Honoring William Wyler With a BOX SET! (1 Viewer)

[RobertMG]

Surprised no studios have co-operated to create a William Wyler Box Set think of all his films

The Best Years Of Our Lives
Ben Hur
Detective Story
Funny Girl
The Big Country
Roman Holiday
The Heiress
The Letter
Wuthering Heights
Zezebel
Dodsworth
These Three

and on and on and on!

 

[Thomas T]

Surprised no studios have co-operated to create a William Wyler Box Set think of all his films

The Best Years Of Our Lives
Ben Hur
Detective Story
Funny Girl
The Big Country
Roman Holiday
The Heiress
The Letter
Wuthering Heights
Zezebel
Dodsworth
These Three

and on and on and on!

With the exception of These Three and Wuthering Heights (Detective Story is forthcoming from KL), all of those titles are already out on blu ray. I'm sure Wyler fans already have those titles on blu. If they don't they're not Wyler fans. So who are the designated market for this box set?

 

[RobertMG]

With the exception of These Three and Wuthering Heights (Detective Story is forthcoming from KL), all of those titles are already out on blu ray. I'm sure Wyler fans already have those titles on blu. If they don't they're not Wyler fans. So who are the designated market for this box set?

maybe people only have one or two titles also left many titles off the list here a heck more! I even left of Mrs Miniver

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just remember that there are different studios with his movies. IMO, the box sets are going to be harder to release, especially, for directors that have most of their most important films already on Blu-ray and released by different studios.

 

[RobertMG]

maybe people only have one or two titles also left many titles off the list here a heck more! I even left of Mrs Miniver

The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1968Funny Girl
1966How to Steal a Million
1965The Collector
1961The Children's Hour
1959Ben-Hur
1958The Big Country
1956Friendly Persuasion
1956Producers' Showcase (TV Series) (1 episode)
- The Letter (1956)
1955The Desperate Hours
1953Roman Holiday
1952Carrie
1951Detective Story
1949The Heiress
1947Thunderbolt (Documentary short) (as Lt Col William Wyler)
1946The Best Years of Our Lives
1944The Fighting Lady (Documentary) (uncredited)
1944The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (Documentary)
1942Mrs. Miniver
1941The Little Foxes
1940The Letter
1940The Westerner
1939Raffles (uncredited)
1939Wuthering Heights
1938The Cowboy and the Lady (uncredited)
1938Jezebel
1937Dead End
1936Come and Get It
1936Dodsworth
1936These Three
1935Barbary Coast (: (uncredited; replaced by Howard Hawks - uncredited)
1935The Gay Deception
1935The Good Fairy
1934Glamour
1933Counsellor at Law

 

[RobertMG]

Just remember that there are different studios with his movies. IMO, the box sets are going to be harder to release, especially, for directors that have most of their most important films already on Blu-ray and released by different studios.

never thought about that -- there were some collections released I thought that had different studios involved

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1968Funny Girl
1966How to Steal a Million
1965The Collector
1961The Children's Hour
1959Ben-Hur
1958The Big Country
1956Friendly Persuasion
1956Producers' Showcase (TV Series) (1 episode)
- The Letter (1956)
1955The Desperate Hours
1953Roman Holiday
1952Carrie
1951Detective Story
1949The Heiress
1947Thunderbolt (Documentary short) (as Lt Col William Wyler)
1946The Best Years of Our Lives
1944The Fighting Lady (Documentary) (uncredited)
1944The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (Documentary)
1942Mrs. Miniver
1941The Little Foxes
1940The Letter
1940The Westerner
1939Raffles (uncredited)
1939Wuthering Heights
1938The Cowboy and the Lady (uncredited)
1938Jezebel
1937Dead End
1936Come and Get It
1936Dodsworth
1936These Three
1935Barbary Coast (: (uncredited; replaced by Howard Hawks - uncredited)
1935The Gay Deception
1935The Good Fairy
1934Glamour
1933Counsellor at Law

Frankly, I think you're pissing up a rope. Wyler is one of the greatest directors, but unlike Hitchcock and Ford, he doesn't have a passionate fan base in regard to him as a director. I don't think studios are going to release Blu-ray box sets if they feel they won't sell enough to make a profit. Furthermore, his films directed are now owned by Fox/Disney, Paramount, Warner and Goldwyn. Good luck with that.

 

[Robert Crawford]

never thought about that -- there were some collections released I thought that had different studios involved

Not in 2022 and beyond. As George Feltenstein has noted in some of those podcasts, it was much easier to release DVD box sets than Blu-ray box sets, especially now in home video's current state. Wyler's films are too divided among various studios with different priorities than they had 15 years ago. Remember what Bill Hunt said on the latest "The Extras" podcast. You have studio people in charge that don't even know their own film library.

