16 Brilliant Films Still Unavailable on Blu-Ray
by emvan | created - 29 Nov 2014 | updated - 15 Feb 2022 | PublicRanked by IMDB rating plus theyshootpictures.com ranking, with underrated films bumped up the list by yours truly. The original version, from November 2014, had 40 films; 14 of its top 18 were released, within a few years but only one of the remaining 22. For this version 3, the opposite has happened; 6 of the top 7 remain, but half of the remaining 18 have appeared. This version adds an addition; there may be others I could add.
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1. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 16,176 | Gross: $1.04M
Lubitsch at his best. That should say it all; tragic that it no longer says enough. Criterion.
2. O Lucky Man! (1973)
R | 178 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures that seem designed to challenge his naive idealism.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe
Votes: 8,790
I've bumped up this infinitely watchable mock-epic (whose revised Plot Outline above I wrote). The DVD, which I bought for $15 in 2007, is now going for $59.
3. Angels in America (2003)
TV-MA | 59 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Several disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.
Stars: Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 29,787
Since the late Mike Nichols' greatest accomplishment is really an epic movie, not a mini-series, it's rank is a bit arbitrary. Does stream in HD at HBO Max, though.
4. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance
A boy is raised by a Buddhist monk in an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Kim Ki-duk, Oh Yeong-su, Jong-ho Kim, Kim Young-min
Votes: 86,810 | Gross: $2.38M
Rapturously beautiful flick finally lost its surprising spot in the Top 250. Bumped up.
5. Z (1969)
M/PG | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, François Périer
Votes: 31,345 | Gross: $0.08M
After 40+ years, I finally saw this great political thriller again, but I still can't buy properly. Criterion.
6. Peeping Tom (1960)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Karlheinz Böhm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer, Maxine Audley
Votes: 39,249 | Gross: $0.08M
Cinema's first sympathetic portrayal of a serial killer so offended sensibilities that it notoriously ended Powell's career. Criterion, and out of print.
7. A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Not Rated | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price, John Sweet
Votes: 6,485
Not anywhere close to Powell and Pressburger's most famous, but possibly their second best after The Red Shoes. Criterion.
8. The Frisco Kid (1979)
PG | 119 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco. On the way, he is nearly burned at the stake by Native Americans and almost killed by outlaws.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Gene Wilder, Harrison Ford, Ramon Bieri, Val Bisoglio
Votes: 11,497 | Gross: $9.35M
* Read my review here for why this is the most underrated comedy of all time.
9. In the Company of Men (1997)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.
Director: Neil LaBute | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, Stacy Edwards, Michael Martin
Votes: 14,286 | Gross: $2.86M
* Cringe comedy's brutal and perverse cousin is actually a stunning exploration of the nature of human evil.
10. Half Nelson (2006)
R | 106 min | Drama
An inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret.
Director: Ryan Fleck | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Shareeka Epps, Jeff Lima
Votes: 91,930 | Gross: $2.69M
Iconic indie where Gosling put himself on the map as an actor.
11. You Can Count on Me (2000)
R | 111 min | Drama
A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Amy Ryan, Michael Countryman
Votes: 31,418 | Gross: $9.18M
Made (my fellow Northfield Mt. Hermon grad) Laura Linney a star.
12. Temple Grandin (2010 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 107 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of the top scientists in the humane livestock handling industry.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn, Catherine O'Hara
Votes: 32,573
Fabulous Emmy-winning biopic. Streams for free in HD at HBO Max.
13. Real Life (1979)
PG | 99 min | Comedy
A film crew sets out to record a year in the life of an average family, but things quickly start going wrong.
Director: Albert Brooks | Stars: Dick Haynes, Albert Brooks, Matthew Tobin, J.A. Preston
Votes: 3,817
* A takedown of the incipient reality TV genre, with Brooks as "himself" making Michael Scott look like a paragon of self-awareness.
14. Gunga Din (1939)
Approved | 117 min | Adventure, Comedy, War
In 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Votes: 12,796
My Dad's favorite film; classic Hollywood adventure that doubtlessly inspired the likes of Indiana Jones.
15. Prince of the City (1981)
R | 167 min | Crime, Drama
A New York City narcotics detective reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption, and soon realises he's in over his head, and nobody can be trusted.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Richard Foronjy, Don Billett
Votes: 9,520 | Gross: $8.12M
* Lumet's exquisite original longer cut appeared on network TV and has never been seen since. Are you listening, Criterion?
16. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance
A young Englishwoman goes to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthier fiancé. When the weather keeps them separated on different islands, she begins to have second thoughts.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie
Votes: 9,779
The 2022 addition (should have added it a while ago).
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