twelve o'clock high (1 Viewer)

[66KIMBLE]

i saw no way of hearing this weeks show, as of yet. from what i can tell, either you hear it live, during the broadcast, or on their tv archives. they keep about 10 of their last shows. in order to hear this one, i think we will need to wait a week or so, until it hits their archive pile.

You can hear it ASAP if you join DAR fm (free service) then type TV Confidential in search.Good luck.

 

[connierebel]

I know this is an old thread, and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but does anyone know where I can get the complete series uncut on DVD, with decent quality? I found someone who selling them for $200- $400, but that is awfully high for a homemade set.

 

[Neil Brock]

I know this is an old thread, and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but does anyone know where I can get the complete series uncut on DVD, with decent quality? I found someone who selling them for $200- $400, but that is awfully high for a homemade set.

We are not permitted to discuss bootlegs here. As for uncut, the only versions that have aired since the early 80s have been timesped to 46 minutes. As the show is in limbo rights-wise for DVD, my suggestion would be to record it yourself when it gets broadcast again on ME-TV or another oldies network.

 

[connierebel]

Oh, Ok, it was worth a try anyway. I don't get Me-TV, so I was hoping someone could share a copy.

 

[mattfire64]

Is it really a rights issue that is holding up the release of 12 O'Clock High? Or is it just Fox being reluctant to release any old shows? I've been pining to see the show myself as of late, but it hasn't been on Me-TV since 2014 and I don't get H&I. Besides, both Me-TV and H&I broadcast their shows in that stupid pseudo-widescreen format which completely ruins the viewing experience for me.

I'd probably say that out of all of Fox's old series, 12 O'Clock High is probably the show that gets the most requests to get an official release.

 

[Randy Korstick]

The issue is fox not releasing old shows and being unwilling to license out older shows without fees that are too high for licensees to be able to make a profit. I'm not aware of any rights issues with this series and have not seen any reported.

 

[mattfire64]

Ah, I figured that was the case. It's a real shame since I'd love to see both 12 O'Clock High and The Green Hornet get official DVD releases. Don't Fox realize that they could probably make more money off of these shows by actually releasing them instead of having them rot away in a vault?

 

[Harry-N]

I was fortunate to record the series myself when we first got MeTV. It was before they started their pseudo widescreen nonsense and other than being time-sped, they mostly looked pretty good.

 

[stuartfanning]

Here is a complete original open to the series.

 

[jperez]

All the episodes are on YouTube.

 

[Flashgear]

There are potential long standing Literary source rights disputes involving Twelve O'Clock High..."potential" only in regards as to whether successors of the Beirne Lay Jr. and Sy Bartlett estates would actually challenge to assert any claims against a third party licensing (Shout Factory apparently) home video rights from 20th Century Fox who owns Twelve O'Clock High, (Book screen rights, 1949 Feature Film and the 1964 TV show)...

In the early '60s, after already having successfully adapted Dobie Gillis and Bus Stop from their rights holdings, Fox considered developing a TV series based on their 1949 hit film, along with TV adaptations of Peyton Place and Three Coins in the Fountain as well...when Quinn Martin approached Fox with the idea of developing a Twelve O'Clock High pilot, Fox jumped at the deal, as QM was riding high with The Fugitive, and ABC was enthusiastic about having it on the air in the fall of '64...

Fox TV head William Self assigned Paul Monash to writing the pilot telefilm "Follow The Leader"...reports I've read claim that Monash was sole author of the script, although Beirne Lay received on screen credit for writing it...the filed script listed both Monash and Lay as co writers...this is interesting, as Beirne Lay claimed he had never even met Monash, let alone collaborated with him in writing it...Monash had also broadly outlined a number of story ideas for the first season...in my opinion, many of which Beirne Lay and Sy Bartlett would have found hilariously improbable as genuine 8th Airforce officers and combat veterans...which is probably the reason that William Self, Monash and Fox chose to exclude them from any further involvement in the TV series...remember, the 1948 book and the Gregory Peck Oscar winning film (Dean Jagger won) are very dark and grim stories...depicting terrible and bloody losses, combat fatigue, and ultimately, a nervous breakdown of General Savage, crushed under the burden of his command...and based on real life people and their sufferings...