 

[RobertMG]

Not in 2022 and beyond. As George Feltenstein has noted in some of those podcasts, it was much easier to release DVD box sets than Blu-ray box sets, especially now in home video's current state. Wyler's films are too divided among various studios with different priorities than they had 15 years ago. Remember what Bill Hunt said on the latest "The Extras" podcast. You have studio people in charge that don't even know their own film library.

see your point - guess the only way it would work would be if warners did one of the goldwyn film plus warner controlled films under mgm too like ben hur mrs miniver dodsworth dead end etc

 

[Robert Crawford]

see your point - guess the only way it would work would be if warners did one of the goldwyn film plus warner controlled films under mgm too like ben hur mrs miniver dodsworth dead end etc

Again, some of those films have already been released on Blu-ray so I don't see Warner doing such a box set release. The next time we see Ben-Hur it's going to be on 4K disc.

 

[RobertMG]

Again, some of those films have already been released on Blu-ray so I don't see Warner doing such a box set release. The next time we see Ben-Hur it's going to be on 4K disc.

Hope that happens soon!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Hope that happens soon!

It's either going to happen this year or next year with Warner's 100th Anniversary.

 

[RobertMG]

Frankly, I think you're pissing up a rope. Wyler is one of the greatest directors, but unlike Hitchcock and Ford, he doesn't have a passionate fan base in regard to him as a director. I don't think studios are going to release Blu-ray box sets if they feel they won't sell enough to make a profit. Furthermore, his films directed are now owned by Fox/Disney, Paramount, Warner and Goldwyn. Good luck with that.

Do I have your okay to use that great line! Frankly, I think you're pissing up a rope - thanks wonderful line! --- Totally understand-sad he doesn't have a huge fan base I guess because we only see the few titles not the early ones

 

[Robin9]

With the exception of These Three and Wuthering Heights (Detective Story is forthcoming from KL), all of those titles are already out on blu ray. I'm sure Wyler fans already have those titles on blu. If they don't they're not Wyler fans. So who are the designated market for this box set?

A splendid riposte! Absolutely to the point!

 

[SeanSKA]

Do I have your okay to use that great line! Frankly, I think you're pissing up a rope - thanks wonderful line! --- Totally understand-sad he doesn't have a huge fan base I guess because we only see the few titles not the early ones

Wyler- one of Hollywood's greatest directors in my opinion- doesn't have a huge fan base mainly because, unlike Hitchcock or Ford, or even Scorsese and Tarantino or Woody Allen today, he wasn't mainly associated with one genre or style of film. The only thing that ties Wyler's filmography together is quality (same goes for other greats like Fred Zinnemann and John Huston)

 

[Robert Crawford]

The problem with not having more Wyler films on Blu-ray is because of his directed movies produced at Goldwyn. Warner had an agreement with some Goldwyn movies. I don't know if that agreement is still active or not because far too many are still absent from Blu-ray like the following:

• Dead End
• These Three
• Come and Get It
• The Westerner
• The Little Foxes
• Wuthering Heights

Some of his Paramount titles are probably coming like "The Desperate Hours" which Imprint is releasing in a couple of months. I think Kino asked for it here in the States, but didn't get it. I'm thinking Criterion has it and will release it like they did "The Heiress". Another Paramount title is "Carrie" that might be a possibility with Kino or Criterion.

Kino does have "Counsellor at Law" listed as a Blu-ray release coming either later this year or early next year.

Warner has "Friendly Persuasion" which is an Allied film. There might be some film element issues with that film because the iTunes HD digital derived from the scan used for the 2000 DVD release is not nearly good enough for a Blu-ray release. Frankly, that scan used might be 25 years old, if not older and might not even be native HD.

 

[OliverK]

With the exception of These Three and Wuthering Heights (Detective Story is forthcoming from KL), all of those titles are already out on blu ray. I'm sure Wyler fans already have those titles on blu. If they don't they're not Wyler fans. So who are the designated market for this box set?

That is so true. When that big Eastwood boxset was released it had I believe 2 or 3 titles that I did not have on Blu-ray yet so of course I did not get it - just give me the missing titles as single releases and I'll be fine.

 

[Lord Dalek]

No I don't think its worth it because William Wyler, at the end of the day, was just a very good metteur-en-scene instead of an auteur. As such his films feel like a random set of movies that just happened to be directed by the same guy. There's no way to approach from a scholarly or developmental point of view.

 

[RobertMG]

No I don't think its worth it because William Wyler, at the end of the day, was just a very good metteur-en-scene instead of an auteur. As such his films feel like a random set of movies that just happened to be directed by the same guy. There's no way to approach from a scholarly or developmental point of view.

When you look at his output tons of great films though

 

[RMajidi]

No I don't think its worth it because William Wyler, at the end of the day, was just a very good metteur-en-scene instead of an auteur. As such his films feel like a random set of movies that just happened to be directed by the same guy. There's no way to approach from a scholarly or developmental point of view.

I don’t know much about scholarly or developmental points of view.

What I do know is that Mr Wyler’s films reach into my heart and pull with an almighty tug.

Whatever he does with his choice of source material, the performances he inspires from his actors, the artistry and craftsmanship with which he paints and fashions his films - if none of these fit within a rigid scholarly viewpoint, then that tells me more about the limitations of that viewpoint than about Mr Wyler’s qualities.

Perhaps a comparison to music might be in order. Is a composer who churns out a set formula over and over again any better than one who covers a wide range of styles and genres, especially if the latter keeps outputting best of breed?