Best Of Warner Bros. 50 Film Collection

This is quite a collection. The good certainly outweighs the bad here. My take on the pertinent aspects:

• Packaging: Unfortunately, this has poor packaging. The materials are flimsy and come apart much too easily. (Furthermore, the box I received was slightly damaged, with one side coming off. I’ve decided it’s not bad enough to return, and I think I can fix it with a little effort. Nevertheless, it should have arrived in perfect condition.) The discs are held in sleeves that, as collectors like me often note, could damage the discs if used frequently. Plastic holders would have been a better choice. I don’t think I’ll pull the discs often enough for this to be a major factor, especially since this has digital versions included, but I do wish a better system had been put in place. My biggest concern, though, is that the books themselves may come apart if I’m not extremely gentle with them. Compared with the similarly constructed Universal 25-film collection, this is much worse. The Universal set is made of much stronger material.

• The Digital films: Although the UltraViolet code indicated it had expired, I was able to redeem the code in December, 2016. As other reviewers have noted, there’s an issue with getting Bullitt, so I contacted Flixster’s customer support to have it added. There was a time when I wouldn’t have cared about the digital movies, but as technology has improved (and I got a nice little projector for when I stream through my computer), I find that this is a great thing to have. It reduces the number of times I expect to slide the blu rays in and out of their sleeves, and it gives me access to the films in a useful format.

• Film selection: Certainly, this is among the most important things when purchasing a 50-movie set. Not everyone will want every movie here, so the question is whether there are enough to make this worthwhile. To this I say: absolutely. Of these 50 films, there were 10 that represented an upgrade from dvd to blu ray for my collection, 10 that I had no particular desire to own (one in particular that I very much dislike), and 30 that I am excited to own for the first time. Yes, there are Warner Bros. movies that I wish had made the cut, but this is an outstanding overview of classic and popular films, covering many genres and filmmaking styles. A quick glance at the list of included films reveals some of the greatest movies ever made: Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, North by Northwest, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the list goes on and on, with amazing dramas, comedies, science fiction, horror, action . . . As someone who enjoys the history of major motion pictures, it’s a thrill to have these all in one place.

The one really questionable move in the films selected is the inclusion of movies that are part of a series. Wisely, all three Lord of the Rings films are included. This is particularly important, since they comprise one long story broken into three parts. However, there’s also one Harry Potter movie and the second Christopher Nolan Batman movie. Some of the others, like Lethal Weapon, Dirty Harry, and The Exorcist, were followed by sequels, but in truth hold up just fine as standalone movies. Harry Potter and The Dark Knight, however, would strike me as odd if collected without the others in their series. I would also include Superman: The Movie in that statement, as Superman II is a classic as well, despite the two subpar sequels that followed. Ultimately, I think the inclusion of these movies will result in many people “double-dipping” in order to complete their collections.

• Blu Ray quality: These blu rays have outstanding picture and sound. I don’t know what kind of breakthroughs there may be in the future, but at this point I think Blu Ray, when viewed on a modern tv or high-definition projector, is just incredible. The transfers have been done with great care, and the results are clear.

• Price: I was lucky and caught this during a one-day promotion in which it sold for $75 after tax. The first time I was tempted to buy this, it was a hundred dollars more expensive, and I elected to wait. That $75 sale price was simply too good to pass up. As I mentioned earlier, this purchase added 30 new titles to my collection. That works out to $2.50 per blu ray that I wanted, without even factoring in the ones that were upgrades for the DVDs in my collection. At the time of buying this, a few of the movies were in my wishlist at about $14 apiece. One has to judge how much they’d be willing to pay for the titles they want here, but any way I look at this, the price worked out phenomenally well.

Some BACKGROUND: I came across this collection online a few days after buying my first Blu-ray player. This collection was on sale then for $174.99, which breaks down to $3.70 per movie. I only had about three Blu-rays then, and only one included in this collection. I like classics. I like modern films. So this collection was perfect for me. Most of the reviews here weren’t very helpful, as they were from people who wanted to give an opinion on the films included, but hadn’t actually bought the set. I have it; I can speak about the set itself.

