THE JOKER IS WILD - 1957

Set Avatar · #81 04-02-2009, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

It was mentioned above in this thread: The rights are owned by the family of Joe E. Lewis, and they have only licensed it for occasional airing on TV.

I take it Frank did not get a nomination for Jokers Wild. I know that you would know Bob. He deserved one regardless.

Set Avatar · #82 04-02-2009, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sono felice

I take it Frank did not get a nomination for Jokers Wild.

No, but "All The Way" received the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Set Avatar · #83 04-02-2009, 10:13 AM

Well deserved, All The Way. I wonder just what perfomance could have rated above Frank's at that time. Must have been something very special.

Set Avatar · #84 04-02-2009, 10:15 AM

Best Actor went to Alec Guinness for The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Set Avatar · #85 04-02-2009, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

Best Actor went to Alec Guinness for The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Typical stiff upper lip British drama, I am more inclined for the more true to life every day movies. Thank's Bob for info
( I cant believe, 52years when I first saw the movie ).

TheVoice · #86 04-02-2009, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

I believe the rights are owned by the family of Joe E. Lewis, and they have only licensed it for occasional airing on TV.

ok, thanks

Nick_Bradley78 · #87 04-02-2009, 04:45 PM

The songs from this are one of the highlights of the Hollywood boxset for me, does anyone know if there was an original LP soundtrack released at the time as there was for other Sinatra musicals? If there was Ive certainly never heard or seen it.
Thanks.

SinatraFan · #88 12-11-2009, 11:25 PM

Anniversary bump: December 12, 1957

Set Avatar · #89 02-14-2010, 08:00 PM

I agree with both statements. I do wonder when this one and Come Blow Your Horn will be made available on DVD.

Diana · #90 02-15-2010, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekoob

I agree with both statements. I do wonder when this one and Come Blow Your Horn will be made available on DVD.

I'd love to see these movies! So I really hope that they'll release them on DVD one day...

sschweiger · #91 02-15-2010, 01:31 PM

Forget for a moment that he should have won best actor for "Golden Arm," just think of the miscarriages of justice perpetrated by his not even being nominated for "Joker," "Manchurian Candidate," or "Some Came Running!"

...and Cary Grant wasn't nominated for "His Girl Friday," A. Hepburn wasn't nominated for "My Fair Lady," and, what is probably the 'most brilliant' non-nominated moment in Oscar history, the musical scoring for "Laura" wasn't worthy enough to be among the TWENTY nominees in that category!

Frank's Joe E. Lewis was nothing short of wonderful!

Edwin · #92 02-15-2010, 02:32 PM

The Oscars are fun and great for recognition. Often deserving artists win. Often not.

Joker is Wild won best song for All the Way and rightly so, but the movie was not nominated.

Was American in Paris, best picture winner in 1951, a better movie than A Place in the Sun or Streetcar Named Desire? African Queen was not even nominated.

Greatest Show On Earth, best picture winner in 1952. A better movie than Singin' in the Rain or High Noon? No way.

Ernest Borgnine, terrific in Marty. But was he better than Sinatra in Golden Arm, James Dean in East of Eden, Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter or Henry Fonda in Mr. Roberts?

Saw Around the World in 80 Days on cable recently, 1956 best picture winner. Filled with stars including a cameo by Frank, but the movie is not great. Giant or The Searchers should have won.

Best supporting actor and actress winners, 1961: George chakiris and Rita Moreno for West Side Story. But other nominees George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason in the Hustler, Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland in Judgement at Nuremberg all gave marvelous performances that outshine those of the winners.

Rocky won best picture in '76. Fine movie that came out of nowhere and was a huge success, but for me, other nominees All the President's Men, Taxi Driver and Network, are better movies.

Paul Newman won best actor for The Color of Money. This was a tribute Oscar after six nominations previously for finer performances in better movies such as The Hustler, The Verdict and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

The Oscar telecast is great fun, including some of the surprises, but there are many factors that go into who wins including sentiment, politics, and of course, money.

***Nancy*** · #93 02-15-2010, 04:31 PM

Not sure if this was covered earlier or not: this film is owned by Paramount.

voice1 · #94 02-15-2010, 06:01 PM

This is my all-time favorite Sinatra movie....Some great lines delivered here.

"You know you'd make a perfect stranger?"

I have used that line on numerous occassions when leaving the company of a boorish person. There can be no comeback.

**Marty** · #95 02-15-2010, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nancy

Not sure if this was covered earlier or not: this film is owned by Paramount.

That explains a great deal.

Paramount are notoriously (some would say even criminally) lax with regards to those elements of their own back catalogue to which they still hold the rights (those films of theirs belonging to Universal getting slightly better treatment, unfortunately "Joker" isn't one of those).

It may be worth noting though that the likes of TCM (and Criterion) have had some success in the last couple of years with limited releases, (albeit slightly more expensive than the usual DVD) of movies thought lost or difficult to target to a more general DVD market, including Paramount classics.

I imagine much would depend on the amount of work required to make the negative acceptable to the DVD format with regards to picture and, especially given the musical elements, sound.

***Nancy*** · #96 02-15-2010, 07:38 PM

Yes. I wonder why they are so slow. One of the only two movies of mine that I actually like is a Paramount Picture and they haven't released it.

Maybe the costs are prohibitive, I don't know, but Joker should most definitely be released because it's true and part of a great comedian's history, part of the American culture. It's a shame really. Snap out of it, Paramount!

lorenzotedesco · #97 02-16-2010, 06:14 AM

I thought I read in this forum once that the problem with this movie was not Paramount but the family of Joe E. Louis that controlled the copyright to this movie. Is this still possibly the case?

Larry

George Bellefon · #98 02-16-2010, 06:17 AM

If Paramount does smarten up, I do hope they release The Joker Is Wild on Blu-ray rather than just DVD. They do seem to do a little better with the quality of their Blu-ray transfers.

**Marty** · #99 02-16-2010, 06:31 AM

Interesting comment George as I believe the film was shot using Paramount's in-house Vista-Vision equipment and both colour and monochrome Vista-Vision print elements do transfer exceedingly well to the HD format thanks to the negative size and depth of field it allows.

(Hitch's "North By Northwest", and Ford's "The Searchers" both being excellent examples of Vista-Vision negatives that look especially fine in Hi Def remasters)

Judy · #**100** 02-16-2010, 06:54 AM

Sadly, we just did a project for Paramount - Bing's widow and son were interviewed on a DVD-extra for "White Christmas". Lo and behold, copies of the DVD were not given to them - why? Because it was too expensive to provide them.

Can you believe it?

I've also spoken to the folks at TCM - they've struggled getting Paramount releases on the air because apparently Paramount charges a much higher rate than the other studios.