Vintage Paramount Pictures

[Beckford]

We’ve been getting some great releases of vintage Paramount titles on Blu-ray lately (much of it thanks to Kino: -Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Hope & Crosby, W.C. Fields, with announcements for future goodies like “Hot Saturday”, “Among the Living”, “The Accused” and “The Mad Doctor”, all treasures I’d almost given up hoping of ever seeing on Blu).
But there are still a lot of vintage titles left to hope for. Here’s a (highly personalized) check list of Paramount titles that are much to be desired :

Group A – pre-1930’s
I believe most of these titles (mainly silents) are currently with Paramount, though some of the older ones may have passed into public domain

1. The Cheat(1915-De Mille) Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa)
2. Tennessee’s Pardner(1916) Fannie Ward
-would love to see more Fannie Ward, but – except for “The Cheat”, most of her films seem to be either lost or inaccessible. This one, though, supposedly survives and has even had a public screening or two in recent years
3. The Narrow Trail(1917) William S. Hart
-somebody somewhere recently indicated this one may be in the pipeline; it’s terrific
4. The Silent Man(1917) William S. Hart
5. The Toll Gate(1920) William S. Hart
6. The Vanishing American(1925) Richard Dix
7. It(1927) Clara Bow classic
8. Redskin(1929) Richard Dix, color
9. Applause(1929) talkie
- backstage tale starring show biz legend Helen Morgan
- vividly alive courtesy of director Rouben Mamoulian’s revolutionary techniques
- the Kino Insider indicated Blu-rights for this one may be tied up elsewhere
- perhaps Criterion has plans for it

Group B - 1931-1948)
I believe these titles all fall under present-day Universal control, because of the long ago MCA buyout of Paramount titles from 1929 to 1949). Kino has an ongoing relationship with Universal. So I think all of these have at least slight possibilities:

1. No Limit(931) Clara Bow
2. The Big Broadcast(1932) Bing Crosby; first (and best) entry in Paramount’s series
3. This is the Night(1932) Lily Damita, Cary Grant, Thelma Todd
4. The Crusades(1935-De Mille) Loretta Young
-another film the Kino Insider indicated might be committed elsewhere for Blu-ray
-there’s already a European Blu
5. Shanghai(1935) Charles Boyer, Loretta Young
6. Rose of the Rancho(1936) Metropolitan opera star Gladys Swarthout
-Paramount starred her in a series of 30’s musicals aimed at attracting the MacDonald/Eddy crowd
7. Daughter of Shanghai(1937) Anna May Wong
8. Ebb Tide(1937) Ray Milland, Frances Farmer, color
9. Night Club Scandal(1937)
a B – but the B could just as easily stand for Barrymore (John) in one of his best talkie showcases
10. Dangerous to Know(1938) Anna May Wong
11. King of Chinatown(1938) Anna May Wong
12. The Texans(1938) Randolph Scott, Joan Bennett
13. Honeymoon in Bali(1939) Madeleine Carroll, Fred MacMurray
14. Island of Lost Men(1939) Anna May Wong
15. Dancing on a Dime(1940) Robert Paige, Grace McDonald
-fun B plus musical
16. Untamed(1940) Ray Milland, Patricia Morison
-outdoor drama in color
17. Bahama Passage(1941) Madeleine Carroll, Sterling Hayden, color
18. Salute for Three(1943) MacDonald Carey, Betty Jane Rhodes, Dona Drake
-musical
19. Variety Girl(1947) Crosby, Ladd, Lamour, Stanwyck etc
- one of those all-star studio musicals, with Paramount trotting out most of its contract talent
20. Wild Harvest(1947) Alan Ladd, Dorothy Lamour
21. Albuquerque(1948) Randolph Scott, Gabby Hayes, Cinecolor
22. Saigon(948) Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake
-unfortunately I believe the Insider said this one has issues

I’d love to see Randolph Scott’s Zane Grey series(1932-35) on Blu
or John Howard’s Bulldog Drummond pictures(1937-39)
but I don’t believe they were included in the old MCA deal, so they may be PD.
That may also be the case for the Paramount’s Anna May Wong series. Hope not because they’d make a bang-up Kino box set.

Group C - 1949-1973
The modern Paramount organization seems to control most Paramount features from after 1949). When it comes to vintage titles, they tend to stick to pretty high profile stuff. But technically any of these are potential Blu-ray candidates.

1. Bride of Vengeance(1949) Paulette Goddard
-for some reason, unlike most Paramount titles from ’49, this lavish Renaissance drama about the Borgias wasn’t part of the MCA deal.
2. The Last Outpost(1951) Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming
3. Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick(1952) Dinah Shore, Alan Young, musical
4. Hong Kong(1952) Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming
5. Red Mountain(1952) Alan Ladd, Lizabeth Scott
6. Thunder in the East(1953) Alan Ladd, Deborah Kerr
7. Elephant Walk(1954) Elizabet Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch
8. The Naked Jungle(1954) Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker
9. Red Garters(1954) Jack Carson, Rosemary Clooney, western musical
10. Secret of the Incas(1954) Charlton Heston
11. Conquest of Space(1955)
12. Loving You(1957) Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott
13. The Party Crashers(1958)
-surprisingly good juvenile delinquency drama with Bobby Driscoll near the end of his career and Connie Stevens near the start of hers
14. That Kind of Woman(1959) Sophia Loren, Tab Hunter (plus George Sanders in a great supporting performance.
15. The World of Suzie Wong(1960) William Holden, Nancy Kwan
16. The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders(1965) Kim Novak
17. Apache Uprising(1965) Rory Calhoun, John Russell
18. This Property is Condemned(1966) Natalie Wood, Robert Redford
19. Ash Wednesday(1973) Elizabeth Taylor, Henry Fonda

“The Last Outpost” and “Hong Kong” were independent Pine-Thomas productions released by Paramount so possibly control of them lies elsewhere. But a few years ago Kino released Blu’s on several Pine Thomas/Paramount items (“Jivaro”, “Sangaree”, “Those Redheads from Seattle”, “El Paso”) So hope’s not entirely lost.