Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism

Robert Taylor on DVD

Warner Home Video is releasing a "Western Classics" DVD box set on August 26, 2008. It includes six films, three of them starring Robert Taylor: "Many Rivers to Cross", "The Law and Jake Wade" and "Saddle the Wind". Considering how few of RT's films are available on DVD, these three are a welcome addition (and long overdue, in my opinion).
The link to the Amazon.com site is rather cumbersome, so I won't insert it here. Search on "Western Classics" on their site and it will come up.

I understand Warner's is preparing "Quo Vadis" for a late 2008 release.

Is anyone aware of any other RT films coming to DVD?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Linda Alexander on June 14, 2008 at 10:18pm: Tim:

First, thanks for joining. I'm thrilled to see folks here!

I was at the DVD section of my local Sam's this afternoon & thinking about how wonderful it would be to have a collection of Bob's films released . . . how about a boxed set? Let's think BIG here! ; >

I appreciate the good news. If we can organize & get people engaged, we could very likely be a part of an effort to bring about more Taylor movies on DVD. Another petition, maybe?!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Diane Bell on June 17, 2008 at 10:36pm: Hi, I just saw that on IMDB and I can't wait as the only copies I have of the westerns are from TCM. Great news, and they finally must have tuned into Ebay where his films draw huge amounts of money. Thanks.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carole Miller on July 20, 2008 at 8:15am: Camille, The Miracle of the White Stallions, Bataan, D-Day the Sixth of June, Party Girl (VHS), When Ladies Meet,; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mario63 on July 21, 2008 at 7:31am: Quo Vadis in the same way MGM released Ben Hur, as a 4 DVD box set with, outtakes, biographies of the stars, films test, film premieres and why not the firs version of the 20´s?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Alexander on July 21, 2008 at 9:01am: Hello All: If we activate in numbers, it would be helpful to put together a group here on this site where we can start to figure out ways to get Bob's movies out there into the current public eye, as they should be. As already mentioned, I believe there should be a Robert Taylor DVD boxed set. Why not? There are such sets for so many other classic stars.

The more we discuss these things, maybe start that new group here for this specific discussion, the more we can possibly bring this to the attention of "The Powers That Be!"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tim Gallagher on August 21, 2008 at 12:54pm: "Quo Vadis" will be released on Nov 11, 2008. It's currently available on Amazon.com to pre-order. It's a two-disc special edition and lists for $14.99.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dianne on October 21, 2008 at 10:33am: The 3 Taylor westerns can be ordered individually & don't have to be ordered in the boxed set. "Camille," "Bataan," "Ivanhoe," "Knights of the Roundtable," "D-Day the 6th of June," "Miracle of the White Stallions," a rather strange Spanish "western" called "Savage Pampas," & the perfectly awful "Glass Sphinx," a sort of poor man's "Valley of the Kings" never released theatrically in the US as far as I know, have been available for some time. "Quo Vadis" will be available in November, & "Waterloo Bridge" is supposed to be available in January, all from Movies Unlimited. A number of other Taylor films are listed on a web site called Rare Classic DVDs. Have not ordered any of these; they may be "pirated" versions & may have been copied from VHS tapes & not be of top quality; don't know.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Birdy on April 30, 2009 at 5:38pm: Since not every of his movies is to be aired on tv or available on dvd yet, the less in Europe, I very recommend to you to visit a channel on youtube, where a member has assembled a fine collection of longer clips of several Taylor movies.
You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/elmonjeblanco
I visited the channel quite often to get a very first impression of the wide range of his movies, since I unfortunetaly belong to the people, who have known him almost only for "Ivanhoe", "Quo Vadis" and "Waterloo Bridge" - but there is so much more to discover!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Alexander on April 30, 2009 at 7:30pm: Thx for bringing this to our attention. I've traded e-mails w/this individual in the past but, I'm ashamed to say, didn't realize that so much had since been added. I appreciate your note w/the link. I've sent a msg to the owner of that Robert Taylor channel & asked them to join us here. Also asked if they'd give me a way to alert folks who've responded to the clips to this network. Since most are appreciative of Bob Taylor, it seems logical that they would be open to a positive exchange of information on the life of t his underappreciated actor/man.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dianne on May 9, 2009 at 6:05pm: There is a new source for some of his films on DVD, called "WBShop." Films already issued by Warner Home Video (which I think has been very slow & stingy about putting movies from their vast library on DVD) are also available from WBShop.com. However, some new ones are also available from WBShop. These apparently are burned by request from the Warner Brothers Archives (which include MGM films as well). I discovered this accidentally by randomly inputting "Quentin Durward" on either Google or Yahoo. I ordered it & received my copy in less than a week. There are 2 versions - standard & widescreen. I ordered widescreen (16 x 9 format) & got a good print. It can be "zoomed" on a widescreen TV to fill most of the screen.

Other Taylor films not previously available on DVD (except for "pirated" versions of probably questionable quality) are: Above & Beyond, All the Brothers Were Valiant, Billy the Kid, Johnny Eager & Party Girl (also available in 16 x 9 widescreen). They all seem to cost $19.95 plus tax.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Alexander on May 9, 2009 at 11:52pm: Dianne:

Thx for that info. Much appreciated! It's getting really interesting these days. A number of his films are suddenly being released, one by one by one, when for so long, nothing was out there. Why is this--now? You probably know that there's another Taylor bio due out in '10 by Chuck Trayner, through Bear Manor Media. It's all good . . . really, really good!

There is a new source for some of his films on DVD, called "WBShop." Films already issued by Warner Home Video (which I think has been very slow & stingy about putting movies from their vast library on DVD) are also available from WBShop.com. However, some new ones are also available from WBShop. These apparently are burned by request from the Warner Brothers Archives (which include MGM films as well). I discovered this accidentally by randomly inputting "Quentin Durward" on either Google or Yahoo. I ordered it & received my copy in less than a week. There are 2 versions - standard & widescreen. I ordered widescreen (16 x 9 format) & got a good print. It can be "zoomed" on a widescreen TV to fill most of the screen.

Other Taylor films not previously available on DVD (except for "pirated" versions of probably questionable quality) are: Above & Beyond, All the Brothers Were Valiant, Billy the Kid, Johnny Eager & Party Girl (also available in 16 x 9 widescreen). They all seem to cost $19.95 plus tax.; ▶ Reply to This