The Greatest Show on Earth - any news? (1 Viewer)

[Alistair_M]

I love this movie - but out of all the Best Picture academy award winning movies this is one of the few not to have a dvd release.

It won Best Picture oscar in 1952.

Anyone have any info on dvd plans for this film? I think it's a Paramount title.

Was it released on laserdisc - if so what was the quality like/extras?




Alistair

 

[Patrick McCart]

I'm interested in this movie mainly because it has been so low-key. Plus, Cecil B. DeMille has very low DVD saturation (The Ten Commandments and Male and Female are pretty much it, right?) and could use some more.

This title needs a lot of attention to the transfer mainly because it was shot in 3-strip Technicolor. I'm hoping Paramount uses a transfer process such as Ultra Resolution to fully show the color.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Cecil B. DeMille's "Reap the Wild Wind" is also available on DVD. I only mention this because it is a favorite of mine & has an unusual portrayal by John Wayne. The DVD is full screen, but I think the actual aspect ratio should be wide screen because I've seen stills comparing a particular scene in both the full & wide screen aspects.

 

[Rain]

The DVD is full screen, but I think the actual aspect ratio should be wide screen...

Doubtful, as the film is from 1942 What widescreen process would you be expecting?

IMDB lists the OAR as 1.37:1 and this is almost certainly correct.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Rain is correct, "Reap the Wild Wind" was filmed in Academy ratio.




Crawdaddy

 

[Jeff_HR]

Thanks for the info, it is appreciated.

 

[Barrie Maxwell]

There are also a few other DeMille silents available - Affairs of Anatol, Manslaughter/The Cheat, and Carmen.

Barrie

 

[TonyD]

i would like to see "the greatest show"
and a behind the scenes making of, of some sort because apparently much of it was filmed near the location that is now were all the stadiums are located in philly.

 

[Jeff_HR]

With Paramount seemingly increasing the output of catalog titles, I'd love to see this Oscar winning film get a release. It would probably be bare bones given Paramount's reluctance to invest money in catalog titles, but I'll take it & retire my LD.

 

[Brian W.]

You mean 1952, Rain. You typed 1942.

I also am really hoping for a DVD release of this soon. It and "Mrs. Miniver" are the only post-1940 Best Picture winners that have not at least been announced. (You'll recall "Around the World in 80 Days" was announced as being in the works during the Warner chat a few months ago.)

 

[Joe Caps]

MCA has sone great deMille films on VHV - including Unconquerored and the uncut, uncensored sign of the Cross.
As for Paramount - where is The Bucaneer and samson and Delilah. Samson has recently been shown on Satellite with a better picture quality than the laser, but the sound is infinitely worse. Don't forget the Overture and exit music the laser had for this. It seems we always have to sacrifice something on a new master.
Just got Foxs Song of Bernadette. The pciture is much better than the old laser ,but the sound is nowhere near the quality of the laser transfer (soound on the laser was taken from various nitrate prints.

 

[SteveP]

Rain was referring to REAP THE WILD WIND which is 1942.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH is 1952.

 

[Bill Burns]

Jeff -- if memory serves, Reap the Wild Wind's DVD is one of those early Universal oddballs (a few other studios were known to do this, as well) to sport a "this film has been modified from its original version" card in front of the feature, even though the feature was shot Academy. Universal even wrote "widescreen" on the first box printing of All Quiet on the Western Front! Confusion was the order of the day, perhaps most egregiously in the layout department(s) handling these boxes and cards. Most of the majors (perhaps all of the majors, but I'm always reluctant to disallow for exceptions) have fully corrected such obvious errors by now, but early in the format there was more than enough misinformation to go around.
Reap the Wild Wind was indeed shot and exhibited at Academy Ratio (1.37:1). Matting Academy for projection didn't begin until the early 50's, and by '53 the first commonly endorsed and utilized "true" widescreen processes were emerging. Widescreen experiments were conducted twenty years earlier in the early sound era (Grandeur 70mm is the only one I've run across in laserdisc and DVD, but there may have been others), and various film gauge experiments since the dawn of the form have left us with images wider than what became the Academy standard. But "widescreen" as it's known today began with large format feature experiments in the ... oh, late 20's or very early 30's (The Widescreen Museum may have an exact date), were abandoned by the studios within a few years of their introduction, and didn't re-emerge (as both large format and standard 35mm "anamorphic" processes) until the 50's.
Or at least such is my best understanding of same. Now if we can only type similar info on a few post-its for the copy edit rooms in home video departments ... Robert Harris (and others here) have pointed out that the physical film negative used by anamorphic (Scope) Panavision today has a size which gives it a true projection ratio (not accounting for alignment discrepancies and minor matting) of 2.394:1, which of course should be abbreviated as 2.39 or 2.40:1, but many info panels on DVDs continue to cite it as 2.35:1, whereas others properly cite 2.40:1, leading to still more confusion. Many DVDs projected in 1.85:1 are in fact transferred at 1.78:1, but cite 1.85:1 on their info panels. And so on, and so on ....
I personally like and approve the current WB policy for this info, as they try (and I think there may even be an error or two among their early DVDs; no one was exempt) to use the words "original theatrical exhibition" when describing an OAR product, whether full screen or wide. That helps. Universal hasn't repeated these early errors anytime recently, so far as I know (and I loudly applaud their classic output). These are all the necessary bumps of a new format (not so new now ... difficult to believe it's been more than six years!).
I hope that's of some help with the Reap issue, Jeff. The film itself is a delight, but I'm just left with one question: from the 1940s-1960s, what the heck was the deal with adult men spanking adult women on screen?! You can still find that today, of course, but not in the respectable part of the video store. Reap the Wild Wind, Kiss Me Kate, McLintock! ... sheesh. And to think the Hayes office was objecting to slang words like "nuts" in the 30's ....

 

[Derek_McL]

About DeMille don't forget his first epic and best one in my opinion Joan the Woman (1916) is also available on DVD.

 

[Brian W.]

I'm with Joe... I want Sampson and Delilah, too.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Paramount has announced The Greatest Show on Earth for a 4/6/04 release. Retail is $14.98, and it is available for preorder at amazon.com.

 

[Robert Crawford]

DVD Empire

 

[Brian W.]

 

[Alistair_M]

Well done Paramount!
Looking forward to seeing a hopefully sharp transfer showing Gloria Grahame (as Angel) in all her glory
Angel: You are a sourpuss, aren't you?
Brad Braden: Yeah.
Angel: You want to bite somebody?
Brad Braden: Yeah.
Angel: Well, pick your spot.

 

[StevenFC]

Great news!!

Look out '03. It looks like '04 is hot on your heels for the title of "Year of the DVD"!!