That's right, for the ridiculously low price of $1, you can buy one, sometimes even two movies on one DVD. Anywhere from 1 to four hours of scratchy dirty worn faded out-of-focus dreck for $1.
Not always dreck though. Some well-known classics can be bought, in varying degrees of video and audio quality, for $1. Films like the 1937 version of A Star Is Born, Charade, Of Human Bondage, The Little Princess, Gulliver's Travels, many a Hitchcock classic, Our Town, and many many more.
Of course, some awful dreck that's only good for children and fans of bad films is available there as well.
I've owned this on VHS for years. I used to LOVE watching this movie, despite the fact that it has oh-so-little to do with the actual story of Thumbelina. This program is actually an edited down version of the 26-episode Japanese TV anime series, titled Oyayubi Hime Monogatari, or The Story Of The Thumb Princess.
Since discovering that this title was even available on DVD, much less in the dollar DVD bins (Thanks to Digiview, one of the more popular manufacturers of $1 DVDs.), I've been on the lookout. But I've had no luck. Until just last year, when I was in Wal Mart buying Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics album. I decided to also do some pilfering in their $1 DVD bins near the front of the store. Lo and behold, I found it! Thumbelina: A Magical Story, a charming little childhood favorite, on the amazing medium of DVD for the insanely low price of $1! I snatched it up along with their DVD of an Australian animated version of Wind In The Willows that I also used to own on VHS, (I eventually sold it. The sound mix was terrible. The music always drowned out the dialogue.) plus a couple of Digiview Toon Factory compilation DVDs.
The DVD, for $1, is surprisingly good quality. I have the feeling they somehow had access to the original tape master, and not just one of the VHS tapes released in the mid 90's by Starmaker, which would have provided a nastier transfer. It is obvious when watching that a videotape was the source for the DVD transfer, but it must have been a high quality one.
I do believe that this, unlike many $1 DVDs, is not in the public domain, but was released through a licensing deal with Digiview.
Another fantastic buy from the $1 bin is Brentwood Home Video's Great Literature On Film, Vol. 1 DVD, which contains two films - Cyrano de Bergerac featuring Jose Ferrer, and Of Human Bondage starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard.
I bought this DVD to see what the quality of their transfer of Of Human Bondage was, as well as to see the other film. I haven't yet watched Cyrano, but I've most definitely watched Of Human Bondage again.
The transfer on this particular DVD edition is NOT perfect, but it's definitely light years above the typical $1 DVD transfer. It's actually on par with the print that's shown on TCM and may even be from the same source material. It's still slightly scratchy and dirty, and the sound is a little harsh, but frankly, I'd say the transfer is on par with that from any major studio.
Another great $1 DVD purchase was made when I picked up a couple of Treasure Box Collection releases. I've still not watched either of the films on this Cary Grant Double Feature DVD, but I've previewed them. The transfer of Amazing Adventure is passable. But the transfer of His Girl Friday is absolutely spectacular. I can't believe this was only $1! Very clean, crisp, and clear. Very little in the way of dirt, grain, etc. Great buy.
In addition, I also enjoy the 20 and 50 movie packs from Mill Creek Entertainment. For anywhere from $5 to $20, you can get an instant library of films and hours of boredom killers. I currently own the Family Classics 50 Movie Pack, the 100 Cartoon Classics set which is now out of print and was released back when they were TreeLine Films, and the Musicals 20 Movie Pack.
Their 50 and 100 movie packs come packaged just like the pic above - a sturdy cardboard box that is held closed in the front with velcro and holds 12 or 24 cardboard sleeves that hold each DVD inside, with descriptions of the programming printed on the front and back. On most of these sets, each double-sided DVD has two full movies, two or three short films, or one full movie and one or two short films on each single-layer side. The exception is the 100 Cartoon Classics set. Each of the 12 single-sided single-layer DVD discs contain about eight or nine cartoons. But they're still packaged in the same box with the discs in cardboard sleeves. Their 20 movie packs come in double alpha DVD cases with five single-sided dual-layer DVDs, with four titles crammed onto each disc. The 20 packs often can be found for about $5 in most stores. (A lot of them can be found in Wal Mart's $5.50 bin, and while regular price in the main local store for buying movies and music is $7.99, I got it on sale on Thanksgiving Thursday for $5.) The 50 packs sell for anywhere from $10 to about $20. I imagine the 100 packs sell for anywhere from $15 to $30.
Most of these titles have one thing in common - their copyright no longer exists. For some reason, copyright lapsed on many films and TV shows, putting them into the public domain. And when something is in the public domain, anyone can, and often does, release it. Companies like Brentwood, Digiview, and Mill Creek specialize in taking public domain films or films licensed to them very cheaply and releasing them onto DVD for as cheaply as possible in order to allow the consumer to purchase them for very reasonable prices...many for just $1. The downside is that not all films in the public domain are great and the video and audio quality is often quite iffy. But you get what you pay for, and sometimes, on that rare occasion, you get above and beyond what you pay for. But most of the time, you get what you pay for.
I have many more $1 DVD titles, plus cheap-o DVDs that cost a little more, like $2 or $2.50, but that's another post. But I hope that this encourages you to do a little bargain bin pilfering of your own. You never know what treasures you might find. And if you don't like what you've bought, it's ok. You're only out $1! And do think about picking up some of those great Mill Creek Entertainment sets. Each one likely contains a bunch of turkeys, but for the gems you find inside them, it's absolutely worth the money.
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