MGM Lean & Hitchcock Releases (1 Viewer)

[Haggai]

Hitchcock is my favorite director, and that's one of my favorite movies by him. It's a wild chase across Europe during WWII, with all sorts of spying, counter-spying, and intrigue along the way. Very much in the 39 Steps/North By Northwest mold. Not quite as good as those two, and there are some occasional plot holes and twists that are so gaping it's hard not to laugh, but it's an amazingly exciting movie that holds up remarkably well. I can't wait to own a good transfer of this one!

 

[RoyGBiv]

I would be interested in many of the Lean films, but I'm not sure I want to spring $100 for the set.

In Which We Serve is a movie I would really want to see again. I saw it about 20 years ago when I was home ill one day, and it was on cable. A great movie if my memory serves me well. Some of the others would also be interesting such as Great Expectations. Another movie I haven't seen in years, but I still remember Pip watching his "benefactor" warming himself by the fire.

SMK

 

[Herb Kane]

Similarly Crawdaddy is Gun Crazy - another UA title due out in the noir box set. Not sure how they acquired it either.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Walter Wanger produced Foreign Correspondent, thus Warner owns it.

A lot of Wanger's films ended up in the Allied Artists package, which later became part of Lorimar. Lorimar was purchased by Warner Bros.

Other films in this package include House on Haunted Hill (Originally AA) and Being There (Lorimar, through UA).

 

[Roger Rollins]

FYI...

The Walter Wanger films (FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, STAGECOACH et al) are owned by Castle Hill Productions. WB has the video rights through Castle Hill. WB has been distributing some of Castle Hill's stuff on video since the '80s.

These ownership films have nothing whatsoever to do with Allied Artists or Lorimar.

 

[Brian W.]

I'm working overtime today, so I had an opportunity to do a little further checking. I can verify that Foreign Correspondent, The Wrong Man, and Strangers on a Train: Special Edition are all in the works from Warner.

So the titles I know for sure are coming are:

Dial M for Murder
Suspicion
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Stage Fright
I Confess
Strangers on a Train: SE
The Wrong Man
Foreign Correspondent

So that's eight, and it was supposed to be a 7-disc set. Maybe Strangers on a Train: SE is not part of the boxed set?

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I guessing they wouldn't include Strangers in the box set since it's been out before - and still in print - and it would make a very nice 2-disc SE with both cuts and a lot of extras.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Assume there is no chance that Dial M will be in 3D?

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's what I came up with too after doing some further checking on Castle Hill.

I believe Warner mentioned during their chat that "Strangers on a Train" will be a SE release and will not be included in the box set.






Crawdaddy

 

[Jeff Adkins]

When I watched Rope the other night, I noticed it was a Warner Bros. film. I wonder how Universal ended up with it.

Jeff

 

[BarryM]

For any of you guys don't know "This Happy Breed", it's a wonderfully made color film about a lower-middle class family life between the great wars. It was written by Noel Coward and stars Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Stanley Holloway, and Kay Walsh. It's one of those perfect British films.

I can't wait!

 

[Patrick McCart]

I think Hitchcock purchased the rights to the film from Warner Bros. in the 1970's. He did the same for all of his Paramount films, except for To Catch a Thief (the 4 re-purchased films are Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much '56, and Vertigo. Psycho was exchanged for MCA stock a few years earlier). Hitchcock's estate seems to own the 5 films, but Universal has exclusive distribution rights.


As for 3-D, no major studio has released a vintage 3-D film to DVD in 3-D, so I doubt Warner would all of the sudden do it with Dial M For Murder. They've even said they dislike the current technology.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

This is incorrect.

WB was only the distributor of ROPE. Rights reverted to Hitchcock's estate years ago. Warner never sold them. MGM even distributed ROPE internationally in the 1960s.

Universal obtained the rights to ROPE (along with the other films that were previously released by Paramount)in the early 1980s.

Paramount never owned the 5 films. They had distribution rights that lapsed and reverted to Hitchcock. He kept them out of distribution for several years, with the estate eventually liberating them after he passed away.

Whether the estate still "owns" them, and licensed them to Universal, or if Universal purchased them from the estate outright, I do not know.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Rope was one of the two independent productions Hitchcock entered into with Sidney Bernstein after his Selznick contract ended. The other was "Under Capricorn". They were produced under Hitchcock & Bernstein's "Transatlantic Pictures" shingle. Both were distributed by Warner Brothers. I can't remember whether it was a "pure" distribution deal or if WB also shared some of the production costs.

Besides Rope, the four other films for which Hitchcock purchased the rights and left to his family were "The Man Who Knew Too Much (remake)", "Vertigo", "Rear Window", and "The Trouble with Harry". All but "Rope" were originally produced jointly by Paramount and various Hitchcock-controlled production companies, but have resided with Universal since 1984.

Regards,

 

[Robert Harris]

The rights to the Hitchcock films were not purchased.

There was an initial limited distribution license with Paramount.

The rights reverted, as I recall, in the mid to late '60s and were held until a deal was structured for distribution to go to Universal, leading to the 1983 release.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Ahhh... the IMDB comes through. Assuming it is correct, here are the names of the production companies that held the copyrights for the Paramount Hitchcocks (besides "To Catch a Thief"):

Rear Window - Patron Inc.
Vertigo & The Trouble with Harry- Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
The Man Who Knew Too Much - Filwite Productions

Regards,

 

[Jason Hughes]

Anybody hear anything new on the David Lean boxset?

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

What with the Sony take-over, I am sceptical about this being released any time soon. I'm actually amazed that the Errol Morris set made it. But after the recall of the recent MIdnite Movies, I'm not exactly waiting for a new press release for the Lean film and I deperately want to see those films given new transfers and extras.

 

[Dick]

What "recall of the recent Midnight Movies"...?

 

[DouglasBr]

Add my name to the list of the "patiently waiting". Now that Anchor Bay has release a spate of classic British cinema (the War and Ealing Collections), I'm definitely anxious to see the Lean films get their due (at the MGM price point mind you).