Has Anyone A Clue As To the Fate of the Remaining Val Lewton Films? (1 Viewer)

[bujaki]

Agree on both Zombie and Victim.
I have the LD of Fifi.

 

[cadavra]

"which have never come out in any format"

Not quite.

https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/03434/ID7066TU/Mademoiselle-Fifi

Oddly (but not surprisingly) enough, the film's entry at Wikipedia doesn't mention this release, but says: "Mademoiselle Fifi has so far only seen two official releases: a US VHS video by Warner Home Video and a French region 2 PAL DVD by Editions Montparnasse. It has also been issued on an authorised DVD by Manga Films, a Spanish pirate company."

I must confess to confusion on how the Spanish DVD can be "authorised" and yet not an "official" release.

Y'know what's really embarrassing? I have that box set!!

 

[jayembee]

Y'know what's really embarrassing? I have that box set!!

Box set??

 

[cadavra]

Box set??

The laserdiscs.

 

[jayembee]

What I was getting at is that there was a box set of the nine Lewton horror films, but the LD for Fifi was a separate one-off release.

 

[Nick*Z]

Favorite Val Lewton movie if you wanted to recommend something to a viewer unfamiliar with his craft?

Of the 'as yet' unreleased to Blu - I Walked With A Zombie would be my number one recommendation, immediately followed by The Seventh Victim. With all due respect, the Karloff/Lewton collaborations suffered somewhat from Karloff's strong presence, whereas the others, featuring mostly unknowns, or shall we say, 'stars' whose names above the title meant very little on the marquee, seemed to fare better in their psychological complexity and not knowing exactly who among the cast were the good and the bad guys. Let's be honest - the minute you see Karloff, you know he's going to be the proponent of evil incarnate.

Of the seminal Lewton masterpieces virtually every man, woman and child should experience - the other two, in addition to the one's I've already listed are, without a doubt, Cat People and Curse of the Cat People. PS - love all of the Lewton films. But these 4 would are absolute required viewing IMO.

 

[Nick*Z]

Exactly! As much as we love these films and would love to see them released, the fact is, it's harder for these labels to turn a profit on catalog titles. It's telling that rather than releasing the Lewton titles themselves, Warners siphoned them off to Criterion and Shout. A petition? Really? "Dear Shout/Warners, we realize you're losing money releasing these titles, but please release them anyway because we collectors want them."

I'll be upfront. I love those Lewton films but I never upgraded them to blu ray. The DVDs are good enough for me. I suspect that might be true for many collectors like myself which may be why sales were disappointing.

Sorry, Thomas. Have to disagree with you on one point. The Lewton movies on DVD are horrendous. When Warner Home Video mastered that box set they were working from poorly contrasted second generation film elements without the benefit of ANY restoration. So far, all of the Lewton movies released in hi-def have been the benefactors of a complete rescan from original or best surviving print elements with a formidable amount of clean-up to ensure optimal picture quality with zero age-related dirt and scratches. There is virtually NO comparison between the DVD's and the Blu's. One is clearly the superior product.

 

[aPhil]

Isle of the Dead would be great Coronavirus-time viewing.
I so hope that a Blu-ray with restored image comes our way.

Cat People, Curse of the Cat People, and The Body Snatcher look fantastic on Blu. Even the lesser reviewed The Leopard Man looks far better on Blu-ray than the DVD.