Best pressings of Marx Bros? (1 Viewer)

[Christian Sonntag]

I've seen the Marx Brothers movies (Duck Soup, Night at the Opera, Day at the Races...) on at least 2, if not 3, different labels. Has anybody actually cleaned up and restored any of these movies, or are they all basically from the same public domain copies?
I'd like to invest in putting together a good set, but was wondering if I should wait for somebody (Criterion maybe?) to do a restoration.
Cheers,
Chris

 

[Jay E]

Are you talking DVD?
I only know of the Image releases of Duck Soup, Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers, Cocoanuts & Monkey Business on DVD. These were discontinued due to Image's license from Universal running out.
Warner has the rights to almost all of their other films and these are not on DVD and I know of no plans for their release.
These films are not public domain so I have no idea where or why you have seen them on DVD that way.
[Edited last by Jay E on September 19, 2001 at 11:43 AM]

 

[Christian Sonntag]

Jay,
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I really thought I had seen more than one studio's version of some of these movies (maybe I'm not even remembering the movie titles correctly).
Maybe I should have rephrased the question to:
What Marx Bros movies are avilable on DVD, and are they worth picking up based on audio/video quality?
A follow-up would be: is there any indication that any MB movies will be put through some sort of restoration process for future release?
Cheers,
Chris
------------------
Christian A. Sonntag
"The world owes you nothing. Take responsibility for your own actions!"

 

[Steve Pendleton]

>are they worth picking up based on audio/video quality?
One hand: The image and sound quality of the Image titles is often rough, reflecting their age and popularity (old films that were popular got hammered by repeated printing without interpositives). And I suspect that Universal didn't put much effort into the masters licensed to Image.
Other one: my local Borders has them ?remaindered? at $10. Also, for these films, technical quality isn't the point.
>is there any indication that any MB movies will be put through some sort of restoration process for future release?
No rumors, but the early MB films are solid classics, so eventual cleanup seems inevitable. When the music companies went to CD, it took a while for them to dig out the best sources and learn how to master them for the new digital medium. The same thing is going on now with DVD. Software-aided cleanup will come down in price and become routine for all older films. It is written.
--Steve Pendleton