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The Radio 3 Boards > Arts Other Than Music > Cinema > DVD Special Offers
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Author Topic: DVD Special Offers  (Read 945 times)
Stanley Stewart
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Well...it was 1935
« on: 19:29:00, 22-08-2008 »
DVD sale offers now extend throughout the year but, apart from the consequences of the credit squeezeback, special offers invariably turn-up during the Bank Holiday weekend and at the turn of the year.

I'm a Billy Wilder aficionado and I've seen his collected films, in boxsets, gradually drop in price but a special offer from Amazon provides two collector DVD box sets for £7 99p and £8 97p respectively.

          Vol 1        Avante!     Irma La Douce    Kiss Me Stupid
                         One Two, Three    Some Like It Hot

          Vol 2        The Apartment  The Seven Year Itch  Witness For The Prosecution
                         The Fortune Cookie     The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes

There, a collection to offend good taste collectors, everywhere, but Wilder had the courage to show America its own dark corners and, with IAL Diamond, wrote and directed scripts of immense wit and insight.    Many rate the partnership of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau highly, particularly in "The Odd Couple" although my first preference would be for "The Fortune Cookie"; yes, even before "Front Page Story", too.        Also, I'd always rated an early version of "Front Page Story", "His Girl Friday" (Cary Grant & Roz Russell) as tops in the rapid delivery of dialogue movies but James Cagney in "One, Two, Three" delivers at the pace of an angry Gatling gun.

However, both of these sets are "musts" and the special offer may only be limited or end due to being out of stock by demand.   
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Morticia
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« Reply #1 on: 11:34:47, 23-08-2008 »
Gosh, thanks for that Stanley. I'm going to have a rummage in the River right now!
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Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« Reply #2 on: 15:01:27, 23-08-2008 »
Happy hunting, Mort!   I was beginning to feel like a stranger in a strange land.   Grin    However, I've had an e-mail from the river folks confirming that both box sets are on their way:  the majority of these films are in the classic league.

   Ironically, or typically, as I move loads of books and off-air videos into the garage, prior to ...!!!! renovations, next month, DVDs or books arrive to fill the same space   Pure Ionesco - that really dates me.   Or I pick up a book on the outward journey, only to get interested, before it relegated to another space indoors, or worse, I sit and start reading the damned thing.     One such was published by Studio Vista Move Paperbacks (1966) and I used to collect this series from W H Smith who put them in their sales at 20p.   This was the combined screenplays of 'The Apartment' (1960) and 'The Fortune Cookie' (1966) (aka 'Meet Whiplash Willie' in the uk)  Eh?     A couple of trenchant screenplays.    In the former, Jack Lemmon plays a dude, C C Baxter, who climbs the professional greasy- pole by lending his apartment keys to his CE (Fred McMurray), as a rendezvous with the attractive elevator girl, Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine).   In due course, Lemmon arrives in time to prevent MacLaine from a near fatal overdose; and shortly afterwards a loud explosion from a champagne bottle, fuels his anxiety about a pistol shot.     Wilder and his writer IAL Diamond had to avoid the risk of a sentimental or lachrymose ending.   CC Baxter asks Miss Kubelik (their formality is sustained although a minor point by now) about her relationship with his CE.   

          Baxter         What about Mr Sheldrake?

        Kubelik           I'm going to send him a fruit cake every Christmas.

               He sits happily on the couch and she holds out a deck of cards to him.

        Kubelik           Cut

                He cuts a card but doesn't look at it.

         Baxter           I love you, Miss Kubelik.

        Kubelik (cutting a card)    Seven  (looking at his card) - queen  (Hands the deck to him)

          Baxter          Did you hear what I said, Miss Kubelik?  I absolutely adore you.

        Kubelik   (Smiling)   Shut up and deal!

                  He begins to deal, never taking his eyes of her.   She removes her coat,
                  starts picking up her cards and arranging them.   Baxter a look of pure joy
                  on his face, deals - and deals - and deals - and keeps dealing.

                  And that's about it.  Story-wise.     FADE OUT

I'll be waiting for Chris, the postie, on Tuesday.
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Morticia
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« Reply #3 on: 15:08:48, 23-08-2008 »
Stanley. The Apartment is a favourite of mine and, yes, that last scene. Perfect. In the hands of another director it could easily have descended into schmaltz.

You are a very naughty man, Stanley! You are going to cost me money. But not a great deal Cheesy Kiss
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Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« Reply #4 on: 14:54:21, 07-09-2008 »
If you're fleet of foot, or strong on the breaststroke - wherever you live - you may be interested to know that today's Sunday Times has a 'free' DVD, in its Culture Collection, of Hitchcock's 1935 version of "The Thirty Nine Steps".   The print has been remastered.    I see that other Hitchcock films are available with The Times at W H Smith during the week:  The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 version), Sabotage, Secret Agent, Young & Innocent, Jamaica Inn & The Lady Vanishes.     Some goodies here.

Can anyone hum or whistle the coded theme tune from "The Lady Vanishes" (1938)?
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Morticia
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« Reply #5 on: 15:05:27, 07-09-2008 »
Stanley, I got my paws on todays DVD Smiley I was a bit puzzled by the WHSmith thing though. Do they really mean that you only get the DVD if you buy The Times from WHSmith Huh  Surely not.
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Antheil
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« Reply #6 on: 15:18:44, 07-09-2008 »
Quote from: Morticia on 15:05:27, 07-09-2008
Stanley, I got my paws on todays DVD Smiley I was a bit puzzled by the WHSmith thing though. Do they really mean that you only get the DVD if you buy The Times from WHSmith Huh  Surely not.