I’ve had the collection about a week now, and although I haven’t re-watched all the movies in the collection, I had already seen roughly forty before buying it, and I’ve sampled scenes from about half the discs.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX: 50 films, spanning a variety of eras and genres and (let’s be honest) levels of quality. There are some absolutely great films (Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, 2001: A Space Odyssey), some mediocre films, and then there’s some absolute dreck (The Blind Side). I’ve included a full list of movies at the end, with notes on each when appropriate.

Each film was available separately before this release, and some come from multi-disc sets. If that’s the case, only the movie disc is included. In a few cases, these films come from sets with multiple versions of the film (theatrical, director’s cuts). In these cases, it seems the set prefers the director’s cuts.

The packaging is actually really nice. It came in several layers of protective shipping boxes, and inside is the rather heavy 50 Films outer casing. The lid of the box opens up to reveal two flip books of 25 films each, and a large envelope full of neat but kinda useless reproductions of movie posters at slightly larger than postcard size. It’s kind of cool, but really just filler. Luckily, the flip books for the films themselves are sturdy and browsable. The movies are arranged chronologically, and by dividing the films into two books, each flip book is perfectly sized to take off a shelf and peruse when trying to pick out a movie to watch. Each movie has a two page spread with color photos from the film, some basic information (director, actors, in the same font and style as at the bottom of a movie poster), and an inner sleeve to the page that holds the disc itself. There is a small open tab on the disc page to slide out the movie. It’s not as easy to get out as a regular plastic case, but it seems to protect the discs well enough. It’s a quality presentation of a large number of discs, and I’m happy with the style of it.

That said, this set is obviously not for everyone. The range in film choices is pretty drastic, and there are few people who will want to own both Grand Hotel and The Hangover. (I probably wouldn’t have bought either independently, even though they were both enjoyable in their own ways.) You would really have to love movies in general for the inclusion of so many classics, and most cinephiles probably own a fair few of these movies. Really, this collection is meant either for 1) People who love film, but for whatever reason are new to Blu-ray, or 2) People who don’t really know anything about film, but have decided to educate themselves in one swift purchase. I fall into the former category, and for this reason some of the set’s drawbacks don’t really offend me.

THE DRAWBACKS: If you’ve been buying physical media for any amount of time, you know that inevitably you will have to do some double-dipping. Studios love re-releasing titles in new special editions, or swapping out special features. This set is not about owning the ultimate editions of every movie. You only get one disc per film (with the exception of movies whose length necessitates spanning two discs, like Ben-Hur), and none of the bonus feature discs in multi-movie packs. There are a few instances where the version of the film you get might not be the version you want. (For instance, I would rather have the extended version of Lord of the Rings, and only the Theatrical Version is included. Which is going to force me to buy the Extended Edition set separately, and that set comes with the Theatrical Versions. So I’ll own multiple copies.) Also, if you are absolutely new to movies and just starting your very first collection, you’re going to miss out on a lot of those bonus feature discs. If you’re upgrading your collection from DVD (like me), you might already have former versions of these films with their bonus features. You should not give away those old editions after all. (Note: Most special features on Blu-rays are simply the bonus features from the DVD release, and most often are not even in HD quality. Not always, but this tends to be the common practice.)

Okay. So IN SUMMARY, I think this set would be a great purchase for the right consumer, especially when it goes on sale. To take full advantage of this set, you should be new to collecting Blu-rays. You should either have, or plan to develop, a strong interest in film history and commercial film. You should not mind owning a few movies you might not like, in the interest of getting a great deal on the movies you do like and would buy anyway. And you should understand that, although this may keep you busy for a while, it is not a complete Blu-ray collection. Citizen Kane isn’t here. Neither is any film not in the English language. So you will probably still have to fill in some gaps to have “the essentials.” If you already own some films in this collection, look at the list below and add up how much you’d spend on the titles you still want. If that amount is less than or about equal to the sale price of this set, I’d say go for it. This is a pretty awesome set, and a showpiece in itself.

