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Guess we know who took the Republic library from Lionsgate. Hope they can get to the Fleischer stuff and thankfully this means we'll actually get releases.

Since many are still readily available...including a few just released (on Flicker & Raro) in the past 2 years, let's also hope this means Olive is stepping up its Blu-ray output.

Awesome! Olive will treat these films WAAAAY better than Lionsgate ever did.

Thank goodness; I was beginning to think no R1 company would ever do right by the Republic titles. Can't believe Criterion didn't snap some of these up (not that they necessarily need any more releases clogging their schedule)...maybe it was an all or nothing kind of a proposition.

Most of these titles still show quite regularly on UK TV and - while many are from old tape masters - the recent Channel 4 screenings of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Johnny Guitar looked pristine and far better than my DVDs. Invasion was followed by a new Paramount logo, confirming a US source (UK DVD rights are owned by Universal).

High Noon?

Surely that would get a studio release. Weird.

The Quiet Man... hopefully by the time they release it Olive will have access to a restored HD master for this one.. hmm.

Well I guess that ends the speculation that Criterion would try and license Letter from an Unknown Woman, Caught, Johnny Guitar, Macbeth etc.

Great find Sam.

I wish Borzage's Moonrise were included in this list.

I hope they would consider offering English subtitles for the hearing impaired and non-native speakers. It might actually pay off.

Kauno wrote:I hope they would consider offering English subtitles for the hearing impaired and non-native speakers. It might actually pay off.

This is the company who don't even make subtitles optional on their foreign language releases so I wouldn't count it. I'm trying to think of prominent labels that still completely unnecessarily fix them and I can only think of Olive and Second Sight.

What A Disgrace wrote:I wish Borzage's Moonrise were included in this list.

Absolutely seconded.It's a crime that Moonrise isn't available anywhere on disc as far as I know.

China Gate!

I'm pretty excited about Force of Evil, that's a great movie with a pisspoor transfer that could use even Warner Archive quality release. I hope Olive steps up their release schedule a bit, though.

What was so bad about the Lions Gate Force of Evil transfer? I thought it was as as good as any Warner Archive release I've ever seen, possibly better.

TMDaines wrote:

Kauno wrote:I hope they would consider offering English subtitles for the hearing impaired and non-native speakers. It might actually pay off.

This is the company who don't even make subtitles optional on their foreign language releases so I wouldn't count it. I'm trying to think of prominent labels that still completely unnecessarily fix them and I can only think of Olive and Second Sight.

Bluebell's Edgar Reitz releases have fixed subtitles.

SamLowry wrote:Well I was slumming on IMDB & noticed a whole bunch of titles licensed to Olive in 2012 for DVD & Blu Ray that I don't recall being mentioned, including:

Comment Ca Va?
Ici et ailleurs

Numéro deux should also be an Olive release, thinking they are going to put all 3 in a box.

Gregory wrote:What was so bad about the Lions Gate Force of Evil transfer? I thought it was as as good as any Warner Archive release I've ever seen, possibly better.

It was definitely one of the better (best?) Lionsgate Republic transfers, but could benefit from a new one. One of my favorite films, so I'm on my knees for it to get a Blu release.

I've got the R2 release of Force of Evil, and I'd thought it and the Lionsgate were roughly the same quality, but perhaps I was wrong- it's definitely very weak, maybe a bit above PD quality but far below even the non-remastered WA titles I've seen.

Sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I would like to bring to your attention that the release of 1900 on both DVD and Blu-ray has been pushed back to May 15th. Plan accordingly.

As far as I know Olive has only released widescreen movies on Blu-ray.

Yep, the R2 Force of Evil is terrible; the R1 was not bad at all, I thought. If this turns out to be a Blu-ray, that will be a good thing.

Wow! Just noticed all this. That is a HUGE chunk of the Republic library. Far more than Lionsgate, Artisan, or Republic themselves ever got around to. They've even licensed the late Republic films like Bound. I'm sure that Criterion would have loved to release a dozen of these, but that Paramount was offering Republic as an all-or-nothing package. I'm glad that Olive has them, but it's a shame there (probably) won't be any supplements. Based on some comments that Criterion made, I think they had a shot at them at one time. Really hoping that Olive doesn't just sit on these the way the previous licensee did. Many of them were never released on DVD in the U.S.. I desperately want damn near all of them. Surely High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers will go Blu. Hopefully Johnny Guitar and a few others too. Paramount did preservation work on most of the Republic category a few years ago, and I'm sure they'll be supplying the transfers.

Whatever happened to Aldrich’s Twilight’s Last Gleaming?Warners already sat on it forever.

*CG* wrote:Numéro deux should also be an Olive release

Yes. They licensed it in 2011.

So do we need to get a petition going for Olive to start releasing blu-rays for full-frame/b&w releases? There's quite a few there that are much more attractive than any of the Jerry Lewis releases.

Insulting Lewis? You are the world's greatest criminal. Plus Too Late Blues is B&W so that part isn't a problem.

SamLowry wrote:So do we need to get a petition going for Olive to start releasing blu-rays for full-frame/b&w releases?

Olive is also releasing a couple of 1.37:1 Edmond O'Brien westerns, Silver City and Denver and Rio Grande on Blu-Ray in May, so I think we'll be ok in that regard as well.

The list SamLowry posted is incredible. It has about 30 titles I'd be interested in owning on Blu, particularly the Fords, High Noon, China Gate, and Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Maybe we'll finally start seeing some quality issues of Republic pictures. The Quiet Man has been crying out for a watchable release ever since I can remember.

The next couple of years look like expensive ones!