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| The Iron Claw; best place for dvd? | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 27 2008, 01:22 AM (1,837 Views) | |
| The Spider Lady | Mar 27 2008, 01:22 AM Post #1 |
Balcony Baby
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Following Panzer's excellent tactic, can I ask where's the best place to get The Iron Claw? I really enjoy this serial but my present ebay copy is appalling! Is this a difficult one to get a good copy of? |
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| Laughing Gravy | Mar 27 2008, 05:19 AM Post #2 |
Revered in the UK
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I don't have a good copy of it, alas. I wonder if Richard Orsak does? |
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| cquigley | Mar 27 2008, 05:33 AM Post #3 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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My Iron Claw copy sucks, also - nearly unwatchable it is so dark. |
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| riddlerider | Mar 27 2008, 05:54 AM Post #4 |
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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It sure is. But I've recently learned that a private collector in my part of the country has a complete 35mm safety print, and I'm conducting some back-channel negotiations in an attempt to put him together with a friend of mine who does transfer work and can handle 35mm. As I understand it, the print's owner would like to make some money off a nice digital transfer of IRON CLAW, but he's afraid -- justifiably so -- that as soon as his DVD is released, it'll be copied and sold by the dozen or so pirates who regularly deal in serials. It's a legitimate concern because, even at my friend's cut-rate prices, the transfer would cost at least $750. He'd be paying for packaging and duplication on top of that, and since it's tough to get more than twenty bucks for a serial, he'd probably have to sell 50 copies just to break even. That doesn't sound like a particularly big hurdle, but if the first sale is made to a pirate who proceeds to copy the thing and sell it cheaper, the print's owner stands a good chance of never recouping his initial costs. And I'm told he would rather sit on the print than risk losing money. Frankly, I find his attitude perfectly reasonable and at this point in time I don't know what I could tell this guy to reassure him. Because he's right: the thing would get pirated immediately. This, fellow collectors, is the price we pay for getting so many of our serials from pirates. In the absence of DVD releases of serials from the license holders, it's great to have at least something we can watch. But the presence in the marketplace of so many pirates, and the ease with which digital media can be copied without significant generational loss, means that the private collector who owns a great print of a rare title has very little incentive to go to the trouble and expense of getting it professionally transferred. |
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| wtrails | Apr 21 2008, 11:18 AM Post #5 |
Balcony Baby
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Transferred from an original old 16mm print - does show some wear, but overall, it is a pretty solid image with all the night scenes and such... I agree with Riddle Rider --- there is stuff sitting here that would be nice to release, but there are some guys out there that just turn the stuff back out for a dime before any of our costs can be recouped....  Richard |
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| rodney | Apr 21 2008, 12:00 PM Post #6 |
Charter Member
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Maybe he could try a "round robin" approach with reliable collectors, and make them sign an agreement that they won't distribute the print to anyone else for a certain amount of time. That's what we do in the OTR world. |
| Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer! | |
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| wtrails | Apr 21 2008, 12:36 PM Post #7 |
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Balcony Baby
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What happens to me, is the other dealers find out what I am about to release, then send out "pre-orders" to their customer list to sell in advance before they even get anything from me at all, thus tying up the open market so they can just dub it out when they get it from someone else, not even me...Several of my serial prints are highly reviewed on sites right now, but releasaed by someone else with different menus and artwork... Richard |
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| rodney | Apr 21 2008, 01:53 PM Post #8 |
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Charter Member
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I have a similar problem. There's a certain site where people often sell copies of my stuff without cover art and in paper sleeves. It's probably cut into my sales, but I don't know what to do about it. For example: THRILLER complete series from me $165 ppd with cover art and in cases. THRILLER complete seriels from them $16 plus shipping in paper sleeves. |
| Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer! | |
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| AndyFish | Apr 27 2008, 07:02 AM Post #9 |
Movie Watcha Foist Class
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My copy of the Iron Claw is very good, and I got it from Western Trails (Rich Orsak), who also has the best Spider's Web. Andy |
| www.hebsandfish.com | |
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| KanSmiley | Apr 27 2008, 08:44 AM Post #10 |
Charter Member
