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The first sound version of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was 1931's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE, starring Will Rogers. This non-musical film was #10 on the New York Times' list of the year's best films. Fox spent a lot of money on the picture, and it ended up in the top twenty films of the year at the box office, with a $3.6 million gross.
The film has only been released on VHS, on cable, and for streaming. The original film ran 95-96 minutes. The version presently available for streaming, and being shown on Turner Classic Movies, is the 1936 re-release, which was re-issued after the merger of Fox and Twentieth Century Pictures. It has a Twentieth Century-Fox logo, redesigned opening and closing credits, and no exit music, which was part of the original. The shorter running time (85 min.) indicates that some editing has also been done, most likely in order to meet Production Code demands which were not in effect at the time of the film's original release (though Rogers' exclamation "Canst thou tell me where the helleth I am?" remains in the print).
It's unclear whether the original version still exists, although 30 years ago the American Film Institute reviewed a print for its cataloging project and did not take note of any differences in the running time from sources published at the time of the film's release
Added to our board. Appreciate all of the added information as well, Bob.
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I'm getting really tired of waiting for this one.
I mean, c'mon, Shirley MacLaine in a harem!
Surely, there is some interest in this title.
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I do not see this anywhere on our board. Any info on this particular title Bob?
Before its 24 March 1965 release, JOHN GOLDFARB, PLEASE COME HOME was copyrighted on 9 November 1964 by Parker-Orchard Productions, which was co-owned by the film's producer Steve Parker and its director J. Lee Thompson. When the copyright was renewed in 1992, the film became jointly owned by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation & Parker-Orchard Productions. And now, of course, Fox is owned by Disney. So, not only would Parker-Orchard have to be interested in a release, but Disney would have to give approval as well. It may be too much to hope for Disney to want to release a film full of Middle-Eastern stereotypes (Shirley MacLaine in a harem, Peter Ustinov as an Arab).
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Only released on VHS and laserdisc.
And slammed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000)!
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OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK
Only released on VHS and laserdisc.
And slammed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000!
The film was originally shown on PBS's "American Playhouse" series. Copyright is held by RSL Entertainment Corporation, which is likely owned by producers Robert Lantos and Stephen J. Roth. Probably no reason why it can't be released, other than a lack of market interest.
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Posted: |
Jan 21, 2022 - 11:34 AM
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By: |
filmusicnow
(Member)
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LET IT BE – The Beatles’ final film opened about a month after Paul McCartney publicly announced that he was leaving the group. It was built around the band’s final live performance, which was filmed on 30 January 1969 on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building in London. The film also incorporates footage of Beatles’ recording sessions that was originally shot for a planned television special. The film hints at the dissension in the group that would lead to their eventual breakup, and much more of such footage was excised from the film before release.
The Beatles won an Oscar for LET IT BE in the category "Original Song Score", which Quincy Jones accepted on their behalf. The film was released on VHS video, RCA SelectaVision videodisc, and laserdisc in the USA in the early 1980s, but has been unavailable since. Numerous bootlegs of the film can be found, all sourced from those early releases. Reportedly, Paul and Ringo are against any further release of the film, because they believe it would hurt The Beatles’ brand. We’re not likely to see the film during their lifetimes.
This will be getting a theatrical rerelease later this year but it's not known whether a D.V.D. or Blu ray release will be available shortly thereafter.
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Posted: |
Jan 21, 2022 - 2:09 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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And there's "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" though I believe the reason might be the music rights, since Herschel Burke Gilbert based it on the ballet by Richard Rodgers (which was from Rodgers' and Lorenz Hart's Broadway musical "On Your Toes").
That's probably correct. Universal renewed its copyright on the film in 1985. The studio had acquired the rights to use Rodgers' composition in the film, but those rights have probably expired or certainly never contemplated the existence of home video. The film has been broadcast on TCM in the past, but has not had any physical media release, not even VHS.
An interesting development is that in 2009, the estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II sold the rights to the pair's songs and musicals to Imagem Music Group. The sale transferred power over one of America's most famous song catalogs and the licensing rights for future productions of the musicals, which had been controlled by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, a Manhattan-based company. As part of the deal, Imagem acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and retained its management.
But "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" was not Rodgers and Hammerstein, just Rodgers. So, in 2014, "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" was one of over a thousand Rodgers songs transferred to Imagem by the "Family Trust under the Last Will and Testament of Richard Rodgers, Linda Rodgers Emory and Mary Rodgers Guettell, trustees." In 2017, Imagem itself was purchased by Concord Music Publishing (now just Concord). So if Universal wants to re-license the song for a video release of the film, they know who to go to.
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In the crime drama SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE, a brave longshoreman (Mickey Shaughnessy) lingers on after being gunned down by three racketeers, as a determined assistant D.A., "William Keating" (Richard Egan), searches hard for fearful witnesses against the men. Julie Adams (as she had been billed since 1955) plays a model and Keating's fiancée, "Dee Pauly."
The opening credits begin with the following written statement: “The picture you are about to see is based on fact, but to insure the safety of people still alive, certain modifications have been made.” As depicted in the film, William J. Keating (b. 1915) was an assistant district attorney whose single-minded determination and courage led to the conviction of many racketeers on the New York City waterfront. Keating went into private practice soon after writing his autobiography, The Man Who Rocked the Boat, which Universal purchased in 1956. The following year, the studio licensed Richard Rodgers’ ballet score “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” which had been written for the 1936 Broadway play On Your Toes.
