Thriller (hosted by Boris Karloff)

[j d worthington]

It's been some time since I last saw much of this series, though a few years ago I had a chance to watch a few episodes, and was pleasantly surprised by how well most of those stood up.

For those not familiar with the series:

Boris Karloff's Thriller - Episode Guide

Now, my question is... has this series been made available on DVD professionally? I know there are pirated copies floating around out there and such, but I was wondering if anyone has released the series, by season or as a set, from a reputable company? And, if so, where would I be able to get them.... Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

And in the meantime... for those who have seen the series... any thoughts?

EDIT: In looking over some of the comments on various episodes, I note an egregious oversight: where they normaly give credit for the short story from which a screenplay was written, they neglected to do so for "God Grant That She Lye Still" -- adapted from the (quite superb) ghostly tale "God Grante That She Lye Still" by Lady Cynthia Asquith.

Oh, and for those who don't mind reading a screenplay, here's a link to that very episode....

http://www.geocities.com/emruf7/god.html

 

[clovis-man]

I remember it, but since he was the host and not the actor, I didn't really get into it. Much better, in my opinion was "Colonel March of Scotland Yard", done in the 1950s, it wasn't as fantastic as one might hope, but I can remember an episode about a murderer using bullets made of ice so that they melted and left no ballistic evidence. I loved it. Here's a link:

"Colonel March of Scotland Yard" (1956)

Jim

 

[Foxbat]

I've never seen this but did read a reference to it in James Whale's biography.

As for DVD availability - I've never seen it available but will give you a shout if I ever come across it.

 

[j d worthington]

Thank you both for the responses. Please let me know if you do, Foxbat.... As for the Colonel March series, I've never had the privilege of seeing one, though I've known about them for some time. There was, however, another series he was host of, which (iirc) never aired, but which was released a few years ago on DVD, titled (in America, at least) The Veil. While not terribly impressive, it has its moments, and Karloff, of course, adds a special touch to the whole.

Thriller, by the way, did have a few episodes where he played one of the characters, including the Colonel Markesan one (also featuring Dick York when he was still doing dramatic roles), which was rather a nasty piece of work, all told....

 

[j d worthington]

*Post removed by poster*

 

[Foxbat]

I find it difficult to believe that these are PD. Copyright exists for 75 years and the timespan would indicate that these are still under copyright.

Unless the copyright owners have voluntarily moved these into PD(which I very much doubt) , the onus is on the website to track down and gain agreement to sell these.

 

[j d worthington]

I find it difficult to believe that these are PD. Copyright exists for 75 years and the timespan would indicate that these are still under copyright.

Unless the copyright owners have voluntarily moved these into PD(which I very much doubt) , the onus is on the website to track down and gain agreement to sell these.

That's what I would have thought -- but I'm finding my understanding of these things, especially where posting them like this is concerned (and in some cases where release of DVDs is concerned) is a lot more complicated and full of exceptions than that....

It could be one of those cases of neglecting to follow through on something, simply because of feeling there was no market for it... Goodness knows Hollywood has been guilty of that sort of thing more times than any of us can count....\

At any rate, just to be on the safe side, I've removed the post above, along with its link, until such time as this question is resolved....

 

[BAYLOR]

I bought the series on DVD sometime ago wonderful stuff. Favorite Pigeons From Hell based on Robert E Howard's story of the same name.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

One episode of Thriller is in the public domain, for some reason or other:

"Thriller" The Return of Andrew Bentley : William Frye : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive