Universal Backlot series still alive : Barbara Stanwyck on 4/27/10

You can never have too much Barbara Stanwyck... or Douglas Sirk for that matter.

Awesome! I hope through solid sales a message can be sent to Warners, Universal et al about our preferred format... It's a great collection with some terrific and long-wanted Babs pics.

Excellent!  I actually get to buy some movies in April.  I've had money burning a whole in my pocket, but none of the other studios want it.

Edited by Eric Peterson - 2/5/10 at 11:52am

Wonderful news! Must have for me! :)

Sounds great! Any word on extras?

INTERNES CAN'T TAKE MONEY (1937) ,
The first film appearance of Dr. Kildaire. Joel McCrea played the part in this film. Can't wait.

Was hoping that the next Backlot collection would be Volume 2 of Pre-Code Hollywood, but some Stanwyck will appease me. :)

I have the Sirks in R2 but getting this nevertheless. It put a smile on my face.

YASSS!!!! This is gonna slay.

Very pleased about The Lady Gambles.

Always nice to see another studio capable of producing pressed discs.

Hopefully they get around to a Blacklot Film Noir set before the DVD market goes completely belly-up.

This is a must buy.  Thank you Universal for continuing to release excellent titles on standard DVD.  I will continue to your support you releases in this format.

It's easy for us to blame the studios, but I don't think it's fair considering the state of the economy and that outside of a small segment of classic film fans, not enough people are buying these releases for them to be profitable enough for the studios. 

Yet certain studios (and boutique labels) continue to produce pressed discs in this climate, that fact can't be ignored.   For most of these companies, not nearly as much as a few years ago, but that's to be expected.  Since the studios/labels aren't in business to release these as a favor to us, it only stands to reason that they must be finding a way to make enough ROI to continue releasing more.  How they do it in this economy, I don't know....but good for them.

No doubt that "profitable enough"  varies by studio/company as well as their skill in marketing their product.

Personally, I think this is the magic answer.  If you're not consistently increasing shareholder value, then you're falling behind.  Unfortunately, that's the bad that goes with being a massive conglomerate.  It's not whether you're making a profit, it's how much you're increasing that profit.

Warner could in all likelyhood release pressed discs and continue to make money at it...just not enough money to impress whoever needs to be impressed.  Particularly now that they've come up with this other way of making money that requires so much less effort.  Of course the overall market for this method is limited so when something has broader sales potential, they'll bless us with a pressed disc.  Ironically, you, me and everyone else who has a piece of Time Warner in our 401k mutual funds are partially responsible for this. 

Edited by mdnitoil - 2/7/10 at 7:06am

"It's easy to blame the studios..."
Well, i'm guessing the grousing would have been reduced in half at least had Warners [who initiated this shaft, er shift] not tried to sell the cheap-knock off stuff at full pressed prices. That would seem to suggest that while they're cognizant of the current economic conditions, but have no understanding that it is also effecting their customers.

The Backlot collection so far has had a decidely feminine tilt to it.  Most of what was on this collection or the Claudette Colbert Colletion or the Pre-Code Collection would have been date movies at most, or purely "women's pictures" when originally released.  The odd thing about it is that Universal has been releasing some fairly obscure films while many other better known films it owns have never been put on DVD.  If the trend continues, I would suggest a Veronica Lake collection.  Granted, she wasn't in the same league with Claudette Colbert or Barbara Stanwyck acting-wise, but it would be a great pretext for releasing The Glass Key, The Blue Dahlia, and I Married a Witch on DVD.  Better yet, release a Veronica Lake-Paulette Goddard Backlot Collection, include those three films plus Paulette Goddard's two unreleased films with Bob Hope The Cat and the Canary and Nothing But the Truth (reportedly two of his best) and Goddard's Kitty (Leonard Maltin calls it one of her best roles) or Northwest Mounted Police.  I am grateful for anything but a Backlot Collection with The Glass Key, The Blue Dahlia, I Married a Witch, The Cat and the Canary, Nothing But the Truth, and Kitty would be cause for a major cellebration.

Blue Dahlia and Glass Key are available from UK Universal if you have a region free player. I watched both together this afternoon. Great prints of both.

Quote:
My thoughts exactly.

Universal and Sony continue to release pressed discs and I'll support that first.

Ditto!  As long as there are pressed classics, I will ALWAYS support those over the DVD-R trend that is currently taking place.  If and when those completely disappear, I will consider buying the DVD-Rs, but not until then.  That's why I have a DVD-Burner connected to my cable box.

 

Awesome news.  Pressed discs for my favourite actress of all time!

Maybe this means that the female stars of the Golden Age are more recognizable in the 21st century than the male ones... or at least the female ones who worked at Paramount and Universal.  The biggest male stars (Gable, Flynn, Bogart, Cagney, Grant, Wayne etc.) worked primarily at other studios. 

Who were the biggest male stars on the Paramount or Universal lots?  Fred MacMurray?  Alan Ladd?  Randolph Scott?  Rock Hudson?  Jimmy Stewart?

Paramount's biggest star that still has drawing power today has to be Gary Cooper. They had him from the 1920s and throughout the 1930s. They also had William Powell until 1932 or so. Fredric March also did considereable work at Paramount and won an Oscar there, but most people dont know who he is today. In my opinion March was the most talented actor working in the 1930s and 1940s. Cary Grant did all his pre-stardom work at Paramount. Richard Arlen was Paramount's silent/early-talkie equivilent to a Gable-esq leading man but he never really caught on, but left a huge body of interesting work that will probably never be released on DVD.

Two of Paramount's biggest stars were Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.  Was any other entertainer in the Twentieth Century  as huge as Crosby in as many different media: movies, records, radio and television?  But Hope was a close second in three of those four categories.

In very much agreement here.  I would love a Frederic March set.  There was already Cooper set, but I agree that he was the biggest male star there that still has name recognition.  I'm sure there are still many unreleased 30s Coop films that could be in a future set.

Also, did Henry Fonda make enough movies there for a set?  I ask because he was in both "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and "Spawn of the North" and because he did not sign a contract with Fox until the 40s, he could have been in a decent amount in Paramount

There are only English subtitles for the films in The Barbara Stanwyck Collection.