laureatedvd.com

[Ken Barnes]

Fact: Billy Wilder is one of the finest and most creative directors in cinematic history. The brilliance of "Sunset Boulevard" has been recognised by critics and public alike and "Some Like It Hot" has been voted the funniest comedy of all time - and "The Apartment" has been lauded and applauded for its wit and subtlety. But Wilder's brilliance doesn't simply reside in those three classics. When are we going to get a box-set devoted to his early Paramount work - which is very much in the same class.

What kind of people are in these companies who presume to decide what should or shouldn't be on DVD ?

Phil McQuarry

[Ken Barnes]

Following a long phone conversation with Phil McQuarry - a film buff of real distinction and extensive knowledge, I had just mounted a quick poll
to get your opinions on the early Paramount films of Billy Wilder.

I know we've had this subject before - and when I mentioned it to Universal's head of marketing, it was summarily rejected. Since much of Wilder's early work on Paramount is in the film noir vein, I thought it might be worth trying Universal again. So I've printed out Phil's very words to me - and let's see how many of you out there ( both members and frequent visitors ) agree that there should be more Wilder on DVD.

By the way, Phil is only 19 - which puts him in the same age group - and the same class - as Dominic McHugh and Mark Fisk.

The Poll will run only until a week on Friday ( 10 days ). Let's hear from you and I'll send the results to Universal.

Ken Barnes

[Mark Childers]

A Billy Wilder box set with "Double Indemnity" and "Lost Weekend"

Yes, please. Count me in

[Phil Pennick]

Here's another eager buyer for the suggested Billy Wilder box set

[Keith Drewitt]

If Universal are lucky enough to have possession of those early Paramount Billy Wilders, I can't understand why they've never issued them on DVD.

And while we're talking about the initimitable Billy, what's wrong with United Artists putting out a box set - Witness For The Prosecution, The Apartment, The Fortune Cookie and the much-underrated The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes ( in its original cut if possible ).

But first, the early Paramounts please

[J.B.]

Put me down for a Billy Wilder Paramount collection

[Ken Barnes]

Billy Wilder's Paramount classics ? Yes please.

[J.McCorquodale]

A box set of Billy Wilder is long overdue. But even single releases of Double Indeminity and The Lost Weekend would be welcome. Even rarer,though, are The Major and the Minor ( his debut as a director ) and the imaginative Five Graves to Cairo.

[Jim Perrin]

If Ken Barnes could do as good a job on a box set of Billy Wilder as he did on Fred and Ginger and Otto Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm, I can't see how it could fail. I'm on board.

[G.Mayes]

If this is a poll designed to persuade Universal to release a box set of Billy Wilder's great Paramount films, I'm all for it.

You can take my order right now.

[mgcroadster]

Most of you probably know R1 already boasts two Wilder box sets; one from Paramount with "Stalag 17", "Sabrina" & a great SE of "Sunset Boulevard" and one from MGM with "Some Like It Hot (Special Edition)," "Avanti!," "Kiss Me, Stupid," "One, Two Three," "The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes," "The Apartment," "The Fortune Cookie," and "Irma La Douce".

Univeral were due to release "Double Indemnity" this week in R1 in their Noir Collection series (I have the other four releases), but it was mysteriously pulled from the schedules, hopefully to become an SE.

BTW, the current "The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes" is not Wilder's original cut, but I recall reading somewhere that the excised elements have been lost, which, if true, is a crime...

[Ken Barnes]

Yes, I was aware of the R1 MGM/UA releases of Billy Wilder and,of course, the 1950s Paramounts - Sunset Boulevard ( which is a cult favourite anyway), "Sabrina" ( because it was Audrey Hepburn) and
"Stalag 17" ( because it was an Oscar-winner). But the early Wilder 1940s classics have been largely ignored and a box set of "The Major and The Minor" "Five Graves to Cairo" "Double Indeminity" and "The Lost Weekend" would be a worthy addition to many collections - and I'm pleased to see such a good response to this idea.

Re. "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" - which might have become Wilder's finest film but for two points (whiich I'll come to in a moment)- not all of the lements have been lost. An excellent laserdisc released a few years ago by Image presented the two key sequences that were missing. Unfortunately, one sequence had no soundtrack while the other had ONLY the soundtrack. Nevertheless, they were both were releasing because of their fascinating content.