THE MOVIES:

1. Grand Hotel (1932)
2. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
3. Wizard of Oz (1939)
4. Gone with The Wind (1939)
5. Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
6. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
7. Casablanca (1942) — 2011 4K transfer (that is, the good one)
8. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
9. Streetcar Named Desire, A (1951)
10. American in Paris, An (1951)
11. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
12. Gigi (1958)
13. North By Northwest (1959)
14. Ben-Hur (1959) — 2 discs
15. How the West Was Won (1962)
16. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
17. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
18. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
19. Bullitt (1968)
20. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
21. Dirty Harry (1971)
22. Clockwork Orange, A (1972)
23. Exorcist, The (1973) — Extended Director’s Cut
24. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
25. Superman, The Movie (1977)
26. Shining, The (1980)
27. Chariots of Fire (1981)
28. Risky Business (1983)
29. Amadeus (1984) — Director’s Cut
30. Color Purple, The (1985)
31. Lethal Weapon (1987)
32. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
33. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
34. Goodfellas (1990)
35. Unforgiven (1992)
36. Bodyguard, The(1992)
37. Natural Born Killers (1994) — Director’s Cut
38. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
39. Matrix, The (1999)
40. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) — Theatrical Version
41. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) — Theatrical Version
42. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) — Theatrical Version
43. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) — Theatrical Version
44. Million Dollar Baby (2005)
45. Departed, The (2006)
46. Dark Knight, The (2008)
47. Blind Side, The (2009)
48. Hangover, The (2009) — Unrated and Theatrical Versions
49. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
50. Inception (2010)

Also included is a special feature documentary on DVD of Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot and The Warner Bros. Lot Tour.

UPDATES (12/19/2016): Wow, this review got a lot of comments, so I’ll try to address some of the questions here. First off, it’s been over three years and I still own and love this set. I’ve watched most of the movies in the edition included, and it’s still a great value, especially with some of the sales that happen. The packaging has held up with no obvious wear and tear, and there hasn’t been a single defective disk. I now have around 400 or so blu-rays in my collection, and this is still one of my favorite sets. Second, part of the appeal of this set is that there is something for everyone. As stated, there are some films I don’t personally like, such as The Blind Side, but as people have pointed out, that film has its fans. It gives more options for a movie night when friends or family visit. Plus, just being in the set means that I will probably give it a second chance at some point when I wouldn’t have otherwise. Exposure to films we wouldn’t normally choose is part of the strength of this collection.

ULTRAVIOLET: I have also redeemed the Ultraviolet digital copies that were included. All 50 movies were included. I have linked them to my Vudu account, and they can play anywhere that I log in. A great perk.

The reason I purchased this product in the first place was because it was on a better than 70% percent deal. Most of the films in this set I do not appreciate nor would I watch (A clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry, The Exorcist, etc.) I recommend throwing movies like those out immediately. However for the films I do like and would watch (about 22-23 out of the 50) it was still well worth it at 70% off! Plus, now that I have my “Flixter” and “UltraViolet” Accounts set up my friends and I can watch all the movies (I wish I could remove the bad ones) anywhere on our smartphones and tablets (Apple devices all the way). With a new Blu-ray player at home this turned out to be a wonderful purchase and we have gotten a lot of good movie time out of this already with much much more to come!

Final note:
I do not recommend this item unless it is on a tremendous sale and I do recommend that all the “R” rated films and many of the “PG-13” films (excluding, of course, all of the Lord of The Rings titles) be thrown away upon reception.

The worst part of this was the packaging that was broken and falling apart. Pretty sad especially at the non-sale price.