Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu & The Return of Fu Manchu – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[RobertMG]

Please don’t place studios that live up to their responsibilities with those that may not.

Sorry ------ I did PRAISE Warners and KINO too BUT you are right ---- my apologies

 

[RobertMG]

THANK U!!!

Just ordered KINOS FU set! Thank you for the great review!

 

[ScottHM]

If not a new, longer form of protection, at least newly produced, restored elements should receive protection. If not, what would push studios to spend major amounts on restoring assets that have fallen into the PD?

As you said earlier...

Next year is huge, and one can only hope that copyright holders will continue to preserve their finest elements, or donate them for preservation if they’ve not already done so.

The Library of Congress should offer some incentive to have film elements donated once the copywrite has expired. Maybe the LoC could restore the elements and give the donating studio some window for exclusive distribution.

It does the public no good to have something pass to the public domain if they have no access to it.
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[dana martin]

Two good pages discussing the possible merits of waiting around till Daughter of the Dragon goes into the PD realm, how long it last past the last person involved in the production. But the underlying issue may be more than just putting that specific title into PD to get a release. I believe Know would have included it as a three-film collection had there not been some sort of “legal” issues. Short answer is that when DotD was filmed and released it was to capitalize on Rohmer’s then current book, The Daughter of Fu Manchu, which Paramount did not own the rights to adapt. Sort of like the issue of Stoker’s novel and Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens.

If that is the case that this can’t get a release, who knows maybe someone could contact the estate, or possibly the original publisher of the book, for some kind of agreement, then all the legalities could be cleared up. Or do we have to wait it out until the book goes into the Public Domain as well.

some light reading of the issues involved, for those with an inquiring mind
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki....first three Fu-Manchu,but not named until the

interesting, pay close attention to the highlighted area and you may understand the holdup.

 

[Robert Harris]

As you said earlier...


The Library of Congress should offer some incentive to have film elements donated once the copywrite has expired. Maybe the LoC could restore the elements and give the donating studio some window for exclusive distribution.

It does the public no good to have something pass to the public domain if they have no access to it.
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The public does have access, but why bother when there are perfectly good Blu-rays to copy.

Gone with the Wind goes PD in 13 years. Seems no one would need film elements. I use to believe that Conversion was a viable legal aspect to protect a work into which some entity had placed funds. That may not be the case.

 

[Kent K H]

Copyright is such a sticky wicket. Personally, I am of the opinion that its been stretched far beyond its original intent, and should be stopped where it is or pared down. Are Mickey Mouse, Superman and the like still very profitable enterprises for the companies that hold them? Absolutely. But so were Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and a bevy of other characters that have entered public domain.

In regards, specifically, to films, I will concede that it stinks to see the market diluted with inferior knock-off releases from bad faith companies. However, I've seen that there's still a market for these films when they're done right, and companies will pay for access to the original materials, such as Criterion's Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls releases. So let's not act like it's the end of the world if films start falling into public domain. Plus, as restoration technology continues to advance, it's more likely that we could see legitimately well-done fan releases. It's already possible to find a pretty good HD copy of Song of the South online (and I apologize in advance for bringing up this particular title since it seems to bring out the worst in discussion, but it's one that readily serves as an illustration) from people who aren't trying to make money, but simply want to keep it from being a 'lost film.' Now imagine what kind of results they could achieve if they could legitimately make back some money or perform a crowd-funded effort. Would it be as good as a scan of the original negative? Of course not. But it's also better than nothing and for other films, it could possibly convince studios to offer up their material to boutique labels that might otherwise rot away.

 

[ScottHM]

So let's not act like it's the end of the world if films start falling into public domain.

There needs to be something in place so that once a film has fallen into the public domain, the holders of the best film elements have some incentive to donate (or sell) them to the public (e.g. the LoC). Films are not like books, where one can just copy the text and have essentially the same thing as the original. Owning the rights to a film without having access to high quality film elements is of little value.
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[RobertMG]

There needs to be something in place so that once a film has fallen into the public domain, the holders of the best film elements have some incentive to donate (or sell) them to the public (e.g. the LoC). Films are not like books, where one can just copy the text and have essentially the same thing as the original. Owning the rights to a film without having access to high quality film elements is of little value.
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Well they can develop a real copy protection on any physical media and would assume to even put it on broadcasts too == thankfully Universal, Paramount and of course Warners are using their assets to make money on them because thanks to home vid they did preserve their assets Disney is another animal they really do not care about consumers or film collectors they do not deserve to have any more copyright extensions if thats the case just case the law to say a copyright never expires - my heavens when Disney was alive they released Super 8 versions of their cartoons and 20 years ago you could get Mary Poppins fulll length os Super 8 I think even some of their feature classic cartoons - they do deserve props for the club though but people seem to find the vid releases sub par edited etc. Let me tell u how the operate - when we we working on our first book about the Macys Parade I contacted them to get the okay to use pictures of their 1934 Mickey Mouse balloon - interestingly they had no images but they wanted me to tell them how many copies were going to be printed how many languages it would be translated to etc I spoke to a really good lawyer and I was told the parade is an outdoor event and no charge for pictures so how could they charge a person taking pictures of a free event etc. So we used pics of all the balloons and 18 years later no issues

 

[Richard Kaufman]

I've often noticed that people who advocate for a shorter duration of copyright protection are rarely those who actually own copyrights.

 

[RobertMG]

I've often noticed that people who advocate for a shorter duration of copyright protection are rarely those who actually own copyrights.

