I'm kind of surprised this hasn't been picked up by other folks yet, unless I missed mention of it.

Dark Sky are now 3 out of 3 for unreleased Eurocult discs...

It looks like we'll never get to hear Tim Lucas's commentary :(. Unless there's a way to release it in it's own.

I've become so enamored with the Anchor Bay Italian version of KBK, but this is a shame. I wasn't sure if the "impleaded third party" in the lawsuit was Dark Sky. Are they getting directly sued because of this?

As for the extras on that disc, we'll probably never see them outside of some unfortunate accident that might cause them to slip onto YouTube or a file sharer network... :ph43r:

I'm told by Dark Sky Films that I didn't sign an exclusivity contract with them, so I am free to license my commentary elsewhere.

I don't know if David Gregory had the same arrangement with them for his "Kill, Bava, Kill" featurette, but it would be great if our work could surface in tandem on another release at some point in the future.

There seem to be a few floating around out there. A quick eBay search yielded one that sold for $101, and one currently going for about half that.

It's a shame, because Dark Sky paid to have the initial pressing run. That's much more costly than just announcing a title (such as TRAGIC CEREMONY) that's later withdrawn before being pressed. I wonder if all of their unsold copies will have to be turned over to Alfredo Leone and company? I gather that Anchor Bay's release of KBK isn't threatened, because their materials were licensed from Leone.

RHS once hinted in an earlier thread that Anchor Bay's KBK could also be threatened, without specifying why, but as AB's disc has left the gate it's mostly a moot point.

Maybe Dark Sky can get all their lost dollars back by accidentally trickling a steady stream of anonymous copies out through Ebay sellers. Lord knows I'm sure someone at Dark Sky is taking a long, hard look at their continuing line of Eurocult non-releases.

The state of classic Italian cinema, especially the popular cinema of the '50s through the '80s, is seriously endangered because the rights issues have become so hopelessly tangled. The average Italian horror film of the 1960s had Italian, American, French, Spanish, sometimes German producers attached -- and they all presumed they had the rights to license the film. As those rights traded hands in subsequent years, the further they got away from the territorial limitations originally placed on these rights. To make them more saleable, the inheritors of these rights may have implied more rights attached than there actually were, or they may have been ignorant of their limitations. This is how any one film might now have two, three or four different companies/individuals claiming rights to it. And whoever has the best elements has no more guarantee than anyone else of holding the bona fide chain of title. With this jungle of red tape attached to these films, best elements not necessarily guaranteed, the potential return on any release of these films being limited to begin with, and court costs also a possibility, it could well be that fewer domestic DVD companies will risk this kind of release.

I was just repeating what I was told, in confidence, by industry insiders, screaming over $5 beers at a trendy Sunset Boulevard nightspot. Mind you, that was over a month ago, when the AB set had (I think) just streeted. If the ruling had been handed down earlier, AB's set could have been impacted. But as Anthony suggests, as it's freely available now, it's probably safe. At least this run. It may transpire (and I'm just speculating now) that Anchor Bay will either be given a cease and desist order barring them from reprinting the set or they'll just back off voluntarily to avoid litigation.

What would Mario Bava say? Stronza Americano.

The Anchor Bay set is perfectly safe. All the titles therein were licensed from Alfredo Leone, who has now proven in a court of law that he owns them.

Is Bava a frequent topic of discussion these days in trendy Sunset Boulevard nightspots? If so, maybe I should reverse my decision to stay here and make the move to LA after all.

Vincent

$5 trendy beers! Ha! Rome would *break* you, dude. ;)

If an R2 distributor licenses KBK and the commentary, they stand to make quite a bit.

What was the reason for the cancellation of TRAGIC CEREMONY? Was this also a rights issue? Does anyone know if the Italian version is different from the Spanish version put out by Filmax?

I'm wondering why RICCO THE MEAN MACHINE got the kibosh. I was really looking forward to that one. They even had a Chris Mitchum commentary already recorded!

Been there, spent that. But now I have children to break me.

Congrats on yer latest serving there, by the by.

Question for Tim Lucas:

Is there any way legally you can post an mp3 of your commentary for this disc on your Bava blog site?

Interesting idea. Since Tim stated above he was free to license his commentary as he pleased, I imagine he could just post it online. Though he would be unable to earn money from it by licensing it to some other DVD company down the road, which is a legitimate concern.

That'd be great for those like me who have a limited budget and can't afford to spend $50-$100 for a double-dip via eBay. Depending on the price, I'd gladly buy the download. Tim's Bava commentaries have been the only ones I've made time to listen to lately.

I don't want to post my commentary as a free download because Anchor Bay -- or some other company licensing this Alfredo Leone-licensed title here or abroad -- may wish to issue it legitimately in the future. I don't wish to devalue it in the meantime.