laureatedvd.com

[Steve Moffat]

Dear Ken Barnes,

After enjoying your DVDs of "Meet John Doe" and "Citizen Kane" I was looking forward to the new Marx Brothers collection advertised on your website. Well, it was good to have these four early comedy classics but what happened to the extras, the audio commentaries that I expected to find?

Is this a fair tribute to comeic genius ?

[Ken Barnes]

In response to Steve Moffat and so many others who have complained a lack of extras and audio commentaries - not just on the Marx Brothers but also on the other boxed sets recently released, I have been informed by a certain executive in a certain large company that "no one listens to audio commentaries and no one really cares about extras and special features."

To Mr. Moffat and to anyone else who collects DVDs or who frequents this website, would you please let me your general feelings about this ?

Your response would be regarded as a valuable piece of market research.

K.B.

[L.Clements]

Special features are an expected part of the DVD. Audio commentaries - when they're good - add a great deal of information and appreciation of the film.

I say let's have more extras, more audio commentaries and more DVDs like "Holiday Inn" and the Fred and Ginger Collection.

[Jeremy Deams]

Do you mean to tell me that there is an executive whose job it is to sell DVDs to the masses and doesn't believe in Extras and audio commentaries ? How out of touch can you be ?

I suppose the people who produced the "Lord of the Rings " cycle don't know what they're talking. Does this mean that they could have sold even more by leaving off the extras and the audio commentaries ?

[J,Thurlow]

I can't believe that anyone with the slightest feeling for movies would not want Extras and audio commentaries. It gives the buyer full value for money. Even if they don't play an audio commentary right away, it's always there to come back to. I've often bought DVDs when I don't play the audio commentary right away. But I like to play it at my leisure. Pour a drink, sit back and learn something about the movie and hear all the background stories. To be depriced of such a pleasure because of the whims of some ignorant marketing executive makes me wonder what the DVD business is coming to.

To Ken Barnes and Laureate I say - keep up the good work

[Phil Jellicoe]

Dear Mr. Barnes,

Don't listen to anyone who wants to do away with audio commentaries or extra features. When I'm shopping for DVDs and I find a movie that interests me I always check to see what features it has. If it has none, I tend to buy something else that has.

These are the very qualities that DVDs were made for.

[Ryan]

Extra material makes a film more enjoyable and rewatchable. If ever I buy a DVD which includes a commentary, I watch the film normally at first, and then with the commentary to see how the director, actor or whomever felt about the film. Every Hollwood "blockbuster" film gets a prompt release on DVD complete with an extraordinary amount of extras. We see such an amount of mediocre pictures that get the royal treatment, usually with an entire second disc of special features, sometimes commentaries from 3 or 4 different groups of people. I feel the classic films are more deserving of special features than the new releases, because they are watched by a crowd who truly appreciates the films they are seeing. Not just the "rent it for a day" crowd, the classic films are watched by viewers who want to learn more about the film to enhance their experience. Well, that's my two cents.
Ryan

[John Merson]

Tell this so-called executive to consider the customer.
Extras and audio commentaries are part and parcel of the DVD

[K. Perry]

This so-called executive who says no one listens to audio commentaries couldn't be more out of touch.

The DVD was made for extras and audio commentaries. Anyone who loves movies wants to know as much as possible about them.

Long live the extras, the audio commentarties, the special features. Long live the DVD

[Jim Patterson]

I can't believe that anyone who likes movies on DVD would object to a good audio commentary - especially by someone as good as Ken Barnes.

Don't ever drop the idea of the audio commentary, it's what the DVD was made for.

[Don Patmore]

No one who loves DVDs would wish to see the end of the audio commentary or Special Features, tell this misguided executive to look more deeply into the needs of the collector.

Don Patmore

[Maurice King]

Whenever I buy a DVD I look to see what the extras are. If it has an audio commentary, I often play that first.

Please let's have more extras and more audio commentaries

[Steve Moffat]

If the executive of whom you speak is in the business of selling DVDs, it's time he thought about trying another line of work. Those of us who love movies - and like to collect the classics on DVD - welcome as many extras as we can get. It's what DVDs are all about.

[Jack Clowes]

Personally, I'm twice as likely to buy a DVD with an Audio Commentary than onw without.

I think that the kind of people who buy DVDs of Classic Films such as the Marx Bros, Fred and Ginger, Cary Grant etc are far more interested in Commentaries than the people who buy the sort of modern and easily forgotten films made for people with a mental age of 12

[Dominic McHugh]

I think that one of the main reasons for buying a film on DVD that you already have on video, as I have with many of these classic films, is the supplementary material. I agree with Jack that it's a real inducement, and I think the comments over recent years have shown that most people appreciate the way Ken Barnes researches them in his 'proper' Laureate releases. The standard of the Astaire and Grant boxsets way a shock to me - it represents something of a compromise in your usual standards. The improved sound and picture quality was of course a huge attraction but it was sadly obvious that the usual quantity of bonus features was less than we have come to expect from your productions.

I implore Universal to think before rushing through the next batch - as Jack suggests, these classic films are very special and deserve time and money spending on them.

Dominic