The "Mighty Eighth" 8th Airforce fraternity of prominent veterans attempted to intercede on behalf of Beirne Lay and Sy Bartlett, to at least secure some further royalties resulting from Twelve O'Clock High's syndication and home video rights...led by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Time Magazine editor James Parton, retired Generals Eaker and Doolittle, film star James Stewart (who flew combat missions with Beirne Lay), and James Doherty (technical advisor on the TV show and another 8th AF veteran), these prominent veterans lobbied Fox on Lay and Bartlett's behalf...Fox steadfastly refused to further compensate them for any ancilliary rights...which were never challenged in court anyway...but the "potential" conflicts would be a worry, and have obviously deterred Shout Factory from licensing it...from what I understand, Fox itself would not be encumbered by these concerns if they just chose to release it directly themselves...same issues with Universal licensing Alfred Hitchcock Hour to a third party...they too could release it directly in R1 if they chose to...the literary rights complications on that one, as far as I can tell, rest entirely on about half of the season 1 teleplay sources, which were previously published novelettes, novels and short stories adapted by Shamley writer-producers Henry Slesar, Norman Lloyd and others...apparently, UK, EU and Commonwealth copyright laws are much more liberal...as evidenced by the R2 and R4 releases...we can only hope that Fabulous Films and Madman Entertainment might consider releasing Twelve O'Clock High overseas...

I like Twelve O'Clock High, especially the first season with Robert Lansing...some of the rest of the run is hilariously improbable, but not out of character with '60s TV entertainment...I like how they worked in major 8th AF raids into the plotlines...Schwinefurt/Regensberg Africa shuttle, Berlin and operation Frantic 1 and 2, the Poltava Russia shuttle...and lots of great guest stars like all the other QM shows...I should mention that the stonewalling against Beirne Lay and Sy Bartlett can be laid solely at 20th Century Fox's door...QM productions had no hand in that at all...Fox has always owned Twelve O'Clock High outright...

 

[Harry-N]

Here is a complete original open to the series.

Not quite. That video starts with the "ABC Color Presentation" bumper, but that was never used past the 1965-66 season. The color episodes of 12 O'CLOCK HIGH aired in the new season starting in the fall of 1966 and ABC had each program supplier make a unique color bumper for each show. So the opening would have started with:

The creator of that video appended the ABC Color bumper onto the start of the video.

 

[mattfire64]

I wish I would have recorded all the episodes off of Me-TV when I had the chance. Their prints of the show appeared to be more complete than the current episodes that are uploaded to YouTube. Me-TV's airings also retained the original 20 Century Fox Television logos at the end of each episode as well, which was a telltale way of knowing that they came from different prints than the current YouTube episodes which feature the 90s 20th Television logo instead.

 

[Neil Brock]

There are potential long standing Literary source rights disputes involving Twelve O'Clock High..."potential" only in regards as to whether successors of the Beirne Lay Jr. and Sy Bartlett estates would actually challenge to assert any claims against a third party licensing (Shout Factory apparently) home video rights from 20th Century Fox who owns Twelve O'Clock High, (Book screen rights, 1949 Feature Film and the 1964 TV show)...

Shout was basically told, don't ask, its way too complicated and can't be done. Whether or not Fox could release it themselves, we'll likely never know. Likewise, Adventures in Paradise, although its not likely anyone would have any interest in sublicensing that one.

 

[mattfire64]

What a shame, if only we could get enough people to show how much interest there is in the series, perhaps something like a petition like what fans of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea did to get the final DVD volume released. Hell, I'd be content if Fox released whatever masters they have of the show to a streaming outlet like Amazon. Alas, Fox needs to get up off their ass and realize that they could be making money off of their older properties instead of letting them rot in the vault and letting bootleggers GET ALL THEIR MONEY that they could make from a DVD release. See Fox? That shouldn't be too hard of a concept to understand.

To prove my earlier point about MeTV's prints being more complete, here's a credits sequence from one of their episodes. The original Fox logo is there in all it's glory, and even the sponsor plug is intact as well!

 

[connierebel]

I would gladly sign a petition, and promote it on Facebook and other places as well!