Looking for a Beloved Film? Good Luck : Videos: Old movies are priced right--$19.95 or less--but fewer of them are being released due to the economics of the market.

Most movie fans have a favorite film that hasn’t yet been released on home video. Maybe it’s “Three Coins in a Fountain” (1954) or “Harvey” (1950). Or maybe it’s some early, obscure John Wayne Western or a movie featuring Mae West or Charlie Chaplin.

Generally, fans feel it’s just a matter of time before their favorite makes its home-video debut. But due to the economics of the vintage film market, they may have to wait for years--or forever.

The old-movie home-video market--encompassing films that are pre-1980 but mostly from 1930-60--has changed drastically in the last few years, in some ways for the better, but in others for the worst.

These days, the best thing about vintage movies on home video is the price--$19.95 or less. That applies to oldies that have been in release for years and those put out more recently.

The bad news is that, compared to the first half of the ‘80s, fewer old movies are being released.

Earlier in the decade, when the home-video boom was getting under way, most of the cassettes available were old movies. The VCR population was still relatively small and studios hadn’t yet started to release the majority of their current films to home video.

“Back four years ago, video stores were opening up at an incredible rate,” said Vallery Kountze, president of Republic Home Video, which has a library of 1,400 Republic films and serials. “They were desperate for stock to fill their stores. The studios were flooding the market with old movies. You could market any old movies in those days.”

But the growth of the home-video market has slowed, and the market has shifted in favor of recent box-office hits. Since video stores now make most of their money renting those, it’s tough to find shelf space for older fare.

“Video stores don’t stock old movies like they used to,” Kountze said. “They stock up on the latest movies because that’s what customers want. So when you put out old movies, you can only put out a handful a year and you can only put out those that have specific consumer appeal. You have to look at your library and carefully gauge what to put out and when. The old days of reckless releasing are over.”

Lack of shelf space is just one reason why so few are released. The other reason is the expense, which includes advertising and promotion, package design, sprucing up dilapidated prints and securing rights clearances for music, which is often governed by vintage contracts.

“Putting out old movies is very costly,” said Steve Chamberlain, vice president and general manager of Turner Home Entertainment, whose library includes the old RKO movies and pre-1950 Warner Bros. films. “You need to sell a decent number to justify the expense. That means you have to carefully select what you put out. It has to have appeal in a very competitive market.”

Chamberlain estimated that half of the Turner library of RKO and Warner Bros. movies won’t be released because it’s not economically feasible.

Said Republic’s Kountze: “A lot of the titles in our vault don’t feature stars, or they’re not well-known movies. They’re simply not that marketable.”

The situation has improved somewhat in the past year or so, however, thanks to a revolution in the sales market. Mass merchants such as Target and K mart began stocking low-priced videos. Glenn Ross, vice president of marketing at Republic, said that from 35% to 40% of the company’s business is now done through such outlets.

Chamberlain said that last year, Turner released less than 10 old movies. This year, the total was 40. Republic’s output is on the rise too. Kountze said her company put out 9 last year and 18 this year.

“You can make money in the classic-film market, but the profit margins are small,” said Ralph Tribbey, MGM/UA’s marketing vice president. “That’s why it’s important to keep the expenses down.”

One of the marketing strategies is releasing the classics in groups. Generally they’re put out in bunches of from three to eight, as part of a theme promotion based on a star or a genre--like four Bette Davis movies or four Westerns.

“Advertising and promotion are too expensive to put out one old movie at a time,” said Turner’s Chamberlain. “When you put out several vintage titles that are centered around some theme, you can spread the costs over several titles.”

Packaging, Republic’s Ross explained, is much more important than it used to be: “Years ago, when the stores were buying just about anything that was released, packaging wasn’t that important. But now, the market is so competitive, you want any edge you can get. Fancy packaging will lure customers and may make the movie more attractive to store owners too.”

Not everyone is convinced the effort is worthwhile, however. MCA, whose vaults are crammed with Universal films and the pre-1948 Paramount movies, is scaling down its old movie releases. In 1987, MCA put out 22 vintage films. Last year the total dropped to 17 and this year it shrank again to 14.

Some movies in the library, may never come out, said Louis Feola, senior marketing vice president.

“In many cases, it just doesn’t pay,” Feola said. “Some of these old movies may have limited consumer appeal. Or they may be tough to market for one reason or another. Or it may be hard to get clearances for music rights. With some of these movies, the print isn’t in very good shape and restoring it would be very costly.

“A lot of these are great movies that many fans would love,” he concluded. “But we have to do what’s dictated by the economics of the market. It’s a shame that people are waiting for certain movies that may never come out.”