MGM (UA) SPECTACLES

DVD Empire and Movies Unlimited are listing a release date of March 25 for the dvd debuts of TARAS BULBA, SOLOMON AND SHEBA, and KINGS OF THE SUN.

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That's really terrific!!!

I see MGM/UA is also releasing a 50th Anniversary Edition of 12 Angry Men on March 4th and a Billy Wilder giftset (Apartment SE, Some Like it Hot SE, Kiss Me Stupid, The Fortune Cookie) on the same day.

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I'll be watching carefully for news of the transfers, but a cautious thumbs up here, particularly for the SE of 12 Angry Men - in the past, MGM has treated the UA back catalogue shamefully at times.

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KING OF THE SUN is a fun adventure film, with Yul Brynner in top form, and a amusing miscast George Chakiris! TCM been running a beautiful widescreen print of this, so hopefully this will be used for the DVD.

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Both Taras Bulba and Solomon and Sheba re stereo films, but the specs for Kings of the Sun show it to be released in stereo !!! I never knew this to be a stereo film. I hope its not a mistake !!

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Can't wait for details on the 12 Angry Men S.E. - I'm hoping they go all out for this film!!

And I'm ecstatic re. the possibility of new improved transfers of the MGM Billy Wilder films... but what about Witness for the Prosecution, Irma La Douce, One, Two, Three, Avanti! and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes though??

Do you think they will eventually follow-up with another box set or are the current transfers/editions as good as we're gonna get?

Also, do we really need another edition of Some Like It Hot??

That's the one BW film in MGM's library that's actually well represented on DVD with the recent 2-disc Collector's Edition... will this just be repackaged along with the rest of the films in the set?

It sounds like Kiss Me Stupid and The Fortune Cookie might just be repackagings, and the branding of Some Like It Hot as a S.E. rather the recent 2-disc C.E. is also bothersome. Though of course specs are unlikely to be absolutely precise and accurate at this point...

I can't wait for more details on this release... if done right, it might just be the gift set of '08 but I'm still approaching with caution given the track record!

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I'm very suspicious of "Anniversary editions" and even "Special Editions" that are not 2 discs. Sidney Lumet and Jack Klugman are the only survivors of 12 ANGRY MEN, but it would be great if they could find a kinescope of the original "Studio One" production (Robert Cummings, Edward Arnold, Franchot Tone).

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I'll get Kings of the Sun and Taras Bulba for sure! I'm a big fan of J. Lee Thompson's film North West Frontier (AKA Flame Over India), so I'm keen to see any other epics / adventure / action films that he made soon after. Both of the films were shot by Joseph McDonald a great Fox stalwart, and with scores by Elmer Bernstein and Franz Waxman respectively, so they should at the very least look and sound good.

Solomon and Sheba has been out in regions 2 and 4 for a few years, so it is interesting that it is finally going to get a R1 release.

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That wont be an issue. One was found about five years ago.

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Taras Bulba aired very recently on BBC2 in the UK, a slightly faded print shown in 16.9 ratio. I had not seen this picture since its original release and apart from Franz Waxman's sensational score it is quite probably one of the worst, most hypnotically idiotic pictures ever made. There is not a single performance that isn't risible - Brynner stands with thighs apart like a Ray Harryhausen genie and wears a white mop on his head; Curtis looks 12 years-old and makes elevates his 50s yonder-lies-the-castle-of-my-fodder performance into the Olivier class. And at all times the picture wishes it was a musical, a sort of Seven Brides for Seven Cossacks.

I happened to meet J Lee Thompson in the 90s and quizzed him on Taras Bulba. He was full of stories about the Argentine locations and, worryingly, claimed that Yul Brynner was so proud of the picture that he planned to finance a full restoration of the originally-planned three-hour roadshow presentation, an idea nixed by UA when they saw the finished film.

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I guess something is wrong with me, since Taras Bulba is a favorite of mine.





Crawdaddy

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I'm in the same club!

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I'd like some MGM (UA) spectacles, but I don't think I could wear them because of my astigmatism.



But seriously, folks, I hope that there are some special features on Solomon and Sheba that talk about Tyrone Power. Does anyone know if any of his outtakes survive?

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Those are the very reasons that it became a childhood favourite of mine; though I have to say Brynner's priapic performance in Kings of The Sun makes his cossack colonel look like a 16th century needlework teacher - 'thighs apart' acting at it's very best.

I had Waxman's 'Taras Bulba' theme on a 'Geoff Love & His Orchestra' compilation LP (UK readers may recall...), and hearing it still makes me want to don boots and a fur hat and whirl around the room like a...well, a drunken cossack.

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Good to see you on this Forum Adrian (I used to regularly attend the NFT in the '70s and '80s). Hope you become a regular!

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WASN'T THE THREE HOUR ROADSHOW VERSION RELEASED IN EUROPE OR AT LEAST U.K? IT WAS THE VERSION IN ONE OF THE FIRST 70 MM BLOW UPS AND WAS ABOUT THE SECOND RELEASE IF MEMORY SERVES AT THE THEN NEW ODEON HAYMARKET.

