Tweet Wives Under Suspicion (1938)

As part of today's Star Of The Month tribute to Warren William, TCM just aired "Wives Under Suspicion," where William plays a tough DA. The movie itself doesn't hold a candle to the pre-Code work of William and James Whale, the film's director. The problem I had with the movie today was the shoddy print TCM used. The overall image was muddy, looking like the source was a 16MM syndication print. In the closing seconds, the print showed five long scratch marks, as if a tiger had clawed the print. Universal is celebrating its 100th anniversary now and this print is a reminder how little that studio has thought of most its film archive since the Laemmle family got booted out in a corporate takeover in 1936.

I just read that the Hollywood studios are spending over $40 million funding the MPAA operations, money spent for lobbying and for pushing forward an agenda of protecting intellectual property rights. That money would be better spent restoring films like preserving films like "Wives Under Suspicion." I wonder, what good does it do to renew a copyright on a movie that no longer exists? That is one question the MPAA would probably have a ready answer for.

Following "Wives Under Suspicion" TCM aired "The Mouthpiece," a 1932 film that on TCM today had very good print quality. There was a joke at Walt Disney Studios in the 1970s, describing how in the 1930s, Walt Disney had 99 animators for each accountant employed but by the 1970s, there were 99 accountants now for each animator. Now, Hollywood moguls have replaced creative types like animators not with accountants but lawyers. With paper pushers running the show at Universal, that could be one explanation why Universal palmed off to TCM such a crummy print of "Wives Under Suspicion." Why should these empty suits care about movie fans? They really don't, or they wouldn't make abysmal movies like "Battleship" or give TCM shoddy prints of their movies for airing nationwide.

I can't speak for the condition of this picture, or why TCM would accept such a bad print, but in working with one of the labs who does a portion of Universal's preservation work, have to disagree with your remarks about their attention to preservation.
It is not appropriate to go into any detail, but this general comment about Universal paying no attention to lesser titles is simply incorrect.

Universal doesn't care about Wives Under Suspicion. This can be inferred from the fact they are not paying good money to restore it. This indicates that they don't think they can recoup their money and a reasonable profit from doing so.

Universal and the other members of the MPAA think that by strengthening intellectual rights laws they can protect and increase their profits on other, more likely, more current properties. They are a business and their goal is to make money.

Apparently you disagree. I urge you to go to Universal, buy from them their rights to Wives Under Suspicion and pay for its restoration. If that's out of your price range, go over to the Vitaphone Project and pay for the restoration of one of their shorts -- that's a mere $6500, last time I checked. If that's more than you can afford, make a donation to some useful group like the Silent Clowns, which Nitratevillain Ben Model helps run. Look at the Grapevine Video site and click on "Save A Film." Jack Hardy will take sums as low as $2 towards restoration and transferral of films he acquired in 2009.

I, too, would like to see better quality versions of old films made available. I don't think it incumbent on other people to pay for my hobby. I also think it reasonable to say thank you. Universal spent a good chunk of money to restore the 1929 part-talkie Charley Chase feature Modern Love, which they did for no economic benefit whatsoever. Has it occurred to you to note their efforts in that direction?

Bob

As part of today's Star Of The Month tribute to Warren William, TCM just aired "Wives Under Suspicion," where William plays a tough DA. The movie itself doesn't hold a candle to the pre-Code work of William and James Whale, the film's director. The problem I had with the movie today was the shoddy print TCM used. The overall image was muddy, looking like the source was a 16MM syndication print. In the closing seconds, the print showed five long scratch marks, as if a tiger had clawed the print. Universal is celebrating its 100th anniversary now and this print is a reminder how little that studio has thought of most its film archive since the Laemmle family got booted out in a corporate takeover in 1936.

I just read that the Hollywood studios are spending over $40 million funding the MPAA operations, money spent for lobbying and for pushing forward an agenda of protecting intellectual property rights. That money would be better spent restoring films like preserving films like "Wives Under Suspicion." I wonder, what good does it do to renew a copyright on a movie that no longer exists? That is one question the MPAA would probably have a ready answer for.

Following "Wives Under Suspicion" TCM aired "The Mouthpiece," a 1932 film that on TCM today had very good print quality. There was a joke at Walt Disney Studios in the 1970s, describing how in the 1930s, Walt Disney had 99 animators for each accountant employed but by the 1970s, there were 99 accountants now for each animator. Now, Hollywood moguls have replaced creative types like animators not with accountants but lawyers. With paper pushers running the show at Universal, that could be one explanation why Universal palmed off to TCM such a crummy print of "Wives Under Suspicion." Why should these empty suits care about movie fans? They really don't, or they wouldn't make abysmal movies like "Battleship" or give TCM shoddy prints of their movies for airing nationwide.

