Friday, June 4, 2010

“What do you mean, that movies not on DVD?”

“What do you mean, that movies not on DVD?”

What do you mean, that movies not on DVD?

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:46 AM PDT

Movie fans can be forgiven for thinking they have the world of cinema at their fingertips, whether it's Netflix coming through video game consoles, pay-per-view movies that haven't even opened in theaters yet, or the Warner Archive Collection, wherein the studio makes its most obscure titles available to the public on demand.

But even with all these technological advancements, there are plenty of movies and TV shows that we just can't get on DVD yet. Whether they're tied up in legal battles, owned by companies that no longer exist, or embarrass someone with power, these orphan titles remain out of the grasp of most home-video consumers.

Here's a look at just a few.

Musicals
Director Otto Preminger's 1959 adaptation of George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" and Disney's "Song of the South" both rank among the hardest-to-see films in Hollywood history; not only has neither been released on DVD, but seeing them on television or even in revival houses is also pretty much impossible.

Thanks to some outdated and just plain weird racial issues, "Song of the South" remains something of a sore spot for the studio, even though it features memorable songs (including the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah") and terrific animation. As for "Porgy," the Gershwins were never fond of Preminger's changes to the songs and score, and so the family has kept it out of general distribution for decades.

Kiddie gangster musical

"Bugsy Malone,"

despite its massive popularity in the United Kingdom and the presence of a young Jodie Foster, has never gotten a DVD release stateside. Nor has the MTV-inspired

"Electric Dreams,"

the cult 1984 romantic comedy about a love triangle between an architect, his cello-playing neighbor, and his home computer (voiced by Bud Cort of "Harold and Maude" fame). The songs in "Dreams" — from Culture Club, Jeff Lynne, and Giorgio Moroder, among others — were recorded specifically for the movie, so rights shouldn't be an issue. The movie's inaccessibility possibly stems from the fact that it was little-seen upon its original release, but there's definitely a cult for it now.

Great performances
Did Helen Mirren's Oscar-winning turn in "The Queen" whet your appetite to revisit her stunning work in Peter Greenaway's provocative and controversial "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover"? Were you so moved by Mickey Rourke's performance as a down-and-out grappler in "The Wrestler" that you wanted to see him play an alcoholic writer on the skids in "Barfly"?

Too bad — neither has ever been released on DVD in this country. Greenaway has slipped between the cracks in recent years; he keeps working in Europe, but he hasn't had a theatrical release in the U.S. since 1999's "8 ½ Women."

As for "Barfly," a DVD would do more than give audiences the chance to see some of Rourke's finest work. It would also offer the opportunity to record what promises to be the most hair-raising director's commentary ever. This is the guy, after all, who injected anesthetic into his hand and threatened to cut off a finger if Cannon Films pulled his budget for the movie. It was Schroeder who, after meeting with Dennis Hopper about directing the film, had his will changed to keep Hopper from ever being involved with "Barfly." This is a guy who has stories.

Too bad Robert Altman is no longer around to record a commentary about using the claustrophobia of the theater space that make "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" so effective, but it's a movie that deserves its moment on DVD to feature the extraordinary performances by Cher, Karen Black, Sandy Dennis, and a not-yet-famous Kathy Bates.
Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)