Pre-Code Hollywood Coll. from Universal (April 09) (1 Viewer)

[Charles Ellis]

Yes, and I'll second the need for more Deanna on DVD!

 

[Corey]

This news epic. It's only January, but this will one of the years greatest DVD shockers. Thanks Universal!!!!!!

 

[JohnRa]

Agreed!

Thanks for the link, Karine.

 

[ColbyCo82]

The cover-art looks more inspired by Noir than by the pre-code era. Kinda makes it look cheap. Still buying no matter what the cover looked like.

 

[Coopsgirl_31]

Simon,
Universal owns the majority of Paramount’s films made between 1929 and 1949.

I’m just as excited as y’all about this set and will definitely purchase it as soon as it’s available in the hopes they will keep ‘em coming!! I would love to see another Gary Cooper set like the one they released two or three years ago as many of his early films were made at Paramount and are owned by Universal.

 

[BethHarrison]

Well I just went outside to see if Hell had frozen over - but nope!!!

What a pleasant surprise!!!! Will purchase with Warners Pre-Code Collection.

Thanks Universal. Now some more Noir would be nice before I cave and buy Blue Dahlia and The Glass Key in PAL version.

 

[Mike*HTF]

I certainly never saw this coming!

Merrily We Go to Hell is marvelous - I'm very surprised at Universal (in a good way).

 

[Richard M S]

Awesome news!

MURDER AT THE VANITIES is a true camp classic. I saw it at the Film Forum years ago; it is a blast.

And TORCH SINGER! I have always wanted to see this movie.

I have seen THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE, I hope they release it in a future volume; (though in all honesty, IMO it really is more of a historical necessity than an entertaining film.)

 

[Charles H]

One of the most provocative films that I have ever seen is Cecil B. DeMille's THIS DAY AND AGE (1933), which is a pro-vigilantism melodrama which has college students dangling a gangster (Charles Bickford) over a pit of rats in order to extract a confession of murder from him. It ran afoul of the Breen Office because of its proFascist sympathies. Whatever works!

 

[Simon Howson]

Sure, it just doesn't quite make sense promoting Paramount films under the banner "Universal Backlot Series".

But really, I'm happy they are releasing these films, instead of them doing another round of reissues.

 

[Jefty]

yes--I'm amazed and thrilled.

they're sitting on a goldmine at Universal, because (unlike Fox, RKO, Warner and MGM films) these titles DO NOT show on any specialty networks that I know of--I hope they open the floodgates this year (and bring back the actor/actress 5-packs!!)

 

[Richard--W]

This is an exciting release and I'm all for it. It's a must buy. I hope this signals a new direction for Universal home video.

 

[Jim_K]

Very very cool set, I'll be buying it.

I could care less about the technical inaccuracy of including Paramount films under the Universal banner. Whatever marketing twist gets these films released is fine by me.

Hope this Universal Backlot series produces both a Film Noir set (Blue Dahlia, Glass Key, Ministry of Fear, The Dark Mirror, Woman on the Run, Secret Beyond the Door, etc) and a Horror set (Island of Lost Souls, Murders in the Zoo, Uninvited, etc) this year.

 

[Jay E]

This is very surprising and welcome news...I will keep my fingers crossed that this is not a exception to the rule of "ignore our library" for Universal.

 

[Paul_Scott]

As a long time Toby Wing*-nut, I'm absolutely FLOORED by this announcement. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to see a legit, studio DVD release of Search For Beauty...and to get it along with another Toby featured rarity like Murder At The Vanities?!? WOW!
This IS epic news. The only negative I see to this here release is that now I'm left with a glimmer of hope that I'll actually see Come On Marines and Story Of Temple Drake on a legit DVD in my lifetime. I'll be waiting for them now, though hopefully not in vain year after year like with the Noirs. Maybe next time Uni will be bold enough to package up and uber pre-code set for a 'Ford at Fox' level msrp? I don't know about anyone else, but I know I would enthusiastically lay down a couple of C-notes to get 40 or 50 hours worth of rare pre-code goodness all at once.


*Toby Wing is the 'young & healthy' girl Dick Powell sings to in 42nd st- an adorable, proto typical Art Deco blonde chorine who unfortunately rarely rose above the level of supporting player, but was promoted heavily via cheesecake publicity shots in the pages of Film Fun and the like .

 

[Rob_Ray]

Yes, "Search for Beauty" is a must for Toby Wing fans and is a real eye-opener from start to finish. While not the best movie in the set, it may be the most sexually audacious and Toby's table dancing in her teddy isn't the half of it. The plot concerns a health farm which is really a front for some near-pornographic shenanigans using fitness gurus Randolph Scott and Ida Lupino as dupes to make it appear legit. There's lots of leering situations and the scenes in both the male and female shower rooms aren't like anything you'd see after the code.

Ida Lupino is nearly unrecognizable in her early Jean Harlow lookalike period and Toby is absolutely adorable as her not-so-innocent younger sister. A fascinating curio for pre-code buffs that I never thought I'd see on a legit release. I can't wait!

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Wow! Since I don't live near Film Forum anymore the closest I can get to a lot of these is their calendar. I hoped, as I slowly scrolled down the list of films, that I would see THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE included, however I'm thrilled to finally be able to see films like SEARCH FOR BEAUTY and TORCH SINGER after seeing stills in Mark Vieira's SIN IN SOFT FOCUS and reading about them in Mick LaSalle's COMPLICATED WOMEN and DANGEROUS MEN. I feared some of these were lost to the ages.

It's great to have such a nice cross section of personalities in one set. Beyond Miriam Hopkins (TEMPLE DRAKE), I would have loved to have seen my favorite, Carole Lombard, represented with WHITE WOMAN, which has to be seen to be believed. Charles Laughton is at his diabolical best as the rubber plantation owner who is obsessed with Lombard. With Charles Bickford, Kent Taylor, and Marc Lawrence in his first credited role.

 

[Garysb]

This is great and I will be purchasing this set. As for future releases, as has been said, if this set meets sales expectations there will be more, if not there probably won't be. I hope TCM promotes this set in April.

 

[Simon Howson]

True, but I hope they don't lop off the Paramount credits at the start.

 

[ColbyCo82]

I dont think Universal has ever taken the Paramount mountain logos of the old films they control. They always but the new Universal logo first, but the old black and white Paramount logo is usually always there as long as it was in the print that came from Paramount. Depending on the terms of the purchase agreement, Universal might not legally be able to take the Paramount logo off.