Outstanding Adventure and Historical films from golden age not on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Craig S]

The African Queen has been the subject of much discussion at HTF over the years. While the VHS was released by Fox, they apparently lost the US rights by the time the DVD era began (several years ago Fox rep Peter Staddon told the forum in a chat that he would love to put out an SE of TAQ if they still had the rights).

Right now Paramount holds the American release rights to this classic, the highest-ranking film on the AFI 100 yet to see a DVD release. At the HTF national meet in fall 2004 then-Paramount rep Martin Blythe indicated it was being worked on, but I have heard nothing definite since.

 

[Randy Korstick]

MGM did release a very nice Widescreen print of "Moonfleet" on Laserdisc.

 

[Miguel M Santos]

MOONFLEET was release in France in 2003 by WB, as seen here.

However, it looks like it might be OOP.

 

[Jim Bur]

SteveGon:

Thanks for pointing out that The Prisoner of Shark Island is being released on DVD in region 2 by Eureka as part of their Masters of Cinema line.

After reading your post, I checked the Amazon uk web site and found out that The Prisoner of Shark Island is set for release on March 20, 2006 on a Pal DVD in region 2. It is indicated that it is a newly restored high definition transfer. The special features include, among other things, a full length audio commentary. For those in the U.S. with multi-region DVD players with built in converters this is potentially very good news.

The events shown in John Ford's film Prisoner of Shark Island cover some of the most important events in U.S. history. It is indeed ironic that this great film, with its special appeal to Americans and those interested in U.S. history, is being made genrally available to those in Europe, Japan, and the Middle East, while remaining generally unavailable to the people of the U.S. In light of the fact that so far this year Criterion has put out John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln, and Warners is apparently coming out this year with 2 box sets invovlving John Ford films, hopefully Fox will seize the moment by making the The Prionser of Shark Island available on RI.

 

[seanOhara]

I just asked this in the Warners chat:


So sounds like a nice, complete set of the Zenda films.

 

[Jim Bur]

seanOhara:

Good job sean. Your question elicited the most encouraging response of the whole chat with Warners. Not only are we getting all versions of the Prisoner of Zenda, but they indicate that "lots" more adventure films are planned, some this year and some in 2007.

I note that elsewhere in the chat they indicated that another Errol Flynn boxset was coming out in 2007. They identified The Charge of the Light Brigade and Gentleman Jim as being two of the films in the boxset. The other films in this projected 2007 boxset were not identified, however it would seem likely that they would be "Adventures of Don Juan", "The Dawn Patrol", and one of Flynn's bigger budget westerns such as possibly "San Antonio".

It was also noted in the chat that there is a Burt Lancaster boxset coming out in 2007. Since Lancaster made all his swashbucklers at Warners it raises a distinct possibility that one or both of his previously unreleased swashbucklers, "The Flame and the Arrow" and/or "His Majesty O'Keefe" might appear in that boxset.

It was also noted in the chat they were preparing A Tale of Two Cities for release with David Copperfield. It makes perfect marketing sense for them to tie the two films together in that, not only are both of these outstanding films based on novels by Charles Dickems, both films were released in the same year, 1935, and both films were nominated for best picture that year.

Warners stated that "some" adventure films would be coming out this year. Since the Flynn adventure films will not be coming out until 2007, and the Lancaster boxset is not coming out until 2007, there is a question as to which adventure films Warners will be releasing in 2006. Here's hoping that they will lead with their strongest punch, and that at least Northwest Passage, Captain Horatio Hornblower, and the Prisoner of Zenda films are selected for release this year.

As usual, Warners really appears to be stepping up to the plate to lead the way in providing DVD's of some of the long overdue adventure and historical films from Hollywood's golden age. One wishes that the other companies would follow Warners lead in this regard. Since Warners appears primed to bring out many, if not all, of its previously unreleased outstanding films in this genre, it would appear that the lion's share of the unreleased outstanding adventure and historical films are in the vaults of Fox. There may be some further comment on this subject sometime in the next few days. c Jim Bur

 

[oscar_merkx]

so who are the stars of the three Zenda films ?

