Nothing Lasts Forever (Tom Schiller, 1984)

[Minkin]

It couldn't be that like 20 seconds of I Love Lucy footage could it? I mean, they already butchered out the drawing test scene, might as well cut everything else out.

This film really needs to be rescued from MGM/Warner hell. I really hope it was one of the titles Criterion licensed from WB, and this "rights issue" is just related to that contract.

[Dylan]

It's hard to even guess what a "rights issue" might entail at this point. It could have something to do with the fact that - according to the director in the podcast interview I cited above - there are actually multiple cuts of this film in existence, including a version broadcast overseas in the 1990s, the TCM version, and the various 35mm/16mm prints screened over the years, each of these differing in some way. The rights that TCM obtained might be for another cut & the one they have might contain additional material/music that hasn't been cleared. But that's just a guess. This film has had such bad luck from the moment it started pre-production that any issues wouldn't surprise me, but it's just unfortunate that 30 years later this film keeps being held back from having a chance at finding an audience.

Regarding the film itself, I did want to add that - though I'm by no means an expert on Guy Maddin - this film reminded me a lot of the few Maddin films I've seen, though of course its production precedes all of them.

[mfunk9786]

At the end of the day, someone's making the phone call asking TCM not to air it. So there's got to be someone who knows what rights issue(s) keep preventing its broadcast/release. Would be nice for whomever that is to clear it up instead of just pestering TCM and disappearing for years.

[Dylan]

Mike White of The Projection Booth posted to his Facebook Tom Schiller's e-mail response to the question of what happened with the TCM broadcast:

I have no bloody idea! They just say “rights issues” (which could mean anything) which I have no idea what they are. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. Perhaps they’ll show it later on. Who knows? I am always surprised at the machinations of Warner Bros, TCM, or whoever owns the film

Ugh. So it's the same kind of situation Nothing Lasts Forever has had to face since the film was ready for release in 1984: something happens that keeps it from being seen and nobody close to the production has any idea what happened or why. Again, it's staggering how endless this has been.

[Perkins Cobb]

But TCM ran it once, right? So at least that copy will circulate until something better emerges. Unlike Bill Gunn's Stop, which Warners seems to have suppressed before any kind of watchable bootleg could be had.

[theflirtydozen]

But TCM ran it once, right?

Definitely, cause that's the one I still have recorded from I think February. I wish I had a big enough house to host anyone who wants to see it!

[Dylan]

Yes, TCM ran it earlier this year (as I wrote elsewhere, this is how I saw it) which means that a good quality version is out there in the back channels even if it's never shown again. That is at least more than what the aforementioned Stop! received (another film that allegedly never received a real final cut) or another shelved film that fascinates me, the 1973 20th Century Fox film Hung Up (this was the final film of Patricia Gozzi, star of Sundays and Cybele and Rapture). When a film is shelved for decades my impression is that there's a lot more than "rights issues" behind it, but at this point nobody knows anything & those who know aren't spilling the beans.

[JamesF]

Oh, I'd kill for the chance to see this on the big screen!

Six-and-a-half years after that post, it's finally happening - the Prince Charles Cinema in London is screening the film in 35mm on December 4th, complete with Zach Galligan Q&A. Tickets on sale soon. Huzzah!

[JamesF]

Oh, I'd kill for the chance to see this on the big screen!

Six-and-a-half years after that post, it's finally happening - the Prince Charles Cinema in London is screening the film in 35mm on December 4th, complete with Zach Galligan Q&A. Tickets on sale soon. Huzzah!

Well, this took place last night and it was really wonderful to finally see the film in non-bootleg/TV broadcast quality. An apparently virgin print (at least according to Galligan's intro) of the uncut version to boot. Galligan mentioned in the Q&A afterwards that a release becomes more and more likely as the years roll on due to the various silents plundered for stock footage entering the public domain. Fingers crossed, as I want a Blu of this more than ever now!