MGM: THE PAN & SCAM OUTRAGE CONTINUES!..I COULD GO ON SINGING Foolscreen ONLY! (1 Viewer)

It is 2004, right? Well MGM has decided to turn the clock WAY back, because according to dvd file, they are about to release a slew of titles in PAN & SCAN only this April, including MAN OF LA MANCHA with Peter O'Toole and Judy Garland's last film I COULD GO ON SINGING.

The irony here is that I COULD GO ON SINGING (a very good, under-rated film directed by Ronald Neame in 2.35 panavision that has a story similar to Garland's real-life persona)was released on vhs ONLY in letterbox format in 1989 (as well as on a swell letterbox laserdisc at the same time).

I would even take the (dare I say these words) non-anamorphic letterbox transfer from 1989 on the new DVD sooner than I could accept a PAN & SCAM on this title.

I know MGM has really made some bad decisions in this regard of late (can we say REMO WILLIAMS?), but taking the great Garland's final screen appearance, and giving it a pan & scan DVD 15 years after a letterboxed VHS and ld issue is really inexcusable.

Let's hope DVD File's info was wrong and that wiser heads are prevailing at MGM Home Entertainment. (I won't hold my breath!).

I'd wait for other sites to back up those facts. Sadly, DVDFile has gotten aspect ratio info wrong on multiple occasions.

It looks like there is a typo on DVD File's announcement. After it lists those two (along with a few others) it states "(and 4:3 Full Screen only)". I don't know if they meant to have that "and" read "all", or have non-anamorphic widescreen before it or what. But, don't give up hope yet. Does anyone have a contact number for MGM?

I know they get beat up here a lot, but MGM has been pretty good about releasing widescreen titles. REMO WILLIAMS wasn't an MGM/UA release so as that recent article posted here stated, there were some problems getting the elements and they couldn't make it widescreen.

But, since they are both UA titles and widescreen transfers exist, I don't see why they wouldn't release them correctly.

If they don't, well, let the outrage begin.

I'm looking at the ad slick for MGM's April releases. It definitely lists "standard" (MGM-speak for full-screen) as the sole presentation for I Could Go On Singing and Man Of La Mancha. Ironically, the latter is getting DD 5.1 and the overture music playing over a photo montage--but no widescreen presentation.



It's a typo. It should say "all," because all of the titles listed before that parenthetical comment and the previous semi-colon are "standard" (MAR) presentations, according to MGM's spec sheets.

This is truly outrageous. The inmates have taken over the asylum. The company had the smarts to release I COULD GO ON SINGING in OAR on VHS 15 years ago, and now they bring a PAN & SCAM piece of crap to DVD?

Why? Do they actually think this is a Wal-Mart title?

MGM used to be the greatest of all movie studios, and ten years ago the greatest of all home video labels. They've really hit rock bottom. I guess all they know how to do is reissue James Bond movies every year!

Well, now we know why the Artisan release of Little Monsters was cancelled. But, alas, foolscreen.

It could be worse. These could be Columbia titles. Lucky I have the WS LD of I Could Go On Singing.

It could be better. Soon, they might be Warner titles--if it buys MGM.

Don't forget, the people who made this a great video label all went to Warner.

"Man of La Mancha" was also released by MGM/UA in a letterboxed format on Laserdisc (And it looked beautiful) - This isn't a children's film by any means, neither is "I Could Go on Singing" so why issue them in Pan and Scan and reduce sales.

Ironic - MGM finally releases a widescreen "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" after 5 years of Pan & Scan only and now this travesty. What kind of people work at MGM anyway?

MGM/UA Pan and Scan = No Sale!

Talkinbroadway.com also lists these as full screen only.
I'll keep my lasers thank yo9u and mgm home vid can go f**k them selves.
We folks who are in to musicals have to wait forever (Years!!) for their damn release on dvd and then the studios screw it up.

ALL ABOARD!!!
Last call, for Pan & Scam!

Sadly, my only take on this travesty is the double dip.
Two years from now, MGM, or anyone else for that matter, will have a very difficult time selling B&S versions on DVD (VHS, is gone!).
I see these titles being released with OAR's.
However, when!
It's only the true fans of these films that suffer.
Not J6P!
Walmart, be damn!
Show some artistic sensibility.

And to top it off, no April Midnite Movies batch like last year :-(

I COULD GO ON SINGING and MAN OF LA MANCHA aren't Walmart titles! So again, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? @#$$$%%^&**!!!!!

Like many of you here, I will all the more be grateful for my I COULD GO ON SINGING OAR letterbox laserdisc.

I am not looking forward to the possible Warner purchase of MGM, the world does not need more snapper cases.

Well, I own MGM stock and will be considering bowing out if this is confirmed.

I'm as pissed about this as all of you are. I was going to buy "Once Upon a Crime" last month because it was announced as a widescreen release only to find out the day after it was released that it was foolscreen. This sucked because not only do I like this movie, but the Cast & Crew Featurette on it sounded like it was brand new. What a misprint. Way to go, MGM.

MGM needs to wake up and STOP RELEASING FULLSCREEN MOVIES!!!!! A lot of people now have widescreen TVs and full screen is unecessary. That goes for not only MGM, but also Sony, Warner, and Universal. We grew up with a lot of the movies in your catalogs and we want them relased properly and not crappy at all. But they have slipped up recently, and I'm very pissed. That's all I can say.

I am a big fan of Miss Garland, and will purchase this title no matter what, but I am still extremely displeased with how MGM is treating this masterpiece.

Andy

Everyone should calm down.

There's no way that that MGM will release this 2.35 movie P&S.

You should never put your 100% faith in DVD File. Or any other website. Or press releases from the studios themselves.

There have been hundreds and hundreds of errors made and everybody here should know that by now.

TCM shows I Could Go On Singing letterboxed all the time and their UA films always match up with the MGM DVD's.

While we are on the subject of stupidity, what about Artisan? Their recent release of The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (a Cinemascope film) has on the back of the DVD itself "full screen". Every website in the world lists it "full screen". But it is actually letterboxed correctly at 2.35. It's a crappy transfer but that's another story.

We have enough things now to be really upset about without worrying about preliminary information. Let's concentrate on the idiots at Columbia now for their overpriced P&S travesties.

However, if it is actually confirmed that I Could Go On Singing will be P&S, then no one will be yelling louder than me.