Distribution Denied! 25 Films You Can’t Get on DVD

Tom Waits : Big Time

 

Two films I've yet to see on DVD or Blu-Ray:

1. Serial with Martin Mull
2. Battle of the Sexes with Peter Sellers, Robert Morely, Constance Cummings

Always wondered if Battle was deemed too offensive due to subject matter, although Sellers is so famous and beloved here in the States.
There are a lot of scenes that are quite funny, and it's really a satire of American corporate business methods versus a Scottish family business circa 1960 more than its title would indicate, although that's certainly part of it as well.

Serial? I have no idea.

 

That has been the same assumed/guessed answer for the last 30-plus years. It’s not wholly false, but it’s a gross simplification. They have never attempted to completely suppress the footage; it’s excerpted in copious amounts in “Anthology”, including the most overtly “negative” scene in the film.

I think the hang-up has been that nobody has been greatly enthusiastic about releasing it, with a few isolated exceptions (McCartney back around 2003 seemed hot on it for a while, after having bumped into Michael Lindsay-Hogg and discussing how long it has been out of print, etc.). Ringo seems totally ambivalent about it. I think Yoko and George weren’t that into putting it out, and at specific points put the brakes on it. I don’t think it has been a clear-cut case of just out-right vetoing its release. It sounds like work continued on and off, perhaps several times.
I think the thing will come out. The question is how many fans (and Beatles, and Beatle heirs) will still be alive when it happens.

 

When I said "Apple Corps, I meant the owners. That doesn't specifically target any individual(s) for vetoing or delaying the film.

 

Both Search and the original pilot, titled Probe, are available through Warner Archive:



http://www.wbshop.com/product/searc...79775.do?sortby=ourPicks&refType=&from=Search

 

I would love to see a dvd or bluray of Little Sweetheart(1989) with Karen Young, John Hurt, Cassie Barasch and Ellie Raab....have the vhs still even though my player conked out several years ago


She is spying...
She is blackmailing...
She is planning a murder...
She is 9 years old...

 

oh man, thanks

 

I have been waiting many years for a legitimate American DVD of Paradise starring a young Phoebe Cates. The best you get now of the film is a cheap Korean DVD that may or may not be a legitimate release.

It's rumored that Cates bought the rights to keep it permanently buried.

 

Summer Camp Nightmare rules! I used to rent it all the time back in the 80's.

 

Search was actually a pretty good show. When you think about it, it's sort of the precursor to about 179 detective/spy series that followed where the main character had some kind of video/audio device on his body that allowed him or her to communicate and show details back to headquarters. I actually think this idea could be revived today and it could work if they jazzed it up a bit.

 

Michael Fox and Joan Jett in "Light Of Day". I think it was only released on dvd in germany. Probably music rights holding this one up.

 

Is that Alan Harper in "Dudes"?

 

A TV series I'd like to see on DVD/Blu-Ray is Seeing Things, the Canadian comedy-mystery show featuring a psychic detective. I have a few I recorded on Betamax as it ran locally here in Chicago in the mid 1980s. Anyone know of it on disc?

 

WILLARD (1971) and, to a lesser degree its sequel BEN, are my two most-awaited DVDs/Blu-rays. What in the world is preventing WILLARD from coming out? There have been a lot of theories amidst the cult circuit, but what is the definitive word on what's preventing WILLARD from a proper release? Last thing I heard somewhere was that whoever owns WILLARD is adamant in vowing that it will NEVER be released to DVD, as some kind of vengeance for its treatment back in the day. Or something like that.

 

I said that to the wife awhile ago when explaining it to her! This really could be a revival that people could get into. I also like the gorgeous blonde in the computer room and how she made those pithy comments sometimes when a femme fatale was saying seductive stuff to our hero. Then Burgess would yap at her and she'd settle back down.

 

You don't think people had enough of 24?

 

Disney's PR team were weirdly open minded when it came to not trying to bury "Escape From Tomorrow"(the 3rd party indie film illegally shot inside Disneyland).

 

I'd like to see the remake of "M" (1951) released on Blu-ray. Ever since seeing "Kiss Me Deadly", I've been interested in films and TV shows that feature the Angels Flight funicular. This film contains shots of Angels Flight as well as the old Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. As an added bonus, the Bradbury Building is also featured:

 

Synapse Films is releasing Curt McDowell's Thundercrack! on both Blu-ray and DVD in December. I don't think it's ever been available legally on home video at all, let alone DVD.

http://synapse-films.com/synapse-films/thundercrack-40th-anniversary-2-disc-special-edition-blu-ray/

 

Serial was released on DVD in 2008, but apparently the source material and the mastering leave something to be desired.

http://www.amazon.com/Serial-Martin-Mull/dp/B0019UGYCI

 

Not the same show at all. Note that Fox is rebooting 24 with a new cast.

 

Thank you, Dave!

 

I never saw the older show, the premise seemed sort of similar. But hey, if they're rebooting it, I guess people want it!

 

I think Disney was afraid of the viral backlash if they had come down hard on that film. It probably would have given the film more publicity if Disney had rightfully sued them.

 

I think they just want to do the same premise with a 30-something cast. While I like Keifer Sutherland, I get that a modern audience may not want a 48-year-old leading man.