Why hasn't Carousel been released separately on blu-ray? (1 Viewer)

[Larry Geller]

Only available in the R&H box. WHY?

 

[Larry Geller]

Or, for that matter, State Fair?

 

[Konstantinos]

I hope they get released seperately because i already have Sound of Music and I don't want the blue King and I.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The honest answer is probably the same as it is for most other similar questions these days.

Fox, like pretty much every major studio, is cutting back on its physical media output. They are releasing very little catalogue content of their own, licensing most of it through third party distributors. The discs that do come out directly from Fox tend to feature less elaborate special features than in previous years. Without coming right out and saying it, they're slowly getting out of this business.

In the case of Carousel, they made the disc, and it's available in the box set. The box set probably did not sell enough copies for them to believe there's a substantial market for this title on its own; they may figure that most people who want Carousel on Blu-ray have already purchased the set.

And since Fox already produced the disc and it's currently in print, it's unlikely that they'd make it available to be licensed out to another label.

It's probably a catch-22 where the title isn't in enough demand to justify the effort of breaking it out into its own SKU, but is considered prestigious enough that the studio probably won't let anyone else do it either.

 

[Rick Thompson]

If you have the DVD, just trim off the unimportant parts of the label, put it into a blu-ray case, and use that for the disk. It's what I did for the whole R&H set. Who cares about the box? I don't!

 

[cinemiracle]

The USA box set in great.Pity the poor Australian release which had 2 blurays less.

 

[jim_falconer]

I have the individual release of Oklahoma and would love to snag the individual release of Carousel.

 

[BRAD1963]

Fox seems to make a habit of keeping some films exclusive only to sets. Silent Movie, 12 Chairs and To Be Or Not To Be could only be purchased in the Mel Brooks Collector's Set. In the Kazan sets Man on a Tightrope, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, PInky and Boomerang did not get separate releases while the other 4 films did. Recently Kino released Boomerang and the sets are now OOP.

 

[cinemiracle]

Fox seems to make a habit of keeping some films exclusive only to sets. Silent Movie, 12 Chairs and To Be Or Not To Be could only be purchased in the Mel Brooks Collector's Set. In the Kazan sets Man on a Tightrope, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, PInky and Boomerang did not get separate releases while the other 4 films did. Recently Kino released Boomerang and the sets are now OOP.

I have TO BE OR NOT TO BE on bluray.It was not part of a set and sold as single film.12 CHAIRS was only a remake of a brilliant Russian film.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

With all the discussions about films on 4K discs, I'm still annoyed that Carousel isn't available separately as a Blu-ray release.

I pulled out my 50th Anniversary anamorphic DVD copy, and found it wasn't too bad upscaled to 4k on my Sony 700.

 

[Dick]

Well, now that Disney controls it, we may be out of luck. If they ever did re-issue a Blu-ray, (and I would say this of many of their Fox CinemaScope or otherwise widescreen holdings), it would certainly be prudent of them to re-time the color!

 

[Nick*Z]

There's a whole spate of Fox Cinemascope product, and a few non-scope titles, that require extensive color timing correction to ready them for another Blu release. The Blu's of State Fair, Carousel, and The King and I were travesties unworthy of their first minting, leaning to a blue bias which, in the King and I's case, resulted in those once vibrant tangerine tones and sunshine yellows being muted into ruddy browns and jaundice-faded hues. Not to mention whites, which all acquired a blue tint - even eyeballs.

The other misfires from this period of general Fox catalog release included many non-R&H titles, including The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, The Black Swan, The Blue Max, The Best of Everything, Desk Set, The House of Bamboo, How To Marry A Millionaire, River of No Return, Wild River, The Girl Can't Help It. All are virtually unwatchable. River of No Return's entire color palette is blue/beige, and this for a film shot mostly outdoors in verdant foliage that ought to have sparkled in radiant hues and variations of greens and browns.

My greater concern, now that Disney Inc. is micromanaging the Fox catalog, is that we won't see ANY more of it coming down the pike. So, no Star! with Julie Andrews - a desperately forgotten and magnificent movie, no House of Telegraph Hill - a superb B&W post-war noir, no Alexander's Ragtime Band - an incredibly lavish Tyrone Power musical, no Wilson - Zanuck's titanic tribute to Woodrow Wilson with an Oscar-nominated performance by Alexander Knox. And on and on.

