Looking for an old movie

[mpc]

A friend of mine is trying to find a VHS or DVD of a movie her grandmother starred in. She wants to surprise her father at Christmas since he's seen the movie but doesn't have his own copy of mom's flick.

I've searched a few on-line movie places, Google, Yahoo, etc. and come up empty. Anybody know of better places for older - and not "big hits" movies? I'm specifically looking for "A Girl Must Live" - made in England in 1939. It was also released as "A Girl Wants to Live" sometimes. The US release was later in 1941.

I can find references to it, as well as a playbill poster on ebay... but nobody sells/rents copies. Ideas?

mpc

[cabinetman]

A friend of mine is trying to find a VHS or DVD of a movie her grandmother starred in. She wants to surprise her father at Christmas since he's seen the movie but doesn't have his own copy of mom's flick.

I've searched a few on-line movie places, Google, Yahoo, etc. and come up empty. Anybody know of better places for older - and not "big hits" movies? I'm specifically looking for "A Girl Must Live" - made in England in 1939. It was also released as "A Girl Wants to Live" sometimes. The US release was later in 1941.

I can find references to it, as well as a playbill poster on ebay... but nobody sells/rents copies. Ideas?

mpc

I think I scored for you, try here.
.

[LCHIEN]

Many old movies have never been transfered to DVD (or VHS for that matter), usually for reasons of demand.

C'mans link is to Blockbuster which although lists the movie shows there are no DVD editions released.

Here is a link to IMDB which is a great resource for films:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031367/

If it was never released then you only hope is to catch it on TV or to rent a film copy and watch it with a film projector - if its real old then they may not even rent copies. Your best bet is to contact the holder of the rights to Gainsborough Pictures library. Wikipedia indicates only that Gainsborough was associated with Gaumont and that Gaumont is now associated with Sony and Columbia Tristar. I did not look much farther than that.

One more link:
http://www.britmovie.co.uk/directors...raphy/013.html

My guess is its not been released ever on DVD or VHS due to its age.

[cabinetman]

You might check the Blockbuster stores in your area. In my area, indicates it can be rented, I don't see anywhere on the site where it shows the format. Your store may have to order it for you.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I don't see anywhere on the site where it shows the format. Your store may have to order it for you.

AFAIK, Blockbuster ONLY has DVDs for the last couple years. I agree, most Blockbusters can order from other stores and is probably the way to go.

[mpc]

Thanks folks. Some of those links I'd already found. IMDB was the first place I went.

I did find one site where I could search old movies/films by actress name and see the films... with "BUY" options for about half of them... but not the desired film. My friend told me she'd tried looking a while ago too and reached dead ends... I'd hoped to surprise her with some better news.

It does air once in a great while on European TV... a VHS of that would be in "PAL" format though and would require extra conversion. I hate to think of the resulting picture quality. She'd already determined though that was about the only option.

Cabinetman: I did find that Blockbuster link; the "unavailable" bar below the "picture not available" doesn't give me a warm-n-fuzzy feeling. But I did plan to drive over later today anyway. Never hurts to ask, right?

Loring: I found the britmovie link too; lots of good info in there, and links... kept me up to the wee hours of the morning.

mpc

[Uncle Cracker]

Many public libraries have movies for checkout, and may be able to access hundreds more through inter-library loan. That might yield your needle-in-the-haystack.

[LCHIEN]

I simply don't see any mention that it was ever released on DVD or VHS.

If it was never released on DVD or VHS, then you won't find it on/at Blockbuster or any video rental or retail place, your local or any library, or even the library of Congress. If shown on TV in the past, then maybe you'll find someone who has a videotape copy off-air but odds against that are about 1 in 10 million, I bet.

[Thalermade]

Though I did not see it listed, try Facets (facets.org), out of Chicago.

When I was purchasing videos for education/college classes they were great, often able to tell me when something would be available or why something wasn't available.

Notify us at sales@facets.org or call 1-800-331-6197 and one of our film specialists will help you.

[Hoover]

While this is not the correct answer for you sometimes TCM Turner Classic Movies run a series called Imports. You might send them an email to see if it is in their play list.