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Re: Re: Re: Re: Of lost copyrights, mental lapses and a pure lack of foresight?

Thanks for the explaination, Rush.

I wonder, then, why there hasn't been "suitable" prints found for the rest of the Monogram Chans then?

I hear ya on your take of the preservation issue - hence my use of the phrase "lack of foresight".

I remember reading somewhere that more than a few studios decades ago used to re-master/make new copies of their catalog on new stock every 20 years or so as a form of preservation.....

Re: Of lost copyrights, mental lapses and a pure lack of foresight?

Monogram Studios wasn't known as a "Poverty Row" studio for nothing. Everything was done on the cheap which included asset preservation. They simply didn't have the means to preserve their prints the way the major studios did.

As Rush said, Warners is the latest in a long line of owners of these prints. They can only work with what they inherited, which isn't much. Consequently they need to upgrade the quality of some of their titles to get a marketable DVD produced. In my opinion, the Monograms couldn't be in better hands since Warners is known for having one of the best restoration teams around.

As for the timing of the releases, it is my speculation that they are waiting for Fox to exhaust their titles before putting theirs on the market. From a business perspective it makes more sense to do it that way.

Regarding "public domain"...very few films from the major studios are in the public domain. Bootleggers will tell you otherwise as a way to justify their sales. The films that tend to be in public domain are those made by independent studios that no longer exist.

Steve