What Film eludes you? (1 Viewer)

[Sultanofcinema]

Greetings film aficionados!
Over the long years of searching and collecting films, we have had to deal with edited versions of our favorite films, incorrect aspect ratios, bad sound and poor picture quality, region issues and sometimes no availability of that particular film at all. I remember when someone made the decision that Castle Keep was deemed a Wal-Mart title and should and was released flat. (imagine and I saw this in 1969 in what I believe was Magnetic stereo!) The outrage over this was so much that within 6 months the film was reissued properly in its Panavision/ Scope aspect ratio. I understand that a ton of extras were also available but we don't have them. We continue to check sites, sometimes daily, to see if that one film that continues to elude us is going to be released. For me, one of those titles is Blood And Roses from the stable of Roger Vadim. What film do you constantly check on to see if that movie is and will ever be available?

 

[Keith Cobby]

Good thread. Off the top of my head, The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956). Always hoped that TT would put this out. Another is a blu ray of Slightly Scarlet, also 1956.

Agree with you about Blood and Roses, made in Technirama so should look spectacular on blu ray.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Various VistaVision films:
3 Ring Circus
Hell's Island
That Certain Feeling
The Devil's Hairpin
The Joker is Wild
Maracaibo

 

[Thomas T]

Towing (1978), the only Sue Lyon movie I've never seen.

 

[JoeStemme]

Towing (1978), the only Sue Lyon movie I've never seen.

That one's easy. Tubi! https://tubitv.com/movies/697580/towing

 

[Indy Guy]

"Joy in The Morning" 1965 - Richard Chamberlain & Yvette Mimieux.
Music by Bernard Herrmann.
TV mini series "Ellis Island". Richard Burton's final onscreen role, 1984

 

[JoeStemme]

"Joy in The Morning" 1965 - Richard Chamberlain & Yvette Mimieux.
Music by Bernard Herrmann.
TV mini series "Ellis Island". Richard Burton's final onscreen role, 1984

This is turning into Joe The Answer Man!

 

[Arthur Powell]

Many Fox titles currently held hostage by Disney (thanks, Mickey). Two that immediately come to mind:
1. Margie (1946) - at least I have a decent looking copy I recorded off of TCM
2. Bernadine (1957) - apparently the only version ever prepared for tv/cable is a cruddy pan-and-scan master. I would love to see this film in its proper Cinemascope ratio.

 

[JoeStemme]

Many Fox titles currently held hostage by Disney (thanks, Mickey). Two that immediately come to mind:
1. Margie (1946) - at least I have a decent looking copy I recorded off of TCM
2. Bernadine (1957) - apparently the only version ever prepared for tv/cable is a cruddy pan-and-scan master. I would love to see this film in its proper Cinemascope ratio.

BERNARDINE is also on youtube. But, yes, only in pan&scan

 

[bujaki]

Margie is glorious in 3-strip Technicolor. Saw a nitrate 35mm at MoMA during the Henry King series. Charming film. Too bad the Mouse ate it.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Blu-rays of Tin Men, Looking For Mr. Goodbar and 1970's The Adventurers.

 

[bujaki]

Shouldn't this thread be about films that elude you because of their unavailability, as opposed to their home video release?
For instance, although I agree that Looking for Mister Goodbar needs a video release, it has been shown on TCM, so it's not elusive. Just saying...

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Shouldn't this thread be about films that elude you because of their unavailability, as opposed to their home video release?
For instance, although I agree that Looking for Mister Goodbar needs a video release, it has been shown on TCM, so it's not elusive. Just saying...

These would be films I want to own.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Voyager with Sam Shepard and Julie Delphy, not available here on blu ray. Outstanding film. Beautiful print streamed last year on the Criterion Channel. Bugsy, Little Children and A Guide For The Married Man, Heartburn, Falling In Love. A Lot Like Love and Goodbye Columbus.

 

[DigniT@DigniT!]

ST LOUIS BLUES, OKOGE, THE DEVILS, THE MUSIC LOVERS, THAT CERTAIN SUMMER Fully restored THE MAGNIFICENT AMERSONS, Fully Restored THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

 

[Matt Hough]

Already mentioned was The Best Things in Life Are Free (which I do have in a lousy pan-and-scan Fox MOD-DVD). I'd also add Lady in the Dark (which I videotaped off TV a couple of decades ago) and Betty Hutton in Dream Girl (which a dear friend videotaped for me from an NYC broadcast at least twenty years ago).

