Any New Paramount Catalog Titles for 2006? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Sharp]

What about the Hal Wallis production of Becket? This was a Paramount theatrical release, released through MPI(?) on laserdisc.

 

[John Hodson]

According to a poster at DVD Talk, MPI are saying they will release this third quarter '06.

 

[ShaanB]

I do.

 

[EricDW]

Thought I would chime in...

I work in sales for one of the major studios. I am always fighting with my company to dig deep into their catalog and put out either the "cult" films, "noir" or "classics". The challenge is not so much trying to convince the studios to do this, but the buyers (gatekeepers) of all of the major retailers who need to be educated on the history of Hollywood. If they do not know the movie, they pass, and the consumer suffers. I recently was in a meeting presenting the buyer of a major retailer with a "deep catalog" title of a lesser known film from Robert Altman. I barely got finished telling them about the title in this meeting and the buyer is already telling me "pass". I proceeded to tell the buyer that it was a Robert Altman film and started rattling off his filmography and only until I mentioned films like "The Player", "Short Cuts" and "Gosford Park", did they know who he even was. I did convince them to carry it, however, it was a real uphill battle.

I think the studios are not only picking titles they thing the consumers will buy, but also what the "gatekeepers" are willing to stock their shelves with. I am a huge buyer and collector of DVDs. We need to make sure that when we want a title to come out, not only do we let the studios know, but our favorite place to buy DVDs as well so the stores pass that info along up to the buyers / key decision makers.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Amen!

 

[Robert Crawford]

So true, the buyers for all of the major retailers, particularly WalMart play a big role in what we see on dvd. The etailers are small potatoes compared to those big boys due to the number of units they can purchase and sell to the general public.







Crawdaddy

 

[RickER]

I work with a number of educated people as young as their 20s. I am in the medical field, not the movie industry. But anyway, i am always SHOCKED at the fact my co-workers have not heard of Carey Grant, Mae West, the Marx Brothers or Gary Cooper, just to name a few. I go to Best Buy or Target and ask, " where is the 1953 War of the Worlds", and i get a blank look. "Huh, it had a 1953 version"? My kids wont even watch a black and white movie. I could go on and on. Do the masses of today only like new movies? Are us movie fans in such small number that studios like Paramount cant make money off us? Isn't DVD in 2/3rds of the US homes now? If Criterion can make a buck off 50 year old foreign films, cant Paramount make money off stuff they own outright, and as new as 20 years?

 

[EricDW]

My suggestion to all is if you want to see a movie on DVD, tell the managers of the stores where you shop. If it is an online retailer, email the company. They should listen and pass that information up the ladder.

 

[TravisR]

Not to be a jerk but I used to work retail, you can tell the managers you want to see 'Movie X' on DVD and it's not going to do anything.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Well, the Popeye "restorations" formerly shown on CN were just video restorations. They took the existing masters and replaced AAP logos with original logos from private prints. The only true restoration (part of WB's project) was Wotta Nitemare. Apparently, WB thought all they had were the safety film duplicate negatives (which had AAP logos built-in). When they found the camera negatives, they realized AAP never touched them. All the original negatives have their original logos and titles.

I think KFS may just own the Betty Boop character, but I'm pretty sure Republic is free to use the character within the cartoons without paying King Features. When the cartoons were sold to television (NTA), I think all underlying rights were taken care of.

The same thing happened to the Popeye cartoons... but MGM/UA seriously screwed up in 1983. King Features sent a cease and desist order to MGM/UA Home Video threatening legal action for using the Popeye character without KFS's permission. Without even researching, MGM/UA went ahead and signed an agreement with KFS.

The problem is that the rights to use the characters within the films were resolved in 1957 when AAP bought the Popeye cartoons. MGM/UA Home Video could have just ignored KFS's threat and we'd have official videos today.

What confuses me is that King Features has kept Turner (now WB) from releasing the Popeye cartoons for over 20 years. Warner Bros. knows that the cease & desist order was a fallacy now and could probably sue KFS. It almost seems like KFS tricked MGM/UA into the agreement (maybe to keep out competition with their 1980's TV series). The fact that WB is spending their own money on the restorations makes KFS seem like a moocher waiting to make money on something they have no legal right to.

