Inspired by the John Farr List at
Huffington Post May 2009
Some Ruminations on what is and isn't available on DVD
[Above: Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper from the Frank Capra film Meet John Doe.]
CLASSIC FILMS ON DVD, OR NOT
In Farr's article he points out a few notable (and obvious to the classic movie fan) items about the circumstances of classic films on DVD. He mentions the wretched fate of Capra's Meet John Doe which has had innumerable low quality public domain releases, but not a single "official" release using a good print (like the Library of Congress version, which is a patched-up combination of the best known sources, some from Capra's family itself). The film is lauded in film histories and has had a fair amount of thoughtful analysis thrown at it, and yet it languishes in decrepit public domain ignonimy.
Charlie Laughton
Farr brings up the Charles Laughton 'Ruggles of Red Gap', but a film I would like to see sooner on DVD (from a decent print) would be "The Beachcomber," the 1938 film with Elsa Lancaster and Laughton as a drunken englishman causing mischief in the South Pacific. Also titled "Vessel of Wrath" which is the title of the Somerset Maugham short tale on which it is based, the film is a comedic and touching story of an alcoholic fleeing responsibility (and hygiene), and an overbearing, do-gooding missionary determined to save him from himself.
The only releases (on VHS) I have seen are the usual beaten-down prints that feature washed out tones and terrible sound. Laughton and Lancaster look like they're having fun with the film (certainly not the usual case when it comes to Laughton!) and some enterprising person with access to even basic digital tools should be able to make an improved DVD worthy copy. (To further the point, I've seen 16mm prints of this film on ebay for under $100.)
[Below: Charles Laughton in costume for the South Pacific comedy The Beachcomber - 1938.]
Farr mentions the Orson Welles' Magnificent Ambersons, which has had deluxe runs on VHS (and laserdisk, which is near the quality of DVD), and is shown regularly from a good print on Turner Classic Movies (i.e., cable and satellite TV). What's holding up a release of this basic Welles film? Has it been too accessible that a DVD release might be innocuous compared to other, less-televised and therefore perhaps more sought after films?
Too Available?
In fact, that dilemma could be laid out as the reason for some of the other titles on Farr's list, like The African Queen, a movie hardly hurting for a spot onto TCM's program schedule. Perhaps there are licensing problems for these famous titles? The Val Lewton films were hung up in licensing limbo for years before getting released in more or less complete editions, boxed and singly, showcasing Lewton's RKO B-unit days (but, however, the series is incomplete: Where is the Simone Simon Mademoiselle Fifi, for example? It made it to laserdisk and VHS. To top it off are complaints that nary a single improvement was made to the films condition on the DVD set versus their quality on the Laserdisk set from over a decade earlier. And to add one more sounding of the gong on Lewton's behalf, why can't there be a DVD version of his final film, the B-level (but in color) Western of 1951, Apache Drums?)
Red Dust, which Farr puts number one on his list, deserves its spot. It showcases Clark Gable and Jean Harlow at their early peak. With the success of the many "pre-code" films hitting DVD lately (witness TCM's Forbidden Hollywood series), I would think this preeminent pre-code title would be a sure thing for whomever is holding the rights. Harlow is in top form, as is Gable, and it's easy to see why 1930's audiences liked them so much. Poor Mary Astor doesn't have much to do here except be fragile, and she of course does that well.
Red Dust encompasses a catalogue of early 30s film-making technique, which is to say it contains a lot of held-over style from the silent films, as far as an emphasis on visuals to set the physical world in which the actors dwell. Another film with the same baggage is the Joan Crawford "Rain" which was released the same month and year as Red Dust (October '32), and also dealing with the problems of Westerners off in an exotic South Pacific locale (maybe both titles are related to the February 1932 success of the Marlene Dietrich/Josef Sternberg/Anna May Wong Shanghai Express? Like Grand Hotel, Shanghai Express is an omnibus of Americans and Europeans trying to navigate their personal problems, but in this case while traveling through Hollywood's version of the Chinese revolution).
Red Dust is not available, nor is the Sternberg Shanghai Express, for DVD, but there are many cheap copies of Rain available (like the 'Hollywood Divas' series from the AMC, aka American Movie Classics, which combines Rain with Of Human Bondage, Lady of Burlesque, and Marilyn Monroe Hometown Story all on a 2-disk set, derived chiefly from scratchy prints.)
Other classic films not on DVD:
The John Barrymore Don Juan (1928) with it's vitaphone soundtrack. It had a good release with many extras on laserdisk back in 1991, but beyond the VHS and that laser issue, there's been nothing available on DVD of this film which features Barrymore in his physical prime and a very young Mary Astor.
Lon Chaney and He Who Gets Slapped. This 1924 film was the maiden voyage for the just formed M-G-M company, and besides that features a young Norma Shearer and John Gilbert as the couple that Chaney's clown sacrifices for. A morbid, fascinating sad film that seems a far cry from the filmsthat M-G-M is known for today.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Okay, it is true there are DVD's available of this title, but neither are the best presentation of the film from the known print quality that is available. I suspect Universal is holding back, waiting to release this in its best form for the film's 75th Anniversary as part of their "Legacy" DVD series, probably sometime around 2011. I hope so. Features James Whale's movie making at its eccentric best, with Boris Karloff and Valerie Hobson on hand, along with the obviously suffering Colin Clive (I once mentioned to a much more obsessive classic film fan than I that it looks like Clive is on the verge of a nervous breakdown in much of his screen time during Bride, and the film fan said "He was!" alluding to that actor's tormented life in the 1930s). Also has a young Elsa Lancaster on the screen as both Mary Shelley, and the Bride.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Again, another title that is available on DVD, but only if you buy the box set of 1950s sci-fi films called "Sci Fi Ultimate Collection" (amazon.com) featuring many other films, just not in the same league as Shrinking Man. A single disk issue would be appreciated for this most thoughtful of the 1950s science fiction dramas about expanding (and shrinking) existence.
In a way, the argument over release schedules and availability of DVD titles is slowly becoming a moot point. Online delivery systems are being developed for minimizing the cost of a sale, but also providing expanded availability of those buried film libraries that are in Los Angeles.
Though Hollywood is rife with a certain ignorance about what it possesses in their vaults, there seems to be a regular drip of awareness elsewhere about the classic films of yesteryear. That attention preserves not only the quality work of once famous actors and directors, but drags in lesser-known films and provides a time capsule into a different, vanished world.
John Farr's list of 'top 15 films not available on DVD' is:
1. Red Dust (1932)-Clark Gable and Jean Harlow with Mary Astor
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)- Leslie Howard's signature role
3. Ruggles Of Red Gap (1936)- Charles Laughton plays an English butler
4. Love Affair (1939)- Original version of "An Affair To Remember"
5. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)- Orson Welles's second film
6. The Uninvited (1944)- Spooky, subtle ghost story
7. Life With Father (1947)- Nostalgic family comedy with William Powell, Irene Dunne and Elizabeth Taylor
8. The Gunfighter (1950)- Gregory Peck's finest early performances.
9. The African Queen (1951)- Bogie and Katharine Hepburn
10. Viva Zapata! (1952)- Marlon Brando expertly portrays an Mexican activist
11. Two Women (1960)- Sophia Loren's Academy Award winner
12. A Thousand Clowns (1965)- Magical black comedy
13. The Wrong Box (1966)- Wacky, wildly clever British comedy
14. Cousin, Cousine (1975)- Saucy Gallic concoction has two distant cousins
15. The Dead (1987)- John Huston's final film
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