Murnau, Borzage and Fox

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Shrew
The Untamed One
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:22 am

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#251 Post by Shrew » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:34 pm

swo17 wrote:Why is there such a disparity between these prices listed on amazon and the ones shown on the actual sites? DVD Planet's site currently shows this for $182 and DeepDiscount's for $265.
My guess: They had to clear out some sets of these at a low price but didn't want to be forced into ordering even more and reselling at said low price.

Anyway, the deals are sold out now.

kcpuden1
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:15 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#252 Post by kcpuden1 » Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:18 pm

Wittsdream wrote:For those that couldn't afford it at the outset (like myself), here's your chance!

Murnau, Borzage & Fox Box
Received mine today. All disks look great. No problems with the packaging. Major Hat Tip to Wittsdream.

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#253 Post by Perkins Cobb » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:07 pm

Does this (the firings a few months ago at Fox Home Video) mean it's a foregone conclusion that there won't be another set this year comparable to Ford or Murnau/Borzage? Such was implied at the Home Theater Forum, but I don't put much stock in the "info" over there.

Wittsdream
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#254 Post by Wittsdream » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:37 pm

kcpuden1 wrote:
Wittsdream wrote:For those that couldn't afford it at the outset (like myself), here's your chance!

Murnau, Borzage & Fox Box
Received mine today. All disks look great. No problems with the packaging. Major Hat Tip to Wittsdream.
Glad to help! I just received my set on Tuesday, and everything arrived nice and snug in a box directly from Deep Discount that seemed to be designed specifically for this set. Anyway, I'm content that I waited a few months longer for a deal like this (it saved me at least $60, which I, in turn, used towards the purchase of three other sought-after films). :-"

Perkins Cobb
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#255 Post by Perkins Cobb » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:37 pm

Jonathan Rosenbaum offers some entertaining bitching about this set ... along with a parting swipe at the Beav:
Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote:No less awesome in its own way is the justifiably touted Murnau, Borzage and Fox package, containing no less than a dozen DVDs, three of them two-sided, and two coffee-table-sized books with texts by Janet Bergstrom, the second of which is devoted to Murnau’s lost 4 Devils. Yet I can’t help but feel flummoxed by the fact that this second package was put together by people who know next to nothing about either the merchandise they’re handling or the cinephiles they’re servicing. The whole thing comes in a massive box that’s too big to fit on any of my shelves (even the ones that carry coffee-table books), and much of it is the reverse of user-friendly in other ways as well. It’s as if it were designed to be the only DVD box set one would ever think of owning, comprising a formidable piece of furniture in its own right, with its own built-in altar for worship. (I’m told that 2007’s Ford at Fox set, which I don’t have in toto, was similarly unwieldy and impractical, however welcome its own contents were.) The most valuable contribution to film history in this whole set is probably what’s left of Borzage’s The River (1928), and this is harder to locate than anything else because it isn’t even mentioned on any of the sleeves. (For the record, you can find it on the flip side of Borzage’s 7th Heaven [1927]—a logical place for it to be, but why can’t it be identified somewhere in the box?) For most of my related gripes, simply compare the sensibly and modestly packaged two-disc set devoted to The River released on the invaluable Filmmuseum label (http://www.edition-filmmuseum.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), which I wrote about three columns back. Here you can find Bergstrom’s excellent 36-minute Murnau and Borzage at Fox—The Expressionist Heritage, which Fox essentially chose to bypass by assigning a studio pro and nonscholar to remake it, just as it also inexplicably chose to bypass Bergstrom’s superb documentary about 4 Devils (which Fox previously included on its limited-edition DVD of Sunrise [1928]) and reduce its contents to the dimensions of a much simpler coffee-table book. I guess what’s mistrusted in both cases is seriousness. I know, I know. We’re supposed to overlook these maddening irritations and simply be grateful for what the studios decide to impart to us, in whatever arbitrary manner they choose; criticize them and they’re apt to punish us for our presumption. This must be why DVD Beaver chose to tactfully omit my selection of this box set for their “Bad Bad Bad” category in their end-of-year poll, which I accounted for, simply and parenthetically, as “invaluable materials, atrociously packaged.”

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Max von Mayerling
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:02 pm
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#256 Post by Max von Mayerling » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:34 pm

Thank you for posting that - I did not realize that Bergstrom's 4 Devils doc from the earlier Sunrise release was not included in the Box. I was on the verge of selling my old Sunrise...

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thethirdman
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#257 Post by thethirdman » Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:40 pm

The 4 Devils doc is in the box set. It is on the City Girl disc rather than the Sunrise disc.

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Antoine Doinel
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#258 Post by Antoine Doinel » Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:11 pm

I would love to know what Rosenbaum thinks about airline peanuts and envelope glue.

Perkins Cobb
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#259 Post by Perkins Cobb » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:12 pm

Er, I probably should've added that Rosenbaum's Cinema Scope column is often accuracy-challenged.

It's a shame, because when he first started writing it, it seemed like one of the best sources of info on non-US DVDs, but now he's usually wrong or else six months behind the Criterion Forum.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#260 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:43 pm

That is an absolutely idiotic review. Yeah, Jon, don't go thru one of the most important--and monumental-- releases in dvd-dom en toto before you review it.

My jaw dropped for several reasons: indeed the 4 Devils doc is in there on the City Girl disc (in fact I believe it's the frst extra listed). But, with coffee table books of this size, with that amount of effort and expense put into them, he's complaining that the box is the size of its contents??? (there's no empty space in the box.. it merely accomodates the books and the disc binder) Does he try to fit large illustrated art books into his paperback bookcase too?

