An E-mail Appeal to Mr. Wade Williams (1 Viewer)

[John Sparks]

True collectors of sci-fi mags have that issue...I do! Bought my mags on Chauenga Blvd. (I think that was the street the mag/book store was on, that faced the street, up from Fire Station 27 that I worked at.)

Not sure how many issues came out, but I have quite of few of them!!!

All my sci-fi/horror collection is going to a good home in Hollywood!!!

 

[Nelson Au]

Woah, Forbidden Planet is for kids? Everyone tastes differ of course. I think it's a true classic. It certainly a product of the times. As is Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Both were made the subjects of Criterion, so there must be a reason. .

 

[Dick]

P.S. Decided to answer sensible questions on the Forum.

Of which nearly all the questions posted here have so far been.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Woah, Forbidden Planet is for kids?.

Rated "G".

 

[Nelson Au]

That's terrible! I'm glad it didn't get the MST3K treatment. And don't tell me it did! Though IMDb show it was referenced.

 

[John Doe]

John Doe-

DETOUR is in the Public Domain, however I have the chain of title rights, the 35MM negative and track- Trailer 35MM Fine Grain and a very early 16MM negative made from the Fine Grain in the 1950's. The 35MM print master is NITRATE and sharp. CRITERION made overtures
to license, so did KINO and a French Company. When it comes out on DVD it will be a double feature with the remake with Tom Neal Jr
playing the same role as his father. I have had the film out on VHS in the past with ENGLEWOOD ENTERTAINMENT and with IMAGE on
DVD. I plan to put both the films on 4K along with INVADERS FROM MARS so they can also play theatrically.

it is one of my favorite films and I have had a long time association with the late Tom Neal Jr, and the late Martin Goldsmith the man that wrote
the novel and screenplay. And of course produced and directed the remake.

wade williams

P.S. Decided to answer sensible questions on the Forum.

Interesting. Thank for the lengthy reply!

 

[MisterLime]

Rated "G".

Is rated G actually your resspnse? True Grit and The Andromeda Strain are also rated G - The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Getaway are rated PG. The first two would get PG-13 ratings today the last two would no doubt receive R ratings. Dozens of films originally rated PG, received R ratings when they were re-rated.

The Forbidden Planet is not a kid's movie, just like other "G Rated" classics like Gone with the Wind are not.

 

[Bryan^H]

Regarding the "G" rating of Forbiddn Planet.
Times change. If it were to be rated today it would most certainly get a PG-13 rating. Another classic sci Fi film rated G was Planet Of The Apes in 1968, and its sequel Beneath The Planet Of The Apes(very bloody). Both those films are so far from a typical "G" rating of today it isn't even funny. but like I said different world today--far more cautious of what young eyes are exposed to as films from 40-60 years ago.

Edit: posted this before I saw Mister Limes response.

 

[Mossman-Williams]

Hey Guys-
This is like a broken record.. Do I need to explain things with blocks ???

a- The 3D films are ready for distribution when a distributor licenses them !!! I am NOT going to spend 20K on HANNAH LEE so a handful of collectors can see it before they die. I am planning to be around awhile and am still buying intellectual property rights ( films ). It will be restored sooner or later as will the rest of the library. This does not happen over night. It's a long and expensive project restoring and releasing a dvd.

b. No one is suppressing ROCKETSHIP XM- It is being pirated as we speak, up loaded on Your Tube and there are DVD'S from the Image release on Ebay. It had been available on VHS for decades. The MST300 version is not the way the film was intended to be introduced to the world and needs to go away.

I hope to licenses XM and some other in 4K to TCM or some other cable network.

If you want these restored write to the film buyers at TCM or the Sci-Fi Channel, or Criterion etc.

wade williams

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

There is no "Sci Fi Channel" any longer. Its offspring generally does not play 60+ year old films that they would consider obscure.

I'm certain that if you had restorations ready on your titles (not the 3-D ones, those we know need a different kind of work), distributors would be interested right now.

 

[Mossman-Williams]

Rodney-
The reason ROCKETSHIP XM was on the cover of the first issue of CINEMAGIC is the fact
the editor of STARLOG, Kerry O Quinn and many of the writers there loved the film and were so excited that a group of
expert and award winning filmmakers also loved the film and wanted to remove the flawed stock footage that
ruined it..

The idea came up when I made new 35MM safety film negative from the nitrate fine grain,and the first safety film 35MM
print ever made on the title. There wer dozens of 16MM TV and rental library print floating around. But no 35MM theatrical prints in safety film.
One original 35MM NITRATE print existed in the UK with the lavender tinted sepia Mars sequence . It was used to find the color value for the new print.

It was screened at a Warner Bros screening room in Burbank for Dennis Muren, Osa Massen, Tom Sherman, Bob and Kathy Burns, and other science fiction people. After the screening the idea was brought up about removing the old stock footage
and replacing the V2 rocket with a spaceship that looked like the XM . Thousands of dollars later, models and effects shots were made in
LA plus costumes to match and a trip to the desert where the film was decades earlier.. This was a work of love towards this wonderful landmark film by the many that revered it .

None were happy when it showed up on MST3000 and I got blamed for that !

