You want box sets and compilations? We got box sets and compilations.

Of the seventeen films Steven Spielberg made between 1971’s Duel and 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, nine of them were made for Universal. Eight of them are included in Universal’s new-to-Blu-ray Steven Spielberg Director’s Collection. Missing is Schindler’s List, which was released on Blu-ray last year. Also missing are Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which was made for Columbia; The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun which were made for Warner Brothers; and the Raiders of the Lost Ark films and Hook which were made for Paramount. All of those have been previously released on Blu-ray.

The new compilation includes four films previously released on Blu-ray – Jaws, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park – and four that are new to the format – Duel, The Sugarland Express, 1941 and Always.

The made-for-TV movie, Duel, was the film that put Spielberg on the map at 25. A one-of-a-kind horror movie, from a screenplay by Richard Matheson (The Incredible Shrinking Man), stars Dennis Weaver as a salesman being pursued on a desolate highway by a crazed truck driver who wants to kill him in the worst case of road rage imaginable. Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best TV Movie, it won an Emmy for Best Sound Editing and was nominated as well for Cinematography. It was released theatrically twelve years later to renewed acclaim.

Spielberg’s first theatrical film, 1974’s The Sugarland Express, was also notable as the first dramatic role for Goldie Hawn who earned some of the best reviews of her career as a desperate wife and mother who breaks her husband out of jail and ends up kidnapping a cop. William Atherton as her husband and Ben Johnson as the police chief are also quite good.

Both a critical and commercial flop, 1979’s 1941 takes place several days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor amid fears of California residents that a Japanese invasion of the homeland was imminent. Patterned after the 1966 Oscar nominee, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, the film has developed a cult following but for most of us this crass, vulgar farce remains the low point of Spielberg’s career.

A long-time fan of Victor Fleming’s 1943 film, A Guy Named Joe, Spielberg’s long-in-gestation 1989 remake, Always, is his most romantic film. Spielberg updates the World War II combat flyers to modern-age airplane firefighters. While the film is certainly watchable with nice performances by Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Brad Johnson and John Goodman in roles originally played by Spencer Tracy, Irene Dune, Van Johnson and James Gleason, the original was not one of the greatest films made by any of its participants and neither is the remake. Lionel Barrymore’s heavenly advisor in the original is played here by Audrey Hepburn in what would be her last film. The actress donated the million dollar paycheck she received for her few minutes of screen time to UNICEF.

As a set that represents the early arc of a legendary career, it’s a worthwhile purchase, but for those who already have the first four films on Blu-ray may want to wait for individual releases of the remaining four.

Newly compiled, Alfred Hitchcock: The Classic Collection is a slimmed down re-issue of three of the suspense master’s 1940s Hollywood hits, Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious on Blu-ray. Ditto Alien Quadrilogy, which is a slimmer version of the more expensive Alien Anthology sans the fancy packaging.

RoboCop: Trilogy Collection on both Blu-ray and standard DVD has been out for a while, but I’m just catching up with it now. Released earlier this year to coincide with the release of a remake of the original, all three were previously released on both Blu-ray and standard DVD separately. The compilation adds about a minute to the 1987 original, thus enabling MGM/Fox to call it an “unrated” version.

The original is a fast-moving, tongue-in-cheek thriller about a cyborg comprised of the head of a cop killed in the line of duty and an electronic body. Peter Weller and Nancy Allen as his all-human partner head the cast that co-stars Ronny Cox and Dan O’Herlihy as the CEO and Chairman of a private company that provides police support for the city of Detroit in the near future. The sequel, featuring Weller, Allen and O’Herlihy, is almost as good. The third film, in which Allen has top billing but has little to do, is a dumbed-down mess in which a young girl with computer expertise is given more to do than either Allen or Robocop now played by Robert John Burke.

Six Vincent Price horror classics not included in the first Vincent Price Collection on Blu-ray are included in The Vincent Price Collection II. The films included therein are House on Haunted Hill, The Return of the Fly, The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, The Last Man on Earth, Tomb of Legeia, and Dr. Phibes Rises Again.

Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Series 13features the last five TV movies in the David Suchet series that has been running off and on since 1989. The final film, Curtains, features the death of Poirot who provides a solution to the case from the grave. Episodes in this bittersweet series include the return of beloved characters Capt. Hastings, Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon who were stalwarts of the series from 1989 to 2001. It’s available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

One of the best of the current crop of British mystery series, Vera, now available in Vera – Set 4 features four more ingenious episodes starring Benda Blethyn as the frumpy-but-sharp DCI Vera Stanhope. It’s available on standard DVD only.

This week’s new releases include Maleficent and the Blu-ray debut of Man of the West.