King Vidor

[Der Spieler]

Helen being played by Anita Ekberg seems an odd choice, but at the same time I can see how it could work. I always found Marie and Sonya to be rather dull characters, so I don't really mind if their presence is only sporadic.

[Gregory]

I was just reading the plot summary of Our Daily Bread at IMdB, and the person who wrote it claims that the community in the story was based on the teachings of Edward Gallafent. But Gallafent is a film critic, alive and well in the UK. I searched for Our Daily Bread and Edward Gallafent and found nothing other than several hundred similar assertions in roughly or exactly the same words. Am I missing something here, or is this one of those bizarre errors that gets spread all over the internet because so many sites are lazily duplicating dodgy user-generated text?

[Tuco]

The Big Parade was released on laser disc and VHS in 1992. A 35mm positive exists. An incredible achievement and nowhere to be found - Criterion, hello? Nothing to do with the previous post, but it reminded me of this missing gem, and I'm crabby...

[knives]

Doesn't Warners own that (at least in the US)? There's your answer right there. I'm not a fan of the film, but if any silent deserves a Blu it's definitely high on that ladder.

[knives]

North West Passage on DVD in the UK in June.

So did this come out well? It seems they're releasing Man Without a Star also and I'd like to get a reassurance that such beauty hasn't been pooed on.

[Revelator]

The WB Archive has released Northwest Passage on DVD:
http://www.wbshop.com/Northwest-Passage ... html?cgid=

I've heard they don't ship overseas, which is bad news for our friends abroad, but surely there must be workarounds...

[knives]

I'd rather go with a real DVD if possible, plus UK is usually cheaper.

[Revelator]

Can't argue with the cost factor, but I own the WB Archive discs of The Citadel and H.M. Pulham, Esq., and in terms of quality they're real enough.

[Jonathan S]

North West Passage on DVD in the UK in June.

So did this come out well? It seems they're releasing Man Without a Star also and I'd like to get a reassurance that such beauty hasn't been pooed on.

If you look at the Amazon UK customer reviews you'll find plenty reasssurance that, being from Pegasus Entertainment, it's covered in horse-shit.

[felipe]

Kino will release Bird of Paradise on dvd and blu-ray.

[goalieboy82]

does anyone know if or when, The Big Parade, will be on dvd (the restored version). from what i been hearing, it should have been on dvd some time ago.

[JonasEB]

You'll have to take it up with Warner. The Big Parade and other films remain in limbo - Warner doesn't appear to want to dump them in the archive but they're too chicken to release their missing silents themselves (and they're dead set against letting anyone else touch them.)

Frankly I think they'll just end up throwing them all in the archive, not even touching that restoration of The Big Parade.

[felipe]

Has Warner ever mentioned the possibility of releasing The crowd, Show people, The wind or Greed? Either on the Archive or as regular releases?

[JPJ]

Has Warner ever mentioned the possibility of releasing The crowd, Show people, The wind or Greed? Either on the Archive or as regular releases?

I think all of these were mentioned as possible releases during one of those Warner chats back in 2004 or 05.As usual with Warners,they are probably still looking for better elements.

[Roger Ryan]

Has Warner ever mentioned the possibility of releasing The crowd, Show people, The wind or Greed? Either on the Archive or as regular releases?

I think all of these were mentioned as possible releases during one of those Warner chats back in 2004 or 05.As usual with Warners,they are probably still looking for better elements.

Well, GREED was issued through iTunes a couple of years ago.

[knives]

Does anyone know if An American Romance exists in its full cut anymore? I saw the two hour cut today and fell absolutely in love. It's interesting how he presents the American dream at the center in such a straightforward way yet tears it to ribbons in the peripheral.

[Revelator]

Does anyone know if An American Romance exists in its full cut anymore? I saw the two hour cut today and fell absolutely in love. It's interesting how he presents the American dream at the center in such a straightforward way yet tears it to ribbons in the peripheral.

I'm relatively sure the full version is lost, unless it's buried somewhere within the MGM vault. The studio's treatment of An American Romance so infuriated Vidor that he quit after two decades of working for the company. It's a tribute to the energy and power of the film that it still works. It was on TCM recently--I had left the TV on that channel, and my roommate, who knows very little about movies, found himself watching more and more of it, starting with the scene of Dangos working on his first car. He asked what the title was; when I told him he made a face, as if to say, "how corny." Over an hour later, as the fleet of planes filled the screen and the music swelled, my roommate said "I can see why they called it that" in a quietly impressed voice.

Incidentally, Show People is now available from the Warners Archive (http://www.wbshop.com/product/show+peop ... nd&from=fn).

Other Vidor films available from there include:
Wild Oranges
H.M. Pulham Esquire
La Boheme
Lightning Strikes Twice
The Patsy
The Citadel
Comrade X
Northwest Passage
An American Romance
Billy the Kid

I hope Scharphedin2 can update his original post with these additions.
Pulham is a film that isn't discussed nearly enough--it has a elegiac pull that transcends the plush MGM settings, while Billy is an example of another Vidor film that doesn't exist in its original form. It was filmed in widescreen, but that version is lost. What remains is an energetic early talkie with an unusual finish.

[knives]

Didn't know that about Billy the Kid. That's rather exciting. It seems that Alpha (probably meaning unwatchable I'll admit) has released Love Never Dies which to my knowledge makes it the oldest of his films available on disc.

[domino harvey]

Our Daily Bread getting a Blu-ray release in April

[swo17]

Great film, and should really benefit from the upgrade. I wonder if any of those "other films of the Great Depression" that were on the Image DVD will make it over.

[bottled spider]

Speaking of The Big Parade, this article by Tag Gallagher might be of interest: http://sensesofcinema.com/2007/feature- ... rew-wyeth/

[TIVOLI]

Does anyone know what happened with the blu-ray release of Our Daily Bread? The $40 list price makes Twilight Time sound like a discounter, so I was hoping to find some reviews before taking the plunge. When I checked Amazon on April 15th, the release date, it was shown to be "temporarily out of stock". Now, it is listed as "unavailable".

[badmoon36]

Finally a DVD & Blu release date of October 1 for The Big Parade from Warner Home Video (not Warner Archive). Hopefully The Crowd won't be far behind.

[rockysds]

German blu-ray of Man Without a Star - Febrary 28th.

[Revelator]

Good news--Not So Dumb (1930) will be released on DVD through the Warner Archive: http://www.wbshop.com/product/code/1000597297.do?
From what I understand, it's the least of the Vidor-Davies films, but any Vidor is good Vidor.

This leaves 16 Vidor films unavailable on DVD:

The Other Half (1919)
The Family Honor (1920)
The Jack-Knife Man (1920)
The Sky Pilot (1921)
Conquering the Woman (1922)
Peg o' My Heart (1922)
Three Wise Fools (1923)
Happiness (1924)
Wine of Youth (1924)
His Hour (1924)
Proud Flesh (1925)
The Crowd (1928)
Cynara (1932)
The Stranger's Return (1933)
So Red the Rose (1935)
Beyond the Forest (1949)

As you can see, most are from his early silent period, with only four sound titles. Of the latter, Beyond the Forest is both a camp classic and a black-edged portrait of small town America, Cynara is an underrated romance about class and privilege, and The Stranger's Return is a hidden gem about adulterous feelings on the farm. It was a flop, along with several other films in rural settings, which prompted Variety's immortal headline "STICKS NIX HICK PIX."