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The Man From UNCLE?? - Page 5

post #121 of 687
4/16/06 at 9:31am
And if Warner wins, then what, it goes back in the vault with the rest of their 50s and 60s catalogue?
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post #122 of 687
4/16/06 at 10:20am
Interesting thread! It reminded me of the laserdisc box set from MGM. I just dug it out. It has a publishing date of 1992 and does have the MGM/Turner logo.

The episodes list as follows:

The Project Strigas Affair
The Never Never Affair
The Off-Broadway Affair
The Take Me To Your Leader Affair
The Galatea Affair
The Deadly Toys Affair
The Five Daughters Affair-parts 1 and 2
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post #123 of 687
4/16/06 at 12:16pm
Quote:
And if Warner wins, then what, it goes back in the vault with the rest of their 50s and 60s catalogue?


I'm not sure that's a fair statement, although slow out of the gate, Warners has started releasing some of more popular shows from that era.

When the chat with the Animation/TV folks from Warners occurs, that will be a great opportunity to ask about their plans for UNCLE and other shows from that era.
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post #124 of 687
4/16/06 at 3:51pm
Quote:
I'm not sure that's a fair statement, although slow out of the gate, Warners has started releasing some of more popular shows from that era.


Given that Warner Bros. was about the most prolific studio during the later 1950's thru the mid 1960's, I'd say the statement is more than fair.
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post #125 of 687
4/18/06 at 4:00pm
I do wonder whether Ted Turner might have retained some rights to certain assets like The Man From UNCLE. It might be the reason that the UNCLE movie set was released by Warner in nearly every Region except Region 1.
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post #126 of 687
4/18/06 at 4:30pm
I hope this rights issue is sorted out soon, so we can get this gem on DVD! I grew up with UNCLE in reruns on the CBC (as well as Danger Man/Secret Agent), so I haven't seen the series in decades.
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post #127 of 687
4/24/06 at 6:57pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by imported_Bruce Campbell
Has Anchor Bay relinquished the rights back to Warner? I beleive this whole sorry processwill take another year or so....

The problem isn't with Anchor Bay but with the company which licensed the show to them. Apparently someone claiming to have gotten rights from Norman Felton was dealing with Anchor Bay, without involving Warner.
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post #128 of 687
4/24/06 at 10:17pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Out of curiosity, is Norman Felton still alive?

By the way, was The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV movie from 1983 ever released on DVD?
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post #129 of 687
4/24/06 at 11:30pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff#
Out of curiosity, is Norman Felton still alive?

Yes, he turns 93 this week.

By the way, was The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV movie from 1983 ever released on DVD?

I don't think legitimately.
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post #130 of 687
4/25/06 at 3:08pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

It was available from Amazon.Com where I got my copy here...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...v=glance&n=130
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post #131 of 687
4/26/06 at 11:16am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Henry, that's not sold by Amazon, it's sold by a third party. They often use Amazon to sell DVDs since it makes them look legit, when they really aren't.

Gord
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post #132 of 687
4/26/06 at 11:41am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Amazon was selling Return of the Man from UNCLE at one time. This was a number of months ago. That listing on Amazon has been there for some time.
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post #133 of 687
4/26/06 at 10:16pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

No one is talking but my feeling is this is a big mess. The whole deal was done surreptitiously and Warner was not involved. Well, that's a problem. This whole deal reminds me of the time USA network supposedly bought Adventures in Paradise. They were mastered to tape, listed in TV Guide Mon-Fri and all set to air except no one told Fox and they had gotten them from a third party which claimed to have the rights. Whoops. Don't know what Fox said but that never happened and I've got a feeling we're looking at a similar story here.
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post #134 of 687
4/27/06 at 9:32am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Gord, when I bought the "Return of the Man from UNCLE" last year it was an Amazon.Com release though it appears now to no longer be available, except as "used" from those third party vendors that you mentioned.
While we're waiting for the lawyers to work out this issue, for those who aren't already aware of it you can get the R2 WB release of five of the UNCLE movies from Amazon.UK here... http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...353488-1265217
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post #135 of 687
4/27/06 at 10:54am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

AB believes that they are on sound legal footing to release The Man From UNCLE. You would think that this was meticulously researched by AB's attorneys. I suspect that this will be stopped only by an injunction. Don't forget the Paul Henning estate kept the rights to a number of episodes from The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.

