RYAN’S DAUGHTER: Discussions for a BD Release (2015 - 2024) (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

Although one HTF thread on "Ryan's Daughter" rightfully discourages the purchasing of internationally pirated BD's of RD - as Copyright Infringement should never ever be knowingly indulged - I was wondering if there is anyone out there who knows what it would take to campaign and canvas the good people at Warner Archives to turn out a true 4K transfer of this title?


Clearly, even those who distribute pirated BD's have recognized a market for "Ryan's Daughter".


Perhaps, in its own grotesque way, this should be of great encouragement to Warner Archives to finally produce a legitimate offering of this visual masterwork.


- PMF

 

[Dick]

The movie already has a 1080p master. Don't know why the Blu-ray release.

 

[PMF]

Let my clarify my original post and question.


Is there anyone within the HTF membership who can supply us with a basic, standard contact source or web page for Warner Archives, in which we can individually and collectively submit our interests in seeing "Ryan's Daughter" brought forth in a 4K disc ?


Thank You

- PMF

 

[John Hermes]

Let my clarify my original post and question.


Is there anyone within the HTF membership who can supply us with a basic, standard contact source or web page for Warner Archives, in which we can individually and collectively submit our interests in seeing "Ryan's Daughter" brought forth in a 4K disc ?


Thank You

- PMF

https://www.facebook.com/warnerarchive?ref=ts


This is their Facebook page. You can go to the "Visitor's Post" section and leave a post asking about RD. The guy on there is pretty good about answering questions.

 

[PMF]

That's the ticket.


I just sent in my inquiry and vote to Warner Archives.


If I receive a reply, I will report back.


Meanwhile, it is my hope that others who wish to see "Ryan's Daughter" released on a 4K disc will also express their interests to the link supplied by John Hermes (see above).



Many thanks, John.


- PMF

 

[atfree]

That's the ticket.


I just sent in my inquiry and vote to Warner Archives.


If I receive a reply, I will report back.


Meanwhile, it is my hope that others who wish to see "Ryan's Daughter" released on a 4K disc will also express their interests to the link supplied by John Hermes (see above).



Many thanks, John.


- PMF

I just "liked" and commented on your post.

 

[OliverK]

Apparently Warner was not happy with the HD version they have - it is supposed to be pretty good and available on vudu for example.

If this comes out in 4k I'll buy it.

 

[willyTass]

You and everyone else

 

[Robert Crawford]

You and everyone else

I seriously doubt that. I'm not a big fan of this film, I understand it has its supporters, but I'm not sure it's going to sell enough copies to justify the expense of a properly done blu-ray. Perhaps I'm wrong about its general public popularity as it would make several HTF members happy to finally have it on blu-ray.

 

[rsmithjr]

My wife actually thinks it is Lean's best movie. I could not agree, but I do like it very much.

 

[john a hunter]

I seriously doubt that. I'm not a big fan of this film, I understand it has its supporters, but I'm not sure it's going to sell enough copies to justify the expense of a properly done blu-ray. Perhaps I'm wrong about its general public popularity as it would make several HTF members happy to finally have it on blu-ray.

Did you ever see it in 70,Robert?
To my mind that's the only way.
However a proper BD will fill the void.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Did you ever see it in 70,Robert?
To my mind that's the only way.
However a proper BD will fill the void.

Yup, I didn't like it then as a young man. It's been almost ten years since my last viewing and I like it more during that viewing than when I first viewed in 70. I would definitely buy the blu-ray, but it's a film that I'm just not in love with.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Yes its's a shame about Ryan's Daughter not being released. Still you can always buy The Brain That Wouldn't Die on blu-ray. I think this is the main problem I have with the format after nearly ten years, many of the better films don't receive a release when many thousands of lesser ones do.

 

[OliverK]

Yes its's a shame about Ryan's Daughter not being released. Still you can always buy The Brain That Wouldn't Die on blu-ray. I think this is the main problem I have with the format after nearly ten years, many of the better films don't receive a release when many thousands of lesser ones do.

To prepare The Brain that Wouldn't Die for Blu-ray is much cheaper than to do the same with Ryans Daughter if one wants to do the film justice which currently seems to be what Warner is doing with Ryan's Daughter despite the fact that what they curently have would surpass their current Blu-rays of other titles.

And in the end we sadly have to say that the numbers sold of both titles will not be as disparate as the costs of bringing them to Blu-ray

 

[Keith Cobby]

Yes I agree with you but Warners output of older films is reducing to a trickle as I suppose the big money makers have now been released. The longer it takes to get the films onto blu-ray the smaller the market will be and then the studio sees diminishing returns and slows their output even further. I am beginning to accept that most of the pre-1960 films I want will not now be released. The evidence for me is the slow (one per year) release of their film noirs (Out Of The Past 2014, Murder My Sweet 2015). Time is running out to sell classic films on blu-ray.

