WANTED: MORE ALLIED ARTISTS 1950s SF AND HORROR FILM DVD RELEASES!!!!! (1 Viewer)

[JeffT.]

I think there are all age groups that would be keenly interested in seeing these Allied Artists 1950s Roger Corman SF film trilogy released on DVD albeit if it does indeed happen these films will likely be licensed through one of the independent DVD distributors and not directly through Roger Corman per se.

I also feel that there are much more to these SF B-film programmers than meets the eye especially in the case of NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957).

I first saw these films (and many others like them) on our local Buffalo, N.Y.-based SATURDAY (later FRIDAY) FRIGHT NIGHT LATE SHOW (and LATE LATE SHOW) double features telecast from the early to the late 1960s and didn't realize that they were all interconnected as doublebill programmers until years later.

It is very interesting to hear from someone who actually saw these films at a movie theatre!

Jeff T.

 

[ahollis]

I have to agree with Joe on this. I am very involved in the motion picture business and also a avid historian on the subject. For the past six years or so, just about anyone under the age of 35 does not have an interest in the older B-films. The laugh at the special effects and the acting, also you have to tie them down to see a film in black & white. Their attention span is short and if there is not a killing, shooting or something blowing up every five minutes, they lose interest and want to move on.

There is a reason that television stations do not run these films late at night or in the afternoons. The reason, low ratings from the coveted age group.

I know there are many people in that age group that does have love and interest for films earlier than 1980 and happily know a several of them. I am also happy for the renewed interest in the films of the 60's and 70's, but that interest is driven mostly by the people that grew up in that era.

If the B-films are not released to DVD in the next few years, they more than likely will not due to lack of interest. DVD is presently the only way for these films to continue to live. If there is not interest, then they will die.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Originally Posted by JeffT.

It is very interesting to hear from someone who actually saw these films at a movie theatre!

Actually, I didn't. I said I was 7 when they were released to theaters, and 12 when I first saw them on television. I didn't start paying attention to what was playing in theaters until I was 8, after seeing "The Fly" and "Horror of Dracula" within a short space of time. They got me hooked on "monster movies."

 

[JeffT.]

Well even in their day these films weren't liked and enjoyed by everyone but I don't see a lack of interest or (prospective) customers as any kind of obstable just striking a deal with one of the independent DVD distributors which is hopefully forthcoming now that the actual dispositon of the Allied Artists 1950s Roger Corman SF trilogy is known.

Jeff T.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff

I look at it this way:

I was 7 when ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS and NOT OF THIS EARTH came out as a double feature, and 12 when I first saw them on "Chiller Theater" on television.

I'll be 60 next year. The point is, isn't it "now or never" with movies from that era? 99% of the members of the younger generations literally couldn't care less about them. They're only of interest to guys like us who saw them when we were young and impressionable. All they really have is great value as baby boomer nostalgia.

If they don't release them soon, they might as well forget about them. What are they waiting for?

That's exactly what I've always said (except that I'll be closing in on 50 soon). You are one hundred and fifty percent on the money. Whatever value there is in these films, it makes no sense to delay any longer. The longer they wait, the less interest there'll be.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi




That's exactly what I've always said (except that I'll be closing in on 50 soon). You are one hundred and fifty percent on the money. Whatever value there is in these films, it makes no sense to delay any longer. The longer they wait, the less interest there'll be.

I sure hope Susan Hart Hofheinz (widow of A.I.P.'s co-chief, James Nicholson) is cognizant of this. She continues to sit on the rights to, among other things:

I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF
I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN
THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN
IT CONQUERED THE WORLD
INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN
TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000

--probably holding out for a big payday that will never come to pass. I'd think her best bet now would be to make an equitable deal with Shout Factory, allowing them access to the films for DVD release both in their original form (as double-features or in a set), and in their MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 episode incarnations (which would exclude TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN and SAUCER MEN from the mix).