With all the home viewing opportunities available today, it’s still difficult to find all the great films we want to see whether on cable TV, streaming services, or on DVD or Blu-ray.

Part of the problem is ownership of classic films which keeps changing.

Warner Bros. currently still has ownership of the bulk of classic films in their library. They include classic MGM and RKO films as well as those from Warner Bros. itself. Universal currently owns all its own films plus Paramount films released before 1950. Paramount owns its own films from 1950 to the present. The new Amazon-MGM owns the United Artists catalogue in addition to recent MGM releases and Disney owns the 20th Century-Fox catalogue, which they are as stingy about making Fox’s films available as they are about their own product.

The biggest mystery seems to be why Disney would want to own 20th Century-Fox’s catalogue just to sit on it as they do most of their own. While they have released 4K UHD Blu-ray releases of 1965’s The Sound of Music and 1997’s Titanic, they seem to have not only slowed down but abandoned the idea of releasing anything else. Their current 4K UHD release of 1951’s Alice in Wonderland seems to be their last planned upgrade of their own catalogue.

It’s likely that Walt Disney’s early animated classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi will continue to resurface in some format every seven years or so, although seeing any reissued Disney film is sure to be altered from its original showings. But what of the classic Disney live-action films such as 1960’s Pollyanna and 1961’s The Parent Trap which were given limited Blu-ray releases available only to Disney Club members or Walt’s last film, 1967’s The Happiest Millionaire which was never given a Blu-ray release of any kind?

How long will be before existing copies of such 20th Century-Fox classics as The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, Laura, All About Eve, and An Affair to Remember cease to exist in any format?

Universal, which owns the rights to most of Alfred Hitchcock’s films including Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho continues to repackage those films but how long can it keep that up? The same goes for their seemingly constant reissues of their classic horror films such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Bride of Frankenstein, all of which were bestsellers several times over in all formats including 4K UHD.

Paramount has had similar luck with more recent classics such as Chinatown and The Godfather which were released in all formats including 4K UHD through their own efforts while other 1970s and classics as Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile were released in 4K UHD updates through Kino Lorber.

Columbia is slowly releasing some of its older films on 4K UHD via Sony including most of Frank Capra’s early films including It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Later films including Meet John Doe and It’s a Wonderful Life are available from other distributers.

More recent releases include The Talk of the Town and Abandon Ship! , the latter not having been seen since the old VHS days.

Warner Bros, with its vast library, continues to release catalogue titles on Blu-ray and occasionally on 4K UHD up to seven titles per month through Warner Archive.

As duplicating labs and distribution companies slow down, the future of Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases remain in doubt.

Here is a small sampling of hundreds of films made between 1931 and 1963 released on DVD that we are still waiting for on Blu-ray:

The Champ (1931), featuring Wallace Beery’s Oscar nominated performance (MGM)

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) featuring Paul Muni’s Oscar nominated performance. (Warner Bros.)

David Copperfield (1935), the definitive adaptation of one of Charles Dickens’ greatest novels. (MGM)

Boys Town (1938), featuring Spencer Tracy’s Oscar winning performance. (MGM)

Random Harvest (1942), Greer Garson’s other 1942 film that equaled the box-office records of Mrs. Miniver. (MGM)

The More the Merrier (1943), featuring Charles Coburn’s Oscar winning performance as well as Jean Arthur’s only Oscar nominated performance. (Columbia)

With a Song in My Heart (1952), featuring Susan Hayward’s Oscar nominated performance. (20th Century-Fox)

The High and the Mighty, a rare John Wayne film not to have been upgraded. (Warner Bros.; rights held by Wayne’s family)

Around the World in 80 Days, the Oscar winning behemoth that introduced the term “cameo” to the screen. (Warner Bros.)

Sons and Lovers, Oscar nominated film that was a co-winner of the NYFC award with The Apartment. (20th Century-Fox)

Advise & Consent , Otto Preminger’s acclaimed adaptation of Allen Drury’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. (Columbia)

The Cardinal, Preminger’s acclaimed adaptation of Henry Morton Robinson’s equally acclaimed bestseller. (Columbia)

All are worth viewing on DVD while we wait.

Happy viewing.