Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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Precious Doll
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

Post by Precious Doll »

dws1982,

There are a number of interesting films still only available in the U.K. on Blu Ray and I understand some excellent films in the pipeline. Some that come to mind include:

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) - was released in 2012 by Eureka - Masters of Cinema and I amazed that it has shown up yet in the U.S. (aside from what I understand to be an ordinary DVD-R release as part of the Universal Vault Series. It's a perfect release for Criterion;

Carl Theodor Dreyer Collection released by the BFI in 2015 worth considering for Day of Wrath (1943) & Ordet (1955). It's a limited edition with loads of interesting extra features;

The Tarnished Angels & A Time To Love and a Time To Die, both directed by Douglas Sirk. It's possible that A Time To Love has sold out but is still available on DVD. The Tarnished Angels is very much in the vein of Sirk's most celebrated 50's classics, whilst A Time To Love is a more somber effort and not surprisingly as Sirk was attracted to the project due to his own son's death on the Russian front in WW2. I recall that A Time To Love was a favourite of Damien;

The Lion in Winter - recently restored and looking the best it ever has it also includes the commentary from the U.S. DVD by director Anthony Harvey. There have been numerous rumours of this coming out in the U.S. on Blu Ray but there have also been rumours of issues of the U.S. rights to the restoration;

Things to Come - I'd wait and see if it gets a Blu Ray release in the U.S. but if not the Curzon Artificial Eye will certainly we worthy considering though it is light on special features (if any);

Two Women - released by a new company called Cult Films who have some interesting films coming up including Umberto D. (probably the greatest Italian film of it's era) & Visconti's last film The Innocent - one of his lesser efforts but I'm very interested to see who is has aged;

Fallen Idol - Carol Reed was nominated for a Best Director Oscar and the restoration is very good (if you purchase this one be careful where from because there was a problem with the first pressing and they were recalled but you never know who is trying to sell copies of the first pressing over the internet);

The Flight of the Phoenix (Eureka - Masters of Cinema) - Restoration of Robert Aldrich's minor classic;

I Wanna Hold Your Hand - Fabulous Films - Big improvement over the original US DVD release of Robert Zemeckis' directoral debut, however it lacks the director's commentary;

Our Little Sister, Like Father Like Son & I Wish all directed by Koreeda Hirokazu and all on Blu Ray in the UK. I was shocked to discover that Our Little Sister is only released on DVD-R by Sony in the U.S. Our Little Sister & Like Father Like Son look great, I Wish less so but it didn't look that great at the cinema either.

Coming soon from Curzon Artificial Eye is a Louis Malle box set which will include Elevator to the Gallows, The Lovers, Zazie dans le Metro, The Fire Within, Murmur of the Heart, Lacombe Lucien, Black Moon, My Dinner with Andrew, Au Revoir Les Enfants & May Fools (Milou in May). It will be interesting to see if they use the same masters the Studiocanal used on the French Blu Rays as some people had problems with some of those (Eleavtor & The Fire Within). I personally found them all very good but was only disappointed with Atlantic City which had a teal look to it as opposed to the more natural look of the US DVD. (Atlantic City is not included in the upcoming Malle box set).

One also needs to be careful too as some Blu Ray release turn out to be duds. This tend to happen far more with releases outside the U.S. than U.S. releases. A case in point is the Andrei Tarkovsky films released by Curzon Artificial Eye in 2016. Stalker is apparently quiet muddy. An older print of the film was used for the transfer as they couldn't get the rights to the recent restoration which is apparently speculator. There is hope that Criterion will be able to get access to the restoration.

I would also recommend checking some sites before buying. DVD Beaver is useful as are these two forums for Blu-Rays:

http://forum.blu-ray.com

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/ind ... 7ecbc7b059

I check out the threads relating to the various companies from the U.S. and U.K on a daily basis.

There are a lot of great labels in the U.K. and sometimes English friendly releases from France, Italy & Germany of local films. I tend to purchase most of my films through Amazon and sellers through Amazon. However, most of the distributors in the U.K. sell directly to the public and have sales on a regular basis. A few words of warning in relation to France, Italy, Germany and other non-English countries. Buying English language films from them can be a problem in relation to subtitling. France tends to impose the French subtitles on lots of English language films that cannot be removed by manipulating the remote control. Reunion direct by Jerry Schatzberg is a good example. The Blu-Ray is stunning but marred by forced French subtitles. However, most German & Italian Blu-Rays of English language films have removable subtitles however if a part of the film is in another language it will be missing English subtitles. Always worth keeping those issues in mind.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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Big Magilla wrote:The dubbed version of The Sleeping Car Murder on YouTube is pristine. It looks like it was re-mastered in HD.

