I am pretty sure this film stayed with Paramount; the pictures that MCA (Universal) bought were the pre-1948 films. This came out the same year as Sorry Wrong Number (1948) which Paramount owns. Also as a Hal Wallis Production, his films stayed with Paramount such as The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers (1946).
[COLOR= #0000ff]I beg your pardon. Universal is doing stellar preservation work on the Paramount library. Bob O'Neil and Mike Feinberg are producing gorgeous prints of these pictures, many of which have been shown at Cinecon in recent years. If Universal is not putting them on DVD, it's not because the materials are imperfect.Originally Posted by DeWilson /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm not holding my breath for better printsDue to the existing shape of the library.
Well, their broadcast of SWING HIGH, SWING LOW made REMEMBER THE NIGHT look positively pristine.
No complaints here on the Pre-Code Collection, nor Lonely are the Brave and Trail of the Lonesome Pine. I am sure the Claudette Colbert collection will be up to their good standards (Kudos to Bob and Mike). I think everyone is trying to find a reason for the lack of releases this year other than economy and lack of mass interest. It is hard to accept the fact that millions of people are not breathlessly awaiting the release of a favorite obscure film, but in reality I know that more than likely only about a couple of hundred. No profit there.
SWING is a public domain title - if a good print exists, I've never seen it.
TCM first showed "Remember the Night" around Christmas a couple of years ago, and IIRC that print looked fine. I'm not an expert on the fire at Universal and what might have been lost in it, but ever since the fire TCM has run the poorer version of the film with the MCA logo several times.
Dan's right. The transfer of "Remember the Night" TCM ran years ago was much nicer than the one they've run since the fire. I've often wondered if this was a coincidence.
That is disturbing. I don't know how TCM receives films that it licenses. What we see on TV is a film transferred to tape. If the films were destroyed surely the tapes survived. Unless its like syndicated TV shows which are transferred by satellite onto a hard drive. Local TV stations are required to erase the shows after they air.
Actually, I understood that it was a lot of the video and audio masters that were destoyed, not the films themselves. The archival film elements should be stored in properly protected storage facilities elsewhere. As far as Universal's film library is concerned, the worst thing that happened is that new video masters may need to be created. From what I hear, it was the audio archives that took the big hit since there are no film elements to fall back on.
I think we are starting to realize just how much was lost in the Universal fire. It was scary to learn that the original tape master (from UCLA's nitrate print, since deteriorated) of Island of Lost Souls may have been destroyed. That may have been the highest quality element left on that film.
Since there is a good R2 DVD of REMEMBER THE NIGHT in Italy that came out earlier this year, I doubt that's more than a coincidence. Moreover, the box set that included the film, also included NO TIME FOR LOVE which Universal is releasing as part of the Claudette Colbert collection. So I bet that it won't be long till a R1 release comes along.
Thanks for the background, Eric.
I guess I am being picky, but The Egg & I and the Ma & Pa Kettle Series are true born Universal Pictures and indicative of the type of films the company was making in the late 40's and early 50's as was the Abbott & Costello films. I would love to see some great transfers of the Henry Aldrich series from Paramount. This series is truly rare and pretty good. It was sort of Paramount's answer to the MGM Andy Hardy series.
Masters on these must have been handy and accessable.
