Louis: "Is MAN ON THE ROOF the only foreign film ever that was an official sequel to an American major released film(1973's THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN).?"
Well, it's based on the book, which was part of a series of ten novels. There was a swedish film from the sixties, "Roseanna", so that would make "The laughing policeman" a foreign sequel to a swedish film... They are continuing to churn out Beck-movies here in Sweden, over twenty (also in the making, I think) movies, mostly TV/Direct-to-Video. Don't ask me about them though, I haven't bothered with them. Sorry for veering the thread off course. I don't have any actual taped treasure...
So we have a celluloid VICTOR/VICTORIA. LP is an American sequel of a Swedish film pretending to be American!? ...or something like that. Thanks for the trivia-I live for this stuff!
MAN ON THE ROOF had its own unique style. A great movie.
Dragnet 1967--pilot for the upcoming color series Freud--directed by John Huston, starring Montgomery Clift Myrt and Marge--Three Stooges in early supporting roles I Was A Communist For The FBI--starring Frank Lovejoy My Son John--anti-commie classic, Robert Walker's last film Lenny Bruce: Swear To Tell The Truth--documentary, narrated by Robert DeNiro Three's A Crowd and The Chaser--silent movies starring and directed by Harry Langdon The Old Fashioned Way, Tillie and Gus, The Man on the Flying Trapeze, Poppy--W.C. Fields movies The Unholy Three--Tod Browning/Lon Chaney movie Peach O' Reno and This Is Africa--Wheeler and Woolsey, quite risque for their time The Party Crashers--last film for both Bobby Driscoll and Frances Farmer It Ain't Hay--Abbott and Costello Batman--every episode of the Adam West tv show!
The 1955 musical of Our Town. Frank Sinatra was the stage manager, Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint played George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Newman and Saint also sing a duet called 'The Impatient Years'. The quality isn't fantastic, but considering it is nowhere to be found these days, it doesn't really matter.
Here are a few I don't think ever made it to VHS or LASER, certainly not DVD, that I have recorded off the air:
PARAMOUNT ON PARADE HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE INCENDIARY BLONDE SING, BABY, SING THE THRILL OF BRAZIL YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM IT SWANEE RIVER THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST GEORGE WHITE SCANDALS OF 1934 GEORGE WHITE SCANDALS OF 1935 GOOD MORNING, MISS DOVE KENTUCKY DIXIE WAKE UP AND LIVE THANKS A MILLION
At the time (March 1978) HBO never explained its decision to pull GOING PLACES from its schedule. It was Pauline Kael, in her review of the film which appeared later that year, who claimed that HBO had gotten complaints about the content of the film. I take her word for it.
(Possible Spoilers below)
GOING PLACES is the US title of the 1974 French film LES VALSEUSES. It’s about the testosterone-fuelled adventures of a pair of twentysomething men (Gerard Depardieu, Patrick Dawaere) who wander about committing petty crimes, bedding women, and generally shocking the bourgeoisie. The film has a very countercultural vibe and was a big, if controversial, hit in France in its day. What people found shocking about the film was its raunchy sexuality, combined with an anarchic spirit and what some would call misogyny (though that point is debatable, I think). In one episode the two men, who cavort throughout the film like overgrown adolescents, are joined in their travels by a young woman; when she turns out to be frigid (in a threesome sex scene) they treat her abusively. In another, they pick up a sixteen-year-old runaway virgin (Isabelle Huppert) and deflower her. In yet another episode, they pick up an older woman (Jeanne Moreau), just released from prison, and bed her; after which she commits suicide by discharging a pistol in her vagina.
I’m not really being fair to the film by describing these scenes out of context, and certainly I haven’t communicated the light, comic tone that prevails throughout much of it, but I’m just trying to give you an idea of why some people found the film disturbing (even in France, I’m told) back in the 1970s. By today’s standards a lot of the material in the film may seem tame, and the film is never more explicit than what an R rating can safely encompass. (I don’t think the film was ever rated by the MPAA, though.)
By the way it’s a great film, and is available on a good Region 1 DVD from Anchor Bay.
According to IMB/Amazon.com these treasures (as well as a few "guilty pleasures") are not available on DVD (in R1) nor were released on VHS (NTSC):
The Art of Love (Jewison, 1965) Cluny Brown (Lubitsch, 1946) The Great Garrick (Whale, 1937) Hold Back the Dawn (Leisen, 1941) Holy Matrimony (Stahl, 1943) Love is a Ball (Swift, 1963) The Mating Season (Leisen, 1951) Merry Andrew (Kidd, 1958) Knock on Wood (Panana/Frank, 1954) Schtonk! (Dietl, 1992) Some Kind of a Nut (Kanin, 1969) The Suspect (R. Siodmak, 1944) The Unsuspected (Curtiz, 1947) Will Rogers' USA (1972)
"Hearts of Darkness" HBO Documentary. It's in Super VHS off HBO but still doesn't come near DVD quality.
"Heart of Hot Shots", a hilarious spoof of Hearts of Darkness and Apocalypse Now.
"Special Bulletin", TV movie shot on video to look like a real live newscast covering a terrorist act on the US.
"The Godfather Saga" Coppola's re-cut of parts 1 and 2 placing events in chronological order with many different scenes and edits. (The uncensored version as shown on cable)
"Contract on Cherry Street" great cops vs. mobsters flick starring Sinatra
"Hennessy" with Rod Steiger
"Salvador Dali, a soft Self Portrait" documentary
*****If anyone is aware of any of these out on DVD, please advise!*****
Four of these films already had VHS releases. I'm done trying to salvage the original point of this thread. I don't think anyone really needs another "not on DVD" thread, but if that's what this has become, have fun guys! I'm done here.
I have couple of Sophia Loren films I taped off cable years ago, like PRIEST'S WIFE, THE VOYAGE, as well as those taped stage plays for HBO in the early days like SHERLOCK HOLMES with Frank Langella and WAIT UNTIL DARK with Stacy Keach and Katherine Ross, and ROBBER'S BRIDEGROOM with Marjoe Gortner. (the last two I accidently erased years ago though.)