Dream DVDs: Special Editions and Box Sets That Could Be


By Sean Axmaker

 

"Just think what the future may hold: 'Murnau at Fox,' 'Borzage at Fox,' 'Walsh at Fox,' 'Hawks at Fox,' 'Dwan at Fox' - hell, I'd love to see 'James Tinling at Fox,' but that might take a little longer."
Dave Kehr on davekehr.com, Dec 4, in his review of Ford at Fox

 

4 of 07

What a year we've seen for domestic DVD releases. Marvelous special editions of Breathless and I Am Cuba. A deluxe presentation of Berlin Alexanderplatz. The release of such long-awaited films as Killer of Sheep (an amazing 2-disc special edition), Ace in the Hole (Criterion, no less), Witchfinder General (in the uncut British version), and Duck, You Sucker (restored and reconstructed), just to name the first that come to mind. And new standards of quality and exhaustive completeness have been set with the sprawling, unprecedented box set Ford at Fox and Blade Runner: Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition.

And the hits keep on coming. Warner has been working on mastering elements for a The Magnificent Ambersons special edition for years (modest editions are already available in France and Britain) and Paramount is reportedly working on an extensive restoration of The African Queen. Criterion has a Max Ophüls set in the works (the only confirmed titles are Earrings of Madame de... and Le Plaisir, and perhaps La Ronde - I hope they add Lola Montès to replace the inferior Fox Lorber edition) and is considering the films of Kenji Mizoguchi (including Street of Shame and Life of Oharu), Shohei Imamura, and Mikio Naruse (either in Criterion editions or Eclipse box sets), not to mention all those Rialto re-releases. There are Lon Chaney classics, Forbidden Hollywood collections, Looney Tunes boxes, and sets of such series as The Saint and Falcon in the works, as well as the rollout of the entire Andy Hardy series (gosh, dad, that's swell!).

Yes, we go on and on about what's not yet on DVD, but it is not in spite of these releases that I offer my own dream list of DVD Special Editions and Box Sets. It is because I am inspired by their example to dream big. This is no fantasy of lost films found (like the 132-minute version of Magnificent Ambersons, the 40-reel Greed, or magically rediscovered prints of London After Midnight or Four Devils), but a modest proposal to pull out films from the vaults, restore and remaster them where necessary, and give them the presentation they deserve on DVD.

And this is a very personal list. You won't find a lot of titles that show up on Turner Classic Movie polls and the like (which is not disparage those picks). This reflects my tastes and interests as well as my idea of the canon (something that everyone approaches a little differently), and it's an exercise in creative packaging, trying to think like an archivist and a producer as well as a collector. I don't expect any studio to take my suggestions, but I'd be happy if they at least ponder the idea.

This doesn't include the list of films in need of restored or new anamorphic transfers, and there are inevitably a lot of titles missing from this list, including a lot of contemporary international cinema. Take that not as a provocation but an invitation: let us know what is at the top of your wish list.

The Top Dozen DVDs to Come: A Wish List

 

1. Touch of Evil: The Ultimate Collection

The 1998 "restoration" of Touch of Evil, which is not a director's cut but an effort to construct a version closest to Orson Welles's intentions guided by a detailed 58-page memo written by Welles, has all but replaced every previous version of the film. This set would feature the original 95-minute 1958 theatrical version and the 108-minute test cut (rediscovered in 1975 and premiered on the Z Channel in LA) in addition to the 1998 revision. (There's a fourth, bastardized version, cobbled together from the theatrical and test prints, that was released on VHS as a "Director's Cut," but it's more of a contrivance than a legitimate version.) I'd love to hear commentary by editor Walter Murch, producer Rick Schmidlin, and Welles historian/project advisor Jonathan Rosenbaum on the revision, and perhaps Peter Bogdanovich could offer commentary on the 1958 theatrical cut, supplemented by audio excerpts from his Welles interviews. Other supplements: the 45-minute documentary on the film and the reediting that was produced for DVD but never used (it was, however, shown on Starz) and the complete 58-page memo, plus liner notes by Rosenbaum. Universal has all of the prints, but if they don't want to tackle it themselves, I'm sure Criterion would be happy to license the rights from them and develop this essential release in the manner of their amazing Mr. Arkadin set. The sticking point may be Beatrice Welles, who actually tried to stop the Touch of Evil revision from being released.

