Merv Griffin Show DVD - 40 of the Most Interestin - upcoming DVD release

[RayKelly]

Found this on TVSHOWSONDVD.COM
The 3 DVD set due March 28 includes some Orson material...

The Merv Griffin Show - 40 of the Most Interesting People of Our Time

Release Information:
Studio: Alpha Video
Release Date: 3/28/2006
Number of Discs: 3
Retail Price: $29.95 (US$)
Video: Full Frame (1.33:1)

Description:

As host of his eponymous talk show for nearly a quarter of a century, Merv Griffin said his audience saw him as "every mother's favorite son-in-law." Merv was the man who brought glamour and laughter into America's homes, but didn't shy away from spotlighting serious cultural leaders, controversial figures of the day, or mostly unknowns like Jerry Seinfeld and Tom Cruise.

The three-discs of this initial set are filled with over five hours of remarkable interviews, including four United States Presidents (Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan); Hollywood royalty like John Wayne, Ingrid Bergman and Orson Welles; and titled royalty like Princess Grace.

Culled from the 5,500 shows and 25,000 guests that appeared on the talk-show during its historic broadcast run, The Merv Griffin Show highlights such memorable visits as these:

Ingrid Bergman talks about the legacy of Casablanca
Martin Luther King, Jr., with Harry Belafonte at his side, discusses civil rights
Kennedy matriarch Rose (the only guest who ever intimidated Merv) philosophizes on raising children and dealing with tragedy
A young Jane Fonda and her then-husband, director Roger Vadim, talk about life on their French farm
Richard Burton tells why the Welsh are unique and talks about Elizabeth Taylor
A very young Tom Cruise chats about his breakthrough role in 1983's Risky Business
Orson Welles reminisces about Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth (when Merv asked Orson what motivated him to date Rita, Orson replied "Sheer chutzpah!")
Princess Grace of Monaco recalls her films with Alfred Hitchcock
A "Baretta"-era Robert Blake shares the stage with David Niven.

[Store Hadji]

I saw an add for a Dick Cavett set as well - appearances by great comedians. It would be great to see a set with more of Welles' appearances on the show. Interviewers of Cavett's sweetness and humbleness are extinct these days.

[RayKelly]

A decade ago I read an article about Merv. He was talking about doing an all Welles video compilation. I cannot imagine there would be a large market for it..

[Glenn Anders]

Ray: A few weeks ago I did a post here (can't find it now) about hearing Griffin tell Tom Snyder that he had 600 hours of Welles on video tape, from both public and private sessions. He said that Welles was the best interview subject of any major entertainment figure he ever came across.

Once again, if my memory is accurate, and the interview tape is in good shape (evidently it is, going by your inititial post), I think that the completion and release of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND would be the key to the viability of a commercial release of a DVD or series of DVD's from this material. In his own interest, and those of his heirs, Griffin is canny and still powerful enough to hold a DVD issue until the psychological moment.

After all, think of some of the strange stuff from ancient TV which turns up at Blockbuster these days. "The Amazing World of Kreskin" and "Krypto the Superdog" on DVD, for instance, were announced for early release, this weekend. They must have fans. Welles has them, too, as we know. Possibly even more fans than Krypto does!

Well . . . .

Glenn

[RayKelly]

Glenn,
You're right. They put out lesser stuff all the time and it sells.
Ray
PS - I bought Krypto (for the kids)

[Harvey Chartrand]

I have to admire your optimism.
A DVD of Welles-Merv Griffin interview sessions will never be released.THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND will never be released. Ever. We're lucky to see a few fragments of the work-in-progress, because that's all were gonna get. No producer or studio will spend $10 or $20 million assembling a film that 500 people will want to see. Welles was never box office in his lifetime, and he isn't a big draw two decades after his death. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND has no big name actors. John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich are great directors and fine actors, but not huge draws in 2006. Cameron Mitchell, Susan Strasberg, Edmond O'Brien -- all are disappearing from the public consciousness. Even in the early seventies, they were finding it harder to get work, which is why they are in the non-union production THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

We aging boomers won't let go of our death grip on the culture, but it's being pried off by the new generations that are rising up. These younger folk may be pygmies following in the footsteps of giants, but they are starting to wrest control of the culture away from the boomers.
And it's the boomers and what is left of the Greatest Generation who remember Welles and his works.
There just isn't any big market for Wellesorabilia... So there!

By the way, Harlan Ellison wrote a fantastic essay on this cultural phenomenon entitled SLIPPAGE, which I urge you all to read.

[Store Hadji]

I hate to piss on your pessimism, Harv, but there was a time I never thought I'd see any of Don Quixote or It's All True... I'd be more surprised if Wind never came out, in one form or another. However, WHEN is a question I won't even ask.

[Harvey Chartrand]

Store,
'Tisn't pessimism.
'Tis realism.
As for DON QUIXOTE and IT'S ALL TRUE, they are but shards, surviving fragments of the original masterworks. And in both cases these films were edited by Orson's acolytes and admirers, not by the Great One himself. These glimpses into Welles' unfinished projects are but tantalizing remnants of the great works of art that might have been...

[Jeff Wilson]

OSOTW is less a victim of no one wanting to pay for it than it is of the people actually involved in getting it done. I don't think there's much of a question it could make back the moderate investment it would require to finish it, given the worldwide DVD market, future home video formats, and the limited theatrical screenings it would receive. Unfortunately, the question is whether the people who could make it happen will actually do so. From what I have heard, I think it's more complicated than simple dollars and cents.

[Harvey Chartrand]

I do apologize for being such a profound pessimist on this subject, but the release of the full-length TOSOTW is as likely to happen as peace breaking out in the Middle East.
Like some other old-timers here, I have been waiting for TOSOTW since the two clips were shown on the American Film Institute tribute to Orson Welles – almost 31 years ago.
I consider myself fortunate to have seen the clips from TOSOTW that appear in the superb documentary THE ONE-MAN BAND (on the Criterion DVD of F for FAKE).
And that's all I'm gonna see before I shed the mortal coil.

[Glenn Anders]

Jeff is correct. If the footage is there, and in good shape, as I've stipulated several times, money is not really the question. The people who control the footage, and the talent who can put it all together, is the question. At least, that's my bet.

Harvey, I know that many of us are frustrated, but after 31 years, we should have hope a little longer. Let's see how the Criterion MR. ARKADIN is received. If it gets good reviews, and some media coverage, let's anticipate what the summer or early fall may bring.

Have Faith, Harvey!

Glenn

[Store Hadji]

Did Welles as Star of the Month on TCM draw any media attention? Did F for Fake get attention/good reviews? I'm not sneering at you, Glenn, I just don't know. I'd like nothing more than if a new Welles-starved demographic appeared.

[Glenn Anders]

So, I guess you are saying, neither of us is the wiser, Hadji.

Let's build on that, and find out what time will tell us.

Soon, I hope.

Glenn