Worthwhile Reissues... (1 Viewer)

[MarcoBiscotti]

A lot of the studios seem to be pouring out reissues of films that don't really need to be redone rather than digging through their back catalogue for unreleased gems, we're given re-releases of Airplane and countless other 80's comedies or popular Superbit style titles that have already seen release umpteenth times.


I wanted to start a thread for films from various studios which SHOULD be reissued, and are in dire need of new transfers and/or more expansive packages. This list can cover all existing studios.


What currently unannounced films do you feel are crying out MOST for re-release?



Here's my short list:


- SHANE (Paramount)

- THE APARTMENT (MGM)

- PATHS OF GLORY (MGM)

- NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (MGM)

- CHINATOWN (Paramount)

- THE GRADUATE (MGM)

- THE BIG SLEEP (Warner)

- Kurosawa Samurai 'Quadrilogy' (Criterion)

- FOLLOW THAT BIRD (OAR!)

- BEETLEJUICE (Warner)


For me, it's mostly the older MGM titles which were done sloppily with poor transfers and for some reason, never updated since. And while not in dire need of revisiting, I'd really like to see Kubrick's early noir classics "The Killing" and "Killer's Kiss" reissued as Special Editions.

But the above listed titles are among my most wanted for reissue! I wish studios like Paramount, Fox and Sony/MGM would focus more on their back catalogue of unreleased titles and the few that are in actual need of redoing rather than trying to milk consumers for the same release with 5 added minutes of footage or a bonus outtake every four months!

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Why do you want a reissue of THE BIG SLEEP? The current DVD includes both versions of the film, plus a 16-minute documentary on the differences between the two versions, narrated by Robert Gitt of UCLA's Film Preservation Archives. I guess it could use a few more extras, but there are far more desperate contenders for special edition reissues from Warner, such as the early classic Hammer horror films that they released so pitifully...ridiculously wrong aspect ratios and totally bare-bones except for the original trailers. This must have happened before George Feltenstein took the reins.

 

[Jeffrey:K]

Maybe he means Michael Winner's THE BIG SLEEP.

I vote for an anamorphic CABARET.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I've needed an anamorphic True Lies since 1998!!

 

[RickER]

Give me Blade Runner, Forbidden Planet, Lifeforce, and True Lies.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I totally agree about "The Big Sleep" when you have other films with previously released dvds that are in more dire need of being done right.




Crawdaddy

 

[Andy Sheets]

True Lies, Strange Days, Blade Runner, Raising Arizona, The Blood of Heroes

 

[Thomas T]

Add me to the chorus of "Why another The Big Sleep?" Looks just fine to me and I think Shane looks pretty darn good, too.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I'm sorry but Shane looks terrible.


Horrible dirty grainy washed out transfer.



I can understand your perspectives in regards to The Big Sleep. It's one of my top 10 favorite films of all time so I just thought given what Warner's done with their more prominent catalogue titles in the past, it could've benefited from a fully-packed double disc S.E. But I agree that it's not absolutely necessary.


But Shane, is necessary. It desperately needs to undergo a new and thorough restoration.

 

[John Hodson]

Marco, I'd love some extras and an SE release if only because the film deserves it, but I honestly don't see a 'Horrible dirty grainy washed out transfer.'

I think it looks quite good.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Robert Harmon's The Hitcher (HBo, 1984) could stand a thoroughly new transfer and some extras.

 

[Herb Kane]

Add me to the list of those who are growing tired of re-releases. While I realize this is a topic that should be tempered and balanced with a bit of common sense, the plain truth is that many of these films look fine the way they are (not just in Marco’s thread, but many releases in general). When a title like The Quiet Man is brought up, I’d be the first in line to support a new and warranted re-release. But a favorite, or a title with improved packaging or different cover art – and to some extent, even added special features (depending on the substance of the new inclusion)… isn’t what most fans of classics want to see. At least not this fan.

At a time when HD & BR is on the horizon, the focus of the majority of these studios is going to be the potential sales of another Terminator 2 or The Fifth Element on the new format…. not digging deep in the vaults and supplying us with titles many of us crave. We can’t get Columbia to release a classic title now – what gives us any reason to think that’s going to improve, should BR titles start flying off the shelves…? It’s 2006 and AFI’s Greatest Screen Legend, Humphrey Bogart is still noticeably absent on a number of highly sought after classic titles – titles owned by virtually each and every studio. It truly boggles the mind.

I’m all for legitimate upgrades to deserving and needy titles, but I’d much prefer to see the focus of these studios supplying fans with titles that have never been released on the format.

 

[Jing_B]

Paths Of Glory
All Quiet on the Western Front
Touch Of Evil
The Graduate
It's A Wonderful Life
Bonnie And Clyde
Adam's Rib
The Night of the Hunter
Chinatown
Red River
Sweet Smell of Success

 

[Joe D]

Blade Runner

 

[Patrick McCart]

Star Wars


It's a Wonderful Life isn't horrible, but it's saturated with DVNR to the point where it's hard to get a still frame that isn't blurred. I'd welcome a proper DVD from Paramount.

Hardly a re-issue, but rather an issue... The Thief and the Cobbler. The current DVD is P&S, from the VHS master, has 2.0 stereo sound, and is the bastardized Miramax cut.

