DVD Box Set Roundup

I know people who never buy DVDs, but only rent. They are probably wise. They can also be a pain in the ass, since that makes them harder to find gifts for. (On the other hand, you can always be certain that, whatever DVD sets you give them, they won’t already have a copy.)  I know other people – I’m one – who need to own the physical object ... to keep forever and ever. We are pack rats, and you probably shouldn’t feed our jones. (Note to gift-giving friends: Ignore that last bit.)  

The great advantage of shopping for DVD packages as gifts is that the range of titles and price is so huge. For instance, if I had a close friend wise enough to have pulled out of the market sooner, I would be very happy if he or she were to pony up the $399.98 for the six-season, 33-disc The Sopranos – The Complete Series (or at least the $254.99 it currently costs at Amazon, according to dvdpricesearch.com, a website any video purchaser should have prominently bookmarked). Hint hint.  

If I had two  such friends, I wouldn’t at all mind receiving Fox’s about-to-be-released (Dec. 9) Murnau, Borzage, and Fox box set for a mere $239.98 (and under $180 online). That’s, frankly, a bit pricey for 12 films on 12 discs, but the collection includes 10 features from film buff favorite Frank Borzage and two from F.W. Murnau, including the latter’s Sunrise, one of the supreme achievements of the silent era.

But I’m not picky: I’d be just as happy with the company’s equivalent big release from last Christmas, Ford At Fox – The Collection (list $299.98, available online for $240) – 24 John Ford films and a documentary, on 21 discs.

For all my poorer friends: Don’t despair. There are plenty of less expensive alternatives.

Many of you have yet to embrace Blu-ray discs, the Sony-backed hi-def format that prevailed over HD-DVD earlier this year, following a painful marketing war. One of the biggest hurdles to widespread Blu-ray acceptance is that DVD has gotten too damned good. Nearly everyone could appreciate the jump in quality from VHS to DVD (not to mention DVD’s convenience factors). But, if DVD looked twice as good as VHS, then Blu-ray looks maybe 10-25% better than most DVDs spinning in an upconverting player. (The improvement is most pronounced on nature documentaries.)

Fox has just started rolling out the James Bond series on BD with six individual titles ($35 list, available for $25 or so online). They can also be purchased a little more economically in two three-disc sets for $89.98 (list) and $58 online.

These are the kinds of films that benefit hugely from hi-def. The first set has one Sean Connery entry (Dr. No), one Roger Moore (Live and Let Die) and one Pierce Brosnan (Die Another Day). The second set has two Connerys (From Russia with Love, Thunderball) and one Moore (For Your Eyes Only). Each set puts its three films in a slipcased “book” holder.

Disney recently released WALL-E in five  different configurations (one for Canada only) – one-, two- and three-disc DVD versions, and two- and three-disc Blu-rays. Tracking the differences is so complicated that the press release included a four-page comparison chart. What’s curious is that the Blu-rays have way more features than their equivalent DVD packages and are barely more expensive: three-disc Blu-ray lists $40.99, only a buck more than the three-disc DVD. Frankly, all the Pixar films look dazzling in both formats, and this one is no exception.

It’s not clear where to draw the line between “box sets” and various multi-disc special editions. So we’ll stretch that line a bit to give a shout-out to Paramount’s newest Billy Wilder reissue – Sunset Boulevard: The Centennial Collection (list $24.99, available as low as $16). Don’t get it confused with the earlier “Special Edition,” which had a questionable transfer; the new transfer is substantially improved. Plus there are a bunch of new extras, as well as repetition of most of the old disc’s supplements.

I usually don’t care at all about fancy packaging, but I’m tickled by the new Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition (list $69.99, available for under $50), which comes in a big metal lunchbox-like thing (presumably accounting for the $10 premium over the $60 list prices of earlier MST3K sets. Nestled within are fake lobby cards that show Crow and Tom Servo within the films they are mocking, as well as a nice little Crow figurine.

Four episodes are included – First Spaceship on Venus, Laserblast, Werewolf and Future War – only the first of which features beloved early host Joel Hodgson rather than almost-as-beloved later host Mike Nelson. The four discs include some informative (and often funny) extras, including a 90-minute “oral history” of the show, spread out over three of the discs, and the 2008 Comic-Con MST3K Reunion Panel (40 minutes), moderated by Patton Oswalt and actually featuring both Hodgson and Nelson on the same stage. (There were rumors.)

If these selections don’t seem appropriate for the video freak on your gift list, may I suggest checking out several other worthy sets I’ve reviewed separately this year. They include Lubitsch Musicals, The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration; and Touch of Evil: 50th Anniversary Edition. In addition, it would be criminal to overlook I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s.                         

E-mail Andy Klein at andyk@lacitybeat.com.