The Columbia/Sony Wishlist Thread - Page 2

BillWatkins, I guess you're not aware that Sirk's Shockproof is already out on DVD. It's part of the Sam Fuller Collection that came out a few weeks ago.

Good thread, but don't forget the UPA Jolly Frolics series in that section...

These included brilliant animated short subjects like Madeline (1952), The Tell-Tale Heart (1953), Christopher Crumpet (1953), Rooty Toot Toot (1951), the four Gerald McBoing Boing cartoons, Ragtime Bear (1949; Mr Magoo), Punchy De Leon (1950; Fox and Crow) and other memorable cartoons like The Popcorn Story, Giddyap, Unicorn In The Garden, The Emperor's New Clothes, Family Circus and so on... the most innovative and influential to come from the studio and overdue on DVD considering these were at least released on VHS years back in several volumes!


Also, I'll second the votes for "Two Rode Together", "Crime and Punishment", "Escape In The Fog", "Knock On Any Door", "The Walking Hills", "The Whole Town's Talking", "Blind Spot", "Framed", "The Dark Past", "Tight Spot", "The Key", "Johnny Oclock", "She Married Her Boss", "Forbidden", "Convicted", "Between Midnight and Dawn", "Adventure In Manhatten", "A Bullet Is Waiting", "Mickey One", "Lovin' Molly", "The Deadly Affair", "The Running Man", "Providence" and "R.P.M."... probably in that order, although admittedly, I'd probably pick any from the list at a good price point. The cartoon classics and noirs are my number one wants though!
Edited by MarcoBiscotti - 11/17/09 at 6:12pm

Marco, LOVIN MOLLY is now controlled by Lion Gate.

I meant X,Y, AND ZEE. the Elizabeth Taylor film, but CRIMWAVES would be great too.

Also forgot to mention two filsm with a great peformance by Richard Attenborough, SEVERED HEAD and 1Q0 RILLINGTON PLACE with Judy Geeson.

Speaking of Geeson, some more films she did for Columbia, HAMMERHEAD, BERZERK and THE EXECUTIONER with George Peppard.

And speaking of Peppard, his film PENDULUM with Jean Seberg.

Oh and Tyrne Power vehicle ABANDON SHIP!  that still packs a punch!


Edited by walter o - 11/17/09 at 10:56pm

how about widescreen releases once again

MACKENNA'S GOLD

"     PICNIC

"      ANNIE

etc....

It would be wonderful to get the whole picture not the full screen pan & scan version

I have widescreen DVD's of all three films. 

All the young men
paratrooper.

These are two of Alan Ladd's best war flicks.

I had "MacKenna's Gold" at one point in widescreen but never got around to "Picnic" but now they are ONLY available Pan and Scan (this is 2009 isn't it?) as is "Annie" and others

was also looking to pick up "Lord Jim" but it's OOP

While we're at it... OAR (!!!) Anatomy Of A Murder

Re: Anatomy, I found this online (from a DVD Talk discussion about OAR): True? False?

(It actually reminds me of the quasi-controversy over the DVD versions of Anatomy of a Murder. The R1 version is 1.37:1, which is how Premminger filmed it. The R2 and 4 versions are 1.85:1 and they chop off considerable parts of the frame horizontally. I really fail to see how this is any different from P&S, at least in effect.)

From Here to Eternity has never been released in it's OAR either.

I'd also like to add to the list:

None Shall Escape (44)
The Brave Bulls (51)
Eight Iron Men (52)
The Juggler (53)
Edge of Eternity (59)


Edited by MLamarre - 11/20/09 at 8:28am

Say what? How could ETERNITY's OAR been anything but 1.37:1, which is how it's presented on disc? A widescreen format would be incorrect?

Hi all! I support DVD releases for these titles:

• Shopworn - Pre-Code
• Virtue - Pre-Code
• The Criminal Code (1931) - Howard Hawks
• The Miracle Woman (1931) - Frank Capra (+1)
• Forbidden (1932) - Frank Capra (+2)
• The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) - Frank Capra (+1)
• Man's Castle (1933) - Frank Borzage 
• Lady by Choice
• Crime and Punishment (1935) - Josef von Sternberg (+1)
• She Married Her Boss (1935) - Gregory La Cava (+1)
• The Whole Town's Talking (1935) - John Ford (+1)
• Craig's Wife (1936) - Dorothy Arzner
• Too Many Husbands
• This Thing Called Love