Both the original version and the Cinemagic version will be on the new release.

Thank you for your comment.

wade williams

 

[Mossman-Williams]

Peter-
Thank you for your advice. Distributors ARE interested right now and I am in negotiations on
11 pictures including ROBOT MONSTER. I have decided to license various films to various interested distributors to
get them out faster. I have reps in the UK and once these films are restored in digital they will be back in release
world-wide.-legally..

These films are NOT so obscure. ROBOT MONSTER has two books out on it, there are sound tracks on
XM and other titles. As for "obscure" look at 90% of the major studio titles from the 40s-60's that are being exhumed
and released by some of these major distributors. Some won't sell a hundred copies.

It takes a lot of money and time to restore INVADERS FROM MARS and DETOUR which I am doing. If I
don't get a distributor on these titles I will do it thru ENGLEWOOD ENTERTAINMENT..

wade williams

 

[Bryan^H]

Hey Guys-
This is like a broken record.. Do I need to explain things with blocks ???

a- The 3D films are ready for distribution when a distributor licenses them !!! I am NOT going to spend 20K on HANNAH LEE so a handful of collectors can see it before they die. I am planning to be around awhile and am still buying intellectual property rights ( films ). It will be restored sooner or later as will the rest of the library. This does not happen over night. It's a long and expensive project restoring and releasing a dvd.

b. No one is suppressing ROCKETSHIP XM- It is being pirated as we speak, up loaded on Your Tube and there are DVD'S from the Image release on Ebay. It had been available on VHS for decades. The MST300 version is not the way the film was intended to be introduced to the world and needs to go away.

I hope to licenses XM and some other in 4K to TCM or some other cable network.

If you want these restored write to the film buyers at TCM or the Sci-Fi Channel, or Criterion etc.

wade williams

Wade,
I don't want to be negative but the average male life expectancy is 76 years old. My dad is 75 years old, and a bit of good news is that his doctor told him that life expectancy is closer to the 83-85 range with normal exercise(walk 2 miles every day) and routine doctor visits.
My point being---- time flies. It really does.

 

[Mossman-Williams]

On FORBIDDEN PLANET-

I saw it first run in a downtown 2000 seat theater in Kansas City in grade school. I thought the film was
juvenile and the robot sort of lumbering, nothing like Gort. The film,like TIME MACHINE looked like it was
made for kids with the robot. Thank god they did not have some kid in the film like they had in
INVISIBLE BOY as Robbie's pal. Or in TOBOR THE GREAT. Don't get me wrong. I saw the film in various
theaters here a dozen times in 1956. I saw all science fiction films that play here in Kansas City in the 50's. We had over 60
stand alone theaters in the metro-plex and a lot of Drive-In theaters to choose from. I liked RIDERS TO THE STARS better.
nifty little film in Cinecolor.

I admire FORBIDDEN PLANET, it was ahead of it's time but was no WAR OF THE WORLDS, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE , DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL..or INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. It did however mark the end of the "Golden Age science fiction films
that were made from 1950-1956.

WADE WILLIAMS

 

[revgen]

I'm only interested in any of these films if they're released on Blu-Ray. No Blu-Ray. No Sale.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

"I am NOT going to spend 20K on HANNAH LEE so a handful of collectors can see it before they die."

Shameful.

As caretaker of this film - your asset - you want people to settle for this?

Jack Broder must be spinning in his grave.

Really, there are no words.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Is rated G actually your resspnse? True Grit and The Andromeda Strain are also rated G - The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Getaway are rated PG. The first two would get PG-13 ratings today the last two would no doubt receive R ratings. Dozens of films originally rated PG, received R ratings when they were re-rated.

The Forbidden Planet is not a kid's movie, just like other "G Rated" classics like Gone with the Wind are not.

The point of the matter of this was Forbidden Planet was actually marketed as part of MGM's children's matinee series in 1971. If somehow the video clip I embedded doesn't work then I'm sorry if that didn't get across.

 

[Mossman-Williams]

Mister 3D- Furmanek-

Don't you dare " shame me " Who the hell are you to write this in a
public forum ? You never miss an opportunity to try and make me look bad.

There are professional film restoration people like Bob Harris on this Forum that treat people with respect and courtesy. You are not one of them..

YOU ARE THE REASON I HAVE NOT SEND THESE NEGATIVES TO YOU !

WADE WILLIAMS

PS- I was considering your offer.

 

[Robert Harris]

"I am NOT going to spend 20K on HANNAH LEE so a handful of collectors can see it before they die."

Shameful.

As caretaker of this film - your asset - you want people to settle for this?

Jack Broder must be spinning in his grave.

Really, there are no words.

Hadn't seen a frame of that in decades.

As I recall, this was the film about which Alfred Hitchcocok commented, "Cattle should be treated like actors..."

 

[Mossman-Williams]

By the way. Jack Broder did not give a damn about the negatives.on HANNAH LEE I pulled them out of a hot warehouse in LA
along with a lot of prints and other materials. He also had a lot of film in a hot garage. I doubt he is spinning in his grave.
He send one neg somewhere and forgot where it went.,and forgot to renew the copyrights on most of his films.

wade williams