Have any of you seen these 'lost' films?

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"Here's some movies that seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. As far as I know, they aren't currently available in any video format (VHS, Beta, laser, 3/4" tape) NTSC, Secam or Pal, not even bootleg."

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 15 September 2003 02:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Discovering that there were films called Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Work is a Four Letter Word actually doesn't surprise me now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 September 2003 02:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Altman's "Three Women" isn't on video. I taped it off Bravo about 15 years ago, but lost it maybe 5 years ago. I watched it a dozen times, luckily. Sissy Spacek is good in it, but damn is Shelley Duvall amazing in it. I mean, she's always been a great character actress, but she's got the starring role here, and she's brilliant. What makes it even better is, as is often the case in Altman's films, the script was mostly improvised. Why isn't this on video?

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 15 September 2003 02:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Have we done a why-wasn't-X-ever-released-on-video thread?

If not, then this thread should be it.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 15 September 2003 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

One classic example of an almost completely supressed film would be Otto Preminger's Porgy & Bess. Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Pearl Bailey (plus Maya Angelou and Nichelle Nichols!), but you'll never see it -- unless you get it in bootleg form -- because the Gershwin estate doesn't like it much.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 15 September 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

"porgy & bess" was given about two or three screenings in the past few years, but is not otherwise avaiable on video or for film rental.

it's the gershwin *and* de bose heyward estates that object, supposedly because preminger did away with most of the recitative and made into more of a regular movie with musical numbers. i am so mad that this film isn't available, because (a) i adore "porgy & bess" and (b) "carmen jones" (directed by preminger, starring dandridge) is one of my favorite films.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:03 (twenty-two years ago)

re. that list:

"you gotta walk it..." has a soundtrack by pre-steely dan becker & fagen which has been bootlegged.

my mother saw kramer's "ice" back when it first came out.

re. "other side of the wind," only a few scenes were shot, so the film doesn't even exist, let alone have video availability.

"puzzle of a downfall child" played in chicago some time in the past decade, IIRC.

i know a few people who have the full "out one" on video. a short version was commercially available in france a while ago.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned, the song "Work is a Four Letter Word" came from the movie; Cilla Black was in the movie and sang the song.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Clarity!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

they made a movie out of maldoror?!!!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

every year or so turner classics will do a month devoted to movies unavailable (I think never released also, though I might be wrong about that) on video, it's how I saw The Big Knife (which may be on video now)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

good lord, send me to the alternate universe that has Jodorowsky's Dune!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

YOU'VE GOT TO WALK IT LIKE YOU TALK IT OR YOU'LL LOSE THAT BEAT (Peter Locke) 1971 Zalman King stars as a hippie running around Central Park searching for the Meaning of Life in this counterculture comedy that looks similar to co-star Robert Downey Sr's irreverent NYC satires. Also featuring Richard Pryor and Allen Garfield.

Zalman King!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:43 (twenty-two years ago)

By the way I kept hearing something about Peter Bogdanovich "presenting" some sort of cut of The Other Side of the Wind a little while ago. Anyone have any idea what's going on with that?

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to see Robert Frank's Cocksucker Blues if he ever screens it again.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I've seen bootleg dvd's of that and Ladies and Gentlemen the Rolling Stones around

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:23 (twenty-two years ago)

these are all from the 70s! i though this thread would be about Greed and such

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:39 (twenty-two years ago)

supposedly jerry lewis owns the only print of "the day the clown cried" and has screened it for some people, including harry shearer. here's what he had to say about it:

"You are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. 'Oh my God!' -- that's all you can say."

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 15 September 2003 05:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw Taking Off a few years back. There was a video release way back in the day, but it's been out of print forever, and there's only a couple of complete prints left. Sad, because it's Milos Forman's first American film - a breezy but delightful romp through the clash of generations c. 1970. It's also the film debut of Kathy Bates (as Bobo Bates), Carly Simon, and Vincent Schiavelli (the latter in a most memorable role, teaching parents of those unruly kids the ins and outs of how not to bogart a joint).

― Joshua Houk (chascarrillo), Monday, 15 September 2003 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to see Robert Frank's Cocksucker Blues if he ever screens it again.
Some guy I know says it's for rent in an Atlanta video-shop with the note: This can only be viewed if the director is present.

― nathalie (nathalie), Monday, 15 September 2003 06:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm still looking for the raggedy ann animated movie with didi conn. or hugo the hippo with paul lynde. ah, the era when disturbing psychedelic 'children's' fare fucked us up for life.

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Monday, 15 September 2003 06:41 (twenty-two years ago)

My local video place that does loads of old classic movies has never managed to get hold of Double Indemnity. Pretty much every other classic movie from that era/genre you can imagine, but not that.

― Alan (Alan), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i still haven't been able to track down the david essex/keith moon "stardust" (sequel to "that'll be the day"), which i've been on a quest for for like three years. anyone seen this?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

these are all from the 70s! i though this thread would be about Greed and such

It can be if we want it to be!