• Penny Serenade (1941) - George Stevens
• The Lady Is Willing (1942) - Mitchell Leisen
• Escape in the Fog (1945) - Budd Boetticher (+2)
• Blind Spot (1947) - Robert Gordon (+ 2)
• Framed (1947) - Richard Wallace (+2)
• Johnny O'Clock (1947) - Robert Rossen (+2)
• The Dark Past (1948) - Rudolph Maté (+1)
• The Return Of October (1948) - Joseph H. Lewis
• Knock on Any Door (1949) - Nicholas Ray (+3)
• The Reckless Moment (1949) - Max Ophüls (+1)
• Undercover Man - Joseph H. Lewis
• Slightly French (1949) - Douglas Sirk
• The Walking Hills (1949) - John Sturges (+1)
• Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) - Gordon Douglas (+2)
• The Clouded Yellow (1950) - Ralph Thomas (+1)
• Convicted (1950) - Henry Levin (+2)
• No Sad Songs For Me (1950) - Rudolph Maté
• The Woman in Question (1950) - Anthony Asquith (+1)
• The Brave Bulls
• Man on a String
• A Bullet Is Waiting (1954) - John Farrow (+1)
• Human Desire (1954) - Fritz Lang (+2)
• Three For The Show (1955) - H.C. Potter
• Tight Spot (1955) - Phil Karlson (+2)
• 1984 (1956) - Michael Anderson
• 7th Cavalry (1956) - Joseph H. Lewis
• Interpol
• Autumn Leaves (1956) - Robert Aldrich
• Hot Blood (1956) - Nicholas Ray
• The Burglar (1957) - Paul Wendkos (+1)
• Jeanne Eagels (1957) - George Sidney
• The Long Haul
• The Story Of Esther Costello (1957) - David Miller
• Gideon's Day (1958) - John Ford
• The Goddess (1958) - John Cromwell
• Gunman's Walk (1958) - Phil Karlson
• The Key (1958) - Carol Reed (+2)
• Screaming Mimi (1958) - Gerd Oswald
• Edge of Eternity
• Porgy and Bess (1959) - Otto Preminger
• They Came to Cordura + extant deleted scenes if any

• Two Rode Together (1961) - John Ford (+1)
• The Running Man (1963) - Carol Reed (+1)
• The Victors (1963) - Carl Foreman
• Lilith
• In the French Style
• Pumpkin Eater (1964) - Jack Clayton
• Love Has Many Faces (1965) - Alexander Singer
• Mickey One (1965) - Arthur Penn (+1)
• The Deadly Affair (1966) - Sidney Lumet (+1)
• Three On A Couch (1966) - Jerry Lewis
• The Night Of The Generals (1967) - Anatole Litvak
• A Dandy in Aspic (1968) - Anthony Mann / Laurence Harvey
• The Go-Between (1970) - Joseph Losey (+1)
  • A Severed Head (1970) - Dick Clement
  • 10 Rillington Place (1971) - Richard Fleischer
  • A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) - Peter Medak
  • Young Winston (1972) - Richard Attenborough - incl. deleted scenes
  • Burglars (1972) - French and English dubs
  • Zee and Co. / X, Y and Zee (1972) - Brian G. Hutton
  • The Hireling (1973) - Alan Bridges (+1)
  • Oklahoma Crude (1973) - Stanley Kramer
  • The Stone Killer (1973) - Michael Winner
  • White Line Fever
  • Remember My Name
  • Providence (1977) - Alain Resnais
  • Housekeeping + Bill Forsýth & Christine Lahti commentary
  • City of Hope

A Blake Édwards box set

Edited by Stefan Andersson - 11/21/09 at 7:14am

Its OAR is 1.85:1

Would love to see VIRTUE, starring Carole Lombard, which has already been mentioned here. Also, any other Lombard titles controlled by Sony.  The more pre-Codes, the merrier.

Also, from the '70s...WHITE LINE FEVER and REMEMBER MY NAME, please.

CITY OF HOPE and THE MUSIC OF CHANCE--my laserdiscs were Columbia/TriStar...don't know if they are still controlled by Sony.

Another plug for THE STONE KILLER and HARD TIMES in its OAR again.

Guy Madison westerns, please, such as:

Reprisal
The Hard Man

Seconded.