2. Wim Wenders: On The Road

Wim Wenders On the Road

Okay, I may have stretched the definition of "road movie" for some of the titles in this collection of essential films from Wim Wenders's German filmography still not on DVD, but there is at least a hint of it in each, from his feature debut Summer in the City (1970) to his filmmaking apocalypse The State of Things (1982), and encompassing The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972), Alice in the Cities (1974), and his road movie masterpiece Kings of the Road (1976). For a while it looked like Anchor Bay was putting out the entire Wim Wenders Produktions/Road Movies catalogue, but the titles stopped rolling out, leaving these glaring omissions still missing. One would hope Wenders could be coaxed into commentary on at least some of these, maybe joined by cinematographer Robby Müller and/or stars Rüdiger Vogler and Lisa Kreuzer (on Alice and Kings) and Patrick Bauchau (State of Things). While they're at it, maybe they can toss on some shorts as well: Same Player Shoots Again, 3 American LPs, Alabama: 2000 Light Years From Home, and especially Reverse Angle.

3. The Ranown Cycle: Five Films by Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott

After making 7 Men From Now with director Budd Boetticher for John Wayne's company Batjac (available on Paramount DVD), Randolph Scott hired Boetticher to direct him for his own production company Scott-Brown (which would officially become Ranown a couple of films later). The five westerns they made together – The Tall T (1957), Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome (1959), and Comanche Station (1960) – expand from 7 Men to create a cycle that stands next to the greatest works of Anthony Mann and John Ford: tight, taut, often savage little pictures that are both graceful and visceral, direct, and rich in character. The films were released through Columbia and currently owned by Sony. They have been shown on cable but are in need of new masters (perhaps already done – new prints were struck for a retrospective in the 2007 Venice Film Festival). All the stars are long gone and Boetticher and Burt Kennedy, who wrote the majority of the scripts, both passed away early in the decade, so any commentary would be limited to critics and historians. But there is a 1995 episode of the French TV series Cinema, de Notre Temps and an episode of the British series One on One dedicated to Boetticher, as well as the excellent 2005 documentary Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That, co-produced by Clint Eastwood and shown on Turner Classic Movies.

4. Abel Gance's Napoleon – The Restored Epic

Kevin Brownlow has been restoring Abel Gance's silent epic for decades. It's a labor of love that may not end in his lifetime, at least not as long as he keeps discovering new footage, but has already resulted in a version running (at silent speed) over 5 ½ hours: the most complete available since its 1927 premiere. The release of Brownlow's most complete restoration is reportedly in limbo because the American rights belong to Francis Ford Coppola, who actually cut Brownlow's restoration down for a 1981 road-show release with Carmine Coppola conducting his original score with a live orchestra. That cut was subsequently released on VHS. Neither version is on DVD, but perhaps Coppola could offer both cuts in a box set as a compromise: the short version with his father's original score, and the complete (or at least the most complete at the moment) restoration with Carl Davis's rousing compilation score.

another wish

McCarey's Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) should be included in any long awaited wish list.

Dream DVDs

The lists of the contributors to the film criticism site Out 1 can be found here: http://out1.blogspot.com/2007/12/all-i-want-for-christmas.html There are several overlapping titles. It personally fills me with great warmth knowing that THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS will someday be released on a Region 1 DVD.

