Search - Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection on DVD

Abbott and Costello all in one set on single-sided DVDs

calvinnme | 09/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is a shame that it seems this holiday season so many studios are just double-dipping previously released material. Abbott and Costello are probably worthwhile purchases because, as someone else has already pointed out, the previous collections were on double-sided discs. However, this does seem to hurt the true fan who bought those double-sided disc collections by making them purchase the same films yet again in order to get something that will last long term. The following is the press release for this set, which indicates that 1943's "It Ain't Hay" will be the only film in this set that is a new release.



DISC 1:

One Night in the Tropics (1940) - Bud and Lou get mixed up in a "Love Insurance" scheme.

Buck Privates (1941)- The duo accidentally enlists in the U.S. Army to avoid getting arrested

BONUS FEATURES:

Commentary with Film Historians Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo (Buck Privates)

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 2:

In the Navy (1941) - Bud and Lou are sailors bound for duty on the high seas in this musical comedy.

Hold that Ghost (1941) - The boys inherit a haunted house formerly owned by a mobster.

BONUS FEATURES:

Commentary with Film Historian Jeff Miller (Hold That Ghost)

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 3:

Keep `Em Flying (1941) - Bud and Lou enlist in the Army Air Corps and get caught up in a love triangle.

Ride `Em Cowboy (1942) - The duo head to the Lazy S ranch to hide after Lou accidentally proposes to an Indian girl.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 4:

Pardon My Sarong (1942) - Bud and Lou travel to the South Seas where Lou is mistaken for a legend.

Who Done It? (1942) - The boys are suspected of murder while being targeted by the actual killer.

BONUS FEATURES:

Commentary with Film Historian Frank Coniff (Who Done It?)

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 5:

It Ain't Hay (1943) - Only film not previously on DVD

Hit the Ice (1943) - Bud and Lou hit the slopes at the Sun Valley Resort after getting mixed up with gangsters.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 6:

In Society (1944) - The boys find themselves in hot water after a plumbing job goes wrong at a high society bash.

Here Come the Co-Eds (1945) - Bud and Lou head to campus and attempt to save Bixby College from closing down.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 7:

The Naughty Nineties (1945) - Set aboard the River Queen showboat, Bud and Lou perform their legendary "Who's on First?" routine.

Little Giant (1946) - Lou plays a little man with big dreams and ends up selling vacuum cleaners.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 8:

The Time of Their Lives (1946) - Mistaken as a traitor, Lou's ghost is trapped in Danbury Mansion until his innocence is proven.

Buck Privates Come Home (1947) - Bud and Lou return to civilian life and get involved in midget car racing in the sequel to Buck Privates!

BONUS FEATURES:

Commentary with Film Historian Frank Thompson (The Time of Their Lives)

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 9:

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) - Accused of murder, Lou is forced to take care of a widow and her children on a farm.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) - Bud and Lou encounter Frankenstein's monster, Dracula and The Wolf Man.

BONUS FEATURES:

Commentary with Film Historian Gregory W. Mank (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein)

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 10:

Mexican Hayride (1948) - Bud and Lou head south of the border after getting mixed up in an oil stock scheme.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) - The boys meet up with Boris Karloff after a guest is murdered at their hotel.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 11:

Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950) - Bud and Lou head to Algeria on business and are tricked into joining the Foreign Legion.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) - As novice private detectives, Bud and Lou come face to face with The Invisible Man.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 12:

Comin' Round the Mountain (1951) - Lou discovers he is heir to a secret fortune, and the boys search for the hidden treasure.

Lost in Alaska (1952) - Bud and Lou save an ex-sheriff, then discover he is the target of every hitman in the Yukon.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 13:

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) - The boys accidentally take off for Mars and end up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) - The duo are American cops in London to study police tactics. They wind up in jail and are bailed out by Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll has been murdering fellow doctors who laugh at his experiments. He has more murders in mind. At one point the doctor's serum gets injected into the pair.

BONUS FEATURES:

Commentary with Film Historians Tom Weaver and Richard Scrivani (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



DISC 14:

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955) - Harry and Willie buy the Edison Movie Studio in the year 1912 from Joseph Gorman, a confidence man. They follow Gorman to Hollywood where, as stunt men, they find him directing movies as Sergei Trumanoff and stealing the studio payroll.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) - In Egypt Peter and Freddie find the archaeologist Dr. Zoomer murdered before they can return to America. A medallion leads them to a crypt where a revived mummy provides the terror.

BONUS FEATURES:

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer



BONUS DISC (DISC 15):

Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Monsters

The World of Abbott and Costello - A compilation of clips from 19 Abbott and Costello features."

Defending Universal - Don't Listen to Naysayers!

Joe Karlosi | USA | 10/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A lot of people who are trashing Universal about this excellent release simply don't know what they're talking about:



1.) For starters, you have to know that when Universal originally released their other 4 volumes of Abbott & Costello on DVD, the movie IT AIN'T HAY was unable to be included due to rights issues and so it was not able to be included. Now this problem has been rectified.



