Interesting. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some of those on commercial VHS years ago, so it seems like clearances aren’t the only reason those are being held up. Maybe they made so little moolah on VHS that the owners don’t think it’s worthwhile to release on DVD?
RE: Smothers Brothers
And at least some parts of the Smothers Brothers’ shows are available on Smothered.
That would probably be the case with Hamburger: the Movie. I’ve seen this turkey, and while it is mildly amusing in a cheesy Porky’s 2 kinda way, there’s no way this could make back any kind of money in distribution. I doubt it would even be worth putting up for free download somewhere on the Internet; I’d find it hard to justify the server space.
OTOH, I seem to recall that The Illustrated Man, based on the Ray Bradbury short story collection, was commercially available on VHS for some time (I know it was, having spotted the box in a video store about 15 years ago), but is impossible to find on a commercially available DVD.
I doubt you can find Warriors of the Wind on DVD, either, but since I have the Disney release of Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind on DVD (and an ancient copy of Warriors on VHS), that really doesn’t matter. New World pictures probably no longer has the rights to distribute their cut of the film, and deserve to be chastised for delaying the arrival of all the other Studio Ghibli films by butchering one of Miyazaki’s best - even if I must forgive them for allowing me to see Warriors so long ago.
… but Patrick Stewart makes a better Lord Yupa anyway.
Most of the DVDs I’ve been waiting for have already been mentioned (the Branaugh Hamlet was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread), but there are a few others I’m keeping an eye out for:
The Heiress. Olivia deHavilland won an Oscar for her performance here.
My Cousin Rachel. Another Olivia deHavilland movie, “Introducing” Richard Burton.
The Univited. A classic 1940s ghost story starring Ray Milland.
If you can get R0 DVDs of **Hard-Boiled ** and **The Killer ** from Hong Kong for about $5 each, does that make them “unavailable” in the U.S.? And no, I’m not talking about bootlegs.
There are many options for all-region capable players out there, from $60 versions at Wal-Mart or Best Buy, to more expensive models. Most with a simple remote-code hack.
Using search engines, I find copies of Robinson Crusoe on Mars on Ebay, but they don’t look right. The studio claims it hasn’t been released. I suspect these of being boootleg.
Not that this one matters to anyone except me, but I really want the move **Monster Squad ** to come out on DVD. It was my favorite movie when I was a kid.