filmlover

It looks like the code for deepdiscount.com will be "DD1109": "Save an additional 20% Off from 11/09/07 - 11/25/07 with Promo Code DD1109. Disclaimer from DD: "Offer valid on currently available DVDs, Posters, Fun Stuff, and Storage Accessories. Previous sales are excluded. Prereleased DVDs are not included in sale. Coupons do not apply to video games, CDs, Books or electronics. Coupon may only be used once per customer. See site for details. We reserve the right to limit quantities."

MissG, If you are getting a $239 figure, then you better also make sure your Member # is being accepted into the order because the member Price without the 20% (or the 50%) should only be $229.48. filmlover

Kyle, Count me in. filmlover

Thanks. I hope it will be 20% off at least (though 25% would be better since their prices have gone up).

Phantom of the Opera This is a review of the Universal DVD release of the Claude Rains version. This DVD has been available for some time but I think it is worth picking up. Claude Rains only received third billing in this film, a fact that seems unbelievable now, right after Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster, and his and Foster's name appears in smaller case than Eddy's in the opening credits roll. Eddy does have more scenes than anyone, possibly, and the musical scenes do dominate the film, but there is still the excellent Rains as the violinist who kills a music publisher because he believes the man has stolen his concerto. The violinist gets his face burned by acid and flees to the sewers and to the depths of the Opera House. From there, he seeks to make a star of his beloved Christine (more about this relationship further on). This single DVD is chock-full of good things. The color print is exceptional, still beautiful to behold. The commentary by Scott McQueen is very lively, intelligent, and highly informative, one of the better commentaries I have come across. Also on the DVD is a 50-minute documentary on the history of the Phantom of the Opera, including interviews with Susanna Foster and Turhan Bey (who starred in "The Climax," a film originally planned as a sequel). One of the very important reveals in the documentary is that there was originally a scene in this Rains version in which it was revealed that the Phantom is secretly the father of Christine, the singer, something she doesn't know, and that he had left when she was born to pursue his music career. It was something I had never known about this version...but now knowing it, it adds many layers to Claude Rains' performance. The reason that the scene was cut was that some studio execs were worried that people might think there was some sort of incest at play here. I don't feel that at all. I think if you see it again now, knowing he is her father, you will find that scenes of his overcaring now make much more sense than before. And addressing her at one point as "My child," an affectionate expression an older person might make to any person much younger, takes on a whole new meaning in the film. There is also a photo gallery of 60+ photos. Very much recommended.

Edgecliff, thanks for the notification. Do you know of any special code yet that will be needed?

I'm going to record a lot. Luckily, I signed up for DISH Hi-Def recently and my new DVR holds up to 350 hours of standard broadcasts. I'm ready for November!

It's alive! It's alive!

Some stuff we know about and don't know about yet: (from digitalbits.com) From Grapevine Video in October: Silents: Harry Langdon Comedies (Saturday Afternoon/Soldier Man, 1926) In the Tentacles of the North (1926, starring Gaston Glass and Alice Calhoun) The Man from Beyond (1922, with Harry Houdini) The Whirlpool of Fate (directed by Jean Renoir, 1925) A Woman in Grey (1920, complete 15 chapter serial). Sound double-bills: Murder on the High Seas with Jack Mulhall, 1932/The Sunset Murder Case with Sally Rand, 1938 Revolt of the Zombies with Dean Jagger, 1936/King of the Zombies with Mantan Moreland, 1941. From Lionsgate: Cary Grant box set (Jan. 8th) includes: Indiscreet (1958) Operation Petticoat (1959) That Touch of Mink (1962) The Grass Is Greener (1961). From MGM: In the Heat of the Night: 40th Anniversary Edition (Jan.15) John Frankenheimer Gift Set (Jan.22): The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Ronin (1998) The Train (1964) The Young Savages (1961) Restored Serials is working on restoring four serials: Young Eagles (1934) The Return of Chandu (Bela Lugosi, 1934) Son of Tarzan (1920) The Three Musketeers (John Wayne, 1933) Fom Sony: 20 Million Miles to Earth (Dec.4) Ray Harryhausen Gift Set (Dec. 4th((colorized and b&w for each title): 20 Million Miles to Earth Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers It Came from Beneath the Sea From VCI Serials (Dec. 4th) White Eagle (1941 Buck Jones) Battling with Buffalo Bill (1931 Tom Tyler). From Warner Bros.: Val Lewton Collection reissued with Martin Scorsese Presents Val Lewton: Man in the Shadows (Jan.8th)

