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December 31, 2009.... And the DVD Savant Wish list ambles into its fourth year! Since at least 2007 fans have been concerned about the dwindling number of older, "deep library" titles being released to disc. This was the year that the situation slipped past the tipping point, helped more than a little by a major national economic breakdown. Studios had long counted on DVD to transform iffy theatrical releases into profit territory; disc releases of wholly owned older titles were considered a cash cow. With just an extra feature or two and minimal promotion, they sold.

But after being lauded as the biggest product introduction success story of the millennium, the magic of DVD has worn thin. The automatic big sales to major retailers have thudded to a halt -- WalMart is no longer willing to devote floor space to merchandise that doesn't move. Warners, Paramount and Fox have pulled the plug on regular releases of library titles. Perhaps the nature of the DVD consumer has changed. Other interests have lured potential viewers away -- cable, video games, etc;. Fewer collectors are getting into the DVD habit, and younger film fans are content to rent films they want to see but don't need to own forever. Most importantly, the generation that leveled the Karma of the music industry is rapidly doing the same thing to commercially marketed home video, by extending their downloading habit to movies as well. I don't know how many times I've been offered burned discs of unavailable collector titles.

There are bright spots in various DVD release schedules, to make up for those studios that simply re-issue DVDs in new special editions, when they should be coming out in Blu-ray instead. Warners is continuing with a limited DVD schedule for older films, and has hinted at another Errol Flynn boxed set for next year, as well as another Film Noir Collection. Sony / Columbia has had an exemplary year defying the trend outlined above. After sitting for years on many of its best genre titles, it's now releasing a string of desirable collector's sets.

Other good news relates to big studios licensing titles to smaller outfits. Criterion is getting more access to Paramount and Fox films, and is rumored to have some MGM titles in the future as well. Fox's obscure but critically adored Nicholas Ray filmBigger than Life will soon be coming from Criterion, and in Blu-ray, to boot.

In other news, the economic downturn and the contraction of the DVD market has had a negative effect on film restoration, at least in terms of remastering for disc production as an end use. Right now the future of the MGM studios' library holdings is questionable -- they principally control MGM films post- '85 and the UA, Orion and AIP libraries. We certainly hope that the thousands of films MGM safeguards will continue to be well cared-for.

Savant may be an ex- film student who thinks everyone should be a film fan, but home video is primarily a business - heaven help film history if someone invents a way to make big money by burning old movies. The studios that control thousands of potential DVD titles subscribe to the notion that nothing is worth releasing unless it reaps a hefty profit ..."Your division broke even this quarter" is a another way of saying,"You're fired". We self-appointed DVD pundits whined for the first five years of DVD because the Spielbergs and Lucases withheld their top titles until enough DVD-capable consumers existed to create blockbuster releases. The same pattern holds true for Blu-ray: with cheap players finally available, the impressive new format is finally taking off. The flood of new DVD releases doesn't yet include many older titles.

The painful fact is that corporate DVD marketers now consider movies older than1985 to be fossil material. We film fans hunger for even more obscurities from the past -- DVD is just beginning to tap the work of foreign directors, much of which has barely been screened here. But the home video bean counters can prove on spreadsheets that the only serious gold in old movies is from a narrow range of exploitable classics. I've asked Junior College- age students who their favorite stars are, and of course the names that come up are contemporary. They may know who Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart were, but mention other stars of the past and you'll get a blank look. Cary Grant who?

Of course, the devoted film fan base is still quite large, and what gets those old titles released is an enthusiastic and often militant demand. When I worked in home video I got my fill of nabob executives that held film fans in contempt. Hey, even a guy who writes in begging for Judy Canova hix pix is a potential customer, and doesn't deserve to be dismissed as a "DVD Weenie". Warner Bros., the holder of a huge library of desired classic American titles, takes this fan relationship seriously. WB was the reigning king of the deep library DVD until the plug got pulled earlier this year -- for a while they were releasing a multi-disc box set every month. WB actually conducted fan polls and (gasp) solicited consumer opinions. And around March they dropkicked disc-recorded movies into the next evolutionary stage.

