The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection (Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Edition / North by Northwest / Dial M for Murder / Foreign Correspondent / Suspicion / The Wrong Man / Stage Fright / I Confess / Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

Description

The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection contains the DVD debut of 8 Hitchcock classics including "Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Special Edition," and the following 7 new single-disc DVDs: "Dial M For Murder," "Foreign Correspondent" "Suspicion," "The Wrong Man," "Stage Fright," "I Confess" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." The previously released "North by Northwest" is also included in the 10-disc Signature Collection. Each of the 9 films in the collection shows why Hitchcock is regarded as one of Hollywood's most esteemed and important directors, and also brings legendary stars to the digital front including Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Montgomery Clift and many others.

Strangers on a Train - En route from Washington, D.C., champion tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets pushy playboy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker). What begins as a chance encounter turns into a series of morbid confrontations, as Bruno manipulates his way into Guy's life. Bruno is eager to kill his father and knows Guy wants to marry a senator's daughter (Ruth Roman) but can't get a divorce from his wife. So Bruno suggests the men swap murders, which would leave no traceable clues or possible motives. Though Guy refuses, it won't be easy to rid himself of the psychopathic Bruno. Hitchcock's daughter Patricia appears in this film. The extra features included on the DVD are: Alternate 'preview' version of the film; Commentary by director Peter Bogdanovich, Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stephano, Strangers on a Train author Patricia Highsmith and biographer Andrew Wilson; New making-of documentary Strangers on a Train: A Hitchcock Classic, with Farley Granger, film historian Richard Schickel, Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell and other Hitchcock family members and colleagues recalling the making of this suspense landmark; Three intriguing featurettes: The Hitchcocks on Hitch, Strangers on a Train: The Victim's P.O.V., Strangers on a Train by M. Night Shyamalan; Alfred Hitchcock's Historical Meeting, a vintage newsreel.

Each DVD will be presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition and will include the original theatrical trailer, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

Customer Reviews:

Pick this along with Masterpiece Collection and you're done!.......2007-08-23

This collection is brilliant and the packaging is insignificant, It is just 9 standard DVD boxes put in one outer box.

This set does not include certain must-have classics like
Psycho
Vertigo
Rear Window
The Rope,
The Man Who Knew Too Much etc

All this is available in the brilliant Masterpiece Collection which I picked up from here.

So if you buy these 2 box sets, you're done!!!

Alfred Hitchcock Signature Movie Collection DVD set.......2007-04-12

A Must have for all hard-core Alfred Hitchcock movie fans

Wonderful Collection.......2007-04-06

This collection is absolutely fabulous. All the movies are remastered and are excellent quality especially on a big screen. Just as I remembered them. Too cool...

a must for a fan.......2007-03-08

As a long time fan of Hitchcock, I am always looking for more. I have approx. 20 of his films on DVD. This collection has some that I had never seen before. In addition, the "making of" special features are great for someone who wants to know what made Hitch so unique as a film director. I have (and will) spend many hours viewing these discs.

Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection.......2007-01-29

If you an Alfred Hitchock movie fan, you need to get this box set. There are some movies, I haven't seen before, but I did enjoy them.

Average customer rating:

"You watch too many thrillers."
EXCELLENT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE HEROIC AND GREAT WEARY FRENCH INTELLECT
A Lasting Impact
i saw this several years ago...
Fatalism

Man on the Train (L'Homme du Train)
Starring: Jean Rochefort , Johnny Hallyday , Jean-François Stévenin , Charlie Nelson , and Pascal Parmentier
Director: Patrice Leconte
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000CABJX
Release Date: 2003-11-25

Amazon.com

You wouldn't think a movie that's mostly two old guys talking could be a thriller, but that's exactly what Man on the Train is. French singer Johnny Hallyday plays a professional criminal who comes to a small town to take part in a robbery. By chance, he meets talkative Jean Rochefort (The Hairdresser's Husband), who invites the laconic Hallyday to stay at his house because the hotel is closed. The two form an unlikely friendship, each curious about (and envious of) the other's life. But all the while plans for the robbery continue, while Rochefort is preparing for a dangerous event of his own. The pitch-perfect performances make Man on the Train completely involving. Rochefort and Hallyday play off of each other beautifully; it's impossible to put your finger on what makes these subtle, supple scenes so magnetic. Directed with spare authority by Patrice Leconte (Ridicule). --Bret Fetzer

