JamesM

The 'House of Usher' title is a little known British film.

That is interesting to know about "Operation Diplomat".

Where is Mr. Crook?

JamesM

On the subject of sannedevil's plan, you would still be trying to make a profit which would still be taxable. I think you will find that 'commercial rates' would have to apply. Most businesses are interested in keeping their wages to a minimum too. A collective, however is allowed to form as a non-profit organization.

Also, I would like to point out that most DVD companies do pay for restoration and license costs. I was offering to potentially to pay for both but I was turned down. I also informed them of my wish to release some Gaumont British titles (from Granada), as special editions, in partnership with James Ostrer (grandson of Bertram no less) but this had no sway either.

Trying to persuade the BFI to go into business with you would be a just another uphill battle. I now think the route is to approach a smaller rights holding company who would be in turn willing to deal with a smaller business. That was what I was going to do in the end but I have invested my money in recording equipment for my audio commentaries. It is something i will have to come back to once I have some more funds. I was working on starting up with a single release with a start-up of £6,000. Maybe some people may be interested in forming a collective to do this.

sanndevil

Well, James, as I said, good luck!

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that nothing in business comes easily. I know – I ran my own consultancy company for 15 years with varying degrees of success! But, the BFI have a wealth of experience and their name does open doors. I have had a few dealings with them; they are typical of many such organisations inasmuch their staff can be protective, not always customer focused and non-reactive. Despite this, I have always sensed a deep passion for film and their actions are well-intentioned. I feel it would do any DVD company good to nurture some sort of relationship with them – after all they may be the only source of some prints you wish to transfer! Don’t expect them to roll out the red carpet; any collaboration with them would be hard fought but ultimately worth it.

I don’t agree with your suggestion that companies are always looking to pay as little as possible. In my experience, the lower the salaries, the higher the churn rate necessitating expensive recruitment and training and low productivity. Some companies appreciate this, others don’t! Not-for-profits have an entirely different culture – they tend to be staffed by people who are less concerned with material wealth (or have already made a comfortable living elsewhere) and are more interested in achieving something worthwhile. Again, I have firsthand knowledge of this – my ex is herself one, and being a Human Resources Director gets to interview prospective candidates who want precisely that sort of career.

I have been in the fortunate position to have met a couple of individuals who run DVD houses. Their mantra was “Titles, Titles, Titles!” – the arch enemy of any small company being cash flow, and so there is a necessity to concurrently launch as many titles as possible whilst be preparing the next batch in background. It must be remembered that you may have to wait three months for payment from distributors and so during that period your only source of income will be sales from your own website – only you can decide whether that income will be sufficient with one title on the go.

However, I have enormous respect for anyone willing to have a go and I certainly wish you well. It wouldn't surprise me if you get a few helpers from this website!

JamesM

It is a shame that the BFI do not already work on releasing more British titles, as with labels like Eureka. Whilst Carlton were running the show all titles were closed to third parties as far as DVD releases in the UK were concerned. The Studio Canal / Warners deal presented the same limitations. But looking at the NFT Michael Powell season it seems as though the BFI are developing a closer relationship with Granada. Studio Canal are now dealing with multiple companies in the US.

My personal business plan is based on the way small record labels set up. That is as an an additional activity to the proprietor's main source of income. The internet has allowed growth of such businesses to increase in a shorter time period than before.

Granada and Studio Canal could of course look at the successes of Warners and now even Paramount (sales of the 2 disc set of "The High and the Mighty" (1954), starring John Wayne, with its original cast and crw membes audio commentary and documentaries, are phenominal) and think about releasing the classic films they own packed with extras, then I would not have to play my small part in taking up the task myself.

Wetherby Pond

Believe it or not, the BFI has exactly the same problems as independent operators - despite the wealth of physical materials that they preserve, they have very very limited rights in terms of what they can do with them. In most cases, all they're allowed to do is make films available to legitimate researchers - they certainly can't do a commercial release of any kind without permission from someone who will almost certainly insist on a hefty cut of the proceeds.

There are in fact plenty of British titles in the BFI DVD catalogue (I make it about 36 discs to date, over a third of their total output - and that's not counting numerous discs of foreign films by British-born talent like Chaplin, Peter Brook, Norman McLaren etc.), but it often seems like less because relatively few of those are fiction features - they've tended to concentrate on less-travelled byways such as early silent shorts, industrial films, archive TV and the avant-garde.