2.) At the time of the other 4 Volumes of A&C, Universal was foolishly trying out a double-sided DVD technology called "DVD-18". As a result, many people who bought the old DVDs complained of all sorts of random issues like skipping and picture freezing. So if there is ever a bone to pick with Universal, it was because they were experimenting with those earlier DVD-18s. This NEW SET is much more reliable and durable, since it's going to be issued in tried-and-true "DVD-9" single-sided format, which is much better quality all around.



3.) Somebody complained that there were several movies missing from this collection. No, there are NOT any UNIVERSAL features missing here. The titles he's thinking of are films that were RELEASD BY OTHER STUDIOS, (SUCH AS MGM). This box set is purely all of Abbott and Costello's UNIVERSAL films.



Well, that's it for now. It may be a pain in the neck for some to double-dip, but at least Universal has corrected the earlier double-sided disc catastrophe (they probably meant well with the old sets, but it turned out to be a faulty technonogy). And now they've cleared the rights to IT AIN'T HAY, where they couldn't release it previously. And to their credit they've compensated fans by adding MORE NEW EXTRA FEATURES to this set.



If there's one thing Universal could do right by the fans who feel they're being "gypped", they might consider releasing IT AIN'T HAY separately at a later date, as a "stand-alone" purchase for those buyers who choose to stubbornly hang onto their inferior double-sided DVD-18 volumes.



This is a FANTASTIC release and a great deal - thanks to Universal!



"

A great collection, but...

John Lazar | 11/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For Abbott and Costello fanatics, this is a great collection of the 28 movies the team made for their home studio, Universal. That said, however, there are some important factors (at least they're important to me) that prevent me from giving this set a full five-star rating.



First of all, I have to agree with all of you who feel disrespected by Universal's lack of marketing etiquette. It's bad enough that many devoted A&C fans who purchased those previous Franchise Collection volumes now feel like fools for loyally supporting those releases, but they can't even obtain the previously unavailable IT AIN'T HAY (1943) without having to purchase the other 27 movies all over again. Universal certainly hasn't shown any reluctance in re-releasing the same basic material over and over again (the 75th Anniversary Edition of DRACULA, the 75th Anniversary Edition of FRANKENSTEIN, etc.), so why not release a separate, single-disc edition of IT AIN'T HAY? Or a smaller 3-disc, 6-film set, like the one Universal released in the UK (which contained ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS, BUCK PRIVATES, PARDON MY SARONG, WHO DONE IT?, IN SOCIETY, and HERE COME THE CO-EDS). Given the choice of purchasing this new collection or purchasing IT AIN'T HAY by itself, I would have still purchased this new collection. But I still sympathize with consumers who don't want to or can't drop 84 bucks (or more) just to obtain one new title. Universal, you've done these good folks wrong...you should have provided them with an option. (Besides, as rare as it might be, IT AIN'T HAY is perhaps the weakest of the early A&C comedies.)



And if Universal went to the trouble of revamping this collection, why weren't more theatrical trailers included? Granted, there are a couple additional trailers this time around, but nowhere near as many as there should be. With the exception of AFRICA SCREAMS (United Artists, 1949), original-issue or re-release trailers for every Abbott and Costello feature exist in studio or private archives, or in the hands of private collectors. So what was the problem? Indifference or laziness? And if trailers weren't available for whatever reason, why not toss in a random episode of THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR or a couple of those antique Castle Films abridgements (HAVE BADGE, WILL CHASE; NO INDIANS, PLEASE; RIOT ON ICE, etc.)? Please, give us something...ANYTHING that will help justify purchasing the bulk of these movies all over again. If this were a thirty-dollar set, this sort of grumbling would be trivial. But for this kind of money (and figuring in the cost of those previous volumes to boot), I believe this complaint is valid.



And where did those reissue titles come from? When ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS was first released on VHS, I was one of many A&C fans who applauded Universal for making the effort to track down a copy of the full-length, original-release version (as opposed to the edited reissue version that aired on television for years). But the DVD release of TROPICS is taken from a print that has a replaced opening-cast title and End title, unlike the original titles seen in the VHS format. Also, this new collection contains a Realart Pictures reissue print of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. This is the best-quality version of this title that has ever been made available, though purists may grumble about the replaced footage. (If you're not familiar with the Realart version, it replaces the original "Universal-International presents" and "The End" titles, which obliterates some of the opening-credits animation and cuts short the final shot of Bud and Lou jumping into the water.)



If you didn't purchase any of the previous volumes, then now's the time to order this set. For the rest of us, it's yet another instance where the consumer has to grin and bear it.



"

5 for the set. 1 for the rotten studio.

Ron | Jersey | 10/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is really a terrific set, with every movie the boys did for universal. The box is beautiful and the booklet is great. I am also glad they used only single sided discs. I feel bad for all those people who bought the best of sets with the crappy double sided discs and the read error. To top it off, the only way to get It Ain't Hay is through this set. This set also has some new audio commentaries as well. Everything else is the same as the best of sets. It's a nice set, but if you already purchased all the best of editions, you really don't get much more with this set."