The Missing Blu-ray Oscar-winners.... (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

Well, this subject has turned up in various past threads, but I wanted to update to see whether there is any insider information regarding possible Blu-ray releases of the following m.i.a. Oscar-winners (there are only 11, out of 88):

1929: BROADWAY MELODY
1931: CIMARRON
1936: THE GREAT ZIEGFELD
1937: THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA
1944: GOING MY WAY
1945: THE LOST WEEKEND (AVAILABLE IN THE UK)
1948: HAMLET
1952: THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
1956: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
1963: TOM JONES
1980: ORDINARY PEOPLE

I have seen HD masters of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and TOM JONES, and they all look pretty stellar to me. What's the hold-up with this stuff, anyway? These are BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR Oscar winners! And Paramount, what the hell...ORDINARY PEOPLE is the most recent of the missing Oscar-winners, and all we have now is a crappy-looking DVD. Have you no respect for your movie library? And Universal -- how come you haven't given us a stateside Blu of THE LOST WEEKEND, which has a nice UK transfer? And Warner Bros, what's up with your promising releases two years ago of many of your Oscar-winners...are you stopping there? THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA and BROADWAY MELODY and AROUND THE WORLD are begging for upgrades.

I think there are many of us collectors who are chomping at the bit to fill in the missing Blu-ray AA-winning films. Help, please?

 

[PODER]

Dear Dick ... while I'm afraid that your request for Blu-Rays of those last eleven Best Picture Oscar Winners may
be preaching to the choir, let me be the first to join you in your oh, so logical request. The phrase "From your mouth
to God's ear" does come to mind. And then there are, of course, some of the NOMINEES for Best Picture which have never seen the light of day, even as a VHS. But that's a subject for another post ...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

And Paramount, what the hell...ORDINARY PEOPLE is the most recent of the missing Oscar-winners, and all we have now is a crappy-looking DVD. Have you no respect for your movie library?

They don't - they are barely a functional studio at this point, very much on their way to becoming MGM. The studio is run by outside consultants and producers who have no connection to the company's history and library. They have licensed out the right to the vast majority of their catalog with the exception of their franchises (Star Trek, Transformers, Mission: Impossible). For the movies they do make, the seek partners for production and financing and simply supply the existing intellectual property. For instance, in their upcoming "Star Trek Beyond", Paramount supplied the rights to Star Trek and will distribute the finished film, Bad Robot produced the film and handled the creative decisions, and Skydance financed it. They're not being well run at the moment, and the people in charge do not have a connection to the studio's legacy.

And Universal -- how come you haven't given us a stateside Blu of THE LOST WEEKEND, which has a nice UK transfer?

Universal is getting better about releasing classics, so this may come out at some point, either from them or from one of their licensing partners. But you bring up a good point about the UK transfer - for fans of classic films who are able to do so, I highly recommend getting a region-free player. There's a lot of stuff coming out internationally that may never be released in the U.S., or may take years to come out here, often made from the same master that eventually gets used here.

And Warner Bros, what's up with your promising releases two years ago of many of your Oscar-winners...are you stopping there? THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA and BROADWAY MELODY and AROUND THE WORLD are begging for upgrades.

Warner has an internal policy where they will no longer release anything on Blu-ray that's not perfect and pristine. In the case of Around The World In 80 Days, they have an HD scan of the 35mm version (possibly the same source used for the two disc DVD) and while they are okay with making that available for cable and streaming, they don't think it's of high enough quality or representative enough of the film to be issued as the Blu-ray. I think they're really going for the idea that a Blu-ray is going to be the final version most consumers and film fans see, so if it's not perfect, they're not putting it out on disc until it is. And if it's never perfect? Then it doesn't get a disc. Warner also generally does not license their titles out. The good news is that Warner is among the best of the studios at preserving and restoring films, so if there is a movie you love that Warner owns, it'll be preserved and restored if necessary; the bad news is that work may not be made available to the public. It's pretty much the opposite of MGM, which will license out just about any title for a disc, but won't restore anything on their own. The good news is that Warner Archive has started to release more Blu-ray discs, so hopefully they will continue to put out more than they had been doing, and maybe their titles from this list will make the cut one day. But with Around The World, I don't know... I believe Robert Harris has suggested that the cost of fully restoring the title far exceeds what it could reasonably be expected to make.

This isn't meant to suggest that I'm not interested in those titles, but I believe that's more or less the stories behind the studios holding on to them.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

OK, I'm reaching here a bit but remember that "Thank God It's Friday" (1978) won a Oscar for Donna Summer's rendition of " Let's Dance". No Blu-ray yet (but a decent DVD release in 2006).