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?

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I thought Night Of The Living Dead was on Blu.

I betcha George Romero regrets it to this day that he did'nt properly Copyright NOTLD! I'm pretty sure Elite gave him some "grocery money" to do the audio commnetary on the Millenium Edition.

[The Dark Uniter]

I wouldn't mind having Night of the Living Dead, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu on Blu-Ray if though they have decent transfers.

[Hatter]

Originally Posted by The Dark Uniter

I wouldn't mind having Night of the Living Dead, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu on Blu-Ray if though they have decent transfers.

That shouldn't be a problem. Nosferatu's previous HD scan and restoration for the dvd version was extremely well done. They could put that same remaster on blu-ray and it would look stunning.

Battleship Potempkin which is on blu-ray is in public domain, though like nosferatu, the pd version is a shorter incomplete version.

[The Blu Knight]

Originally Posted by The Dark Uniter

I wouldn't mind having Night of the Living Dead, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu on Blu-Ray if though they have decent transfers.

The Japanese release is worth every inflated penny. It's looks on par with The Day the Earth Stood Still if not better if that's a point of reference. It's the most I've ever paid for a single film, but it sorta makes me understand how people could actually pay $50 for a VHS back in the day. Definitely the one worth owning and meant to own.

[Crimson King]

A prestine print of "A Bucket of Blood" would be awesome, a Dick Miller and Roger Corman commentary track would be the bomb!

same goes for "The Little Shop Of Horrors" + a group commentary from Corman, Miller, Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, AND Jack Nicholson, it's fun to dream...

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

I betcha George Romero regrets it to this day that he did'nt properly Copyright NOTLD! I'm pretty sure Elite gave him some "grocery money" to do the audio commentary on the Millenium Edition.

He did properly copyright it, but as "Night of the Flesh Eaters"--
The studio changed the title to Living Dead, and they owned the title for...as long as they were around.
(Romero did own Dawn of the Dead, though, so he's not on food stamps. Does also explain why he gave us that cheesy 80's-color version of Night.)

As for Blu PD, we've had Scrooge, Charade and March mentioned, so there's not much further to go except for the Fleischer Gulliver's Travels, which's a mess , and Kino's Buster Keaton The General and Sherlock Jr., which are anything but.

Originally Posted by BillyJack

I just bought a two DVD set of Popeye cartoons for a measly $5 at Sears brand new, and it's the best I've ever seen those classic animations, much better than the Winstar version...

(And not the Warner-restored versions, which include the PD Technicolors? )

[WorkShed]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

I betcha George Romero regrets it to this day that he did'nt properly Copyright NOTLD

That mistake from the studio bankrupted Romero and sent him into a deep depression. I think he wanted to become a director of more than just zombie films, but he had to do Dawn of the Dead in order to achieve success.

Too bad he didn't quit at Land of the Dead (which I actually like). Diary and Survival are not even worth renting. It would be interesting to see him direct an episode of The Walking Dead, though.

[bboisvert]

Here come some more:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?studioid=699

Dementia 13, The Terror... really curious to see the quality on these.

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

Here come some more:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?studioid=699

Dementia 13, The Terror... really curious to see the quality on these.

I've seen a pretty good print of Dementia 13 on DVD, also have seen The Terror but the print was in pretty sad shape.

[KrugStillo]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

Here come some more:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?studioid=699

Dementia 13, The Terror... really curious to see the quality on these.

It also lists a great 70's white trash flick with Shelley Winters called Poor Pretty Eddie. I hope they are using the new HD transfer that a friend of mine sold to Turner Classics. This guy collects prints, gets them transfers and sells them. My other buddy told me all about his deal with Poor Pretty Eddie supposedly it's completely uncut and a nice looking HD transfer. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[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

"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".

[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).