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Posted: |
Jan 10, 2025 - 9:37 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Fortunately, StudioCanal restored the film for a Blu-ray UK release in 2019 on their Vintage Classics label which is a vast improvement on the previous release and looks as good as those first theatrical screenings. Surprisingly there doesn’t seem to be a North American release.
There was never any North American DVD release either. There is a French all-region Blu-ray, which includes English-language tracks, but it is twice the cost of the Region B StudioCanal disc.
The film was originally copyrighted in the U.S. by production company E.M.I. (now part of StudioCanal). When the copyright was renewed in 1999, U.S. copyright on the film passed to distributor Columbia Pictures. However, the film was based on the 1953 novel The Go-Between by Leslie Poles Hartley. Hartley died in late 1972, about a year after the film was released. It appears that copyright on the novel then passed to Annie Norah Hartley. Whether she was a wife or daughter, I do not know. Apparently, at some point Annie Hartley granted rights to the novel to StudioCanal, because upon Annie's death (date unknown), there is a copyright record in which her estate terminates that grant to StudioCanal, as of September 2014.
So, it would appear as if StudioCanal no longer controls the underlying story rights to the film. So how did they release their 2019 Blu-ray? Well, there is a provision in the copyright law that states "A derivative work prepared under authority of the grant before its termination may continue to be utilized under the terms of the grant after its termination." StudioCanal's first Blu-ray and DVD were issued in 2013, so they would seem to have rights to issue such discs in perpetuity.
As for Columbia Pictures in the U.S., there are no copyright records indicating that they were either granted or terminated story rights to the film. So, although they acquired U.S. copyright to the film in 1999, it would seem that they have no ability to do anything other than distribute it as a film. They would need the story rights to prepare a derivative (i.e., video) work. That may be why we have not seen any U.S. discs, just a VHS tape, released in 1996. Currently, story rights seem to reside with the estate of Annie Hartley, after being re-claimed from StudioCanal.
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Posted: |
Jan 11, 2025 - 5:21 AM
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By: |
doug raynes
(Member)
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Fortunately, StudioCanal restored the film for a Blu-ray UK release in 2019 on their Vintage Classics label which is a vast improvement on the previous release and looks as good as those first theatrical screenings. Surprisingly there doesn’t seem to be a North American release.
There was never any North American DVD release either. There is a French all-region Blu-ray, which includes English-language tracks, but it is twice the cost of the Region B StudioCanal disc.
The film was originally copyrighted in the U.S. by production company E.M.I. (now part of StudioCanal). When the copyright was renewed in 1999, U.S. copyright on the film passed to distributor Columbia Pictures. However, the film was based on the 1953 novel The Go-Between by Leslie Poles Hartley. Hartley died in late 1972, about a year after the film was released. It appears that copyright on the novel then passed to Annie Norah Hartley. Whether she was a wife or daughter, I do not know. Apparently, at some point Annie Hartley granted rights to the novel to StudioCanal, because upon Annie's death (date unknown), there is a copyright record in which her estate terminates that grant to StudioCanal, as of September 2014.
So, it would appear as if StudioCanal no longer controls the underlying story rights to the film. So how did they release their 2019 Blu-ray? Well, there is a provision in the copyright law that states "A derivative work prepared under authority of the grant before its termination may continue to be utilized under the terms of the grant after its termination." StudioCanal's first Blu-ray and DVD were issued in 2013, so they would seem to have rights to issue such discs in perpetuity.
As for Columbia Pictures in the U.S., there are no copyright records indicating that they were either granted or terminated story rights to the film. So, although they acquired U.S. copyright to the film in 1999, it would seem that they have no ability to do anything other than distribute it as a film. They would need the story rights to prepare a derivative (i.e., video) work. That may be why we have not seen any U.S. discs, just a VHS tape, released before 1999. Currently, story rights seem to reside with the estate of Annie Hartley, after being re-claimed from StudioCanal.
Thanks Bob, that's interesting. I used to think that book rights automatically passed from a film to home video format but I only recently realised that it's not necessarily the case, especially for films made before home video was introduced. Copyright is such a complicated area with so many variables.
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Posted: |
Jan 11, 2025 - 12:50 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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[Thanks Bob, that's interesting. I used to think that book rights automatically passed from a film to home video format but I only recently realised that it's not necessarily the case, especially for films made before home video was introduced. Copyright is such a complicated area with so many variables.
My understanding is that, in the U.S., the story rights stay with the film through its original copyright period and can be used to create derivative works. In the case of films of THE GO-BETWEEN's age, that was 28 years. Also, it seems that usually the original copyright is often with the production company, but then switches to the distributing company after the original period. So, we see in the case of THE GO-BETWEEEN, that 28 years after its original 1971 copyright by E.M.I. in the U.S., the 1999 copyright renewal went to distributor Columbia--but without the underlying story rights that would allow them to create derivative works.
All of these terms and conditions (time period, use for derivative works, reversion of rights, etc.) can be different in any particular contract between the author of the story and the film company that acquires the rights. Current contracts are certainly different than they were in the pre-video era. But what I outlined seems to happen with some frequency with pre-video era films.
Music rights, it seems, particularly for songs, often follow the same rules. That's why you occasionally have cases where a VHS tape that had all the original songs was released within the first 28-year period , but problems arise for later disc releases beyond that period.
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