Hitchcock: The Early Collection

All the films come with introductions by French film historian Noel Simsolo. He is an energetic and animated host who offers plenty of anecdotes - but we recommend watching his introductions after the individual films since some of them contain spoilers.

Each film is also rounded out with a gallery of images.

Of the films watched so far, the print stock for Blackmail, The Ring and The Skin Game have brushed up the best, with The Ring benefitting from being fully remastered.

Regarding the remastered version of Champagne, Scott Macdonald writes: "The video transfer is in surprisingly good shape, the print used may need some film to video restoration, with a fair amount of dust, nicks and infrequent scratches. The intertitles need the most work, with lots of dirt and grime throughout. Comparison with screengrabs of the French Studio Canal releases indicates clear deficiencies in this image transfer - the French release appears immaculate."

The Farmer’s Wife & The Manxman have also been remastered. Given the age of the stock, these films will never be perfect but The Ring, in particular has scrubbed up well.

The sound has faired less well, however, and is particularly fuzzy on Rich And Strange and The Skin Game and described by our reviewer as "very poor in places" during Murder! If this is as good as it is possible to get it (surely not?) then the inclusion of subtitles would have been a welcome addition. Sadly, they aren't present. The Champagne audio sports a new re-recorded piano score, which is cleanly rendered.

Some of the discs also include additional extras. Marnie writes: "Blackmail features a short clip of Anny Ondra chatting with a very young-looking Hitch - and the great director indulging in some dodgy double entendres with the Polish star.

"A nice addition is the infamous "knife" scene as shot as a silent movie followed by the sequence in sound - the latter is far superior in emphasising Alice's guilt.

"Look out for Hitch's cameo in the stills gallery if you don't spot him in the movie."

Merlin Harries writes: "On the Murder! disc, there is an interesting documentary on Hitchcock’s early years which shows the director in a different light to that of more common footage. There is also an alternate ending to the picture."