Rating: 
Summary: A Great Investment
Review: At the age of 20, I love the new movies that are out and the newest actors as well, but I grew up on A&C and Ma & Pa Kettle films. This DVD set has to be the best investment I have ever made in buying movies. All of my favorites are here. I always loved "Hold that Ghost", and I have been trying to find the DVD for it, but it hadn't been made. I have my old VHSs of these films, but I needed to have them on DVD. I have waited for years until one day I saw it sold on this site so I bought it right away. Not to mention the price is a steal. I would not expect to only pay twenty dollars for this thing. I would pay twenty for only one of the disks. I missed watching all of these since my old VHSs are too old to watch. I hope the next one comes out soon. I would love to have a set that has A&C Meets the Keystone Kops, Time of their Lives, and The Naughty Nineties, which are other favorites. Without commercials, you see everything that you miss when the movies aired on tv. The Andrews Sisters are phoenomenal. Buy this DVD set. It is a good investment and the set is very attractive.
Rating:
Summary: THE RATING APPLIES TO THE BARGAIN
Review: These are the first eight movies from Universal.Opinions will vary for each one.But What a great way to start an Abbott & Costello movie collection! Disc1 worked fine. Disc 2 experienced some freezing.I forgot to check for smudges before inserting disc.A SPRITZ OF WINDEX AND A THOROUGH WIPING WITH A CLEAN WHITE T-STIRT WILL REMEDY THAT.Be sure to leave no lint.Now my set plays nicely.Trailers and production notes for each movie plus easy access menus.YOU CAN"T GO WRONG WITH THIS SET.Minor caution advisory:DVDs get played from the bottom so side 1 which is literal for this set gets placed face down instead of face up.At least that's how MY set works.None of my other dvds work this way,but I can live with that.I HOPE THIS INFORMATION WAS HELPFUL TO YOU.I have fond memories of when they ran Abbott and Costello movies on WPIX CHANNEL 11 every Sunday morning at 11:30. I'm sure many of you feel the same way that grew up in the TRI-STATE area.OH! one more good thing before I forget.Subtitles are displayed below person that is speaking instead of just bottom center.Maybe the other studios that A&C worked for will put together a set for release to fill in the missing gaps.But just remember their best work was at Universal Studios.WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS? YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE OUT AND BOUGHT YOUR OWN SET BY NOW! Go go go!Get get get!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent offering from Universal...
Review: Like both the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope DVD releases before it, the Universal A&C set is a shockingly good deal. Universal, while perhaps not pulling out quite all of the stops, has nonetheless offered up one of the most generous DVD sets on the market.With eight A&C movies, in chronological order, pristine processing and transfers, production notes and trailers for each film, and a nice gatefold keep case, the fan of A&C can't possibly go wrong with this purchase. And all this for the price of an average new single DVD release! Way to go, Universal! Contained in the set are all three of A&C's service comedies, ("Buck Privates," "In the Navy" and "Keep 'em Flying"), all released in 1941. As with the early Bob Hope service movies, there is a somewhat chilling element when you realize that a few short months after the releases, the nation would be attacked at Pearl Harbor. "In the Navy" is especially distracting in this context as the story takes place on a battleship docked at Pearl (the USS Alabama), and the sailors sing about the strength of the Navy, and the Navy being the backbone of our defense. Also present here are "Hold That Ghost" and "Who Done It", both with capital displays of noirish cinematography. Great musical numbers show up throughout, too, with the Andrew Sisters ("Buck Privates", "Hold That Ghost"), The Six Hits, the Merry Macs, and others. Also appearing are the Four Ink Spots, and a great novelty act by the dance team of Tip, Tap, & Toe (both in "Pardon My Sarong"). The routines of A&C never looked better, and the last film in the set ("Who Done It"), even contains an ad-libbed take-off on "Who's on First" called "Watts Volts".
Rating: 
Summary: Another shoddy Universal DVD!!!!!
