The African Queen

[Spock]

I really want to buy this movie-I saw indications it might come out on DVD this year-but no sign yet.

SSS-any insight on when it might come out on DVD?

I can't even rent it from Netflix-

I think the local library might have it on tape. I think my kids would like it.

[minimetoo26]

I wish I could remember the name of that site sss had told us about before, with the real obscure movies on DVD. I lose my favorites/bookmarks/whateverthebrowsercallsthem when my computer crashes, and it's happened twice since then...

[Bob Juch]

For whatever reason it's available on DVD in only Region 2 format.

[frogman042]

I'm assuming that you are not talking about the Bogart/Hepburn classic are you? If you are, I can't believe it is really that hard to find. I have it recorded off of TCM - they show it quite a bit.

If it is not that version - can you clue me in as to which movie you are referring to - and anything that you know about it?

Thanks,

---Jay (John Huston was born in this year of the 20th century - know the year and you will know the number of days until my episode airs)

[danielh41]

I'm assuming that you are not talking about the Bogart/Hepburn classic are you? If you are, I can't believe it is really that hard to find. I have it recorded off of TCM - they show it quite a bit.

If it is not that version - can you clue me in as to which movie you are referring to - and anything that you know about it?

Thanks,

---Jay (John Huston was born in this year of the 20th century - know the year and you will know the number of days until my episode airs)

The problem is that there has never been a legal Region 1 release of this movie. I don't know what the problem is. I'm hoping that they are waiting on a restoration of the original film, like "Singin' in the Rain," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," etc.., before releasing it. But who knows?

[earendel]

I'm assuming that you are not talking about the Bogart/Hepburn classic are you? If you are, I can't believe it is really that hard to find. I have it recorded off of TCM - they show it quite a bit.

If it is not that version - can you clue me in as to which movie you are referring to - and anything that you know about it?

Thanks,

---Jay (John Huston was born in this year of the 20th century - know the year and you will know the number of days until my episode airs)

The problem is that there has never been a legal Region 1 release of this movie. I don't know what the problem is. I'm hoping that they are waiting on a restoration of the original film, like "Singin' in the Rain," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," etc.., before releasing it. But who knows?

So what's the difference between the regions in terms of format?

[danielh41]

I'm assuming that you are not talking about the Bogart/Hepburn classic are you? If you are, I can't believe it is really that hard to find. I have it recorded off of TCM - they show it quite a bit.

If it is not that version - can you clue me in as to which movie you are referring to - and anything that you know about it?

Thanks,

---Jay (John Huston was born in this year of the 20th century - know the year and you will know the number of days until my episode airs)

The problem is that there has never been a legal Region 1 release of this movie. I don't know what the problem is. I'm hoping that they are waiting on a restoration of the original film, like "Singin' in the Rain," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," etc.., before releasing it. But who knows?

So what's the difference between the regions in terms of format?

I should say a Region 1 (which is all of North America) DVD release. The movie has been released on VHS, but after watching DVDs and now Blu-rays, VHS sucks...

[Bob Juch]

I'm assuming that you are not talking about the Bogart/Hepburn classic are you? If you are, I can't believe it is really that hard to find. I have it recorded off of TCM - they show it quite a bit.

If it is not that version - can you clue me in as to which movie you are referring to - and anything that you know about it?

Thanks,

---Jay (John Huston was born in this year of the 20th century - know the year and you will know the number of days until my episode airs)

The problem is that there has never been a legal Region 1 release of this movie. I don't know what the problem is. I'm hoping that they are waiting on a restoration of the original film, like "Singin' in the Rain," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," etc.., before releasing it. But who knows?

So what's the difference between the regions in terms of format?

Region 2 is PAL, not NTSC.

[earendel]

The problem is that there has never been a legal Region 1 release of this movie. I don't know what the problem is. I'm hoping that they are waiting on a restoration of the original film, like "Singin' in the Rain," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," etc.., before releasing it. But who knows?

So what's the difference between the regions in terms of format?

Region 2 is PAL, not NTSC.

That's not very helpful.

[Spock]

I'm assuming that you are not talking about the Bogart/Hepburn classic are you? If you are, I can't believe it is really that hard to find. I have it recorded off of TCM - they show it quite a bit.

If it is not that version - can you clue me in as to which movie you are referring to - and anything that you know about it?

Thanks,

---Jay (John Huston was born in this year of the 20th century - know the year and you will know the number of days until my episode airs)

I don't have cable (or satellite).

Until I got Netflix it was relatively difficult for me to rent classic movies-because of the distance and pain of returning them (and limited selection of older movies)

[silverscreenselect]

I really want to buy this movie-I saw indications it might come out on DVD this year-but no sign yet.

SSS-any insight on when it might come out on DVD?

I can't even rent it from Netflix-

I think the local library might have it on tape. I think my kids would like it.

I've just gotten back in town from my trip to San Diego and I'm trying to catch up on posts. For everyone's sake, I will refrain on commenting on old political threads, but I did want to discuss this one.

Usually, when a classic older film is not released on DVD at this point in time, there's one of two reasons. Either there's a dispute about the rights to the title or the original film elements are in bad shape and no one wants to spend the money to restore them. Neither appears to be the case with African Queen. The video rights to this movie have been bounced around and CBS apparently owns them. They just haven't gotten around to releasing it on DVD.

It may be a money issue. For a movie like this, film fans will expect a special edition with documentaries, commentary, etc., and that costs money which they may not be willing to spend right now. I have to think that it's going to be released in the reasonably near future, especially since the number of "in demand' older titles keeps getting less and less.

The film has been released in Region 2 (Europe) in a good transfer. You could but it off Amazon or find Ebay copies fairly easily. In order to play it, you would either need an all-region DVD player or do a software hack on a standard DVD player to make it all region.

PAL and NTSC are two different broadcast television formats. NTSC is standard in North America and PAL is standard in Europe. If you take your US television and go to Europe, it won't work. The main difference is the number of lines of resolution in the picture. PAL has more lines of resolution (and a theoretically sharper picture) from top to bottom than NTSC. NTSC has a higher frame rate per second than PAL which balances that out to a certain extent. An all region DVD player would take a PAL DVD and convert it to an NTSC format so you could watch it on your television set.