I'd like to see WB just go ahead with DVD's and let King Features try to sue them. All they have to do is show the 1957 AAP agreement to show that they created a false document. Or they could just buy the Popeye character from them. That way, we won't have another one of those Paul Reiser CGI colostomy bags.

 

[Jeff_HR]

$$$$$$ talks! Send your hard earned dollars overseas & buy DVDs from Regions other than R1. But, of course, you must buy a multi-regioinal DVD player that does the PAL to NTSC conversion thing. Thats one way to get titles available in other regions that R1 won't provide you with. That's what I did & have many titles in my library not available in R1! I agree that asking store managers & employees to stock Movie "X" is just plain useless!!!!

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

I sadly must agree that making requests to store managers for Movie "X" is a futile exercise. Besides, it ain't like Wal-Mart listens to their store managers much to begin with.

What I think WILL make a difference is buying catalog titles that are already on the shelves at these massive outlets -- provided of course you do your shopping there to begin with. I mean, there's no sale price low enough to make me set foot in a Wal-Mart, but if it's shown that existing stock of older titles is selling, then maybe that will be incentive to carry more of them.

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Something just hit me now, as another reason why WB has had success with their older films and Paramount has not.

WB, by corporate synergy, has the prestigious Turner Classic Movies as an outlet to both present these beautiful transfers of the classic films and to promote the DVD releases. Thus, all the expenses they put out to put these projects together can be easily recouped.

Fox as well, with their Fox Movie Channel, can exploit their restoration handiwork in a semi-exclusive manner.

Paramount and Viacom own plenty of cable channels, but they are not geared to promote old movies -- MTV, VH-1, Spike, Nickelodeon, TV Land, none of these are exactly the place to show off a cleaned-up print of THE AFRICAN QUEEN. Yes, they could easily sublicense the movie to another channel that would give it proper treatment, such as...TCM...but they have to hope that TCM will want to purchase that movie (and others) from them, and pay what they consider a fair price for it. Remember, it wasn't until AMC kicked in money to MGM in exchange for TV premiere rights that they in turn were able to complete restoration on THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY.
But meanwhile, Nick at Nite and TV Land are very effective places to show off cleaned-up new transfers of classic TV shows like HAPPY DAYS and ANDY GRIFFITH, which is why Paramount seems to be shifting more to classic TV reissues on DVD. Those networks are their TCM equivalents, places where they can recoup some of the expense of restoration.

Just a theory.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Nearly all Paramount classics (those owned by them and owned by Universal) are mostly exclusive on TCM now.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Which classic Paramount films have been shown on TCM recently?

 

[seanOhara]

In fact, TCM has no problem promoting DVDs from non-Warner studios. Next week, for example, they're airing Seven Men from Now, which Paramount is releasing at the same time.

I also find TCM inserts in Paramount and Universal DVDs all the time.

 

[FrancisP]

The fact is that a lot of the obvious titles are gone. It
leaves only older titles. Third party companies have been able to get past the gatekeepers. They have released prestigious titles that don't have a huge audience and have
released b-flicks that also don't have a huge audience. In
this information driven society, there are so many ways to bypass the gatekeepers. It requires a mindset and work
ethic that most of the major studios' marketing departments
don't seem to have.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I posted this list of the best unreleased Paramount titles (including the newly acquired Republic Pictures library) at the Criterion Forum, but you need to be registered to view threads there, so I'll post it here in its entirety.

I have also included information on the availability of the titles in other parts of the world and information on the lab work/restoration that Paramount have undertaken in that past three years.

I have no doubt that I will have listed titles below that are actually on DVD: please, by all means, tell me which films are on DVD.

Titles in RED are generally considered Film Noir for convenience.


Unreleased Paramount Titles

The pre-1949 Paramount productions are owned by Universal.