Review: I spoke too soon concerning not having problems with these DVD's, so I have decided to come back and edit my review as a warning. Unlike others, I did not have problems with skipping/locking up during "Buck Privates". But when I got to watching "Hold That Ghost", I DID encounter this problem. I have since returned that set and received a replacement, and time will tell if this one is okay. Sadly, though, it takes a great deal away from having a DVD set in one's collection if one never knows if it is going to act up. The movies in this set are great. How unfortunate that Universal has put out yet ANOTHER in its long line of substandard/shoddy products. (Add this to the DVD's for the "Airport Terminal Pack", the "Back to the Future" set, and "The Glenn Miller Story"...all bad experiences with Universal issues!)
Rating:
Summary: Talk about being a kid again on a Sunday morning!
Review: I remember getting up on a Sunday morning and putting the TV on at 11:30 and watching these great comdians. Just think how I must of felt watching these two guys again. To this day I laugh my posterior off not one on them was a favorite because they were all my favorites. You have to get these I can not wait until May 4th when Volumn II comes out. I will be collecting them all,so get your now don't wait until they are sold out. Remember Sunday mornings will never be the same o dud day. Every body needs to laugh and these will certainly do it.
Rating:
Summary: Low on extras, high on content
Review: This set isn't heavy on special features -- each film comes with the original trailer and some production notes and that's IT. But considering that you're getting eight Abbott and Costello films for a remarkably low price, including several that have never been released on DVD before, it's hard to complain. Although I already had the DVDs of "Buck Privates" and "In the Navy," I leapt at this set when I saw it. I've wanted "Hold That Ghost" for a long time, and I've never falied to be entertained by one of their films. "A Night in the Tropics" isn't great, but they're just supporting characters in that one. In the later films, once they're the stars, the films get much better. Best of all, there's a volume two in the works. This is a fantastic set for fans of Abbott and Costello, two of the funniest men of all time. Thank Heavens this DVD finally came out.
Rating:
Summary: The most generous dvd ever produced
Review: This is a normally prized dvd but instead of getting one film, you get 8!!!
As far as I know "Pardon My Sarong", one of A&C best, has not been issued before. That one is, of course, a special treat.
As far as I can count there is room for three volumes like this from Universal and half a volume like this from other distributors. Of course it would be nice to get "Lost In a Harem" in one of these volumes but that one is from MGM - maybe they will work it out - let's hope so.
If everyone was as decent as Universal with this release, we could all be very happy - good show!!!
The quality is just above the Lazer release, which is very decent too.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm a completist
Review: ...so I wish these had been chronological across the A/C canon, rather than just the Universal offerings. In other words, there's no RIO RITA! And I assume Ch 2 will NOT contain A/C IN HOLLYWOOD. What a shame that there was no cross-pollenization w/MGM. But, what's here is prime. I remember watching these on Sunday mornings, when they were butchered to death. In a LOT of cases, its as if I'm seeing them for the very first time. Sure, UHF stations took out a lot of the music and the romantic subplots, but the chuckleheads responsible for editing them into a 1.50-hr timeslot w/commercials also trimmed some A/C classic routines!!!! An excellent investment. I'm eager for Ch 2.
Rating: 
Summary: defective DVD
Review: I also experienced problems with the DVD playback during "Buck Privates". And it's not just my DVD player, I tried it on two other DVD players and it still has problems playing the first two chapters of "Buck Privates". I'm going to return the set for antoher (hopefully good) copy. Otherwise this set is a must-have for Abbott and Costello fans.
Rating:
Summary: The Times They Are A-Changing?
Review: I almost bought this DVD, but I couldn't see how they could get all these movies on 2 discs. I checked the time listed on the box for Hold That Ghost and I saw that that this DVD version was 10 minutes short. So until I'm sure these are unedited I am holding off my purchase. (I wasn't going to give it a star rating since I wasn't sure but the Amazon review form won't let you). UPDATE: I did finally buy the DVD, and watched Hold That Ghost. I think they just made a typo on the box, I didn't notice anything missing from the film, and the film quality was very good, so I do recommend this set. I hope they come out with Volume 2 soon.
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