the way the studios seemed to be milking the collector. First, there'd be a full screen, mono edition. Then a full screen, stereo edition. Then a remastered full screen, mono ediiton. Then a remastered full screen, stereo edition. Then a widescreen, mono edition. Then a widescreen, stereo edition. Then a remastered... You get the idea. I'm exaggerating, but there sure was a lot of redundancy in releases.
That explains why they keep milking the same cows- and find NEW cattle with each re-release.
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Just like soundtrack CDs, what?
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Just like soundtrack CDs, what?
Ah- yes and no....
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Maybe I WAS foolish in investing in laserdiscs and enjoying all those films in widescreen and digital sound many years before they showed up in widescreen and (compressed) digital sound on DVD. Oh well. Of course, I'm still enjoying many laserdiscs that are not yet (legitimately) available on Region 1 DVD, like those mentioned above:
The Alamo (director’s cut)
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
Hawaii (roadshow version)
High Flyers
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (extended version)
Lost Horizon (1973)
The Magnificent Ambersons
One Eyed Jacks
1776 (extended version)
Samson & Delilah
Where Eagles Dare (with intermission and entr’acte)
I’d also add:
American Film Institute Life Achievement Award ceremonies for Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, Gene Kelly, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, John Ford, John Huston, Orson Welles and others.
The A.C. Lyles westerns Apache Uprising, Arizona Bushwackers, Buckskin, and Hostile Guns
The Boy Friend (Ken Russell, dir.)
Circus World (John Wayne)
Colossus: The Forbin Project (widescreen version)
A Dandy In Aspic (Laurence Harvey)
The Egyptian (Jean Simmons)
The Emigrants (Jan Troell, dir.)
Family Dog (animated TV series)
Fedora (Billy Wilder, dir.)
55 Days at Peking (Charlton Heston)
Five Came Back (Lucille Ball))
The Glass Menagerie (Joanne Woodward)
Huckleberry Finn (1974, widescreen version)
The Incredible Sarah (Glenda Jackson)
Julius Caesar (Charlton Heston, widescreen version)
Love (1971, foreign film)
Mack the Knife (Raul Julia)
The Music Lovers (Ken Russell, dir.)
The New land (Jan Troell, dir.)
One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich (Tom Courtney)
Red Line 7000 (Howard Hawks, dir.)
September 30, 1955 (Richard Thomas)
Slipstream (Mark Hamill)
Sodom and Gomorrah (Stewart Granger)
Stage Struck (Henry Fonda)
The Taming of the Shrew (stereo version with overture)
Ten from Your Show of Shows (Sid Caesar)
Tom Sawyer (1973, widescreen version)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (Burt Lancaster)
The Wonderful World of The Brothers Grimm
Others, like Two Weeks In Another Town and Wild Rovers, have only this year become available on MOD DVDs.
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Yes, me too! I'll probably watch a couple over the weekend like "The Boyfriend" and "Hawaii" etc. Is the extended director's version of "Rambling Rose" available elsewhere? Some of these LDs are still truly pertinent.
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I remember fondly the day I got my Val Lewton boxed set on laserdisc from Suncoast, on the first floor of the Mall of America.
I'd had to specially order the thing, and then had to wait a month or so before it arrived in the store; they called me one night to tell me it had FINALLY arrived, and I actually had trouble getting to sleep that night. I got up, called in "sick" to work, and played hookey to be there as the store opened that morning. And then I watched all of the Lewton movies that weekend, some twice.
Damn, I love that set! I actually still have it, even though I've upgraded to the DVDs. It's a purely sentimental attachment; the DVDs are a big improvement.
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