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"AT LONG LAST LOVE" , "Where's Charley?" "Song of Norway" Status on musicals misfires (1 Viewer)

GMpasqua

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I'm moving this to a new thread since it really doesn't fall under "Lost Horizon"

The Digital Bits is reporting "AT LONG LAST LOVE" may be coming to DVD/Blu-ray very soon. Fox recently screened a new cut which was based on the orginal full length version. A shorter version was released to theaters after a good test screening, but a studio editor who liked the dailies didn't like the released cut and kept the original longer version (that version played on some cable stations recently). Director Peter Bogdanovich took that version and made a few minor changes. It's suppose to be pretty good, I guess we will have to wait and see

Here's a link
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/peter-bogdanovich-screens-new-cut-of-at-long-last-love-and-tells-story-behind-it


"Song of Norway" would require little work - it didn't play very long and the neg is not worn out. But it should be transfered from the 70MM elements - which is a bit costly - but all 70MM films should be released to blu-ray - they should all look stunning on Blu.


"Where's Charley" is under consideration by WB. The Frank Losser estate finally gave an okay to the rights but now WB needs to find a suitable element to work from (Which means money and the cost might be greater than the sales)

"Porgy and Bess" is a costly restoration project and no one wants to foot the bill right now (Though the Broadway production may fuel interest) The Gershwin estate is releasing the rights so now it's just the cost to repair - why didn't they just let it come out years ago?
 

Matt Hough

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All of us who love musicals would love to have all of these films, whatever the flaws, missteps, and weaknesses they have.

I haven't seen Where's Charley in probably thirty years and Song of Norway since its original release.
 

NY2LA

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Just finished posting this on that other thread, I once met a guy who was such a fan of At Long Last Love that he had discovered three different versions of it. Each one containing and missing things the others didn't. He gave me two of them on VHS and was planning to get ahold of the third so he could "mix them all together" and see what he got: the most complete possible version.
I always liked the film, even had Cybill's Porter album, I just didn't get far enough into it to know which cut was which. If it does come to disc (and I will be shocked if Fox does a mass-market Blu Ray - more likely MOD DVD) I hope they either use branching or leave in whatever is missing from his final cut as supps. Of course a commentary and retrospective interview with Burt and Cybill would be nice. Eileen and Hillerman are still around, too.
 

PODER

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Can't WAIT for AT LONG LAST LOVE. I never miss a Duilio Del Prete musical! And of course
SONG OF NORWAY stars Mr. Excitement himself, the always electrifying Toralv Maurstad.
Best review quote for SONG OF NORWAY, from Pauline Kael: "It brings back cliches you
didn't know you knew - they're practically from the unconscious of moviegoers. You can't get
angry at something this stupefying; it seems to have been made by trolls."
As for AT LONG LAST LOVE, it's a tie between John Simon and Frank Rich.
Simon: "Sitting through this movie is like having someone at a fancy Parisian restaurant who
neither speaks nor reads French read out stentoriously the entire long menu in his best
Arkansas accent, occasionally interrupting himself to chortle at his cleverness ..."
Rich: " When the leads break into song and dance at a nightclub or cotillion, the extras just
stand there like goons, staring into space; it's like watching a musical unfold within THE
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
Having seen both these upon their original release, I can testify that these reviewers were,
in fact, being kind. Naturally, I've wanted both for my collection ever since ...
 

NY2LA

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An innocent typo in the thread title gave me an idea:
Cole Porter plus vampires:
AT LONG LESTAT LOVE!
(oh boy, do I need to get out of the house}
 

Matt Hough

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I have to say that the version of At Long Last Love that I watched a month ago from the Fox Movie Channel was different than the theatrical version I saw upon its initial release (two opening songs for Duilio Del Prete and Madeline Kahn I'd never seen or heard before), and while it's still a complete mess, I much preferred the revised version to the one I originally saw.

And joke about Duilio Del Prete all you want. He's playing the most interesting of the four principal characters, and I'd rather hear him sing than either of the two leads. At least he stays on pitch.
 

ahollis

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Here is the link that Digital Bits shared about AT LONG LAST LOVE. It is a different cut and one that even Bogdanovich did not know existed. Seems an editor at Fox made his own cut and it some how got into rotation on FMC and STARZ. Interesting story with a good ending in that Bogdanovich liked the cut and only wanted to make a couple small changes. In the write up he gives credit to the editor, but not his name. Very interesting read.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/peter-bogdanovich-screens-new-cut-of-at-long-last-love-and-tells-story-behind-it

Hopefully we will see a Blu-ray of this, maybe Stars and Stripes sold better than I expected. Or Fox will push this to Twilight Time.

Edit -
Again I did not read the full post and see that the thread starter also posted this. Sorry.
 

ajabrams

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I'll never forget going to see AT LONG LAST LOVE at Radio City Music Hall. The vast house was practically empty -- both that fact and the jaw-dropping badness of the film gave the whole experience a truly other-worldly feeling -- like going to a private screening on Mars or Pluto.
Needless to say, just like PODER said in post #4, it will be an instant purchase for me as well.
 

