BOOTLEG FILES 705: “2001: A Space Odyssey, Epilogue” (2019 fan film).
LAST SEEN: On Vimeo.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Borrowing from classic material without permission.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Negative.
Last week, this column featured a merry little fan film that mashed up the Abbott and Costello and Superman franchises. This week, we are focusing on a new fan film that has quickly become the talk of social media.
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BOOTLEG FILES 704: “Abbott & Costello Meet Superman” (2015 fan film).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It’s kind of obvious what is going on here.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: They’re lucky that Mike the Cop doesn’t arrest them.
Fan films often represent a victory of enthusiasm over talent, with aspiring Spielbergs getting carried away with their mania over popular film franchises. For the most part, these films can be accepted as charming – a few are actually quite polished thanks to an intelligent use of digital effects.
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BOOTLEG FILES 703: “Talking Pictures” (unsold 1968 pilot for a TV game show).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No commercial value for a single episode of a failed production.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
For every television show that gets on the air, there are an infinite number of projects that get proposed but fail to find a slot on the broadcast schedule. Many of these projects never advance beyond the concept stage, but often these endeavors find their way to a level known as a pilot, which serves as a test of what the program would look like if it received the okay to become a full-fledged addition to the channel line-up.
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BOOTLEG FILES 702: “MetropolisRemix” (a new riff on the silent classic).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: An unapologetic case of copyright infringement that will not be allowed into commercial release.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
In 1984, music composer and producer Giorgio Moroder unveiled his restoration of the 1927 Fritz Lang silent masterpiece “Metropolis.” Film preservationists were aghast at the liberties that Moroder took – color tinting and isolated color effects within monochromatic scenes, a faster frame projection, subtitles in the place of intertitles and a new rock score that didn’t quite match the vibe of the classic production. However, audiences were mostly appreciative of this endeavor, and for a generation of moviegoers this marked the first time they experienced a silent film in a theatrical venue.
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BOOTLEG FILES 701: “The Madwoman of Central Park West” (1980 television special based on the Broadway musical).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lack of perceived commercial interest coupled with music rights clearance issues.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
Actress Phyllis Newman passed away earlier this week, and you can be excused if her name doesn’t ring that proverbial bell. The peak period of her career occurred in the 1960s, when her bouncy personality helped to make her a ubiquitous presence in Broadway musical comedies and on television game shows and talk shows. Newman’s 1962 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical is still recalled as one of the great upsets in that prize’s history – her “Subways Are for Sleeping” performance snagged the honors that many expected to be bestowed upon Barbra Streisand for her breakthrough role in “I Can Get it For You Wholesale.” She later made history as the first woman to guest host “The Tonight Show” while Johnny Carson was on vacation.
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BOOTLEG FILES 700: “Bedlam of Beards” (1934 short starring Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There is no great commercial interest in restoring the Clark and McCullough films.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
This column marks the 700th entry in The Bootleg Files series, which ran from 2003 to 2015 on Film Threat and came over to Cinema Crazed in 2017. I would like to take this moment to thank Cinema Crazed’s publisher and editor Felix Vasquez Jr. for having this column here on the site and to thank the longtime readers of The Bootleg Files who have offered invaluable comments, recommendations and support for my work.
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BOOTLEG FILES 699: “The Ann Miller Great American Soup Commercial” (1970 television advertisement).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube in both its full-length and truncated versions.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There is no market for old-time television advertisements.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
If you are a frequent viewer of today’s American television, you may have noticed some depressing trends regarding advertising. It appears there is a surplus number of commercials for pharmaceutical products that display cheerful images while running soundtracks full of dreadful warnings of toxic side effects, and there are too many commercials from insurance companies that offer obnoxious characters who try and fail to be funny, and there are also too many commercial from packaged food providers that promise immediate and drastic weight loss if you shift your diet to an exclusive focus on their offerings.
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