 

[Dr Griffin]

Yup, I didn't like it then as a young man. It's been almost ten years since my last viewing and I like it more during that viewing than when I first viewed in 70. I would definitely buy the blu-ray, but it's a film that I'm just not in love with.

That's a shame, because a lot of us really enjoyed it. I feel it's a good character study.

 

[atfree]

Response on Facebook from WAC:
Nothing concrete to announce on this at the present time, but we are keenly aware of fan interest, and activity is ongoing to try and make a BD release possible. Thanks.

 

[Nick*Z]

The concept of the market for these classics shrinking is rather 'chicken' and 'egg' for me. I mean, in the late 70's and early 80's there was a proliferation of classic movies playing endlessly on Saturday afternoon, Sunday mornings and after midnight on local channels who needed to fill air time. The result was a vast exposure of these great golden oldies that stirred a craze for nostalgia and hence, the first proliferation of these movies on home video on VHS. With the rise of cable TV, the good stuff gradually went to private pay-per-view channels and the general public was simply whittled out of the equation. For a while, the nostalgia craze kept the boom going, well into DVD's infancy. But classic movies are not like contemporary movies. They need to be nurtured and constantly 'in' the spotlight via TV broadcasts to keep the public interested in them.


We're living in an age of disposable entertainment, where the average mindset and memory can be clocked with an egg timer. People don't remember things the way they used to. Some are simply unaware that this mountain of great work exists. It isn't that the public has turned away from old movies. It's that they're not readily accessible for everyone to enjoy as they used to be. You can argue that streaming has made a lot of this stuff more accessible, but frankly, I don't see it. Oldsters, who use their computer strictly for e-mail and still haven't figured out how to even place an order on Amazon are highly unlikely to pursue 'streaming' as a viable option. As I said, memory fades. One generation can pass on a legacy to another, but only if it is ever-present in the collective cultural mindset.


Don't get me wrong: I love a channel like TCM or AMC. But they have sucked the well dry for a lot of people who don't have cable and therefore are denied access to their broadcasting. They are the ones responsible for the shrinking market - not the people. If tomorrow we could go back to that nostalgia craze made possible by movies like That's Entertainment! I assure you the idea of marketing classics to the mainstream public would not be as archaic or defunct as it presently has become. The young are interested in this stuff too. But the studios, in their mad scramble to make this stuff accessible have sort of fumbled the ball by rather severely fragmenting the market.


I'll just put forth one example to consider here. No one has more admiration for Sony's care of the old Columbia/Horizon/Tri-Star catalog than I. Grover Crisp has done a peerless job of restoring and preserving the studio's rich heritage of classics with perfect hi-def presentations on home video. Distribution of the product...hmm. Well, let's see. Sony is parceling off deep catalog to Twilight Time and Criterion and, at one point, to TCM Shop as 'exclusives'. Why, for example, did Sony give Criterion Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, but chose to market Mr. Smith Goes To Washington under their own distribution banner and label it as part of the 'Capra Collection' that, to date, numbers exactly ONE title - Mr. Smith? Both releases contain the same documentary on Capra, suggesting (at least to me) that at some time Sony was considering doing a box set or, at the very least, release singles of the Capra films to Blu-ray.


But then something happened and Sony decided to separate the releases. Now, a year ago, Capra's Lost Horizon was publicly screened at the Egyptian, sporting a new restored transfer with added footage. It was an ebullient premiere for a movie that continues to hold an audience spellbound in the dark. Speculation was that we would get the other Capra classics on Blu-ray very soon. All evidence to the contrary, since to date there is no word about either Lost Horizon, or You Can't Take It With You, or Mr. Deeds Goes To Town; all worthy contenders for 'the Capra Collection'. I think it's sloppy decision-making at the marketing end of each studio such as this, that ultimately fragments the market. The studios general inability to get their marketing moxie back on track has basically submarined deeper catalog from coming out in a more consistent and timely manner. That, and of course, the understanding that a lot of these deeper catalog titles are in a horrendous state of disrepair and would look awful without major restoration poured into them before porting them to Bluray.


