Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection

December 7, 2004

Rated: PG Runtime: 783 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This set is a complete collection that offers something for all manner of Hitchcock fan. With 9 movies from Hitchcock’s over 40 full-length feature films that cover all of Hitch’s genres it tries really hard to be the end all beat all. You will get the classics he is most known for as well as a couple of surprises. For most fans of his work you immediately associate suspense and mystery as his true craft and although there are a couple in this set it does not just cover that part his legacy. WB decided to give us that as well as some Comedy, Drama and (blech) even Romance. All are represented in this decent DVD offering but it could have been better.

Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection I am a fan of Hitch’s work and although this set didn’t blow my kilt up it did offer a couple of films that are must haves for the classic movie nut in your household. If suspense is their thing or yours for that matter you can’t go wrong with ‘North By Northwest’, ‘Dial M for Murder’ and ‘Strangers on a Train’. All 3 of these movies are must haves for the Mystery/Suspense category in your DVD collection. For the B&W comedy fan you get Mr and Mrs Smith. Not great but OK. I have seen better from Al and they had other choices they could have added that would have stayed with the overall theme. This one just sticks out and to me does not work.

Next we have Drama; Hitch’s brand of drama often times involves cases of mistaken identity and this set offers 3. ‘Foreign Correspondent’, ‘The Wrong Man’ and ‘I Confess’. I was pleasantly surprised with the Henry Fonda offering, ‘The Wrong Man’ but the other two left me less than a little excited so only 2 out of 3 in that category really did it for me. Last but no least comes ‘Suspicion’ and ‘Stage Fright’ Suspicion spent too much time trying to be a romance and not enough time being a mystery and Stage Fright just plain BLEW… wasn’t my kind of movie at all.

The quality of the set is very good as far as picture quality and sound but the collection is weak. If I were planning to purchase a collection of Hitchcock classics I would buy either Best of Hitchcock volume 1 or 2 and skip this one unless the 3 true signature films (North By Northwest, Dial M and Strangers) from this set have thus far alluded you. To me though, that is not a strong enough reason since you can buy them as individuals, saving time and money, and still get the best of the set.

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Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 3 Stars, Albert Bassermann, Comedy, DVD, Drama, George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, PG, Thriller