The AV Club on the greatest movies not on Region 1 DVD

Even Phantasm II?

Fair enough.

It's so unbelievable that The African Queen isn't available that I somehow always forget it's not available.

Johnny Guitar and Bigger Than Life are on cable all the time (Bigger than Life is on Fox Movies often, letterboxed and uncut and all).

I've been jonesing to see The Phenix City Story ever since Scorsese's Personal Journey thingy featured a clip.

Isn't the African Queen finally being prepped for a release, this year or the next?

Also surprised about The African Queen. Glad I DVR'd that one on TCM the other day.

That's strange that African Queen does not exist around here and yet a movie about the director of the African Queen White Hunter Dark Heart does.

African Queen = 2010

Mr. Frost.

Here's some more.

Wings (The first Best Picture Winner)
Boom!
Brewster McCloud
Chimes at Midnight
Daniel
Housekeeping
Inchon
Let It Be

and many, many, many more...

2 of those are on the AV Club's list.

Is Daniel any good?

Do you mean those are coming out in 2010, or did you intend to list others that the AV Club missed? I only ask because Brewster McCloud, Housekeeping, and Let It Be are all on their list.

It's okay. It's pretty faithful to the far superior Doctorow novel on which it's based.

I meant that they are still MIA.

Home Theater Forum talked to Paramount and they stated that they couldn't get African Queen ready until 2010 due to prep work.

Brewster McCloud is probably the only Altman film that I don't love. Perhaps a revisit (when finally released) will reverse my ambivalence to this film.

It's werid how these dvds exist outside of the states but not here. I can understand why some dvds aren't being relased at all. But this is just strange.

Older films sell better outside of Region 1. That and mind-boggling lawsuits that would destroy the budgets of most Home Entertainment offerings.

Ah the legal system in action. As always.

Ha, I was just bitching about Los Angeles Plays Itself earlier this week. Last Days of Disco has been out of print for so long on Region 1 that it feels like it never came out at all.

I love that fuckin' movie.

And I actually do own a copy of Decline II on VHS. Bought it on eBay for $19.

Thanks for the link. I'd really like to see some of these films (Although in the case of Phantasm, I suppose I should start from the beginning.)

I suspect that the "classics" on the list will see their day with a home release. On the other hand, Let It Be seems like it's decades away from getting published.

It's missing Gleaming the Cube.

It's really missing Ishtar.

I think Guitar and African Queen (if that is a Paramount title) could be in the Bermuda triangle of ownership that was Republic pictures. Paramount has the best elements but Republic has the rights, which has been expiring. Such is what held up Twin Peaks.

I think though that AQ is Fox, and the problem has been elements, and money. Most studios are cheap bastards when it comes to a full restoration, and as a technicolor film it may need a lot of work in this modern era.

The only movie I still need on dvd is Massacre at Central High.

And as for Phantasm, just pick up the Region 2 boxset! It's not going to be done any better over here.

The good news is that you can get a Brazilian import through Amazon. (Roger Ebert pimped it in his "Great Movies" section.) It's in need of a good restoration and sound mix, but it's still terrific as is.

My money's been waiting for Island Of Lost Souls for years. A really twisted classic. Too bad everyone only knows that crap Brando version I never saw.

I'm curious... does anyone here think Penn And Teller Get Killed is "great", as AV Club claims?

I so hope that Grindhouse comes out on dvd this year. I have been tempted to order it from Japan but 100 bucks is alot of money

People still care about dvd regions? Get a region free player and order all the foreign dvds you want online.

"Daniel" is actually available: http://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Timothy...0928788&sr=1-1


I'm totally with you on "Chimes", "Brewster", and "Housekeeping". Brilliant efforts from their respective directors. I thought that "Chimes" may have been acquired by Miramax at one point, but like many of Welles' titles, it's run into some kind of legal snag. There's no reason for WB and Sony, respectively, to be sitting on "Brewster" or "Housekeeping".

I'd love to see Altman's "H.E.A.L.T.H." out on DVD, and his 1980 television film "Rattlesnake in a Cooler". Bill Forsyth's "Being Human" would be a cool DVD if his original cut could be assembled.

The Onion missed a few crucial titles, namely "Electric Dreams" (which has some legal issues, as it was produced by a number of companies), "Twice Upon a Time" (which may have a lawsuit or two between its co-directors), and "Nothing Lasts Forever", which was stupidly shelved by MGM but is in the clear for an eventual release.

A few others:

Entropy (1999)

Bill Gunn's shelved 1970 film "Stop", which was screened for the public once-at the Whitney Museum in 1990

Love Streams (1984)

Static (1985, Mark Romanek/Keith Gordon cult film that's been essentially disowned by its creators for some bizarre reason)

The Baby of Macon (Peter Greenaway's most infamous work)

Mind Game (2004 anime-available on an excellent bootleg, but still...)

Deep End (1970)

Freebie and the Bean (1974)

Play it as it Lays (1972)

Pretty much the whole of Nagisa Oshima's oeuvre (many of which are in the works, though)