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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > Noir > Drama > Horror > Erotic > Shorts > A2ZCDs.com Fall 2008 DVD Wave (incl. Detour, Lady Frankenstein, Lost World (1925), Nosferatu (1922), Stage Fright and Vintage Burlesque & Stage shorts, et al)

A2ZCDs.com Fall 2008 DVD Wave (incl. Detour, Lady Frankenstein, Lost World (1925), Nosferatu (1922), Stage Fright and Vintage Burlesque & Stage shorts, et al)

 

Average Picture: C     Average Sound: C     Extras: D     Films: C+

 

 

We like to check into every kind of disc from every kind of company on the market and one of the more interesting independents is A2ZCDs.com, who has quietly issued a good few hundred films and other titles from the best materials they can get.  In some cases, the titles are known, while other features are hard to find gems.  When it comes to features, the releases are hit and miss, but the shorts fare better.

 

Titles like the Film Noir classic Detour (which needs serious restoration and is not so good here) is about as good here as you are going to see it, while the original Nosferatu has the advantage of not being color-coated.  Though director F.W. Murnau is said to have only wanted tinted versions to his specifications, I have heard this one before (like the 1984 Fritz Lang Metropolis with a Rock music score; later, it turned out he did not want color at all) and this is not a bad version tint-free. The ones that have had it to date always looked phony.  The 1925 Lost World also fares better than many copies we have seen.

 

Then there are interesting films out of print that should always be in print, like Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright, plus Horror curios like Lady Frankenstein (1971, with Joseph Cotton and Mickey Hargitay, which starts out letterboxed, then becomes tunnel vision) that are weak but interesting.  Even hard to find titles like The Green Glove (Rudolph Mate’s 1952 Mystery Noir) and Johnny Cash’s dramatic acting appearance in Bill Karn’s Door To Door Maniac (aka Five Minutes To Live, 1961) may have print and transfer problems, but are too important not to have in print in some form until these orphan films can be saved for high definition and Blu-ray.

 

But where companies like this can excel is in hard to get collections of shorts and special interest titles and Vintage Burlesque & Stage is as good as any title here in playback quality and is the kind of hard-to-get material people are really looking for.  Non-feature material is always discounted until it becomes a boom market (Music and TV titles being the great examples) and for whatever reason, look as good as most of the feature product.

 

Of course, most of the material (old 1.33 X 1 material looking average at best, fuzzy and with digital blocking at worst) shows its age, but you know to expect that for the low price and type of releases here.  Either way, you never know what a company like this is going to find and issue, so if you are looking for something unusual or in a pinch, visit their website at the link below and read more.

 

 

For more on Nosferatu, try this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/222/Nosferatu

 

For more Burlesque collections, try this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6418/Indie+Sex+(Documentary+TV+Mini

 

To order and try out these or other A2ZCDs.com titles go to:

 

www.A2ZCDs.com

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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