MGM; Please release the rest of your horror library (1 Viewer)

[AlanBrom]

I hope MGM gets back in the DVD game soon. It's already almost time to start announcing Halloween titles, and I fear we're getting nothing but rehashes as reported on the long Midnite Movies thread. I needs my BLACK SLEEP, BLOOD AND LACE and CANNIBAL GIRLS DVDs, among dozens of others.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

MarkEH,

Also an off-topic title, any ideas as to who controls SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965) these days?

Theatrically it was released by Paramount. TV distribution in the 1990s was thru Columbia Pictures... though it was a Joseph E. Levine production, which makes me think Embassy, therefore StudioCanal (and, by extension, a potential Lionsgate title).

Getting back to the thread's proper subject, as for the MGM Horrors, I've had to rely on R2 for TWINS OF EVIL, VAMPIRE CIRCUS, HANDS OF THE RIPPER and BURN WITCH BURN, as well as making DVD-R back-ups of my LDs and home-recordings of QUATERMASS X-PERIMENT, THE TIME TRAVELERS, THE MANSTER, THE MAGNETIC MONSTER, MASTER OF THE WORLD, BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN, the english-dubbed BLACK SABBATH, etc. MGM could've saved me alot of trouble and received a nice share of my money if they'd simply utilize the hi-def transfers of these they've already made for R1 DVD and/or Blu-Ray, rather than banishing them to HD cable channels I can't get.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

And this is where it gets really screwy. MOST Joseph E. Levine titles, but not all, are distributed by MGM on video, either by virtue of the Orion acquisition (which gave them a good chunk of the Nelson/Embassy titles), or by virtue of having been distributed theatrically by United Artists e.g. A Bridge Too Far. However, some Levine titles initially distribued by Embassy on video fell into rights hell and wound up being released on DVD by neither MGM nor Lionsgate e.g. Magic, which was released theatrically by Fox, then on video by Blay Video, which became Magnetic Video, then was purchased by Fox. It was then released by Embassy, then by some wierd little PD outfit that released the TV cut. It is now available from Dark Sky, a horror and cult movie outfit.

In short, I don't think there's an easy answer to your question.

 

[bgart13]

FYI, there's a Canadian company releasing CANNIBAL GIRLS later this year:

CANNIBAL GIRLS

Ben

 

[AlanBrom]

That's an interesting link concerning CANNIBAL GIRLS. The only thing is that it says nothing about a DVD release, only that they are "remastering" the film for Spring 2009, which has passed. Perhaps this was for theatrical showings in Canada? I fear MGM may still be holding the film hostage.

 

[Martin Welch]

I hope MGM reads these posts, just so they can see the plight of the fan and know how wasteful it is to just remaster films in HD just for cable channels many of us don't get. I want to own these films MGM! On DVD, blu-ray, whatever, just release them already!!!

 

[MichaelEl]

Except for Monsters HD, the cable channels generally show these films pan n scan anyway, which makes you wonder why they bother with HD transfers.

 

[Martin Welch]

Exactly, and Monsters HD is now defunct. Logic dicates that the company should do something with these pristine transfers; release them already!

 

[ahollis]

Cinema Retro site has story about the trouble MGM is in and that the company may not last much longer. I almost wish that would happen and who ever ends up with the library will do something with it.

The leaks from the MGM corporate offices have been about the company not able to meet the debt when due next year and in 2012. All their money is going to paying interest and not to make films.

Presently the one thing of value that the company owns is it's 3000+ library of films.

 

[cineMANIAC]

What better way to make money than to actually sell your product? Hell, why don't they pull a "Warner Archive" stunt and sell individual titles to people via the internet? I'm more than willing to pay up to twenty bucks on some of the stuff that they're just sitting on. Besides, a company that's in trouble doesn't bother remastering creaky old movies for broadcast on a few limited cable markets only. Then there's the third-party scenario: parcel out select titles for other distributors to handle - everybody wins!

 

[Martin Welch]

I totally agree! If MGM or Fox or whoever is really in control of this wonderful library is worried about what the brilliant retail heads at Walmart and Best Buy will take, forget that and just sell them on the net. I'm sure sites like Amazon and Movies Unlimited would be more than receptive to the idea.

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

It's not that screwy actually. Most, if not all, of the Joseph E. Levine films produced for other studios BEFORE the creation of Embassy Pictures in the late '60's is part of the Embassy package that StudioCanal controls - those films reverted back to him and he fused it into the company.

By the late '70's, Levine left Embassy after having sold the company to Avco, and became an independent producer. Those films stayed with the studios that released them - A BRIDGE TOO FAR with UA, TATTOO with Fox. MAGIC is the only exception, because that was a Fox pickup that Levine financed himself, so he kept all ancillary rights to it.

And this is where your timeline is a little off Stephen. Andre Blay created Magnetic Video with Fox's help, and also initially licensed the Avco Embassy library for them, along with ITC, Viacom, Brut, and other suppliers. When Fox took over the company completely, Blay left and then formed the short-lived Blay Video: MAGIC was one of their first releases. Around the same time, Avco sold off Embassy to Norman Lear, which included getting home video rights to the entire library back from Fox, and Lear merged operations with Blay to create the Embassy Home Entertainment label. So it's just irony that MAGIC, as a Levine production, wound up at the same label as other movies that he had produced.
The tiny indie release of the TV cut was likely a bootleg, using the defunct company reading of copyright law that made numerous boots of Allied Artists and National General movies ubiquitous as their rationale. (In general, if a company you've never heard of releases a TV cut of an R-rated movie, it's likely unlicensed) MAGIC's rights have apparently gone to a company related to Rainbow Media, who own the AMC cable network, and that's who made the deal with Dark Sky.

So to answer Peter's question, SANDS OF THE KALIHARI would likely be a Lionsgate project. Though it may not be a bad idea to petition Criterion to sublicense it, as they have a longstanding relationship with StudioCanal, and they did do an excellent laserdisc of the other great Levine epic initially handled by Paramount, ZULU.

 

[JyBhushan]

gr8 tnx ..nice post bro gr88