The OOP Heads-Up Thread

[domino harvey]

It's part of a five disc Warners box called Motion Picture Masterpieces, the entire contents of which just went OOP, that might be worth picking up if other titles sound interesting

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Another big chunk of WB titles (scroll down)

The OOP MST3K titles on that list will resurface on some future Shout Factory! set, correct?

[knives]

Yeah, all of that Rhino stuff has been slipping over to Shout for a few years now.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Thanks, knives. I thought that Rhino still had the rights to a few and Shout Factory! couldn't get them for awhile or ever.

[Gregory]

For anyone interested in the limited edition DVD of Paradise Now: The Living Theatre in Amerika, now might be the best time to get it. It's on sale at the Arthur Magazine store, and Arthur just ceased publication, so who knows how much longer the store will be open -- possibly just until business slows down enough, and the remaining copies could always dry up fairly soon, too (very few other retailers seem to carry it anymore). I finally ordered it after much procrastination. In addition to the documentary, it comes with lots of extra stuff sure to be amazing.

[swo17]

Be real careful picking up those Warner titles via marketplace-- a lot of them are cutout regulars

A suggestion that's been working for me: Obviously, check the product descriptions closely for any mention of a cut through the barcode. But if nothing is mentioned, contact the seller and just quickly ask them to confirm that the copy they're selling doesn't have any remainder marks or cuts over the barcode.

This seems to be a problem I've mostly been encountering with Warner DVDs. Has anyone else run into this with DVDs produced by other studios/companies?

[Dirk]

I'll occasionally see non-Warner DVDs with remainder marks (mostly due to checking Marketplace product descriptions like you suggest), but most of the time, the problem is with Warner DVDs.

[domino harvey]

This is a very specialized heads-up, but if anyone is looking for the newly OOP the Champ, you should know that this is one of the most widely-available barcode disasters around, but I can confirm that DD is selling unmarked copies for less than five dollars new right now-- just got my copy (it cost me a dollar more then, but still, great deal for an unblemished edition)

[knives]

Which The Champ is it? Warner owns at least two films by that title/

[domino harvey]

The Beery one from '31

[Peacock]

And I recommend that if you don't already own Vidor's The Champ, then you SHOULD get it now, as it's a great film and way ahead of its time, like other Vidor.

[Murdoch]

The Classic Comedies Collection which has the OOP Dinner at Eight, Libeled Lady, Stage Door and Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be is now also OOP. While the two Harlow films are available via a TCM rerelease, Stage Door and To Be or Not to Be aren't and are running expensive, especially the Lubitsch. If you don't own the films it's best to get this before the price goes up to the hundreds.

[swo17]

To Be or Not to Be should be forthcoming from Criterion. Don't pass up Stage Door though while you can get it.

[zedz]

Stage Door is brilliant. Get it now or never. Libelled Lady is also great, so go for the set, even if Dinner at Eight is a bit of a chore.

[Hopscotch]

I'd just get the Stage Door single release and the Jean Harlow collection. It's approx %50 less if you're willing to wait for the Lubitsch.

[Murdoch]

It's a good value if you can find it for around $50, like I did, but there's no way I'd pay $80+

[MichaelB]

I've just been informed that many of the BFI's Blu-ray only releases (as far as I'm aware, everything apart from last summer's back-catalogue reissues: The Edge of the World, The Innocents, A Zed and Two Noughts) are going OOP and will be replaced by Dual Format editions.

In most cases, you'd be better off waiting for those, but there are a handful that might be worth snapping up now, for instance:

Comrades: the present two-BD set will be replaced by a three-disc set with one BD and two DVDs. In other words, all the extras on disc two are effectively being downgraded to SD.

Herostratus: the present two-BD set will be replaced by a two-disc set with one BD and one DVD. However, the BD is being re-authored to combine the extras with the full-frame 1.33:1 version of the film. In other words, the reframed 16:9 version is going OOP. (This isn't much of a loss: although Don Levy apparently favoured widescreen projection, it proved immensely difficult to frame it convincingly when creating the widescreen BD, and it's clear that many of the shots were originally conceived with 1.33:1 in mind).

Saló/Nighthawks - no change to the disc contents (in both cases, disc two was only a DVD to begin with), but the booklets will be slimmed down in order to fit into the Dual Format boxes.

GAZWRX: The Films of Jeff Keen - the logistics are still being worked out, but it's a cast-iron certainty that the Dual Format version will cost considerably more than the current Amazon offer! (£8.99 at the time of linking)

As far as I'm aware, all the other single-disc BD releases will be identical in the Dual Format reissues, apart from the addition of a DVD.

[John Edmond]

Thanks, I just ordered Nighthawks - hopefully Amazon can come through with it. It's a pity about Comrades extra's being downgraded to SD, Lanterna Magicka deserves HD.

[MichaelB]

Thanks, I just ordered Nighthawks - hopefully Amazon can come through with it. It's a pity about Comrades extra's being downgraded to SD, Lanterna Magicka deserves HD.

Well, it's still available in HD until stocks run out...

[John Edmond]

Amazon just gave a 1-3 week wait for it that's all. I'm not that worried.

[windowside]

I understand how the British Film Institute likes to have their releases widely available to the public, but these dual formats in general do not appeal me. i long shifted to BR and these releases feel so much like a compromise and sort of dated and thus far i have been very selective with the ones i've picked up, often waiting for a BR only with more eye for an ultimate edition.

[max_cherry]

Also OOP on amazon.co.uk are Pasolini' trilogy, and The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, and Shadows of Progress: Documentary films in post-war Britain 1951-1977... Damn!

Is BFI going to release Shadows of Progress in dual format also?

[MichaelB]

Is BFI going to release Shadows of Progress in dual format also?

Not as far as I'm aware - I suspect Amazon simply ran out of stock after running it at such an amazing price recently.

In general, the BFI has been pretty cautious about HD releases of documentary films - I imagine they don't think there's much overlap between Blu-ray owners and their main target market (which is often far removed from the kind of people who congregate here - for instance, British Transport Films compilations are amongst the BFI's biggest bestsellers in sales terms yet hardly mentioned on film forums).

That said, the recent Dual Format John Krish release was a toe in the water.

[max_cherry]

I suspect Amazon simply ran out of stock after running it at such an amazing price recently.

OK, let's hope Amazon'll replenish their stock with this box-set in near future, leaving this truly amazing price unchanged...

[Cash Flagg]

Also OOP on amazon.co.uk are Pasolini' trilogy, and The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, and Shadows of Progress: Documentary films in post-war Britain 1951-1977... Damn!

I just received cancellation notices for both Runner and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.