He just restored The Ten Commandments, now Ron Smith wants to hear from you: What Paramount films yo (1 Viewer)

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by marsnkc

Mucho Gracias, Allen. The whos, whats, wherefores and whys pretty much tidied up here. Still the odd maverick out there, as you say.
The Paramount listing implies, or states, that Paramount controls CBS product. The impression I got from posters on Robert Harris's My Fair Lady thread was that CBS called the shots on the BD transfer of that unfortunate orphan, with Paramount having no say on the elements they were handed. On the other hand, RAH said that the people responsible for gems like the African Queen and Ten Commandments have left the building. Do you know who has the final say on CBS product? I'm curious because it was CBS, itself apparently under a different regime at the time, who were behind the glorious 1994 restoration and fabulous laserdisc box set. Amazing the difference one man or group can make in our lives.

You are correct, CBS calls the shots, but Paramount releases the titles. I placed it under Paramount because of that. CBS has the final say on what get released in the end. There is a brotherly battle going on between Paramount and CBS. Showtime is run under CBS and had an exclusive contract to Paramount films, when that contract ran out Paramount joined MGM and Lionsgate and formed Epix to spite Showtime. With the loss of that product CBS started CBS films and made a deal with Sony to distribute the titles theatrically and as Home Entertainment. Of course this did nothing to ease tensions between the two brothers. As in the past this experiment for CBS has not been successful and they are not producing new titles now, but only acquiring titles and participating is financing. And the Epix experiment is also not taking off well either.

It is a shame that that people who care do not seem to last long.

 

[marsnkc]

I got to sample it today and overall it looks worse than the Paramount LD that I own. It has a bit more detail but on the other hand has nasty edge enhancement, wrong gamma and almost no colors. This should never have slipped into the public domain...

I somehow missed this post, Oliver, so didn't know anyone had seen the 'One Eyed Jacks' BD at the time. The ever-curious side of me overcame the rational, so I bit the bullet(!). I stayed with it until the scene near the beginning where Brando is courting the aristocratic lady (the ex-wife of a friend of mine!) and is then interrupted by Malden riding up to warn him that the Rurales are on the way. That out of the way, I ejected what looked to me like a baked-over VHS of an old, washed-out print as the source. I revisited the laserdisc about six months ago and remember thinking that we've come a long way in home video. I don't know if the BD improves beyond the point I ended my misery, but what I saw of it makes the former look like IMAX in comparison. At least it has some color, which, as you say, the BD is almost bereft of (though E1 laughably boasts on Amazon that it has been 're-colorized'!) Sad and ironic that this title was number one on this thread's most wanted list.

 

[Nelson Au]

Terrific post above Allen. I don't know how you could have kept all that information straight! So many studio ownership changes, bravo on the effort. Regarding one post about the people responsible for The Ten Commandments, they left the building? You mean the man who led the remaster for the recent blu ray left Paramount? If so, that's a shame! And so CBS, the TV network (?) now calls the shots for what is released from Paramount? That means one of my favorite properties is in the control of CBS, but Paramount releases the blu rays.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

Star Trek—The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) in high-definition. The visual effects will need to be redone (again) for the Director's Edition changes, but maybe it would be a good opportunity to go back and harvest a better picture from those old negatives.

 

[John Hodson]

I've just watched an excellent HD broadcast of The Desperate Hours; Bogey, monochrome VistaVision, hi-def - it doesn't get much better.

 

[benbess]

I've just watched an excellent HD broadcast of The Desperate Hours; Bogey, monochrome VistaVision, hi-def - it doesn't get much better.

So they've got an HD master already! That's good news. Tell us about the PQ! Hope the blu-ray is on its way. What channel was it on?

 

[John Hodson]

UK Sky Movies; beautiful detail, marvellous greyscale, could have used a *little* more digital cleaning but as is, I'd take it. BTW, word from another forum is that To Catch A Thief and Chinatown will be released on BD in the UK sometime next year - again, I've seen HD broadcasts for both and they were *fantastic*.

 

[OliverK]

I got to sample it today and overall it looks worse than the Paramount LD that I own. It has a bit more detail but on the other hand has nasty edge enhancement, wrong gamma and almost no colors. This should never have slipped into the public domain...

