Giorgio Moroder’s version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
A lot of purists don’t like Moroder’s version because, despite Moroder’s claims, the film isn’t a restoration of Lang’s original vision. Among other things, Moroder edited the film in such a way as to change the story line substantially, and some people considered that unforgiveable. But I think Moroder took Lang’s film and made it his own, and the contemporary (well, for the 80’s) rock score does much to make the film accessible to a contemporary audience. I understand the main problem with a DVD edition is the copyright situation for the music on the soundtrack.
Lonesome – I agree with you. I have Moroder’s [B[Metropolis** on VHS. But IIRC, he didn’t change the story – he used existing stills, previously “lost” footage, and titles along with the script and novel to restore the film to the original story. My beef is that he actually cut somde material out (even with the added material, his version clocks in atr 89 minutes, the same as my old non-updated version, and I’;ve gone through scene by scene to see why. I can see where the cuts are). Moroder also used the best negative available, which is much better than the version that used to be available in the US. The first time I saw the opening title animation, it blew me away.
Of course, most people hated the music, and here in Boston they’d show this version with the sound off, and a live orchestra or something with a different score. I love the music. I’m disappointed that the Soundtrack album doesn’t actually uswe the version on the soundtrack.
I have the recent restored version, which is even better quality than Moroder’s and restorers even more of the film, and uses a new recording of the original score, to boot. But sometimes I miss the music from the Moroder version.
Movies: letterboxed versions of some of the Muppet movies. A couple of them have only been released in 1.33:1 versions. And I refuse to buy the chopped versions!
TV: some have been mentioned already, but my most wanted is The Sifl & Olly Show.
Dignan: Animaniacs runs daily, if not even more frequently, on “Nick Toons”, the network for defunct Nickelodeon cartoons. You can also get your “Rocko’s Modern Life” and “Invader ZIM” fix there.
adam yax I take it you’ve tried googling your model +region unlock code. Most models can be set to region free by hitting keys on your remote in the correct order.
I always make sure the guy in the shop unlocks mine before I buy them. No unlock, no sale.
The Sifl & Olly Show does have a DVD out of the unaired 3rd season episodes. I believe it also includes the early MTV Europe bumpers. You can order it from their website.
My number 1: MONSTER SQUAD. Imagine the Goonies fighting the classic movie monsters. It is great. It also released the phrase “Wolfman’s got nards!” into geek culture.
The Awakening Land- I think this is officially my 1,000th mention of the miniseries on this board- it was just all that and a bag of bagel chips. It was never released in video in any form, but still appears on cable once in a while, so the master is still available somewhere.
Heh. I’m sure this one will be out before too long - it fits the profile of the movies that have gotten fancy DVD releases lately. Incidentally - Hepburn/Bogart.
:smack: (It’s a little known fact that Bogart’s friends called him Tracy… so little known that Bogart himself didn’t know it.)
I would like to see the British Carry On movies released. I’ve never seen them but I’ve read about them many times and would like to watch them for myself.
Now that the musicals have pretty much run their course, I would love to see DVD releases of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Ragtime (preferably with Brian Stokes Mitchell & Marin Mazzie) and several others released onto DVD. (Les Mis has the concert DVD, but I’d like to see the musical itself; I’ve read that Tupac Shakur had a bootleg of it on VHS that he watched on a loop.)