The good news, bad news from MGM/UA

The good
"Charly" (1968) DVD Release: 2004-10-19

"Featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Cliff Robertson as a mentally
retarded man who miraculously becomes a genius, this moving adaptation
of the novel 'Flowers for Algernon' is "definitely one to see""

The bad
Screen Format: UNK

<http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/cgi-bin/dvdcalc2?cmd=calc&tmpCart=38080>

Matthew

 

Well, at least UNK still allows for hope. I'm hoping.

doug

 

Since MGM's other CRC titles were released widescreen (eg. HELL IN
THE PACIFIC), it's a reasonably good bet that this one will be, too.

-- jayembee

 

One can only hope.

Matthew

 

Did a little more poking around. Looked up 17 CRC titles that MGM has
released or announced for release. 14 out of the 17 are specified as
being widescreen (I can't confirm most of them, as the only one in my
collection is IVY):

CUSTER OF THE WEST; FOR LOVE OF IVY; HELL IN THE PACIFIC;
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER; JUNIOR BONNER; THE LAST VALLEY;
A MINUTE TO PRAY, A SECOND TO DIE; SHALAKO; RING OF BRIGHT WATER;
SUPPOSE THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME; THEY SHOOT HORSES,
DON'T THEY?; TOO LATE THE HERO; and WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE?

Of the other three, two seem to be fullscreen releases:

LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS and TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN.

Leaving only CHARLY. Unfortunately, CHARLY is one of two of the titles
whose format/ratio is not specified by etailers. The other is the FS
title LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS. Which one might say doesn't bode
well for CHARLY.

On the other hand, LOVERS and MONEY are matted films, and the DVDs are
likely open-matte. CHARLY is an anamorphic film, and I can't at the
moment think of any anamorphically-shot films that MGM has released in
pan-&-scan.

-- jayembee

 

I've seen Charly somewhere or other listed as pan & scan (oh yeah,
cduniverse; they're pretty good about getting this stuff right). Also,
looks like They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is not anamorphic.

[MGM sucks sometimes, but then again two less DVDs to bother with...]

--Frank

 

Well, it's not much of a problem for me, as I have a Region 2 edition.

-- jayembee