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It certainly was one of the first films screened at the new Odeon Haymarket. The version screened was the 124 minute version. Always thought it to be a good "B" movie; a fun film not to be taken too seriously. I do like the score by Franz Waxman and an isolated score on the dvd would be a nice feature.
Regarding Solomon & Sheba didn't Tyrone Power appear in a few of the long shots in the battle sequences.

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They salvaged as much of the footage they'd already shot with Power as they could.

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Brian - The Odeon Haymarket, which was a basement cinema built over an office block, had not been built in 1959 when SOLOMON & SHEBA was released. I went to see BARABBAS at the Odeon Haymarket in 1962 and that was the very first film which the cinema showed (lovely cinema incidentally). SOLOMON & SHEBA opened in 1959 at the Astoria cinema in 70mm (it was filmed in Super Technirama 70).

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Douglas,
Didn't intend to imply that Solomon and Sheba was shown at the Odeon Haymarket. The Odeon was a nice cinema (one of my favourites at the time) except that on quiet scenes you could hear an occasional rumble from the London underground transport system!

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I believe the Odeon was built on the site of the old Guamont.

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" The version screened was the 124 minute version."

Are you sure, Brian. I recall a full roadshow with intermission, which would seem a little pointless with this running time.
I rememberl the Odeon as being very confortable but let down by a screen far too small for 70mm.

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According to the November issue of 'Films and Filming' it ran 143 minutes.

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The R2 DVD runs 136 minutes which, given PAL speed-up, equates to a theatrical running time of 143 minutes.

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Thanks for that, Douglas. I, too, saw Barabbas at the Odeon Haymarket. I thought that was almost a lovely cinema, quite intimate, with cossetting blue seats and golden roll-up curtains. I also distinctly remember its smell, or scent: artificially sweet, somehow perfumed, probably because of its basement environment. It was probably too small for 70mm presentations and I was very disappointed that Taras Bulba had no souvenir brochure, no overture, no 70mm. It was just a movie.

Basement cinemas were never entirely, successful, were they? The Royalty, the Columbia, the Ritz, Academy Two, the Paramount when the Plaza was twinned etc. It's the low ceiling, I think, that spoils everything.

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Strange because the BBFC in March 1963 gives a running time of 123mins 51secs after cuts were made to get the "u" certificate. As I recall there was definitely no overture or exit music and I do not recall having an intermission in the 70mm print we screened. I doubt that there was more than one 70mm print of this title in the UK. The English language print shown at Karlsruhe this year shows a running time of 122mins.
Was there a longer version elsewhere in the world?

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Below is a little information concerning the three MGM Spectaculars that are to be released on DVD this spring (I still have a problem calling these UA films MGM). In all the below source material and other pieces of information, I never located any statements on any of the films having an Overture/Intermission/Exit Music. This is not say that some of the Solomon and Sheba runs did not for while most sources give the 139 running time for the film, two sources also list 141 minutes as the running time. That extra two minutes could be some type of Overture or Intermission. I have a laserdisc of Solomon and Sheba and while it plays over three sides, it does not have an Overture/Intermission/Exit Music.

Taras Bulba – Heicht-Curtleigh Productions (Avala Film sometimes credited as co-producer)
Distributed by United Artists
Opened - 19 December 1962 – Chicago, IL
Eastman Color, Prints by Deluxe - Panavision -122 minutes.

Kings of the Sun – Mirisch Corp.
Distributed by United Artists
Opened – 18 December 1963 – Los Angeles, CA
Deluxe Color - Panavision – 108 minutes

Solomon and Sheba – An Edward Small Production
Distributed by United Artists
Opened – 27 October 1959 – London
25 December 1959 – New York
Technicolor – Super Technirama 70 – 139 minutes

I seem to recall that Solomon and Sheba did not have large 70mm run in the states, only a dozen runs, and since the first 70mm blow-up was not until The Cardinal in 1963, Taras Bulba nor Kings of the Sun received the Roadshow promotion.

I must say that most of the discussion has been from the UK friends and all this information is US, and I am aware of differences in releases, this is just our side of the story.

Sources – American Film Institute Catalogue of Feature Films, AFI Feature Film site, IMDB, Epic Films by Gary A. Smith.

While I am US, I have a fondness of the British Cinemas. I pulled out a book on West End Theatres and re-read the background of the Odeon Haymarket. The pictures showed it was an interesting theatre and one that films could be enjoyed in.

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What was cut from "SOLOMON AND SHEBA" to give it that rating ??
Or what needed to get cut to make it pass the censors ??
It would be great if they had Gina do some commentary on this film !!!!

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DVDpacific.com have Kings of the Sun and Taras Bulba in stock already if anyone is interested. They aren't due out until the 25th.

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Picked up Taras Bulba and Solomon And Sheba today and was able to look some of both. The transfer looks good with good color. The transfer of Solomon is much better than the old LD I own. I can not wait until I have the time to sit for the entire films.

Did Solomon and Sheba run as a Roadshow at anytime? The DVD does not have an Overture, Intermission or Exit Music nor did the LD.