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!
