It's been so slow with classic movie news!! (1 Viewer)

[CineKarine]

I hope we will soon hear about wave 3 of Universal classics. I have bought all their titles in February and June plus the Western Round-Ups, Pirate and James Stewart collections. I thought they were doing beautifully with classics this year and will continue in that direction!

 

[Corey]

News from Fox has still been slow. I wouldn't mind sets for Bogie, Susan Hayward, Sonja Henie, Carmen Miranda, Tyrone Power, and Gene Tierney from them.

 

[Richard M S]

Actually the one I am looking for is Spencer Tracy. He did a lot of interesting films at MGM, and he needs his own box set.

 

[Corey]

Still very slow from Universal and Fox (though I know what they have coming). I just can't wait to see what films are going to be in the Ford at Fox Collection. Finally we'll have Tobacco Road and Wee Willie Winkie.

 

[Steve...O]

Other than the Charlie Chan series, which has reportedly done quite well, Fox hasn't had great sales success with their other classic film sets. Some have been outright disasters. Had these sets sold more units Fox would be releasing more. Granted, the exhorbitantly high pricing Fox used to have probably doomed some of these sets out of the gate. To their credit, Fox has adjusted their pricing downward and repriced existing collections.

Of the missing films, Bogie is probably the biggest draw. How we can still have so many unreleased Bogart films in late 2007 is a mystery. Warners still has a bunch, but I'm not too concerned about them.

Steve

 

[David_B_K]

For me, that is quite true. I almost never go looking for DVDs in brick and mortar stores anymore. And of my collection, I'd say 75% of hundreds of DVDs are classic films that predate the 70's.

 

[Corey]

I buy all of my classic releases online. B&M stores usually sell at SRP. I work at Borders and they have an excellent selection, but even with my discount, I'll still do better off buying on Amazon or Deepdiscount.

 

[Corey]

Fox should start using promo for their sets, especially on FMC. Prime examples are for Betty Grable, Ernest Hemingway, and Alice Faye. With those kind of sets, you have to put a little more effort into to ensure that they're successful.

Warners does an excellent job at promoting on TCM. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the Esther Williams collection. It comes on almost after every movie and it paid off. The set has done very well and same with Film Noir 4 and Loy & Powell.

 

[TravisR]

I can usually find a copy or two of older movies at the Best Buy in my area as long as it's a DVD that's been recently released. However like Corey said, the price usually isn't as good as online pricing.

 

[Richard M S]

The closing of Tower Records motivated me to purchase all of my DVDs on-line, and even though J & R Music World is located near my job in New York, in order for me to get classic releases on a timely basis at an incredible price, I pre-order everything from Amazon. The price really is always cheaper.

However the biggest advantage to buying on-line is that I never have to deal with hearing the name of a favorite star or film mispronounced by a sales clerk or stock person with no clue whatsoever about the Golden Age classic I usually want to purchase.

 

[Richard Matich]

Most of my buying from now on will be done online. Best Buy just does not have many classics. Amazon used rocks. I got My Man Godfrey for $20 or so. It pays to shop around. All my Fox Studio Classics were bought at Best Buy $15 when released. All but one of my Warner sets were purchased at Best Buy. The fact that they don't have but one or two Criterion discs is a strike against BB. Barnes & Noble had some. I got Wild Strawberries there and my original Seven Samurai.

 

[Mark B]

DeepDiscountDVD is even cheaper.

 

[CineKarine]

The artwork for the upcoming Fox musicals (With a Song in My Heart, The Girl Next Door and Bloodhounds on Broadway) appears on Amazon.com.

I wonder if they have more Shirley Temple in the pipeline - I've been waiting eagerly for Stowaway (36), mainly because of the wonderful songs by Alice Faye.

 

[Corey]

Susan Hayward looks like a legend on the cover art.

 

[CineKarine]

Bits and pieces (take it or leave it ) from MoviesUnlimited:

Lionsgate owns the rights to Bohemian Girl, but there’ nothing on the horizon.

We agree that the great Ernie Kovacs is underrepresented on DVD, but this should be remedied over the next year, as Sony is looking at a few Kovacs efforts for a DVD arrival. We’re not sure which ones yet, but we’re sure Operation Mad Ball with frequent co-star Jack Lemmon would be among them.

Middle Age Crazy is held up on account of rights entanglements—this often happens with Canadian productions sometimes.

No word on future plans for Five Graves to Cairo as of yet.

Sony has Berserk!, a 1967 British production in which Joan is the ringmaster of a circus where peculiar murders begin to occur. It’s not on their short list of titles slated for DVD incarnation.

The Fox pre-codes were indeed shown at the Great Film Forum in Manhattan and have even been screened on the Fox Movie Channel, but the studio has no new updates on their DVD release.

Right now, Warner has their hands full with a slew of ambitious projects, so Harlow, Powell and Powell will have to wait.

Sony is planning some more Columbia films with the lovely Rita Hayworth, but it’s further down the line, probably late 2008.

Nothing of late on Idiot’s Delight.

Fox finally delivered some of the oft-requested Tyrone Power films last spring, and a reliable source tells us they are considering another collection for the first half of 2008.

Yes, Ladies Of The Chorus is a strong possibility, once Sony gets their Columbia stuff together. Unfortunately, it will be mid-late 2008 at the earliest.

Lady Be Good (Warner), The Land Unknown (Universal), Little Nelly Kelly (Warner), and Lovely To Look At (Warner) are all great titles, but we don’t think we’ve seen them on any future schedules.

Flamingo Road, The Great Caruso and The Great Lie are definitely in the pipeline, but how far back they are remains a question.

We’ve been assured from a reliable source that Warner still has plans for a Jean Harlow Collection. Obviously, it won’t be happening this year, but 2008, probably early in the year, is the more likely. I believe we will see this.

Warner, we’re told, still plans a DVD release of Twilight's last Gleaming, now tentatively set for 2008.

 

[Corey]

Thanks Karine for the update. That's my question regarding the Fox pre-codes and Rita Hayworth. I think Lady Be Good as a strong chance of being in the Eleanor Powell set (which Irv must not know about).

Some people are very disappointed with the Harlow set not being released as of yet. It better sell like The Thin Man series when it comes out.

Also, good to know about Ladies of the Chorus coming out. Any Marilyn film that's not out by now is mind boggling.

 

[Charles H]

There are only 4 Kovacs Sony titles unreleased on DVD: OPERATION MADBALL, OUR MAN IN HAVANA, SAIL A CROOKED SHIP, and FIVE GOLDEN HOURS.

 

[BethHarrison]

Warners probably have some big September announcements coming up for December. IIRC they schedule their announcements three months in advance.

As I have mentioned; Christmas time = smart marketing.

Disappointing about the Harlow releases taking a little longer - I am hanging out for this one big time. Que sera sera

 

[Mike*HTF]

You mean in R1, right?
Our Man in Havana is available in a fine-looking R2/PAL disc.

 

[Corey]

I don't have a region free player, but the stills of Affair In Trinidad look more than acceptable which is why I don't know why we would have to wait till late 2008 for a R1 version when they already have a remastered copy.