I agree with you about Amoeba. As I said, I basically use them as a reference point to see what is available, then go look it up online and buy it there instead. I've taken some things and sold them to Amoeba but, generally, only things I haven't been able to sell elsewhere for a decent price but I always go for the trade value rather than the cash because it works out to be more. I've sold things at an L.A. comic book show and done well doing that, and will be going back again next week. Another place I will sell to is DVDplanet.com They can end up paying several dollars each for used DVDs (based on different titles, of course). Generally, I will build up a credit of a $200 or so at a time. And when you use that credit to a future purchase, they give you points for every dollar spent on that purchase (including the ones from your credit) and you can bank those points to another purchase. It's not bad...but I have had some problems with their organizational ability from time to time. They can take a month to examine the DVDs you send them before crediting it to your account. And you can't take cash; only credit towards a DVDplanet.com purchase.

I am trying to make my money go around by watching for specials and using discounts where I can. Thank goodness I am only paying $95 for the big Ford at Fox set, even though I would have paid the extra for it. So I can use that extra towards some nice items for me. I was in Amoeba Music in Hollywood over the weekend and while their prices aren't very good on DVDs, I at least saw a number of classic things it would be nice to have, among them several Kino silents box sets, amd some interesting film noir sets. I could be very happy if I would win a $1,000 shopping spree with them. I use them more as reference point to see something I like, then go look it up online. And another title I would like to get at a good discount is the Esther Williams set. This seems to be something that not many places got and few are discounting it. You can't even get it from DeepDiscount/DVD Planet. Speaking of deepdiscount.com, their sale should be starting in November, shouldn't it? Has anybody heard any more? This time, however, a number of the titles I want are higher priced than normal, so even if the discount is 20% off, it won't bring the price down very much. Sigh, what I would love is if I could use B&N 50% discount code more than once. On the bright side, I won the Hemingway Film Collection on eBay fir $10.50 a little while ago..

So much coming out this week and following I'd like to get: This Tuesday: Looney Tunes vol. 5 Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection Spider-Man (Blu-ray) Trilogy Twin Peaks - Gold Box Edition Three Stooges Collection, vol. 1 Burt Lancaster Signature Collection November 6 Ratatouille (Blu-ray) Cars (Blu-ray) November 13 Close Encounters (Blu-ray) And more to come. Die Hard Trilogy (Blu-ray) Hairpray (Blu-ray) Blade Runner (5 disc Blu-ray) Pirates of the Caribbean Worlds' End (B-r) Ford at Fox 24 Season Six Harry Potter 1-5 (Blu-ray) That's Entertainment Trilogy (Blu-ray) And already out but occasionally hard to find because of a distribution error: 2001 and The Shining on B-r. (Picked up A Clockwork Orange already.)

That is a great price for the Bond movies. The only reason I'm going to pass on it is because those films are some of the most likeliest to get and to benefit from a HD/Blu-ray treatment in the not-too-distant future, and I would prefer to own them in that format. LOL, Web, why do I suspect there is also a P.S. to that..."but even then not until the format war is settled." Also, LOL, I have to admit I am confused. Didn't you say about a month ago on one of the forums that you don't collect or watch movirs, just get excited that they are on TCM?

