Unexpected Blu-Ray releases You've Been Delighted to See (1 Viewer)

[uncledougie]

Just checked, The Wrong Box is going for an elevated price on Amazon, so may be out of print.

 

[Capt D McMars]

One release among my very most wanted and which I obtained purely by luck and timing was The Wrong Box (1966), a supremely deft, charming and highly amusing Bryan Forbes comedy with Michael Caine, Nanette Newman, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, with a sublime extended cameo by Peter Sellers. It’s been a favorite since catching it at a specialty cinema that offered foreign and offbeat titles back in the day, but which I had only found available on DVD. By chance I was visiting my eldest nephew who was doing a college semester in London in the fall of 2018, when I wandered into the Fopp video and music store, and found the newly released Indicator all region Blu-ray which had just been released. It’s an excellent print and has a newly done interview with Newman (widow of director Forbes) reminiscing about the production. I never saw this for sale in any retail store stateside, which is a shame. But it’s one of my most treasured favorites, with a brilliant cast. Wilfrid Lawson as Peacock the butler is absolutely priceless! Great John Barry score to boot.

I stumbled on to that film as an addon, it was one of the titles in the 5 for $40 sale!! I'm glade I got it as well!! Great cast and funny premiss.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Just checked, The Wrong Box is going for an elevated price on Amazon, so may be out of print.

check this out - still available -

THE WRONG BOX - BD

(Bryan Forbes, 1966) Release date: 27 July 2020 Standard Edition Blu-ray Two warring elderly brothers and their respective heirs are determined that each will outlive the other in an attempt to hold onto the family fortune, and will stop at nothing – even murder – to achieve their goal. Bryan...

www.powerhousefilms.co.uk

 

[uncledougie]

That’s a great price considering the exchange rate right now - at Amazon it was showing at >$70. Well worth an order from Powerhouse for anyone so inclined.

 

[ptb2017fr]

I’m also a fan of Half a Sixpence. It has a terrific score with memorable tunes. Saw it in its roadshow run at the Criterion in NY. Both soundtrack and Broadway cast albums are quite good.

If you lived in U.K. or somewhere with access to U.K. tv you’d be sick of it as it’s on so often, especially when there’s a holiday weekend! But they do have great transfers!

 

[ptb2017fr]

Yesterday I watched on Blu-ray disc a film I hadn't expected to come out in high definition: Murphy's War. I'm very pleased to have this film on disc.

Worked on that! Terrific film. Peter O’Toole got me drunk one evening! Lovely man!

 

[ptb2017fr]

Now there are so many HD tv channels the quality of the transfers shown are usually incredibly good. Which makes me wonder if they’ve done restorations for tv why can’t they put them out on disc as well? Cheyenne Autumn that someone mentioned had a stunning transfer shown on UKC4 while The Egyptian was shown on French tv is a transfer better than any other I’ve seen, Twilight Time included. Thank goodness I have three Blu Ray recorders!

 

[Benoit Blanc]

Recently, Cool World and Earth Girls Are Easy.

 

[ptb2017fr]

Good Morning Miss Dove is on my list too along with a lot of Twentieth Century Fox Cinemascope pictures from the 50s and 60s when they still used the Cinemascope extension on the studio ident.
I refuse to call it anything other than Twentieth Century Fox Studios no matter what Disney wants!

Prince of Players ( Richard Burton), Nine Hours To Rama (about assassination of Gandhi), Seawife (Burton and Joan Collins), Shock Treatment (Lauren Bacall), Take Her She's Mine (James Stewart) The Millionairess (Sophia Loren) The Reward (remake of Rashoman as a western), Circle of Deception (terrific WW2 thriller) The Story of Ruth (Stuart Whitman in wonderful Biblical epic), Francis of Asissi, The Virgin Queen (Bette Davis), The Stripper (Joanne Woodward), Murder Inc (Stuart Whitman) Lisa (Stephen Boyd) In Love and War, Deep Blue Sea (Viven Leigh) Crack In The Mirror (Orson Welles) The Big Gamble (Stuart Whitman again South African epic) A Certain Smile (won Oscar for Best Song, love story set in Rome).
That's just some missing on Blu Ray and most missing on disc and not even seen on TV.

 

[uncledougie]

A Certain Smile would be a welcome companion to the other Sagan adaptation, Bonjour Tristesse, which had a nice Twilight Time release. (The song was nominated but that was the year Gigi won for that and all its other nominations.) And I recall being very impressed by The Story of Ruth at the time of its release. It was a fine production, dignified but not dull, don’t think I’ve seen it since. Also, Good Morning, Miss Dove had a touching lead performance by Jennifer Jones. I’ve only ever seen it years ago on television (not in widescreen of course) but I still recall it being a very memorable bit of nostalgia, despite the limitations of the presentation at the time.