Description

Patrice Leconte's (Girl on the Bridge) MAN ON THE TRAIN tells the touching story of two men from different walks of life as they develop an unexpected friendship and change each other's view of life at the last possible moment. Milan (Hallyday), a thief, steps off the train in a small town in the French Alps where he plans to rob a local bank. By chance, after he is unable to find a room for the night, he encounters Manesquier (Rochefort), a retired poetry teacher whose sedentary lifestyle bores even himself. Sharing nothing in common except important plans for the weekend - one is to rob a bank and the other is to go in for open-heart surgery - the two men begin talking and soon develop a respect for one another, as well as a secret longing to live the type of lifestyle the other lives. And, as the friendship grows even stronger, each man defies his personality to explore his yearning for the life of the other.

Customer Reviews:

"You watch too many thrillers.".......2007-08-19

L'Homme du Train is one of Patrice Leconte's best films, playing nicely to his strengths and never outstaying its welcome thanks to a tight running time. An arthouse success outside France but a disappointment in its home territory, it's a wistful look at life's disappointments and missed opportunities seen through the unlikely friendship of Johnny Hallyday's ageing bank robber checking out a small town bank and Jean Rochefort's retired schoolteacher who watches too many thrillers as each man sees in the other the life they could have lived had they only had the courage to try. The former monosyllabic and increasingly cautious, the latter unguardedly talkative, this odd couple make an engagingly credible friends, united by their own rapidly approaching dates with their respective fates.

In many ways its almost a small-scale modern-day Gallic working of Hugo Fregonese's melancholy 1954 Civil War Western The Raid, which saw Van Heflin's Confederate tempted to settle in the town he has come to destroy given a French thriller makeover, even retaining some Western motifs in Rochefort's Wyatt Earp fantasies. But while the ending is never in any doubt, one of the chief delights of the film is the unexpected turns it sometimes takes, never more than in a delightful scene in a bistro where Rochefort decides to take on some bad-mannered troublemakers against Hallyday's advice only to find things turning out very differently from what both men expected. Even scenes you'd expect to be played for comic disaster turn out quietly triumphant, such as Hallyday teaching one of Rochefort's private lessons for him - and actually turning out to be good at it despite never even reading the book under discussion.

It's a small film, but one that never feels like a chamber piece, and even if it slightly overplays its finale as each man briefly gets their wish, its small pleasures and genuine affection for its characters more than compensate. Sadly, unlike the French DVD, this release is barebones and devoid of extras, but the film itself is reason enough to buy.

EXCELLENT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE HEROIC AND GREAT WEARY FRENCH INTELLECT.......2006-06-13

I discovered this film on a rack in a liquor store in Mexico and brought it home for viewing. It builds much more slowly and subtly than the vast majority of American disposable blockbusters. In fact it withstands and demands and rewards several viewings, like re-reading James Joyce all of your life. I have used it very well in French One classes, and the students ask to see it again, despite the undeserved R ratiing. I cannot see anything in this film which merits the Restricted rating, except perhaps it does not make fun of the French, except in a very subtle and wry manner. If the R is for language, hey, it's in French! And I do not see any obscenities. Heck, Shreck has more obscenities. Rather this film is filled with poetry, including declaimed by a ruffian to his former poetry professor who confronts him as a means of ending his old and sad life and only comes out a hero. This film is way to subtle for the average American viewer trained on blast-and-crash movies, but please live with it awhile until you can perceive its intricate gossamer invisible webs and resonance. The forsaken robber who speaks only one line of original poetry at ten o'clock each morning is inexplicably gripping and poignant and exposing the harsh light of speaking about him only destroys the compelling effect. This gentle film builds slowly to the bright day of a fulfilling and illuminating and revelatory ending like great films as Grand Illusion or Babette's Feast. I highly recommend it, as one who lived in France over thirty years ago. Its American R rating is incomprehensible.

A Lasting Impact .......2006-03-27

A teacher and a lifelong criminal meet in a pharmacy in a small, out of season French town. The hotel is closed, the thief and his headache wind up at the teacher's big old family house. Days pass. One laconic, one loquacious, each is ever more drawn to the other's life. Saturday approaches; each prepares and subtly prepares the other for the approaching personal crossroads. And for both Saturday goes terribly wrong but brings one last shared miraculous moment and vision to move each man beyond what his life before has been. Meticulously acted by Jean Rochefort and a weary Johnny Halladay and tensely quiet until its jarring conclusion, Man on a Train retains its grip long after the final credits.

i saw this several years ago..........2005-12-16

and was pleased by the performances of the leads...what i like about johnny halliday's performance as milan, is that even though he's a bad guy, you still kinda end up liking him and even feeling bad for him at the end of the movie. in one scene, he shows a kid how to interpret a poem, which i thought was pretty funny. Manesquier ( jean rochefort ) is a nerd, but in one scene which he stands up to some bullies in a bar, proving he has a spine. milan and manesquier's friendship, makes the movie, each wishing they could live the other person's life, and that alone is enough. there have been few french films which i didn't like. this is one of my favorites...