My List of DVD's Wanted

I'll just print my List: Abandon Ship; Abe Lincoln in Illinois; A.D [Anno Domino mini-series 1985]; African Queen, The; All Mine to Give; Amahl and the Night Visitors (1978); AMAZING RACE [EPISODES 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10]; Amazing Stories TV Series; Ambulance, The [1990]; Apartment for Peggy [1948]; At Play in the Fields of the Lord; Back from Eternity [1956]; Best Man, The [1964]; Big Sky, The [1952]; Black Widow [1954 - film noir]; Blue Dahlia, The [1946 film noir]; Bonnie Prince Charlie; Boomerang [1947 - film noir]; Borgia Stick [1967]; Brave One, The [1957]; Call of the Wild [TVM - 1993]; Catered Affair, The [1956]; Caught [1949 - film noir]; Charlemagne [TV mini-series - 1996]; Chicago Deadline [1949 - film noir]; Christmas Toys, The [1986 - TVM]; Come to the Stable [1949]; Comic, The [1969]; Conspiracy of Hearts [1960]; Cornered [1945 - film noir]; Corsican Brothers, The [1941]; Counterpoint *** [1968]; Crossroads [1942]; Crowded Sky, The [1960]; Cry of the City; Dark Mirror [1946 - film noir]; Dark Past [1948 - film noir]; Dark Waters [1944 - film noir]; Delta Heat [1992]; Destination Gobi; Destroyer [1943]; Down to the Sea in Ships [1949]; Downhill Racer [1969] - Paramount Dragonwyck [1946]; Dreamchild [1985]; Dreamer of Oz [1990 - TVM]; Dreamhouse [1981 - TVM]; Earth Final Conflict Seasons 1 & 2 [1997- 1998]; Edison the Man [1940]; 84 Charlie Mopic *** [1989]; El Cid *** [1961]; Emigrants, The [1971]; Escape from Fort Bravo [1953]; Fall of the Roman Empire [1964]; Far North [1988]; Farmer's Daughter, The [1947; 55 Days at Peking [1963]; Florence Nightingale [1985 - Excellent TVM - Jaclyn Smith]; Fooling Around [1980]; 1492: Conquest of Paradise [1992]; Frisco Kid [1935]; Get a Life [TV series more episodes]; Glass Key, The [1942 - film noir]; Great Waltz, The [1938]; Green Journey [1990]; Green Years, The [1946]; Gunfighter, The [Gregory Peck - 1950]; Guns of Fort Petticoat [1957]; Happy Years [1950]; Harry Truman: Plain Speaking [1976 - TVM]; High Barbaree [1947]; Homeward Bound TVM - 1980 ***; House of Numbers; I, the Jury [1953 - film noir]; If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium [1969]; Isadora [1968] - Universal Island, The [1980 - Michael Caine]; Island on Bird Street *** [1997]; Ivanhoe [TVM - 1982]; K-2 *** [1992]; King of the Hill *** [1993 - Jesse Bradford); King of the Khyber Rifles [1953]; Kings of the Sun [1963]; Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye [1950 - film noir]; Lassiter [1984]; Last Days of Pompeii [mini-series 1984]; Laurel Avenue (1993 - Mini-Series); Laurel & Hardy (All shorts) and (Features: Pardon Us, Pack Up Your Troubles, A Chump at Oxford, Swiss Miss; Bohemian Girl, Our Relations, Saps at Sea, Flying Deuces); Left Hand of God, The; Little Lord Fauntleroy (TVM - 1980); Little Riders, The [1996 - TVM]; Long Wait, The [1954]; Love With the Proper Stranger [1963]; Love She Sought, The [1990 - TVM] aka Green Journey; Luck of the Irish; Magnificent Obsession [1954]; Main Street After Dark; Man in the Wilderness [1971]; Man of a Thousand Faces [1957]; Man on a Tightrope [1953]; Mask of Dimitrios, The [1944 - film noir]; Mass Appeal [1984]; Master of Ballantrae [1984 - TVM]; Masterminds [1997]; Meeting of Minds TV series by Steve Allen; Men Don't Leave [1990]; Missing Link [1988] ***** great family film; Mudlark, The [1950]; Murder He Says *** [1945]; Murder in Mississippi; Naked and the Dead, The [1958]; New Land, The [1972]; Night and the City [1950 - film noir]; North Star aka Tashunga [1997]; Northwest Mounted Police [1940]; Northwest Passage [1940]; Oklahoma Kid [1939]; Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss **** [1988]; On Dangerous Ground [1952 - film noir]; Operation Daybreak [1975]; Oxford Blues [1984]; Personals, The [1982]; Phase IV [1974]; Photographing Fairies [1997]; Pitfall [1948- film noir]; Purple Haze {1983]; Quo Vadis [1952]; Rasputin **** [1996] - HBO; Rhapsody in Bloom [1998 - TVM]; Ride the Pink Horse [1947 - film noir]; Roadblock [1951]; Rob Roy: Highland Rogue [1953-Disney]; Run [1991]; Ruthless [1948 - film noir]; Sahara [1995 - TVM]; St. Louis Kid, The [1934]; Sally and St. Anne [1952]; Salome [1953]; Salute to the Marines [1943] MGM Samson and Delilah [1949]; Sands of the Kalahari [1965]; Savage Innocents, The [1960]; Sea Wolf, the [1941]; Secret of the Incas [1954]; NOVA - Secrets of the U.S. Mint [PBS]; Seven Cities of Gold [1955]; So Dark the Night [1946 - film noir]; Spikes Gang, The *** [1974]; Story of Mankind, The [1957]; Studs Lonigan [1979 NBC - mini-series]; Summer Holiday [1948]; Sunrise at Campobello [1960]; Tall Tale: Unbelievable.. of Pecos Bill [1995]; Taras Bulba [1962]; 10 North Frederick [1958]; Tenth Man, The [1988 - TVM]; That's Life [1986]; This Land is Mine [1943]; Three Came Home [1950]; To Each His Own [1946]; Tortilla Flat [1942]; Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A [1945]; 27th Day, The [1957]; Two Weeks with Love [1950] MGM Tycoon [John Wayne]; Union Station [1950 - film noir]; Vestige of Honor [TVM - 1990]; War Lord, The; Washington: Behind Close Doors [TVM]; Watch on the Rhine; Wee Willie Winkie; Westward the Women [1951]; White Cliffs of Dover; Who's Minding the Mint; Young Bess; Young Love, First Love [TVM - 1979]; Young Tom Edison [1940];

