I was annoyed to discover that Phantasms II, one of my favorite horror movies, is not available on DVD seemingly anywhere! Is there a site that I could go to check on other movies, just to cross them off the list?
Hundreds, more likely thousands. I have a personal list of over 400 movies that I’m seeking, um, questionable copies of, because I don’t think they’ll every be available, um, unquestionably. I record around 25 movies a month off of TCM that otherwise unobtainable.
When TCM recently ran all the Best Picture winners for the Oscars, the article I read mentioned that many of them were unavailable, particularly the earlier films.
IMDB is a good starting spot - they list countries a film has been released in, plus video formats. Look down near the bottom left corner in the Other Info section.
As for Phantasm II, it is on DVD at Amazon, but there’s a snag - it’s a Region 2 disc that won’t play on an American player, so you’d need a multi-region player.
Thanks for the info. What really annoys me is that the first one and the sequel is available, but not that one. Dammit!
I’ve been waiting patiently for a long time for this David Gilmour concert and this Traffic concert to come out on DVD. Surely someone else would buy them, too.
If you want a list of unreleased DVDs, I found this one and this one both from 1999 so they are obviously a bit out of date.
The Keep.
You know what movie I’ve been dying to get my hands on in DVD? Rockula. My cousin has a bootleg VHS and eventually it’s going to die, plus I’m two thousand miles away from her anyway. This is one of the most brilliant pieces of film-making the world has ever seen, too. Sigh.
It’s out of print & I don’t think has ever been released on US DVD- the John Hurt - Richard Burton version of Orwell’s 1984.
Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet still isn’t on DVD.
Serial (1980)
The Fox (1967)
O Lucky Man! (1973)
are three that I’m looking for.
**The Rocking Horse Winner, ** circa 1949.
Some that I have waited for
Arnold
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Duckman (we can include TV series, right?)
Drawn Together (only the first season was released)
L’Ete meurtrier (this is on DVD but not Region 1)
A New Leaf
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
Lonely Are the Brave
The Man in the Iron Mask (the 1977 version not the 1998 one)
Simon
Strip Search (an HBO movie that was never released on video or DVD)
Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies
El Topo (although this is finally scheduled for release in May)
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?
I was going to have Massacre at Central High on my list, but Amazon lists a DVD copy as being available. However it looks like an import.
I’ve checked everywhere, including with the extensive-inventory movie-supply companies that Ebert swore by in one of his books, and have been unable to find Robinson Crusoe on Mars either on DVD or VHS. Woe is me.
Check eBay. I found a beautiful DVD of this film there a while back. I also found the Beatles’ second film Help!, otherwise unavailable on DVD, there.
Also, and I know this may be common knowledge among film buffs, but there are a lot of companies out there selling DVDs of films that have never been released officially on DVD or have gone out of print. I recently scored **Kiss of the Spider Woman, Lili ** and Cannery Row from a “Mom & Pop” distributor.
Sometimes these versions are less than perfect but the sellers are usually up-front about the quality level. Since it’s a this-or-nothing situation, if you really, really just have to see a movie that is only available in an imperfect form, with a little searching you may be able to find what you are looking for.
Oh, and if you don’t own an all-region DVD player you may be able to “fix” your Region 1 DVD player to make it an all-region player with just a few pushes of buttons on the remote. You should search for these “secret” methods for your particular player. This will open up the possibilities of the discs you can use.
Hehe, my brother was complaining earlier tonight that “Moving” starring Richard Pryor was not out on DVD, how apt. Randy Quaid was awesome in that flick.
It’s been released as I have a copy of it (even posted a thread about it, too).
Whomever did the film to video transfer didn’t know what they were doing, however, as they oversaturated the colors (correcting for what they thought was a faded print).
Do rare and overpriced DVDs count? I’d like to have Salome’s Last Dance, but the only copies I could find retail for $100.00! For that price, it’d better come with Salome!