 

[Robin9]

A Certain Smile would be a welcome companion to the other Sagan adaptation, Bonjour Tristesse, which had a nice Twilight Time release. (The song was nominated but that was the year Gigi won for that and all its other nominations.) And I recall being very impressed by The Story of Ruth at the time of its release. It was a fine production, dignified but not dull, don’t think I’ve seen it since. Also, Good Morning, Miss Dove had a touching lead performance by Jennifer Jones. I’ve only ever seen it years ago on television (not in widescreen of course) but I still recall it being a very memorable bit of nostalgia, despite the limitations of the presentation at the time.

I love the song A Certain Smile but not the Johnny Mathis rendition. Sammy Fain wrote the melody and he composed several songs for 20th Century Fox in the mid to late 1950s.

The Story Of Ruth was released on a reasonably good DVD. I don't know if it's still available. I believe you're the third person in this forum ever to express enthusiasm for this movie. I'm one of the three and you can probably guess who's the third.

 

[roxy1927]

I saw Murphy's War at Radio City. While I enjoyed it if the Music Hall hadn't been so starved for product they would definitely have not chosen it. It was very far from the type of movie they would have preferred to play especially as a summer film. It was the only time I heard f-ck in a movie there during its stage show era.

 

[Konstantinos]

The Story Of Ruth was released on a reasonably good DVD. I don't know if it's still available. I believe you're the third person in this forum ever to express enthusiasm for this movie. I'm one of the three and you can probably guess who's the third.

I'm the fourth!

 

[uncledougie]

Having not thought about The Story of Ruth in decades until it was brought up here, I recall that upon its initial release, I was impressed by the production, score; performances were certainly sufficiently dignified that it would likely hold up today in comparison with other contemporaneous biblical epics. I recall appreciating Elana Eden in the title role, she was certainly quite beautiful. How strange she looks to have only been in one other IMDb listed film, an apparent late potboiler of Audie Murphy’s from 1965, Trunk to Cairo, where she was far down in the billing, and only in a few scattered television appearances. And then she disappeared. Evidently she’s alive as of this writing at age 82. Wouldn’t a Blu-ray with an interview with the lovely lady (if possible) be something to appreciate? But, that’s right, it’s a Fox title. So never mind.

 

[Beckford]

Yes, "The Story of Ruth" is a very solid Biblical film. Though made during the period when the genre was still quite popular, this one has always remained somewhat under the radar. Partly, I suppose, because it lacks any superstar names. Still, the fine cast (Elana Eden, Stuart Whitman, Peggy Wood, Jeff Morrow, Viveca Lindfors etc) all do commendable work.
An even more overlooked Biblical piece from the period is the excellent "A Story of David". A British/Israeli co-production, it was initially intended for TV (but did show in cinemas in some countries) . American Jeff Chandler gives a fine committed star turn, backed by a cast of superb British character actors like Basil Sidney and Donald Pleasence. Leading lady (and very good in the role) is the wonderful Barbara Shelley, fondly remembered from "Village of the Damned" and "Quatermass and the Pit".
Would love to see either of these films emerge on Blu - but I suppose that's unlikely at this point. "The Story of Ruth" is trapped in the Disney web and it may not even be clear who controls the rights to "A Story of David" these days.

 

[Matt Hough]

I love Good Morning, Miss Dove. It's a wonderfully tender and sentimental film with lots of actors still with big things to come in their careers (Robert Stack, Chuck Connors, Jerry Paris, Richard Deacon). The Fox MOD is widescreen but not anamorphic as I recall, but we're never likely to see anything else on it. A terrible pity.

BTW, my review of that disc can be found here.

 

[Robin9]

I'm the fourth!

Hey! We're making progress!

 

[davidmatychuk]

Put me down for the fifth. My Mom loved “The Story Of Ruth” and I was very pleased to get her the DVD. Now pivoting back from the sacred to that Unexpected Blu-Ray topic with neck-snapping alacrity, I’m delighted that Kino Lorber will be releasing “The Big Easy”, so that I can replace the worst DVD I own of a movie I love.

 

[Dick]

Anything that arrives on Blu-ray from that notorious hoarder Netflix. Of course, now, they're not alone...Disney +, Hulu, Amazon...it will soon be a miracle if anything gets released on physical media. Personally, I don't think that any streaming service should qualify for Academy Awards, just because they throw a movie into a few theaters for a week or so.

 

[ptb2017fr]

Anything that arrives on Blu-ray from that notorious hoarder Netflix. Of course, now, they're not alone...Disney +, Hulu, Amazon...it will soon be a miracle if anything gets released on physical media. Personally, I don't think that any streaming service should qualify for Academy Awards, just because they throw a movie into a few theatres for a week or so.

So totally agree. After all it's called the movies! You go to the movies. You don't go to Netflix. You just squat on the sofa!