My Latest DVD Acquisitions (Haters Gonna Hate Edition)

As many of you already know, I'm a collector.

Plain and simple, I love movies, I watch movies, I collect movies to watch and admire over and over again.

It's an illness, sure, but one which I am NOT ashamed of and which I do NOT want to be cured from.

So it was purely by surprise that I found myself out and about again this weekend, looking at stores and never expecting to find DVDs which I not only wanted but were completely superlative in presentation.

Today, I found TWO.

The first DVD set I found was of a little movie you may have heard of.

Casablanca - know it?

Well, do you know of the Ultimate Collector's Edition set?

This is what it looks like:
























This is what it has in it:
















And these are the specs:

Disc One: • Introduction by Lauren Bacall • Commentary by film critic Roger Ebert • Commentary by film historian/author Rudy Behlmer

Disc Two: • 1988 TCM special: "Bacall on Bogart": Lauren Bacall´s candid and moving reminiscences about her husband´s life and career • "You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca": Bacall hosts this spellbinding backstage tour • "As Time Goes By: The Children Remember": Stephen Bogart and Pia Lindstrom remember their parents, Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman • Production history gallery • Additional footage • Deleted scenes • Outtakes • "Who Holds Tomorrow?" - Premiere episode from the 1955 "Warner Bros. Presents" TV series, starring Charles McGraw • 1995 WB Cartoon: Carrotblanca • Scoring session outtakes • Audio-only bonus: April 26,1943 Screen Guild Players Radio Broadcast • Theatrical trailer • 1992 re-release trailer

Disc Three: • 1993 documentary: "Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul"

Note: The premium giftset is elegantly boxed in an intricate laser-cut Moroccan design that contains a number of Warner studio documents, a branded passport holder, a luggage tag, a forty-eight-page photo book, and a mail-in offer for a reproduction of the original movie poster.

But WAIT! There's MORE!

I also stumbled upon a collection of movies made by a group of mice...no, uh, several rodents...no, that's not it...oh right: The Rat Pack!

Frankie? Sammy? Dino? Those guys.

I was able to pick up yet another Ultimate Collector's Edition, containing Ocean's 11, Robin and the 7 Hoods, 4 for Texas and the newly-released Sergeants 3, all in wide-screen and very nice, thank you very much.

Again, this is what it looks like:






















This is what's in it:
















And these are the specs:

Disc One: Ocean's 11 (1960)
letterboxed (2.35-to-1)
chapters
commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr.
Tonight Show clip w/ Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson
two trailers
on-screen map of Las Vegas

Disc Two: Robin & The 7 Hoods (1964),
letterboxed (2.35-to-1)
chapters
commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr.

Disc Three: 4 For Texas (1963)
letterboxed (2.35-to-1)
chapters
trailer

Disc Four: Sergeants 3 (1962)
letterboxed (2.35-to-1)
chapters
commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr.

Additional bonus materials: Rat Pack playing cards, 10 exclusive behind-the-scenes photo cards, 8 card lobby card reproductions from Sergeants 3, 18-page reproduction of the original 1960 Ocean's 11 Pressbook, mail-in offer for free posters from all 4 movies.

So yeah, I think it was a pretty good haul, especially considering they originally cost somewhere around $50-$60 each and I got them both for...

oh...

...less than $20.

You may now begin hating.

I'll be over here watching my new movies and playing solitaire with my Rat Pack cards.

Dope out.

- TGWD