This is Disney, remember. The studio that cannot even get off its lump to issue its own live-action catalog in hi-def on home video. No 101 Dalmatians (live action), no Happiest Millionaire, no That Darn Cat, Shaggy D.A. Third Man on the Mountain, North Ave. Irregulars, Moon Spinners, and only barebones releases of some others via their 'exclusive' line, stripped of all their copious special features.

Disney's release of its own Darby O'Gill on Blu was a disaster in video mastering. What were they thinking. Ditto for Bedknobs and Broomsticks - only made available in its unrestored, edited version even though the studio went to great pains to restore the picture for DVD. Dumb executives. Dumb marketing decisions. No other way to say it.

So, holding your breath for a stand-alone Carousel Blu-ray will likely leave you breathless and defeated. I'm not entirely certain what the mentality is in home video these days, with studios electing to hoard vast vaults of bygone product, while releasing only a trickle to the public, if anything at all, and judging the past as imperfect and generally unworthy of exposure, despite a solid fan base crying out to be heard.

So, no Porgy and Bess, or Centennial Summer or Song of the South. No Greed. No Around the World in 80 Days. No Great Ziegfeld. These were major studio releases of their time, relegated to the dust bins and history books of today.

Personally opinion, of course, but art should NEVER be the domain of the chosen few who decided for the rest what is or isn't worthy of their consideration and revisiting for future generations to judge it on its own merits.

Art is subjective. It deserves exposure. Period! There are enough who remember, enough who value, and enough who enjoy and would buy a copy of Carousel on Blu, should it ever arrive as an independent release. Suggesting otherwise is just the studio's lazy way of opting out of their custodial responsibilities where their vault treasures are concerned.

The picture is even graver when one considers the limited and lackluster treatment of vintage television releases in hi-def. So, bottom line - don't hold your breath. Stop expecting miracles. But be proactive in your queries to the studios about what the future may hold for some of your golden memories. Only by gingerly coaxing them to reconsider their stalemates do we have an inkling of an opportunity to change the current tide of arrogant forced obsolescence.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Centennial Summer

This one is held up by a rights issue.

 

[Jimbo.B]

I think Disney wishes Song of the South would just disappear. We’ll NEVER see a copy of that on disc or anywhere else, which is a shame since it won an Academy Award .

 

[Michael1]

If you have the DVD, just trim off the unimportant parts of the label, put it into a blu-ray case, and use that for the disk. It's what I did for the whole R&H set. Who cares about the box? I don't!

And it will still be a DVD, not a Blu-Ray disc.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Art is subjective. It deserves exposure. Period! There are enough who remember, enough who value, and enough who enjoy and would buy a copy of Carousel on Blu, should it ever arrive as an independent release. Suggesting otherwise is just the studio's lazy way of opting out of their custodial responsibilities where their vault treasures are concerned.

Younger people probably never heard of Carousel - the other R&H musicals get better press. I tell younger people that Carousel is a "film noir" R&H musical which is why it may be my favorite work of theirs.

The film ends with Billy climbing the stairway to heaven. I wonder whether that was the inspiration for the Led Zeppelin song.

 

[Mark B]

I visited Boothbay Harbor last weekend, and even there Carousel is nothing more than a few framed production photos on the wall of a building next door to the location of the Nellie's Spa set. Had the film been a better adaptation of the play it may have garnered the audience of Oklahoma, South Pacific, and The Sound of Music.

View attachment 20220827_092320.jpg

 

[timk1041]

I think Disney wishes Song of the South would just disappear. We’ll NEVER see a copy of that on disc or anywhere else, which is a shame since it won an Academy Award .

It is if you know where to look. I believe there could be copies available in Region 2 in some European countries. I actually saw it listed on Amazon. I am sure not an official one though.

 

[Dick]

So, no Porgy and Bess, or Centennial Summer or Song of the South. No Greed. No Around the World in 80 Days. No Great Ziegfeld.

I like your post, but would take issue with the titles you include here. GREED, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and THE GREAT ZIEGFELD are all Warner Bros properties, and I have learned to say, "Never say never" when it comes to writing these off as possible future Blu-ray releases.

 

[Panavision70]

It is if you know where to look. I believe there could be copies available in Region 2 in some European countries. I actually saw it listed on Amazon. I am sure not an official one though.

This from a site called, Internet Archive

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