Goldwyn titles...what's the hold up??? (2 Viewers)

[Corey]

We always get classics from Warners and Fox, occasionally from Universal, and sporadically from Sony. What's the hold up with the Goldwyn films. There's quite a few of them that haven't came out on dvd. I would love to have some Goldwyn titles:

Edddie Cantor
-Whoopee
-Roman Scandals
-Kid Millions
-The Kid From Spain
-Strike Me Pink

William Wyler
-Wuthering Heights (out of print)
-These Three

Merle Oberon:
-The Dark Angel
-Beloved Enemy

Gary Cooper:
-The Cowboy and the Lady
-The Westerner
-The Real Glory

Danny Kaye:
-The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
-A Song is Born
-Up In Arms
-Wonder Man
-The Kid From Brooklyn

Others:
-The North Star
-Porgy and Bess
-My Foolish Heart (Susan Hayward)
-They Got Me Covered (Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour)
-Splendor (Miriam Hopkins)
-The Unholy Garden
-The Greeks Had a Word for Them (original How to Marry A Millionaire)

 

[Stephen_J_H]

It's a good question. I think most of these titles belong to Studio Canal now, as they appear to be the successors to Embassy, who released most of these on VHS and Beta back in the 1980s. MGM has released a few former Embassy titles as successors to Orion (they bought Orion's assets when Orion went bankrupt), but I'm not sure where the rights are now. It's really a shame, because the VHS release of Whoopee! was really stellar in terms of that format.

 

[Charles H]

I see that TRUE CONFESSIONS, which has been held up in MGM/UA/Sony/Fox/Tom Cruise limbo for years is finally being released on 4/17. This may mean that the Lean Collection, the Hitchcock collection, Paper Lion, Kid Millions, The Westerner, Ball of Fire may finally be reactivated. They're out there and the box art is available on most of them.

 

[Darrell Bratz]

This has been killing me for years. I think a lot of the Korda/London Films stuff is mixed in with this as well, not sure if all that is under the Goldwyn umbrella of properties or just tends to travel alongside them. The MGM releases of things like The Little Foxes, Four Feathers and Thief of Bagdad a few years ago makes me wonder if Fox doesn't control at least some of them now. Pioneer released lots of this stuff on laser. Along with many of those mentioned above I'm waiting on:

That Hamilton Woman
Bulldog Drummond (the original w/Ronald Colman)
Raffles (Colman again)
Scarlet Pimpernel (someone has the rights to the best surviving elements. The public domain prints are killing me)
Private Life of Henry VIII (ditto)
Clouds Over Europe (never seen it, long wanted to)
Divorce of Lady X

 

[Mike*HTF]

Brother(s) I hear your pain!
In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I believe the following Korda's were also part of this very missed series:
Knight Without Armour
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
Elephant Boy
Sanders of the River
The Private Life of Don Juan

and of course

The Goldwyn Follies

Frankly, I'd step over my own mother for the Cantors and Colmans.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

How can we talk Korda films without mentioning The Four Feathers?

 

[Steve Armbrust]

Korda's "The Four Feathers" is already availale on DVD.

 

[Darrell Bratz]

Mike*HTF - Criterion has acquired "Sanders of the River" (from where? I'd like to know). It will be released next month as part of their Paul Robeson box.

 

[Mike*HTF]

I didn't because Darrell already mentioned it inthe post above my initial one. Actually there are several titles that were released on DVD on from the first post:

Barbary Coast
Little Foxes (Darrell mentions this too)
Secret Life of Walter Mitty
They Got Me Covered
Wonder Man
Wuthering Heights
The Westerner

and many more that weren't such as:

Arrowsmith
Ball of Fire (Charles H mentions this)
Best Years of Our Lives
Come and Get it
Dodsworth
Goldwyn Follies
Hurricane
The Princess and the Pirate
Stella Dallas

and probably a couple more that I forgot. Of course Kid Millions was announced for a Dec 05 release and then yanked without explanation at the last moment. The optimist in me thought it might be because a Cantor box was on the way... (btw, I believe in the tooth fairy too) but who knows what the real reason was.

 

[Mike*HTF]

I saw that. I'm going to be broke before March the way things are going!

 

[Jefty]

don't forget I Want You (1951)--a kind of (far more troubled!) spiritual successor to The Best Years of Our Lives... it got a VHS release, and it deserves to be much better known than it is

also--The Wedding Night is a fascinating film

and, yes, it's insane that These Three, Wuthering Heights and Ball of Fire aren't available

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

The classic Goldwyn titles are controlled by MGM. BY all accounts they were planning to mine them until the Sony occupation ruined everything. With any luck they will begin to resurface.

MGM also has limited rights to stuff from London Films and the Rank Organisation thru a previous deal with the Samuel Goldwyn company, though it seems Criterion gets to cherry pick some titles from that package.

 

[Matt Hough]

I guess we're never going to see PORGY AND BESS again, and this is so disappointing as I remember seeing it as a kid and loving it. The soundtrack LP has always been my favorite rendition of the music (though much is cut from the original score, of course).

 

[Corey]

MGM/Fox has really thrown us some surprises so hopefully they continue to do so by releasing some more of these dvds.

 

[CineKarine]

Also, as the Gary Cooper set has been retitled "Gary Cooper MGM Movie Legends Collection", it is tempting to think that more collections will follow for other stars like Danny Kaye for instance.

 

[Jim Bur]

I am going to purchase this collection, so today I checked a few online websites to find out the best price. This collection isn't even listed on Amazon, and its not listed on DVD Planet. It's listed on DVD Empire for release on 5/22 as The Gary Cooper giftset, however there is no cover art featured which seems a bit odd for a DVD boxset that's supposed to be released in just about a month. Is this release really going to happen? If it is, it seems odd that a release that is fairly imminent should have such limited marketing. It's not likely to be very succesful if such a limited approach is taken, which will not bode well for getting many future releases from the MGM/UA/Goldwyn/Korda library. Wonder what is going on?

 

[Charles H]

Movies Unlimited has a photo art for Gary Cooper: MGM Movie Legends Collection.

 

[Jim Bur]

Charles: Thanks for the info.

 

[Corey]

That's a very nice cover. He looks very attractive.

 

[Jim Peavy]

(Resurrecting this old thread)

I'd love a nice, restored Private Life of Henry VIII. A fabulous film! The only DVD of it that I know of is a reportedly crummy one from Spain (I think).

TCM has shown a beautiful, sparkling print of The Scarlet Pimpernel, so it is out there.