Current status of Public Domain movies

[Lino]

I hope it's alright to open this thread. This way, we can easily keep track of what's going on in Movieland Death Row, aka PD Hell, USA.

I'm especially curious about the current status of two Lugosi classics: White Zombie and Island of Lost Souls. Who owns them now? And why aren't they out in decent, official editions? I love the former to bits and am dying to see the latter for the longest time. What gives? And why aren't they being treated as the classics that they rightfully are?

Also, what's the situation of Losey's beautiful fable, The Boy With The Green Hair? Needless to say, one of my very favorite movies ever. Isn't that an RKO title, hence a Warner now? This movie deserves the SE treatment in my book, anyway.

[tryavna]

Island of Lost Souls

What makes you think that this is PD? Surely it's one of those pre-1950 Paramount titles that are now owned by Universal. If it weren't, I'm sure we'd have seen Madacy tackle it by now.

[ByMarkClark.com]

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS is definitely a Universal property. They released it on VHS and will release it on DVD ... someday!

THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR is also NOT a PD film, but I forget which company owns that one.

[Lino]

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS is definitely a Universal property. They released it on VHS and will release it on DVD ... someday!

THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR is also NOT a PD film, but I forget which company owns that one.

That's good to know and indeed, IOLS is not available on PD editions as I initially thought. Fingers crossed that Universal finally releases it this coming Fall, everyone!

TBWGH is, on the other hand, readily available in various DVD incarnations by various companies. And I'm biting my fingers to buy one of them because I know that the transfers will be ultimately unsatisfactory. This is a movie that should be played more often and I recommend it to be shown to every President of any country that is trying to decide if his country should go to war or not.

What is the situation with Capra's Meet John Doe? It's a marvelous movie that I keep returning again and again but sadly, its situation in R1 is a crying shame.

Luckily, UK and region-free buyers are treated to a wonderful Special Edition that pays real tribute to a piece of film work that still stands the time and is a prescient today as it was then. So what gives in R1 land?

[gubbelsj]

Not sure if this is the correct area for this, but I recently had the misfortune of watching a horrible transfer of John Huston's Beat the Devil from one of the countless fly-by-night operations that have released the dvd. Really sad. A quick online search turned up over 15 different Region 1 dvds out there of this title. But I now see that a Blu-Ray version is scheduled for an August '08 release. Anybody have any recommendations for a definitive or at least acceptable dvd transfer of this film? Or, have any been released featuring the full 100 minute version rather than the recut 89 minute version?

[Stefan Andersson]

Thanks for this thread!
What´s the story on BABY FACE NELSON and 99 RIVER STREET?