GMpasqua

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Yes, Pauline Kael gave "Song of Norway" a bad review. Here's what she had to say about "The Sound of Music":

The Sound of Music
“This is a tribute to freshness that is so mechanically engineered and so shrewdly calculated that the background music rises, the already soft focus blurs and melts, and, upon the instant, you can hear all those noses blowing in the theatre. Whom could this operetta offend?
“Only those of us who, despite the fact that we may respond, loathe being manipulated in this way and are aware of how cheap and ready-made are the responses we are made to feel.
“We may become even more aware of the way we have been turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs.”


Even good films got their share of Bad reviews, and not so good films (see below) got their share of good reviews
f27ad459_songnowayhtfad.jpeg
 

Matt Hough

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Pauline Kael's reviews were/are fascinating reads, and I have all of her collected works in her various volumes, but she was not very perceptive about lots of movies, and she was especially clueless often about musicals.
 

scribe1964

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Pauline Kael's reviews were/are fascinating reads, and I have all of her collected works in her various volumes, but she was not very perceptive about lots of movies, and she was especially clueless often about musicals.
Yeah, I've read many of her reviews (probably hundreds) and she's always interesting, even if I often don't agree. And she did have her biases (as we all do). For example, she LOVED Brian De Palma movies a little too much and HATED Clint Eastwood with a passion. But I loved that she never had a problem trashing a movie that everyone else was raving about (like "Dances with Wolves").
 

GMpasqua

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It's always more fun to quote the bad reviews because they are often funny. I think it was Kael who wrote (regarding Harold Prince and "A Little Night Music" (1978)

pharaphrasing:

"when watching the film one not only gets the feeling first time director Harold Prince has never directed a movie before - but that he never even seen a movie"

Of course the film books like to quote the bad reviews for the same reason - and so many films unjustly get a bad rap because no one's seen them but read about them in these types of books.

Many of these "bad" films had their share of good reviews too (maybe not raves but fair and just reviews which pointed out both the plus and minus elements of the film

"Song of Norway" actually did better boxoffice business in 1970 than many other musicals released around the same time: "Willy Wonka" "1776" "The Boy Friend" "Man of La Mancha" "Oh What a Lovely War" "Sweet Charity" "Half a Sixpence" "Star!""How to Succeed in Business Without Really Tryhing" and "Godspell"

Many of these films received good reviews and some of these films are regarded highly today ("Wonka" has become a classic in the same sense as "The Wizard of Oz"), "1776" has a cult following.
 

Joe Lugoff

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The great thing about the Internet is you get to say things in public you could only think to yourself before. Like this:
Peter Bogdanovich is one of the worst movie directors of all time. He loved old movies and wanted to make up-to-date versions of the various genres, and seemed to have absolutely no clue as to what made the old movies good in the first place.
Thank you.
 

Bob Cashill

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I think THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (if that counts), WHAT'S UP, DOC? and PAPER MOON are all quite successfully realized. AT LONG LAST LOVE and NICKELODEON, not so much--the strain really shows. And the success of DOC? and MOON helped fuel the so-called "nostalgia craze," which led to some very poor movies (LUCKY LADY, another dud Burt Reynolds survived, HARRY AND WALTER GO TO NEW YORK, etc.).
 

Joe Caps

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Song of Norway would probably need a lot of work It is a 70mm neg now over half a century old.
 

ahollis

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Originally Posted by Joe Caps /t/318244/at-long-lsat-love-wheres-charley-song-of-norway-status-on-musicals-misfires#post_3894612
Song of Norway would probably need a lot of work It is a 70mm neg now over half a century old.
And on top of that it is owned by Disney/ABC and licensed to MGM. Who would pay? Neither party would.
 

NY2LA

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Joe Caps said:
Song of Norway would probably need a lot of work It is a 70mm neg now over half a century old.
Why? We've heard it before that the negs that got the least use are in the best shape...
 

ahollis

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/318244/at-long-lsat-love-wheres-charley-song-of-norway-status-on-musicals-misfires#post_3894799
I had heard the film was remastered about 8 years ago (SNW)
Pearson Entertainment released a Region 2 in 2002. Previous to that it was released on VHS by Anchor Bay, who had the rights to the ABC film catalog.

I understand that has been seen in 70mm was at The Wide Screen Weekend in Bradford, England on March 15, 1999. The one of the people that saw it said "The 70mm print was pin sharp but completely pink, but that is something you come to expect from older film." I have heard their is a great IB Tech in a collector's hands, but the Internet is full of rumors. That IB Tech print might have been the one that was shown in Germany at the 2008 Schauburg Cinerama cinema 70mm Festival. I head it was a wonderful print and the 6-track sound was good also.

Now this does not explain what the negative would look like, but I had not heard there was any work on the film. The Anchor Bay VHS caps I have seen looked dark and pink and of course pan-scan. The whole thing rests with Disney/ABC and if they are willing to put any money into, whether it be a little or a lot. MGM certainly will not do it. If they will not put any money into Hawaii, The Alamo or IAMMMW, which they own 100% percent, then they will not put a dime into something that is just lease.
 

GMpasqua

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This would most likely come out under Image or Anchor Bay. Disney will never put it out under their label. MGM could use a 35MM element for a MOD dvd
 

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