# Schindler's List currently unavailable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454 "2003-06-08T13:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/1 "2003-06-08T13:55:19Z")
So we were wandering around the mall yesterday when Ivylad decided to pop into the DVD/music/video store. I decided that I was finally going to buy _Schindler’s List_. It’s not a movie you pop in because you’re bored on a rainy Saturday, but a movie I think one has to watch every once in while, to remember. It’s an _important_ movie, you could say. But, it’s not being sold right now! The clerk said he thinks Spielberg pulled it, because it wasn’t in stock and it wasn’t going to be shipped any time soon. I guess my next step is to see if I can find a used version, but I turn to you, my fellow Dopers, to see if anyone has any insight on why _Schindler’s List_ is not available right now. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/2 "2003-06-08T14:05:28Z")
I dunno, but you can get it through Amazon just fine… ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/3 "2003-06-08T14:06:55Z")
Thanks, **Dan** …I’ll try that. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/4 "2003-06-08T14:12:35Z")
Actually [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) says Schindler’s List is “Not Yet Released” on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/5 "2003-06-08T16:16:30Z")
This probably has less to do with conspiracy and more to do with demand. Movies (VHS & DVD) like books and CDs eventually go out of print. Imagine how big DVD warehouses would have to be if they kept stock on every movie and CD ever made. It simply couldn’t be done. Eventaully, these go out of print. Sometimes, these kind of titles (more popular movies, award winners, etc.) will be taken out of print on purpose to starve the market. Say a movie does reasonably well on catalogue sales. Nothing to write home about, but turns over a few thousand copies a year. There’s some interest, but not lots. A studio may put the title out of print, hold off for a determined period of time, and bring it back. It’s very much designed to force the consumer to purchase in haste (“but it may go away again if I don’t buy it now!”). Lastly, as I suspect is the case with SL, titles will be taken out of circulation to clear the market before a nice, big, fancy “Special Edition” release. This usually centres around an aniversary (See “Jaws: 20th Anniversary”), a newly made sequel (See “Star Wars Special Edition”) or renewed interest in the theme (See “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind” re-issued at the height of “The X Files” popularity). ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/6 "2003-06-08T16:52:23Z")
Wait - did you want it in VHS or in DVD? I only clicked on the VHS link on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/7 "2003-06-08T19:45:54Z")
My understanding is that Spielberg is planning to load the DVD with extras (including documentaries and commentaries with the book’s author [Kenneally- sp?] and some of the surviving people who are characters in the movie) before releasing it as a multidisk DVD set. (The real Emilie Schindler died last year [she was 94] and was the subject of a documentary being filmed at the time of her death, though I’m not sure if this was for the SL DVD.) No date has been set yet; since more than most of his films it was a labor of love for Spielberg, he evidently really really really wants to make the DVD set something incredible (i.e. no Jar Jar Binks). Meanwhile, it is available on VHS. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/8 "2003-06-08T19:48:07Z")
Other high-demand movies not available on DVD, incidentally: AFRICAN QUEEN the original STAR WARS trilogy KING KONG ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/9 "2003-06-08T21:33:32Z")
Sampiro, there are tons of older classics not yet available on DVD - Star Wars, of course, is a special case - that will eventually be released. Of course, just about any crappy film made in 2002 is out on DVD, even the direct-to-video ones. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/10 "2003-06-08T22:01:03Z")
So what is our operating theory here? Out of print or never released? I thought I had also read it had never been released. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/11 "2003-06-08T22:41:23Z")
“Schindler’s List” was never actually released on DVD. I think it would be cool if they released it for a 10th anniversary (would that make it early next year?) type thing. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/12 "2003-06-09T01:56:48Z")
It came out in December of 1993. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/13 "2003-06-09T11:56:13Z")
It’s amazing the stuff that’s not on DVD yet. Sometimes it’s because the producers just want to release it with a zillion goodies at a jacked-up price as an “anniversary,” and other times it’s because they just don’t feel there’s a large-enough audience to warrant an actual release, especially for the older ones. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/14 "2003-06-09T12:02:37Z")
Come on, the REAL reason is that nobody has enough black and white blank DVD stock. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schindlers-list-currently-unavailable/180454/15 "2003-06-09T12:02:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > **…since more than most of his films it was a labor of love for Spielberg, he evidently really really really wants to make the DVD set something incredible (i.e. no Jar Jar Binks).** Well, Christ, that’s good. Can’t think of something more inappropriate. “Issa people gonna _die?_” Okay, going to hell now…