Gamma One on Blu-Ray Campaign!

Writer Robert Monell recently suggested that someone should release a box set of the Gamma One films and it struck me as long overdue. It is certainly not the first time the idea has floated to the top of Euro-Cult film fan conversations but the more I thought about it I realized that it is indeed long past time to bring those four colorful science fiction films together for a high-definition release. And now we might have a way to push this idea forward because at least three of them are owned by the same company!

Director Antonio Margheriti made the four Gamma One movies over the course of just a few months for an amount of money that could best be described as small. American studio MGM had seen his previous two films OPERATION: OUTER SPACE (a.k.a. SPACE MAN) and BATTLE OF THE WORLDS as proof of his ability to make solid low budget science fiction. In fact, Margheriti had originally moved into the director's chair in the early 1960's because of his background in creating special effects for other people's films. MGM wanted in on this profitable SF party so Margheriti was contracted to make four films fast and cheaply. It has been suggested they were made with an eye toward television release but that upon seeing the finished product they were deemed good enough for theatrical release – if only on double bills. I've never been sure that was true but, regardless, the films passed muster and were released over the next couple of years. 

As I mentioned earlier, right now Warner Bros. has the rights to at least three of the four films. Through their Burn-on-Demand DVD arm Warner Archive the company has released WILD WILD PLANET (1966), WAR OF THE PLANETS (1966) and SNOW DEVILS (1967) but as of now these colorful and bizarre films have yet made the leap to Blu-Ray. This seems odd when you realize that the pseudo Gamma One production from a few years later, THE GREEN SLIME (1968), has been released on Blu by Warner Archive. I realize that the Margheriti films don’t have a cool rock tune as a theme, but surely they are at least as deserving of high definition treatment.

I am not sure why Warner Bros doesn't seem to have the rights to the remaining Gamma One film WAR BETWEEN THE PLANETS (1966). Perhaps they actually do but don’t feel they have elements that would provide a good enough scan for release. Regardless, we can concentrate on the fact that they certainly have excellent prints of the other three and make a push to get them onto Blu-Ray. What I propose is that if you want to see these beautiful science fiction films in hi-def, please write to the Warner Archive podcast team. This show is the way that new arrivals to their growing list of offerings are announced to the world. The three hosts encourage listeners to contact them with questions or requests and are very good about responding on the podcast. If enough of us wrote them asking for the Gamma One films to be released on Blu-Ray they might just start moving things in that direction. It would at least let them know there are potential customers out here interested in adding these films to their collections or upgrading to a better format. They have already put out one of Margheriti’s peplum adventure films THE GOLDEN ARROW (1962) in hi-definition so adding to the total of the director’s works on Blu could be a further incentive for them to make some moves with his sci-fi.  

If you want to type, scrawl or draw a request and send it off to them, the mailing address is -

Warner Archive Podcast

3400 Riverside Drive B160-4

Burbank, CA 91522

They can also be reached at the podcast’s FaceBook page, on twitter @WarnerArchive and on their Instagram page. Let's see if we can get these films even more attention and onto Blu-Ray!