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Demme's "Citizen's Band/Handle With Care" is now in the instant queue.

Hacking Netflix (which has developed an irksome pro-streaming bias) finally has a post questioning Netflix's Blu-ray commitment. To which we can all say: Well, duhhhhhhh.

What I found most interesting was this list that someone posted in the comments. I haven't fact-checked it but if this is accurate, it's pretty damning for Netflix:

Some Guy on Hacking Netflix wrote:NETFLIX MISSING BD CATALOG Availale on Blockbuster Online?
Hard Candy yes
Mad Max no
The Maltese Falcon yes
The Mission no
Secretary yes
King Kong (1933) yes
Charade no
Return of the Living Dead no
Se7en yes
The Twilight Zone: Season 1 (1959) yes
National Lampoon's European Vacation yes
National Lampoon's Vacation yes
Red Dragon yes
Three Kings yes
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre yes
Dollhouse Season 2 yes
Paths of Glory yes
Psycho yes
Seven Samurai yes
Rocky Horror no
House (Criterion) yes

Any time Blockbuster kicks your ass at something, that's basically the fat lady singing.

Netflix streaming--what could ever possiblie go wrong?

Netflix added two not-on-DVD titles to their "Watch Instantly" list this week, China Gate and Cul-de-sac, neither of which I've seen. Neato, I thought.

Alas, they both turned out to be crappy old full-frame TV prints. Ugh.

Fuller's China Gate and Polanski's Cul-de-sac were both added to "Watch Instantly" this week.

Alas, both are 1.33:1 prints aside from the letterboxed opening credits.

Very disappointing. Is this common?

I can't remember the AR, but Hulu has a clean copy of Cul-de-sac ripe for the watching.

What's Netfux's excuse for not carrying the myriad of other missing titles, many acknowledged classics? Too much respect? Too much white European male power?

8 billion dollars a year and they can't stock the four-six Criterion titles per month?

Just noticed 2 more foreign classics in Netflix "SAVE" limbo: Bertrand Blier's Get Out Your Handkerchiefs and Going Places.

mfunk9786 wrote:Netflix makes a fantastic decision for all the wrong reasons.

So it's official: Netflix IS the new Blockbuster.

(The link refers to Netflix's refusal to carry Trash Humpers for no reason other than the content of the film.)

Daze wrote:Is this common?

Yes, at least for stuff that's never been released on DVD.

I guess my family will once again be stuck watching Salo this Thanksgiving.

aox wrote:I guess my family will once again be stuck watching Salo this Thanksgiving.

This might be the funniest fucking thing I've ever read on this forum.

Cefalù wrote:Just noticed 2 more foreign classics in Netflix "SAVE" limbo: Bertrand Blier's Get Out Your Handkerchiefs and Going Places.

Well, they are OOP. Have been for the better part of a year, I think.

Surprised to see that Putney Swope is available to stream.

Five weeks after the release date, the Allan King Eclipse set is still MIA from Netflix but available from Blockbuster.com. You have no idea how much it hurts to type things like that.

Well, there is the BN sale next week. Trust me, it's worth it.

Not only does Netflix not have the Blu-ray for Piranha, they don't carry the DVD anymore either. Good job ruining my Joe Dante completism, Netflix

domino harvey wrote:Not only does Netflix not have the Blu-ray for Piranha, they don't carry the DVD anymore either. Good job ruining my Joe Dante completism, Netflix

I don't think they carry any of the Corman Blu-rays. All of the Blue Underground Blu-rays have been moved to the 'Saved' section as well.

I've decided to be Netflix for Halloween this year. In other words, I'm just going to stay inside my house and leave a large, empty candy bowl on my front porch.

swo17 wrote:I've decided to be Netflix for Halloween this year. In other words, I'm just going to stay inside my house and leave a large, empty candy bowl on my front porch.

... and put a TV in your window, showing some movies (some of them highly compressed or in the wrong aspect ratio) that people can watch from outside but not take home.

And, once again steeling myself to type this ... Blockbuster.com carries most if not all of the new Corman Blu-rays & DVDs from Shout Factory.

Don't bother trying to stream Powell & Pressburger's 49th Parallel-- the stream only includes the first 74 minutes of the movie!

Lean's "Brief Encounter" is listed as only 8 minutes in length. There's definitely no possibility of banging in that version. They must just walk right past each other.

Netflix Instant seems to have added a slew of not-on-DVD Paramount and Republic titles during the last couple of weeks, presumably as a result of this part of the Epix deal, including: Leo McCarey's My Son John (!); Bride of Vengeance, No Man of Her Own, Captain Carey USA, The Mating Season (all Mitchell Leisen; boy, does the Universal/Paramount purchase do violence to his filmography's availability); The Sad Sack, Don't Give Up the Ship, Visit to a Small Planet, It's Only Money (all Jerry Lewis); Silver City, Denver and the Rio Grande, and Warpath (all Byron Haskin); The Redhead and the Cowboy; Flame of the Islands; The Missing Lady, Behind the Mask, and Hell's Island (all Phil Karlson); Magic Fire (Dieterle); Botany Bay (John Farrow); Jivaro; Alaska Seas; The Vanquished; and Sangaree.

And from the UK (all late 1940s-50s): Good-Time Girl; Hungry Hill; Dangerous Exile; The Golden Salamander and The Card (both Ronald Neame); Hungry Hill; The Black Tent; The Assassin; Doctor at Large; Doctor at Sea; From Paris With Love (Robert Hamer); Miranda and the sequel Mad About Men; Checkpoint; Adam and Evalyne; Cottage to Let (Anthony Asquith); Meet Me Tonight; Encore; The Hideout; English Without Tears; Millions Like Us, Captain Boycott, and London Belongs to Me (all some combination of Launder/Gilliat); Blanche Fury; Beware of Tears.

Nitrateville mentions a few more titles. Anybody have a full list?

Image quality looks adequate on my laptop (haven't tried the real TV yet) but every post-1953 film I checked is clearly unmatted 4:3. The Outsider (1980) is the only post-60s title I found, and it's 4:3 and looks cropped.

Now: why is Jerry's Cracking Up the only Warner Archive title I can find on Netflix Instant?

richast2 wrote:Don't bother trying to stream Powell & Pressburger's 49th Parallel-- the stream only includes the first 74 minutes of the movie!

Secret of the Grain is only 47 minutes long. Even worse, I believe they had the full 2 1/2 hour version up, then briefly took it down and posted an incomplete version.