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Re: Movies not on DVD caught in 'rights hell'
SPLIT IMAGE was actually produced by Polygram, during their first stab at financing films in the '80's. Those films seem to be in a limbo - the video rights at one time were divided among Embassy video (IMAGE, KING OF THE MOUNTAIN, DEADLY BLESSING), Columbia (SIX WEEKS), Universal (ENDLESS LOVE, AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER), and later Vestron/Artisan (reissues of the Universal titles). Polygram even had a short-lived TV division that was later sold to King Features/Hearst Entertainment, and TV rights to those movies went with them.
So far, the only film from that package to reemerge on DVD is AMERICAN WEREWOLF, which somehow reverted to John Landis and George Folsey, and was relicensed to Universal. I had believed that the remaining films would have gone to MGM along with the whole pre-96 Polygram library they bought, but a theater-operator friend who miraculously found a print of SPLIT IMAGE to screen for a festival said he got it from Universal. I haven't been able to investigate this any deeper though.
My speculation on BUDDY BUDDY is that the rights may have reverted back to producer Jay Weston - another film he produced, NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER, is no longer owned by its original studio of release (Columbia) either.
\"As I looked back over my life, I realized that I enjoyed nothing--not art, not sex--more than going to the movies.\" -- Gore Vidal
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