I can't find this movie anywhere. I haven't made use of a lot of resources yet, other than calling several video stores, but it's definitely not easy to find. Does anyone know where to get this movie? Or, can anyone offer good leads on searching for access to it (or other hard to find titles)?
Many thanks,
Henry (SF bay area, CA)
Good luck Henry! It's one of my favourite films - the kid in it is a really great actor, but I reckon you'll be hard pressed to find a copy. I think I taped it from TV several years ago, butGod knows what I did with the tape and it'll be in UK format anyway. Sandy Mackendrick, the director, taught at a Californian college umtil his death. Maybe they have an archive of his work. The scenes between Fergus McLelland and Edward G Robinson were my faves.
Rarevideo.com has a copy of "A Boy Ten Feet Tall," the USA-release version of "Sandy Going South," which was shortened by about 20 minutes. Make sure you read carefully the description to find out exactly what you would be getting.
http://www.rarevideo.com/moreinfo.asp?ID=41612&button=y
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Does anyone even know if it was ever available on VHS in US?
share[deleted]
I can't say for sure about a US VHS release, but it was once available in the UK in the very early rental-only days - I'm sure of this because some years ago I found a PAL VHS ex-rental copy on a market stall for next to nothing (the seller obviously didn't know what it was). The quality of the copy is very poor - it was clearly made from a scratchy old print and the sound is linear without Dolby so muffled and noisy. But it's a genuine MGM rental copy of the full UK version, and there must be a few more about somewhere.
I believe that the UK Channel 4 has the TV rights as it was shown on that channel about 10 years ago when I taped it - that tape is actually beter than the MGM original! But both copies are pan-and-scan and cut off a lot of the material.
The film has a small but dedicated following, and definetely needs a new release on DVD. We should all petition MGM to do something about it.
http://www.yammeringmagpie.com/catalog/index.php
shareIf you are going to buy a copy hold out for a letterboxed version. I recently bought one that was matted to a 1.85 ratio and it was a huge improvement over my full frame version and you could see a lot more of the picture. It must have come from a U.K. airing recently and was very good quality. Unless it gets a legit widescreen (2.35 ratio) DVD release it is probably the best you can do.
shareIt's being released this year on dvd in the UK in June.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sammy-Going-South-Fergus-McClelland/dp/B002VD5S4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1275507198&sr=8-1