It would be interesting to know more about why The Man From Uncle movies were never released in Region 1. Could it be that Warner made a tacit admission that they do not have the rights to The Man From UNCE in region 1? This could be a nuisance lawsuit by Warner to use their deep pockets to outlast AB and get something they're not entitled to.
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post #136 of 687
4/28/06 at 9:39am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Hi All!
My very first post-and glad to be here!
In regarding "UNCLE"-and I won't rest until this finally hits DVD, there also might be rights issues concerning the possible UNCLE movie that keeps getting shuffled about. There alone, John Davis supposedly has rights to the film, and so does a Lindsey Dunlap of Ember Entertainment (sp?)-so right there, there's two camps that probably are looking at some sort of a cut off DVD sales (Dunlap outright used to claim to own the rights to it all-maybe?)
What they all fail to see is that one feeds the other for the good-if the DVD's come out, it might spawn interest in a new film, and if a new film is truly going to be made, there's your marketing tie-in, all ready to go.
I hope we get to see it soon-any of it, please!
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post #137 of 687
4/28/06 at 7:29pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Why do you think there would be a Man from U.N.C.L.E. feature film remake?

I sure wish these studios would learn that they don't work! Cases in point from last year alone: Bewitched, The Dukes of Hazard, and The Honeymooners. In the 1990s, we were plagued with such disasters as The Wild Wild West, The Avengers, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Leave it to Beaver. Dallas is next. Enough of the big-screen remakes!
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post #138 of 687
4/29/06 at 4:31am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff#
I sure wish these studios would learn that they don't work! Cases in point from last year alone: Bewitched, The Dukes of Hazard, and The Honeymooners. In the 1990s, we were plagued with such disasters as The Wild Wild West, The Avengers, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Leave it to Beaver. Dallas is next. Enough of the big-screen remakes!

You said it "Just give us the series on DVD"
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post #139 of 687
4/29/06 at 3:32pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

A MFU movie has been kicked around for years now-again, check those names I listed above, or google it-you'll see how the project keeps rising and falling.
Now, whether or not it would be any good is anyone's guess, but a release of the tv series on DVD would be its perfect marketing tie-in. Meaning, a movie might stink, but we get the DVD's out of it.
P.S.-last director tied to possible MFU film was Matthew Vaughn.
Again, google Man From Uncle movie, and you can read all about it.
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post #140 of 687
4/30/06 at 10:59am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrancisP
AB believes that they are on sound legal footing to release The Man From UNCLE. You would think that this was meticulously researched by AB's attorneys. I suspect that this will be stopped only by an injunction. Don't forget the Paul Henning estate kept the rights to a number of episodes from The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.

I don't think that is true about the Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.
The programs that were released are in public domain. The DVD company made arrangements with the Henning estate to use the Henning estate's copies of the public domain shows. At the time the shows were made the copyright needed to be renewed after 28 years. If it was not, the show went into public domain. Henning estate probably also owns the rights to the theme songs so they were included. In this way they bypassed
CBS/Paramount who I suppose owns the series.
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post #141 of 687
4/30/06 at 6:36pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

I noticed that literally a few hundred of The Jack Benny Program radio shows are in the public domain and can often by downloaded for FREE. Yet only at least 2 dozen of the TV version are as well, and they are for sale in some stores.

Will we ever see Jack Benny's TV show given the royal release treatment on DVD by season? There are 15 years worth of shows, although the first 5 seasons of the TV show had a limited number produced because the cast was still doing the radio show as well. Most of those are among only 106 that appeared in syndicated reruns.

I don't want to purchase the public domain DVD titles, because the quality of the available film prints is typically poor.
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post #142 of 687
5/1/06 at 8:59am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

The main point is that Norman Felton may have retained some rights to the show that AB wants to use. Certainly home video was not a thought in the 60s. Also the entire MGM library has gone through so many hands since the '60s so its very possible that Warner does not own it.

