I reactivated my dormant Intelliflix membership recently, and I've been looking for my old favorites to put into my queue. Two of the ones I wanted to see the most, John Huston's gorgeous adaptation of James Joyce's novella The Dead and Mike Leigh's brilliant (depressing, but brilliant) picture of the Thatcher years, High Hopes*, are not out on DVD, at least in the US. I wonder if I'll ever see them again.

That's one of the things that bug me the most about changing media formats: it's bad enough to have to switch everything you own to a new format, but some older works never make the transition. I couldn't care less about a crisper picture or sharper sound quality or portability. In fact I make a point not to cultivate my taste for those things, just like I make it a point not to ruin my taste for $10-a-bottle wine. I just want to see my old favorites. Is that so much to ask? I remember going to the video store with the Mr. about five years ago, when VHS was still competitive with DVD, and looking through the DVD selection and thinking "What's the point of this new technology if all you can find to watch is My Giant?"

What about you, what's your favorite flick that hasn't made it to DVD?

*The scene that has stayed with me from that movie:
A brash used-car dealer and his wife, dreadful tacky new-money types, are in bed together.
She: You start.
He: No, you start.
She: All right, all right. *sits back and spreads arms wide behind her to grip the headboard, makes passionate squinty face* You're Michael Douglas, and I'm a VIRgin!
He: emits the nastiest, most cynical snigger ever
End of scene.

Brutal, right? And brilliant? Now, see, aren't you worse off for not being able to see that?

Tags: movies
Current Mood: curious
Current Music: The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs