Just Where DO Old Films Go To Die?

Author
Discussion

alfaspecial

Original Poster:

1,124 posts

140 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
...... Freeview Channel 81 "TALKING PICTURES TV"

I had a conversation, a while back, with a friend and we talked about "Just Where DO Old Films Go To Die?"


You know, the films we can all remember from our youth; not (necessarily) 'big' hits at the cinema, but the sort of films that ALWAYS seemed to be on tv and then disappeared seemingly forever.......

An example: Hannibal Brooks https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064403/
A prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and he takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together they head for the Swiss border and freedom. Dir Michael Winner - Stars Oliver Reed

I remember seeing it, as a 10 year old, on tv, back in the mid 70's. I enjoyed it (at the time). It then seemed to be on television just about every Sunday, so it must of been popular? But..... Have you ever seen or heard of it since?
I checked on Amazon and, for an 'old' film, it's expensive - an indication of a lack of popularity, I suppose.


Flicking through this weeks tv, in the Telegraph's Culture section and, on Channel 81 (Freeview) Talking Pictures TV, they are showing another couple of films that, like Hannibal Brooks were very popular as tv repeats years ago - but never seemed to make it as DVD releases and are (seemingly) never shown on regular tv today.


So, do these ring any bells?
Tuesday 9th Feb @ 6.55 Sewers of Gold (aka Dirty Money, aka The Great Riviera Bank Robbery) staring Ian McShane - a heist movie, based on actual events, involving (fascist) criminals tunnelling through sewers into a bank's vaults.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079238/
see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_%C3%89gouts_du_p...
Actual events: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Spaggiari




Or, how about
Wednesday 10th Feb @ 9pm Rough Cut Crime comedy starring Burt Reynolds and Lesley-Anne Down
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081439/




Anyone recall and other old movies that have seemingly 'disappeared' ?


vixen1700

22,859 posts

270 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
The Girl on a Motorcycle was a regular (and firm favourite) on telly late at night when I was a teenager, haven't seen it on Talking Pictures or anything for a while.
Probably hideously dated now though.

mygoldfishbowl

3,697 posts

143 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
vixen1700 said:
The Girl on a Motorcycle was a regular (and firm favourite) on telly late at night when I was a teenager, haven't seen it on Talking Pictures or anything for a while.
Probably hideously dated now though.
That was on talking pictures recently and yes, it was dated but in a good way.

vixen1700

22,859 posts

270 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
mygoldfishbowl said:
That was on talking pictures recently and yes, it was dated but in a good way.
getmecoat

Oh right, must have missed that then.

mygoldfishbowl

3,697 posts

143 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
Strange thing is I cant remember when but might have been December. It was on at least twice because I remember seeing the trailer for it but missed the advertised time, but then found it on about a week later.

thegreenhell

15,278 posts

219 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
What about that other Burt Reynolds classic, Hooper? Along with Smokey & the Bandit and Cannonball Run, it was staple viewing when I was a kid, but haven't seen it or heard of it for many years, whereas the others are still regularly repeated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooper_(film)

FiF

44,047 posts

251 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
The answer to the question posed in the title, is that old films got to die, or more correctly get a second lease of life is....

Watford, Hertfordshire.

And specifically in the front room and garden office of a family home, pictured below.




Noel Cronin and his daughter, Sarah Cronin-Stanley, at home in their Talking Pictures studio. Photograph: Neill Stanley / Talking Pictures TV

https://www.filmstories.co.uk/features/talking-pic...

link

alfaspecial

Original Poster:

1,124 posts

140 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
FiF,

Thanks for the links.
Great to see a tv channel run by genuine enthusiasts - I had rather assumed the eclectic selection was mostly 'out of copyright' films
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_the...



anonymous-user

54 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
A lot of them seem to end up on Samsung TV plus freeview channels as well. I saw the Philadelphia experiment on there the other day, not seen that on TV since the 90s.

There is also a channel that plays nothing but Laurel and Hardy, I suspect you could count the viewers on the fingers of one hand.

alfaspecial

Original Poster:

1,124 posts

140 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
Joey Deacon said:
A lot of them seem to end up on Samsung TV plus freeview channels as well. I saw the Philadelphia experiment on there the other day, not seen that on TV since the 90s.

There is also a channel that plays nothing but Laurel and Hardy, I suspect you could count the viewers on the fingers of one hand.
or not....


P5BNij

15,875 posts

106 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
In the mid '80s BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 had a phase of showing some long forgotten (in some cases) cult classics late at night, one or two of which have never been shown on terrestrial TV since then, those that I remember watching at the time were....