Actually, the title of the set is "Fox Horror Classics." I bought it a few days ago and just now finished watching oneof the films, the terrific "Hangover Square." I will be doing a review of the set in the Box Sets section in a few days. One thing I would like to know from someone else who has the set: The Undying Monster and Hangover Square each had two photo cards inserted in their cases, but my copy of The Lodger did not. Did anyone get photo cards in the Lodger?

There is a fantastic sale at Fry's. All four of the James Bond Ultimate Edition box sets are $27.99 each. That is an incredible price! Each set had 5 different films, newly remastered, and each film title has 2 DVDs (and a booklet), so that is 10 DVDs in each box. For only $29.99???!!!!!!! Do not wait on this sale! You may have seen individual titles for sale at $7 or so, but they only have one DVD in it (just the movie) and not the 2nd DVD which has tons of Bond extras. Skip those and go for the big sets, believe me! When they first came out they were about $99 each. I got mine at about $54 per set and thought it was an incredible deal. I still do. Now, here they are at $27.99?!!! If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas, these would be great. I believe the only reason they are being sold so low is that there is a big box set containing all these plus the addition of a 2-disc Casino Royale coming out on November 6th. But the street price will be $289.98 (Amazon's current discount is $199.99). You are much better off getting the 4 separate sets for the Fry's price and then spend a few bucks to get the Casino Royale by itself. You'll save about $50 or $60 off Amazon's price (and $150 or $160 off the street price).

Hi, Lynn, Yes. Orbach is missed. And I hope McKay gets that sequel out soon.

Universal also needs to upgrade their restoration machines. So many classic films they issue all have these "10 million flying insects" on screen throughout the entire film; in other words, very grainy in the forefront of the image. Warners does it right!

MissG, Better hurry! Two days ago, they had the set at 30% off the regular price of $299, yesterday it was down to 20% off, and I just looked at their website a few minutes ago and it is at only 15% off ($254.98 regular, $229.48 members). You'll still get a good deal with that 50% off code, but the way it is going, who knows how long that will last? filmlover

"Try to Remember" from the little-seen screen version of The Fantasticks. Also, several songs from the film version of "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris"

What we've got here is...failure to communicate.

calvinnme, I found the link to the Universal box sets on special at Amazon: http://amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_5694552_2/104-2749804-9953506?ie=UTF8&docId=1000152451&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-1&pf_rd_r=1KGNWSGWRDPQYDT0PRG3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=319015001&pf_rd_i=507846 I will pick up the Boris Karloff Collection, the John Wayne - An American Icon Collection, and maybe the Deanna Durbin Collection at $13.49 each, and will be considering the 2 W.C. Fields Collections at $28.49 each. I have almost everything else.

I admit I am a sucker the Tammy song, so I will get it, too.

That's great. But even if the discount goes back up to 30% off, it will only be a matter of a couple of dollars so I think I will leave it as is. Now I am going to use my other 20% code and $50 gift card when it comes on the Spider-Man Blu-ray trilogy . The Harry Potter B-R they have at full price so that would be cheaper on Amazon. Would also like to get the Kubrick B-R titles and the That's Entertainment B-R set. So many titles, so little money...but the discounts always help.

peterwarne, I know it definitely needs a M/C (maybe others would work, but don't know) because when I first entered the code and clicked update, it wouldn't accept. But after I enter the M/C stuff and tried again it automatically accepted. I suspect the code will end before the item is ready for shipping. Will that cause any problem?

Wow, that worked great. Thanks! I got it for $95.99 plus $7.92 tax, total $103.91 ! ($25 more if you want to include the cost of membership) It would have been great to apply the free $50 gift card I will be getting for B&N from my accumulated American Express points, but since I only told A/E to send that to me today I will have to get something else with it later (but you can bet I will pretend that $50 was applied to this set, bringing the total cost down to $53). And I am getting free expited shipping, as well. What a fantastic deal, peterwarne (by the way, that's a great screenname - from Gable's character in It Happened One Night). Thanks again! Wow, $103!!!