I somehow missed this post, Oliver, so didn't know anyone had seen the 'One Eyed Jacks' BD at the time. The ever-curious side of me overcame the rational, so I bit the bullet(!). I stayed with it until the scene near the beginning where Brando is courting the aristocratic lady (the ex-wife of a friend of mine!) and is then interrupted by Malden riding up to warn him that the Rurales are on the way. That out of the way, I ejected what looked to me like a baked-over VHS of an old, washed-out print as the source. I revisited the laserdisc about six months ago and remember thinking that we've come a long way in home video. I don't know if the BD improves beyond the point I ended my misery, but what I saw of it makes the former look like IMAX in comparison. At least it has some color, which, as you say, the BD is almost bereft of (though E1 laughably boasts on Amazon that it has been 're-colorized'!) Sad and ironic that this title was number one on this thread's most wanted list.

Yes, it is stunning to have a medium with the potential for about 12 times the color and 7 times the luma resolution of LD and yet One Eyed Jacks looks worse on it than on LD! as far as I am concerened One Eyed Jacks is still number one on that list - Paramount is not off the hook until they do the right thing!

 

[benbess]

Is Ron Smith still at Paramount home video?

 

[marsnkc]

UK Sky Movies; beautiful detail, marvellous greyscale, could have used a *little* more digital cleaning but as is, I'd take it. BTW, word from another forum is that To Catch A Thief and Chinatown will be released on BD in the UK sometime next year - again, I've seen HD broadcasts for both and they were *fantastic*.

Just to make it hard for Paramount, these last two were my 'first' choices for this list. If a gun was put to my head I'd have a hard time choosing between them! Well, maybe Thief, but I love Chinatown the movie so much that I enjoy visiting the actual place for its atmosphere.

 

[Richard--W]

Let's hope Paramount makes the obvious choices a priority:

 

[benbess]

Great posters!!

 

[Matt Hough]

Yep, every one of those films should be on the short list for Blu-ray transfer.

 

[Garysb]

Originally Posted by Ahollis Here is a list of who owns what, but keep in mind that some films have reverted back to other rights holders, and example is The African Queen. It was a UA film that reverted back to the producer whose estate sold the rights to CBS which is now controlled by Paramount. Warner Brothers Warner Brothers – All films, cartoons, shorts MGM – All pre-1986 films, cartoons, shorts. RKO – All films (no shorts, no cartoons, and no titles they just distributed, such as Disney films) New Line Cinema – All films Orion Films – All pre-1981 films Castle Rock Entertainment – All films after 1993, films before that are controlled by Columbia (Sony) Lorimar Telepictures – All films Monogram Pictures – All films after 1946. Films before 1947 are owned by MGM through their ownership of UA. Allied Artists Pictures – All films. Many 70's films were just distribution rights and not video. National General Cinema – All films except Center Cinema Films (CBS) which are controlled by Paramount Hanna-Barbera Productions – All Films and Television shows Ruby-Spears Productions – All Films and Television shows Castle Hill Productions – Video rights only Didn't Warner Bros lose the video rights to Castle Hill productions? I thought that was the reason they no longer have the rights to such films as Stagecoach and Foreign Correspondent.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Garysb

Originally Posted by Ahollis
Here is a list of who owns what, but keep in mind that some films have reverted back to other rights holders, and example is The African Queen. It was a UA film that reverted back to the producer whose estate sold the rights to CBS which is now controlled by Paramount.
Warner Brothers
Warner Brothers – All films, cartoons, shorts
MGM – All pre-1986 films, cartoons, shorts.
RKO – All films (no shorts, no cartoons, and no titles they just distributed, such as Disney films)
New Line Cinema – All films
Orion Films – All pre-1981 films
Castle Rock Entertainment – All films after 1993, films before that are controlled by Columbia (Sony)
Lorimar Telepictures – All films
Monogram Pictures – All films after 1946. Films before 1947 are owned by MGM through their ownership of UA.
Allied Artists Pictures – All films. Many 70's films were just distribution rights and not video.
National General Cinema – All films except Center Cinema Films (CBS) which are controlled by Paramount
Hanna-Barbera Productions – All Films and Television shows
Ruby-Spears Productions – All Films and Television shows
Castle Hill Productions – Video rights only
Didn't Warner Bros lose the video rights to Castle Hill productions? I thought that was the reason they no longer have the rights to such films as Stagecoach and Foreign Correspondent.

Some of the titles they did loose. There are a group of titles that include Baby Doll and A Face In the Crowd that are controlled by both companies and Warners still has those titles. I will edit to be clearer.

 

[JoHud]

Also, I wonder if Warner Brothers' holding of the Monogram titles is that clear-cut. There have been some 1946 titles that they have released and their early Bowery Boys films fall onto that year as well.