The 1957 film was directed by Arnold Laven. Richard Rodgers' ballet score was adapted for the film by Hershel Burke Gilbert, and the soundtrack was released on a Decca LP. It has not been re-issued on CD.
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Posted: |
Jan 22, 2022 - 12:15 PM
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By: |
filmusicnow
(Member)
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And there's "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" though I believe the reason might be the music rights, since Herschel Burke Gilbert based it on the ballet by Richard Rodgers (which was from Rodgers' and Lorenz Hart's Broadway musical "On Your Toes").
That's probably correct. Universal renewed its copyright on the film in 1985. The studio had acquired the rights to use Rodgers composition in the film, but those rights have probably expired or certainly never contemplated the existence of home video. The film has been broadcast on TCM in the past, but has not had any physical media release, not even VHS.
An interesting development is that in 2009, the estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II sold the rights to the pair's songs and musicals to Imagem Music Group. The sale transferred power over one of America's most famous song catalogs and the licensing rights for future productions of the musicals, which had been controlled by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, a Manhattan-based company. As part of the deal, Imagem acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and retained its management.
But "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" was not Rodgers and Hammerstein, just Rodgers. So, in 2014, "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" was one of over a thousand Rodgers songs transferred to Imagem by the "Family Trust under the Last Will and Testament of Richard Rodgers, Linda Rodgers Emory and Mary Rodgers Guettell, trustees." In 2017, Imagem itself was purchased by Concord Music Publishing (now just Concord). So if Universal wants to re-license the song for a video release of the film, they know who to go to.
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In the crime drama SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE, a brave longshoreman (Mickey Shaughnessy) lingers on after being gunned down by three racketeers, as a determined assistant D.A., "William Keating" (Richard Egan), searches hard for fearful witnesses against the men. Julie Adams (as she had been billed since 1955) plays a model and Keating's fiancée, "Dee Pauly."
The opening credits begin with the following written statement: “The picture you are about to see is based on fact, but to insure the safety of people still alive, certain modifications have been made.” As depicted in the film, William J. Keating (b. 1915) was an assistant district attorney whose single-minded determination and courage led to the conviction of many racketeers on the New York City waterfront. Keating went into private practice soon after writing his autobiography, The Man Who Rocked the Boat, which Universal purchased in 1956. The following year, the studio licensed Richard Rodgers’ ballet score “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” which had been written for the 1936 Broadway play On Your Toes.
The 1957 film was directed by Arnold Laven. Richard Rodgers' ballet score was adapted for the film by Hershel Burke Gilbert, and the soundtrack was released on a Decca LP. It has not been re-issued on CD.
There's another interesting story. Gilbert had been nominated for an Oscar for his adaptation for the film version of the musical "Carmen Jones", which was ironically, composed by Hammerstein! However, it was not by coincidence but was Gilbert's working relationship with Arnold Laven that got him the assignment, and it was his only music (aside from Gilbert and the other composers music' for Four Star Television which was conducted by Kurt Graunke and the Graunke Orchestra Of Munich) that was conducted by somebody else (in this case Universal's own Joseph Gershenson). When Decca reissued the L.P. in the early '70s, they wiped out the whistle that was heard in the scoring for the opening scene. Gilbert's estate owns the master tapes to the score, which Gilbert's son John took possession (along with the surviving tapes of his film and television music) after his father's death in 2003. I consider it to be the best interpretation of the ballet, and makes a good companion piece to Gilbert's earlier score to "Riot In Cell Block 11" because of its dark tone.
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Posted: |
Jan 23, 2022 - 1:28 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE COOL WORLD was a look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto life, in which “Duke” (Hampton Clanton), a black teenager and member of the Royal Pythons gang, lives in Harlem with his mother (Gloria Foster) and grandmother (Georgia Burke). Following the departure of their friend Littleman's father (Jay Brooks), the Pythons appropriate the apartment, installing “Luanne” (Yolanda Rodriguez) as resident prostitute. Despite the fact that Luanne is the girlfriend of Python president “Blood” (Clarence Williams III), she and Duke fall in love.
The film is based on the novel The Cool World by Warren Miller (Boston, 1959) and the play "The Cool World" by Robert Rossen (New York, 22 Feb 1960). White independent filmmaker Shirley Clarke directed the film, which engendered some debate as to whether African Americans were better qualified to make films about their people. The film was the first cinematic venture for attorney-producer Frederick Wiseman. His own Wiseman Film Productions released the picture on 20 April 1964 at Cinema II in New York City, five days after it opened in Paris. The film’s score was by Mal Waldron, who performed it along with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef, Aaron Bell, and Arthur Taylor. The score was released on a Philips LP, which was re-issued on CD by Verve in 1996.
The film cost $250,000 to produce. On 26 October 1965, Daily Variety reported that the three “racial-themed” independent films of 1964, THE COOL WORLD; ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO; and NOTHING BUT A MAN, had proven to be commercially successful.
THE COOL WORLD was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1994. Yet, the film remains unreleased on any physical media. The film was not registered for copyright until 1984, by The Cool World Company. But the registration specifically excludes copyright on the "novel, screenplay, [and] musical score." All that is likely what is precluding a video release.
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