 

[Amy Mormino]

1922 Zenda: Lewis Stone and Alice Terry
1937 Zenda: Ronald Colman and Madeleine Carroll
1952 Zenda: Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr
Those are only a few of the many Zendas over the years with the first in 1915 and the last in 1988 (an animated one!) and 1996 (a modern-day children's version) according to imdb. This is one film that I'd like to see a big-budget remake of, as it seems we're overdue for another Zenda.

 

[Jim Bur]

Based on the recent chat, Warners seems to have aggressive plans for releasing on DVD its classic adventure and historical films. The posters on his thread have identified quite a number of outstanding adventure and historical films which have not been released on DVD. It would appear that the vast majority of these unreleased films are from Fox.

The top notch adventure and historical films from Hollywood's golden age which Fox has so far failed to release on DVD in region 1 include, among others, the following:

The Black Rose (1950)
The Black Swan (1942)
The Bowery (1933)
The Call of the Wild (1935)
Captain From Castile (1947)
Clive of India (1935)
Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)
Four Men and a Prayer (1938)(John Ford)
Hudson's Bay (1940)
Kidnapped (1938)
King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)
Les Miserables (1935)
Lloyds of London (1936)
A Message to Garcia (1936)
Prince of Foxes (1949)
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)(John Ford)
The Raid (1954)
The Road to Glory (1936)
Slave Ship (1937)
Soldier of Fortune (1955)
Son of Fury (1942)
Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
Suez (1939)
Ten Gentlemen From West Point (1942)
This Is My Affair (1937)
Under Two Flags (1936)
Untamed (1955)
Wee Willie Winkie (1937)(John Ford)

So far the only outstanding adventure or historical films which Fox has released on DVD are The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). As mentioned on this thread, there is going to be a region 2 DVD release of The Prisoner of Shark Island in the Eureka Masters of Cinema series, however this film has never been released in region 1. There is also the recent Criterion release of John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), which is also a Fox film. That leaves 28 out of 31 Fox adventure and historical classics still unreleased on DVD in region 1.
Not only are these films unreleased on DVD, many of these films were never even released by Fox on VHS, which may have contributed to some of these films being forgotten.

During the golden age Fox averaged releasing between 1 to 2 adventure and historical classics every year. The penchant of Daryl F. Zanuck and Fox for historical period films was so great that 20th Century Fox was often jokingly referred to back then as 19th Century Fox. In the golden age Fox was known for period films in much the same way Warner Brothers was known for gangster films, or Universal for horror films. Fox's failure to release its period films, would be like Universal not releasing it Frankenstein or Dracula film series By not releasing its period films, Fox is turning its back on its own history.

Not only are there at least 28 adventure and historical classcis of the golden age unreleased by Fox on DVD, there are also a large number of Fox period westerns and western adventure films from the golden age which Fox has so far failed to release on DVD, although Fox in the last couple of years has become more aggressive in releasing westerns, including the announced upcoming release in May of such outstanding films as Yellow Sky (1948), The Last Wagon (1956), and the Proud Ones (1956). The many outstanding westerns from the golden age which Fox has so far failed to release on DVD in region 1 include, among others, the following:

Broken Arrow (1950)
From Hell to Texas (1958)
Frontier Marshal (1939)
Fury at Furnace Creek (1948)
Garden of Evil (1954)
The Gunfighter (1950)
Jesse James (1939)
Rawhide (1951)
The Silver Whip (1953)
Smoky (1946)
The Tall Men (1955)
Western Union (1941)

In addition, there are numerous other outstanding period films from Fox, which might best be described as Americana films, which have been unreleased on DVD in region 1. This includes, among others, such outstanding films as I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951), Home In Indiana (1944), Kentucky (1938), Maryland (1940), Remember the Day (1941), Chad Hanna (1940), Green Grass of Wyoming (1948), Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie (1952), etc., and the Will Rogers/John Ford films Judge Priest (1934) and Steamboat Round the Bend (1935).

Wouldn't it be nice if Fox would start including some of its adventure, historical and Americana films in its Fox Studio Classic release series. Fox did an excellent job in creating a series to release its film noirs, and a series to release its war films. Perhaps it would make sense for Fox to do the same thing with its adventure films and start releasing some of these films as part of an Adventure classics series, and also perhaps create an Americana classics series as well.