Shorter? 95 years? Originally it was two 28 years periods

 

[RobertMG]

Copyright is such a sticky wicket. Personally, I am of the opinion that its been stretched far beyond its original intent, and should be stopped where it is or pared down. Are Mickey Mouse, Superman and the like still very profitable enterprises for the companies that hold them? Absolutely. But so were Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and a bevy of other characters that have entered public domain.

In regards, specifically, to films, I will concede that it stinks to see the market diluted with inferior knock-off releases from bad faith companies. However, I've seen that there's still a market for these films when they're done right, and companies will pay for access to the original materials, such as Criterion's Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls releases. So let's not act like it's the end of the world if films start falling into public domain. Plus, as restoration technology continues to advance, it's more likely that we could see legitimately well-done fan releases. It's already possible to find a pretty good HD copy of Song of the South online (and I apologize in advance for bringing up this particular title since it seems to bring out the worst in discussion, but it's one that readily serves as an illustration) from people who aren't trying to make money, but simply want to keep it from being a 'lost film.' Now imagine what kind of results they could achieve if they could legitimately make back some money or perform a crowd-funded effort. Would it be as good as a scan of the original negative? Of course not. But it's also better than nothing and for other films, it could possibly convince studios to offer up their material to boutique labels that might otherwise rot away.

Well said ----- Look at Warners and their what 2,000 WAC dvd releases --- utilzing their assets and making fans thrilled ---- Disney YUCK --- they could avoid tons of bad press by YES doing third party on that third rail film that is MIA ------- KINO too Paramount too VCI too THANK YOU ALL for releasing product!

 

[Kent K H]

There needs to be something in place so that once a film has fallen into the public domain, the holders of the best film elements have some incentive to donate (or sell) them to the public (e.g. the LoC). Films are not like books, where one can just copy the text and have essentially the same thing as the original. Owning the rights to a film without having access to high quality film elements is of little value.
---------------

But what we've seen with films that have fallen into public domain is that a company will pay to access the original/best film elements, even when the copyright is not an issue.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually okay with there being some negotiation for studios to be able to donate their materials to the LoC. I just think that's a small piece of the solution.

 

[Will Krupp]

I watched these last night! Really, I thought, a lot of fun. They certainly go down much more easily with the decent transfers on this blu-ray than they ever did previously (during my lifetime, anyhow.)

Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying the sequel (on the whole) more than I did the original, and filming techniques had already made pretty significant advances in the few short months between the two. I loved Dr. Fu's funeral at the beginning of Return and felt the sequel seemed much "larger" overall than the relatively static original. Both had their moments, however.

All in all, a very pleasant way to spend an evening (and who knew that young Neil "Commissioner Gordon" Hamilton was so damned sexy??)

 

[RobertMG]

I watched these last night! Really, I thought, a lot of fun. They certainly go down much more easily with the decent transfers on this blu-ray than they ever did previously (during my lifetime, anyhow.)

Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying the sequel (on the whole) more than I did the original, and filming techniques had already made pretty significant advances in the few short months between the two. I loved Dr. Fu's funeral at the beginning of Return and felt the sequel seemed much "larger" overall than the relatively static original. Both had their moments, however.

All in all, a very pleasant way to spend an evening (and who knew that young Neil "Commissioner Gordon" Hamilton was so damned sexy??)

GREAT review! More pre-codes would be loved!

 

[RobertMG]

GREAT review! More pre-codes would be loved!

Surely Universal and Warners must have some still locked away! I got to order this one from WAC Taxi -- loved hearing Cagney speak Yiddish - he said he learned it as a kid in NYC and he loved it when JL Warner was shocked because he and his brothers would try to fool Cagney on contract decisions etc and Cagney the would speak it to them!

 

[Bert Greene]

For the life of me, I thought I'd seen "The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu" (1929-Par), about thirty years ago. But after watching the Kino disc last night, and consulting my records, it was just the second two Oland films that I saw back then. Had a good time with it, though. True, the film is a bit ridiculous, a bit static, a bit florid... but if one can vicariously transpose back to its historical context of old-timey blood-and-thunder pulp tales and turn-of-the-century stage melodramas, there's a good amount of fun to be mined out of it. Absent this, I can admittedly see how some modern viewers might find it a slog. The nice print really brought out the detail in the set decoration, one of the film's more impressive features.

Jean Arthur sure had an odd mix of roles during this short Paramount stint. Besides being Fu Manchu's hypnotized ward here, she played Clara Bow's whiney, backstabbing sister in "The Saturday Night Kid" (1929), one of the most gratingly annoying characters to be found in the early-talkie era. Yet, Arthur was most pleasantly winsome as the professional trapeze artist who catches Buddy Rogers' eye in "Half-Way to Heaven" (1929). Oh well, I look forward to revisiting "The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu" (1930) in the next day or two. Really nice that Kino put these out. Maybe Warner Archive might serve up the Karloff "Mask" as well. Haven't seen it in a long time either. It's the one where Nora Charles is torturing a bound Durango Kid, right?

 

[Will Krupp]

It's the one where Nora Charles is torturing a bound Durango Kid, right?

LOL!!! (and yes!)

 

[RBailey]

It's the one where Nora Charles is torturing a bound Durango Kid, right?

With the involvement of Judge Hardy and Dr. Christian.

 

[Will Krupp]

With the involvement of Judge Hardy and Dr. Christian.

I always KNEW the Judge was too good to be true!!