Universal may make crap movies and push lobbying or copyright law extension, but blaming them in the whine about the quality of the print of WIVES UNDER SUSPICION IS misguided because they no longer own it, and that transfer did not come from them. That film apparently slipped through the copyright renewal cracks, and that transfer is the same one that has circluated and run on TCM for years. Being in the Public Domain was actually the reason WIVES was available to be seen at all these past years while the still-owned-by-Universal KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR (of which WIVES is a remake of) has sat unseen the the Universal Vaults.

I just find so funny the personal effront so many film fans get about a less-than-stellar print of a film. Again, you're frequently lucky to be seeing any of this 80-plus year old stuff at all,much less in the sometimes better looking than when originally released versions you get to see today, and if a few scratches or blemishes and a generation or two down in picture quality so offends your virgin eyes and sensibilities, poor puppy. TCM ran what they have on WIVES UNDER SUSPICION, you got to see it. Would you rather not see it at all?


RICHARD M ROBERTS

"The Kiss Before The Mirror" has been on TCM at least twice in the past two years. In a mighty fine copy, by the way. As to the suggestion about viewers paying to restore old movies, I just have to pause and take a deep breath. You pay for cable and some of the fee goes to a movie channel like TCM. You buy DVDs (and I have a lot, including maybe thirty Warner Archive titles, mostly pre-Code) and some of that money goes to the movie company that could restore old movies if it so chooses (and most do, sound business practice to protect your assets from going bad). You pay taxes and some tax money goes to fund organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts, the Library of Congress and other federally financed or subsidized cultural organizations that play a role in film preservation.

I did not know "Wives Under Suspicion" was public domain. I do know that Sony restored "Reign Of Terror," a 1949 movie which went into public domain, and that restored print appeared on TCM as a Columbia release and is available as a MOD DVD.

My original comment was that the print (probably a 16MM reduction print) of "Wives Under Suspicion" was in crummy shape. That is a fact. For "West Of Zanzibar," we are lucky to have the one surviving print and can accept the print damage, much better than nothing but still photos of that movie. "Wives Under Suspicion" is another story. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, even me.

"The Kiss Before The Mirror" has been on TCM at least twice in the past two years. In a mighty fine copy, by the way.

If that's the case, then you have nobody but Universal to thank for that.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Would you rather not see it at all?

I'd much rather see it, warts and all. But it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable, I think, to precede the broadcast of any grossly inferior print with some brief notation to the effect that it was the best that could be procured. Such a print would make me wonder if my reception was on the fritz, a not-infrequent problem is this part of the backwoods.

". Everyone is entitled to their opinions, even me.

Ah, the cry of someone who has said something very stupid and is unwilling to apologize or keep quiet and hope it will slip out of people's memory. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, not matter how whiny, childish, ill-informed and selfish it is. Would you care to tell us your opinion on how much 2+2 make?

Bob

Ah, the cry of someone who has said something very stupid and is unwilling to apologize or keep quiet and hope it will slip out of people's memory. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, not matter how whiny, childish, ill-informed and selfish it is. Would you care to tell us your opinion on how much 2+2 make?

Bob

With that comment, Bob, you pretty much judged yourself. What a waste of skin you must be to insult people here. Do your fundraising elsewhere. The copy of "Wives Under Suspicion" was a real shoddy print, something you very rarely see at TCM anymore. How many WAC DVDs have you bought, supporter of the arts? I notice you math problem was simple. Quick, what is the quadratic equation? What is i and finally, what is a Lipton? The last is a person with a room temperature IQ who goes around insulting strangers.

[Danny Burk]

Enough with the personal insults. Both "sides" have had their say, so let's leave it at that.

Enough with the personal insults. Both "sides" have had their say, so let's leave it at that.

Amen. (Though responding to an insult is not entirely the same as initiating one.)

The print shown of WIVES UNDER SUSPICION (1938) is undoubtably not the best print in existance. What it is the print offered by those who deal in public domain titles and who have no access to original negatives, better copies, etc. Just like it does with the majority of p.d. titles it airs (which fortunately, is not all that often), TCM chose to use a print from p.d. sources rather than put out the money to obtain this title from the original studio. Universal is not to blame for the print shown, it was not from them; blame if anyone TCM for not caring enough to pay the fees to obtain a quality print from the studio.