MGM Lean & Hitchcock Releases (1 Viewer)

[Corey]

MGM please release it this year for Hitch's 108th birthday.

 

[Jim Bur]

I notice that the David Lean collection was released in R2 in November by ITV. Can anyone answer either or both of the following questions:

1. What is the quality of the transfers in the ITV collection?

2. Now that the collection has been released in R2, is there any information or buzz as to how long it will be until the collection is released in R1 via Fox distributing for MGM- or otherwise?

Thanks.

 

[Will Krupp]

I bought the R2 Blithe Spirit which looks okay, but the PAL speedup is irritating and I would love a good R1 version (better than the abomination that was released years ago.)

I've been waiting for this since it was first announced and I keep hoping it will pop back up again (it's so frustrating seeing the artwork online for years now and not being able to get the disc!)

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Still waiting for SABOTAGE to show up restored in R1...one of my all-time fave Hitchcocks.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Does anyone know if the Hitch films that were to be in this are part of the StudioCanal package? I.E. is it any of the Late British Gaumont-British titles or just the Selznick/ABC stuff.

with the license being up so soon it seems foolish that MGM would put the Hitch titles out now, we should start lobbying Disney to give them back to Criterion, with the proviso they also do Paradine Case (or maybe even an Eclipse set?)

Having decided to try to own a complete Hitch collection, the desire to own the Criterions without paying 4 year OOP prices is great indeed...

 

[Patrick McCart]

They were all Carlton (Gaumont-British) or ABC/Selznick films. While it would have had all four Selznicks, only four (Sabotage, The 39 Steps, Young & Innocent, and The Lady Vanishes) Carlton films. Carlton also put out restored DVDs of The Lodger, Secret Agent, The Man Who Knew Too Much '34, and Downhill. StudioCanal did license The Manxman, The Ring, Muder!, Rich and Strange, and The Skin Game to Lionsgate (on their 3-disc set). They could license a second set with Blackmail, Champagne, Number Seventeen, Mary (German version of Murder!), and The Farmer's Wife.

Any idea who owns The Pleasure Garden, Easy Virture, and Juno and the Paycock?

 

[Moe Dickstein]

StudioCanal should own all three of those. Since they are claiming interest to the BIP releases, that would include Pleasure Garden, Easy Virtue, and Juno. But then again, Lodger is BIP too, so maybe they're just claiming certain titles.

They just might not be restored yet, or just not released (I'm assuming they weren't in the R2 SC releases) Lionsgate hopefully will do a "Volume 2" release of the SC titles.

If Carlton has claim to those titles, and they've licensed to Criterion 2 titles (though I think they didn't since they were PD when CC released them) but that could form the basis of a nice Eclipse set of Early Hitchcock.

 

[Corey]

I'm still holding out hope that these sets will be released.

 

[BarryM]

Regarding the Lean's....about (bloody) time. They were announced a couple of years ago!

I will buy the Lean set....for sure....and sell off my not-too-terribly-legal Korean copies of "In Which We Serve" and "Blythe Spirit".

Regarding the Hitchcock's, it might explain why both the Criterion's and the Anchor Bay's were deleted at the same time.

I will only cherry pick the Hitchcock titles because it's not possible that MGM could do a better job than Criterion did.

 

[Will Krupp]

I have to say I'm enjoying my R2 BLITHE SPIRIT much more since I realized that my Oppo DVD player has pitch control (they call it AUDIO TONE) and I can somewhat correct at least the sonic appearance of PAL speed up.

It's not ideal and I would still welcome a region 1 release, but I can live with this (and it's such a great movie.)

 

[Adam Santangelo]

Has there been news re. these titles or am I misreading the above?

 

[Lord Dalek]

There has been no news.

Frankly I'm beginning to think MGM only claims they have the rights when in fact they don't, which would account for why the Criterion Brief Encounter, Lady Vanishes, and 39 Steps are still in print.

 

[BarryM]

Sorry....I didn't notice the age of the original post.

What's wrong with MGM?

 

[Adam Santangelo]

haha, I dunno. I've seen all the Criterion Leans, but I'll buy the rest of this MGM set sight unseen if it ever sees the light of day.

 

[Charles H]

Hitchcock's Selznick films (NOTOROUS, THE PARADINE CASE, REBECCA,and SPELLBOUND) contstantly play the Retro--and possibly Flix--channels. TCM played the very, very rare MADELINE (by David Lean) a couple of months ago, and I thought that since Fox had taken over the MGM catalog that might be a harbinger of things to come. There is an excellent David Lean collection available in R2: BLITHE SPIRIT (often shown on cable), THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS, MADELINE, THE SOUND BARRIER, THIS HAPPY BREED, HOBSON'S CHOICE, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, and OLIVER TWIST.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Right now the only thing anybody wants to happen is Criterion getting the rights back to their three Selznick Hitchcocks

 

[Moe Dickstein]

AFAIK - The rights to the Disney Hitchcocks (The Selznick titles) Expire with MGM at the end of 2007.

They wouldn't do a set now that they could only sell for a few months or weeks at this point.

The hope is that these titles will be re-licesnsed to Criterion for 2008 and beyond.

 

[GlennH]

Thanks for the heads up. I've never seen Madeleine. I corrected the spelling above because I couldn't find it at first at IMDB and tcm.com with that spelling. TCM will air it again October 29 at 10:30 a.m. I signed up for an e-mail reminder so I can set the DVR.

 

[BarryM]

Is there any way for the gang at HTF to interview MGM specifically to get information about these two "hanging" boxset releases?

Are they scheduled for release? Why did the David Lean NEARLY get released, etc.

What was behind the deleting of the Anchor Bay and Criterion Hitchcock's without them immediately be made available by MGM, assuming that they control the rights, etc.

We'd appreciate it.....

 

[Charles H]

I've never understood the interrelationship between Sony and Fox with respect to MGM and I am surprised to see the predominance of the Fox logo on MGM product. Sony owns the MGM (UA) product, and I thought that Fox merely marketed and distributed the dvds, but who exactly calls the shots on what is--and what is not--released?