The Accused (1949)
Alias Nick Beal (1949)
The Great Gatsby (1949)
Rope of Sand (1949)
Manhandled (1949)
Samson and Delilah (1949)
Streets of Laredo (1949)
Chicago Deadline (1949)

September Affair (1950)
No Man of Her Own (1950)
Fancy Pants (1950)
Dark City (1950)
Union Station (1950)
The File on Thelma Jordon (1950)

The African Queen (1951)
The Mating Season (1951)
My Favorite Spy (1951)
Appointment with Danger (1951)
Rhubarb (1951)

The Turning Point (1952)

Plunder of the Sun (1953) - From the Batjac Estate
The Caddy (1953)
Forever Female (1953)
Little Boy Lost (1953)
Off Limits (1953)
Scared Stiff (1953)
Here Come the Girls (1953)
Houdini (1953)

Ring of Fear (1954) - From the Batjac Estate
Track of the Cat (1954) - From the Batjac Estate
Living It Up (1954)
Knock on Wood (1954)
About Mrs. Leslie (1954)
Secret of the Incas (1954)

Hell's Island (1955)
Artists and Models (1955)
You're Never Too Young (1955)
Strategic Air Command (1955)
Run for Cover (1955, Nicholas Ray) - Do Paramount own this?

Hollywood or Bust (1956)
The Mountain (1956)
Man in the Vault (1956) - From the Batjac Estate

The Joker Is Wild (1957)
Beau James (1957)
Wild Is the Wind (1957)
Zero Hour! (1957)

The Buccaneer (1958)
King Creole (1958)
St. Louis Blues (1958)
Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
The Geisha Boy (1958)

Career (1959)
Don't Give Up the Ship (1959)
A Touch of Larceny (1959)
The Trap (1959)

Blood and Roses (1960) - Do Paramount own this?

Too Late Blues (1961)
On the Double (1961)

My Geisha (1962)

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
My Six Loves (1963)
All the Way Home (1963)
Come Blow Your Horn (1963)

Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) - Do Paramount really own this?

The Skull (1965)
The Slender Thread (1965)
Crack in the World (1965)

Gunn (1967)
The Stranger (1967, Visconti) - Do Paramount own this?

If... (1968)
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968)
Bandits of Milan (1968, Lizzani) - Do Paramount own this?

Downhill Racer (1969) - Do Paramount own this?
Monte Carlo or Bust (1969)

Tropic of Cancer (1970)
The Confession (1970, Costa-Gavras) - Do Paramount own this?
The Conformist (1970)
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970)
Borsalino (1970) - Do Paramount own this?

Friends (1971)
Joe Hill (1971) - Do Paramount own this?
Hannie Caulder (1971)

Alfredo, Alfredo (1972, Germi) - Do Paramount own this?
The Mattei Affair (1972)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
Hit! (1973)

Phase IV (1974)
Shanks (1974)

Mandingo (1975)
The Night That Panicked America (1975)
The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)

Leadbelly (1976)
Tracks (1976) - Previously licensed to Paramount; owned outright by director Henry Jaglom
1900 (1976)
Seven Nights in Japan (1976)

Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
Fraternity Row (1977)
Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)
Handle with Care (1977)

American Hot Wax (1978) - Do Paramount own this?
The One and Only (1978)

Serial (1980)
Rough Cut (1980)
Little Darlings (1980)
The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980)

Reds (1981)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1981)

White Dog (1982)
A Woman Called Golda (1982)

The Keep (1983)
The Lords of Discipline (1983)
Daniel (1983)

Night of the Comet (1984) - Paramount own the TV rights; MGM own the theatrical and home video rights
The Jesse Owens Story (1984)
Call to Glory (1984)
The River Rat (1984)

Weeds (1987) - Paramount own the TV rights; Studio Canal own the theatrical and home video rights

Shirley Valentine (1989) - Available in the UK
Let It Ride (1989)

Till There Was You (1990)
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990)

Stepping Out (1991)
Highway 61 (1991) - Previously licensed to Paramount by the now-defunct Skouras Pictures; current right-holder unknown
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)

The Thing Called Love (1993)



Republic Pictures Libarary

These are all of the 'famous' Republic titles. Many of them are on DVD with less-than-adequete transfers. Paramount are taking the Republic library seriously and have already preserved the nitrate negatives to many films and have made Estar safety preservation negatives. We will start to see DVDs of the Republic films from Paramount in 2006. As ever, corrections and additions are most welcome.