Cohen Media has released several of Costa-Gavras' films in the U.S. including Amen. They might be the ones to release it here if Criterion isn't interested.

The French are the worst snobs when it comes to releasing films on DVD for viewing in countries other than their own. They are notorious for releasing French films with no subtitles a la Baker's Wife and hard to find English-language films with baked in French subtitles that can't be removed.
I completely forgot about the Cohen Media release, which I own and it is like all of Cohen Media's releases sensational.

I don't understand why the French do that. Whilst I can understand with films that have international distribution but so much it rarely seen outside France you think they would do what they can to increase sales. And as you say the subtitles that can't be removed. Ergh. Japan is the other country that rarely includes English subtitles but at least when they release English language films they almost always have removal Japanese subtitles.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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The dubbed version of The Sleeping Car Murder on YouTube is pristine. It looks like it was re-mastered in HD.

Cohen Media has released several of Costa-Gavras' films in the U.S. including Amen. They might be the ones to release it here if Criterion isn't interested.

The French are the worst snobs when it comes to releasing films on DVD for viewing in countries other than their own. They are notorious for releasing French films with no subtitles a la Baker's Wife and hard to find English-language films with baked in French subtitles that can't be removed.
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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Arte Editions in France have recently released all of Costa-Gavras' films from his first, The Sleeping Car Murder, up until and including Hanna K. inclusive. They must have done a deal with Universal to obtain Missing & Hanna K. as are still with Universal.

No English subtitles for the box set. It's rumoured that Criterion will be releasing the recent restoration of Missing during 2017 as they released it on DVD a a while ago. With a bit of luck Criterion or someone else will release The Sleeping Car Murders, Shock Troops, Special Section and update Z onto Blu Ray.

Such a pity that the quality Costa-Gavras output after Missing nose-dived, though The Ax and Amen, both in French, are worth seeking out.

Personally, I'm going to hold out for a French language with English subtitles of The Sleeping Car Murder but it's good to know it is available in an English form somewhere.
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

Post by Big Magilla »

Thanks. I checked out YouTube.

If you watch the four-minute "intro", when it ends it goes into the complete film in English, which is how I saw it back in late 1966 or early 1967 on an Army base in Germany. I watched part of it on YouTube, will have to go back and watch the whole thing when I have time.

I guess the actual English title is The Sleeping Car Murder (singular).

I wonder who owns the rights. I doubt they've reverted to Costa-Gavras or he would have sold the video rights as he's done with his other films.

According to IMDb., the dubbed version was shown on U.S. television in 1972. If I watched it again then, I can't recall. I only remember having seen it that one time.
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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Big Magilla wrote:I have it, but haven't watched yet. Still waiting for Sleeping Car Murders.
I don't know if you're waiting in particular on a DVD, or if you just want to see the film in any format. If the latter (which was the case with me for decades): you can watch the film, in installments, on YouTube. It's very enjoyable.
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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I have it, but haven't watched yet. Still waiting for Sleeping Car Murders.

As t happens, I just finished my mini-reviews of five pre-1949 films Universal has been sitting on, two from Paramount, three from Universal to augment my upcoming 1/3/17 DVD article on Snowden and The Dressmaker.
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu

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Big Magilla wrote:Good article, Precious. I've been waiting for Sleeping Car Murders and a restored Two Women since the dawn of DVD.

Fox remains the worst of the studios. Their MOD program with its pan-and-scan versions of scope films continues to be a travesty. Still, I hope we will one day see a restoration of 1933's Berkeley Square from them and somebody somewhere hopefully has a three strip Technicolor print of Where's Charlie which currently only exists in a garish green tinted bootleg version.
Magilla, Just in case you don't already know but Two Women was recently released on DVD & Blu Ray in the UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/DVD-Blu-ray/ ... =two+women

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Women-aka- ... =two+women

I watched Two Women and it has never looked better.
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Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu

Post by Big Magilla »

Good article, Precious. I've been waiting for Sleeping Car Murders and a restored Two Women since the dawn of DVD.

