As the world's foremost authority on the 1959 Li'l Abner movie (and author of this article about the Broadway show it was based on, as well as this one about the movie, itself), I am often asked, "What's the deal with the video?" Many moons ago, Paramount Home Video brought it out on VHS and then it suddenly disappeared, going out of print and remaining that way. No DVD release seems to be in the immediate offing, either. And as the world's foremost authority on this motion picture, I can only answer, "I dunno. I guess there was some sort of problem with the rights. This is not an uncommon situation with movies based on material from another other medium, especially when songs are involved. Quite a few movies based on Broadway shows have been slow in making it to home video because the contract for the source material either didn't allow such sale or seemed ambiguous.
Or in at least one case I know of, the songwriters' royalty specified in the contract a certain percentage of the gross of a soundtrack album and the home video company's lawyers feared that would apply to a videotape. Sometimes, it isn't a matter of not being able to release the thing on home video…it's a matter of not wanting to share.
But like the man (me) said, I'm not sure what happened here…only that Paramount got rid of the VHS release in a hurry. If you want to purchase a copy of the tape, your best bet is eBay, though you have to be careful not to accidentally purchase the 1940 Li'l Abner movie which I, for one, have never managed to make it through, Buster Keaton or no Buster Keaton. The collectibles wing of Amazon has copies of our beloved '59 version, currently ranging from $35 to $126, but these pricetags seem high to me, given that Paramount will probably clear up the problems one of these days and issue a nice, spanking DVD, maybe even with extras and/or a better transfer. Just about every major movie musical is either available on DVD now or someone is trying to clear up rights or negotiate terms to bring it out. (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, which is also from Paramount, is finally coming out at the end of February.) Does anyone reading this have any additional information?