In 2003, DVD releases of classic films were not only few in number, but rarely contained titles that were unfamiliar.
This scene has dramatically changed for the better. Now thousands of classic titles can be purchased on DVD, and at least a hundred "new" old movies are released every month. So many have hit the market, in fact, that online review sites now cover less than half of them. But you know they're out there, because you see them in the stores or find them listed in catalogs.
We have two problems. Much as we would all like to purchase every new DVD release that appears on the market, our funds are limited and we need to be selective. First up, of course, are the movies we fondly remember. Next are the titles that seem familiar, the movies that received a lot of publicity and won all sorts of awards , but that we missed seeing. And there are, of course, famous movies that were released before our time. But once we have these titles in our collection, there are thousands more to choose from, and these we know little or nothing about.
This is where reference books really come into their own. True, there are online data banks. If you know exactly what the title is, or who the actors are, the data bank will prove highly informative. But if you're just browsing, you can waste a lot of time and get nowhere.
Many of us have forgotten that you can pick up a book in your hands and by simply flicking through the pages, you can accomplish in ten seconds what will take at least ten minutes on the net. And when you find a title that sounds promising, like "The Belle of New York", for example, you can find out simply everything about it at a glance.
I said earlier, our keen classic movie collector has two problems. His second problem concerns the movies he remembers and would love to see again. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember the title or the stars, but can vividly recall certain scenes. A film about a couple of songwriters who always quarreling, for instance. There are hundreds of such films. A data bank is pretty useless for this sort of query. The only way to find the title is to ask an expert or thumb through a reference book. Particularly one with photos.
Answer: Well, it could most likely be "Three Little Words", if the movie was in color. Or "Tin Pan Alley", in black-and-white.
The DVD boom in classic movies shows no signs of abating. It is in fact increasing as new DVD suppliers enter the market and established firms search their vaults for anything that moves.
Specializing in classic cinema, the author of this article, John Howard Reid, is a well-known film critic who has written over 80 books of movie history and criticism, and contributed many articles to film periodicals in America, England and France. Most of Reid's in-print titles are available from online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. One exception is his privately printed "Classic Movie Posters", featuring 204 full-color reproductions of vintage posters from Hollywood's Golden Age. This book can only be obtained online from http://www.lulu.com/content/49373 or http://classicmovieposters.exactpages.com
