VCI Licenses Kit Parker Films 800 Title Library NOIR WESTERNS BIG NEWS
 

Don't Know how i missed this one...

Found this over at the HTF, and have borrowed a few post to pass on to you guys. This is great news for Film Noir Fans and Western Fans alike.



Press Release
VCI Entertainment a division of Blair & Associates, Ltd
July 22, 2005

VCI Licenses Kit Parker Films 800 Title Library
Tulsa, OK –VCI Entertainment President Robert A. Blair announced VCI has inked a deal to distribute over 800 classic films from the KPF library. Since 1971, Kit Parker has distributed classics long forgotten or unseen. Now with the help of VCI, Mr. Parker is opening his vault, and bringing back to life films that have not been seen for over 50 years. Kit’s library holds many genres from Westerns, Film Noir, Silent Films, and Comedies.

There are two “A” films that Mr. Parker is looking forward to releasing with the help of VCI. They are “Black Tuesday” (1954) staring Edward G. Robinson and Peter Graves. The second is “Stranger on Horseback” (1955) a Louis L’Amour story, starring Joel McCrea, and directed by Jacques Tourneur. When asked about his vast collection of films, Kit commented “I find orphan films that were created by independent producers. It can take years to find specific titles. The nice thing is that I have original 35mm materials on all my films, so I am ready for the transition to HD when the time comes”. To date only 5% of his library has been out on Video. VCI will be releasing two or three movies a month from the KPF library. When talking to Parker, he was asked what some of his favorite films are, he replied “There are so many, two that are getting ready to come out that I am happy about are “Promises! Promises!” starring Jayne Mansfield, and “3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt” featuring Mamie Van Doren”.

VCI is one of the nation's oldest independent home video companies and has a library of over 3000 titles. Since VCI's first DVD release in 1999, its DVD library has grown to over 200 titles strong. The VCI library includes feature films, documentaries, short subjects, special interest and TV series. VCI’s goal is to become a leading supplier of archival quality Hollywood Classics.

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Absolutely fantastic news. I just received this email from VCI President, Robert Blair. Take a look at some of the noirs VCI plans to release - here is a snippet from his email:

Regarding specifics, we are still working on the exact schedule, however, I can tell you we plan to have several titles out this fall. Some of the first 'NOIR' titles to be released are: STOLEN FACE (Paul Henried), LOAN SHARK (George Raft), MAN FROM CAIRO (George Raft), BIG DEADLY GAME (Lloyd Bridges), I'LL GET YOU (George Raft), BAD BLONDE, UNHOLY FOUR, BLACK GLOVE, BLACKOUT, DANGER ZONE, SHOOT TO KILL, FBI GIRL, SHADOW MAN, GLASS TOMB, HEAT WAVE, HAT BOX MYESTERY, CASE OF THE BABY SITTER, PAID TO KILL, MANBAIT, RINGSIDE, GAMBLER AND THE LADY, ROARING CITY, PIER 23, SCOTLAND YARD INSPECTOR, FINGERPRINTS DON'T LIE, TALL LIE, THEY WERE SO YOUNG and of course two of the lost 'holy grails' of film noir - BLACK TUESDAY (Edward G. Robinson) and NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL (Broderick Crawford).

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Complete Listing of Kit Carson Film Library

Definitely a lot of unfamiliar titles (at least to me) on that big list, which is not <i>quite</i> as overwhelming when you notice that there are dozens and dozens of TV episodes and short subjects included. Still, a lot of those noir titles will definitely get my attention.

More noir = :rock2: Great news Cameron, thanks for the post! :banana:

It's news like this that makes this a pretty exciting time in DVD. With most of the 'major' titles already released (and often re-released), studios and distributors are going to have to start digging deep to release new product.

I'm sure there's a lot of crap in those faults, but I look forward to finding a few unseen gems as well. :thumbsup:

I've been happy with my previous VCI purchases so I'm hopeful they will do a good job on these. I will definitely check out some of those.

agreed...most of the vci westerns i have seen have been descent quality, and the price is right.

From Barrie Maxwell

For May, VCI gives us some more westerns with the introduction of a new series whose films are drawn from the Kit Parker collection. In this case, all the films were originally Lippert productions. Legendary Outlaws - Volume 1 offers The Great Jesse James Raid (1953, with Willard Parker) and Renegade Girl (1946, with Ann Savage); Legendary Outlaws - Volume 2 will have The Return of Jesse James (1950, with John Ireland) and Gunfire (1950, with Don "Red" Barry); while Legendary Outlaws - Volume 3 will include The Dalton Gang (1949, with Don Barry) and I Shot Billy the Kid (1950, with Robert Lowery). Each volume will be available individually or as part of a box set on May 30th.

Found these two double feature Kit Parker film releases from VCI on 4/25:

Forgotten Noir #1:
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=VCI000543

Youth Run Wild:
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=VCI000542

At least they're cheap. I own a number of VCI discs and their transfer quality is generally underwhelming. The best disc I have ever seen from them is City of the Dead with Christopher Lee. I was shocked at how good it looked as my expectations were not that high. I'm interested in getting these but I'm not going to expect a whole lot.

I agree that their City of the Dead is easily their finest release, though they definitely could have edited their extras somewhat. In general, I like to give VCI the benefit of the doubt, since they're head and shoulders above most of the PD crowd -- except for some of the old Roan titles and a few of Image's PD releases.

That being said, I also rate VCI's releases of Bunuel's Robinson Crusoe and Joseph Losey's King & Country very high. Both are very good films by great directors, both feature a few nice extras, and both boast decent transfers considering the price (and the condition of the print of the Bunuel).

That is so true! Almost all their films are ported over from VHS, hence, they're all DVD-r's.

Sometimes they do have access to an anamorphic film such as "Target Earth and Horrors of the Black Museum."

But then they screw it up by re-releasing "Gorgo," again "NON-ANAMORPHIC!"

I emailed them and asked them about "Gorgo" and that I would never buy anything from them unless all their widescreen films, including 1.66:1 were anamorphic. Even mentioned what they were going to do about high def?

Their response was, "They hoped I enjoyed the new print,(never mentioned why it was not anamorphic and I said I wasn't going to buy it), and that they were looking into high def...WHF?

The only saving grace is they are one of the few companies out there that will issue those films and maybe we ought to be thankful for that...NOT!!!

At least they're not as bad as Alpha Video where "ALL" of their stufff is garbage!!!

DvdTalk review for Forgotten Noir #1

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=21446

Sounds like VCI is doing better then before.

Negative...they're still screwed up. Their latest big flick (either 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt/Promises, Promises) are still "NON-ANAMORPHIC!!!"

In this day and age, how can a company still do that! What the heck is wrong with them?

They will never get my money until they come out of the dark ages and get with the times...geeze, it's high def time and they're still stuck in a time warp from 1997!!!