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Justyn: I saw "Stardust" on the TV a few months ago. I didn't video it or anythin obv,., but it comes around from time to time.

I'm not going to tell you whether it's any good or not because I have no opinion on films, except art films, and I only have two opinions on them.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 15 September 2003 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I still haven't been able to track down the david essex/keith moon "stardust" (sequel to "that'll be the day"), which i've been on a quest for for like three years. anyone seen this?

Time for you to get a region-free DVD player.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 15 September 2003 10:22 (twenty-two years ago)

No, but how cool is this?

http://www.pimpadelicwonderland.com/superdude.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 15 September 2003 12:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to see Robert Frank's Cocksucker Blues if he ever screens it again.

I saw a blatantly pirated video of this at the Kim's on St. Mark's Place a few years ago. Has Frank stopped presenting screenings of this?

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 15 September 2003 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The Other Side of the Wind is finished, apart from final editing. It's been tied up in legal knots for years, some of which are due to Beatrice Welles' attempts to claim ownership on everything OW came within spitting distance of.

More info & discussion here.

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Monday, 15 September 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, thanks Christine.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 15 September 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been looking for a copy of Emperor Tomato Ketchup for awhile now actually. And I must add Black the Ripper and Bruce Lee Vs. Black Power to that list. Thanks a lot Daddino.

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd love to find a copy of Ace in the Hole, aka The Big Carnival. My university had a copy, I'd love to see it again. Anyone record it off the telly? I think it's Billy Wilder's best film...

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I wanna see that!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Welles also completed a full-length movie version of the Charles Williams novel that subsequently served as the basis for 'Dead Calm' w/ Nicole Kidman. Again, the Welles flick has never been released due to copyright/estate hassles.

'Cocksucker Blues' is all over EBay. Also 'Eat the Document', the second Pennebaker/Dylan 'documentary' which includes live footage of Dylan and the Band on tour in the UK.

I'm glad to hear that 'Out One' is available somewhere somehow, but there are plenty of other Rivettes that are MIA - I've never seen 'L'Amour Fou' anywhere, screen, tape OR disc

Jodorowsky's 'The Magic Mountain' was briefly available in the UK on VHS copy, but then withdrawn.

I would like a nice copy of 'Cisco Pike', w/ dear old Doug Sahm.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Bruce Lee Vs. Black Power

I meant Bruce Lee Vs. Gay Power

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 15 September 2003 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Filming on Welles' version of Dead Calm (The Deep*) was never completed. The thread I referenced above mentions it is at least sans an explosion sequence, but I've read that Laurence Harvey's death was terminally problematic, suggesting there was unfinished 'character' material too. I think OW considered it a pretty average effort and not a huge creative loss.

(*Nothing whatsoever to do with Johnny Deep, I'm reminding myself.)

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Monday, 15 September 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I second "3 Women". I saw it about a month ago during an Altman retrospective, and really want to see it again. The print I saw wasn't in very good condition (hissy sound, skipped frames etc.), which was distracting at times. I've heard that it is supposed to coming out on DVD soon, with a commentary track among other things. Speaking of lost films, one can't forget "California Split" (altough it has been bootlegged).

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Monday, 15 September 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, has anybody seen "You Know Something Is Happening", Pennebaker's version of "Eat The Document". I've been told it is eons better.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Monday, 15 September 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

they made a movie out of maldoror?!!!

There were two movies made out of that. I posted a link to the more recent one (2000) over in the "Search: British Films 1997 - " thread.

i'm still looking for the raggedy ann animated movie with didi conn

I had this on tape! I recorded it off of BBC1 around about 1989. Got slung out years ago, tho. Sorry...

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Monday, 15 September 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw that film in the theaters. Don't remember much about it beyond the rag dolly song.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 September 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

most rivettes are making the rounds on nth generation dupe videos, most w/o subtitles. i don't think i've seen "l'amour fou," you're right, but it's probably out there. i can ask my friend-who-knows-all-about-duped-videos. i've seen "out one: spectre" (the short version) and while it's as interesting as other of rivette's work from that period, i 'm guessing some (cough cough jonathan rosenbaum cough cough) overrate the long version because of its famous obscurity and intractability.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 15 September 2003 20:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Am are you a fan of Celine & Julie Go Boating? I think I'm gonna watch that this week.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 15 September 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.bloodlink.com/bloodlink/images/frontpage/main.jpg

― Dada, Monday, 15 September 2003 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

79.

This thread is worth rediscovering because a lot of the films on the original 2003 list wound up on YouTube. Like the '71 Dennis Hopper documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTgzMtdOtpw

― Michael Daddino, Friday, 10 August 2012 11:57 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

http://silentlondon.co.uk/2015/06/15/second-reel-laurel-hardy-battle-of-the-century-pie-fight/

― Joan Crawford Loves Chachi, Friday, 19 June 2015 21:02 (ten years ago)

http://www.empireonline.com/features/films-not-on-DVD

― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Friday, 19 June 2015 21:09 (ten years ago)

please, no artless pie fights.

― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Friday, 19 June 2015 21:28 (ten years ago)

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