Lonely Trail (1936) - Estar (modern safety stock) dupe neg has been made from original nitrate negative

Dick Tracy (1937)
Winds of the Wasteland (1937) - Estar from O-neg

Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
Pals of the Saddle (1938) - Estar from O-neg

Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939)
Gulliver's Travels (1939)
Wyoming Outlaw (1939) - Estar from O-neg
Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939)

Three Faces West (1940) - Estar from O-neg
The Westerner (1940)
Dark Command (1940)
Catman of Paris (1940) - Estar from O-neg

Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
Dangerous Moonlight (1941)
Penny Serenade (1941)
Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)
The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (1941)
Lady for a Night (1941) - Estar from O-neg
Man Betrayed (1941) - Estar from O-neg

Phantom Plainsmen (1942) - Estar from O-neg
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
In Old California (1942) - Estar from O-neg
Shadows on the Sage (1942) - Estar from O-neg
Spy Smasher (1942)
Flying Tigers (1942)

A Lady Takes a Chance (1943)
War of the Wildcats (1943) - Estar from O-neg

Brazil (1944)
Captain America (1944)
The Fighting Seabees (1944)
Lady and the Monster (1944) - Extensive restoration has taken place

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)
The Cheaters (1945)
Blood on the Sun (1945)
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Dakota (1945) - Estar from O-neg
The Great Flamarion (1945)
Sherlock Holmes and the Woman in Green (1945)

Flame of the Barbary Coast (1946) - Estar from O-neg
Dressed to Kill (1946)
Home on the Range (1946) - Estar from O-neg
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - Estar from O-neg; soundtrack restored
The Crimson Ghost (1946)
Strange Impersonation (1946)
My Pal Trigger (1946)
Out California Way (1946) - Estar from O-neg
The Dark Mirror (1946) - All the surviving 35mm elements are nitrate. Reel 8 of the original negative is completely lost to nitrate decomposition. Some of the original negative is stained. To protect and preserve the film which was close to irretrievable deterioration, a master positive was created using color sensitive B&W separation stock and using a yellow filter to mask the staining. Sections of the original negative that were beginning to decompose were replaced with dupe negative inserts. Reel 8 was recovered from a nitrate dupe negative. A new restored soundtrack was made at Audio Mechanics. The preservation of DARK MIRROR was a joint Paramount, UCLA project supervised by Bob Gitt at UCLA.

Ramrod (1947)
Christmas Eve (Sinner's Holiday) (1947) - Estar from O-neg
Angel and the Badman (1947)
Copacabana (1947) - Estar from O-neg
The Lost Moment (1947)
Magic Town (1947)
A Double Life (1947)
Body And Soul (1947) - Ten of the original twelve reels of the nitrate camera negative still exist and are in good condition relative to the typical wear and tear from printing. Of two composite finegrains that exist, the original nitrate is the best and provided source material for replacement of reels 1 and 11 of the original negative and the missing reels of sound track. The soundtrack has also been carefully restored using digital tools

Force of Evil (1948)
Bill and Coo (1948)
The Miracle of the Bells (1948) - Original nitrate neg is lost; the Library of Congress' fine-grain was used to make an Estar preservation dupe negative
Moonrise (1948)
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)
Oklahoma Badlands (1948) - Estar from O-neg
One Touch of Venus (1948)
Pitfall (1948)
Wake of the Red Witch (1948)
Good Sam (1948) - Estar from O-neg
Secret Beyond the Door (1948)
Macbeth (1948)

Caught (1949, Max Ophuls) - Republic apparently acquired this at some point - Available on DVD in France
Love Happy (1949) - The original nagative is lost: acetate dupe negative, acetate finegrain and two Library of Congress nitrate finegrains were used to make an Estar neg
King of the Rocket Men (1949)
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)
The Red Pony (1949) - Extensive restoration of the three-strip Technicolor negs has taken place
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) - Estar from O-neg
Champion (1949) - Estar from O-neg

The Men (1950)
Rio Grande (1950)
North of the Great Devide (1950) - Estar from O-neg
Trigger Jr. (1950) - Extensive, complex restoration to Trucolor dual negatives has taken place
Hills of Oklahoma (1950) - Estar from O-neg
House by the River (1950)

The Enforcer (1951)
Distant Drums (1951)
Cry Danger (1951)
Bullfighter and the Lady (1951)

Beware, My Lovely (1952)
High Noon (1952) - Estar (modern safety stock) dupe neg has been made from original nitrate negative; soundtrack restored
Kansas City Confidential (1952)
The Quiet Man (1952)
Retreat Hell (1952) - Estar from O-neg; restored soundtrack

Trouble in Store (1953)
Blowing Wild (1953)
City That Never Sleeps (1953)
The Sun Shines Bright (1953)

