I keep going to Universal Studios online and you can find your way to Home Entertainment/DVD and request that they release it. This often works if they get enough requests. GREAT Movie!
shareI recently purchased this DVD from smallscreen.com.
sharesmallscreen.com dosen't exist. Perhaps they were shut down but when I tried to go there all I got was a Google search.
I hope they release this movie as well. I loved it.
I found it on some site called videoretro and ordered it. Just got it in. Artwork and credits on the DVD case look sparse and the disk itself doesn't have any labeling or art on it (it's just white). Not sure how legit despite claims on the website, but it looked and played okay when I checked it. It is widescreen in letterbox format. It's one of my girlfriend's favorite movies so I'm holding off watching any of it until we both can watch it together. Maybe in a couple days. I haven't seen it since it came around on the AAFMPS when we were overseas in the early 70's. My report is to follow, hopefully.
shareVideoretro has since gone underground (as of 30 Mar 08.) It's pretty common for sites to pop up selling unauthorized copies of movies, then disappear as soon as they get noticed. It's not legal to copy a movie and sell it, even if the original copyright holder won't sell you a legal copy.
I think that's a lousy public policy, to let someone hoard the copyright on something they're not willing to sell. Copyright is something GRANTED by the government, with the purpose of encouraging the creation of content. We GRANT the original creator of content exclusive rights to reproduce it, with the hope that they'll use the money to make more content. If they're not going to even try to reproduce it, they're not holding up their end of the bargain, and their grant should be revoked.
Just because a copyright is granted by our government doesn't require the creator of the content to sell it just because YOU want a copy of the movie. They owe you nothing. Plus, I'm pretty sure the copyright holder has to pay for the priviledge of holding it.
It cost money to duplicate and release DVD's. If the person who has rights to this movie doesn't feel like it's economically feasible to do so, no amount of protests of fans is going to make it happen. That's selfish thinking on your part, not the rights holder. Why spend good money if you only sell 5 copies?
Don't get me wrong--I like this movie and think it's a great family film. But I am realistic about the economics of the situation. That's why a lot of classic films haven't been released to date. Most of them are in boxed sets based on a theme or actors, where more popular & famous films are included like Astaire & Rogers or any collection based on popular actors. I'd like to see a Norma Shearer collection, or pre codes with lesser well known actors, but the only time you see Norma Shearer films are in collections with other actresses or something really well known like The Women. And she's an Oscar winner and was very popular in the 1930's.
Kind of an old debate but I think I'll see if I can crank it up again.
I'm not demanding that the copyright holder sell me a copy. All I'm asking is that the government not interfere if 1) the original copyright holder doesn't want to sell it, and 2) someone else does. That's exactly the case we have here. Someone has a copy of the original, and wants to sell copies of it but can't because the holder of the copyright, who has no interest in selling it, rattles legal sabers.
Copyright is granted "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html, Article I, Section 8. Locking something in a vault and letting it decay does not promote the progress of anything. Allowing someone who doesn't want to promote the progress to impede someone who does is also not promoting progress.
And no one has to pay to retain copyright. That all changed in the 70s, along with huge extensions in the term. Used to be 28 years, and it required filing, then renewable at most one time. That process efficiently moved works that weren't profitable into the public domain, where anyone who wanted could produce more copies. Now copyright is automatic, and the term is 95 years from publication. Note that they even extended copyright for existing works (those published under the old rules) so that a movie produced in 1960, with the expectation that it would be public domain by 1988, (2016 at the latest), is now covered until 2055. Everyone who worked on the film will be long dead by then, but somebody will still have the right to lock it up.
Locking up said films from the 30's also does not promote the progress of arts. From what's said above there's artistic merit, which persons could gain value from, but they can't because of the copyright laws as currently enacted. Note that important word "enacted". It's not an inalienable right, it's a statute, passed by Congress. Dare we suggest that Congress is more motivated by Hollywood influence than the public interest?
Best way (be warned: there are no guarantees that this will produce the desired effect) to get the movie on DVD (or on streaming services like Netflix) is to do this: http://origin-www.universalstudios.com/contact_form.php?email_id=10
As was said by the previous poster, these studios aren't charities, but businesses, and they want/expect to turn a big profit on DVDs based on movies as old as this one. If there is no big profit on these DVD's (keep in mind, that movies of this vintage were released on DVD by the big studios in the late 1990s-early-to-mid 2000s, and nobody bought them), what make you think that a studio will just constantly release them? Let alone release them on Blu-Ray?
Now that we live in the digital age, there is no reason they can't release these movies for places like amazon.com to sell. It wouldn't cost them near as much as they can just pay amazon a certain percentage for each digital copy sold. I just bought both seasons of the Land of the Giants through amazon's digital service. I would gladly buy this as well, win win for everyone.
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