Fight piracy? Release the coveted films

An e-mail from a reader got me thinking about all the bootleg movies that seem to be available these days — particularly in light of the recent crackdown by the Motion Picture Association of America on "pirated" films.

The advent of the World Wide Web in this age of all things electronic has certainly made bootlegging movies more doable, from Web downloads to online auctions.

The MPAA's primary concerns are new films that wind up on videotape or DVD — both in foreign markets and stateside — after having been in theaters for only a few weeks or a few days. Or, in some cases, films that haven't even been released yet!

You know — the kind of things that show up for sale at Las Vegas swap meets or from the trunk of a New York cab. And, sometimes, on the Web. Although, I think the vast majority of moviewatchers/buyers don't get into that.

But buying tapes or discs online, that's something else.

Actually, what Kathy Doan wrote to ask about was a specific film, "Angel in My Pocket," a light comedy from 1969, starring Andy Griffith as a small-town preacher. She said in her e-mail that she had seen a VHS tape of the film go for $50 on eBay. "Don't you think it's time for this to be on video/DVD too?"

Well, in answer to the question — sure. In fact, there are lots of Andy Griffith movies I'd like to see on DVD, including two of his most famous, "No Time for Sergeants" and "Onionhead."

But the difference is, "Sergeants" and "Onionhead" have been released on videotape and are still available, if you're willing to look for them.

"Angel in My Pocket," however, has never been officially released by the studio on any home-video format.

Yet films like that often show up on eBay or other auction/purchase Web sites, usually in the form of videotapes/DVDs that have been dubbed from 16mm prints or taped off television.

Of course, we're not talking about public-domain films, those that have fallen out of copyright — films for which the studios have lost ownership. Anyone with access to a print can legally release such movies on DVD or tape. (Which is why you see so many cheapjack video versions of Hope & Crosby's "Road to Rio" and Danny Kaye's "The Inspector General" and Humphrey Bogart's "Beat the Devil.")