Public Domain films on Blu thread!

[Crimson King]

I'm a big fan of the classics, and some of these classics are now in the "Public Domain" (copyright has expired, and some are not that old!)

Kansas City Confidential and The Stranger are BOTH coming to the superior format come Jan 15th 2011!


Here are a few of my faves I would love to see on blu in the future:
"Meet John Doe"
"DOA"
"McClintock!"
"The Great St Louis Bank Robbery"
"The Blob" "
"Road To Bali"
"Detour"
"Night Of The Living Dead" (B&W of course)
"Five Corners"
"Suddenly"
"The Man With The Golden Arm"
"The Little Shop of Horrors" (196o)
"A Bucket Of Blood"
"The Wasp Woman"
ALL THE ED WOOD FILMS!

anybody else have their PD faves?

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

I thought Night Of The Living Dead was on Blu.

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I thought Night Of The Living Dead was on Blu.

Sorry my bad, although I've never seen it in any store on the US?

[The Blu Knight]

Well Night of the Living Dead is out in several places, and after some research I went with the JPN release. The cheapest option is the US release by Forgotten Films, and I think it might be getting harder to come by because the maker only has it listed Amazon now and not eBay, so you might want to pick it up if you really like it.

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by The Blu Knight

Well Night of the Living Dead is out in several places, and after some research I went with the JPN release. The cheapest option is the US release by Forgotten Films, and I think it might be getting harder to come by because the maker only has it listed Amazon now and not eBay, so you might want to pick it up if you really like it.

A shame that Elite is not in business anymore, they had the definative DVD version(s) of the film, I loved the parody "Night of the Living Bread" short film that's included! The 30th Ann Edition from Anchor Bay WAS PURE GARBAGE IMO! (never fuq w/ a classic, pretty sure John Russo ain't Mr Romero's friend anymore...)

[Crimson King]

"The Third Man" is in the public domain and yet the Criterion blu and DVD went OOP, very strange!

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

A shame that Elite is not in business anymore, they had the definative DVD version(s) of the film, I loved the parody "Night of the Living Bread" short film that's included! The 30th Ann Edition from Anchor Bay WAS PURE GARBAGE IMO! (never fuq w/ a classic, pretty sure John Russo ain't Mr Romero's friend anymore...)

The Weinstein release bested the Elite DVD in terms of picture quality. I have both versions (because some extras are unique between the two).

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

"The Third Man" is in the public domain and yet the Criterion blu and DVD went OOP, very strange!

It was for a while, but isn't anymore. It gained its copyright status back when Clinton signed the URAA in the mid-90s.

I'm also not aware of The Blob being in the public domain. I don't think it is.

[The Blu Knight]

March of the Wooden Soldiers in PD as well right? That's out too.

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

It was for a while, but isn't anymore. It gained its copyright status back when Clinton signed the URAA in the mid-90s.

I'm also not aware of The Blob being in the public domain. I don't think it is.

"It's A Wondeful Life" also used to be in the pubic domaim but it was also "rescued".

[GuruAskew]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

The Weinstein release bested the Elite DVD in terms of picture quality. I have both versions (because some extras are unique between the two).

Elite founder Don May Jr. was behind the Weinstein restoration as well. Even after the Weinstein release people were still blindly expressing a preference for the Elite disc but regardless the Elite discs were still a laserdisc transfer (from a damaged print) ported over to DVD.

[Crimson King]

Many of Alfred Hitchcock's early works are in the Public Domain, notables being The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, and The Man Who Knew Too Much, Criterion has great DVD versions of the first two I mentioned.

[Arkadin]

"Meet John Doe" just received the best dvd release it has ever gotten.
you should check it out.
some others I would add:

The Last Time I Saw Paris
The John Wayne Monogram films
Life With Father
Beat The Devil (Bogart)
Of Human Bondage (bette davis)
Father's Little Dividend
Penny Serenade
Love Affair (An Affair To Remember original)
The Front Page
His Girl Friday
Royal Wedding
Angel an The Badman
Algiers
Suddenly (Frank Sinatra)
Scarlet Pimpernel
The Limping Man
Blood On the Sun (cagney)

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

"Meet John Doe" just received the best dvd release it has ever gotten.
you should check it out.

Better than the NTSC one that came out in the UK in 2002?

Link?

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

"Meet John Doe" just received the best dvd release it has ever gotten.
you should check it out.
some others I would add:

The Last Time I Saw Paris
The John Wayne Monogram films
Life With Father
Beat The Devil (Bogart)
Father's Little Dividend
The Front Page
His Girl Friday
Royal Wedding
Angel an The Badman
Algiers

Is the Meet John Doe DVD the VCI release?

[#Darren]

I want Beat The Devil to come out. It was actually advertised as an upcoming release a while back but it fell through for some reason.

[Crimson King]

Let's not forget Charlie Chaplin's early "two reelers"! "The Rink" made it;s way onto the "Modern Times" Criterion blu!

[kinoeye]

Problem is, will any of these films get a proper HD transfer from the negative or even newly struck prints? Surely some will and some already have, but I would say be weary of shoddy up-converts in the future.

[Arkadin]

70th anniversary release--Meet John Doe
http://www.amazon.com/Meet-John-Doe-...3743784&sr=1-1

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

70th anniversary release--Meet John Doe
http://www.amazon.com/Meet-John-Doe-...3743784&sr=1-1

Ah, thanks.

Looking at DVDBeaver, that appears to just be a port of the UK disc I got in 2002 (same transfer, same commentary, etc.)