Someone must have it in for swashbucklers. Or possibly for films with Oliver Reed and Charlton Heston, for how else do you explain the fact that the classic 1973 version of The Three Musketeers and its equally brilliant (1974) sequel are unavailable on DVD, let alone in Blue Ray format? Go ahead, try and order them through Netflix. Or the terrific 1990 TNT version of Treasure Island with Christopher Lee, Christian Bale and, yes, Oliver Reed again as Billy Bones and Charlton Heston as "the seafaring man with one leg". Then there's Topsy Turvey, a terrific costume flick from 1999, and if you have tossed your old VHS machine you are are fresh out of luck 'cause it never went to disc.
These are not obscure B movies from the black and white era. They are not films that appeal only to film 
snobs. Actually, with the possible exception of Topsy Turvey, they have a decidedly broad appeal as action adventure romps. Whereas the triad of Pirates of the Caribbean amount to little more than lurching, soulless, CG exploitation, these films are truly buried treasures. There is some hope for Oliver Reed, as Royal Flash came out at long last on DVD, but this is an exception and certainly not the rule.
So what other movies are out there lost on video and shamefully denied their disc debut? Who do you want to see on DVD?
More: (6/15/2008): Alert reader Jeanne discovers that the Musketeer Movies were released together on DVD and are available as The Complete Musketeers! Also that Topsy Turvey had a brief DVD run but is now out of print. .
I've been searching for Oliver Reed as Billy Bones on DVD for years. I don't Tweet, but somebody should - maybe this issue will be spotted and resolved!
Posted by: Robin Eshleman | December 15, 2010 at 02:41 PM
A comparison that pleases me greatly. Far better than either Mickey Dolenz or Jack Black. But judge for yourself: http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires/2007/02/family_archive__2.html
Posted by: Tim Abbott | June 16, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Is it mere coincidence that our humble corrsp. bears more than a passing resemblance to Mr. Reed?
Posted by: Jim | June 16, 2008 at 10:09 AM
I loved Monsignor Quixote! I still remember him trying to explain the Trinity with a wine bottle!
My choice: Billy Wilder's, 'Five Graves to Cairo' with Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, and Erich Von Stroheim as Rommel.
Posted by: The Tour Marm | June 15, 2008 at 06:29 PM
Topsy Turvy is indeed a wonder. Ed Broadbent is superb.
Others Not yet available on disc:
Les Amants de Teruel (Lovers of Teruel) a dance set in Spain and filmed by Claude Renoir in 1962. Gorgeous photography. A tragic fantasy romance.
Monsignor Quixote pairs Alec Guiness and Leo McKern in a film version of Graham Greene's retelling of Cervantes in modern Spain. Guiness is an elderly village priest who travels with Sancho (McKern), the village mayor, in the mayor's car named Rosinante. It was made for a TV show called Great Performances and hos appeared in the US in VHS. The only disc release was made for region 2.
--ml
Posted by: Martin Langeland | June 13, 2008 at 07:24 PM
Dear Berks ,
Sometimes litigation holds up DVD release . It seemed DeMille's "Unconquered " would never be released but it was ! I'd like to see "So Red the Rose " ( 1935 , I think ) , "The Royal African Rifles, The Green Years ,The Light that Failed , The Adventures of Mark Twain , and Lloyds of London ," for starters.
cordially ,
David Corbett
Posted by: David Corbett | June 13, 2008 at 09:27 AM