C'mon Universal....THE SEVEN PER CENT SOLUTION (1 Viewer)

[BarryM]

This thread is to hopefully get Universal to finally release Herbert Ross' amazing THE SEVEN PER CENT SOLUTION, starring Nicol Williamson, Alan Arkin, Robert Duvall and Vanessa Redgrave.

Image once upon a time had a lousy DVD of it not in widescreen.

This movie is good enough (and commercial enough) for Universal to hire Duvall and Williamson to do a commentary.

Please, Universal, how about it??

 

[paul_austin]

I saw this in the theatre and was sad to see its out of print, I'd love to see it released in widescreen with extras

 

[Paul McElligott]

I second the motion!

It seems rather elementary to me. A great movie deserves a first-class DVD.

 

[Derek M Germano]

The film is a personal favorite. Would love to see a 16:9 enhanced wide screen version.

 

[bob kaplan]

Add me to the list of those that would enjoy the release of this title in enhanced widescreen. i became familiar with it during my DiscoVision days (boy! was a "good" copy of the LD hard to get...) and the LD was pan and scan (as is the Image disc), and you certainly get the feeling that it has been "chopped" badly.

 

[Matt Hough]

Another vote to see this in a properly formatted DVD. I've had the laserdisc for years, and while it's better than nothing, I'd really like to see the movie given the respect it deserves on DVD.

 

[Tim RP]

Totally agree. We've got the MPI Rathbone Holmes' discs, MGM have good editions of the Cushing Hound and Wilder's Private Life (albeit with godawful artwork) and Anchor Bay have done a fine disc of Murder by Decree. C'mon Universal (and no floaty heads either)!!

 

[Joel C]

They've been showing this a lot on TCM recently with a decent-looking widescreen print.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I feel that the question is: C'mon, Universal, release a decent amount of your vintage gems this year! The pre-1948 Paramount titles are almost completely untouched.

 

[Dave Jessup]

Another vote for this movie in a decent presentation.

I'm surprised nobody's yet mentioned this little phrase from the back of the Image DVD:

HOME VIDEO VERSION + SOME MUSIC RESCORED

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Was the song "I Never Do Anything Twice" cut?

A scene in which an elderly Watson reads of Holmes' death in the newspaper, which later turns out to be a report of the death of Sigmund Freud was apparently cut before release.

Cinematography in this film was by the great experimental master Oswald Morris (Huston's Moulin Rouge and Moby Dick; Fiddler on the Roof, etc) so I'd love to finally see it, as I greatly admire Ozzie, in addition to being devout fan of Holmes and Watson.

 

[Dick]

Can't believe it's not out yet. But, hey, it's Universal. They're doing better than they did a few years ago, but their current catalog releases come in small spurts instead of the consistent waves Warner Bros. offers (and profits by).

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I bought the Image disk when it first came out, and it is quite a sad transfer. Murky, lots of compression artifacts, and P/S. IIRC this was Universal's very very first DVD effort.

 

[Clay_E]

I've had a real craving to see this movie recently, and it's just sad that the easiest way for me to do it is to pay $15 for the out-of-print VHS (?!?) edition of this film. TCM aren't showing it any time in the near future, and that seems to be the only place a widescreen version is available. I don't understand Universal's reluctance to either release this fine film themselves, or license it to someone else to do it. I agree that a commentary with Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall (or better yet, with writer Nicholas Meyer) would make an excellent addition.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Can we hope that Universal uses this as their Blu-Ray "test" disc? Or would they screw it up?

 

[Clay_E]

It would probably be the first 1:85:1 movie to be put out in HD...in pan-and-scan.

 

[PaulDA]

I'd also like to see this on Blu-ray (would be nice) or a nice transfer on SD DVD. I like this film quite a bit.

 

[Alan Tully]

It's been showing on Sky Movie Classics (in England) for a good few months now. 16:9 widescreen, looks very nice. I'd love a DVD, & a CD of John Addisons score.

 

[AdrianTurner]

I have a first edition of the novel, signed by Nicholas Meyer at the late lamented Brentano's bookstore in Hernando Courtwright's Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Oh, what days and nights of glamour they were!

Anyway, wasn't this Seven Percent Solution thing a rather thin rip-off of Wilder and Diamond's sublime Private Life of Sherlock Holmes?

 

[Matt Hough]

Well, the book was a best seller for months and with good reason. It was a welcome return to the world of 221B Baker Street written in the style of the original stories. Wilder and Diamond's screenplay for their film was decidedly tongue-in-cheek.

The movie of SEVEN PERCENT was simply an adaptation of a popular novel of the day (very well done, I thought and wonderfully cast), and I found it much less unwieldy than Wilder's film (of course, Wilder's film in the final form was a compromise and not his original vision).