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Over the last two years, what good classic comedies have been released or will be soon?

#1
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10/19/09 at 5:56pm
  • Joined: June 2004
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I have been out of the game for a while though I have checked in from time to time but not enough time. Looking for Screwball, Slapstick, Satire, Farce and Anarchy, preferably from the 30s, 20s and 40s but the 50s to 70s too. I expect Warner has released some more boxsets by now but I do not know what has been released. Please point me to some gems I have missed, any good films come out I probably haven't heard?
Please sign our petition to get Warner to release DVDs of all films that they can featuring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey and/or Dorothy Lee.
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#2
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10/19/09 at 6:52pm
  • Joined: January 2005
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Tory,
If you list which classic comedies you've bought during the last two years, or that you're aware of being released, it will be easier for me and save time so I'm not trying to remember or search my collection for titles you already know about.

Thanks.

P.S. No Wheeler and Woolsey yet (except the few public domain titles), but I bet that at some point they'll be released in the archives as part of a discounted bundle, like the Jolson bundle recently released. I have no source other than the original news articles that report that Warners plans to eventually release all their library into the archives, if not released on pressed discs.

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#3
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10/19/09 at 8:45pm
  • Joined: December 2004
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Icons of Screwball Comedy Vols 1 and 2 came out from Sony in August.
My DVD Collection
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#4
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10/20/09 at 8:33am
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Thanks for replying BrianRi, I have bought none, I have been having hard times, the only things I have bought DVD wise were from big lots and bargain bins here and there, a gift or two and my Internet access has been limited, only grazing a few minutes every once in a blue moon but I am currently online trying to take care of some fraud that has just happened to me, plunging me back in debt again. Still, I am hoping to catch up on some things soon and comedy is my favorite genre. I do see that I need to pay attention to the Warner Archives, I hope Wheeler & Woolsry get some release and press attention, it would be nice if Warner would sponsor some stars on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. I read they were on TCM again recently. The only releases I was aware of missing were collections of Little Rascals and Abbott and Costello.

I will look into those Icons of Screwball Comedy, thanks GregoryMesh.
Please sign our petition to get Warner to release DVDs of all films that they can featuring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey and/or Dorothy Lee.
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#5
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10/20/09 at 7:00pm
  • Joined: January 2005
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Tory,

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

The only comedy dvds I've seen or bought during the last few years are:

March of the Wooden Soldiers--MGM (I think it was previously only available in a set)

American Slapstick Volume 2--All Day Entertainment
Harry Landon: Lost and Found Collection--" "
Becoming Charley Chase collection--" "

Bob Hope MGM Movie Legends Collection (Alias Jesse James/Boy, Did I Get the Wrong Number/The Facts of Life/I'll Take Sweden/The Princess and the Pirate/The Road to Hong Kong/They've Got Me Covered)

A couple Danny Kaye films--A Song Is Born, On The Riviera

The Three Stooges continue to be released, years 1952-1954 are due next month.

Besides small companies like "Looser Than Loose", that's about all I can think of that has been recently released in Region One, as far as classic comedians.
Edited by BrianRi - 10/20/09 at 7:14pm
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#6
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10/21/09 at 1:44am
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There was the massive Abbott & Costello set that included the heretofore unreleased "It Ain't Hay" from Universal.  I gladly double-dipped on that mega set to get a nice, clean copy of that film.  Plus, this newer set used single-sided discs and had a nice booklet to boot.  Highly recommended for any true A&C fans!

Gary "that was my biggest comedy purchase within the last year" O.
"Do not challenge supernatural unless armed with sword of truth"
                                             ...CHARLIE CHAN ON TREASURE ISLAND

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#7
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10/21/09 at 6:35am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS View Post

There was the massive Abbott & Costello set that included the heretofore unreleased "It Ain't Hay" from Universal.  I gladly double-dipped on that mega set to get a nice, clean copy of that film.  Plus, this newer set used single-sided discs and had a nice booklet to boot.  Highly recommended for any true A&C fans!

Gary "that was my biggest comedy purchase within the last year" O.
 

I doubled dipped on this one also and highly recommend it.  Not necessarily for It Ain't Hay, but for the cleaned up transfers and single-sided discs.  I still wish we could get that damn hair on the negative of Hold That Ghost.  It flops in during the title sequence of every copy I have so that is why I blame the negative (VHS, Laserdisc, both DVD pressings).  But then, I guess it is kind of nostalgic now.
“For God's sake don't say yes until I've finished talking.” - Daryl F. Zanuck  
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#8
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10/21/09 at 6:44am
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Not sure if you have looked through the Warner Archive site yet or even want too, but one of the best screwball comedies ever, The Mad Miss Matron is listed and there are a few more.  That is one title that is almost worth the $20.00 for it.
“For God's sake don't say yes until I've finished talking.” - Daryl F. Zanuck  
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#9
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10/21/09 at 7:06pm
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Also, the Claudette Colbert collection, coming up Nov. 3, includes Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938). I'd read unflattering things about it, but I recently watched a copy I recorded off TCM, and thought it was excellent, much better than I'd been led to expect. Directed by Lubitsch and written by Brackett and Wilder, I'd rank it right alongside Easy Living (1937, written by PReston Sturges) and Midnight (1939, also written by Brackett and Wilder).
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#10
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10/21/09 at 11:50pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ahollis View Post

... I still wish we could get that damn hair on the negative of Hold That Ghost.  It flops in during the title sequence of every copy I have so that is why I blame the negative (VHS, Laserdisc, both DVD pressings).  But then, I guess it is kind of nostalgic now.
 

I wonder WHAT negative they used - they could have used a safty negative ( Maybe made in the 1950's?)  and not go through the trouble to going back into the salt-mine for the camara negative :)
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#11
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10/22/09 at 6:22am
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Ever since I saw that "hair" on a VHS copy I have wondered if the original release was printed that way.  If it was, it must have given the projectionist a slight heart attack every time it flopped up and then flopped out of the picture during the title sequence.  Back then there were projectionists that really cared about presentation.  And there are still some that do today.

I also thought maybe it was a later negative that was produced (I would use internegative but I believe that term was not used until the 1970's) when Realart had control over the films for re-releasing in the late 40's and early 50's.  I believe that most of the trailers that are included use the Realart logo. 

Now back on topic.

I wish there were more Screwball Comedies on DVD and hope that Sony will dig back in the vault and give a couple more volumes.  Columbia had Jean Arthur under contract and she was one of their better comedic actresses. 
“For God's sake don't say yes until I've finished talking.” - Daryl F. Zanuck  
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#12
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11/9/09 at 5:14am
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I agree about 'The Mad Miss Manton' - terrific movie and you get more of that Fonda-Stanwyck chemistry. Last night, I also saw 'Easy Living', an early Preston Sturges comedy - absolute fluff, but funny as hell. It's amazing how Edward Arnold made a career out of playing the same character in every movie - sometimes benevolent and sometimes evil, but he never got tiresome. I think also that Jean Arthur is one of the great screwball heroines. She had a kind of ethereal quality that allowed her to float above the proceedings even as they were spiralling out of control all around her.
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