Important Made-For-TV Movies We Need On DVD and/or Blu (1 Viewer)

[calvinm]

Penda's Fen (BBC) - Alan Clarke's fantastic 'Play for Today' written by David Rudkin was selected as one of the 100 Best British Films by Time Out. Other terrific Clarke films not on DVD include Horace, Diane, Baal (starring David Bowie!) and Christine.

Bluebeard's Castle (SDR) - Michael Powell's first production after the traumatic critical reception of Peeping Tom

Noon Wine (ABC) - Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Dance of the Seven Veils (BBC) - One of my favourite Ken Russell films, it caused such outrage on its original (and only) broadcast that some MPs tabled a motion to condemn the BBC in Parliament. It's only available in horrendous quality on YouTube as Richard Strauss' estate withdrew the rights to his music but, with the copyright on his work expiring in a few years, perhaps they could be persuaded to allow it for a fee?

La veritaaaa (RAI) - The only film directed by Cesare Zavattini, the great Italian screenwriter who wrote Bicycle Thieves.

Duel has been on DVD.

Isn't the theatrical cut the only one on DVD though?

 

[DVDvision]

I don't remember, but it's in the open matted TV ratio anyway. It's obvious watching the film it was composed for widescreen. I think someone put out a fan edit in widescreen, and you couldn't tell it was matted watching it.

 

[Professor Echo]

TRIBES, WHEN MICHAEL CALLS, DAUGHTER OF THE MIND and THE CHALLENGE have all been shown on Fox Movie Channel in their European theatrical cuts, which are fantastic.

Some of the original ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK and ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEKEND titles have popped up on public domain releases. The key is to find one that is at least watchable as I believe it's probably the best you are going to get for many of these. At least they can be seen again.

 

[davidHartzog]

Modcinema.com offers some made-for-tv movies on dvd, but the quality varies. I bought The Underground Man, Peter Graves as Lew Archer, and it is very watchable.

 

[Regulus]

Stowaway to the Moon - A child sneaks aboard a NASA Moon Rocket and is shot into space. He winds up saving the Astronauts lives.

Fire in the Sky - A Comet is discovered to be on a collision course with earth.

The Strainger _An Astronaut lands on an Earth-like Planet and finds himself being pursued by government agents, the Planet has an Orwellian-type regeme called "The Perfect Order"

 

[atfree]

ABC (if they own the rights) could make a killing if they released a box set of their Movies of the Week. Just to name a few:A Cold Nights DeathKilldozerDuelShirts/SkinsThe ChallengeTribesMost of these movies of the week have never been released in any home video format.

 

[MCCLOUD]

Universal has released Duel on DVD. Also, Universal has released Killdozer as part of their Universal Vault Series MOD DVD-R. In my opinion, both Duel and Killdozer look very good on DVD and DVD-R respectively. Both are available at Amazon.com.

Take Care!

Robert

 

[Andrew Radke]

I have to go with "A Very Brady Christmas". Sure, I wouldn't classify it as 'important'......and technically it IS on DVD so long as you're willing to buy the complete series of "The Brady Bunch" to obtain it, but I would like to see this made available as a standalone release. Unbelievably cheesy......yes, but watching this every year was a family tradition of ours. A tradition that died when the VHS tape gave up the ghost. It holds great nostalgia value for me and is what I consider a 'feel-good' Christmas film. I simply don't think it's fair that people who boughtt the complete series individually got short changed on the film (and other extras) exclusive to the big box set.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I have to go with "A Very Brady Christmas". Sure, I wouldn't classify it as 'important'......

Oh...it's important in its own, unique way.

 

[David Rain]

Interesting topic. I wouldn't normally include the terms "important" and "tv movie" in the same thought.

 

[Walter Kittel]

This is more of a wish list vs. a compendium of the TV films that made an impact on broadcast television, but here goes...

The Jericho Mile 1979 - Really enjoyed Peter Strauss in this title. Early effort of the great Michael Mann.
Tribes 1970 - Something I would love to see again; and speaking of Darren McGavin...
The Challenge 1970 - Saw this before I'd ever seen Hell in the Pacific and it made a big impression on me at the time. Love the survival genre.
Savages 1974 - More survival and Andy Griffith as an antagonist.
The Love War 1970 - An interesting little SF film with Lloyd Bridges and Angie Dickinson.
The Old Man Who Cried Wolf 1970 - Pretty great cast including Edward G. Robinson, Sam Jaffe, Martin Balsam, Ruth Roman, and Ed Asner.
The Eyes of Charles Sand 1972 - The title is enough.
A Cold Night's Death 1973 - Pretty effective, and atmospheric thriller.

I used to watch the ABC Movie of the Week regularly and while some titles have made it to DVD (DVD-R?) there are a lot more still unreleased.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Here's another vote for the classic A Cold Night's Death. Two other TV movies I'd love to see released; The Screaming Woman (1972) with Olivia de Havilland and Joseph Cotten, and Amber Waves (1980) with Dennis Weaver and Kurt Russell.

 

[JamesSmith]

Murder Can Hurt You. I enjoyed this ABC tv movie. It was a spoof of the tv detective genre. Fun and silly. Narrated by Don Adams

The Enormous Egg. TV-movie version of the children's book. Narrated by Ed McMahan. Probably lost to history, but hope springs eternal every now and than.

A Howling in the Woods. Barbara Eden tv movie, which co-starred her and Larry Hagman.

Miss Pickerell tv movies. Two made in the early seventies.

A Cold Night's Death. Already mentioned above.

Mutant X. Technically not a tv movie, but it played at the late night movie spot.

These are the movies I want to see come out on DVD.




James

 

[davidHartzog]

Mr. Jericho, with Patrick McNee.

 

[Regulus]

The Aquarions

The Deadly Tower

Family Flight

Irwin Allen's Fire

Irwin Allen's Flood

Runaway!

Search for the Gods

Sky Heist

Skyway to Death

Starflight, the plane that couldn't land

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

More:

THE RUNAWAYS (1975, Lorimar/Warner)
SOLE SURVIVOR (1970, Cinema Center/Warner)
BIRDS OF PREY (1973, Tomorrow Entertainment) --got a substandard DVD release from VCI, now long OOP
WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? (1974, Metromedia/Fox)
CODE NAME HERCLITUS (1967, Hovue Enterprises/Universal)
FEAR NO EVIL (1969, Universal)
RITUAL OF EVIL (1970, Universal)
WORLD OF DARKNESS (1977, Time-Life)
THE WORLD BEYOND (1978, Time-Life)

 

[MCCLOUD]

The Aquarions

The Deadly Tower

Family Flight

Irwin Allen's Fire

Irwin Allen's Flood

Runaway!

Search for the Gods

Sky Heist

Skyway to Death

Starflight, the plane that couldn't land


I believe that The Deadly Tower, Fire!, and Flood are available from the Warner Archives as MOD DVD-R discs. You can also I believe purchase them from Amazon.

Take Care!

Robert

 

[Ethan Riley]

Savages & Where Have all The People Gone? Plus any spooky/gothic/horror movie from the 70s. ALL of them.

 

[Gary16]

[ Isn't the theatrical cut the only one on DVD though?[/quote]Yes

 

[Worth]

I don't remember, but it's in the open matted TV ratio anyway. It's obvious watching the film it was composed for widescreen. I think someone put out a fan edit in widescreen, and you couldn't tell it was matted watching it.

Is that in reference to Duel? There was an interview with Spielberg some years ago where he discusses how he prefers the TV version to the theatrical version, and specifically mentions that the movie was composed for television, and that the widescreen version reveals mistakes that were never meant to be seen.