TV Film Libraries

[blacknorth]

name='cornershop15']In 1985 the Losey film 'Figures In A Landscape' (1970) was shown for the first time on TV - but never again - and around the same time on C4 the Nicol Williamson-Sarah Miles short 'The Six-Sided Triangle' had a one-off viewing. If NO FILMS had been made since then I'm sure they'd have been shown again (instead of 'Trainspotting' or whatever).



In short, films shown on TV before 1990

and films shown after 1990

The ITV regions complicated matters having their own schedules - Figures In A Landscape was shown on UTV at least as late as 1992, in the middle of the night. Along with the Stanley Baker film The Man Who Wouldn't Die, alas never seen since. I taped both but have since lost the tapes (hits head violently).



But you're spot on - before 1990 thumbs up to everything and that includes original TV drama - after 1990, thumbs very down.

[cornershop15]

Hello blacknorth. Did you mean ITV or UTV as in Ulster TV? I'm usually aware of what films are shown and I can tell you that, 24 years after that broadcast, 'Figures' ... hasn't figured (to my knowledge), not even on TCM. Maybe it was shown in Ulster!



I'm sure you mean 'The Man Who Finally Died' and we're probably talking about the same early hours showing on ITV. The only thing I remember from that film is Eric Portman describing someone's neck being broken or something. I was thinking about that moment recently.

[blacknorth]

name='cornershop15']Hello blacknorth. Did you mean ITV or UTV as in Ulster TV? I'm usually aware of what films are shown and I can tell you that, 24 years after that broadcast, 'Figures' ... hasn't figured (to my knowledge), not even on TCM. Maybe it was shown in Ulster!



I'm sure you mean 'The Man Who Finally Died' and we're probably talking about the same early hours showing on ITV. The only thing I remember from that film is Eric Portman describing someone's neck being broken or something. I was thinking about that moment recently.

Sorry, I meant Ulster Television, yes. It was one of those Nightscreen movies, you know when they couldn't flog any advertising space but would have breaks anyway and a bit of music with 'back shortly'. I wonder if the ITV regions had their own pool of films and could show what they liked from region to region. So any one of the regions could have shown it at any time during the period ITV held the rights and maybe UTV screened it at the end of that period.



Sorry, The Man Who Finally Died, awkward title, always getting it mixed up. The only bit I remember is the titles with Baker on a bus wearing sunglasses and a fabulous baroque score by Philip Green.

[darrenburnfan]

In 1990, a film I had first seen in 1961 at the pictures entitled The Fiercest Heart, finally appeared in the TV Times for showing on Central ITV. Unfortunately for me, Nelson Mandela was released from prison that afternoon and the film was cancelled and replaced by a live broadcast from South Africa. The announcer told viewers that the film had now been postponed, but would be shown at a later date.



Well, the years went by and still no sign of The Fiercest Heart. So I finally contacted Central and asked them if they'd forgotten about it. They replied that their rights to show the film had now expired (even though they'd never shown it) and it now wouldn't be shown after all.



The BBC have shown certain films once many years ago and not shown them since. Three CinemaScope examples come to mind, transmitted, of course, in glorious pan and scan. Lancelot and Guinevere (1963), shown in May 1971; The Story of Ruth (1960), shown in December, 1972 and A Dog of Flanders (1959), shown in December, 1973. Of these, only The Story of Ruth is available on DVD in widescreen. The other two are available on DVD, but only in a pan and scan transfer done from old video tapes.



Everyone knows that some films, such as The Great Escape, are shown again and again ad infinitum, while many others have either never been shown or shown once well over thirty years ago and never shown again. It leaves collectors hoping that some DVD company will release them on disc instead of waiting forever for television companies to show them.

[dremble wedge]

name='cornershop15']



A couple of obscure titles before I go, to remind you of how good the TV libraries once were. In 1985 the Losey film 'Figures In A Landscape' (1970) was shown for the first time on TV - but never again

name='blacknorth']The ITV regions complicated matters having their own schedules - Figures In A Landscape was shown on UTV at least as late as 1992, in the middle of the night.

According to the BFI Figures in a Landscape was shown on Channel 5 on Christmas Day 2003. I'm pretty sure it's turned up on BBC 4 since then but I could be wrong.

[blacknorth]

Found this on the Leslie Halliwell site, (from his thread) - gives fascinating insight in to film buying process at TV channels.



Welcome to LeslieHalliwell.com - celebrating Halliwell's Film Guide

[WarFilmBuff]

Hello,



I'm still new here, but my view is somewhat simpler and from a different point of view. Isn't TV all about ratings? If that is the case, who do the TV stations think tunes in to watch "The Great Escape" or "663 Squadron" when they are shown?



Because in this day and age of readily available cheap DVDs, surely everyone who likes those films has them on DVD or VHS, I love both films, but I'm not going to watch a pan and scan version of The Great Escape with adverts every 15 minutes when I can pull out my DVD.



My point is, IF the channels showed rarer war films like The Long Days Dying (which they have shown before) and ITV showed The Bofors Gun as they have before, wouldn't the viewing figures go up with all the people who look at the listings and think "hmm that film looks interesting, I think I'll watch it"



I am only citing war films as an example, but it applies to all genres.

[blacknorth]

name='WarFilmBuff']

My point is, IF the channels showed rarer war films like The Long Days Dying (which they have shown before) and ITV showed The Bofors Gun as they have before, wouldn't the viewing figures go up with all the people who look at the listings and think "hmm that film looks interesting, I think I'll watch it"



I am only citing war films as an example, but it applies to all genres.

I think the viewing figures for old films are probably so small that their viewers don't warrant the thought among TV execs.



I'm quite sure that film buyers at the UK TV stations are a bunch of Tarquin's and Jemima's who completed a media studies course at Hull University and, in fact, know nothing at all about the long and magical history of cinema and it's various lanes and by-ways. I knew one fellow who worked in the BBC archive in Belfast who told me he couldn't watch anything in black & white because it 'made his eyes hurt'. No doubt he thought that was true for everyone else as well. You can't really argue with that kind idiocy.



I can only say, thank God for ebay and the internet with it's various file-sharing tools, otherwise I would still be sitting around waiting to see all those film I prayed would appear on TV and which never did.