What's new

RAINTREE COUNTY on Blu? (3 Viewers)

Andrew Budgell

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
2,279
Location
Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Andy Budgell
OliverK said:
A thought I had while writing the previous post:

As all of this seems to be hindered mostly by money matters I think that studios should acticvely seek to adopt a model where a sponsor gets involved - something like Raintree County brought to you with the generous help of brand or product X - that may really speed things up. The way this is done would have to be sorted out by the legal departments of the studio and the company who form such a partnership but it could mean that all software, whether streamed or on a disc, is preceded by an acknowledgement that the preservation of the movie was made possible with the help of brand/company X - I would love that and promise not to skip that part of the presentation - not that I think they would produce it so that I could ;)

As an extension the company could maybe promote their sponsorship in other venues and in order to promote sales if they want to. Again, this would have to be sorted out in a meaningful fashion but as apparently many studios are not into investing the necessary funds themselves there should not be too many objections. After all Warner in this case does not seem to count on making any money with Raintree County in the near future if ever so they would still have the actual software revenues from discs, streaming, broadcast and other venues and save the restoration expenses.

Maybe one should think of it as kind of an adopt-a-movie program and what better way to start it off than with Raintree County?

Not quite the same thing as what you're suggesting, but when Fox released Cleopatra on Blu-ray back in 2013 they partnered with The Elizabeth Taylor Trust to market the release with Elizabeth's White Diamonds fragrance (which is still the top selling celebrity fragrance year after year). They also released it in conjunction with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Richard Burton, and a gala screening at Cannes benefiting The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. It be great if WB could do something similar. I'm sure someone will tell me to get my head out of my ass, but I would love if a restored Raintree County opened the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival in partnership with White Diamonds and The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation for its 60th anniversary with Elizabeth's family and celebrities who admire her in attendance (Kim Kardashian and Colin Farrell have attended ET AIDS Foundation events in the past). A Blu-ray release could follow, on its own and part of an Elizabeth Taylor boxed set of films (perhaps Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, National Velvet, A Place in the Sun--if WB has rights to the latter), promoted in conjunction with White Diamonds as Cleo was.
 

bujaki

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Messages
7,096
Location
Richardson, TX
Real Name
Jose Ortiz-Marrero
Andy, you should be named Ambassador for the Restoration of Raintree County! Would that your box set dream come true! What a marvelous quintet of titles of the best of the best of La Taylor! Lots of exclamation points, but your post deserves them.

(Now, as a Canadian, do you say ass or arse?)
 

OliverK

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Messages
5,732
Andrew Budgell said:
Not quite the same thing as what you're suggesting, but when Fox released Cleopatra on Blu-ray back in 2013 they partnered with The Elizabeth Taylor Trust to market the release with Elizabeth's White Diamonds fragrance (which is still the top selling celebrity fragrance year after year). They also released it in conjunction with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Richard Burton, and a gala screening at Cannes benefiting The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. It be great if WB could do something similar. I'm sure someone will tell me to get my head out of my ass, but I would love if a restored Raintree County opened the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival in partnership with White Diamonds and The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation for its 60th anniversary with Elizabeth's family and celebrities who admire her in attendance (Kim Kardashian and Colin Farrell have attended ET AIDS Foundation events in the past). A Blu-ray release could follow, on its own and part of an Elizabeth Taylor boxed set of films (perhaps Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, National Velvet, A Place in the Sun--if WB has rights to the latter), promoted in conjunction with White Diamonds as Cleo was.

If it works out I am all for it!


Maybe the box set is a bit too much as it would make it necessary to complete work on even more titles but I will gladly buy such a boxset when it becomes available.


Is it known if Fox was happy with sales of Cleopatra? I thought it was not really treated as a top shelf release for them and they put in less effort than with Sound of Music or Oklahoma!
 

Edward Weinman

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2002
Messages
249
Konstantinos said:
For those who love the score too, the limited to 3000 copies 2CD FSM edition of the complete score is close to being OOP, with less than 150 copies remaining at SAE.

There is also a sale until Tuesday with 30% off on FSM catalogue.

here's your chance. I just got it!

