O.T:Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection in October

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Universal Studios Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release
of Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection on
28th October 2008 priced at $119.98 SRP. This collection brings
together 28 films across 15 discs in premium packaging which also
features an exclusive book "Abbott & Costello: The Universal Story"
with details on the team's legacy and their films at Universal
Pictures.

The films: One Night in the Tropics; Buck Privates; In the Navy; Hold
that Ghost; Keep ‘Em Flying; Ride ‘Em Cowboy; Pardon My Sarong; Who
Done It?; It Ani’t Hay; Hit the Ice; In Society; Here Come the Co-Eds;
The Naughty Nineties; Little Giant; The Time of Their Lives; Buck
Privates Come Home; The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap; Abbott and
Costello Meet Frankenstein; Mexican Hayride; Abbott and Costello Meet
the Killer, Boris Karloff; Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion;
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man; Comin’ Round the Mountain;
Lost in Alaska; Abbott and Costello Go To Mars; Abbott and Costello
Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone
Kops; Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.

All 28 films are presented in 1.33:1 Full Frame with English DD2.0
Mono audio and English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. There are 2
films per disc, with all titles including Production Notes and the
majority also include Theatrical Trailers. Additionally there are 6
films with audio commentary by film historians.

Commentaries:

Buck Privates - with Film Historians Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo
Hold That Ghost - with Film Historian Jeff Miller
Who Done It? - with Film Historian Frank Coniff
The Time of Their Lives - with Film Historian Frank Thompson
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - with Film Historian Gregory W.
Mank
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - with Film
Historians Tom Weaver and Richard Scrivani

The films without trailers are: Pardon My Sarong; It Ani’t Hay; The
Naughty Nineties; Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff;
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion; Comin’ Round the Mountain;
Lost in Alaska; Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.

Disc 29 is a bonus-disc with the following additional extras:


The World of Abbott and Costello

Abbott & Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld

Abbott & Costello Meet the Monsters

[Darren]

Astounding! :)

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Box Artwork from Classicflix,com:

http://www.classicflix.com/artwork-added-abbott-costello-universal-collection-a-335.html

Cartoonguy

[MJ]

The double-sided discs that Universal put out a while back were
horrible. They went to the trouble of getting good prints tranferred
and then made a mess of the actual physical product. Are these a
repackage of those?

-MJ

[Brian]

Any sign of "A&C Meet Captain Kidd" with Charles Laughton?

With the exception of that, all of A&C's film work is available to buy
on dvd and looking a million dollars--will any of us live to see
L&H''s work treated with that amount of respect on dvd or bluray?

In England and Europe, always--but the home of the original film
materials and negatives are in the US and it is from here that any
definitive restored version of their work will come. And while their
work is merely a financial asset in some multinational's inventory, I
don't think we're likely to see them in the not too distant future.

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Post by Brian
Any sign of "A&C Meet Captain Kidd" with Charles Laughton?
With the exception of that, all of A&C's film work is available to buy
on dvd and looking a million dollars--will any of us live to see
L&H''s work treated with that amount of respect on dvd or bluray?
In England and Europe, always--but the home of the original film
materials and negatives are in the US and it is from here that any
definitive restored version of their work will come. And while their
work is merely a financial asset in some multinational's inventory, I
don't think we're likely to see them in the not too distant future.

We are still missing Rio Rita (1942) as well. A while back, I read an
interview with George Feltenstein, who is in charge of the classic
film library at Warner Brothers Home Video, and he mentioned that this
film along with the restored versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and
Meet Captain Kidd, were due for an early 2008 DVD release, as this
year is more than half over with, I have heard no more mention of any
official release dates.

As far as a DVD box set for Laurel and Hardy here in the USA, well
maybe if the Little Rascals Collection is a bestseller, but the only
way we may have an L&H collection, if someone like Warner Brothers
snags the rights.

Cartoonguy

[Brian]

Post by ***@aol.com
As far as a DVD box set for Laurel and Hardy here in the USA, well
maybe if the Little Rascals Collection is a bestseller, but the only
way we may have an L&H collection, if someone like Warner Brothers
snags the rights.

Let's PRAY that Warner Bros snags the rights--nobody other than
Criterion can restore and market this kind of property better than WB
and George Feltenstein is an absolute master when it comes to doing
this properly: look at the WB set for "Fra Diavolo" and "Bonnie
Scotland"-- packed with literally everything they had on L&H
(including their scenes from "The Rogue Song", "Hollywood Party",
"Pick A Star" and the 'Hollywood ??? of 1929' - can't remember the
title at the moment).

Also a two hour documentary and feature length commentary tracks--now,
THAT'S the way to do it.

(The 20th Century Fox box sets weren't bad either)

What's the odds of another Hallmark-like package eventually
appearing....call me cynical, but I reckon pretty good -- another
crapfest, probably overpriced and an insult to those who worked on
those pictures, and nothing no kid today would willingly watch - a
truly depressing thought.

[p***@verizon.net]

Doesn't Genius have the fast-track to put out L&H in the US now?
Maybe we should be petitioning them to put out the Roach shorts and
features... using the Kirchgroup prints. I think it's worth a letter-
writing campaign or email petition. Anyone agree?

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Post by p***@verizon.net
Doesn't Genius have the fast-track to put out L&H in the US now?
Maybe we should be petitioning them to put out the Roach shorts and
features... using the Kirchgroup prints.  I think it's worth a letter-
writing campaign or email petition.  Anyone agree?

It never hurts; the more people speak out in request for Laurel and
Hardy the better. The Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, The Three
Stooges, The Little Rascals, and even Will Rogers all have their own
box sets. Some years ago, a long letter of protest over the edits of
the classic Disney cartoons that had been released on Laser Discs
reached Roy Disney, which led to his decision to release The Walt
Disney Treasure Collections, so positive results are possible.

Cartoonguy