Dan:
Even without a major restoration, couldn't Warners, at much less cost, provide at least a DVD of The Hanging Tree that is superior to the VHS released in the early 90's?
Some expert like Robert Harris could best answer that question, however I wonder if this is an all or nothing issue like it is being portrayed. The question is can it be improved for an acceptable DVD release without a major restoration (i.e some improvement or partial restoration?). Warners decided not to go to the expense of restoring The Naked Spur last year, however the DVD copy appears to be an improvement over the VHS copy from the early 90's.
I get the message that you are quite taken with Operator 13. I'll have to take another look at it, as perhaps I missed something there. I think Operator 13 gets played about every year on rotation on TCM, so I would think that a fairly high quality copy for home use shouldn't be that hard to obtain by taping it yourself or having a friend do it. I don't recall even seeing The Hanging Tree playing on cable in recent years.
I do think it overwhelmingly likely that a second Cooper box set with The Hanging Tree included will sell far more units than a set that doesn't have it. In fact, all the other unreleased Cooper films in Warner's library are fairly obscure minor items (though I like Bright Leaf), while The Hanging Tree is a popular film from 1959 that many people will still remember and which featured the screen debut of George C. Scott and a theme song recorded by the popular pop/country singer, Marty Robbins. So Warner might be being penny wise and pound foolish if they opt not to spend money to restore The Hanging Tree and then release a box set that sells far less well than it could have done if The Hanging Tree had been included.
c Jim Bur
