In A Lonely Place (1 Viewer)

[MarcoBiscotti]

Can anyone tell me how the transfer on the current (2003 release) Sony disc is and whether there is any indication of a new/improved DVD in the works?

I think I'm finally ready to pick this overdue title up but I'm put off by the specs, price point and packaging. Is it worth a purchase or likely that we'll see this reissued in 2009?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Also, Sony has done separate releases for Grant and Capra with affordable packages and upgraded transfers... why not a similar Bogart set with Sahara, Dead Reckoning, In A Lonely Place, The Caine Mutiny and The Harder They Fall?

Wouldn't this be the best way to put these out in decent format right now save for reissuing their entire back catalog, which imo, they really ought to do!

If Sony/Columbia took Universal's approach to catalog titles in their Cinema Classics line offering single disc keep case reissues with a few supplements, new transfers and orig. poster artwork at a $12-15 MSRP selling point, I'm sure they would be hugely popular.

With major stars like Clark Gable, Jean Harlowe, Lionel Barymore, Carol Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford, Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Irene Dunn, Rosalind Russell, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Marlon Brando and director credits to Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, George Stevens, Leo McCarey, Orson Welles, Charles Vidor, Nicholas Ray, Edward Dmytryk, Elia Kazan and Otto Preminger... this studio is sitting on an untapped goldmine of classic film releases that have not remotely realized their market potential! It's amazing to me how neglectful and backwards the studio's approach to their classic catalog has been, especially in light of the success of major studios like Fox, Warner and now Universal... I don't understand why they don't just start all over again with a new Columbia Classics line to release every last back catalog title in their library. Their limited holdings do not begin to compare with that of the other major studios and yet the films that they own rights to are among some of the brightest of Hollywood's golden age. Does Columbia sincerely believe there is no market for these pictures and could it be in any way based on their ridiculous past price structure and release plan or do they simply not care to profit from new catalog sales?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

And finally, can anyone tell me why Columbia/Sony dropped the ball on Platinum Blonde & You Can't Take It With You when they released that "Premiere Frank Capra Collection" in '06; Why were these left out??

 

[Robert Crawford]

Hey, it's at a lower MSRP now then when I bought it back in 2003. I think I paid $17.99 for it in 2003. You can buy it from DDD and DVD Planet for $10.70 with the 25% sale going on now.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Well that's good news but the screencaps at DVDBeaver seem to indicate that this transfer could benefit from the digital technology upgrade of the past half decade... :p

 

[Robert Crawford]

You can say that about a lot of titles.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

But almost ALL from Columbia Classics!!


Anyways, thanks for pointing out the sale... I'll probably pick this up along with a couple others that are way overdue but I really wish the studio would get their act together and revisit their classic film library on DVD!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Why almost all from Columbia Classics?

I see that Sahara's MSRP has dropped too with different boxart.

 

[GeorgeJA]

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU is on the "Premiere Frank Capra Collection", but for reasons I don't know, they dropped PLATINUM BLONDE. I'm hoping there is a follow-up Capra set which will include this, as well as some of the films he directed which starred Barbara Stanwyck.

I wouldn't be surprised if they revisited IN A LONELY PLACE. This is a film that seems to have gained in reputation, and it's 50th Anniversary isn't too far away. Your idea for a Bogart set is a good one.

George

 

[Robert Crawford]

You're right it's in the boxset and I have it, but haven't watched it. I think they substituted American Madness for Platinum Blonde.

 

[John Hodson]

Sony released a Bogart box set 2-3 years ago in the UK; Sirocco / Dead Reckoning / The Harder They Fall / In A Lonely Place

The idea of revisiting In A Lonely Place as an SE is quite mouth-watering.

 

[ahollis]

Before they start to revisit their past releases, they should and have indicated (proof is with the Budd Boetticher set) to work on their non issued titles. When Sony starts their huge push into classics on Blu-ray they certainly upgrade the transfer of a lot of their previous releases, but I do not think they will be doing that with the excellent IN A LONELY PLACE. I understand that the sales were well below exciting and that film along with few of their other classic titles that were released at the time, did not sell well either, which forced Sony to stop releasing vault titles for a while and try to revaluate how to do it. (I am not sure they have found the way to do it yet with the cover of the Boetticher set.)

 

[Jefty]

Platinum Blonde + the four early thirties Stanwyck would make an absolutely magnificent set. Miracle Woman and Bitter Tea of General Yen are two of the most important films of the decade--Sony had better do something about this right away!