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I don't think this film has ever been released on video, period.
I used to have an "independent" lp of soundtrack excerpts from it. Always loved the way they did "Make a Miracle," especially the music for the dance interlude.
Allyn Ann McLerie was wonderful in the few musicals she did, then ended up doing character roles in films directed by Sidney Pollack.
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I read the film was to come out on DVD in 2008, but nothing happened. It's a Warner release but I don't think Warners has the rights anymore.
We did get THIS release in 2007:
http://www.amazon.com/Charleys-Aunt-Jack-Benny/dp/B000O78KYM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1231480615&sr=8-1
My impression over the years, waiting for any video release of any property based on "Charley's Aunt," the 1892 farce by Brandon Thomas (1850-1914), has been that it was the heirs to his estate that have always made the rights situation so complicated. Is that so?
Was some breakthrough in negotiations reached with the release of the Jack Benny movie, or did some old copyright finally expire?
Interestingly, IMDB lists 29 different film or TV adaptations of "Charley's Aunt" in several different languages, the first a 1925 British silent starring Charlie Chaplin's half-brother Sydney, the most recent a 1996 German TV production. No other plays by Thomas seem to have been filmed at all.
I wonder how many other one-hit-wonder playwrights have became so successful, and so long after they passed away . . .
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Edmond Rostand is a pretty good example.
His "Cyrano de Bergerac" is a classic.
But I dare you to tell me about any of his other plays that are even performed nowadays.
It's even hard to find reading copies of them.
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Posted: |
Jan 9, 2009 - 9:37 AM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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I believe the "rights problem" with the musical film of WHERE'S CHARLEY? lies with Jo Sullivan, Frank Loesser's widow.
She apparently has major issues with this musical film version, and since she controls the musical rights, she controls the film's reissue. (Shades of the Gershwin estate and PORGY AND BESS.)
I'm not totally in disagreement with her assessment, however. I remember seeing the film in 1952 and thinking it pretty grim, as produced, even though recreated with the stars of the Broadway production. But, I'd still like to see it again.
Still, this is yet one more example of how the "moral rights" issues of creative ownership, even (and usually) when controlled, not by the the original creator, but by the creators' family or more distant relatives (think Robyn Astaire here, as well), can keep previously performed product from its audience, even more than 50 years later.
I, for one, would still like to see MGM's 1937 PORT OF SEVEN SEAS (based on Pagnol's FANNY trilogy), Warner's THE CONSTANT NYMPH (with Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer), MGM's NIGHT FLIGHT (from the early '30s with Clark Gable), Joan Crawford's LETTY LYNTON, the 1954 Lana Turner FLAME AND THE FLESH, and other "locked up" films, before I die.
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I believe the "rights problem" with the musical film of WHERE'S CHARLEY? lies with Jo Sullivan, Frank Loesser's widow.
She apparently has major issues with this musical film version, and since she controls the musical rights, she controls the film's reissue. (Shades of the Gershwin estate and PORGY AND BESS.)
I'm not totally in disagreement with her assessment, however. I remember seeing the film in 1952 and thinking it pretty grim, as produced, even though recreated with the stars of the Broadway production. But, I'd still like to see it again.
Still, this is yet one more example of how the "moral rights" issues of creative ownership, even (and usually) when controlled, not by the the original creator, but by the creators' family or more distant relatives (think Robyn Astaire here, as well), can keep previously performed product from its audience, even more than 50 years later.
I, for one, would still like to see MGM's 1937 PORT OF SEVEN SEAS (based on Pagnol's FANNY trilogy), Warner's THE CONSTANT NYMPH (with Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer), MGM's NIGHT FLIGHT (from the early '30s with Clark Gable), Joan Crawford's LETTY LYNTON, the 1954 Lana Turner FLAME AND THE FLESH, and other "locked up" films, before I die.
You beat me to the punch. Hopefully, Ms. Loesser and the Gershwin estate will both come around so we can have Where's Charley and Porgy and Bess.
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Posted: |
Jan 9, 2009 - 5:29 PM
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By: |
GMP
(Member)
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I believe the "rights problem" with the musical film of WHERE'S CHARLEY? lies with Jo Sullivan, Frank Loesser's widow.
She apparently has major issues with this musical film version, and since she controls the musical rights, she controls the film's reissue. (Shades of the Gershwin estate and PORGY AND BESS.)
I'm not totally in disagreement with her assessment, however. I remember seeing the film in 1952 and thinking it pretty grim, as produced, even though recreated with the stars of the Broadway production. But, I'd still like to see it again.
Still, this is yet one more example of how the "moral rights" issues of creative ownership, even (and usually) when controlled, not by the the original creator, but by the creators' family or more distant relatives (think Robyn Astaire here, as well), can keep previously performed product from its audience, even more than 50 years later.
I, for one, would still like to see MGM's 1937 PORT OF SEVEN SEAS (based on Pagnol's FANNY trilogy), Warner's THE CONSTANT NYMPH (with Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer), MGM's NIGHT FLIGHT (from the early '30s with Clark Gable), Joan Crawford's LETTY LYNTON, the 1954 Lana Turner FLAME AND THE FLESH, and other "locked up" films, before I die.
You beat me to the punch. Hopefully, Ms. Loesser and the Gershwin estate will both come around so we can have Where's Charley and Porgy and Bess.
I thought the "Porgy and Bess" copyright expired in 2007, but MGM didn't want to invest in a restoration since they only held the rights for a short time. Miles Kuerger (Not sure of the spelling) had been trying for years to get this and "Annie Get Your Gun" out (He succeeded with "Annie") told me a few months ago he gave up on ever seeing P&B on video. The only known print circulating LA has become scratched and is full of dirt. It looks far worse than it did 12 years ago when I first saw it.
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