More Columbia catalog releases - 2/3/09 (1 Viewer)

[Richard--W]

Carol Reed is one of the great directors, and one of the most important. He was more prolific than David Lean, and I put him in the same class. Very few of his films are on DVD in region 2, and only a handful in region 1. I know some of his films are owned by Columbia.

I would particularly like to see Night Train to Munich and Outcasts of the Islands on DVD, but we are also missing such significant works as Odd Man Out, The Man Between, The Key, and Trapeze, to name only a few.

Perhaps the release of Our Man In Havana in the USA will facilitate the rediscovery of Carol Reed.

 

[Radioman970]

I picked up The Alien from LA for $3 from Big Lots a couple weeks ago. Darn fun. It reminds me of Vibes for some reason. Both awesome guilty pleasures. I'm not sure if I'd pay a whole lot for Vibe though. I'd sure throw 3 greenbacks away for it! :up:

 

[Richard--W]

The World the Flesh and the Devil was MGM or United Artists wasn't it? One of the best films of its kind. I often wondered if it was not inspired in some way by Matheson's novel I Am Legend which had been published about 4 years before.

Speaking of Harry Belafonte films, The Columbia title I most want to see again, aside from their noirs, is Porgy and Bess. Why no Porgy and Bess ?

 

[Charles H]

THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL is owned by WB. It was based on a 1906 sci-fi novel THE PURPLE CLOUD by M.P. Shiel. Harry Belafonte was not in PORGY AND BESS. Sidney Poitier and Dorthy Dandredge starred.

One terrific Reed film that never made it to homevideo is THE RUNNING MAN with Lee Remick, Laurence Harvey, and Alan Bates. It's a Columbia film. TCM shows a lot of great British films that are apparently owned by MGM and OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS was shown last summer. I believe that THE MAN BETWEEN is coming up in January.

 

[Richard--W]

I vaguely remember this on television. Another title for Columbia to put in the works. Maybe they'll accelerate now.

 

[BillyFeldman]

Porgy and Bess, as I'm sure you know (who couldn't know this after all the threads here and elsewhere?), is not owned by Columbia. It is owned by the Gershwin Estate, and they don't seem to want it out and haven't for years - they have, however, allowed occasional screenings, using the only known 35mm stereo print, owned by a collector in LA, I think.

 

[Richard--W]

If it's okay with you, I forgot all about the Gershwin Estate controlling Porgy and Bess. I'm not good at trivia, and my mind is on other things. Columbia is the original distributor of this title.

 

[BillyFeldman]

It's perfectly fine with me. Hardly trivia, but I understand your mind being on other things, holidays and all. Columbia was the original distributor but hasn't been for many, many years, which is why this film has never appeared on cable and hasn't appeared on TV in decades. I'd love to see a gorgeous DVD transfer off the ToddAO elements, but I don't think it will ever happen.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

someone needs to start designing alternative covers for this series!

 

[BillyFeldman]

Odd Man Out, The Man Between, and Trapeze are all available in region 2 in very nice transfers.

 

[Pete York]

FYI, the folks at Criterion have said they plan to release Odd Man Out.

 

[John Hodson]

'Odd Man Out' is a quite fantastic transfer but it does look like the UK edition of 'Trapeze' may now be OOP. One thing I'm not entirely sure of is the correct AR for 'The Man Between'; the edition in the current Optimum James Mason set (which also contains 'Odd Man Out') is, IIRC, 1.66:1, but looks very tight to me (other than that it's fine). It should, I think, be 1.37:1 - anyone clear that up? There's a grab here BTW.

 

[BillyFeldman]

The film was UK 1953 - I'm not sure the UK went widescreen quite as fast as the US, but if it had been shot here, for example, anytime after say April or May of 1953, then it would have been widescreen. The cap, however, for a close shot like that, doesn't seem framed poorly, but who knows - it may well have been Academy - did the film actually come out in 1953? If so, it probably was Academy.

 

[Richard--W]

That's good news. I'm glad Criterion is doing it. Criterion released The Third Man and The Fallen Idol. Now if only they could get the rest of his films. The Agony and the Ecstasy and Oliver! are also out in very nice transfers.

But the Carol Reed film I really want the most is Outcast of the Islands with Trevor Howard.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have the 1999 DVD release of it from Image. I might watch it again to refresh my memory of the presentation.





Crawdaddy

 

[darkrock17]

Any word on Columbia re-releasing Bell, Book and Candle?

 

[Wesley Ray]

Vibes???

Where is Hardbodies, Hardbodies 2, Spring Break, and the Legend of Billie Jean???