Consider the state of Murder My Sweet before WAC worked its magic on the new Blu-ray. The DVD was a mess. The Blu-ray is a miracle of loveliness. But don't delude yourselves into thinking the conversion from dreck to whip cream happened magically and/or cheaply. Time and money were expended to make this release a reality. And it will take a lot more of both commodities to get other such catalog up to snuff. Too many movies have gone beyond what I would suggest is the point of no return; The Enchanted Cottage being one of them. It's a superb movie about unrequited love and a second chance at finding happiness. It looks like hell on DVD from WAC and will likely never make the leap to hi-def because the cost of restoring it would cripple the bank account of a third world nation. That's a tragedy - an artistic one as well as a cultural one, because too many such movies are being denied access to the public in a manner that would endear them to future generations. I love The Enchanted Cottage, as example, but I can barely get through the deplorable transfer. At times, it simply breaks my heart.


It's too easy to simply point the finger of blame and say, well...the studios are lazy, dumb, misguided and so on. They're not. But they are overwhelmed and their home video apparatuses decidedly understaffed. I've always said the key to unlocking the past, if the studios are interested, is to incorporate fund-raising events from film lovers and associations dedicated to doing the very best work to resurrect the past for the future. The AFI, AMPAS, The Film Foundation, MOMA, The Library of Congress and even the BFI; these are invaluable resources that studios should be aligning with to ensure the preservation of their histories. Because in the final analysis, it isn't the public that's walking away from their heritage. It's the studios that are denying us a chance to experience the past the way it was meant to be seen; not out of spite or an insidious conspiracy to blot out the past; but simply because we have since gone too far down the rabbit hole.


Films are decomposing at an alarming rate. Think of it as a house fire you come home to and only have the opportunity to save a few artifacts before the whole place burns down. What do you choose to preserve and what do you begrudgingly sacrifice to the flames? These are the decisions daily afflicting the executive brain trusts of the studios. I think if any salvation is to come for golden age Hollywood 'relics' then the first step will be for the studios to relax their 'closed door' policy on allowing outside investors and participants to partake in the work. It's gone beyond the 'hey, we can do it alone' philosophy. Today, everyone could definitely use more than a little help. Something to consider, folks.

 

[Worth]

...classic movies are not like contemporary movies. They need to be nurtured and constantly 'in' the spotlight via TV broadcasts to keep the public interested in them.


People don't remember things the way they used to. Some are simply unaware that this mountain of great work exists. It isn't that the public has turned away from old movies. It's that they're not readily accessible for everyone to enjoy as they used to be. You can argue that streaming has made a lot of this stuff more accessible, but frankly, I don't see it. Oldsters, who use their computer strictly for e-mail and still haven't figured out how to even place an order on Amazon are highly unlikely to pursue 'streaming' as a viable option.


Films are decomposing at an alarming rate...I think if any salvation is to come for golden age Hollywood 'relics' then the first step will be for the studios to relax their 'closed door' policy on allowing outside investors and participants to partake in the work. It's gone beyond the 'hey, we can do it alone' philosophy. Today, everyone could definitely use more than a little help. Something to consider, folks.

Between DVD, blu-ray, streaming, various cable movie channels, and even increased theatrical re-releases of classic films, the general public has more access to older films than at any time in history. The problem now is that there is too much choice, not too little. There are around 700 films released every year and 400 television shows. Unless you have a specific interest in classic films, there's more than enough new material for every taste to keep you occupied 24/7.


Up until about the mid-80s, home video was in its infancy and there were only a handful of television channels to choose from. It was much easier to become exposed to a wider variety of movies because you were more likely to take a chance on something older and unfamiliar, simply because it was the only thing on that seemed worth watching. That's no longer the case.


And while I'd certainly like to see studios do more to preserve their libraries, giving them money to do so sets a horrible precedent. These are highly profitable, multi national corporations that more than have the means to protect their assets.

 

[Nick*Z]

Agree, at least partly with you about the money option. But it would at least validate the public's interest and therefore debunk the oft' popularized claim made by several studios that "there's just no market for this stuff on home video." As the public is the outsider in this equation it can influence studios decision-making in only two ways: first, by showing an outpouring of support for the release of a classic to hi-def by greedily snatching it up the moment it becomes available; second, by flooding the studios with requests with a carrot attached - namely, a check. The recent Blu-ray release of Lost In Space: The Complete Adventures would not have come about without the mediation of historian Kevin Burns between Fox and Sheila Allen and the Trust established in her late husband's name. Fox was content to let their old transfers - severely flawed - stand because they were only the distributors of this product. But with outside intervention and money, Fox agreed to redistribute and put some money into the project to see some money out of it.


I agree with Worth - that highly profitable, multi-national corporations ought not need such a push from collectors who have neither their wealth nor their facilities to make projects such as this happen. But sometimes, it is the only way that they will happen. And isn't having a series like Irwin Allen's Lost in Space, perfectly preserved for future generations to study, admire and collect worth it...especially when one considers the alternative?