Private Hell 36 (1954)
Young at Heart (1954)
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) - Estar from O-neg; restored soundtrack
Doctor in the House (1954)
Johnny Guitar (1954) - Available in the UK from Universal; transfer is excellent for a Trucolor film

The Last Command (1955)
Above Us the Waves (1955)
Shack Out on 101 (1955)
Road to Denver (1955) - Estar from O-neg
A Man Alone (1955)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)

Come Next Spring (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Indiscreet (1958)
Marjorie Morningstar (1958)
Desert Patrol (1958) - Estar from O-neg

Operation Petticoat (1959)

That Touch of Mink (1962)
The Grass Is Greener (1960)
Father Goose (1964)
That Cold Day in the Park (1969)
Viva Max! (1969) - New Interpositive and answer print made from original negative

Julius Caesar (1970)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979)

Starlight Hotel (1987)

Cold Comfort (1989)
Society (1989)

Cadence (1990)
Trust (1990)

Separate But Equal (1991)

Harrison Bergeron (1995)

Freeway (1996)

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

True, but it's not the same kind of synergy. If TCM, for example, puts a plug in their viewer's guide for a Paramount DVD, Paramount has to pay TCM for that promotional consideration. If Paramount puts a TCM insert in one of their DVDs, TCM has paid them for that placement. And while TCM is airing SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, they have to pay Paramount and Batjac for the rights to air it.

What I was trying to point out was that WB has a guaranteed outlet in TCM for all their restorations; if the DVD tanks, they can shift the cost-effectiveness to the cable airing, because they own the movie and the channel. Likewise, if a Paramount TV DVD doesn't sell, they can justify the expense by putting it on TV Land. The item in question, movie or TV show, is getting multiple use from multiple arms of the company, so the price of keeping the master in good shape can be spread around to all the departments.

However, just because TCM often airs stuff from other studios does not gurantee they always will. I'm sure one of the big reasons that Paramount agreed to buy the Batjac package was precisely because they knew they could turn around and sell broadcast rights to channels like them and AMC. But that doesn't always carry over to other titles they own. Maybe Paramount has already approached them and asked if they would purchase a hypothetical package if they cleaned the masters up, and the channels offered a price they didn't like or felt would not cover their expenses. Remember, AMC is more interested in running newer movies, and TCM is always going to favor stuff they own in-house rather than pay high fees to run stuff from the competition.

Gordon, thank you for that exhaustive list. Here are a few corrections I can provide you.

The following movies are actually old EMI properties that Republic licensed -- they are now owned by StudioCanal, and in some cases, have already gotten DVD release from Anchor Bay. Paramount may have some limited television rights, as Viacom did purchase those from the former EMI long ago:

THE CRUEL SEA
THE COLDITZ STORY
DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE
TENDER MERCIES

LIFE IS SWEET, RUBY IN PARADISE, and A HEART IN WINTER were releases from the former October Films that Republic put on VHS, and those have likely reverted to Universal's Focus Features.

BORSALINO, ALFREDO ALFREDO, AMERICAN HOT WAX are owned by Paramount. The first two received VHS releases, WAX received a limited VHS release only through Fotomat, and a CED disc release from RCA.

TRACKS is owned by Henry Jaglom's Rainbow Film Company. At one time, he licensed his movies to Paramount, but that has expired.

NIGHT OF THE COMET is owned by Paramount only for television; MGM controls this title theatrically and for DVD.

WEEDS may be owned by Paramount for TV again, it is otherwise controlled by StudioCanal.

HIGHWAY 61 was licensed by Paramount by the former Skouras Pictures. Rights ownership is currently unknown.

DUST DEVIL was acquired through Paramount's former deal with Miramax. Neither company has rights now; an independent DVD outfit should be announcing their forthcoming release of this shortly.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Mark, that was extremely helpful of you. Thank you.

I was actally looking at Henry Jaglom's website yesterday and there for each of his films' seperate page, there is an icon labelled "buy", but buy what - it only leads to the downloadable trailer. It's a crying shame that he doesn't have his films transfered to DVD. I'd love to see Tracks again with a Jaglom-Hopper commentary.

Highway 61 is a small gem. I was hoping that Paramount owned the rights.

Thanks, again, Mark.