Author: Mike Gencarelli

Humphrey Bogart is one of the greats. This Warner Archive Collection includes four of Bogart’s classic films including “They Drive by Night” / “Passage to Marseille” / “Conflict 1945” / and “Chain Lightning”. The four films released from 1940-1950 are solid and are still a joy to watch. Just seeing Bogart in Blu-ray transfers is a trip in its own. I love seeing classic films getting a new life.

Official Premise: There was only one BOGART. Perhaps Warner Bros.’ most famous leading man during Hollywood’s golden age, Humphrey Bogart’s star shines bright in four classic dramas from the 1940s. Bogie shares the screen with George Raft, Ann Sheridan and Ida Lupino in THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, while Bogie takes on the Nazis under the direction of Michael Curtiz in PASSAGE TO MARSEILLE. In the suspense thriller CONFLICT, he takes on a more off-beat role co-starring with Sydney Greenstreet and Alexis Smith, and he’s a former WWII flier playing opposite the lovely Eleanor Parker in the exciting CHAIN LIGHTNING.

The 1080p transfers for these old films are really sharp. The 1.37:1 aspect ratios with side mattes display the black and white films extremely well. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 also are fantastic – 4/5. There are no special features included for these films, which is not shocking but could’ve had a historian record a audio commentary track for the bonus footage.

Wally Gator was always a favorite cartoon of mine growing up. Hannah Barbera always delivered the goods for me. Wally Gator, voiced by Daws Butler, is a character that doesn’t get enough love. That is why I am in love with Warner Archive for keeping this show alive with this release. Including Wally Gator, there are also shorts from Touché Turtle, and Lippy the Lion. Classic HB characters.

Official Premise: A true people-person alligator, Wally is driven by his excessive curiosity and his bon vivant inclinations to seek out new experiences beyond the city zoo where he hangs his porkpie hat. Donning a variety of hilarious disguises, Wally escapes the care of dedicated zookeeper Twiddle only to end up crying Oh, fuddle-dee-doo! as he lands himself in a series of ever more ridiculous (and dangerous!) jams!

Similar to other cartoon’s out of the 60’s, the show packs a tight five-minute running time throughout its 52 episodes. And delivers the goods. The shows look and sound fantastic for its age. The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio tracks deliver. The original source materials for Wally Gator, Touché Turtle, and Lippy the Lion were from 16mm original camera positives rather than 35mm. Sadly there are no extras included in this set but for the price is a must own for Hannah Barbera fans.

Never really got into the hype for “Falling Skies”. I love me a good alien show but this one never really locked me down, after being well through the second season. The main draw for this box set is to upgrade from previously released DVD sets to Blu-ray transfers. So if you are a fan of the show it is likely a no brainer to pick these up based on price and amount of shelf space.

Official Premise: Noah Wyle (“ER”) stars in this compelling series set in the wake of a devastating alien invasion of Earth, portraying a Boston-area professor who leads a ragtag band of survivors in an effort to rescue human society. As he and the members of his improvised army of resistance fight to overcome their losses, the extraterrestrials regroup for more attacks-mysteriously targeting children as part of their hidden plans of conquest. Moon Bloodgood, Drew Roy co-star.

Audio and video are solid enough with the 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio packed with soundtrack of Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Looks good sounds good – 4/5. There are 52 episodes are spread out on 15 discs. Special Features are plentiful. There is literally over 11 Hours of bonus content. A few highlights include a bunch of audio commentaries, various behind-the-scenes and production featurettes, a few Q&A panels with cast and crew members and “minisode” episode prequels.

Shameless features a star-studded cast, includes William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Cameron Monaghan and Jeremy Allen White. The talent in this show is extraordinary. There is no shock why this show last 11 seasons, because its a powerhouse.

Official Premise: Eleven seasons. Six children. But there’s only one Frank Gallagher, the proud, working-class patriarch of the independent Gallagher family, who without him would be…perhaps better off. When Frank’s not at the bar spending what little money they have, he’s passed out, leaving his kids to fend for themselves.

Audio and video are typical for a TV series, I would say 4/5 stars. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks work well and the 1080p transfers in 1.78:1 aspect ratio looks solid.  This comes packaged with a slip box enclosing two bigger cases. The first one comes with seasons 1 through 7, while the second offers seasons 8 through 11. Each case has flip trays with hinges.