I think the show would be in better hands with AB. Warner is okay with supplements but the AB discs look like something special in terms of the supplements. While Warner's movie division is excellent with older material, sometimes the other divisions of Warner are not up to snuff as witnessed by the Tom and Jerry snafus.
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post #143 of 687
5/1/06 at 2:03pm

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

The show has been released to the home market before (VHS, Laser Disc) and it has always been through MGM or Turner or Warner. To think that Norman Felton all of a sudden has 100% of the rights back is not very believable in my opinion.
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post #144 of 687
5/2/06 at 7:25am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Neither you nor I know under what terms they were released on LD and VHS.
From other posts, it appears that Warner does not have the movie rights free and clear. At the time there was no Anchor Bay that could release a product as good or better than the major studios so the majors were the only game in time.

AB obviously had a reason to believe that Warner does not own the rights. Unfortunately we will never know. I believe that Warner does not want any court to rule on this. What they will rely on is their deep pockets to sit out AB. It's sad because the show was getting first class treatment from AB and better than what it would get from Warner. Unfortunately the winners will be
the lawyers who get thousands of billable hours and the consumers get the shaft. Thank you Warner.
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post #145 of 687
5/2/06 at 7:49am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrancisP
Neither you nor I know under what terms they were released on LD and VHS.
From other posts, it appears that Warner does not have the movie rights free and clear. At the time there was no Anchor Bay that could release a product as good or better than the major studios so the majors were the only game in time.

AB obviously had a reason to believe that Warner does not own the rights. Unfortunately we will never know. I believe that Warner does not want any court to rule on this. What they will rely on is their deep pockets to sit out AB. It's sad because the show was getting first class treatment from AB and better than what it would get from Warner. Unfortunately the winners will be
the lawyers who get thousands of billable hours and the consumers get the shaft. Thank you Warner.


I think AB was an unwitting dupe in all of this. I could be wrong but I can't believe that something happened where after 40 years the rights reverted back to Arena Productions. I think this was just a case of someone overstepping their bounds and offering something to AB that they did not have the rights to do. Go check the library of congress website. The copyright renewal says Turner Entertainment on it. Nothing about Norman Felton or Arena Productions anywhere.

As for the first class treatment you mention, well to my knowledge, not even counting the feature version of the pilot (To Trap a Spy), there are at least 4 different versions of the pilot that exist. The original broadcast black and white version, a color version that aired in syndication in the late 80s, the black and white Solo pilot and a longer, color Solo pilot. No mention that any of the other 3 versions other than the aired version was made on the pre-release notice. Doesn't sound very "first class" to me.
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post #146 of 687
5/3/06 at 10:39am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

I don't think that AB is as stupid as you think they are. I find it hard to believe that AB would spend money on a project without running it past any lawyers to look at the rights issue. This is a company that has no film library of its own and probably has to deal with rights issues on a regular basis. If they did then they must have gotten a clearance from their attorneys. There
may be lawyers out there that disagree with you.

Also AB has a large amount of supplemental material planned for this disc. It appears to be far more extensive than what Warner usually puts on their tv
discs. I would much rather see AB release this than Warner. Warner's tv division is not even close to Warner's movie division in terms of quality.
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post #147 of 687
5/4/06 at 7:48am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrancisP
I don't think that AB is as stupid as you think they are. I find it hard to believe that AB would spend money on a project without running it past any lawyers to look at the rights issue. This is a company that has no film library of its own and probably has to deal with rights issues on a regular basis. If they did then they must have gotten a clearance from their attorneys. There
may be lawyers out there that disagree with you.

Also AB has a large amount of supplemental material planned for this disc. It appears to be far more extensive than what Warner usually puts on their tv
discs. I would much rather see AB release this than Warner. Warner's tv division is not even close to Warner's movie division in terms of quality.

I really hope you are right but time will tell. Then again, USA was all set to run Adventures in Paradise 15 years ago when they learned they didn't have the rights at the last minute. And I'm sure they had lawyers too.
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post #148 of 687
5/5/06 at 1:57am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

the release of the MFU has been removed from Anchor Bay's schedules. This will not happen at all I fear and as previously stated i think it will be years before the rights issue is sorted out. Once again it is corporate greed that rules...
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post #149 of 687
5/5/06 at 4:58am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Campbell
the release of the MFU has been removed from Anchor Bay's schedules. This will not happen at all I fear and as previously stated i think it will be years before the rights issue is sorted out. Once again it is corporate greed that rules...

That really sucks. Can't studios find a way to make it happen? They're only creating a bootleg market (which I do not endorse!).
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post #150 of 687
5/5/06 at 8:58am

Re: The Man From UNCLE??

And then the studios complain about piracy.
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