Fox remains the worst of the studios. Their MOD program with its pan-and-scan versions of scope films continues to be a travesty. Still, I hope we will one day see a restoration of 1933's Berkeley Square from them and somebody somewhere hopefully has a three strip Technicolor print of Where's Charlie which currently only exists in a garish green tinted bootleg version.
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Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray

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Given that DVD will be have around for 16 years or so in 2014 it's interesting to highlight the films that still remain unreleased. There are all sorts of reasons why these films remain unreleased and hopefully some of them will see the light on home video during the coming year.

I'll go through some of the titles via director or studio:

Edward Yang - With the exception of Yi Yi and The Terrorizers much of his work remains unreleased. There is however a good chance that A Brighter Summer Day will be released this year after a restoration by the World Cinema Foundation.

Lino Brocka - Most of his work remains missing in action however Manila in the Claw of Brightness (regarded by many as his greatest film) is likely to be finally released thanks to a recent restoration by the World Cinema Foundation.

Alain Resnais - Providence has recently been resorted and a French release is due sometime in 2014 which will hopefully be followed by an American/English release. No sign yet though of Smoking/No Smoking outside of France. Je t'aime je t'aime has been restored and released on DVD in France but no signs of an English friendly release to date.

Robert Altman - Olive Films will be releasing Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmie Dean, Jimmie Dean soon. That pretty much only leaves Health which deserves more then a crappy Fox Archives release.

King Vidor - Warners finally released a beautiful print of The Big Parade in 2013. Though I'm not a great fan of the film and bought a copy in the hope that sales may encourage Warners to let the likes of Vidor's The Crowd out of the darkness along with other silent classics such as The Wind, Greed and The Scarlet Letter that all deserve more then a token DVD-R release.

Jean Eustache - His only two feature films The Mother and the Whore and My Little Loves along with all of Eustache's short remain unreleased as his son who holds the rights is asking for a price that no distributor is prepared to pay.

Nagisa Oshima - Still a number of his best films remain unreleased including The Ceremony, Boy, Death by Hanging and Diary of a Shinjuku Thief.

Satyajit Ray - Slowly but surely Ray's films are making their make to home video. The two most notable titles still missing are Kanchenjungha & Days and Nights in the Forest amongst some lesser known works.

Abbas Kiarostami - Most notably Life, and Nothing More... and Through the Olive Trees remain missing in action, though I did read something recently that they may surface soon.

Costa-Gavras - The Sleeping Car Murders, Shock Troops, The Confession, State of Siege, Special Section, Claire de femme, Hanna K. Hopefully some of these will receive the 'Criterion' treatment like Z and Missing.

Francesco Rosi - Italy's hidden master. Never mentioned in the same breath as Fellini, Visconti, Pasolini, etc but for my money he is every bit a brilliant as they are. Still missing Illustrious Corpses, The Mattei Affair, More Than a Miracle, The Magliari, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. And Three Brothers & Christ Stopped at Eboli deserved far better then the crappy video quality transfers currently offered by US distributors.

Luchino Visconti - The Stranger remains unreleased and is likely to remain that way due to rights issues.

Vittorio De Sica - Two Women is in desperate need of restoration and proper release rather then the endless bootleg releases. What gives?

Manoel de Oliveira - Much of his work from the 1960's to 1980's remains unreleased which is a shame given that this period is apparently when he completed his best work. I had the privilege in 2012 to attend a screening of a resorted Doomed Love, which is ripe for release.

Rainer Warner Fassbinder - Still missing Nora Helmer & Jail Bait. Olive will finally release the restored The Stationmaster's Wife this year and hopefully someone will release a decent print of Lili Marleen.

Wim Wenders - Still missing is The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty at the Penalty Kick. I regret not getting a box set from Asia which contained this but I live in hope this will turn up.

Jacques Rivette - The Nun, Up Down Fragile and a restored Celine and Julie Go Boating would be nice editions.

Francois Truffaut - Whilst I think all of his work is available a number of the films need reissue in proper widescreen editions as opposed to letterboxed 4x3. The French are releasing a restored blu ray of Day For Night, but no English subtitles will be provided.

Jean-Luc Godard - Whilst most of his work has been released some of his video work remains unreleased, most notably Soft and Hard.

Tsai Ming-liang - While all of his feature films have been released the earlier ones were in disappointing prints. A re-release of early titles would be much welcomed.

Aleksandr Sokurow - Taurus, Days of Eclipse, Mournful Unconcern and The Lonely Voice of Man all awaiting English friendly releases.

To be continued.....
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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