When BECKET will finally hit DVD? Yes, See Post #25 (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

Seems to me that MPI is truly dragging its fanny on this one. If it's a restoration issue, I would question to what extent the film is being restored.

 

[Greg O' Connel]

They're building a time machine to travel back to the 60s and bring back a copy of the film to the present, untouched by the ravages of time.

Either that or they decided it would be too expensive to restore and aren't going to bother with it.

 

[Bob Cashill]

Too bad. A clip from it appears in the new Showtime film OUR FATHERS.

 

[JPCinema]

It was fully restored last year and shown at the Academy theater in Beverly Hills for 1 night. I wonder who owns it and why they are "sitting" on such a great film?

 

[Robert Harris]

It should be noted that the restoration was performed not by MPI, but entirely by The Academy Film Archive. There are no problems with this title, which has been restored to its "foreign" version.

RAH

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

What was wrong with the elements to necessitate a restoration?

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Robert would know better and more detailed than I, but in brief, BECKET has suffered from a rights transfer that took it from studio (Paramount) to private (Hal Wallis) ownership, and all the problems that can entail, such as having to find and pay for proper storage, and the later death of producer Wallis.

People have seen the restored print, which managed to obtain stereo tracks from overseas, and said it was a marvelous restoration. Last I checked, MPI still controls the title for DVD, but is shopping around to find an interested studio to reissue it in theatres. And, propably, to pay the expense of striking the prints to do it with.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It's too bad that Paramount lost the rights to this wonderful film. It deserves to be released on dvd with as many extras as possible regarding fact versus fiction about the two main characters in this film.







Crawdaddy

 

[Cees Alons]

More than two years ago (February or March 2003) it was announced for a release on DVD on May, 27 (2003). So we would have been able to own it two years already.

Like so many of us (I hope), I pre-ordered it too (so lack of interest wasn't the problem ), but it was withdrawn anyway.


Cees

 

[Robert Harris]

The stereo mags were here in the U.S.

The film needed work for a number of reasons.

1. VS mags

2. Original dye transfer printing, which meant no intermediate elements produced, with the exception of separation masters.

3. Original negative shipped to support a foreign sale, and not returned; now considered "missing."

 

[Joe Caps]

Robert Harris - you say that Becket has been restored to the "foreign Version". What's the difference from the version that was on laserdisc?
Also - did this film ever have Overture, Intermission and Intermission music?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Good question because I'm wondering if the foreign version is the 149 minute version shown at its premiere in London which means that there probably isn't any intermission music. Also, there is a 165 minute version which I think is the Roadshow version.







Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Harris]

I don't recall if the film had mx only tracks. There were a number of 70mm prints produced.

The foreign version has a bit of additional un-coverage during a scene in which a young creature joins the two leads in bed -- typical of U.S. v. foreign during that period.

 

[Steve Christou]

Is Becket finally coming out on dvd? There's a feature on this classic film and the possibility of it's release this year at this link.

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/

"But years after plans were first made by MPI Home Video to bring out a loaded Becket disc, complete with a making-of documentary and a commentary track by Peter O'Toole, the chances of it coming out any time soon seem...well, a bit up in the air.

MPI Home Video marketing executive Greg Newman says the DVD will be out "this year," but his reluctance to speculate about whether he's speaking of the spring, summer, fall or winter indicates that MPI's plans are perhaps less than rock-solid."

I really hope so, it's one of my most wanted films on dvd.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Maybe getting a sober Peter O'Toole to record his commentary is proving a challenge.

 

[PatH]

Gordon,

He's not just Peter O'Toole or Henry II, rightwise king of all Britain, he's Alan Swann, and with Alan Swann, you forgive a lot.

PatH

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Ha-ha! Nice one, Pat!

 

[MichaelBA]

"I'm not an actor... I'm a movie star!"

 

[Ravi K]

Well, that's some news, at least. My VHS is in a closet somewhere, mocking me

 

[Mark Anthony]

Another 4 months have nearly passed...anybody know any more about a release?

M