Columbia's Treatment of It's Back-Catalogue (1 Viewer)

The only thing I would add is that Columbia started releasing some Columbia Classics titles in Australia. The titles include In A Lonely Place, Lady From Shanghai, Pal Joey and a few others. The RRP is AUD$14.95 = US$11.90. Although there isn't much range yet, they are substantially cheaper than the U.S. prices.

Yes, Columbia is a real disappointment. Some horror titles I'd add to this list that need to be released are:

All starring Boris Karloff (how about a Box Set?):
THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939)
BEFORE I HANG (1940)
THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES (1940)
THE BLACK ROOM (1935)
THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU (1942)

Also:

THE WEREWOLF (1956)
CRY OF THE WEREWOLF (1944)

It's also puzzling that Columbia releases some titles in other regions but ignores region 1 - Holiday, Human Desire, Tight Spot, Knock on Any Door. Speaking of the last three, Columbia can dig into their Film Noir catalog, but I guess they don't know how to market film noirs if it doesn't star Bogart...

THE DRESSER came out last year in the US on DVD but I am still waiting for.....
GEORGY GIRL
THE VICTORS
GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM
PEPE
THEPUMPKIN EATER
LET NO MAN WRITE MY EPITAPH
THE GODDESS
THE INTERNS
DIAMOND HEAD

I would also like to see Columbia release these:

$(Dollars)
5 Against the House
Big Mouth, The
Brothers Rico, The
Cisco Pike
Crime & Punishment
Criminal Code, The
Crimson Kimino, The
Father Brown
Getting Straight
Gorgan, The
Gumshoe
Husbands
I Walk the Line
Johnny O'Clock
Liberation of L.B.Jones
Lineup, The
Major Dundee
Mickey One
My Name is Julia Ross
Our Man in Havana
Scandal Sheet
Strange One, The
Taste of Fear (Scream of Fear)
Torture Garden
Two Rode Together
Who's Minding the Mint?
Wrong Box, The
Young Winston

The Anderson Tapes & Night of the Generals are out in region 2 UK.

Yes, the appearance of The Dresser last year was quite welcome. Add another vote for releasing

Holiday
Father Brown
Gumshoe
Our Man in Havana

Also, there was some criticism of the treatment given to The Prisoner (1955) with Alec Guinness, released last year. The fact that it dropped in price from $29.95 to $9.95 msrp might indicate a no-confidence in the DVD as issued. But would they re-release? . . .

My understanding of Porgy and Bess is that it is suppressed by the Gershwin Estate, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

Good point on the Karloff films and '50s horror titles. Columbia did a pretty good job on its William Castle and Ray Harryhausen films, but should go back to the vaults. Does Columbia own any of the classic cartoons released through the studio back in the day, like FOX & THE CROW? I know that several Gerald McBoing Boing cartoons were included as bonuses on HELLBOY; was that a Columbia release? And if I switch to "dreamer" mode, I'd like to mention the hundred of non-Stooges Columbia comedy shorts from the 1930s-1950s, including solo Shemp outings, Charley Chase, Sterling Holloway, El Brendel, Vera Vague, and Andy Clyde, which would make a terrific boxed set. And hey, don't forget all those movie serials, particularly BATMAN (1943 version), THE MONSTER AND THE APE, THE SPIDER'S WEB, and THE SPIDER RETURNS.

Still in "dreamer" mode:

how about those great series of the 30's and 40's that used to be TV staples but have vanished because Columbia has no TV outlet (like Warners and TCM). These would make great "franchise collections":

Blondie (beyond the 10 films released by Platinum)
Boston Blackie
Lone Wolf
Crime Doctor

Steve

Yes, Laurence, they own all the Screen Gems, Columbia and UPA cartoons – not just Fox and Crow and Gerald McBoing Boing, but also Scrappy and Mr Magoo. So far, they have only made the following cartoons available on DVD:

Gerald McBoing Boing, Tell Tale Heart, Gerald McBoing Boing on the Planet Moo and How Now McBoing Boing (extras on Hellboy)
Skeleton Frolic (on The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera)
Gerald McBoing Boing's Symphony (on The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T).

A good number of the Columbia-owned cartoons were restored for a TV series Jerry Beck of Cartoon Brew worked on called Totally Tooned In (in fact all the above info comes from Jerry Beck), so could easily be put on DVD at minimal cost.

There are a number of noirs out right now on Columbia that I haven't purchased yet because I can't bring myself to spend $25 on a barebones disc from 4 or 5 years ago. I really wish they'd at the very least price-drop some of what they have out now. But yeah, they should step it up and release a lot of their other vault material too.

I have many of the titles released under the Columbia Classics banner during the early years of the DVD format (including It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gilda and His Girl Friday) and I thought all of them were pretty decent. It's only in the last few years that Columbia has retrogressed from being one of the best studios around to one of the worst (as evidenced by their pan-and-scan-only releases and sloppy treatment of classics). I don't think I've bought a Columbia DVD in a long long time (with most of my money going to Warner and Criterion) and things will stay that way unless Columbia really gets on the ball and starts giving its classic (and not-so-classic) titles the respect they deserve.

-D

And Columbia only handled the theatrical release for Samuel Goldwyn.

I agree. I'm currently working my way through that series and am very impressed – I even think they are worth the price (Warners' releases I consider to be bargains, the rrp being well below what they are worth to me). As for Columbia's current output – what went wrong?

What went wrong with what? I'm sitting here with wonderful Columbia recently released DVDs like Bunny Lake, My Sister Eileen, Strangers When We Meet, Behold a Pale Horse, Twentieth Century. If something went "wrong" - keep it up.

Always nice to see my review spark a discussion.

This has been a pretty big week for Columbia catalog titles:

• Behold A Pale Horse
• Bitter Victory
• Funny Girl/ Funny Lady set
• It Happened To Jane
• My Sister Eileen
• Strangers When We Meet
• Twentieth Century
• We Were Strangers

April 5 will also be a big catalog week for them, with a lot of westerns:

• Bonanza Town
• The Desperadoes (1943)
• A Good Day For A Hanging
• Jubal
• Lust For Gold
• The Professionals
• Silverado (Superbit Special Edition)
• Texas
• The Texican
• The Violent Men

Mostly bare-bones stuff, but the A/V quality seems to be respectable from what I've seen so far. I agree that it'd be nice to see lower MSRPs and/ or better supplements.

I pre-ordered a slew of those westerns for under $8 so I can't complain anymore about Columbia's prices.

I have TWENTIETH CENTURY and the transfer is really odd. The formatting is off or something. The opening title cards letter is cut off.