What were they supposed to do, pull out a fricking magic act and fit a large hardbound glossy book, and a large, glossy coffee table softcover into a standard amaray?

You can nitpick if you want about the utility of the Ford binder's method of attaching the discs to the rubber stoppers, etc (or the slip-in sleeves in this M&B@F case... it's been done and I can understand it because it caused disc damage) ... but to complain that this dvd release of all dvd releases is not the size of an amaray and therefore (o the TERROR!!) doesn't fit on your collection shelf-- talk about looking a gift thoroughbred horse ("Khartoum"... stroke... "Khartoum"... stroke) up the unwiped szzzphincter!

I wonder if he acquires valuable framed works of art, then complains they don't fit into his postcard collection?

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whaleallright
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#261 Post by whaleallright » Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:43 pm

...
Last edited by whaleallright on Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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domino harvey
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#262 Post by domino harvey » Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:49 pm

Well, I support Rosenbaum's bitching about the packaging 100%-- there needs to never ever again be a box set that looks like the Ford or MBAF sets.

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tojoed
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:47 am
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#263 Post by tojoed » Wed May 20, 2009 6:46 am

Just to let Peerpee know that I bought this from Amazon.com Marketplace and was not charged any customs duty. Straightforward delivery by Parcel Force.

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Erikht
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#264 Post by Erikht » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:15 pm

Well, I want to buy this, probably in a couple of months, but I need to know the size, as I am running out of space and need to take my saw and screwdrivers to a new shelf right know. If I am going to fit the bottom shelf to accomedate, say this box, Ford at Fox and Janus 50, how much height is it in these things?

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bearcuborg
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#265 Post by bearcuborg » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:24 pm

I like the packaging, and haven't found that any discs were damaged on my end. I like unique packaging from a showoff perspective. Of course I'm happy to have the movies most of all, but I don't mind making a special space for the unusual boxsets. Here's a thought though, the books that were included in bot Fox sets are great additions to anyone's collection. Would everyone here to have them sold separately?

PillowRock
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:54 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#266 Post by PillowRock » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:49 am

Erikht wrote:Well, I want to buy this, probably in a couple of months, but I need to know the size, as I am running out of space and need to take my saw and screwdrivers to a new shelf right know. If I am going to fit the bottom shelf to accomedate, say this box, Ford at Fox and Janus 50, how much height is it in these things?
My tape measure shows this box as being just a hair over 13 inches high.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#267 Post by Gregory » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:09 pm

Ford at Fox is 13.5 x 13.5"

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Erikht
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#268 Post by Erikht » Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:14 pm

Thank you, both.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#269 Post by zedz » Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:22 pm

Seeing the Ford at Fox thread bumped reminded me: aren't we due for an announcement of the 2009 equivalent, if there's going to be one? (Fingers crossed for "Raoul Walsh at Fox".) Or is this Christmas tradition going to be a recession casualty?

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knives
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#270 Post by knives » Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:24 pm

Are there any plans/ thing already out for smaller boxsets like they did with the Ford set?

Perkins Cobb
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#271 Post by Perkins Cobb » Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:39 pm

zedz wrote:Seeing the Ford at Fox thread bumped reminded me: aren't we due for an announcement of the 2009 equivalent, if there's going to be one? (Fingers crossed for "Raoul Walsh at Fox".) Or is this Christmas tradition going to be a recession casualty?
Well, see my April 3 post -- there was an executive coup at Fox Home Video right after the new year that might also have been the death knell for another one of these. I'm not optimistic.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#272 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:20 pm

knives wrote:Are there any plans/ thing already out for smaller boxsets like they did with the Ford set?
Seriously doubt it-- Ford @ Fox's offshoot smaller boxes were released parallel to it, for those who didn't want the whole shebang. They would have come out by now.

PLus, his titles just don't have the status of many of those Ford titles, and Borzage himself doesn't have the broad recognition as a director, for them to be confident in sales. And I believe smaller boxes with say the Murnau's and only the best known Borzage's would have stolen a lot of sales from the big box-- most would have gone for something like the Murnaus/docs plus 7th Heaven/Lucky Star/Street Angel.. and left them with a bunch of unsold boxes.

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Tommaso
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#273 Post by Tommaso » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:56 pm

As to a Walsh set: if the situation for classic films on disc now is anywhere near as grim as described in the Warner Random Speculation Thread, there is absolutely no chance for another such set, I believe. Pairing 10 Borzages with only 2 Murnaus and then putting F.W.'s name first in the title was probably the only reasonable way to get the Borzages out at all, at least the lesser known ones. I don't know what the reputation of Walsh is in the US these days, but seriously, I don't see many jumping on such a huge set immediately (quite disregarding the possibility of another packaging desaster and discs making helicopter noises). Perhaps Fox should release Walsh in Eclipse-style 'simple, affordable editions'. Better than nothing; and I'm almost shocked to see me writing this. But there really seems to be no other way these days, if I look at the CC release schedule or read Nick's words regarding a second Naruse set.

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domino harvey
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#274 Post by domino harvey » Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:00 pm

I still think Univeral's method from a few years ago of packaging five films starring one actor and releasing the set for $26 MSRP was the best idea yet for labels that don't want to put forth time and money on extras but also don't want to just sit on a bunch of titles in the meantime

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#275 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:41 pm

If only Universal didn't just do that only for their greatest classics from their greatest stars.

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