But I'd argue that titles like these should be given higher priority than commercial features, as they're much less likely to be distributed by anyone else or given even small-hours TV screenings. Who else, for instance, would have dug up and promoted the work of someone like Geoffrey Jones, who I'd never even heard of before I saw this recent interview?

DB7

Is it not the Corman US production? (on CH5 next week)

Steve Crook

Sorry, I've been busy - travelling around all over the place (in SE England) training clients to use our wonderful new system.

Yes, as you guessed, I'd put Lazybones (1935) at the top of my list.
But I don't think I could pick out another 2 that I'd be overly interested in.

Of course, had Michael Powell succeeded in his plans to make The Fall of the House of Usher that would have been a different matter. Work was done on a script & Powell had seen a suitable house when he was in Finland. It was planned to be an opera with the score by Philip Glass. But he couldn't get the funding.

Lazybones (1935) is about average for the films he made in that period, the Quota Quickies. Interesting story, a few clever ideas well implemented.

Steve

JamesM

Has that "Abdul the Damned" / "Chin Chu Chow" DVD arrived yet? VCI are about to release "The Moon aand the Sixpence" directed by Albert Lewin, the only US filmmaker whose style comes close to Powell and Pressburger's that I can think of.

Steve Crook

No sign of Abdul yet.

Steve

wilko

Hi I'm new to this forum, but I was doing a internet search for a specific film title and this was the only place it cropped up. Referring to a film title back in the main list.

I'm looking preferably on DVD for a copy of the film Stock car Dir Wolf Rilla. I have a very poor copy recorded from the satellite channel Bravo channel some years back when they used to show b/w film from this era. However the copy I have has deteriated badly. If anyone has a copy or knows the whereabouts of one or the latest on trying to get these old films released officially on DVD I would be grateful.

The_Late_Peter_Cook

"The Blue Parrot" (1953) dir. John Harlow
"Dangerous Cargo" (1954) dir. John Harlow
"The Final Appointment" (1954) dir. Terence Fisher


Not for artistic reasons or that they are in anyway "importan" films, but just because the titles take me back to my schooldays in the early '80's when my local ITV region used to show those kinds of movies on Monday and Friday afternoons. :)

margfan

"Dusty Ermine" (1936) dir. Bernard Vorhaus because I am researching career of Margaret Rutherford. The usual film cast sites are confusing - was Jim Kent played by Roland Young? Was Ronald Squire in the film at all - maybe as a policeman?

Famous Mortimer

So how does copyright work in situations like this? I thought it lapsed after 50 years, which is what great big crybaby Cliff Richard is currently fighting to have changed (like he's not got enough money).

So surely all the films made before 1956 are fair game? I see official but dirt-cheap releases of the old German horror classics all the time- so I could only guess the same could be done for classic British films. It's not like the big DVD companies are queueing up to release these films, is it?

How about setting up as a charity? Dedicated to restoring lost British classics, something like that. The BFI is all well and good, same with the National Film and Television Theatre, but unless you live close enough to go visit and sit in one of their booths, their collection might as well be closed to you.

Joe

A nice collection of rare gems. I would like to see Hills of Donegal, The Scarlet Thread, Hindle Wakes, House of Blackmail and Dangerous Cargo.

I get very irritated with the BBC, ITV etc as well as the Sky Movie Channels which constantly churn out the same films which get shown regular like clockwise. Up until several months The Matinee Channel were showing great, unknown or unseen in god knows how many years, 1950's UK B movies. Now another channel has taken over and the films showing are mainly american films.

If the BFI and other Institutions have these films in their vaults why can't a channel on Sky be dedicated to showing purely British films from the 1930's to the 1970's including films which haven't been seen for years, catering for every genre like Gainsborough/Period, B-Movies from Nettlefold & Merton Park etc.

Joe

Fellwanderer

Copyright in a film expires 70 years after the end of the year in which the death occurs of the last to survive of the principal director, the authors of the screenplay and dialogue, and the composer of any music specially created for the film.

As it happens, the exam I was invigilating at university this morning was "intellectual Property Law" and a couple of the questions were very pertinent to the interest of users here. The recommended text is Blackstones' "Statutes on Intellectual Property" by Christie and Gare [7th Edition] which you should be able to get hold of from your local library.

All the best
FELL