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Question about buying DVDs of serials or any other classic movie. Say I am a brand new enthusiast of serials which I was about eight years ago. I go on line looking for a good copy of THE PHANTOM EMPIRE. I find that there are a number of dealers selling TPE. There is VCI, wtrails, oldies.DVD, Restored DVDs, DownunderDVD, Joe Blow DVD Sales, Serial Squadron, Comet Video, ABC Remastered Classics, DVDs From Hollywood, and on and on. How do I know as a newbie to the hobby which is a legitimate dealer selling genuine (not pirated) DVDs and the pirate? After all they all are "mastered from the best available source" aren't they? Also, when they say a DVD is "Restored" just what does that mean? I know when I started buying, trading and swapping serial DVDs I had no clue who I was dealing with. In looking back I bought a lot of pirated DVDs not understanding the ramifications to the legitimate dealers. I am now better informed and when an upgraded serial is released from an honest dealer I usually buy it and discard my pirated copy. Answers please for me and all the new members to the balcony. Kan |
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http://www.saturday-matinee-memories.com/ Note: No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. | |
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| Chandu | Apr 27 2008, 11:57 AM Post #11 |
Knowledge Seeker and rascal at large
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My story is almost exactly the same as Kan's and about in the same time frame too. The only difference for me was I got a real bad bootleg copy early on and from then on, would only buy genuine Republic releases for the Republic serials and tried to get VCI's for the rest, although back then VCI wasn't necessarily any assurance of a pristine print either, but they usually seemed to compare pretty well to whatever else was available for a given serial. That, however, was all with VHS. Now that DVD's have come along, it's a whole new ball game. I was lucky enough to stumble onto Rodney's partner. In my own case and in Kan's, as he was already posting there when I found it, we were lucky enough to find The Serial Squadron board where lunatic video pirates weren't looked highly upon back then and are even less tolerated today. :lol: :lol: Seriously though, the Squadron boards did get this newbie started in the right direction and with sort of the right attitude. 
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| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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| AndyFish | Apr 28 2008, 08:55 AM Post #12 |
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Movie Watcha Foist Class
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Well, if a serial has had a "legtimate" release I'll buy it. MOST of the time that is the best version out there-- although I just got a great bootleg of Great Alaskan Mystery to replace my legit crappy Alpha release. Generally if it's from Sony (Batman), VCI, Warners or Roan you're in good shape. Some you have to find out through message boards like this one who has the best copy around. With something like Iron Claw, Spider's Web and Monster and the Ape, they are NOT commercially available so you have to find them somewhere else. My way for choosing a source is simple; 1. Do they respond to email questions about quality? 2. Does the quality match up to what they said (understanding that quality is subjective)? Then it moves over to box art-- I'm one of the people who want it in a box, or else I have to design it myself and I really don't have a lot of free time to do that. I highly recommend Fred Shay and Richard Orsak-- and I suspect they are the supplier for a lot of what's out there. I've also had great luck with Restored Serials who actually does restore some of this serials (not all of them though-- so ask). Most of the people offering these are fans too. There is a guy I sometimes deal with on Cape Cod who (shockingly) has no email or website but he has really fair prices and offers FREE upgrades if he gets a better copy-- and his stuff is usually top flight to begin with. About fifteen years ago (!) I belonged to a group of Serial Collectors who met once a month and pooled our money to buy serials on VHS-- I was the youngest guy by about twenty five years in the group but they were a fun bunch. During that time I dealt with about FORTY different dealers so I got a pretty good idea who has the best copy of...? Gravy is also pretty frank in recommending best copies, he's a resource I've used many times and he's never let me down. Andy |
| www.hebsandfish.com | |
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| rodney | Apr 28 2008, 09:53 AM Post #13 |
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Charter Member
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When dealing with collector copies, I don't think there's any single guy who has the best of everything. Shay has some good stuff, but to assume that he has the best of everything would be an error. Same with Trevor, me and anyone else, I'd imagine. |
| Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer! | |
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| Tal Chotali | Apr 28 2008, 05:37 PM Post #14 |
Charter Member
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I can vouch for the quality of Richard's material. I bought a ton of stuff from him during the glory days of VHS and more during the switch to DVD's. He is honest in his evaluation of his materials and I never had the problems with contrast and such that I had with another dealer. Some of the serials that I received from this other dealer made every single person in the serial look like they had a light bulb for a head! When I bought a copy later from Richard.......no such problems. I always get a good laugh when I overhear other dealers at film conventions say, "I have a beautiful 'master' print coming from 'my source' in Texas." In short, Richard knows what he is doing and I trust his judgment. PS. I have also bought items from Rodney at the Charlotte and Williamsburg Film Festival and been very pleased. He went out of his way to make sure that I had the DVD's I wanted. |
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| wtrails | Apr 29 2008, 09:20 AM Post #15 |
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Balcony Baby
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That's funny --- sooo many people have told me the same thing through the years after I stopped doing the conventions. They also tagged me with being out of business, but I'm still around...Many were referring to the b-western genre, but I also carried the serials with me to those events. Richard |
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6:31 PM Nov 27
