The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance & El Dorado

[MissGoddess]

This is makes me so happy:

http://www.classicflix.com/shot-liberty ... -8224.html

Paramount is re-releasing The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
finally WITH EXTRAS including a commentary by Peter Bogdanovich that
incorporates some of his interviews with the director, John Ford. Needless
to say, I've already pre-ordered mine!!

They are also doing the same for Howard Hawks' El Dorado, also
with commentary by Peter B!

http://www.classicflix.com/el-dorado-p-4857.html

[srowley75]

Not to throw cold water on your joy, but apart from several Criterion releases (of all the labels so far this year, theirs seems to have been the strongest offering) and the two pre-code box sets, this is looking to a be a pretty pitiful year for new classic film releases to DVD.

The recession must've kept the major studios from transferring their backlog to digital, because Paramount, Sony (Columbia), and Time-Warner especially seem knee-deep in repackaged/rereleased sets. I shudder to think how many repackagings Casablanca, Gigi, and The Philadelphia Story we've endured, and no doubt Gone With the Wind will see yet another super-deluxe-bells-and-whistles-restored edition since it's celebrating its 70th year.

[MissGoddess]

This classic movie DVD release "score card" ClassicFlix put up bears
out your feelings, at least for the first quarter of 2009:

http://www.classicflix.com/release-scor ... a-418.html

I always expect every year to be slow on new-to-DVD releases of
classics, but never more so than now we are in a depressed economy.
One release in the first quarter for FOX? Very sad. But prior to that,
they put out a very big set for Murnau/Borzage so I can understand.

Normally I get mad at the constant re-packaging of classics,
but these two actually have interesting enough added commentaries,
by one of the few people I can stand to listen to. Why they didn't do this
the first go-round, I don't know. Peter Bogdanovich couldn't have been
that busy. Paramount is among the worst about these things.

I hope prospects will pick up by the end of the year---and not just
for DVD releasing.

As for Casablanca, I still don't own it on DVD. TCM airs it so
frequently I don't feel compelled to get it!

[MissGoddess]

Here is an excellent review of the upcoming 2 disc set of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=70624