laureatedvd.com

[M.Graham]

I see from the Coming Soon section that Laureate is now associated with Universal. Would it be possible to get some DVD versions of that great group of Westerns that James Stewart made with Anthony Mann. I'm referring,of course, to "Winchester 73," "Bend of the River" (UK title "Where The River Bends") and "The Far Country."

Last year, Columbia had the good sense to release "The Man From Laramie" - so why not continue the series ?

Michael Graham

P.S. Is there any way to persuade MGM to release "The Maked Spur" - which would complete the canon ?

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Michael Graham,

I certainly share your enthusiasm for the James Stewart-Anthony Mann Westerns. As a matter of fact, back in 1987, I had the pleasure of meeting James Stewart in Los Angeles and we talked at length about those Westerns. He was charming to converse with and he had almost total recall of the details surrounding those movies. That same year, Universal issued a laserdisc of "Winchester '73" which included a specially recorded audio interview with him in which he talked at length about the film, the director and how turning to Westerns increased his standing at the box office.

Rest assured, I shall be mentioning these films to Universal
as likely DVD subjects with a recommendation that they obtain that 1957 interview for inclusion on "Winchester '73." As for "The Naked Spur," this must be owned by Ted Turner as part of his MGM catalogue - which he now releases under the Warner Brothers banner. I have no contact with this company.

Thanks for getting in touch.

Ken Barnes

[J. Woodruff]

I agree with Michael Graham about the Stewart-Mann series of Westerns - but what about the rarer John Waynes ? We know that Warner Brothers and Paramount are right on the ball with Wayne's latter day films but I'm talking about the best of his work from the 1940s - Republic titles like
Dark Command, Flying Tigers, War of the Wildcats, The Fighting Seabees and Sands of Iwo Jima. Then there are those RKO films like Tall In The Saddle, Back to Bataan, Tycoon and Fort Apache. It was good to see She Wore a Yellow Ribbon on DVD - but why stop there ?
A knowledgeable film historian like Ken Barnes could do wonders with these movies - and there are plenty of Wayne fans around who would lap them up.

All of the Republic and RKO Waynes are now under Universal's control.So how about it ?

Joseph Woodruff.

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Mr. Woodruff,

Thanks for your kind comments about my company's efforts in the DVD world.

Yes, I agree that the RKO & Republic Waynes would make excellent DVD releases. In addition to the ones you mentioned, I'm very partial to "Wake of the Red Witch" (1948) - one of Republic's biggest box office winners - and "Without Reservations" (1946) - one of Wayne's rare forays into comedy. " Lady Takes a Chance"(1943) is pretty good too.

You're right - all of these are controlled in the UK by Universal. I'll see what I can do.

Ken Barnes.