Blow Up - David Hemmings, Venessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Peter Bowles and Jane Birkin

Morgan : A Suitable Case For Treatment - David Warner and Venessa Redgrave

Only When I Larf - Dickie Attenborough, David Hemmings and Alexandra Stewart

The Killing Of Sister George - Beryl Reid, Susannah York, Ronald Fraser and Coral Browne

Entertaining Mr.Sloane - Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews and Peter McEnery

X,Y & Z (also known as Zee & Co) - Michael Caine, Liz Taylor and Susannah York

Secret Ceremony - Liz Taylor and Mia Farrow

Kaleidascope - Warren Beatty, Susannah York and Clive Reville

Perfect Friday - Stanley Baker, David Warner and Ursula Andress

Goodbye Gemini - Michael Redgrave, Judy Geeson, Freddie Jones and Martin Potter

Satan's Slave - Martin Potter and Michael Gough

Privilege - Paul Jones and Jean Shrimpton

The Offence - Sean Connery, Trevor Howerd, Ian Bannen, Vivien Merchant and Peter Bowles

Up The Junction - Dennis Waterman, Suzy Kendall, Adriena Posta, Maurene Lipman and Michael Gotthard

Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush - Judy Geeson, Barry Evans, Denholm Elliot and Diane Keen

The Man Who Haunted Himself - Roger Moore, Anton Rogers, Hildegard Neil, Freddie Jones and Olga Georges Picot

Performance - James Fox, Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg

Villain - Richard Burton, Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Collin Welland, Joss Ackland, Donald Sinden, Del Henney and Tony Selby

Robbery - Stanley Baker, George Sewell, William Marlowe, Joanna Petit and James Booth

Accident - Stanley Baker, Dirk Bogarde, Harold Pinter, Delphine Seyrig, Michael York and Vivien Merchant

The Servant - James Fox, Wendy Craig, Dirk Bogarde and Sarah Miles

Two Lane Blacktop - James Taylor, Dennis Wilson and Warren Oates

It's only in recent years that some have been shown again regularly, Kaleidoscope being the exception and as far as I'm aware it's never been released on dvd. I'm glad to see some of them resurfacing on Talking pictures, despite having all but one of them on dvd wink





Edited by P5BNij on Monday 8th February 16:23


Edited by P5BNij on Monday 8th February 16:24

ch37

10,642 posts

221 months

Monday 8th February 2021
quotequote all
alfaspecial said:
Anyone recall and other old movies that have seemingly 'disappeared' ?
Dogma.

Personally owned by Harvey Weinstein. Kevin Smith (or indeed anyone else, including distributors who did have rights to it) is unable to get it back or do anything with it.

Hundreds of films have been lost in a similar fashion, particularly with the move to streaming as that requiries a new set of distribution rights to be agreed in many cases.






Edited by ch37 on Monday 8th February 16:56

alfaspecial

Original Poster:

1,124 posts

140 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
TV schedule: https://talkingpicturestv.co.uk/schedule/


'Car' themes this week include Vespas (today) & Austins
Sat 13 Feb 21 12:00 Austin Golden Jubilee Its August 1972 and at Longbridge we follow the celebration of the Golden Jubilee with as many Austin's possible!




LordGrover

33,538 posts

212 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
Thanks to this topic I've added Talking Pictures to my favourites - looks great to me.
Now I just need to find the time to sit down and watch it.

Halmyre

11,183 posts

139 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
Heist - bank robbery caper with Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn
Steelyard Blues - counter-culture comedy with Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda
Sharky's Machine - crime thriller with Burt Reynolds

steveatesh

4,897 posts

164 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
All of the Hammer House of Horror shows with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Used to watch them with my mam on a Friday night in my teens.

The Will Hay movies, can’t recall the name of the film but the one where they were involved in a railway ghost train heist thing.....

And one that stands out, Forbidden Planet with Leslie Nielsen and Walter Pidgeon, love that show but have not seen it for ages.

coppernorks

1,919 posts

46 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
I suspect films, like any asset, are subject to industry purchase and stuff, so, e.g. Walmart will buy up all Warner Bros films and just sit on them.
or the director or their production co. will take the decision not to put his/her films up for TV or cinema distribution.

Some of Hitchcock's best films due to legal wrangling were never seen for many years, Vertigo, Man Who Knew Too Much, Trouble With Harry.

Kubrick vetoed all showings of Clockwork Orange, not sure if that is still the case.

BryanC

1,107 posts

238 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
steveatesh said:
All of the Hammer House of Horror shows with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Used to watch them with my mam on a Friday night in my teens.

The Will Hay movies, can’t recall the name of the film but the one where they were involved in a railway ghost train heist thing.....

And one that stands out, Forbidden Planet with Leslie Nielsen and Walter Pidgeon, love that show but have not seen it for ages.
Will Hay did 'Oh Mr Porter' while Arthur Askey starred in the famous 'Ghost Train', written by Arnold Ridley ( Godfrey in Dad's Army ). Both basically the same story and great fun.

105.4

4,065 posts

71 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
Whilst we’re on a broadly similar subject, although I’m now referring to TV shows as opposed to films, I’d love to see re-runs of
1) The Adventures of Neat & Tidy, (originally aired on C4, staring the beautiful Tina Tidy).
2), Dungeons & Dragons, the kids cartoon
3), a TV show that was on BBC in the early-mid 80’s about a female racing driver. All I can remember is that she was from up North and raced a Mini.

Scrump

21,966 posts

158 months

Tuesday 9th February 2021
quotequote all
105.4 said:
Whilst we’re on a broadly similar subject, although I’m now referring to TV shows as opposed to films, I’d love to see re-runs of

3), a TV show that was on BBC in the early-mid 80’s about a female racing driver. All I can remember is that she was from up North and raced a Mini.
Driving Ambition