EL Doctorow RIP. Its time for a bluray release of RAGTIME (1 Viewer)

This Milos Forman film is way overdue for a bluray release.

just to hear James Cagney call Willie a worthless piece of slime!

Paramount has now become what MGM was a year and a half ago- the holder of an enormus catalog of great titles that are stubbornly denied any decent BD release.

I've heard that this is all due to the woman at the head of the home video division having no love for home video/optical discs. Sad.


I just hope that someone over there with some pull can see the light and start licensing out titles as fast and as ferociously as MGM has finally seen fit to do.

Ragtime would be up there at the top of the list, but there are dozens of other great films just as deserving. Criterion has a few, but their output and pace barely makes a dent.


I've given up on this year, but maybe in 2016, when the well starts running a little drier for the MGM titles...

I agree. I haven't seen this film in a long time. In fact, I've seen the stage musical version twice (brilliant, by the way) since I've seen this film.

Paul Scott said:

...

I've heard that this is all due to the woman at the head of the home video division having no love for home video/optical discs. Sad.

...

Click to expand...

Can't speak to the past, but the current division President of Home Media Distribution for Paramount is Hal Richardson. From his company bio:

Those distribution activities encompass DVD, Electronic Sell Through (EST), Pay-Per-View/Video On Demand (VOD), Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD), Pay Television and Free Television throughout the world.

Click to expand...

Notice something missing there?? They're not even paying lip service to our favorite format.

While I think that there's some fine work in the film version of RAGTIME, my great regret is that the Broadway musical was

never filmed. I think it's one of the great musicals of the last several decades, with a score that continues to reduce me to

tears every time I listen to it. (On a personal note, I was living in NYC when the movie was filming, and have lots of wonderful

photos I took on location. The couple of blocks on the lower East Side that they dressed for the period were astonishing!)

PODER said:

While I think that there's some fine work in the film version of RAGTIME, my great regret is that the Broadway musical was

never filmed. I think it's one of the great musicals of the last several decades, with a score that continues to reduce me to

tears every time I listen to it. (On a personal note, I was living in NYC when the movie was filming, and have lots of wonderful

photos I took on location. The couple of blocks on the lower East Side that they dressed for the period were astonishing!)

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more, but it's not too late to film the show. There are plenty of great singing actors out there who could do the roles proud.

I'd buy a BD of RAGTIME. But as a tribute to the late author, I'd rather read the far superior novel on which the film is based.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but Forman's work outside of his native land doesn't quite click with me.

I also enjoyed the musical, but I go back to the source. The novel is that good.

I just saw the musical version of Ragtime for the first time. My wife had already been a big fan of the show


My wife Peggy and I saw a national touring company perform the show at our grand old Proctor's Theater in Schenectady, NY yesterday.


It really made me yearn that much more for a Blu release of the Forman film.





There are so many great moments in that film. And the film (to my mind) has such a different perspective than the musical...that I really want to watch it again now...and hate the thought of having to drag out my DVD copy rather than wait upon a Blu release. But seeing as how there's not even a whisper about a Blu release, DVD it will be. Maybe the announcement will come immediately after my viewing!

Last year about this time I was playing the main keyboard part in the pit for a regional production of the musical. I'd never seen it, so was learning it from scratch, and I truly loved it. It's a powerful score, and oddly enough, the musical captures more elements of the Doctorow novel than the Milos Forman film ever did.

By the way, I've only been to Proctor's once, to see Cathy Rigby's PETER PAN a couple of years ago, and what a discovery. It's a gorgeous place, easily the equal of many NYC theaters. I'd intended to get back up there before now, but it will happen...

This one pops up a few times, but I have little hope, considering it is Paramount. I think the first part of the film is brilliant and then falls apart towards the end when its focus shifts solely to Coalhouse Porter.


Saw the stage show when it premiered in Toronto prior to Broadway. It was great (although, again, the shift of focus almost solely to Coalhouse at the end was a bit of a weakness for me). At the time Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra MacDonald were just starting out. They were..in a word..wow! when singing together.


Read an interesting article about how the Broadway show was hurt by the opening of Lion King shortly after it and its triumph at the Tonys, especially the loss of the Best Musical trophy. They figure this is one reason it didn't run as long as Drabinsky expected and lost a pile of money. Of course, as Drabinsky was wont to do, it was incredibly elaborate and the weekly operating costs must have been huge.


Is the DVD of Ragtime worth getting or is the quality kind of grim? Comments?

Glenn: I figure that because, as you noted, there seems to be little hope for a Blu...I'd go for a DVD copy of the film.


I haven't watched my copy since several upgrades to my HT (including a 55" Panasonic Plasma a few years ago)...so I will refrain from commenting on the DVD quality. But I'd want to have a copy of the film in my collection.


And Charles: I was surprised to see that the show did include elements of the novel that the film did not. But I still think I liked the content of the film better. But like I noted above, it's been awhile and I need to get reacquainted with the film to see if I still agree.

I may be in the minority, but I've never been a fan of Forman's American work. Therefore, although I like parts of the Ragtime movie, which I saw during its initial run, I never liked it as much as the fabulous novel on which it was based. Do read it if you haven't done so. I also liked the Broadway show, although I missed the great Audra and Brian.

Coming back to the film, yes, I'd buy a BD of Ragtime today, if I could.

The film does boil down the complexity of the book much more than the musical does (which tries to include many more characters and subplots).


Seeing that musical on Broadway with its original cast was one of the highlights of my life. Despite its being a long show, when it ended, I said to the people I was with, "I wish they'd start over and do it again. It's just too musically and dramatically lavish to appreciate it all in one sitting."

First of all, I love the film. And I realize why a lot was 'left out'.

In terms of 'missed opportunities ', I regret that they removed the Emma Goldman sequence (the over-reaction to the presidential assassination was the reason Coalhouse's fiancé was killed).

Since this film came out the same year as Reds, they could have cast Maureen Stapleton. Then she might have gotten two nominations for playing the same person.

I am not aware that an HD master has even been created for this film yet. I saw an up-converted 720p "Blu-ray"that certainly looked better than the DVD, but this could be a rich and astonishing 1080p Blu-ray.

Ragtime was showing on one of the Direct TV HD movie channels a month ago and the few minutes I caught looked quite good.