Any word on a new release?

I saw the TCM print of this, and it was a revelation: the picture and especially the sound were much better than what I'd seen before.

The improved film quality seemed to rub off on the acting somehow. Nova Pilbeam always before struck me as merely adequate. Now I think hers is the freshest performance by a leading lady in any of Hitchcock's British films. The film overall now seems like a clear third best from Hitch's British period, after The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes.

Unfortunately, the many cheap public domain editions of this argue against a big-ticket DVD release. Gresham's Law: Bad prints drive out good. But I for one would buy it.

I haven't heard about a new DVD release yet. Sadly seems that this great movie will live forever tied in the underworld of the public domain prints.

I wish MGM or any other company could put sime money and effort on bringing a quality version of this rare gem.

They who believe that the money does everything, end by doing everything for money

I am very glad to hear that good elements exist for this picture and that a clean version has been screened.

The workings of the market are odd but the existence of Public Domain versions will not prevent Hitchcock enthusiasts from acquiring better DVD versions when they become available.

The irony in this case is that an "official" version sold by Carlton in the UK is among the most disgraceful versions on the shelves. It suffers from horrible colour-speckling and the resolution is very poor.

I actually prefer to play the version that a Public Domain merchant put out on one of those three films for a pound discs! And that is a NTSC transfer.

The film has been broadcast this Summer by the BBC but their print was clearly from the archive and certainly not the clean version sighted on TCM.

Official versions don't always guarantee that the viewer isn't being cheated. Carlton have been very variable on the Hitchcock front. The Lady Vanishes is available in a good version and The 39 Steps and TMWKTM are superior to the PD versions. Secret Agent is very murky, however and only a little better than offerings from the rip-off makes. So far as I can gather, Sabotage has never been issued on DVD by Carlton, though it was once licenced by them for VHS release. That tape was not fantastic but rather better than the PD DVDs which have the market to themselves in the UK.

We must live in hope. Young & Innocent is unlikely ever to enjoy the wide appreciation given to The 39 Steps but it is a fascinating movie and one which improves on every viewing. I look forward to seeing one day in a clean print.

In the U.S., MGM is bringing out "Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection" on October 14, 2008. Sparkling prints and completely remastered.

Here are the films and details:

Rebecca Synopsis
A young woman marries a fascinating older widower only to discover that she must live in the shadows of his first wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years before.

Special features:

• Commentary by film historian/author Richard Schickel
• Screen tests
• Making of Rebecca Featurette
• The Gothic World of Daphne Du Maurier Featurette
• Original 1938 Radio Play Starring Orson Welles
• 1941 Radio Play Presented by Cecil B. DeMille
• 1950 Radio Play with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Four-page booklet

The Lodger Synopsis
Not long after a mysterious young “medical scientist” named Slade (Laird Cregar) rents a flat in the heart of London’s Whitechapel district, a series of brutal murders begins. But despite the fact that the murder victims are all female stage performers, the landlord’s niece Kitty (Merle Oberon), an ingénue, is unphased by the crimes – or by the unusual, brooding man in her family’s midst. As Kitty coquettishly interacts with a Scotland Yard detective (George Sanders), she becomes Slade’s object of obsession in this pulse-pounding thriller that “packs an unsettling punch.” (At-A-Glance Film Reviews).

Special features:

• 1999 Score by Ashley Irwin presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround
• 1997 Score by Paul Zaza presented in Mono
• Commentary with film historian Patrick McGilligan
• The Sound of Silence: The Making of The Lodger Featurette
• Hitchcock 101 Featurette
• 1940 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparison

The Paradine Case Synopsis
Beautiful Anna Paradine (Alida Valli) is accused of poisoning her older wealthy husband. Her barrister, the happily married Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) takes the case but also lets his heart rule his head when he falls hard for his client.

Special features:

• Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• 1949 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Galleries
Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection

Spellbound Synopsis
When John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), the new director of a mental asylum arrives on the job, the staff is concerned. He seems too young for the position and his answers to their questions are vague and detached. Dr. Peterson (Ingrid Bergman), while knowing he is an imposter with emotional issues, nevertheless falls in love with him. Turning to her mentor, Dr. Alex Brulov (Michael Checkhov) and the use of psychoanalysis she tries to get to the root of Ballantine’s emotional problems.

Special features:

• Commentary with film historians Thomas Schatz & Charles Ramirez Berg
• Guilt by Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound Featurette
• A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming Featurette
• Dreaming with Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali Featurette
• 1948 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: Film Historian Rudy Belhemer Interviews Composer Miklós Rózsa
• Still Gallery
• 4-Page Booklet

Notorious Synopsis
Daughter of an accused World War II traitor, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is enlisted to entrap one of her father’s colleagues in Brazil, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Raines). Her American contact, secret agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) is openly contemptuous of Alicia and instructs her to wed Sebastian. It is only after she is wed that Devlin lets himself admit that he’s fallen in love with her.

Special features:

• Commentary with film historian Rick Jewell
• Commentary with film historian Drew Casper
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious Featurette
• Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Spymaster Featurette
• AFI Tribute to Hitchcock
• 1948 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery
• 4-Page Booklet

Young and Innocent Synopsis
In this witty, suspense thriller a police chief’s daughter helps a fugitive accused of murder prove his innocence.

Special features:

• Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
• Isolated Music and Effects Track
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection
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• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery

Sabotage Synopsis
A woman learns that her movie theater manager husband is actually a foreign agent when a bomb he has made kills her brother. Based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, The Secret Agent.

Special features:

• Commentary with film historian Leonard Leff
• Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
• Restoration Comparision
• Still Gallery

Lifeboat Synopsis
Nominated for three Academy Awards®, Alfred Hitchcock’s World War II drama is a remarkable story of human survival. After their ship is sunk in the Atlantic by Germans, eight people are stranded in a lifeboat. Their problems are further compounded when they pick up a ninth passenger – the Nazi captain from the U-boat that torpedoed them. With powerful suspense and emotion, this legendary classic reveals the strengths and frailties of individuals under extraordinary duress.

Special features:

• Commentary by University of Southern California School of Cinema & Television Hitchcock professor and film critic, Drew Casper
• “The Making of Lifeboat” featurette
• The original theatrical trailer
• Still gallery featuring photographs from the set