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?pageID=1&forumID=1&threadID=109980&archive=0


http://www1.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/6617/RAINTREE-COUNTY/


373_249411.jpg




By the way, here's a comment about the release:
Raintree County's score is by Johnny Green and performed by the MGM Symphony Orchestra (the orchestra name change was

initiated by Mr. Green). It is, in many ways, quite remarkable and that orchestra! Oh, my! In it's day, the MGM orchestra was considered one of the great orchestras of the country...and they play as if the music was ingrained in their bones. Don't be on

the fence...purchase it and you'll have a wonderful remembrance of not only a time gone by for the film but also for a momento

of Mr. Green and his orchestra.
 

Andrew Budgell

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
2,279
Location
Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Andy Budgell
bujaki said:
Andy, you should be named Ambassador for the Restoration of Raintree County! Would that your box set dream come true! What a marvelous quintet of titles of the best of the best of La Taylor! Lots of exclamation points, but your post deserves them.

(Now, as a Canadian, do you say ass or arse?)

Thank you for conferring that title upon me and the kind words, Jose! I appreciate that. :D


(I think most Canadians would say ass, but you might get the odd arse. ;) )
 

Andrew Budgell

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
2,279
Location
Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Andy Budgell
OliverK said:
Is it known if Fox was happy with sales of Cleopatra? I thought it was not really treated as a top shelf release for them and they put in less effort than with Sound of Music or Oklahoma!

It would be interesting to know if Fox was satisfied with the sales of Cleopatra. I'm curious, in what way did you think Fox didn't quite go all out with Cleopatra as they did with The Sound of Music or Oklahoma!? The transfer? I recall Mr. Harris saying that if it had been scanned at a higher resolution, the results would have been better. He gave it a 4. I was disappointed that Fox didn't bother to include the footage that turned up during their search for the missing scenes (ie Cleopatra in her camp divining the future, extended bits from the procession into Rome, costume tests, scrapped Pinewood footage, etc.).
 

Jim*Tod

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
869
Location
Richmond, VA
Real Name
Jim
While I am not that big a fan of the movie itself, the score is one of the greatest ever written for a movie. Definitely something anyone who loves film music should own.
 

Dr Griffin

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 30, 2012
Messages
2,426
Real Name
Zxpndk
OliverK said:
If it works out I am all for it!


Maybe the box set is a bit too much as it would make it necessary to complete work on even more titles but I will gladly buy such a boxset when it becomes available.


Is it known if Fox was happy with sales of Cleopatra? I thought it was not really treated as a top shelf release for them and they put in less effort than with Sound of Music or Oklahoma!

Andrew Budgell said:
It would be interesting to know if Fox was satisfied with the sales of Cleopatra. I'm curious, in what way did you think Fox didn't quite go all out with Cleopatra as they did with The Sound of Music or Oklahoma!? The transfer? I recall Mr. Harris saying that if it had been scanned at a higher resolution, the results would have been better. He gave it a 4. I was disappointed that Fox didn't bother to include the footage that turned up during their search for the missing scenes (ie Cleopatra in her camp divining the future, extended bits from the procession into Rome, costume tests, scrapped Pinewood footage, etc.).

From what I could get at Blu-rayStatistics.com Cleopatra sold just under $90,000 worth on Amazon USA. That was a combination of the limited edition and the bare release, with the limited accounting for about 95% of the total. I couldn't get the Amazon UK stats. So figuring in other online retailers, and I've also seen it in B&Ms, it may have sold somewhere around $150,000-$200,000 (my guess) in the USA. Not blockbuster numbers of course.
 

OliverK

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Messages
5,732
Andrew Budgell said:
It would be interesting to know if Fox was satisfied with the sales of Cleopatra. I'm curious, in what way did you think Fox didn't quite go all out with Cleopatra as they did with The Sound of Music or Oklahoma!? The transfer? I recall Mr. Harris saying that if it had been scanned at a higher resolution, the results would have been better. He gave it a 4. I was disappointed that Fox didn't bother to include the footage that turned up during their search for the missing scenes (ie Cleopatra in her camp divining the future, extended bits from the procession into Rome, costume tests, scrapped Pinewood footage, etc.).

Cleopatra is rather dark and lacking in contrast plus it looks rather subdued in its color palette with faces often leaning to some kind of grey. The new 70mm print I saw looked much more vibrant and dynamic, probably a bit too much. Maybe the truth would have been in the middle? On top of that the Blu-ray is sharpened and it is derived from one of the first 4k scans performed 9 or 10 years ago, technology marches on.
 

