Life with Father, Enchanted April, and To Each His Own... (1 Viewer)

[DaViD Boulet]

are 3 films I'm waiting for to see on DVD (in the case of life with father, the current public-domain DVD is so horrible it's beyond words...a true abomination).

Anyone have any clue about any of these titles and when we might get to see a DVD done right?

-dave

 

[Patrick McCart]

I'd love to see a proper DVD of Life With Father, too.

UCLA holds the 3-strip original negatives, the original fine-grain positives, and the original soundtrack negative. All nitrate. There's also the preservation safety film positives made in the 1990's.

So, Warner could use these excellent elements to create an Ultra-Resolution 2K transfer.

Here's an inventory of the UCLA holdings on the film:

http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-b...07175747&SID=1

To Each His Own has been restored by UCLA for Universal: http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-b...07180811&SID=3

 

[Andrew Budgell]

I would love to see a restored print of Life with Father, though unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath. The current DVDs aren't watchable, I basically only have it for completion, as I collect Elizabeth Taylor.

Andy

PS I really like your banner, Patrick. I'm sure it would make Janet very happy.

 

[RafaelPires]

I love "To Each his Own". Universal could make an effort to release it on dvd soon. Also a WB release of Life with Father would be a must buy!

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Darn, David, I thought for a second you were going to say that Enchanted April was on its way to DVD. I saw parts of it on satellite over the weekend and am about to track down the laserdisc.

- Steve

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I've got the LD of Enchanted April and on ebay I bought some hong-kong DVD version (R0/NTSC) which is maybe a *tad* more detailed in picture quality than the LD but looks equally sub-par in terms of PAL-NTSC conversion and has really poor audio...so the LD is IMO the best bet while we wait for a glorious new 16x9 DVD from Miramax...

-dave

 

[Jefferson]

Someone out there in HTF land will know the details on this.
I know I read that there was some legal problem concerning the release of LIFE WITH FATHER that concerned the Clarence Day (subject of the book/play/film) estate.
This is an alltime comedy classic...
and a worthy candidate for legitimate release.

 

[Jerry R Colvin]

I've been asking about Enchanted April every couple of months for the past year. I had mistakenly thought it was a Miramax film, but recently figured out that it's Paramount. Does Paramount have many art house releases on DVD?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Interesting...there's a Miramax logo on the laserdisc. Did the rights change?

 

[Jerry R Colvin]

When I saw Enchanted April last week or so on Showtime (I think), after the end credits were over, the Paramount banner was displayed. So I assume they have some kind of rights to it now.

 

[Jim Robbins]

The IMDB shows this film the property of the BBC. I see there are not even a UK DVD release. This is a shame since it's a beautiful film.

 

[Jae_E]

I'm no expert on this, but I believe that before Disney was distributor/owner of Miramax films, they were distributed by Paramount. I've been hoping for a release of Enchanted April as well, and I believe Hear My Song (with Ned Beatty) may be in the same situation.

 

[RoyGBiv]

I, too, would love to see Enchanted April on DVD. I love the film, and my wife thinks it's great, so if I could surprise her with it, it would be a lot of brownie points.

I did see the LD of it, but as I recall it was 4:3. This is a beautiful movie that really needs to be ws anamorphic.

SMK

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The LD is indeed 4x3...as is the hong-kong DVD.

I'm not sure what the OAR is...or how the 4x3 image is obtained (open-matte or P/S). It seems cropped when I zoom on my 16x9 display however.

My guess is that it's a 1.66:1 film and really should be presented in 1.66:1 16x9.

-dave

 

[Jefferson]

Four years later, I'm still waiting (though not holding my breath) to see a legitmate studio release of LIFE WITH FATHER.
This film was shown in a watchable print a decade ago on AMC...but has only been released on dvd in horrible public domain prints.
Perhaps with all the Warner hoopla about their anniversary this year, they might find time for this family classic?

To Each His Own, which I'm recalling belongs to Paramount, is also still missing in action.....(sigh).
Collecting the classics is such a waiting game.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Paramount doesn't own "To Each his Own", it now belongs to Universal.

 

[Jerry R Colvin]

Per Amazon, Enchanted April is coming out on May 5, 2009.