laureatedvd.com

[jack clowes]

Most of your correspondents - including myself
spend our time requesting DVD versions of our
favourite classic films. I recently mentioned
Capra's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU which you
said had been released in a cheap version but
I have been unable to find it - can you give
more info please. However, within the last
week or so I have discovered, quite by accident,
Wyler's ROMAN HOLIDAY (released in about 6 weeks
from now) plus Lubitsch's THE SHOP AROUND THE
CORNER and AUNTIE MAME (perhaps not everyone's
cup of tea but a hundred times better than the
film of the musical version) both of which are
already out (region 1). I wonder how many other
treasures there are which I'm not aware of and
the DVD producers don't seem to want to tell us
about. Maybe they're all 20 year old and, if so,
perhaps Dominic (and his friends) could persuade
these people that there are young people with
knowledge and taste when it comes to Movies.

[Dominic McHugh]

This sounds like a sequel to my previous 'Underused Talents'!

Again, I can confirm that I am not alone in the world in being young and enthusiastic about quality films rather than much of the meaningless rubbish which is thrown incessantly at us year in, year out. It's hard to think of many films made in the last ten years which will have the endurance of 'Doctor Zhivago', 'Gone With the Wind, 'Sound of Music' etc, etc. These films are not (still) repeatedly watched because a member of the film intelligentsia has decided it - it's because they are works of art which endure as much as Mozart, Shakespeare, Monet et al. In other words, I agree with your frustration about the attitudes to marketing films of a certain type and age. I also feel that there is less attention to our old favourite, the 'Special Features', when these films are released, eg 'Man for All Seasons', 'Taming of the Shrew' and (a personal more recent favourite) '84 Charing Cross Road' are all practically deficient of the kind of additional material which DVD, a wonderful medium, allows.

As for your suggestion that I should persuade producers to 'unlock the hidden treasures' to us, I'm not sure that I have any influence. However, my friends and I are most willing to try if you can provide contact details.

Thanks to all who contribute to the message board; I always enjoy the issues raised.

Dominic

[jack clowes]

This Message Board seems to be developing into a
two-sided conversation between you and me and I
apologise to all the other readers for this.
The point I was trying to make about you and
your friends trying to influence the Producers
of DVDs (although I don't know how you could do
it) is that, it seems to me, almost all films made nowadays seem to be aimed at people of your
age (but without your good taste). About 5 years
ago I saw in Empire Magazine the Readers' votes
for the greatest Films OF ALL TIME and as far as
I recall about 60% were less than 20 years old.
What upsets me is the use of the term "of all
time" - how can people who have never seen "On
the Town" or Ninotchka or The Asphalt Jungle etc
etc make these judgements. If they called it
The Greatest Films of the Last 20 years I could
accept it.
We get the same thing with CDs - The Best Love
Songs in the World - EVER. - and what do you get
apart from Without You (sung by Nilsson) all the
other songs were written within the last 6 years
(perhaps I exaggerate) but did Gershwin,Mercer,
Kern etc etc not write any Love Songs that might
be better than something written by Robbie
Williams.
that's all - I apologise.

[Dominic McHugh]

I couldn't agree more about everything you have said. It was like last year's Channel Four 'Hundred Best Films', which rated Star Wars as the best. I couldn't believe it. Again, the last twenty years dominated the survey. To my mind, the best films since 1980 have often been based on material from the stage or books, eg Amadeus (more powerful on the stage), Dangerous Liaisons(hardly a new subject, but fairly welll rendered; still inferior to the RSC's production with Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman), A Passage to India (EM Forster's greatest novel), etc. Yet I have to say that none of these ranks as in my top 10, 20, 30 or even 40 films. Even the David Lean example is inferior to Lawrence, Zhivago and Bridge on the River Kwai. I quite enjoyed the recent 'Enigma', based on Richard Harris, but the book is still more riveting than the film. What has happened to the cinema nowadays?

Even the not-so-good films of the past are better than the so-called blockbusters of recent years. The two that have absolutely stunned me (in the worst sense) are Bridget Jones' Diary and Shakespeare in Love. I cannot see one attractive quality in the protagonist of the former and I can't bear to think of the appalling parallels one is meant to draw with 'Pride and Prejudice', my favourite novel. As for the latter, it always annoys me when people try to Hollywood-ise Shakespeare without due respect to the essence of the period, which is totally lacking here. 'Love's Labours Lost' in the Branagh version is another example of self-indulgent nonesense, with hardly an inch of Shakespeare to be found. Compare it to 'Chimes At Midnight', which I can't seem to find on video and have only seen once, which manages to edit Shakespeare's text yet retain the atmosphere and detail of the story without gimmick.

I'm beginning to chunner again. I do apologise.

One problem is that quality films are rarely to be found on the television, so that the young don't get exposed to them in the natural scheme of things. Without the influence of my parents, (who love what the cinema used to be and never go now, prefering the DVD and video players)I would never have been introduced to all the enriching films of forty of fifty years ago which I honestly watch again and again and again.

At the moment I am studying music in London and living on the other side of the road to the Natioal Film Theatre, who are currently commemorating the career of Alec Guiness (excuse the alliteration). Here is a beacon of light for those of us who want to see PROPER films. The NFT is the Laureate of cinemas!

As for the 'Best Love Songs in the World', I know just what you mean. There is a bestial CD called 'The Only Musicals Album You'll Ever Need'. Apart from the recent dominators of the stage, eg Lloyd Webber and Sondheim, who are all very well in their own way but not the main exponents of the art, there are no contributions from the REAL songwriters. I think we should produce a rival CD called 'The Only Musicals Album You REALLY need', featuring Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Loewe, etc. These chaps knew what they were doing!

I second the apology for the exclusiveness of this conversation. Even Ken has left us to our own devices! Please stay with us Ken!

Best wishes

Dominic

[Dominic McHugh]

I forgot to mention that the title of my last prose was merely a quote from 'Funny Girl' lamenting the elusiveness of many great films in the world, rather than an outcry frmo my undoubtedly big head!

Dominic

[jack clowes]

what I intended to say was that the 3 films I
mentioned will keep me going until the release
of Holiday Inn DVD (and CD) in December

[Ken Barnes]

To Jack Clowes & Dominic McHugh.

Far more than the VHS, the DVD is a collector's medium.
I think that, as the market increases it will also widen in scope and choice. One thing's for sure, it certainly is increasing. Of the Laureate productions to date, I'm particulularly pleased at the response to "Meet John Doe,"
"Charade" and the two Astaires. The current issue "The Man With The Golden Arm" - which carries exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra ( courtesy of Artanis Entertainment Group) and Elmer Bernstein - looks like being a winner.

As for Universal's upcoming "Holiday Inn," I think this may be the best DVD presentation that Laureate has ever been involved with. All of these DVDs are leading the way to bigger things. So all I can say is watch this space.

Thanks for your continued support

Best
Ken