Why not on Netflix?


Why is this movie not available on Netflix? I see plenty of new and used copies on Amazon.

The explanations I can construct (other than Netflix is crazy) are either that there is something wrong about the distribution of this film or the producers and Netflix cannot agree upon money issues.

If there's something wrong about the distribution of the film then the copies for sale on Amazon may be counterfeit. Or perhaps a new DVD edition is in the works.

On the other hand, if it's a problem between Netflix and the owners of the film then I'll be happy to buy a copy via Amazon, provided it's not a bootleg.

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I didn't really research its availability on amazon so I assumed that since it wasn't on Netflix it wasn't on DVD so I went to the local video rental place to get it on VHS and I was shocked to see it was on DVD.

"I'm like a medieval craftsman ... with a Porsche."
- Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

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The good news is that I got it on DVD via Amazon for under $7.00 ! Cheers!

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jcpo wrote: "The good news is that I got it on DVD via Amazon for under $7.00 ! Cheers!"

As did I. My local bricks'n'mortar video rental had the VHS, and I'd had Topsy on my Netflix Queue, in the "When Netflix gets it" status. (I'd guessed that that status was Netflix way of sizing the demand for an obscure title they didn't have yet: when it rose above a certain minimum, they'd procure it.

Bootleg copy? Actually, Grey Market. The fine print on my box says: "Liscensed for Sale in Canada Only". I'm in the USA, as was the vendor selling through Amazon.

Does a grey market copy bother me? If Atlantic Alliance and October Films can't be bothered to tell us why they can manage to liscense for Canada and not the USA, I won't tell them how I got my copy, bought and delievered in this country.

I will relay this story about Amazon's "used copies" which was told a few months back on an NPR show by a writer who had struggled to get his first book to market. He googled his title a week or two before its release date, and Amazon was among the hits. There he found he could buy a used copy for 50% of list price. Used copy? The book hadn't even been released yet! Clearly a fall-off-the-back-of-a-truck pipeline to Amazon's side-window market.

That aside, I enjoyed the heck out of my DVD which arrived yesterday.
mrbl

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We can hope a new edition is in the works; the original DVD release seems to have gone out of print. All the copies on Amazon are used. This is probably why it's not available from Netflix - I imagine they require an enormous stock or at least a ready source of replacement copies.

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Good point about Netflix' quantity problem. I got my copy (new) from videoplanet.com in Canada. Best of luck.

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