Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: African Queen blu-ray

This is topic African Queen blu-ray - $40????? in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 01-22-2010, 09:41 AM:

I know AQ has never even been on DVD before and it the last film on the AFI top 100 to be released on disc blah-blah-blah...but what makes Paramount think this title (a single disc at that) is worth $39.99 retail for the blu-ray? This is not the "commemorative box set" (which is $58.99) but just the disc version. Is there something that makes them think I will spend more than this than "Casablanca"? (Casablanca blu-ray $14.99 at Amazon!)

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-22-2010, 09:57 AM:

That's nothing new.

I paid $40 for the Criterion Collection version of Robocop on DVD. That's $40 in 1999 dollars. All for an unrated, single disc title with non-anamorphic video.

BTW, you're quoting the full list "MSRP" price for the single disc version of The African Queen. $39.95 is a very very common list price for single disc Blu-ray titles. Not many people will actually pay that much for the BD unless they're silly enough to do their movie disc shopping in shopping mall stores like Sam Goody or fye.

Amazon has the single disc version of The African Queen available on pre-order for $27.95. If you don't like that price, wait a couple or so months after the disc is released. We're already seeing lots of Blu-ray titles being discounted to levels of $15, $10 or even lower just like what happened with DVD when that format went "mainstream."

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 01-22-2010, 12:14 PM:

Yeah, Bob, that's what I plan to do. I'll get it from Netflix first just to see it and when it's under $15 I'll pick one up if I still want it. Also I forgot Casablanca had already been on BR in that over-priced collector's edition.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-22-2010, 02:21 PM:

THE AFRACAN QUEEN is a great movie, Joe. I saw it when it was released to theatres for the very fist time in 1951 when I was only twelve years old and saw it at least two more times in a theatre and many times on home video. The last time I saw the movie was on a FOX special edition laserdisc in a deluxe box with the same Kathrine Hephburn book that will be come with the Blu-Ray SE of TAQ.. The set was not cheap and I still bought it and might go for the SE of the movie again. THE AFRACAN QUEEN will have a 4K digital scan from the original three strip film elements and is not as exciting as it sounds, I do not remember the film having vibrant color. As far as I can remember, it was a rather drab looking film. The film only featured four speaking rolls. Humprey Bogart, Kathrine Hephburn, Robert Morley and Theodore Bikel. It must have been at least fifteen years since I last saw the movie and I am very anxious to see it again on Blu-Ray. What a treat that will be!

-Claude

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-22-2010, 04:53 PM:

Isn't that the movie where they sort-of ripped off the story for the John Wayne/Katharine Hepburn movie "Rooster Cogburn?"

I've never seen AQ but "Rooster" is one of my favorite John Wayne movies due to the great chemistry between him and Hepburn.

Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 01-23-2010, 01:29 PM:

Rooster Cogburn (1975) is a sequel to True Grit (1969).

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-02-2010, 10:17 PM:

Mike, True Grit is by far the better movie when compared to Rooster.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 02-02-2010, 10:37 PM:

I saw this on cable a few weeks ago, and I can definately agree the colour was terribly ugly and drab, It actually looked like a colourisation, and I had to look it up I was so convinced.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-03-2010, 01:43 AM:

quote: John Wilson
Mike, True Grit is by far the better movie when compared to Rooster.

John - I know, but my point was that Rooster made use of most of the same story as African Queen. (I've never seen it but I read that somewhere on the internets.)