Disney holds Hitchcock hostage too

[merlinjones]

Many people don't know that Disney owns the Selznick International film library (except for Gone With the Wind) through its aquisition of ABC, which had purchased the library eons ago.

Consequently, many of Alfred Hitchcock's early classics, made when he was under contract to Selznick, are no longer available on DVD domestically, after liscensing agreements with Criterion, Anchor Bay and others have expired.

Hollywood classics like Hitchcock's "Notorious" and "Spellbound" are not available due to Disney disinterest??? Crazy. Just like ignoring Walt's films.

[Mr. Toad]

Many people don't know that Disney owns the Selznick International film library (except for Gone With the Wind) through its aquisition of ABC, which had purchased the library eons ago..

Actually anybody willing to do two minutes of internet research could find that out.

Consequently, many of Alfred Hitchcock's early classics, made when he was under contract to Selznick, are no longer available on DVD domestically, after liscensing agreements with Criterion, Anchor Bay and others have expired.

Hollywood classics like Hitchcock's "Notorious" and "Spellbound" are not available due to Disney disinterest??? Crazy. Just like ignoring Walt's films.

Well Notorious is definately a classic but probably a stretch to call Spellbound a classic.

Why is it Crazy. What most people forget is that money is not limitless, especially in a recession spending on entertainment can not go on forever. Thus' studios can't issue every title at once. They need to spread it out or some titles are going to get lost in the schuffle.

We will see these titles again, hopefully on blu-ray. But that being said, we are not entitled to them just because they exist. There has to be a way to make money on them especially when consumers are demanding great prints and sound. On marginal releases(which Spellbound would be) there may be no way to make money. Thus no release.

[disneyfella]

Perhaps we'll see a special edition release of "Spellbound" when 'Destino' finally gets released to tie in with Slavador Dali's work in both films.

As for the 'classicness' of "Spellbound" I think many....MANY critics would argue it a high calibur Hitchcock work (much better than some Hitchcock films that have already gotten special editions). There is a lot of material out there....just look at the packed Criterion disc!!!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I don't know about "classic" status. But I remember that I found Spellbound highly fascinating...

[gardener14]

Spellbound will be shown on Turner Classic Movies on March 4, 2008. Six Hitchcock movies are being shown on Feb. 23 with many others available on TCM from now through April (that's as far ahead as the schedule goes for now).

[chadhobbick]

It's widely know that Spellbound, Notorious, and Rebecca are the Hitchcock films that were released only on the Criterion collection series, (and are now way out of print) and are very sought after not just for what is on the dvds but b/c they are the missing Hitchcock films to complete the collection of his works on dvd. I know that all three of those films are high on my list of dvds I need but I won't pay those high prices to get them.

[Mr. Toad]

http://cgi.ebay.com/OOP-RARE-SPELLBOUND ... dZViewItem

Spellbound for 15+8 shipping ending in 12 hours. Not that bad a price for a Criterion release(assuming it stays around there)

[2099net]

Consequently, many of Alfred Hitchcock's early classics, made when he was under contract to Selznick, are no longer available on DVD domestically, after liscensing agreements with Criterion, Anchor Bay and others have expired.

Hollywood classics like Hitchcock's "Notorious" and "Spellbound" are not available due to Disney disinterest??? Crazy. Just like ignoring Walt's films.

Well Notorious is definately a classic but probably a stretch to call Spellbound a classic.

Why is it Crazy. What most people forget is that money is not limitless, especially in a recession spending on entertainment can not go on forever. Thus' studios can't issue every title at once. They need to spread it out or some titles are going to get lost in the schuffle.

We will see these titles again, hopefully on blu-ray. But that being said, we are not entitled to them just because they exist. There has to be a way to make money on them especially when consumers are demanding great prints and sound. On marginal releases(which Spellbound would be) there may be no way to make money. Thus no release.

I'm sorry Mr Toad, but this reply makes no sense what-so-ever. In a time where more people have access to DVD than ever before, and the potential audience is greater than ever, Disney can't release classic films because there's a recession? True, overall entertainment spending may be down, but compared to the years when Disney did release old archive films on DVD, there's a bigger audience than ever before. So its a balance of less money spent per customer vs. more likely customers.

Yes, older films do tend to get lost on store shelves because stores prefer to stock "high profile" releases. But Warner have a nice little sideline in classic DVD releases, and show no signs of stopping it. Check out their 80th Anniversary plans. I'm sure old classic films can be profitable on DVD regardless of store displays (the online stores stock everything!).

And yet you hope to see them on Blu-ray in the future which (all said and done) will most likely never be as popular as DVD (and please note that is not a slight on Blu-ray as a format. DVD would never be as popular as DVD is now had it been first released in 2006 due to the additional competition from cable, satellite, VOD, digital TV and the internet - massive strides have been made in all forms of content delivery). Yet a Blu-ray release would undoubtedly cost more money to restore and remaster.

The fact is, there's just as many people screaming out for films like Spellbound, or even Disney ones live action classics like So Dear to My Heart, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing or whatever NOW than there was in 2000 or 2004 (if not more). But Disney simply can't be bothered to service them. Not while discs with 4 crappy episodes of Hannah Montanna continue to sell stupidly high amounts.

[littlefuzzy]

I managed to pick up the Criterion Wrong Men and Notorious Women box set, right after it had gone out of print, so I have:

The 39 Steps (still available)
The Lady Vanishes (also on a bunch of cheapy discs)
Notorious (only from Anchor Bay or Criterion, both OOP)
Rebecca (only from Anchor Bay or Criterion, both OOP)
Spellbound (only from Anchor Bay or Criterion, both OOP)

Sadly, those are the only Hitchcock films I own so far...

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Sadly, those are the only Hitchcock films I own so far...

Still not bad! But you might want to have some more eventually...?

[littlefuzzy]

Sadly, those are the only Hitchcock films I own so far...

Still not bad! But you might want to have some more eventually...?

I plan to get most of his catalog, especially the big ones...

Psycho, the Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo, and so on...