Dream DVDs

A definitive Harryhausen set. Guilty Pleasure Dept: a definitive Terence Hill/Bud Spencer set. Even Guiltier Pleasure Dept: a set of Dino diLaurentis's Cinecitta comedies (including Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, the uncreditted source for about half of Moonraker)

Nicholas Ray: Rebel With a Cause

I cannot express the joy the film buff in me felt when Nicholas Ray's poignant debut THEY LIVE BY NIGHT became available on DVD this year. But there are still many that need a Region-1 release such as JOHNNY GUITAR, BIGGER THAN LIFE and THE LUSTY MEN (don't judge this one by its terrible title: it's actually an elegiac rodeo movie with a disarmingly vulnerable performance by Robert Mitchum), and IN A LONELY PLACE deserves a special edition. Ray influenced and was adored by Godard, Scorsese, Bogdanovich, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and probably dozens more. I don't think a Criterion inclusion should be too much to ask for.

Waiting for Sony

Sean, that's an interesting list you've drawn up. I haven't ever really thought in terms of boxed sets (I'd happily settle for just a watchable copy of Two Women, preferably both uncut and in Italian). But as soon as you mention Sony, or Columbia, my immediate reaction is, dream on. I haven't paid much attention to who owns what movies, but I do know that Sony is sitting on by far the most extensive and important catalog of classical music performances from the entire pre-digital 20th C, and the philistine suits there refuse to release much of anything except in absurd mishmash single-disc collections. I also assume it's Sony that decided to cut the very brief but crucial scene of Lawrence's preparation for being raped by the satisfied-looking Bey in his private office following the beating on the bench. Has Sony ever actually deigned to release any important films that weren't blockbusters?

Wenders UNTIL

Last November, after presenting the full-length UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival during a 10-day retrospective, Wenders said he doubted there would ever be an American DVD release, as Warners had said they would not pay their share toward a portion of the substantial costs of preparing the release, where distributors in other territories had.

Lost Movies I'd Like to See Found Again

There are movies from my youth (60's and early 70's) that I've waited and waited to see available on DVD. There's not necessarily high art, but it would be fun to see them again anyway. THE PICASSO SUMMER. Top of my list. I saw it once on network tv, and then it vanished. It combines live action with animation based on Picasso's art, with a great score by Michel LeGrand that was included on the SUMMER OF 1942 soundtrack. HAVING A WILD WEEKEND. The Dave Clark Five, a 'British Invasion' band from the sixties in a film directed by John Boorman. For whatever reason I remember it better than anything the Beatles did to a point that after seeing it once when I was a teenager (I'm 61 now) I could almost direct a remake today. EGGSHELLS, made in Austin by Tobe Hooper in the early 70's. Hippies, ghosts, what more can you ask? THE INVISIBLE CREATURE, a British mystery with a supernatural element made in the 60's. Not a "horror" movie in the classical sense, but a story of failed relationships and adultery that introduces the supernatural element at the last possible moment. The "adult" movies directed by Russ Meyer that were shocking in the 60's but could probably negotiate a PG-13 or a very soft R today. Ditto Radley Metzger, who was a little more hard core but made lavish looking films with attractive people.