Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection - 8/28/18

3D Restoration expert Bob Furmanek has confirmed the Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection with be coming to 3D Blu-ray August 28th, 2018, with a new restoration of Revenge of the Creature:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mon...viewtopic.php?f=85&t=70106&p=1372837#p1372837

Awesome news. I had a feeling this was the case when Svengoolie pulled Revenge of the Creature off his schedule in March which I expect was because he was tipped off by Universal to expect a new scan to be available for use soon.

There's a good chance we'll be seeing The Invisible Man: Complete Legacy Collection to released at the same time, as the official announcement of CftBL is reported by Bob to be on the 11th of June. These legacy sets have historically been paired together, so the expectation is for The Invisible Man to be announced then as well.

 

I came.

 

Invisible Man was announced as well, but the biggest news is that they're doing a complete 30 film monsters collection.

I haven't been buying these because owning 5 copies of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein would set off my OCD, so this is definitely the set for me! Glad I've been patient.

 

Hate to break it to you then, but it looks like Universal is doing what they did the last time they built the DVD complete collection and they're just putting each legacy set's discs into one box. So you'll still get at least three copies of Meet Frankenstein along with three duplicates of other monster mashes like the House films and two copies of Frankenstein Meets Wolfman.

I've got the coffin set with all the firsts plus the Frankenstein and Wolfman sets. I'll have to see what the price point is on the 30 film set. Might be worth getting or scrounging up the final individual sets instead.

 

From the Digital Bits:

http://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/082918-1400

"I expect to have review product in hand by this weekend and will certainly dive into it for review here on The Bits as soon as I do. But we’re already getting word of a problem with the Blu-ray 3D release of Revenge of the Creature (1955) that’s included in the 30-Film and Creature sets. Readers are reporting that the 3D presentation has been improperly authored, causing the 1080p 3D image to be badly compromised. The film was beautifully restored in 4K by Robert Furmanek’s 3-D Film Archive and was considered the highlight of these sets and something much anticipated by fans. But it’s been included on the disc in such a way that the left and right-eye imagery is presented side by side (and not one on top of the other, per the Blu-ray spec). That means it’s not full 1080p 3D as it should be. It also means that the second film included on that disc in 2D, The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), isn’t full 1080p either. Both are 720. This appears to have been done as a deliberate choice by the studio to reduce replication costs, but it’s a HUGE mistake, is completely unacceptable, and seriously compromises the presentation of both films. We’ve learned that Universal is “looking into the matter” but here’s the deal: Universal... this is a mistake and you guys need to correct it and make it right with consumers. Author a proper 1080p Blu-ray 3D of Revenge of the Creature and a separate standard Blu-ray of The Creature Walks Among Us and make them available to everyone who has purchased these sets. The Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection currently sells for $137 on Amazon, while the Creature set is $27 for just three films. That is WAY TOO MUCH to pay for compromised quality. Make it right, guys... by redoing it right."

 

Wow, DigitalBits biting the hand that feeds then? That's surprising. But then even a lap dog gets snippy once in a while.

While I heard Revenge wasn't flagged properly for 3D (apparently it works on some players though?) that's news to me that both features are 720p on the disc. Has any a major studio cheaped out at 720p before? Sure maybe a sub license from Echo Bridge or something. But a direct release from a major?

I can't help but think the whole disc authoring was a fuck up handed over to a team of amateurs.

 

I've already got the 3D first film on blu, that's all I need.

 

Didn’t realize the site was known as lapdogs. When they report on an issue, it usually gets taken care of faster since they have relationships with the studios. They made a big stink about the several Star Trek Into Darkness store exclusives a few years back which made it so you had to buy the movie 3 or more times to get all the special features and even then the commentary was only available on iTunes. Paramount listened and then released the Star Trek Compendium double feature and included every feature. Complaints on the Creature set coming from them as opposed to random fans will likely fast track a fix for the issue.

 

I've only previewed Invisible Agent, and it's NOT an impressive transfer. It looks nothing like a new 4k scan, and I see anomalies that look like digital mosquito noise--not element damage. Were these supposed to be 4k scans? If so, as far as Invisible Agent goes, you can't see where the money went.

 

I read about this story. I hope it's corrected. The Digital Bits is usually pretty good. The only problem I have with them is their early reviews of big movies. They or rather the main guy tends to be very generous with movies like Star Wars and a few others. It's the enjoy the spectacle mentality even if the movie is bad. That's the thing that makes me believe they don't want to be too harsh with studios that they want to work with.

 

Wow, after Paramount rung Star Trek fans dry they released another Special Edition to ring them some more? Go job Bill Hunt, I'm sure Paramount never would have thought of that themselves. Even if Star Trek executives did watch every move George Lucas makes.



They use to be good, real good, posting rumors months in advance that usually came true. But then slowly they started doing things like MC'ing Warner events and the next thing you know those rumors dry up and are replaced with timelines that match studio clockwork for new releases. I can only suspect that giving them free stuff and brushing elbows with industry insiders came at the price of publishing true rumors.

Now their reviews are light with universal praise and published well after better review sites already threw in their two cents. They only jump on glaring issues studios would probably fix anyways. They lost their edge some 10 years ago and by the time anything is reported on their site it's already old news. I finally stopped reading it when week after week every news item was something I already knew. Even Blu-ray.com users regularly joke that Bill's "insider" info is simply reading their public posts. If they have any insiders they're probably telling them not to publish until the studios OK it.

So yes, quintessential lap dogs.

Don't know. I think 4k was presumed because the recent remasterings of the core films were 4k but press releases never said that did they? Packaging doesn't. That's usually a bad sign. They tout the latest and greatest whenever they can. And if the same crew that botched the Creature features works on the Invisible set they probably botched those transfers too.

Glad I didn't jump on these sets. I was waiting for a good sale. In fact I'm still waiting on a good sale for Dracula/Mummy so I'm tempted to just get the complete 30 set they have now. During a good sale.

 

I think it was only Revenge of the Creature that was actually confirmed as a new 4K restoration.

 

But then they went and did the EXACT same thing with Star Trek Beyond. I still haven't picked it up for that reason.

 

I didn't realize that. I knew Target had a bonus disc, but I thought that was the only one.

 

Your thoughts mirror mine. I kept assuming the 4k confirmation would come, but it never did. Funny how Universal pretended to give a shit while they still had additional releases pending.

This certainly doesn't bode well for quality HD releases of Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat, The Raven, and The Invisible Ray.

 

The Black Cat is a fantastic film, really deserving of some love...imo. I hope you're wrong....

 

I hope I'm wrong, too. The Black Cat is one of my absolute favorite classic Universal flicks. And The Raven is a favorite guilty pleasure. You can't beat Bela as a megalomaniacal lunatic with a Poe obsession.

 

My Bela Lugosi collection is experiencing some problems. Last time I tried to watch The Black Cat, it kept skipping and freezing. It doesn't seem like there are any Blu Ray versions out there (am I wrong?).

It looks like universal released a Karloff & Lugosi DVD set earlier this year that has four of the five titles from the old Lugosi flipper disc set - it's missing Murders in the Rue Morgue. Might be worth picking up to get a more reliable single-sided copy of those other four films, but it's a shame it doesn't include Murders. I wonder why that is? Is it because Karloff isn't in it, and it didn't fit with Universal's "Karloff & Lugosi" theme? Or did they leave it off for another reason?

Incidentally, anybody know if this new version is a significant upgrade to the picture quality?

 

The 30 Film Complete Collection is currently $95 from Amazon Canada (approx $72 USD).