The one I'd dearly love to have that I've only seen in partial shape and awful fourth or fifth generation detail on YouTube is Paramount on Parade.

 

[Bert Greene]

Elusive? Well, there are a few postwar B-films that are probably around, but I just haven't managed to run across them, even though I've had my eye out for them:

1. "The Great Plane Robbery" (1950-UA) Tom Conway, Lynne Roberts
2. "Sweet Genevieve" (1947-Col) Jean Porter, Jimmy Lydon
3. "Secrets of Monte Carlo" (1951-Rep) Warren Douglas, Lois Hall
4. "County Fair" (1950-Mon) Rory Calhoun, Jane Nigh (cinecolor)
5. "Slippy McGee" (1948-Rep) Donald Barry, Dale Evans
6. "Rookie Fireman" (1950-Col) Bill Williams, Marjorie Reynolds

Then, there are also a few earlier ones, all of which I suspect are still around, but have also tended to elude me over the years, even if I haven't really ever tried truly zeroing in and finding copies:

7. "Woman Wise" (1937-Fox) Rochelle Hudson, Michael Whalen
8. "Citadel of Crime" (1941-Rep) Robert Armstrong, Frank Albertson
9. "Little Orphan Annie" (1938 version / Par) Ann Gillis, June Travis
10. "The Girl from Mandalay" (1936-Rep) Conrad Nagel, Kay Linaker
11. "Tillie the Toiler" (1941-Col) Kay Harris, William Tracy
12. "Crash Donovan" (1936-Univ) Jack Holt, Nan Grey
13. "Sophie Lang Goes West" (1937-Par) Gertrude Michael, Buster Crabbe

Then, lastly, we get into the really older stuff, which for the most part seems to pretty much be locked up in the vaults, and likely haven't been in much circulation anywhere since new. Lots of these, but this is a small smattering of ones I've been curious to see:

14. "Madame Spy" (1934-Univ) Fay Wray, Nils Asther
15. "State Trooper" (1933-Col) Regis Toomey, Evalyn Knapp
16. "Meet the Wife" (1931-Col) Laura La Plante, Joan Marsh
17. "Mystery Woman" (1935-Fox) Mona Barrie, Gilbert Roland
18. "Let's Talk it Over" (1934-Univ) Chester Morris, Mae Clarke
19. "Superspeed" (1935-Col) Norman Foster, Florence Rice
20. "Ever Since Eve" (1934-Fox) George O'Brien, Mary Brian
21. "Lasca of the Rio Grande" (1931-Univ) Leo Carillo, Dorothy Burgess
22. "Dance Team" (1932-Fox) James Dunn, Sally Eilers
23. "Sleepers East" (1934-Fox) Wynne Gibson, Preston Foster
24. "Storm Over the Andes" (1935-Univ) Jack Holt, Mona Barrie
25. "Three on a Honeymoon" (1934-Fox) Sally Eilers, Johnny Mack Brown

elusive, indeed.

 

[Arthur Powell]

The one I'd dearly love to have that I've only seen in partial shape and awful fourth or fifth generation detail on YouTube is Paramount on Parade.

What's infuriating about Paramount on Parade is that UCLA did a restoration/reconstruction of it in the early 1990s, but it is sadly a classic case of a restoration that sits on a shelf except for the rare and seldom screening that only a handful of people get to see. The version that circulates on the gray market and YouTube is a 1950s recut that was done by MCA for its television package of Paramount titles. Interestingly enough, AMC played this recut version several times in the late 1980s, and that is likely the source for what plays on YouTube. I've been hoping that Kino would license this film from Universal, but alas nothing to date other than the UCLA restoration continuing to sit on that shelf.

 

[Rodney]

I could probably make quite a list of movies that I'd love to see available, but one that has been eluding me is The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, a movie of which I've only seen part of when I was a kid sick at home on the local Dialing for Dollars television show hosted by Pat McCormick.

 

[JoeStemme]

So, the definition of "available" for this thread is only on physical media. Should have been made clear at the outset.