siriami

Just had a response from Pickwick re my email about the dreadful quality of "The Runaway Bus":
quote:"We have had a number of complaints regarding the release of The Runaway Bus and have had a close look at the film. The freezing and countdown midway through the film have been corrected and the DV D is being re-manufactured.
Unfortunately, although we licensed the rights to release the film from the estate of Val Guest, the estate did not have a copy of the film in any form and so we have had to locate the best possible copy in order to manufacture – this turned out to be an American public domain supplier.
If you would care to return the DVD to us I will arrange for a replacement copy without the freezing to be sent to you as soon as it is available.
Yours sincerely" Graham Betts

At least they seem to be trying!

Alistair

Brief Encounter

Hmmm, probably of a similar quality, and with that scene still missing. Still I guess that's better than nothing. Let us know if the quality is any better Alistair.

Harbottle

Interesting to read the reply from Pickwick. Good grief they probably could have got a better copy from members of this forum :blink:

bobsterkent

Well i too got the same email, so its gone back in the post today to them

DB7

I think by 'best possible copy' they mean cheapest.

JamesM

"this turned out to be an American public domain supplier"

Isn't that what Pickwick are?

jack case

Thanks for the info from Pickwick, Siriami - I'll contact Mr Betts!

Cheers

Jack

Hotspurman

I’ve read the various comments/complaints about the quality (or lack of) of The Runaway Bus DVD and thought I’d give you the official version. We were alerted to the popularity of the film by an acquaintance and made enquiries as to who might hold the copyright. I discovered that the film had been made by Val Guest and, quite by chance, managed to find his telephone number on the internet!

As he did not have internet or email access, all correspondence was conducted via fax, adding to the negotiating time. Just when it appeared we were making headway, Val Guest died, which I thought at the time meant the whole project would come to an end. A couple of months later I received phone call from his son stating that they had found the correspondence whilst going through his paperwork and wondered if we were still interested in licensing the film, which we were. We managed to conclude the deal, but the only problem was that the son and wife of the late Val Guest did not have a copy of the film in any shape or form that they could supply.

I spent a pointless few weeks trying to obtain a copy from Channel 4, who had aired the film (the Petula Clark website sent me a DVDr of the film that was taken from the airing), but they were of no help.

I managed to track down two copies – one from a supplier of public domain films in the US (The Runaway Bus was never registered in the US, meaning it is considered a public domain title in that territory) and a VHS copy released by VCI Entertainment. The original master we used was created from the PD version. There was no freezing on the master I approved, which would imply that either my screening equipment is top notch or that the manufacturer has a problem, but these have been remedied for the repressing. We have also taken out the time frame, which also appeared on the VHS version, so it looks as though VCI used exactly the same source as we did.

If anyone has a pristine copy of the film we would certainly be interested in obtaining it – when we say we try and use the best master, it means the best we can locate, not the cheapest. I’m aware that no one is going to buy every title on Elstree Hill, but we’d like to think that we care about the titles we release.

Graham Betts
Pickwick Group

JamesM

Did you try the BFI?

By the way, Runaway Bus isn't in the public domain in the US either.

DB7

Very true. Runaway Bus was released first in the UK and this means the US copyright renewal clause doesn't apply.

bobsterkent

well i have got my replacement DVD back from Mr Betts, and yes they have corrected the freezing but now the picture jumps and judders in a different place!

Biffer

Anyone else had this problem? I think I can modestly claim to be the first poster to alert 'our lot' about the quality of this DVD. I was interested to read the reply from Pickwick about a 'replacement', but wondered if it was worth the bother. BTW: has the 'lead in/time counter' segment been removed, as promised by Mr Betts?

As Harbottle suggested, they could have probably got a better quality version from someone on this forum. Leaving aside the legal technicalities .... will you take note, Mr 'B', for any future re-issues???

Biffer

bobsterkent

yes the lead in/time counter has gone but the scene where Frankie H is on the phone is still missing.

siriami

Just received a replacement copy of "The Runaway Bus" (thanks, Mr Betts!), so at least Pickwick is trying to keep us punters happy.
Still a shame that a better copy couldn't be sourced, but it is still a nice small British film!

Alistair

Charlie McCallum

I think we should, at the least, thank Graham Betts for taking the trouble to reply to our concerns about the quality of The Runaway Bus. I have contacted several distribution companies recently with film queries and don't even get a response.
It's good to know that a company is prepared to listen to our comments and, hopefully, do something about it.

Charlie