Oh Bugler!  Firstly, although I am a champion breast stroker being marooned by flood did not fancy taking to the murky waters with my snorkel to get said DVD.

Secondly.  WH Smith here does not open on Sundays.

Thirdly. Oh, I am really quite cross about this  Sad 

Edit:  When The Daily Mail had their BBC Costume Drama free dvds you could only claim at Tescos or WHS.
« Last Edit: 15:21:07, 07-09-2008 by Antheil » Logged
Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« Reply #7 on: 15:22:24, 07-09-2008 »
Hi, Mort.     Yes, the supply factor is rather odd.    Previously, the arrangement was that if you picked up the advertised newpaper from a newsagent who didn't stock the DVD, you could pop into WHS with newspaper cutting and collect a DVD.   However, they were invariably out-of-stock and then you had to send the newspaper voucher to a supplier.   Further, I'll check with Tesco's - my but I do live dangerously! - in the next day or two and see whether they are also party to this arrangement.   Perhaps all this is a link to the Katherine Whitehorn thread and market economics.   Grin   During my National Service stint, we used to say that bullshit baffles brains.
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Morticia
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« Reply #8 on: 15:26:43, 07-09-2008 »
Cheer up, Ants. Maybe you can catch up during the week when you're at work?There isn't a WHSmith near me and I don't think I can be bothered getting 2 buses just to buy a paper because there's a 'free' DVD with it. Yes, I am slothful.
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Antheil
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« Reply #9 on: 15:31:20, 07-09-2008 »
Aha! <image of light bulb above brain>  My friend works in WHS, she let me have some of the the BBC Costume Dramas without buying The Daily Mail (Praise the Lord that I Was Not Contaminated!)  Now, if the Sunday Times has supplied the dvds to a WHS in Wales who do not open on Sundays I might be in luck?  Worth a try?
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« Reply #10 on: 15:37:36, 07-09-2008 »
Anty, if you don't make headway, DO let me know.  There's nowt that can't be resolved!

Mort, re our early exchanges in the thread, my Billy Wilder DVD box sets arrived with a few days.   However, market forces quickly at work, I noticed that the low price offers were quickly increased by a tenner per box.
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time_is_now
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« Reply #11 on: 15:40:43, 07-09-2008 »
Quote from: Stanley Stewart on 15:37:36, 07-09-2008
my Billy Wilder DVD box sets arrived with a few days.   However, market forces quickly at work, I noticed that the low price offers were quickly increased by a tenner per box.
You should have bought two or three and sold the spares on for a profit ...

(Market forces, you see! Roll Eyes)
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« Reply #12 on: 16:33:59, 08-09-2008 »
I did my Tesco rituals, this morning, and checked on the Hitchcock DVD 'freebies' with The Times.   As I suspected, DVDs would only be available if collected from WHS, today, or by application to the suppliers.

However, Adam Smith's market forces were operating on the Tesco bookshelves.    I saw a favourable review of  Richard Attenborough's memoirs, 'Entirely Up To You, Darling' in the Sunday posh press and thought it was pricey at £20.    Got it at the supermarket for £10.    It will be full of enjoyable anecdotes but the razor sharp 'Dickie' is likely to be more reticent.   
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Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« Reply #13 on: 12:16:50, 10-09-2008 »
A sunny day accompanied by the arrival of three items which offered instant rejuvenation - a quality to be savoured and treasured.

To the point, a bfi DVD of Michael Powell's "The Edge of the World" (1937); a 74 mins feature of deceptive simplicity.   A further treat in that the disc also has a print of Powell's later documentary 'Return to the Edge of the World' (1978) in which he returns to to the island 40 years later; Foula, representing St Kilda's - Britain's loneliest Isle.   Further, Daniel Day Lewis reads extracts from Powell's book about his obsession with the tragic grandeur of Scotland's Outer Isles and his struggle to film it, ' 200,000 Feet on Foula.'      Other extra features include a commentary by film critic Ian Christie and Thelma Schoonmaker.    Riches - all of 'em.     Are you reading this, GG?

The best deal is a limited offer @ £9 99 (incl postage) from:

         MovieMail     e-mail info@moviemail-online.co.uk     (they are reliable)

     "When I finally saw the restoration of The Edge of the World in 1990,
      I was struck by how it combined the influence of Flaherty...with Powell's
      penchant for mysticism,   And already there's that sense of the
      experimental film present."                        Martin Scorsese

For the curious, the other items are covered on the Now spinning thread and, in due course, the unexpected arrival of a Prom programme for 6 Sept 2004,  which included Rattle/BPO in Debussy's La Mer and a stunning performance of Messiaen's Eclairs sur l'Au-dela.   I have an off-air video, ready for DVD transfer, but desperately needed notes for guidance through the eleven movements.   I expected a set of photostats but an old friend has sent me his copy of the programmne.     God is really in his Heaven!
« Last Edit: 12:30:05, 10-09-2008 by Stanley Stewart » Logged
Morticia
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« Reply #14 on: 12:38:33, 10-09-2008 »
Stanley Stewart, you are an extremely naughty man! Putting temptation in my path Cheesy Having read your post I have now placed an order for "The Edge of the World", then I spotted "The Innocents". Well, I just had to order that, didn't I? Wink Really interesting site Stanley. Thank you Kiss Check it out people. The bfi discs are normally £19.99.
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