Thursday, October 29, 2009

TCM Introduces Universal On Demand

J.C. Loophole of the Shelf passed on the interesting news that TCM has started a program where they will be providing Universal movies on DVD on demand.

The movies available will include Paramount titles under Universal's control, with one of the first titles on sale being Paramount's terrific Christmas film REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940), starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. REMEMBER THE NIGHT will be available starting November 22.

The program is similar to the Warner Archive program in that the discs are burned on demand, but it steps up the quality in that the titles are remastered and have extras.

REMEMBER THE NIGHT, for example, will have "an introduction by Robert Osborne; still galleries, including behind-the-scenes photos; never-before-seen interview segments on the work of director Mitchell Leisen from the TCM Archives; and the original movie trailer, trivia, biographies and more."

J.C. also shares this info: "Future Universal collections and titles for rollout on DVD and TCM include vintage films from Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, Deanna Durbin, director Douglas Sirk and many more."

This is great news for those of us who have been longing to see early Paramount titles such as THE GILDED LILY, with Colbert, MacMurray, and Ray Milland. Maybe Colbert's other films with Milland, like ARISE, MY LOVE and SKYLARK, will turn up too. I would be delighted if this comes to pass.

I wonder if the Durbin movie I recently watched on a Region 2 DVD will be part of the new program? Regardless, more Deanna Durbin available on DVD is a marvelous thing, especially if new audiences will see more of her work by having the movies aired on TCM in conjunction with their DVD releases.

Click the title of this post for more info from J.C. on forthcoming titles.

Maybe more great movies like Paramount's THE UNINVITED (1944) will finally make it to DVD...with extras, no less. (Wouldn't that be a great release for next October?) The possibilities are rather amazing.

Overall this new program seems like a very exciting development. I'll be extremely interested to learn more.

4 Comments:

Blogger J.C. Loophole said...

Thanks for the plug Laura! I knew you would be excited to hear about Remember the Night- others I am hearing from are eager to get their hands on that one too.
Wow- I still haven't seen The Uninvited since you last reviewed it. I wonder if TCM will take suggestions for this program. If I get my hands on any of the films released soon, I'll let you know how it looks. I am hoping Fox will follow suit.

6:41 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Hi J.C.! I suspect there are a lot of people who would like to see or own THE UNINVITED -- I think it would be a popular choice.

So many titles come to mind just with the stars mentioned in the post -- for instance I have long wanted to see JUNGLE PRINCESS with Ray Milland and Dorothy Lamour. :)

A Paramount movie I saw in a revival theater as a teenager, which I've never forgotten, is HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME with Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott. Dunne singing Kern & Hammerstein's "The Folks Who Live on the Hill" is one of those magical movie moments which has stayed with me ever since. I would dearly love to see it again, and owning it would be even better.

Fingers crossed on Fox movies! No. 1 on my Fox wish list: CENTENNIAL SUMMER, the Kern musical starring Jeanne Crain and Linda Darnell. I was really hoping it would be released as a Marquee Musical (along with MARGIE) but I guess that series is dead.

Best wishes,
Laura

7:16 PM  
Blogger Old corpsman said...

Still hoping for a DVD release of "Sally and Saint Anne" (1952).

4:55 PM  
Blogger Old corpsman said...

I found a DVD release and ordered it from Underground Classic Film Vault. I can't speak to the quality of the DVD until I see it.

6:00 AM  

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