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February 2000, Week 3

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Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 16 Feb 2000 22:11:54 EST
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Dear Nadine,

Sadly, Love Me Tonight has never been available on home video in the US but
it's shown on Turner Classic Movies (not TNT) over the years and you might be
able to trade for a tape. UCLA did a very fine restoration many years ago.

As for One Hour with You (1932), Monte Carlo (1930), The Love Parade (1929),
Universal did release them in the US on laserdisc in a package called "The
Lubitsch Touch." (It also included The Smiling Lieutenant, If I had a
Million, Trouble in Paradise and Design for Living)

The laserdisc set was fairly rare from the day it was released. My darling
wife Amy and that great, great author of "Laughter in Paradise," Scott Eyman
-- you must have heard of him. What he did to Lubitsch, we're doing to
Poland* -- searched the entire US until they found me a copy for my birthday.

Since the death of laserdisc, however, they (the discs, not Eyman or my wife)
might pop up in the laserdisc website stores like Ken Cranes or Big Emma's.

At the same time, UCLA restored many of these films and their new 35mm prints
were some of the most beautiful I've ever seen outside of nitrate.

As for Fox, many of the titles came to MoMA and UCLA and the Bill Everson
collection should have a few in 16mm -- they're now at the George Eastman
House.  Alex Gordon at the Gene Autry Museum saved many of these from
disappearing in the 1960s and he is the expert on these films. You might also
try alt.silent listserv (after apologizing for going slightly off topic which
they're actually glad to do) because many of those people have an expertise
on these films and if you made a list of the films you need, they might tell
you exactly what exists and where.

Dennis Doros
Milestone Film & Video

*for those who can't read between the lines, Scott is indeed a wonderful
author and Milestone's best friend and his biography of Lubitsch is
absolutely terrific. At the same time, I can never resist giving him grief or
a good Lubitsch reference. Though, I'm told, you can't eat your cake and
shoot it too! So they call me...

In a message dated 2/16/00 7:56:49 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< I haven't been able to order or find any of the early Jeanette MacDonald
musicals (Love Me Tonight (1932), One Hour with You (1932), Monte Carlo
(1930), The Love Parade (1929) etc.). Likewise, Jane Wither's 1930s Fox 'B'
films. I've checked all the major Net distributors with no luck. I
understand that TNT shows the early MacDonald films every once in awhile,
however I don't have access to that channel as I'm in Australia (this also
complicates seraching places like ebay). Any suggestions (either PAL or NTSC)?

I should be visiting the US and the UK in the next 6 months, so any archive
(i.e. Fox collections)/library suggestions as to where I might track some of
their more obscure films down would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Nadine Wills >>

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