 

[Nelson Au]

Is Ron Smith still at Paramount home video?

I was wondering that as well. I did a search and he has a LinkedIn profile. Interesting read. He's still at Paramount according to that. Thanks to Ron for all the efforts on Star Trek, from the original series to Star Trek II.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by ahollis


Some of the titles they did loose. There are a group of titles that include Baby Doll and A Face In the Crowd that are controlled by both companies and Warners still has those titles. I will edit to be clearer.

It's just the titles from the Caidin Trust that Criterion picked up, correct?

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

To correct and augment Allen Hollis' well-researched and exhaustive rights breakdown: *UA only had TV rights to the RKO library - the actual movies and intellectual property were still owned by RKO, who had interests in TV (owned NY indie station WOR), movie theatres (RKO-Stanley Warner) and stage (RKO-Nederlander). Paramount handled theatrical revivals on some of their movies (an inheritance from buying the physical studio in Hollywood), even spending some money to reissue CITIZEN KANE on its 50th Anniversary; it's also how they wound up releasing the documentary IT'S ALL TRUE, composed of the lost footage Welles shot on that abandoned project. Early VHS tapes came out through VIdAmerica and Nostalgia Merchant, until RKO briefly started their own homevideo label to handle their library. When Turner kept the AAP library after selling back MGM/UA, he paid a huge sum to the RKO company to secure all rights to their movies. *The Allied Artists library was first absorbed by Lorimar before that entire library was acquired by WB. Just a timeline correction really. *Criterion has an open relationship with Castle Hill, though for now their interest is confined to movies from the Caidin Trust and John Cassavettes productions. *When the Embassy library was split up by Coca-Cola, the video division went to a company called Nelson Entertainment who went on to finance their own theatrical films, and was an initial partner in Castle Rock Entertainment. When their library was absorbed by MGM, that initially gave them video rights to the entire Embassy libary, while intellectual property rights and the negatives are owned by StudioCanal. However, after a few years, they decided to sever the arrangement. As such, only Embassy titles that MGM previously released on VHS or DVD are still controlled by MGM for video - all other Embassy titles are now part of the large StudioCanal package that Lionsgate is handling in the U.S. Also, MGM inherited video rights to the first batch of Castle Rock productions like WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and MISERY, as well as THE PRINCESS BRIDE, which was financed by Act III, essentially the predecessor of Castle Rock. *While Lionsgate already had part ownership of the Carolco library through acquiring Live/Artisan, all Carolco titles are actually part of the larger StudioCanal libary. In a sense that is likely why StudioCanal decided to funnel all their product through Lionsgate after ending their output deals with Criterion, Anchor Bay, and Image. To address some of Matthew's library questions: *Cinema Group titles were fused into the First Look library, now known as Millenium Entertainment (they just released RAMPART with Woody Harrelson) *Manson International titles are at MGM *Actual Thorn EMI productions are at StudioCanal, except for a final few which went to MGM through Cannon, which briefly owned the library *Cinepix and C/FP Video should be at Lionsgate, since Lionsgate evolved from Cinepix Film Properties, which is what the "C/FP" stood for

 

[Garysb]

To correct and augment Allen Hollis' well-researched and exhaustive rights breakdown: *UA only had TV rights to the RKO library - the actual movies and intellectual property were still owned by RKO, who had interests in TV (owned NY indie station WOR), movie theatres (RKO-Stanley Warner) and stage (RKO-Nederlander). Paramount handled theatrical revivals on some of their movies (an inheritance from buying the physical studio in Hollywood), even spending some money to reissue CITIZEN KANE on its 50th Anniversary; it's also how they wound up releasing the documentary IT'S ALL TRUE, composed of the lost footage Welles shot on that abandoned project. Early VHS tapes came out through VIdAmerica and Nostalgia Merchant, until RKO briefly started their own homevideo label to handle their library. When Turner kept the AAP library after selling back MGM/UA, he paid a huge sum to the RKO company to secure all rights to their movies.

To make it even more complicated RKO held on to the TV rights in the areas where they owned TV stations such as NY and WOR. I think this was true until RKO was forced to sell its TV stations or when Ted Turner bought the rights to the RKO films. At one point Ted Turner wanted to colorize Citizen Kane but RKO wouldn't provide the elements to do so. It was later found the Orson Welles' original contract with RKO might prevent the colorization of the film and so Turner decided not to pursue this.