Re: [Videolib] Anthony Mann's Fall of the Roman Empire

James Steffen (jsteffe@emory.edu)
Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:30:29 -0400

As far as I can tell, THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE and the other Samuel
Bronston-produced epics (EL CID, 55 DAYS AT PEKING, etc.) have never
been "officially" released on DVD in the US. It probably has something
to do with rights issues for the entire slate of Bronston films. There
are a lot of DVD versions of the films for sale on Amazon, but they're
evidently either imports or grey market/bootleg versions.

A contributor to Home Theater Forum has written that Weinstein had
acquired the rights to these films and would be releasing them on DVD
soon, but I was unable to verify that elsewhere.

As for the VHS tape released Best Film & Video--it might actually be OK
*if* it's an original. The same company put out very nice letterboxed
laserdsics of the Bronston epics via Image Entertainment back in the
1990s. But I would verify with the seller that the VHS is letterboxed
before purchasing it. THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE was shot in the very
wide Ultra Panvision format, so as much as half the image would
necessarily be cut off in a pan & scan video transfer. I can't imagine
that it would even be watchable that way.

Let's hope for legitimate, well-mastered Region 1 DVDs of these films!

Cheers,
James Steffen

-- 
James M. Steffen, Ph.D.
Film Studies and Media Librarian
Theater Studies Subject Liaison
Marian K. Heilbrun Music and Media Library
Emory University
540 Asbury Circle
Atlanta, GA 30322-2870


Phone: (404) 727-8107
FAX: (404) 727-2257
Email: jsteffe@emory.edu




Quoting Brian Boling <brian.boling@vanderbilt.edu>:


> Does anyone know whether Anthony Mann's "Fall of the Roman Empire" is 
> available as a legitimately released, region 1 DVD?
>
> If it isn't, can anyone tell me whether the "Best Film & Video Co." 
> VHS version I've seen advertised on Amazon is legitimate?  One of the 
> customer comments makes me wonder, but that may reflect more on an 
> unscrupulous seller than on the VHS version itself...
>
> Thanks,
> Brian.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Brian Boling
> Library Assistant
> Government Information/Media Services
> Vanderbilt University
> Email: brian.boling@Vanderbilt.Edu
> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of 
> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, 
> acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current 
> and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It 
> is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for 
> video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between 
> libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and 
> distributors.
>
>
>










VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.