I'm unconvinced on an ETERNITY OAR of 1.85:1. Here's DVD Savant on the 01 release:

"Columbia/Tristar's DVD of From Here to Eternity looks fine, although I'm confused by the film's aspect ratio. 1953-55 were the years of AR confusion, what with formats breaking out left and right like cases of ... the measles. The best way to tell what aspect ratio was intended is to look at the opening credits, to see what shape the title text blocks follow. Here the main titles matte perfectly well on a 1:78 16:9 monitor, but when the show starts, it's definitely 1:37, no mistake. Fox cable television shows a CinemaScope promo filler that has a shot of a lobby display for From Here to Eternity that says 'now in widescreen' or something to that effect ... Savant is just guessing when he says that perhaps the titles were reshot for 1:66, and found their way back onto the flat feature later when transfer copies were made. " And, in 03, re: the Superbit: "For awhile, I was hoping that Columbia would reformat the picture in 1:66 16:9, to show it in the aspect ratio of its Widescreen reissue in 1954. The main titles are certainly grouped for such a screening, and play perfectly well matted on a widescreen monitor. But From Here to Eternitycomes from a year of format transition, 1953, Half of that year's releases were flat (War of the Worlds) and the other half followed the new cropping to 1:66 trend (Kiss Me Kate, It Came from Outer Space). To me, most of the picture still looks better at the normal 1:37 setting."

Re: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.  As I recall, the primary shooting dates were in March, 1953.  Columbia went all-widescreen in April, and according to sources such as BoxOffice and American Cinematographer, the first features lensed in their 1.85 ratio were MISS SADIE THOMPSON, RENEGADE CANYON, and I RIDE ALONE.  Of course, Fred Zinnemann and Burnett Guffey aren't around to tell us, but some sources I've spoken with are clairvoyant, so who knows?

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE was shot in February, 1953 and is 1.37.  KISS ME KATE was shot in the spring/summer of '53 and is 1.75-1 (this is undebatable-- an interview with the DP and director at the time confirms this ratio).

About "From Here To Eternity", is 1:37 the same AR as 4:3 (1.33:1)?  Is that what is referred to as "Academy Ratio"?  I seem to recall somewhere that the term referenced to most films made before 1954.

If "...Eternity" is available anywhere as something other than 4:3, I'd buy it in a second.  I saw that "Superbit" DVD at Amazon but it lists that also as 1.33:1 .

More screwball comedies like THIS THING CALLED LOVE which has been restored already, as per here, and anything with the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Melvyn Douglas, Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne, Carole Lombard and Jean Arthur that may still have lying around. I would gladly get a third and fourth screwball comedy icons.

If Jack says it is 1.37, then it is 1.37.  After reading so many of his posts, one can tell that he is in the know.  The confusion not only comes from when the film was shot (not when released), but from re-releases where the studios would push it as "now in widescreen."  People that saw the re-releases will always be convinced that it was widescreen and it was when they saw it, but that does not make it originally so.  I also agree with another poster that if you look at the DVD there is no doubt that it was composed for 1.37.

After being in exhibition for many years, I remember Disney enclosing a note in it's animated and live action re-releases telling the projectionist what the OAR was for the film, if filmed before 1953.  The projectionist that work at the theatre I was at, was a true professional and pulled out the old lenses and showed it in the proper OAR.  Thank goodness the theatre was built in the 40's and could still mask off for that ratio. 

I'm a huge fan of Glen Erikson, and I'm very pleased that he's one of the few DVD reviewers to bother checking 50s films for widescreen matting. That said, he does have a slightly confusing habit to "follow the credits" - ie. do the credits matte for wide? This is why he thinks IT Came From Outer Space is wide (I told him its Academy and he says he's seen it screened wide) and he thinks Beast With A Million Eyes is Academy (because the credits are full frame on the DVD) whilst the simultaneous Five Guns West is pan'scan on DVD. I'm not sure what the latter two films are, you can't always go off the video transfers.

What I like about DVD Savant is that a) they've got it right nearly all of the time and b) they're willing to make corrections if noted otherwise.

Of course, when it comes to being "definitive" (which I would hardly call anything even I say), you must always look at the film print to make the final call.  So much goes on in the video realm that it is usually impossible to tell that way.

I also agree that the below series should be released...each are quite popular amongst genre buffs:

Crime Doctor
Whistler
Boston Blackie

Oh indeed. BTW, do you know anything about the ratio for Five Guns West? Is it a widescreen film? Thanks!

No idea-- never ran a print of the film.  SWAMP WOMEN, Corman's previous film (and I believe his first credited gig as a director) is 1.85.

II'd love to see a five pack of these WWII films:  Anthony Mann's THE HEROES OF TELEMARK, Peter Glenville's ME AND THE COLONEL, Carol Reed's THE KEY, Anatole Litvak's THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS, and Carl Foreman's THE VICTORS.  All but THE VICTORS have already been released on R2.  Hell, it would be worth releasing them one at a time (on "Martini Movies"?) just to get them out there.

I'd like to see a British horror set, perhaps containing

Night of the Demon (the current one costs more then an Icons Set!)
Creeping Flesh (currently OOP)
Creatures The World Forgot
Corruption (I THINK this one is Columbia...)

I'll try and think of some more!