Renown Pictures

[Guernica78]

There doesn’t seem to be a thread for Renown Pictures who seem to have some interesting British films and TV rarity’s

Has anyone got any of their releases? Quality any good?

[Guernica78]

Website here https://renownfilms.co.uk/

This looks amazing though it’s distressing they haven’t included Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham!

https://renownfilms.co.uk/product/a-...tion-volume-1/

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by Guernica78

Website here https://renownfilms.co.uk/

This looks amazing though it’s distressing they haven’t included Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham!

https://renownfilms.co.uk/product/a-...tion-volume-1/

Is weird they'd miss off the famous one, probably on vol. 2 when that comes out.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Is weird they'd miss off the famous one, probably on vol. 2 when that comes out.

In these parts the famous one isn't missed!

I assumed it didn't have a thread because it releases exclusively DVDs.

As regards quality, watch Talking Pictures. A lot of their titles are public domain, just not worth spending big money on restorations.

[steve dubbleyoo]

Originally Posted by Guernica78

Website here https://renownfilms.co.uk/

This looks amazing though it’s distressing they haven’t included Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham

I would buy ANY blu ray that had that as a bonus feature. Just imagine how that 'view that nearly took my breath away' would look in HD, with the smog more visible.

[DTSBOY]

That's all Telly Savalas did was 'look at' these places. Reading off a script in a studio when he was visiting London on other business. Been discussed in the Talking Pictures thread in the telly section.

Portsmouth
Aberdeen
Birmingham

I believe he down to do six of these.

Apparently there were going to be 11 of these travelogues.

[WJB]

Frustrating that this is only available on standard-def DVD.

If this were on BD, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I've been waiting for the Telly Savalas Looks At... series to be released in HD since seeing the Birmingham film in HD on Sky Arts back in 2013. It even had the BBFC 'U' card at the top. It looked magnificent - the 35mm colours were beautiful.

[Guernica78]

Originally Posted by WJB

Frustrating that this is only available on standard-def DVD.

If this were on BD, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I've been waiting for the Telly Savalas Looks At... series to be released in HD since seeing the Birmingham film in HD on Sky Arts back in 2013. It even had the BBFC 'U' card at the top. It looked magnificent - the 35mm colours were beautiful.

That sounds amazing. Wonder if they could license it to another company to do like the BFI?

[WJB]

Originally Posted by Guernica78

That sounds amazing. Wonder if they could license it to another company to do like the BFI?

That's exactly what I was hoping; it would fit very nicely with some of BFI's other titles, eg. the COI collections.

Sadly though, after 11 years of hoping, I've given up!

[James78]

I have three releases. They show most of their catalogue on Talking Pictures TV, and I assume make more money from adverts than DVD sales.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by Guernica78

There doesn’t seem to be a thread for Renown Pictures who seem to have some interesting British films and TV rarity’s

Has anyone got any of their releases? Quality any good?

Well they haven’t released a single Blu-ray, that may be why they don’t have a thread in the UK Blu-ray sub forum.

The HD restoration of Scrooge is just sat there but they steadfastly refuse to release a Blu-ray and won’t license. Really frustrating.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Well they haven’t released a single Blu-ray, that may be why they don’t have a thread in the UK Blu-ray sub forum.

The HD restoration of Scrooge is just sat there but they steadfastly refuse to release a Blu-ray and won’t license. Really frustrating.

I suppose they don't feel there's enough profit for targeting blu-ray buyers. It's a similar story with Simply Media. It has to be done on the cheap.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by pferreira

I suppose they don't feel there's enough profit for targeting blu-ray buyers. It's a similar story with Simply Media. It has to be done on the cheap.

That'll be part of it, but the fact they haven't even tested the market after all these years with one of their bigger titles is indicative of the view of the owners - for them SD is good enough and they have made the assumption the same is true for the majority of their customer base. Fair play, that will be true in a lot of cases but we see far more niche Blu-rays from elsewhere that shows enough of us interested in this type of film do buy Blu-rays.

I guess the most annoying part isn't them not doing BDs, but not licensing their titles to other UK labels. Scrooge would be a good fit for the BFI label since they restored it but aren't allowed to release a Blu-ray.

[Nedoflanders]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

I guess the most annoying part isn't them not doing BDs, but not licensing their titles to other UK labels. Scrooge would be a good fit for the BFI label since they restored it but aren't allowed to release a Blu-ray.

Agreed. The BFI did manage to license Beat Girl from them at least. It isn't the most exciting archive (and I say that as someone glued to Talking Pictures) but they do have the odd title and seemingly hold the UK rights to the Crown International Pictures archive - which, outside of The Cellar Club, they rarely transmit.

[darrellmaclaine]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

I guess the most annoying part isn't them not doing BDs, but not licensing their titles to other UK labels. Scrooge would be a good fit for the BFI label since they restored it but aren't allowed to release a Blu-ray.

Scrooge is so frustrating as the BFI restoration is amazing but every other version of it is absolutely shocking, even Blu-rays in other territories. The Renown DVD is already head and shoulders above any other release, so it's heartbreaking knowing how amazing that BFI master would look on Blu-ray.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

That'll be part of it, but the fact they haven't even tested the market after all these years with one of their bigger titles is indicative of the view of the owners - for them SD is good enough and they have made the assumption the same is true for the majority of their customer base. Fair play, that will be true in a lot of cases but we see far more niche Blu-rays from elsewhere that shows enough of us interested in this type of film do buy Blu-rays.

I use the example of Simply Media again. They own or are owned by Reader's Digest so their releases are targeting a very specific individual. I tried to get a job with Simply Media years ago. Even at that point I felt they were perhaps underselling what DVD could offer if they put more resources into their releases.