Box set of 15 of Hitchcock’s best celebrate Universal’s 100 years

Universal Pictures is celebrating its century in the movie industry with a collection honouring the master of the suspense and psychological thriller.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection packages together 15 of the director/producer’s greatest movies, 13 of which have never before been available on Blu-ray. The box set will also include over 15 hours of bonus features and a 50-page book filled with storyboard drawings and costume sketches, as well as photographs and correspondence. Hitchcock is arguably the most influential filmmaker of all time. His films often struck a nerve in the movie-goers psyche with their suspense and spine-tingling scenes, but Hitchcock also laced his work with great story lines and wit. His use of signature camerawork and editing styles may have been long been studied and emulated, but the signature storytelling has rarely, if ever, been duplicated. Hitchcock was nominated for just about every movie making award and won quite a few of them, although never winning an Oscar, for which he was nominated five times. Hitchcock was received AFI’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1979. Four of his movies (Vertigo at 9, Psycho at 14, Rear Window at 48 and North by Northwest at 55) appear on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 100 Years… 100 Movies. All four are part of the box set. The movies included span three-and-a-half decades of film legend’s 50-year career. Included in the box set are Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot. The Masterpiece Collection will be available in September 2012 and promises to be an ideal gift for movie lovers. Hitchcock is quoted as saying, “A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter are worth it.” And as for his film-making style, the master of suspense simply said, “Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.” Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection is just one release in the year-long celebration of Universal Picture’s 100th anniversary.