Hello giulio-ga,
Apparently other John Wayne fans are wondering the same thing. The
Washington Times responded to this question ten days ago:
" Dear Phantom: Any word on availability of 'The High and the Mighty'
and 'Island in the Sky'? These are two of my favorite John Wayne
films, and neither of them has come to the VHS/DVD market.
— Frank Swofford, Vienna, Va.
Copyright issues seem to be holding up the homevideo releases of those
1950s Duke classics, both directed by William Wellman; we hope they
will touch down on DVD in the near future."
"Arresting murder yarn becomes fight for justice" (May 1, 2003) [under
"Phan Mail" at bottom of page]
The Washington Times
http://washingtontimes.com/weekend/20030501-11821084.htm
One fan has described the copyright issues this way:
"The movie's copyrights are presently in dispute over which company
has the right to re-release the film to VHS and DVD. Wayne - Fellows
Productions was the first of Wayne's production companies and the
forerunner of BATJAC. When the partnership ended in 1954 the rights
to the companies seven films were worked out with the exception of
'The High and the Mighty' and 'Island in the Sky', both of which were
Co-produced with Warner Brothers. Warners and BATJAC have been
fighting over the re-release rights since the 1970's when Warners
wanted to release the two films for TV viewing and BATJAC stopped
them. From there the fight was expanded to VHS and DVD rights. The
film has not been seen since the mid-sixties." (This explanation
notes that it was briefly available to a limited extent on 16mm.)
Google Cache of "Frequently Asked Questions" [Note: The current
version of this page does not have this content]
Newt's John Wayne Site
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:GeoVOojqgwQC:www.jwaynefan.com/FAQ.html
A 2002 Forbes article noted that Michael Wayne, John Wayne's son, "has
received several very substantial offers to take these movies out of
the vault, but so far, no dice, pilgrim. It doesn't appear that
Michael is holding out for more money, since he and his siblings don't
draw salaries from Wayne Enterprises and all profit generated by its
merchandising go to The John Wayne Cancer Institute."
"The Lost Films Of John Wayne", by Penelope Patsuris (08.16.02)
Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/2002/08/16/0816wayne_print.html
Michael Wayne recently passed away. A thread on
rec.arts.movies.past-films discusses this event in relation to the
unreleased films.
"Michael Wayne dies", thread on <rec.arts.movies.past-films> (Apr.
3-5, 2003)
Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=D15ja.758%24Ml2.48453913%40newssvr15.news.prodigy.com
I hope that this information is helpful.
- justaskscott-ga
Search terms used on Google Web Search, Google News, and Google
Groups:
"high and the mighty" "island in the sky" |