Fatalism.......2005-06-11

We imagine ourselves to have free will, but most humans follow a trajectory set for them by society, family, circumstances. While possible to alter his fate, an individual will rarely put forward the strenuous effort to do so.

In "Man on the Train", two apparently different men meet by odd chance in a small town in France. One, Milan, is a rugged, tough criminal, an adventurer, a "doer". The other, Manesquier, is a frail, provincial retired school teacher...a dullard, a dreamer. Despite these differences, both men are weary of their lives, their destinies, to which they seem tethered like oxen to cart.

Milan dislikes his rootless life of crime. Manequier is bored with his predictable, provincial life. The two meet at a time when mortality confonts each one. The criminal intuits that an apparently easy bank robbery could be dangerous. The school-teacher will undergo triple-bypass surgery. Death provides the impetus and the serendipitous encounter provide the opportunity for the two men to shirk their fates momentarily and live the life they dream. Milan can be a comfortable "bourgeois de campagne" and Manequier, a roaming daredevil.

In the end, both men, whose lives seem so divergent, meet the same fate. One remembers, while viewing this film, Heidegger's instructions on the importance of keeping death present in our mind, if we are to lead complete lives. The two heroes of this story-at least briefly-accomplish this. Johny Hallyday (Milan) turns out to be a much better actor than pop-star in this thought-provoking, nuanced film.

Average customer rating:

Snakes on a Train
Starring: Alby Castro , Ryanne Ruiz , Giovanni Bejerano , Al Galvez , and Lola Forsberg
Director: Peter Mervis
Manufacturer: Edi Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000OYC77G
Release Date: 2007-06-19

Average customer rating:

An interesting murder/mystery type of film worth watching

Man on the Tracks
Starring: Kazimierz Opalinski , Zygmunt Maciejewski , Zygmunt Zintel , Zygmunt Listkiewicz , and Roman Klosowski
Director: Andrzej Munk
Manufacturer: Polart
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00074CC32
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Description

A train races through the night and then suddenly comes to a grinding halt because a man lies dead on the tracks. The man turns out to be an engine driver who had lost his job. Different characters who knew the dead man during his life take part in the investigation of his death, each relating their own interpretation of the man and his death. Was it suicide? Sabotage? Was he an eccentric? A regular Joe?

Customer Reviews:

An interesting murder/mystery type of film worth watching.......2006-03-10

"Czlowiek na Torze" (Man on the Tracks) is a film about a mysterious death of a railroad worker killed by a train. The suspense of the movie revolves around the events that lead up to the death of the old conductor. We are left wondering if it was a suicide or murder as the investigators try to unravel the mystery.

Several stories and viewpoints are presented as they paint a picture of the man who was once in charge of the train that ran him over. On the one hand, the old conductor was not the most pleasant of fellows, being bossy and demanding; and on the other hand, his young crew saw him as an obstacle in their promotion. We get to sift though the details of their stories to find out what really happened.

To some degree, we are left with no one to clearly root for, as there is no clear hero or villain. But this should not be entirely surprising as we get to see several points of view, which obviously do not present any one person consistently favorable. Overall, "Czlowiek na Torze" is an interesting murder/mystery type of film worth watching.

Average customer rating:

"You watch too many thrillers."
EXCELLENT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE HEROIC AND GREAT WEARY FRENCH INTELLECT
A Lasting Impact
i saw this several years ago...
Fatalism

The Man on the Train [Region 2]
Starring: Jean Rochefort , Johnny Hallyday , Jean-François Stévenin , Charlie Nelson , and Pascal Parmentier
Director: Patrice Leconte
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000A5BRX

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

"You watch too many thrillers.".......2007-08-19

EXCELLENT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE HEROIC AND GREAT WEARY FRENCH INTELLECT.......2006-06-13

A Lasting Impact .......2006-03-27

i saw this several years ago..........2005-12-16

Fatalism.......2005-06-11

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