I'd like to see Buena Vista get Richard Williams to finish the film, as well as restore anything needing restoration. The studio takeover was about as bad as the mangling of The Magnificent Ambersons and Greed. With 57 minutes of completed animation, it was taken out of the director's hands. The first re-edit took out almost 20 minutes of animation, added four awful song sequences, added voices to silent characters, and featured either incomplete pencil animation inked/painted in Korea or new animation horribly off-model from the original footage. When Miramax bought the film, they cut the film further (nearly 30 minutes) and added even more voices. The first re-cut threw out the recordings of Sir Anthony Quayle, Sir Felix Alymer, and Sir Sean Connery (among others) as well as original music supposedly by Sir George Martin. The two main characters (Tack the Cobbler and The Thief) were originally silent, but re-dubbed regardless of their lips moving or not.

Only Criterion could pull off the ultimate DVD... it has to be done along the lines of Brazil or Mr. Arkadin, so here it goes:

Disc One (The film):
- The fully restored and finished director's cut
- 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen (Panavision) from a new 4K digital transfer
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 (if the final new mix would be that)
- Commentary by Richard Williams
- Maybe one or two more commentaries with the surviving artists, maybe an animation historian.
- Music-only track

Disc Two (The Bastardizations):
- The Princess and the Cobbler (the 80 min. Majestic Films version) in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with the 2.0 stereo track.
- Arabian Knight (the 68 min. Miramax cut) in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with the 5.1 soundtrack
- A documentary detailing the changes made to the film... comparing between the workprint, the two re-cuts, and the restored edition
- Trailers for the re-cuts

Disc Three (The bootlegs):
- The circa-1992 90 min. workprint (the legendary bootleg) in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with the original 1.0 mono track
- The circa-1993 80 min. first re-edit workprint from the 2:1 video master (it was apparently done on video)
- Extra Camera/Pencil Tests (these exist)

Disc Four (Extras):
- Richard Williams and the Thief Who Never Gave Up (a 52 min. Thames documentary from 1982)
- Williams Studio Commercial Reel (the best of the nearly 1000 commercials his studio produced to finance the film)
- Animating Art (a 45 min. documentary on Art Babbitt, who animated parts of the film)
- His short films A Christmas Carol, The Little Island, and Love Me Love Me Love Me

Most of this is heavily bootlegged, so it would be nice to see it all newly remastered on DVD. There is an unofficial fan edit of the film in the works that uses all possible footage to re-create the workprint in better quality because of the absence of a restored version. It would be nice to not have to resort to bootlegs when a Criterion edition is available!

 

[Bill Thomann]

Arthur
Private Benjamin
Grumpy & Grumpier Old Men
Moon-Spinners
Cool Runnings
Mighty Ducks
The Abyss
Dave
Beetlejuice
Adventures In Babysitting
Armageddon
Scream
Big
Coming To America
Excalibur
Father Of The Bride 2
Pelican Brief
A Time To Kill
French Kiss
The Game
Home Alone 1,2,3
I Love Trouble
It Could Happen To You
About Last Night
Romancing The Stone
Jewel Of The Nile
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Princess Mononoke
Peggy Sue Got Married
While You Were Sleeping
The Rocketeer
Spy Kids
Lilo & Stitch
True Lies
Young Frankenstein
In Search Of The Castaways
That Darn Cat-Hayley Mills
Gnome Mobile

 

[Brian PB]

My most-wanted reissues:

Vampyr (Dreyer/1932/Image)---Martin Koerber restoration, 1998
The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-Hsien/1993/Wellspring)---P&S POS
You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang/1937/Image)---needs restoration
Belle de jour (Luis Buñuel/1967/Miramax) HORRIBLE transfer of this masterpiece
High Noon (Zimmerman/1952/Artisan)--now that Paramount has the rights to the Republic library, a decent transfer of this one should be high on their list)
The Apartment (Wilder/1960/MGM)
La Terra trema (Visconti/1948/Image)
Good Morning (Ozu/1959/Criterion)--not one of Criterion's finest moments
The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali/Aparajito/World of Apu (Satyajit Ray/1955-8/Sony)--an abomination
The Awful Truth (McCarey/1937/Sony)--needs restoration
The Last Emperor (Bertolucci/1987/Artisan)
Xala (Ousmane Sembene/1975/New Yorker)
Fireworks (Kitano/1997/New Yorker)
The Quiet Man (Ford/1952/Artisan)--needs restoration

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Patrick, I'd be willing to shell out $$$ for that SE of THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, if it ever shows up.

 

[Antonio S]

I'd also really like to see a much neeeded reissue of Lifeforce.
Anamorphic please.

 

[Haden]

Waterworld:SE (with extended TV cut)
Far and Away:SE (with extended TV cut)
King Kong 1976:SE (with extended TV cut)
The Breakfast Club:SE (with cast reunion and TV cut scenes)
The Godfather Trilogy (just to get the Epic/Novel for Television version that many completist fans want badly)
Dick Tracy:SE (that long rumored SE that Beatty supposedly wants to do, with all the deleted scenes from the script/novel)
Bugsy:SE (another great Beatty film that deserves a special edition)
The Paper (replace the fullscreen-only version)
Doc Hollywood (replace the fullscreen-only version)
Hero (replace the fullscreen-only version)