An interesting rumour... (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Thorne]

Malcolm McDowell gave a 2hr talk in Melbourne last week (at the launch of the ACMI Stanley Kubrick exhibition) and spoke at length about his career. He did throw some hints to the audience that should be of interest to folks on this board. McDowell mentioned how he had been trying to get Lindsay Anderson's IF - among other titles from his back catalogue - onto DVD with a commentary by him, but had no luck until a recent oneoff screening organised by Jay Roach led to the studio that currently owns IF contacting him. McDowell bemoaned the difficulties in pursuading various studios to release certain older films, and mentioned a recent illustrative story. McDowell was contacted more recently to record a commentary for a particular Stanley Kubrick movie (no prizes for guessing which one) and responded that he would record a commentary for THAT film only if the studio would agree to let him record a commentary for a certain Lindsay Anderson film - made two years later - that he remains very fond of. The studio agreed. McDowell has recorded both commentaries. Both titles should be coming out next year.

McDowell's talk was a good one, and fans of his work should enjoy the above news if true.

 

[pitchman]

O Lucky Man! on DVD?? WOW! It's about time!

 

[Ray H]

Cool!

 

[MatS]

Welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Perhaps those rumored Kubrick SE's are coming true, after all. Clockwork and If... will be magnificent to have as SEs. Thanks, Mr. McDowell!

 

[John Hodson]

As long ago as February 2003, it was reported in an interview with Lancelot Narayan for DVD Answers that they'd just finished recording the audio commentary for If.... with McDowell in LA - it was expected then that the DVD would get a June 2003 release:

Lance: I've just finished working with Dave Smithers over at LipSync Post on editing the Audio Commentary for Lindsay Anderson's If.... I recorded that in Los Angeles with Malcolm McDowell. It's coming out in June 2003. Look out for it, it's one of the best commentary tracks you'll ever hear.

Paramount owns If... and A Clockwork Orange is a Warners property, quite how he has supposed to have twisted arms there is a mystery. He must be referring to O Lucky Man! surely?

If... has now become one of those 'I'll believe it when I have it in my hands' releases.

 

[Jeff D Han]

Terrific news about Clockwork Orange and Mr. McDowell's
participation for the SE.

 

[Brian PB]

My take on the delay: Once Paramount realized the astounding popularity of TV-on-DVD, it seems they threw most of their home entertainment resources behind it, at the expense of pricey-projects-with-limited-sales-potential such as If..., The Conformist, 1900, Reds, Ace in the Hole, et al., which seem to have been relegated to back-burner status.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

I can understand that to a degree. "TV on DVD" has become a cash cow for the studios. However, when they start neglecting their top-notch catalog films it's a real shame. If... should've made it to DVD eons ago, IMHO.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

I can't believe that Paramount will totally ignore their back catalog titles in 2006 in favour of releasing TV series. They are rumoured to be working on 'The Conformist' and, if anyone there ever reads this forum, they must be aware that there is huge interest in films such as 'If...' and 'Ace In the Hole'.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Please keep all of the existing extras and stick with the director-approved a.r. with anny future Kubrcik Special Editions WB. Also, the existing theatrical art in keepcases would be appreciated as well.

Rather than the Dr. Strangelove Anniversary approach.


That would get a lot more of us to part with our money and double-triple dip on these films. Especially considering the excellence of the existing transfers.

Thank you.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Well, I might be wrong, but I really think it's obvious that Kubrick was mostly concerned about image resolution. He only approved laserdisc-era masters... where 4x3 encoding was more or less manditory. Thus, instead of blocking off resolution with black bars, why not show picture information that's safe to show in its place? Even though DVD was 2 years old when he died, WHV was doing so much pan & scan/open matte, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't expect the format to take advantage of widescreen much.

Now that we have HD and 16x9, I really doubt he'd be thrilled with a bunch of lost resolution. It makes no difference on The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, or Eyes Wide Shut on standard DVD (since 4x3 or 16x9, same resolution), but there's no excuse to not have Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, and Barry Lyndon in anamorphic 1.66:1. They didn't even expose those completely to the frame lines... they're exactly 1.66:1.

I guess this is why it's hard to really know what a filmmaker intended when they're not around to give hints when new technology exists. At least we know that there's no harm with showing The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut at 1.78:1 anamorphic... although, we need to make sure the 1.66:1 films are presented that way and anamorphic.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Brilliant news, Anthony! Well done!

McDowell is a brilliant speaker, very erudite and he has a brilliant memory and great fondness for his early films. I'd love to hear commentaries on O, Lucky Man! and A Clockwork Orange. Paramount should get their finder out (which they appear to be doing of late) and get If... out on DVD, with a gorgeous transfer, McDowell commentary and more, with that awesome hand-grenade poster as the cover art.

Great stuff!

 

[Vincent-P]

My opinion with new Kubrick SE's is that they should simply give us both AR's, 1.33:1 AND 1.85:1. I've never understood why so many discs have both a widescreen & fullscreen option when it's really not needed, but the films that are questionable about what is the true OAR (Kubrick films, The Sting, Touch Of Evil, etc) don't give us both.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Just because some people have questioned something, it doesn't necessarily mean it's questionable. There's no realistic doubt about the appropriate ARs for The Sting or Touch of Evil.

DJ

 

[CameronMcC]

the kubrick archives has added even greater confusion to the aspect ratio questions. SOme of kubricks own notes point towards Widescreen as prefrence, even when it was believed to be the other way around...

 

[David Lawrence]

I really do question Paramount's logic when it comes to back-catalogue releases; some of the titles they've released this year would be of interest only to a very small percentage of film fans, whereas I have to believe that all of the titles mentioned here would be must-buys for all lovers of film. For instance, is Red Garters really a better seller than Ace in the Hole would have been?

 

[Magnus T]

A MESSAGE TO WARNER BROS.:

If A Clockwork Orange doesn't have a new 16x9 transfer I won't be buying. I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

[Douglas R]

Absolutely. And that goes for Barry Lyndon and Lolita as well.

 

[WillG]

Well I guess one of the great impossibilites is to have a Kubrick related HTF thread that does not turn into a A.R. discussion/debate. I would like to see eventual DVDs of Kubricks open matte films issued with both ARs if it is necessary to preserve Kubrick's (at the time) widhes and to be able to see them as they were projected on a movie screen. I was watching "The Shining" recently and there is no way you can tell me that the film wasn't composed for a 1.85:1 - 1.66:1 AR. I have no doubt that "The Shining" would look terrific properly matted. And there was a recent thread in the movies section about a recent screening of "The Shining" that confirms it.

As for McDowell and his participation, it always makes me happy when I hear about people involved in a film going the extra mile to be a part of the DVD.