Frustration... Films that should be on DVD, Part 1

I'm a very avid collector of old movies, and I keep two lists going at all times regarding classic films:

1.) Films I'd like to own on DVD.
2.) Films to record off of Turner Classic Movie because they have been ignored so far for release on DVD.

As I'm trying to diversify my blog posts here not to just focus on music, but some of my other passions too, I thought I'd try to regularly post a bit about some of these films that have been neglected on DVD. So since my best friend, Kate, is stuck on picking up every film she can find by Paul Newman, I thought I'd make my first "films that should be on DVD" post go out to her. So I have turned this spotlight on a film that was important for Paul Newman, as it was only the second time he starred in a feature role in a film.

The movie was Paris Blues, an MGM picture from 1961. The film follows two American Jazz musicians, Ram Bowen(Paul Newman) and Eddie Cook(Sidney Poitier), who have ventured to Paris for a life of staying up all night playing in a jazz club and sleeping all day. This carefree lifestyle remains unchallenged until the pair of expatriots make the acquaintance of two beautiful American tourists, and suddenly the men find themselves torn between two passions: women and their music.

This picture's a little light on action, but remains a fun picture that's both a love letter to Jazz and to the dreamy romantic reputation of the City of Lights. This picture also includes an amazing Jazz "Battle Royale" between Bowen and Cook versus Jazz great, Louis Armstrong. I included the scene below so that you can see for yourself. This film was released on VHS in 1998, but really deserves a DVD release. Fortunately with the relationship MGM has now with Fox for reissuing their back catalog of films from this time period, I do have some hope that we'll see this as a future DVD release. For Jazz fans, this film is important because the incredible musical score for this film was put together by none other than Duke Ellington. Murray MacEachern dubbed Newman's trombone work, Paul Gonsalves did Poitier's tenor sax dubs, and obviously Louis Armstrong did his own work.

This movie played on TCM back in January and I missed getting it recorded, so I hope it airs again soon. If you'd like to see it on TCM, check out their website and vote for the picture. In the meantime, enjoy the clip!