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Movies Not Available on DVD

post #1 of 97
12/8/06 at 10:18pm
Thread Starter 
This is Thomas K. Arnold of USA Today. We are working on a fast-turnaround story about movies that for some reason have not yet been released on DVD--it's a bit ironic that even though the format is nearly 10 years old and next-generation high-def discs are now hitting the market, a good percentage of each studio's library has not been released on DVD. Sometimes it's legal disputes, but more often than not it's the studios feeling that the film isn't marketable for some reason. I'd like to hear from some consumers at tkarnold@aol.com about what films they wish would come out on DVD, and why. Please email me with one or two titles -- they should be recognizable films -- and any info on why they aren't available. Include your name, age, where you live and your occupation. And please include your phone number so I can verify the identity of the responders I plan on using and call you for more detailed quotes. I need to hear from people by Saturday night, which gives us 24 hours for this discussion--and, yes, I've seen all the lists and postings but I want fresh info. Thanks!--Thomas K. Arnold
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post #2 of 97
12/8/06 at 11:26pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas Arnold
and, yes, I've seen all the lists and postings but I want fresh info.

I have seen this kind of "invitation" many times before, and it seems to me more like you want to take advantage of the fact that many people are just too eager to get their names on print, so they will make your work for you.

But hey, what do I know?

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post #3 of 97
12/9/06 at 7:20am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Your readers are probably only interested in movies from the past few years. Looking at the entire history of movies, I conservatively estimate that 99% of them have not been released to DVD, nor ever will be.
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post #4 of 97
12/9/06 at 12:06pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Actually I'm not looking so much for current as movies as important movies. Your 99% figure may be a little high, but you're certainly in the right ballpark. At one major studio only about 20% of the library has been released, and this studio is known as one of the more aggressive ones in releasing catalog product.
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post #5 of 97
12/9/06 at 12:38pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

I think a big one (if not the biggest) is The African Queen.
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post #6 of 97
12/9/06 at 1:15pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

There are three films that I have been waiting patiently for since buying my first DVD player in 1998. They are The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, The Wild Life, and Hardware. They may not be important films to everyone but they are important to me and I'd really like to own them on DVD.
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post #7 of 97
12/9/06 at 1:44pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Ah! "Far From The Madding Crowd", and an unimportant movie called "The Uninvited", starring Ray Milland are my big wants. I'd add two noirs: "The Two Mrs. Carrolls", and "Undercurrent". Why they haven't been made available I don't know. I've heard rumors that FFTMC willl be released soon, but nothing definite.

I'm a female retired person living in the midwest. I'd rather not give out my phone number, thanks. Hope you can help push some of these along, so thanks for asking.
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post #8 of 97
12/9/06 at 3:48pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Quote:
I have seen this kind of "invitation" many times before, and it seems to me more like you want to take advantage of the fact that many people are just too eager to get their names on print, so they will make your work for you.

Well duh, that's the nature of the Arts & Entertainment section of papers. No crime there.

I emailed in the Directors Cut of Until the End of the World.

Honestly I couldn't think of any "recognizable" titles that haven't already been released or announced. Obscure stuff, sure. But he wanted recognizable films. So I didn't mention Alan Arkin's "Simon" or the gawd-awful sequel to Westworld, "Futureworld", or... ooh wait I just thought of another one but I wouldn't want my name associated with wanting to see it on DVD:

Ken Russell's "Whore".
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post #9 of 97
12/9/06 at 4:37pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Mr. Arnold, this thread may be of help to you (if it's not too late):

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...light=on+video
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post #10 of 97
12/9/06 at 6:25pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Enchanted April (1992) directed by Mike Newell (who also directed the last Harry Potter movie) starring Miranda Richardson, Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, John Plowright, Polly Walker... Great movie, great actors, not the most obscure title in the world..... but where is it???
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post #11 of 97
12/9/06 at 6:39pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Holiday Affair, starring Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh is one I recently watched on Turner Classic Movies. I keep wondering every year whether this 1949 Christmas classic will ever make it to DVD.
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post #12 of 97
12/9/06 at 6:59pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

The Columbia westerns made by Budd Boetticher with Randolph Scott.

I would also love to see 'Holiday Affair' released.
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post #13 of 97
12/9/06 at 8:28pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Paramount's Wings (William A. Wellman, 1927) and Fox's Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927). The two Best Picture winners of 1927-1928 are still not on DVD! While Sunrise does have a "freebie" disc part of a box set (and once a mail-in offer), Wings is totally MIA.

Given that all other Best Picture winners are on DVD (except for the OOP Rebecca), they're important to mention!
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post #14 of 97
12/9/06 at 8:39pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

More Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney from Fox

Belle Starr
Tobacco Road
The Iron Curtain
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post #15 of 97
12/9/06 at 8:40pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

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post #16 of 97
12/9/06 at 8:41pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B Ferris
The Columbia westerns made by Budd Boetticher with Randolph Scott.

Dave. I second that request. The Tall T, Decision At Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station. 5 outstanding movies, 3 of them minor masterpieces, What a great box set they would make. Sony has the rights to them all, and it is my understanding that one or more of these films was already restored a couple of years ago. Hard to understand why they haven't done it. Including a documentary on the making of the films would also be nice, however I would rather see the films on DVD sooner than wait for a documentary to be made. Of the non-Boetticher directed Scott westerns the one most deserving of a DVD release is the classic Coroner Creek based on the writings of Luke Short who also wrote the books upon which, among others, Ramrod, Blood On the Moon, Station West, Ride the Man Down, Ambush, and Vengeance Valley were based. Coroner Creek might be a nice bonus feature to include in a box set, since its hard edged style was an early precursor to the Ranown westerns.

c Jim Bur
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post #17 of 97
12/9/06 at 8:41pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Accidental reprint of previous post-delete.
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post #18 of 97
12/9/06 at 8:46pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

PORGY AND BESS is being actively suppressed by the Gershwin estate. This one has never made it to any form of home video, aside from a horrendous bootleg taken from a battered 16mm print.
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post #19 of 97
12/10/06 at 12:14am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

the Jazz Singer 1927 (though I understand it is supposed to be on the way)

other than the african queen, its the only film on the AFI top 100 not released on dvd I believe
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post #20 of 97
12/10/06 at 5:07am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Mame, 1974, starring Lucille Ball. Rotten movie, but it actually sold okay on vhs, years ago. It has a sort of camp fan-base that enjoys making fun of it.

