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Greetings Nitratevillians,

Does anyone know the status of the long-in-the-works SHOW BOAT box set from WB? I know it's supposed to include the '29, 36 and 51 versions plus lots of other goodies.

thanks

Decotodd wrote:Greetings Nitratevillians,

Does anyone know the status of the long-in-the-works SHOW BOAT box set from WB? I know it's supposed to include the '29, 36 and 51 versions plus lots of other goodies.

thanks

when you know, please tell me.

Last I heard the great recession had killed it - at least for now.

Wish that TCM would at least run everything (prologue and sound) they have on the 29 version instead of the odd 2-hr cutdown they've been running of late.

Showboat should have been out for the stage show anniversary & George Feltenstein even said this in interviews with talkback hosts or whoever. On the Laserdisc set they had only the prologue audio and not the visuals which apparently exist in its entirety but I only had the Tess Gardella(Aunt Jemima) Hey Fella sequences in 16mm film which I added a tint on the projector I had then but I believe there is more. Also more discs appear to have been found for the soundtrack. All but reel one was done of the 1951 version from nitrate original negs but the 1st reel was lost in the George Eastman House fire a few years ago & dupe footage was used. Now that Blu Ray has arrived this is where they should aim.

Having said that & the comment that the economy killed the plans, I find it hard to believe that Warner are doing a Blu Ray of the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty with the same extras(some from an Australian movie made in 1933 with Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian, done in documentary style, the actual film, that is) as the laserdisc & DVD ahead of a proper restoration of the Showboat footage. The laserdisc set notes on Mutiny state that the surviving footage is less than pristine due to overuse of the negatives due to its then popularity or words to that effect. If I was doing that film on Blu Ray I would want to couple it with the later version they own and get rights to the complete Australian Flynn title which has merit, In the Wake of the Bounty. Two early silents made in Australia have been lost. Also issuing the later Charlie Chans in street release & soon? Bowery Boys, or whatever ones they are using, is a little strange when all is considered at this time. An executive decision, no less???

I must add that Showboat is probably my top musical in my invisible charts as much for the music as its story & a life that was probably hard but enjoyable to those who lived it along that great river(which I have only seen from the air). Thus I like the Mark Twain stories on film & that's one guy who visited my hometown of Melbourne over 100 years ago.

moviepas wrote:Showboat should have been out for the stage show anniversary & George Feltenstein even said this in interviews with talkback hosts or whoever. On the Laserdisc set they had only the prologue audio and not the visuals which apparently exist in its entirety.

All of that is as I understand it, which is why I wished (assuming everything from 1929 has been combined into a video-friendly format) that TCM would run that restoration on its own.

Pity a copy of the silent version doesn't exist. Would be nice to see what the film was originally planned to be.

My guess as to why they went with Mutiny on the Bounty for a Blu-Ray is that a. it's a higher-profile title, and b. they have the recently-discovered original camera negative to work with.

While I do not know the status of the DVD set, I did acquire Vitaphone discs for two previously mute reels (9 and 11). Dialog and singing throughout. George F is aware of this, so if the project moves forward they will use the discs to synch up with those two reels.

moviepas wrote:Two early silents made in Australia have been lost.

I'm aware of the 1916 one, but what is the other silent version?

There are some clips of the 1933 version on the Australian Screen website - http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/wake-bounty. I've only ever seen bits and pieces, but it appears to be of interest more for the anthropological footage than anything else.

Pitcairn Island is still full of people who claim to be descended from either Captain Bligh or Fletcher Christian. It's a funny old place.