Hitchcock: British International Pictures Collection [Blu-ray]

In 2012 the British Film Institute completed a £2 million project to restore all nine of Alfred Hitchcock’s surviving silent films.Three silent films have already appeared on Blu-ray.Four more are in this new Blu-ray box from Kino.Not sure when the remaining two (‘The Pleasure Garden’ and ‘Easy Virtue’) will appear on Blu-ray.There was a tenth silent, ‘The Mountain Eagle’ (1926), but it is a “lost” film - no prints are known to exist.Press release:“The British Film Institute holds some of the earliest surviving copies of the silent Hitchcock films, including negatives;in addition to these, we have sourced other materials from international archives.The surviving nitrate materials for these films bear the marks of wear and tear over the decades.A painstaking scene-by-scene comparison is undertaken before photochemical work can start, followed by digital restoration (frame by frame).It is only thanks to new advances in digital technology that the BFI’s team of technical experts have been able to bring the earliest surviving materials together and restore Hitchcock’s early films to extraordinary effect.”The restorations of the four silent films in this collection are outstanding, but are they the new British Film Institute restorations?I had assumed that they were, but the words “British Film Institute” and the “BFI” logo appear nowhere on the box or the Blu-rays.StudioCanal and Kino/Lorber are listed in the opening credits of each film, but not the British Film Institute.MYSTERY SOLVED: In the audio commentaries for ‘Champagne’ and ‘The Manxman’ (chapters 9 and 10 in each film), film historian Farran Smith Nehme discusses the BFI “Save the Hitchcock Nine” campaign and reveals that these are indeed the BFI restorations.Hooray!Two weeks after the release date, Kino finally declared on their website that these are the BFI restorations.THE HITCHCOCK NINE(seven of nine BFI restorations have been released on Blu-ray)Of the silent films, only ‘The Lodger’ and ‘Blackmail’ would qualify as Hitchcockian thrillers. The rest are comedies or melodramas.1926: The Pleasure Garden1926: The Lodger - ON CRITERION COLLECTION [Blu-ray]1927: Downhill - ON CRITERION COLLECTION [Blu-ray] (coupled with ‘The Lodger’)1927: Easy Virtue1927: The Ring - IN THE NEW BOX with audio commentary [Blu-ray]1928: The Farmer's Wife - IN THE NEW BOX [Blu-ray]1928: Champagne - IN THE NEW BOX with audio commentary [Blu-ray]1929: The Manxman - IN THE NEW BOX with audio commentary [Blu-ray]1929: Blackmail - ON KINO [Blu-ray] (both the silent and sound versions are included)---- for Amazon links to these films, see Comment One (sort by “Oldest”)IN THIS BOX:---- 1927: ‘The Ring’ (silent film) Melodrama of a woman torn between two prize fighters.---- 1928: ‘The Farmer’s Wife’ and---- 1928: ‘Champagne’ (silent films) - rare examples of Hitchcock in comedy.In ‘The Farmer’s Wife’, a widowed farmer searches for a new wife.In ‘Champagne’, a millionaire feigns bankruptcy to put an end to his daughter's engagement to a gold-digger.---- 1929: ‘The Manxman’ (silent film)Two boyhood friends fall in love with the same woman - played by the admirable Anny Ondra‘The Manxman’ takes place on the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea (midway between Ireland and the UK), but was filmed in Cornwall, not far from Doc Martin’s village of Portwenn. Spectacular scenery.My favorite film in this collection.Later that year, Anny Ondra starred in both versions of ‘Blackmail’ (she was the prototype of the Hitchcock Blonde).---- 1931: ‘The Skin Game’ (bonus sound film)A melodrama about two feuding families, with tragic results.This appears to be the 2008 transfer by StudioCanal of France.Not as good a transfer as the silent films, but still the best to date.As the only sound film in this collection, it has English SDH subtitles.Very helpful for us Americans.---- None of the five films in this box have Hitchcock cameos.SPECIAL FEATURES IN THE NEW BOX:--- New scores for all four silent films--- Audio commentaries on three of the four silent films:------ Nick Pinkerton on ‘The Ring’------ Farran Smith Nehme on ‘Champagne’ and ’The Manxman’--- Hitchcock/Truffaut interviewsAll of Hitchcock’s 55 surviving films are now available on Amazon, and most are on Blu-ray.For the list, see Comment One (sort by ‘Oldest”).

Perhaps a treat for Hitchcock fans before Hitch became famous, but also for anyone who appreciates cinema, even silent cinema. And they are not bad films either. Disc 1 has The Ring and The Farmer’s Wife. My favorite of these two is The Farmer’s Wife. While The Ring is about a boxer who, throughout the film, suffers because his girlfriend begins to feel romantic inclinations towards his more sophisticated opponent, the story in The Farmer's Wife takes a turn for a comedy of manners among the rural middle class gentry in England. A farmer widows and sets out to find a new wife to replace her. As a result, a series of funny episodes - some may seem silly - on how this gentleman farmer hunts for his new wife and how the women react towards his quest. The ending is quite surprising and gives me a pleasure, making this funny tour worthwhile.Disc 2 provides 3 films: Champagne, another comedy on social manners about a headstrong rich girl and a young middle-class kid with a rich father who pretends he’s bankrupt to teach his daughter a lesson in humility. The last scene has a little Hitchcock touch which will resurface in Spellbound. Manxman, a romantic triangle also involving class differences in the island of Manx: a young handsome lawyer who will soon become a barrister, a noble and naive fisherman, and the attractive and flirtatious daughter of the pub owner. The plot sets off when, the fisherman, Pete, is rejected by Kate’s father, the pub owner, and he decides to leave the island to find fortune so that he can come back to marry Kate, but he won’t leave until Kate promises him that she will be his wife at his return. In a playful manner, Kate accepts although she doesn’t love Pete and has a crush on Philip, the young lawyer. Things get a little messy when fake news arrive that Pete has died and good ol’ Philip “consoles” her. The tragedy ensues when she becomes pregnant, finds out that Philip can’t answer for his errors, and she ends up marrying poor, innocent Pete. This is a tale of guilt with a tragic ending. And albeit not considered a part of the Hitchcock cannon, here he is in good shape delivering a quite entertaining film that didn’t let go of me one moment.The third film is the only talking picture in the group; also a tragic tale involving class warfare between an old traditional rural family and a former working-class businessman who wants the former family’s land. This is also an intense drama involving the secret of the businessman’s daughter-in-law. With tragic consequences, the feud, called skin game on a couple of occasions, between the families reveal to audiences the ruthlessness of economic and social power on both sides of the feud.I should also add that Kino has done a splendid job on these Blu-ray restorations. I’ve seen The Farmer’s Wife, Manxman, and Champagne before in some crude DVD copies from one of those video companies that sell films that are under public domain, and I can tell that these images are in pristine condition. There may be a little bit of noise in The Skin Game, but it isn’t harmful enough to stop me from enjoying this film. I think this is a great product for Hitchcock or cinema lovers.

Does not work. I have multi regional player. Never had problems before no matter what region (Us, EU, AU etc). This does not play. Beware. Hassle return.

Attenzione, saranno film meravigliosi, ma purtroppo i lettori DVD in Europa non sono predisposti per la loro lettura. Veramente un peccato.