Porgy and Bess (film) - Aftermath, Disappearance, and Archival Notes

Aftermath, Disappearance, and Archival Notes

Although the film won one Oscar and one Golden Globe, and its soundtrack album won a Grammy, it was critically and commercially unsuccessful, earning back only half its $7-million cost. It was broadcast on network television only once - Sunday night, March 5, 1967, on ABC-TV (during a week that also saw a rebroadcast of a TV adaptation of Brigadoon, as well as the first telecast of Hal Holbrook's one-man show Mark Twain Tonight!). The 1959 Porgy and Bess has not been seen in its entirety on network TV since, although clips have been shown on some of the American Film Institute specials. The film had multiple presentations during the 1970s on Los Angeles local television, KTLA-TV, Channel 5, an independent station with access to the Goldwyn Studios output, most probably using the special pan and scan 35mm print which was made for the ABC-TV network presentation, as was KTLA-TV's practice (it and competitor KHJ-TV telecast 35mm prints in strong preference to 16mm prints).

Goldwyn's lease of the rights was only 15 years, and after they expired, the film could not be shown without the permission of the Gershwin and Heyward estates, and even then only after substantial compensation was paid. Despite repeated requests, the Gershwin estate repeatedly refused to grant permission for the film to be seen. As a consequence, the film has never been officially released on video or DVD in the U.S., however bootleg DVD-Rs, made from a 35mm anamorphic "E-K" release print, circulate among collectors, preserving 115 minutes of the original 138-minute whole. Apparently, authorized DVDs are available in Region 0 Format (that is, ALL regions) from sellers in Germany. These are "manufactured" DVDs, not DVD-Rs. This is an un-restored all-English language version, without German subtitles, without any overture, intermission, entr'acte or exit music; the current bootlegs appear to have been made from this version.

There exists one 35mm Technicolor dye-transfer print, with 4-track magnetic sound, but it is in the UCLA archive library and is not generally available for public presentations. This print has had at least two presentations at university-sponsored festivals, and which presentations required special permission from the Gershwin Estate. It was long believed that there are no surviving 70mm prints, and that the 65mm negative is "unprintable". Likely, any restoration would have to be effected from the silver separation protection masters, assuming those could be found. A faded 70mm print with faulty 6-track magnetic sound and with German subtitles was recently discovered and was screened in Europe.

It wasn't until 2007 that it was given a theatrical showing again when, on September 26 and 27, the Ziegfeld Theatre in midtown-Manhattan presented it in its entirety, complete with overture and intermission and exit music, followed by a discussion with Preminger biographer Foster Hirsch.