Any suggestions on how to induce Fox to start releasing these great films on DVD would be welcome. c Jim Bur

 

[Jim Bur]

As reported on the Digital bits website, and as mentioned on another thread a short while ago, Fox has announced it is releasing the "Black Swan" on DVD on 7/11/06. The Black Swan has been prominently mentioned in this thread as an outstanding adventure film which had been in need of a DVD release. Thanks to Fox for following through and making it happen. I'll be ordering my copy as soon as it is available. Hope the sales are strong so as to encourage Fox to release even more of their extensive catalog of adventure and historical films.

I also noted that Fox announced it was releasing on 7/25 Volume 1 of the Will Rogers collection including the films, "Steamboat Round the Bend", "Life Begins at 40", "In Old Kentucky", and "Doubting Thomas". Thank you Fox. As mentioned in this thread Fox has a tremendous catalog of period and Americana films, and it is great news that they are starting to release some of these films. I think that Will Rogers 3 best films are arguably "Life Begins at 40", "Judge Priest", and "Steamboat Round the Bend" (which was directed by John Ford), so it's an auspicious start to be including 2 of his 3 best films. It is also encouraging that there are calling it Volume 1 which obviously suggests there are more to follow. I strongly recommend this collection for purchase.

Also want to thank Warners for including "China Seas", as part of the upcoming Clark Gable collection, as that was one of the films discussed sometime ago in this thread as a potentially outstanding DVD release. Jim Bur

 

[Jim Bur]

As mentioned on another thread, Fox has announced that "The Call of the Wild" (1935), "Soldier of Fortune" (1954), and the "The Tall Men" (1955) are being being released in August as part of a Clark Gable box set. "The Call of the Wild" (1935) was one of the first films mentioned on this thread as an oustanding adventure film in need of a DVD release. "Soldier of Fortune" has also been discussed on this thread as a very worthy film for DVD release. "The Tall Men" was also listed on a companion thread "Outstanding westerns not on DVD" as one of the outstanding westerns in need of a DVD release. So Fox deserves a triple thanks for releasing all three of these highly sought after films at the same time.

This release is coming on the heels of Fox's recent announcement of the release of the outstanding adventure film "The Black Swan" (1942) and the Will Rogers Collection, so Fox is continuing to do an excellent job for classic movie fans this year.

To my knowledge, 'The Call of the Wild" has never been previously released on video in any format, which makes this release all the more significant. "The Call of the Wild" was directed by the great William Wellman, and is an excellent example of that director's style. 1935, was arguably Clark Gable's best year ever, and the films Gable made that year "Mutiny On the Bounty", "The Call of the Wild", "China Seas" (which Warners is releasing in June), etc. show him doing his very best work.

This collection is highly recommended for purchase, and for any classic film buff, this release should be considered one of the outstanding collections being offered so far this year. Jim Bur

 

[oscar_merkx]

I am eagerly awaiting my copy of The Prisoner of Shark Island any day now

 

[JohnPM]

... and wouldn't it be nice if Warners would release "The Flame and The Arrow" with Burt Lancaster on DVD (or has someone already suggested that?).

http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

 

[Corey]

1940 Northwest Passage (MGM-Warners)-another of
the all time great adventure films-this film, along
with Stanley and Livingstone, reveal Spencer Tracy
at his very best-with lush
technicolor portraying the forests of the
the northeast in the 1750's it would seem to make
a great candidate for a DVD release-a giant
box office hit.

this film will be part of the spencer tracy set coming out this year.

 

[Corey]

WB said they will release all 3 versions of these either this year or next year.

 

[Corey]

Well i read on The Digital Bits that the other Errol Flynn movies that were in production were Silver River, Virginia City, and Edge of Darkness.

 

[Matt Hough]

Would love to see Fox do a beautiful anamorphic transfer of Bette Davis' THE VIRGIN QUEEN. Would make a nice bookend with her other Elizabeth I picture THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX.

 

[Frank M]

It's already available in Europe. Look at this review:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...dvd_review.htm

 

[Charles H]

A Bette Davis Box from Fox? THE VIRGIN QUEEN, PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER, and THE NANNY.

 

[Matt Hough]

It's already available in Europe. Look at this review:http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...dvd_review.htm Thanks for the information. Looks promising that we'll get to see it here at some point.