Disappeared Films

[Stumpy Pepys]

I think it's one of those Clint action films that was always on British TV in my youth (at least a decade after it came out in cinema) like Where Eagles Dare and to a lesser extent Kelly's Heroes that you just never see any more.

It was on in the UK the Xmas before last. I remember, because my son started watching it with my dad, whereupon Clint stuck a knife a German soldier's neck. At 6 pm.

[Nocturnal Submission]

There's never a good time to have a knife stuck in your neck.

[Benjm]

The Eiger Sanction is a long term fixture on the BBC iPlayer. It's a weird combination of espionage and mountaineering. I watched it last year and it hasn't aged well because of the streaks of misanthropy in general and misogyny in particular that run through a lot of Eastwood's work from the time. The characters do sport some cool outdoor jackets though.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Here We Go Round the Mullberry Bush - Standard late 60's coming of age film about a kid in suburban England trying to get a shag, only to find he wasn't really ready to deal with it. Would be completely forgettable but for a detour into weirdness where he ends up dating a very posh girl whose father is a totally unhinged Delholm Elliot. That and it absolutely captures the feeling of middling British feeder towns like the one I grew up in. Endless identikit houses, nothing to do between the ages of 12 and 17 except be an irritation to everybody etc. A gem of a film that coined the decidely of it's time but still funny expression "Crumpeteering."

It was filmed in Stevenage. You can see yours truly walking through the town centre in one brief shot. It also starred Adrienne Posta who I had a mega-crush on at the time.

[Nocturnal Submission]

It was filmed in Stevenage. You can see yours truly walking through the town centre in one brief shot. It also starred Adrienne Posta who I had a mega-crush on at the time.

Posta was such a face of British cinema in the late-60s/early-70s, along with Judy Geeson and one or two others.

[ursus arctos]

Admirable dedication while providing mail service in Romania and elsewhere

[San Bernardhinault]

My brain's lack of function this morning had me connecting consecutive posts without looking at the quoted part. Which meant that, for a fraction of a second, I was wondering how the Eiger Sanction was filmed in Stevenage.

[delicatemoth]

Not films, but two songs.

The version of 'Like A Prayer' where she says "God?" at the start, as if she's just heard him on the stairs.

The version of 'Little Baby Nothing' with the excerpt from Streetcar at the start.

I can't find either of these, which is a bit annoying. 'Like A Prayer' is still good, if diminished, without that bit. 'Little Baby Nothing' needs the film clip imo, it kind of focuses it.

[3 Colours Red]

There was a Christmas special in 1987 called A Muppet Family Christmas. It was the last Muppet project completed by Jim Henson IIRC. It featured characters from Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock as well.

Good luck finding it. There have been rights squabbles for almost 30 years.

There's at least six separate uploads of it on YouTube.

[Nocturnal Submission]

My brain's lack of function this morning had me connecting consecutive posts without looking at the quoted part. Which meant that, for a fraction of a second, I was wondering how the Eiger Sanction was filmed in Stevenage.

[diggedy derek]

I was thinking A Clockwork Orange would fit this brief – hugely influential, unavailable for years, yet disowned even by its director. However, it seems it went back into circulation again after Kubrick’s death, and these days you can rent it at the touch of a button.

[Patrick Thistle]

There's at least six separate uploads of it on YouTube.

But nothing official

[Satchmo Distel]

The BFI lists the 75 most wanted films presumed lost (no known prints exist)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_75_Most_Wanted

[Satchmo Distel]

I'd also include The Magnificent Ambersons - the film Welles made was butchered beyond recognition.

I think the original Heaven's Gate might have been unavailable for a while.

Such unavailability can increase cult status.

[Walter Knight]

With the disclaimer that I don't have any streaming services beyond iPlayer/All4/ITVX, so for all I know this could be wildly inaccurate:

Hal Hartley's films from the 90s (Trust, The Unbelievable Truth, The Amateur). Usually shown late on Friday or Sunday nights on BBC2, often featuring the late, great Adrienne Shelly, and inhabiting a kind of effortlessly off-beat universe that was much less self-congratulatory than Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie's roughly contemporary work. I know from experience they're very hard to find on DVD now.

Ryan O'Neal's recent death got me thinking you never see What's Up, Doc? on TV these days - or (linking via San Francisco setting) Mel Brooks' High Anxiety. In fact, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein aside, his other films don't get much of an airing. I'm sure that wasn't the case in the 80s and 90s.

[3 Colours Red]

But nothing official

No, but I'd try to take comfort in the fact that enough people have fond memories of it to make it available.

[Nocturnal Submission]

With the disclaimer that I don't have any streaming services beyond iPlayer/All4/ITVX, so for all I know this could be wildly inaccurate:

Hal Hartley's films from the 90s (Trust, The Unbelievable Truth, The Amateur). Usually shown late on Friday or Sunday nights on BBC2, often featuring the late, great Adrienne Shelly, and inhabiting a kind of effortlessly off-beat universe that was much less self-congratulatory than Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie's roughly contemporary work. I know from experience they're very hard to find on DVD now.

Ryan O'Neal's recent death got me thinking you never see What's Up, Doc? on TV these days - or (linking via San Francisco setting) Mel Brooks' High Anxiety. In fact, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein aside, his other films don't get much of an airing. I'm sure that wasn't the case in the 80s and 90s.

Funnily enough I was going to make the same point about Mel Brooks's work. High Anxiety is a big favourite of mine and I've got it on DVD, but it would be nice if it and a lot of his other stuff was on the box.

Woody Allen's films used to clog the schedules. Now, not so much.

[diggedy derek]

God, that BFI list makes me feel like I've barely been to the cinema. I mean, obviously I have not seen any of these, but I've barely heard whisper of them

[Satchmo Distel]

Jack The Bear (1993) by Danny De Vito seemed to disappear after a critical pasting. I remember thinking it was a decent effort, with an outstanding performance by DeVito in the lead, but I don't know if it would stand up now. Apparently it's on Amazon Prime but I get "unavailable to watch in your location":

https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Bear-Dan.../dp/B01EINN9FW

[Stumpy Pepys]

The BFI lists the 75 most wanted films presumed lost (no known prints exist)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_75_Most_Wanted

A sex comedy starring Lulu, Terry-Thomas and Spike MIlligan? I had no idea.

[jwdd27]

Spike Milligan's character is named "Mr Lal", so probably one of his oh-so-hilarious brownface turns.

[Patrick Thistle]

No, but I'd try to take comfort in the fact that enough people have fond memories of it to make it available.

This is true.

[tee rex]

St Trinians.

[Ginger Yellow]

Hal Hartley's films from the 90s (Trust, The Unbelievable Truth, The Amateur). Usually shown late on Friday or Sunday nights on BBC2, often featuring the late, great Adrienne Shelly, and inhabiting a kind of effortlessly off-beat universe that was much less self-congratulatory than Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie's roughly contemporary work. I know from experience they're very hard to find on DVD now.

I rented The Unbelievable Truth a few years back, so not that hard. Everything from TUT through Henry Fool appears to be on Cinema Paradiso

[Plodder]

Ended up buying Trust on VHS about 15 years ago as I couldn't find it any other way at that time. That and TUT were such great movies.