OliverK

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Messages
5,732
Dr Griffin said:
From what I could get at Blu-rayStatistics.com Cleopatra sold just under $90,000 worth on Amazon USA. That was a combination of the limited edition and the bare release, with the limited accounting for about 95% of the total. I couldn't get the Amazon UK stats. So figuring in other online retailers, and I've also seen it in B&Ms, it may have sold somewhere around $150,000-$200,000 (my guess) in the USA. Not blockbuster numbers of course.

Interesting, I just looked at the site and I find it rather confusing, how did you arrive at those numbers?


In any case they are rather depressing given the fact that Raintree County would cost much more to restore than the complete revenue generated by Clopatra since its release on Blu-ray.
 

Edward Weinman

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2002
Messages
249
Jim*Tod said:
While I am not that big a fan of the movie itself, the score is one of the greatest ever written for a movie. Definitely something anyone who loves film music should own.
Folks, you have the opportunity to own one tangible piece of "Raintree" and that is it's remarkable score.


Even if the film fades into the blue...the CD is a reality. Follow the notes for each part of the CD which will remind you of that particular scene. I can just imagine the MGM Symphony Orchestra on the MGM recording sound stage with Johnny Green conducting his score. Just think of it: an orchestra that has performed over the years with Mr. Green at it's head. The size of the ensemble must have been massive; the musicians and those participating in the recording must have been thrilled at such a live event.


One possible folklore statement: I've heard it said that Johnny Green was half way out of his chair at the Academy Awards

believing his effort would grant him the Oscar; however, it was not to be.


(...and, no, I do not work for the record company...)
 

Jim*Tod

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
869
Location
Richmond, VA
Real Name
Jim
Interesting too as Green was known more for arrangements and scoring of musicals than writing original scores for dramatic movies, though he certainly did a few. I just looked him up and saw he wrote the great song standard "Body and Soul."
 

Dr Griffin

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 30, 2012
Messages
2,426
Real Name
Zxpndk
OliverK said:
Interesting, I just looked at the site and I find it rather confusing, how did you arrive at those numbers?


In any case they are rather depressing given the fact that Raintree County would cost much more to restore than the complete revenue generated by Clopatra since its release on Blu-ray.

The heading that says Blu-ray Statistics, but again, it only gives Amazon's numbers, which is probably the biggest seller. I really have no idea what the total US sales from all retailers would be, maybe someone else has a reliable source for those numbers.
 

Robin9

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
7,649
Real Name
Robin
Jim*Tod said:
Interesting too as Green was known more for arrangements and scoring of musicals than writing original scores for dramatic movies, though he certainly did a few. I just looked him up and saw he wrote the great song standard "Body and Soul."

Johnny Green was a major musical talent. Until he went to Hollywood, he wrote several very good songs such as Out Of Nowhere, I Wanna Be Loved, Coquette and You're Mine You. In the 1950s, the great decade of the long playing record, singers like Doris Day, Nat King Cole and Vic Damone recorded many of Johnny Green's songs.
 

Edward Weinman

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2002
Messages
249
...and one bit of info....this is the only chance that you will hear the actual ending of the first half by Johnny Green instead of the incipient hog wash that is present in the cut film...and the Entre'Acte is also included to the concluding part of the film.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
A friend gave me the soundtrack to Raintree County for my birthday, and I can attest to its astounding quality. I really treasured the unused Bill Lee rendition of the title track (Lee was a famous Hollywood voice double for actors like John Kerr in South Pacific and Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music). Nat King Cole was a famous singer and sings the song beautifully, but Lee's phrasing is much better in his rendition. Of course, they'd go with the more famous name, but I'm SO glad I have both versions.
 

Andrew Budgell

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
2,279
Location
Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Andy Budgell
This is off-topic, but might be of interest to other Elizabeth Taylor fans... I wrote Olive Films today on Facebook to see if they might consider releasing ASH WEDNESDAY starring Elizabeth Taylor and Henry Fonda on Blu-ray. Olive, as I'm sure many of you know, release a lot of Paramount films on Blu-ray. They wrote back saying that they'll add it to their list for future consideration which is encouraging.


If anyone else is interested in owning this film on Blu-ray, please take a moment and express your interest by liking my post or leaving a comment: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101460334481017&set=o.140837875943756&type=3&theater&notif_t=photo_comment


12552624_10101460334481017_8176880221884074054_n.jpg
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,599
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
1
Top