Makes me sad...


that no one else has really posted about how much they enjoy this movie. Yes, there are better versions, but this gets points for Charles Laughton - excellent!

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[deleted]

I agree wholeheartedly!

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Just watched it again , seen it many times.
I love it.

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DVD PLEASE indeed. And a digitally enhanced one at that. Not a cheepy version.

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How could any version be better than one with Charles Laughton and Margaret O'Brien in it? BLASPHEMY!!

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I do apologize. I should have said 'closer to the original story by Mr. Wilde'...but I should never have implied that the other versions were better.

I am ashamed of myself.

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I recognized Miss O'Brien as soon as I heard her voice... something about it I find very pleasing as a child's voice.

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lovely film , wish i could get a copy

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Yes, it's a shame it's not offered on DVD. Still, I'm happy to see a least a few posts on its message board. Maybe one of us should start a post about the blood stain? Just kidding, I'm just very happy to see that people still visit this movie's page.

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My Mother loved this movie from the time she was a young girl. She introduced me to it as a child, and I have seen it a few times. I have a copy on an old VHS tape, but am a bit nervous about playing it.

I wish there was a DVD of the movie as well. The movie released in the 90's is on TV from time to time, but never the 1944 release.

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I caught it on TCM last month. I don't know how often they play it, but it would be a good place to look. You might be able to set up an alert on their website, or if you have it, thought the DVR on your television.

Hopefully, by now (eight years after your post), you have found a way to transfer it from your VHS to DVD. We have some things we need to transfer also.

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I agree with you. The later versions with Sir John Gielgud and Patrick Stewart may have had better special effects, but they lacked the humour and humanity of the 1944 version.

Like others have said, I would love whoever has the rights to this film to release it on digitally remastered DVD (in Australia too).

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I was lucky enough to Sky+ this recently, as I love Charles Laughton and always keep an eye out for his films. So glad I did as it was brilliant. Robert Young was a bit of a hotty and the story has held up well considering it was made in 1944. I hope it's gets it own DVD release soon - old films rule!

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You are all correct. This movie was so much a part of the times when it was made, that it seems sacrilegious to attempt to re-make the film. Charles Laughton was so perfect, and was well supported by everyone else in the film.

I WISH MGM(or is it TCM) WOULD GET OFF THEIR A**es AND RELEASE A GOOD DVD COPY OF THIS FINE FILM. Like the earlier poster said, "OLD FILMS ROCK!".

Gee, I wonder if that is because they paid attention to things like CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and STORY. Special Effects are only Special, IF THERE IS A REALLY GOOD STORY AND CHARACTERS to support them.

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LOL... you are right- this film does deserve more "board time." It was and still is a great piece of work. It was wonderful to watch as a child and truly appreciated watched as an adult. I always have warm memories of this film when I watched it (way back when) on the old series "Family Theater" (I think that is what it was called) with the wonderful host, Frazier Thomas each Sunday. Ahh.. life. ;)




Hey! I’m playing Sims 2, holding my WebKinz, creating creatures with Spore & playing e-Dolz. OKAY?!

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Same here - a childhood favorite from the first time I saw it. I have the other versions on DVD BUT I WANT THIS ONE MOST OF ALL!

There's another post with a link that takes you to where you can cast a vote to have this released on DVD. Please do it!

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Thank you, SmallTownSim, for reminding me about "Family Classics" with Frazier Thomas (also host of "Garfield Goose" -- remember that from the fifties, Chicagoans?), on every Sunday in the fall and winter on WGN, Channel 9 in Chicago.

I couldn't agree more with your comments. One of my favorite movies from my childhood, I still love watching it. The performances turned in by Charles Laughton, Robert Young, and Margaret O'Brien, as well as Reginald Owen as Lord Canterville, are superb. This is a film that has stood the test of time, and is one of those movies you can share comfortably with younger viewers.

I'm with the other commenters in this thread-- come on, MGM or Loew's or whoever the corporate heads are these days, get off the stick and release this treasure of a film on DVD!!! Loyal fans are tired of having to wait for the occasional screening of this film on TCM so we can enjoy it!


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This another great original. I watched many on network TV before infomercials and reality TV. It's disheartening the way so many prefer flashier versions with less substance. Last weekends Zemeckis X-mass carol mess had me yearning for my DVD copy of the early 70's Albert Finney version (Scrooge). I popped it in right after I got home:)

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Slim --

Thomas's show on Sunday evenings was Family Classics. Frazier Thomas & Fahey Flynn are my two most vivid memories of Greater Chicagoland-originated TV. Are there still locally-produced shows out there? I miss them....



dolceri ac dolcere

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For those in the UK it's being shown on 'TCM' next Wednesday (1st Oct) at 11.10 am

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If there are ‘better’ versions I wouldn’t know it because, so far as I know, I’ve never seen them nor seen anything to attract me to them.

However, I never miss this version when I happen upon it. One of the films I can’t seem to resist. One of my regular channel surf stoppers.

Young, Laughton and Miss Margaret O'Brien, not to mention an excellent supporting cast. I find it difficult to believe that anyone will ever find a way to top the 1944 version.


“Your thinking is untidy, like most so-called thinking today.” (Murder, My Sweet)

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I agree completely. By better I meant closer to the original Wilde story - poor choice of words on my part obviously!!

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I really enjoyed this; but I can also see enjoying the two versions that were discussed earlier on this board - patrick Stewart and Gielgud(?). It's like Father of the Bride... the original (Stewart/Taylor) is superb, but I can still enjoy the modern version. Philadelphia Story and High Society are the same; it is almost like instead of two versions, it is two different stories and I enjoy them both (and I think my preference for one or the other depends on my mood).

Now, when you get remakes like the abortion of Dr. Doolittle that starred Eddie Murphy, that is different. If they had stuck to the original story it could have been amazing - but they had to change the whole story, use too much comedy; it's not that I didn't enjoy it at all, but it should have been called something else - NOT Dr. Doolittle.

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