There's plenty of debate about the future evolution of home video. Websites and business pundits question Blu-ray (which now is undoubtedly here to stay) and wonder when downloads will make recorded discs extinct. I've heard predictions of a new era of 3D television. Cable Pay-Per-View is certainly popular now, and I have to admit that using my cable DVR to time shift films or save them for a few weeks has been very popular in my house -- Turner Classic Movies just went HD. But I'm still a collector: I seem to sleep better knowing I can access quality discs of my favorites at any time. I'm not worried about losing my collection to a DVR reboot or a hard drive going down. We collectors live in a denial fantasy that our holdings are permanent:"I am the ghost of laserdiscs past."

With studios no longer willing to front the expense of producing and marketing library DVDs and new delivery systems not yet established, the collector market is not a happy place to be. This year Warners inaugurated itsWarner Archive Collection (WAC) program, a Burn On Demand setup that has already made available hundreds of library titles from WB, old MGM, RKO and Allied Artists. Warners can sell discs this way because the setup avoids mass pressings (the discs are factory-grade DVD-R's) and most marketing costs. Discs are sold directly to consumers through an official website (and a couple of other outlets) and mailed directly to the purchaser. That eliminates inventory management, wholesalers and jobbers, along with a bird's nest of retail contracts and negotiations. Marketing costs are minimal and publicity depends largely on the web grapevine ... a locale haunted by collectors in search of discs new and different.

Buyers are most happy with the selection -- new WAC titles arrive at the rate of twenty or so per month. It's no crime if a title only moves fifty units, because there aren't a thousand unsold copies sitting in a warehouse somewhere accruing overhead. The WAC therefore can gamble by putting out bona-fide obscurities -- even early talkies so creaky they don't appear very often on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel. Some buyers balk at the price or worry that the DVD-R format might not be permanent. Although the WAC offers many rare films in new transfers, library titles aren't remastered for Archive release, and some have shown up in less than pristine condition. Warners say that they are addressing this issue and reportedly will hold future titles to a higher standard. In any event, the WAC website provides a video sample of each show, so viewers can see what they're getting. The only aspect of this new setup that really irks Savant so far is the website, which displays and lists titles in a system I can't figure out at all. A redesign would be a big help.

MGM has begun its own Burn On Demand program, so far with just a handful of titles. I've heard from a reader who ordered Carol Reed'sTrapeze from Amazon -- he thinks it looks pretty good -- but the only news has come from other DVD sites. There appears to be no official announcements or a web destination to go to see all of what's available -- and no place for outlets like DVD Savant to inquire about review screeners. If Universal and Paramount begin their own Burn On Demand lines, I hope they at least devote some energy to getting the word out ... as Dr. Strangelove said,"Why didn't you tell the world, eh?!" I suppose that's more or less what DVD Savant is here to do.

What all this will ultimately mean to the world of online DVD reviewing, I don't know ... the nameDVD Savant already sounds slightly obsolete. But I'm not hurting for interesting films on disc to review. 2009 saw the release of plenty of great movies, including some long-coveted Savant titles:Five, Repulsion, Mothra, A Matter of Life and Death, The Beast of the City, The Lineup, Murder by Contract, Experiment Perilous, The Hit, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Our Man in Havana, The Search andZabriskie Point. Already announced for early 2010 areCosh Boy, Major Barbara, Make Way for Tomorrow, Night Editor, No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Paisan and Rome Open City; and in Blu-ray,Paris Texas, Goodfellas, The Music Man, The Neverending Story, The Ladykillers, Lola Montès andBigger than Life. So it looks as if there will still be quite a lot of interesting fare to review.

If you'll look at the 'previous year' lists farther below, you'll see that 2009 is jammed with Warner Archive Collection titles. As they're not pre-announced they show up inbold (already released) instead of (coming from).

Oh ... and Happy New Decade! Let's hope we all have a good year.

Endure! Subsist! Evolve! ... Glenn Erickson