The special features aren’t terrible. The earlier seasons have a varied number of 2-4 featurettes circling the production as well as deleted scenes and commentaries. The later seasons feature deleted scenes primarily. There are also some unaired scenes included and a music video.

Two and a Half Men is a show that I used to watch religiously. Each week, I would tune into the crazy antics of Charlie and Alan Harper and Alan’s son Jake. I watched very few sitcom shows, other than The Big Bang Theory but this show had an amazing run. From 2003 to 2015. It ran 12 seasons for 262 episodes. Honestly, the first eight seasons is where it’s at. After Sheen left the show should have hung up its towel. But it did push on for four more seasons with Ashton Kutcher taking over for Sheen.

Official Premise: Get set for an extended visit to Malibu’s most happening beach house with The Complete Series of one of the longest running live-action sitcoms in TV history, Two and a Half Men. Join brothers Charlie and Alan Harper; their estranged (and strange) kids, Jenny and Jake; gazillionaire Walden Schmidt; and housekeeper Berta for 12 years of hilarious high jinks with bad boys, funny men, gorgeous girls, celebrity neighbors, sexy stalkers, eccentric parents and more.

The set features full 1080p high definition presentations of every single episodes, which look great and are each paired with lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 (for seasons 1-6) and DTS-HD MA 5.1 (for seasons 7-12). The 5.1 tracks obviously have a bit more depth than the earlier season’s 2.0 tracks.

There is a ton of great special features included even though there is only two commentary tracks included on “Tucked, Taped And Gorgeous” by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn and on “Mr. McGlue’s Feedbag” by Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones. My favorite is the gag reels included on seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12. There is a bonus episode – the “CSI” episode “Two And A Half Deaths.” Lastly there are fifteen featurettes included ranging from a behind-the-scenes look at production, interviews with Lee Aronsohn and Chuck Lorre and a featurette focusing on the 100th episode.

“House on Haunted Hill” is one of the best films to come out of the 50’s starring Vincent Price, Carolyn Craid and Richard Long and directed by schlock master William Castle. This shocker of the century was a smash hit upon its 1959 release and has been haunting fans for nearly 70 years. For architecture buffs, the home used for the exteriors of the haunted house was actually designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924. In it’s original release the theaters used to have a wire and a ghost came down and made everybody jump out of their seats. This film still delivers the goods despite being a little schlocky.

Official Premise: Eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren and his 4th wife, Annabelle, have invited 5 people to the house on Haunted Hill for a “haunted House” party. Whoever will stay in the house for one night will earn ten thousand dollars each. As the night progresses, all the guests are trapped inside the house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors.

The newly restored 1959 B&W (only) feature runs 75 minutes and is displayed in 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a DTS-HD Audio track. In previous releases of this film. The picture quality always received mixed reviews, with customers reporting poor quality. Film Masters didn’t hold out with delivering the goods here. The film looks great in Widescreen. In terms of special features though we just have a full-length commentary track by Heath Holland, who hosts of the popular podcast “Cereal at Midnight: Pop Culture in Analog”. and liner notes by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney.

Alfred Hitchcock is and always will be the legendary Master of Suspense. In “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” the series ran for 263 episodes from 1955-1962. The most famous director in the world hosted, produced and occasionally directed the iconic anthology series that, in the words of Hitchcock himself, brought murder back into the home – where it belongs. It featured some of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood history including Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Joan Fontaine, Claude Rains, Walter Matthau, Thelma Ritter, Joseph Cotton, Peter Falk, Teresa Wright, Leslie Nielsen and Alfred Hitchcock’s daughter Patricia, along with so many more.

For fans of this series, this new Legacy Collection comes finally to DVD. Firstly, it is sadly that these episodes weren’t updated for a Blu-ray release. But at least they are getting released to begin with. If you have been collecting seasons 1-5 over the years, you can rest assure that you don’t need to buy this release since season 6 & 7 also just dropped solo allowing fans that have been collecting to complete their set. And this Legacy Collection is for fans who waited for the complete set.

“Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy Collection” complete is a 34 DVD set. There are 6847 minutes of content on these episodes, presented in aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. There are a few features included as well: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back and Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock. “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” was and still is a groundbreaking series whose impact continues to resonate today. The fact that this show even received a Complete Series DVD release shows just that. Even though its not a Blu-ray release, this release still delivers the legacy collection in a big way.