Immortal Story on TCM - Wednesday: March 28, 2007

[RayKelly]

VCR Alert: Turner Classic Movies airing The Immortal Story on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 6:45 EDT

[atcolomb]

When they played it last year they did show a very good print of the film....much better than the crapy vhs tape i had!!

[moviefan]

The copy I have is the dvd one from Italy. The subtitles unfortuately cannot be removed.

[chipm]

I had a friend tivo it for me. He can dump it to vhs...any easy way to get it on DVD?

[Tony]

The picture was perfect, but there was a lot of noise on the soundtrack, sometimes very distracting. The sound itself was great, but there was noise on the track. I've never seen/heard this before on TCM.

[Roger Ryan]

I didn't notice any excessive noise during last night's broadcast, but then I just spot-checked the recording during different scenes without watching the entire film. I had recorded it two years ago when it was first played on TCM, but my cable system just started carrying TCM as a digital feed (previously it was analog), so I re-recorded it because of the improved picture clarity.

There seems to be a rumor on the Criterion site that "The Immortal Story" will be released sometime over the next year on a Region 1 DVD. I suspect Criterion will issue it as part of their new Eclipse series: rare films released barebones without any extras.

[purplepines]

I'm shocked that I couldn't finish watching this. I think I wasn't giving it my all, but it seemed either ponderous or amateurish.

[The Night Man]

There seems to be a rumor on the Criterion site that "The Immortal Story" will be released sometime over the next year on a Region 1 DVD. I suspect Criterion will issue it as part of their new Eclipse series: rare films released barebones without any extras.

I wrote to Criterion urging an Eclipse box of Welles' TV work - IMMORTAL STORY, FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, MAKING OF OTHELLO, OW'S SKETCHBOOK, IN THE LAND OF DON QUIXOTE, etc. - and though I heard nothing in return, I was pleased to note that someone else at the Criterion forum was suggesting the same idea.

Such a set really makes the most sense for the material. I don't see much commerical viability for any of these works as individual releases. It may be the only way we'll ever be able to get these titles on DVD.

[Nate H]

Criterion has written in response to a few people's recent requests (mostly about Chimes, I believe) that they are not planning on acquiring the rights to anymore Welles films. I've seen that posted in a couple different places, all since CC released F for Fake/Arkadin. That was surprising to me because I thought both of those had been big sellers for CC but that is just speculation on my part.

That said, I certainly hope they've since changed their minds. I remember when TCM showed Immortal Story back in '05 for the Welles 90th birthday deal, that it was prefaced with the Janus films logo.

[The Night Man]

Criterion has written in response to a few people's recent requests (mostly about Chimes, I believe) that they are not planning on acquiring the rights to anymore Welles films.

A pity if true.

I remember when TCM showed Immortal Story back in '05 for the Welles 90th birthday deal, that it was prefaced with the Janus films logo.

Janus has long held the North American distribution rights to IMMORTAL STORY, so Criterion could release it tomorrow if they wanted to without having to license a thing. I just can't imagine it being released as a stand-alone disc, though.

Indeed let's hope that they've changed their minds about licensing...

[colwood]

I've heard that as well...that Criterion isn't licensing Welles titles at this time. It is a pity. Since Welles has a canon of only 12 features, I think Eclipse would be perfect for his TV or unfinished work. Then again, if Munich ever did license the work out, as they have hoped for a while now, I would prefer it to have some type of extras, even if only one doc about the work itself. Didn't know that Janus holds the rights to the Immortal Story. It would be great if Criterion released it so I could get rid of this damn dvd with forced subs...but I too doubt they would release this film as a stand-alone.

Not to go too far off topic, but over at Criterion forum, in the same thread referenced here, I thought somebody said that they just released a set of Welles' TV work in Portugal. Anyone know anything about that?

[Tony]

It's strange how Welles is hotter than ever in terms of book releases, but Criterion has decided no more dvds... I too thought that Fake and Arkadin did well for them; sure got great reviews and press. And when they were releasing laser discs, I beleieve Criterion put out Kane, Ambersons, Shanghai, Macbeth, Othello, Arkadin, Evil and Fake.

So why stop now?
???

[Cyberstrike]

It's strange how Welles is hotter than ever in terms of book releases, but Criterion has decided no more dvds... I too thought that Fake and Arkadin did well for them; sure got great reviews and press. And when they were releasing laser discs, I beleieve Criterion put out Kane, Ambersons, Shanghai, Macbeth, Othello, Arkadin, Evil and Fake.

So why stop now?
???

In one word: money.

It's costs them a lot of money to get the rights, restore, and too get special features on the DVD and then release them.
Also adding to the problem is that a lot of studioes like Warner Bros and MGM seem to have a have either mistrust or downright hatred of Criterion, seeing that they pulled films out of the collection "as protecting their rights".

Even Universal seems to be wary of granting them the rights to any more of their film libary other than The Last Tempation of Christ and Spartcus (and I was very surprised that did that with Sparticus)

Sony doesn't seem to have any intrest in releasing The Lady From Shanghai on one of their own labels much less letting Criterion do it.

I agree with you Wells is a pretty hot right now and Criterion should be trying to release Chimes at Midmight, MacBeth, Othettlo, and The Trial on DVD. But the question is will "mainstream" (I hate that term) America will want to buy them?
Why do you think certian films like Robocop, Silence of the Lambs, Chasing Amy, The Rock and Armageddon got released in the Criterion Collection? It was too make the Criterion Collection more appleaing to "mainstream" America.

[glk]

I'm shocked that I couldn't finish watching this. I think I wasn't giving it my all, but it seemed either ponderous or amateurish.

I couldn't get into it either. It's only an hour and I shut it down half way through. I thought Orson was hammy and the lead guy playing his assistant just wasn't interesting. Pretty weak overall, but maybe it has a great ending.

[Harvey Chartrand]

I think Orson got a little too full of himself on this one, a little too self-consciously arty, pandering to all those intellectual European film critics who tended to gush over "l'univers wellesien". There isn't a trace of Orson's old American sense of fun and flair in this turgid, pretentious (and sloppily made) chamber piece. (And God, how I detest that bloodless Erik Satie score!)
Along with Michelangelo Antonioni's ZABRISKIE POINT, THE IMMORTAL STORY is probably the worst film ever made by a great director.
It's sad to see how Orson's directing talent had declined since THE TRIAL, made only five years earlier. His acting talent seems to have suffered as well. He wasn't giving 100% in THE IMMORTAL STORY, which to me indicates a lack of commitment to the project. His Mr. Clay is a very lazy performance, not helped by his phoniest makeup since MR. ARKADIN. The fact that Jeanne Moreau is able to come out of this slow-moving mess looking pretty good is a testament to her acting ability and tarnished beauty.
I watched THE IMMORTAL STORY to the bitter end so I would never have to watch it again.