Other than that, I have to ask: why should every movie ever made be already on dvd? Can't the studios release them a few at a time? What's the rush--are all of you dying? Be patient. Every year more and more titles are made available for the first time. Relax...chill...Christmas is coming.
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post #21 of 97
12/10/06 at 5:36am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Among the classics, I'm dying for a widescreen DVD release of The Tarnished Angels, Douglas Sirk's florid 1957 take on daredevil pilots of the 1930's (based on William Faulkner's Pylon) starring Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, and Robert Stack. The racing sequences, in particular, are crying out to be seen in their original scope.

Others: Ace in the Hole, Billy Wilder's excellent 1951 drama featuring great work by Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling; director Fred Zinnemann's beautiful 1952 screen adaptation of Carson McCuller's The Member of the Wedding, with the original Broadway stars Ethel Waters, Julie Harris, and Brandon de Wilde; and two titles MIA on both VHS and DVD, which I've found impossible to catch anywhere over the years: 1952's Where's Charley?, with Ray Bogler recreating his Broadway success, and 1954's Black Widow, starring Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, and Van Heflin.
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post #22 of 97
12/10/06 at 8:13am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

I've always wondered what the hold-up is for Paramount titles like Looking for Mr. Goodbar and The Keep. A lot of other favourites, like Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City or Pedro Almodovar's Matador are rumoured for 2007, but there are still many titles MIA:

SubUrbia (1996, Richard Linklater)
Night on Earth (1991, Jim Jarmusch)
Repulsion (1965, Roman Polanski)
The Krays (1990, Peter Medak)
Bedazzled (1967, Stanley Donen)
If... (1968, Lindsay Anderson)
The Van (1996, Stephen Frears)
Kafka and King of the Hill (1991, 1993, Steven Soderbergh)

and so many more...
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post #23 of 97
12/10/06 at 10:00am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Gosh, here's a BIG second on the original version of "Bedazzled"! I thought last year's R2 release was a sure sign that a R1 version was on the way soon, but no such luck. It's just a shame that most of the principal players are gone now so any release is unlikely to have much in the way of extras. The R2 version has an interview with Barry Humphries (who played Envy), but it looks like not much else.
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post #24 of 97
12/10/06 at 2:13pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry R Colvin
Enchanted April (1992) directed by Mike Newell (who also directed the last Harry Potter movie) starring Miranda Richardson, Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, John Plowright, Polly Walker... Great movie, great actors, not the most obscure title in the world..... but where is it???


Amen and Amen, Jerry!

I get the impression this one might be coming out this year, though. Amazon has changed their page to say they will e-mail me when this one becomes available, as opposed to before when it said "studios currently not producing this title-check back from time to time, etc.". I've found in the past that the movie then becomes available soon.
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post #25 of 97
12/10/06 at 3:59pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

In my mind, the three films that should be on DVD but are jaw droppingly not are "Greed", "The Magnificent Ambersons" and "The African Queen" There may be some reasons for the first two (for the present) but the latter is inexcusable.

Those are the three, besides a multitude of personal wants, that astound me in their lack of availability on DVD.
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post #26 of 97
12/10/06 at 6:48pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

More of Fox classics:
Ramona, Suez, Lloyds of London, Rose of Washington Square, Tin Pan Alley, Stardust, Belle Star, Son of Fury, Tobacco Road, Song of the Islands, Springtime in the Rockies, The Magnificent Dope, My Gal Sal, Tales of Manhattan, Sweet and Low-down, Hello Frisco Hello, A Bell for Adano, Coney Island, Dragonwyck, Clunny Brown, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Margie, Sitting Pretty, The Foxes of Harrow, Centennial Summer, Sentimental Journey, Three Little Girls in Blue, The Iron Curtain, Captain of Castille, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, Daisy Kenyon, Mother Wore Tights, The Gunfighter, Forever Amber, The Fan, Father was a Fullback, Come to the Stables, Cry of the City, Slattery's Hurricane, Road House, Rawhide, With a Song in my Heart, Meet me After the Show, Untamed, Garden of Evil, The President's Lady, Black Window.
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post #27 of 97
12/10/06 at 7:15pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Song of the South?
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post #28 of 97
12/10/06 at 9:47pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD


I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Pirates of Penzance!
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post #29 of 97
12/10/06 at 11:42pm

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

You can also consider movies that are out of print, or effectively out of print, such as FLETCH.
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post #30 of 97
12/11/06 at 8:34am

Re: Movies Not Available on DVD

Could you mention the films of Wheeler & Woolsey? These fellows were as popular as Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers for a time but have been neglected for far too long. Films like Diplomaniacs, Cockeyed Cavaliers, Peach-O-Reno and Hips, Hips Hooray!.

Also of great import is the Hal Roach material that is being neglected from Hallmark, such as many films featuring Laurel & Hardy, Little Rascals, and Charley Chase. Half-hearted releases exist of some but really they are treating these as if they were trash.
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