The Love, Blood, and Rhetoric School

I'm watching Kind Hearts and Coronets, as part of my project to copy my VHSs to DVD. This is one of those movies that doesn't get any less funny the more you watch, unlike most things. Actually I think it gets more entertaining the better one knows it, like the Albert Finney Tom Jones or that sketch of Peter Sellers as Olivier as Richard III reciting the lyrics to "A Hard Day's Night". The movie manages to hit exactly the right note of combining silly humor with black humor, and plus there are 8 Alec Guinesses and one purring Joan Greenwood. In short, yay!

Apparently they've released Kind Hearts on DVD as part of the Criteria Collection, with all the interviews and background info that generally implies. I might see if the library has that version...the Criteria editions are just too expensive for me to rationalize purchasing, especially when I can make a legal backup copy of my VHS.

Unfortunately, not all my attempts at making backups have gone so well. Poldark is my big problem, and I'd appreciate any suggestions. I spent a fortune on the VHSs, both series, back in the day, and the tapes are starting to lose quality from being watched so often. So I attempted to copy them to DVD, but kept getting a message from the DVD recorder that "This program cannot be recorded." Does anyone know any way to make this work? I'm extremely frustrated because 1. I love this show, 2. I own it, and it is perfectly legal to make a copy for me, and 3. they are not available on DVD in the US, only in the UK etc. in type 2 DVD. Even if I could afford both series with current exchange rates (which I can't), I'd then have to buy a new DVD player in order to play them, and that's a bit too extreme, even for Robin Ellis.