Now as to the two flaws that stopped it from attaining the high standard that Wilder was aiming for. Firstly, the casting of Robert Stephens as
Holmes. A fine stage actor certainly - but on screen he was neither photogenic nor sufficiently charasmatic to convey the power of fiction's greatest detective. Secondly, the drastic editing that butchered the film was every bit as tragic as the fate that overtook Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons." But, like "Ambersons" Wilder's take on Conan
Doyle is still a highly enjoyable film and almost deserves the term "classic."

[mgcroadster]

From DVD Talk's review of the R1 DVD of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes:

"The extras on this disc center on the famous unreleased roadshow version. In the early 90s, Image and MGM released a laserdisc that had the two major missing scenes, but only parts of them: The Curious Case of the Upside-Down Room, a comic attempt by Watson to cheer up his bored friend, was audio-only; and The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners, where Watson takes a turn at playing detective, was picture-only. The laser played an interview over the audio track of one, while subtitling the other.

There were other alterations for which no film survived. The lost opening had Watson's grandson claiming the box of precious artifacts left in charge of bank manager John Williams. A key flashback on the train to Inverness told the story of the collegiate Sherlock's encounter with a dream-girl sweetheart - who turned out to be a prostitute and warped his perception of women forever. These were barely covered on the laser, but the DVD uses script excerpts and some newly-found stills from the AMPAS ... although photos for the prostitute scene are still very thin. Robert Stephens at age 19 has the same problem his wife Maggie Smith had two years later in the flashbacks in Travels With My Aunt - he can't possibly look young enough."

[James L M]

I can think of quite a few studio releases where the region 1 discs have extras that fail to turn up on region 2, which means I have to buy region 1 copies and the region 2 distributors miss out. The following have cast/crew audio commentaries on their region 1 versions whilst their region 2 counterparts have none:-

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (2003) with director Stephen Frears
JUMP TOMORROW (2201) with director Joel Hopkins, producer Nicola Usborne and actor Tunde Adebimpe
STATE AND MAIN (2000) WITH ACTORS Sarah Jessica Parker, William H. Macy, Clark Gregg, David Paymer and Patti LuPone
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000) with director Kenneth Lonergan
ARLINGTON ROAD (1999) with director Mark Pellington and actor Jeff Bridges
ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE (1998) with director Larry Clark
DONNIE BRASCO (1997) with director Mike Newell
ONCE WERE WARRIORS (1995) with director Lee Tamahori
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992) with director James Foley
JACOB'S LADDER (1990) with director Adrian Lyne
DRUGSTORE COWBOY (1989) with director Gus Van Sant and actor Matt Dillon
THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) one with director Rob Reiner, one with author William Goldman
ST ELMO'S FIRE (1985) with director Joel Schumacher
SUBURBIA (1983) with director Penelope Spheeris
EXCALIBUR (1981) with director John Boorman
THIEF (1981) with director Michael Mann and actor James Caan
ROCK'N'ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979) with director Allan Arkush, producer Michael Finnell and screenwriter Richard Whitley
GRAND THEFT AUTO (1977) with director Ron Howard and producer Roger Corman
SILENT RUNNING (1971) with director Douglas Trumbull and actor Bruce Dern
BLACK CAESAR (1973) with director Larry Cohen
VANISHING POINT (1971) with director Richard C. Sarafian
THE TRAIN (1964) with director John Frankenheimer
BLOOD TRILOGY (1963-65) with director Herschell Gordon Lewis and producer David F. Friedman
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961) with director Roger Corman
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1960) with director Roger Corman
THE QUIET MAN (1952) with actress Maureen O'Hara
RIO GRANDE (1950) with actress Maureen O'Hara
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) with actress Celeste Holm
GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT (1947) with actresses Celeste Holm and June Havoc
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941) with actress Anna Lee

and three of the films listed above are British!

And then other films such as BRAZIL, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, THE RED SHOES, REPO MAN, RUSHMORE and PIRAHNA have region 2 editions made by companies such as Criterion featuring director commentaries whilst region 2 editions have been released without these commentaries.

[mgcroadster]

I think Rewind says it all on their comparisons page:

Winners by region:
Region 1: 1452
Region 2: 929
Region 3: 58
Region 4: 68
Region 5: 1
Region 6: 0
Region 0: 542