There’s still no formal announcment from Universal regarding their UK version of the Masterpiece Collection, however…
Amazon.co.uk are now listing the box set for release on October 17th, with a RRP of £99.99. Assuming we’re getting exactly the same content as the US release, then that works out at £7.14 per film – not bad, eh?
Well, at today’s exchange rate, the RRP of the US box set is only £67.50 – that’s just £4.82 per film!
I’m sure Universal will have a valid reason for charging UK customers nearly 50% more for the same thing, but for me it’s just another example of rip off Britain… grrrrrrrr!!!
The other bad news is that it looks like the bonus 15th DVD isn’t going to be all it was cracked up to be – the BBFC has just classified “AFI Salute to Hitchcock” and “Masters of Cinema“.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot that the combined running time of both extras is only 49 minutes. Not only that, but the 15 minute running time of the “AFI Salute” means that Universal have removed approximately 56 minutes of the original broadcast footage (previously released on VHS by Castle Communications PLC).
The “Masters of Cinema” running time of 33 minutes doesn’t look too good either – especially when Universal own the (currently unreleased on DVD) documentary “Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius” (aka “Dial H for Hitchcock”) which runs for 101 minutes.
Okay – that’s my little rant over!
😀