Movies not on DVD caught in 'rights hell' (1 Viewer)

[Charles H]

The UK print of RACHEL AND THE STRANGER runs 12 minutes longer. Particularly odd is the omission of the "restored" TALES OF MANHATTAN from dvd (the W.C. Fields episode was on the VHS). Is Fox "squeamish" about the Paul Robeson episode in a Disney/SONG OF THE SOUTH sort of way? TCM has been serving the 75th anniversary better than Fox Classic Movies....particularly this month.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Charles H

The UK print of RACHEL AND THE STRANGER runs 12 minutes longer. Particularly odd is the omission of the "restored" TALES OF MANHATTAN from dvd (the W.C. Fields episode was on the VHS). Is Fox "squeamish" about the Paul Robeson episode in a Disney/SONG OF THE SOUTH sort of way? TCM has been serving the 75th anniversary better than Fox Classic Movies....particularly this month.

So is there a problem with Warner's use of a UK print? That doesn't sound like a rights issue.


As far as Tales of Manhattan, Fox just is not releasing anything. Unless they can add 100 other titles to a collection and throw in one or two never released DVD's to entice collectors to spend $200 on a bunch of titles they already own just to get that elusive one. I don't think they are "squeamish" since we have most of the Shirley Temple's, all available Fox Charlie Chan's and all of the Mr. Moto's and those films have caused problems as recent as six years ago.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by JoeDoakes





Actually, Tom Weaver said over at the Classic Horror Film Board that he had suspected that the problem with The Cat and the Canary had to do with the current owner of the rights to the play and that was confirmed by some people he knows at Universal. In addition, I suspect that the Bob Hope film Nothing but the Truth also had some rights issues that were resolved by Universal as it was based on a play, and Amazon has a listing for a VHS of that title from Universal that apparently never was released (i.e., I think they planned to release it on VHS but it was cancelled due to rights issues). I also would not be surprised in the Bing Crosby/W.C. Fields title Mississippi had rights issues Universal cleared. Universal catalog titles had a great year in 2010. I am hoping for more in 2011. The Uninvited will almost certainly be released (by TCM if not Universal). As has been discussed here and elsewhere, Island of Lost Souls has print quality issues and I am more concerned about that one.

Thanks for the clarification on those titles. Another film that Universal did rescue from rights's hell was It Ain't Hay. So I will give them credit, but they are still a little behind Warner's and Sony in releasing older favorites that are not tighted up in rights problems.

 

[Charles H]

It would seem that Selznick's multiple versions of The Wild Heart (aka Gone to Earth) would be a shoo-in for Criterion to release. The original Michael Powell version is available on R2 and it's gorgeous, essential Powell. The Mamoulian reedit is exactly the academic comparitive analysis that Criterion does so well. Who now owns the Selznick films? Anchor Bay, MGM, ABC, Fox, Sony?

 

[Charles H]

THE JOKER IS WILD is a Holy Grail for Sinatra fans. Other Sinatras MIA: ASSAULT ON THE QUEEN (TCM showed a nice LBX of it a couple of weeks ago), COME BLOW YOUR OWN, THE NAKED RUNNER, DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE, MEET DANNY WILSON, JOHNNY CONCHO, SHIP AHOY!

 

[JoHud]

We can also add "The Fixer" to the list. It seems the movie is caught in some "clearance issues" regarding distribution.

 

[Thomas T]

Well, [COLOR= #0000cd]The Fixer [/COLOR]is available in Spain (along with the missing in action [COLOR= #006400]The Devils[/COLOR]) so it appears the rights problem doesn't extend to Europe.

 

[Charles Smith]

I don't know if this is a rights issue, but what's up with Seconds? Paramount DVD's long out of print (of course).

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Charles H

It would seem that Selznick's multiple versions of The Wild Heart (aka Gone to Earth) would be a shoo-in for Criterion to release. The original Michael Powell version is available on R2 and it's gorgeous, essential Powell. The Mamoulian reedit is exactly the academic comparitive analysis that Criterion does so well. Who now owns the Selznick films? Anchor Bay, MGM, ABC, Fox, Sony?

The Selznick films have been owned by ABC since around 1966 for the specific use on ABC Sunday Night At The Movies so they should be controlled by Disney, but Disney choose not to deal with them on a Home Entertainment level (Miramax) and leased those rights to MGM around 2005 after their agreement with Anchor Bay expired. MGM has done very little with the titles except for the well-known ones, such as REBECA, SPELLBOUND, I'LL BE SEEING YOU and DUEL IN THE SUN and that was just a bare-bones release.


However, THE WILD HEART was not a part of the package that ABC purchased. As you know it was a co-production between The Vanguard Company (Selznick) and The Archers, which bad blood with Selznick's "interference" caused several lawsuits. RKO released the film in the US, so Warner's may still have the US rights as their successor or Studio Canal might control all the rights since they own British Lion which released the film in the UK under the GONE TO EARTH title. Most of the Archer titles, I believe ended up with Rank, and if this one did then Criterion would be a great home for it.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Chas in CT

I don't know if this is a rights issue, but what's up with Seconds? Paramount DVD's long out of print (of course).

I think it is just a Paramount thing and not a rights issue. There are so many OOP Paramount titles that you could fill well, but course GREASE, FUNNY FACE, and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S would not be in that well with their 100 or so re-releases.