Robert Harris on The Bits - 3/24/05 column - OFFICIAL THREAD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

That makes sense with the combined running time for both films being under 3.5 hours. Again, it's an exciting time for film enthusiasts.





Crawdaddy

 

[Chris Cheese]

Can you clarify anything about Lady in the Lake, Robert?

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Glad to see Kagemusha getting Mr. Harris' approval. Unrelated to his column, does anyone know if the Kurosawa series "It's Wonderful to Create" is avaliable as a whole somewhere?

 

[Robert Harris]

Lady in the Lake was apparently "stale" information. This title had previously been released on laser, which means that it may show up in the next collection.

Another jeopardy of doing long range pieces can be seen re: Laura, which has neither an alternate ending nor opening, but rather an extra sequence, which can be branched, in which Laura is made over under the watchful eye of Clifton Webb's character. The sequence was found to be of questionable content, and not in sync with the war effort.

 

[Mike D]

Mr. Harris,

Did you discuss with Mr. Crisp the possibility of his, or another Columbia rep's, participation in a chat with HTF members?

I for one would love to ask about their plans for the early Capra talkies.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Am I the only one having trouble keeping straight Grover Crisp, Grover Norquist, Quentin Crisp and Crispin Glover?

 

[BrettB]

Great column as always Mr. Harris.
So has Warner finally quit using the evil snapper? The Thin Man in an evil snapper, everything else in keepcases? Surely they'll leave room in the box for The Thin Man.

 

[RyanZ]

Maybe it's just me, but Harris seems very much pro-Columbia, a studio which has been consistently releasing poor DVD's. I think their DVD's pale in comparison to Warners' and Fox's and that they are woefully overpriced, yet Harris seems to think the studio is doing a great job. In his latest interview with Crisp, he spoke very highly of the release of Bob and Carol and Ted an Alice, a DVD which had just an okay transfer, mediocre audio, and not-so-interesting extras for such a well-known, groundbreaking film. Again, maybe it's just me.

 

[Robert Harris]

RyanZ...

Bob and Carol... was a groundbreaking film, which looks very much the period in which it was created. If anything can make a film look "old" it would be clothing and hairstyles of a specific era. The disc is encoded with multiple commentaries and a featurette with Mr. Mazursky being interviewed at the Strasberg Theater.

Priced to street at around $16, the film fits in well with those from other studios.

That said, Mr. Crisp is doing a superior job at Columbia, a studio with which I quite publicly found problematic in certain other areas in the past. While I tend not to forget, neither do I hold grudges.

Which means that when something positive occurs, I see no reason not to applaud it. To say that Columbia "has been consistently releasing poor DVDs." would be an unfair and incorrect statement.

They have had a few decision-making lapses regarding aspect ratios. Their early classic releases have been priced on the high side, but more recently both the quality of their output, as well as their pricing stratagies have come more in line with the marketplace.

Is Columbia doing a job in line with Warner? No. But neither do they have Warner's library. In addition, some of their early elements have been lost to flood damage.

In general, their quality has risen, prices have fallen, and I'm personally pleased with what they're doing, based upon their library and elements.

Especially when it comes to new productions, their discs shine. Certainly, there should be no complaints about either the quality or pricing of the likes of a Spiderman 2.

While some may fault my position as possibly being too pro-WB, and that hasn't yet been brought to my attention, I don't believe that anyone has every found me to be overly "pro-Columbia."

RAH

 

[Robert Crawford]

I agree and this has been noted by a few HTF members.






Crawdaddy

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Considering how in his DVD studio report card column, Robert ranked Columbia 2nd from the bottom, it probably is just you, but that Grover Crisp fella sure seemed very pro-Columbia.

Regards,

 

[RyanZ]

I certainly do stand corrected as I certainly see something of an improvement to Columbia's output. Thank you all for pointing that out to me. I sincerely hope that I did not offend anyone as that was not my intention at all.

Once again, I aplogize if I have hurt anyone. In the future I will try not to make such hasty conclusions.

 

[Robert Harris]

RyanZ...

No one hurt. No one offended. No apolgies necessary. Your comments are always welcome.

RAH

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

BrettB, I'm a little confused by your post regarding The Thin Man collection... are you suggesting that it won't include the original Thin Man film that's already been released by WB and only the title sequels that are currently non-existant on DVD??

That doesn't sound right at all and I hope it's not the case...

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

I think it makes perfect sense. Release a Thin Man box-set and omit the only film that actually has the thin man in the film... Actually, now I think about it, that doesn't make any sense.

 

[Robert Harris]

I believe that the plan, since The Thin Man is available as a single title presently, is to release a boxed set without that disc.

It really is interesting that when a studio creates a boxed set with something already in release, there are negative comments...

but release a boxed set with ONLY NEW TITLES...

and the release is questioned.

Not good, nor bad...

just interesting.

RAH

 

[Robert Crawford]

Why is it that interesting? People are different and opinions vary which is why no matter what decision is made, there will always be dissenting opinions.

In this case, I think Warner is correct in releasing all six films together. A boxset without the first one would be incomplete to me. Furthermore, if the boxset comes out in the Fall, it will be three years since the first film was released on dvd which is a lot different than what occured with "The Letter".







Crawdaddy

 

[Chris Cheese]

No, they said in the chat that it would be a box with all the Thin Man films in it.

edit: wow, beat to the punch by about 10 seconds

 

[george kaplan]

Well I for one, would prefer a box set with only the five sequels, since I wouldn't have to pay to double dip. However, it doesn't really bother me if it's included, since past history has indicated that such a box set is usually cheaper than buying individual titles, even when you don't want some of them.

For example, Stage Door and Dinner at Eight sit on my shelves even though I will never watch them, since they came in a box set that was cheaper than my buying the 4 titles I did want individually.

What would be ideal, would be for them to include a special edition of The Thin Man in the boxset. And frankly, even the same dvd of The Thin Man in a keepcase is going to make me happier than the inclusion of Song of the Thin Man, the only one of the Thin Man films I don't like.

 

[Robert Crawford]

RAH,
See what I mean!






Crawdaddy