The Netflix DVD library is slowly losing movies

Unfortunately, movies on DVD don’t last forever. Discs get scratched or broken or otherwise become unplayable.
When that happens at Netflix, they get pulled from circulation. And when movies are out of print, they can’t be replaced.
The “saved” portion of my Netflix DVD rental queue has several older movies that are not currently available from the DVD-by-mail service. I can only assume that those discs were damaged and pulled from circulation but couldn’t be replaced due to lack of availability.
It’s also possible the movies were added to the database as placeholders, but the DVDs never happened.
The situation is unfortunate for movie fans. Because instead of one service to get movies, they’ll have to shop around among streaming, pay-per-view and paid download services to find various movies.
The other day I wrote about 10 movies that director Quentin Tarantino recommends watching before seeing his latest movie. Six of those movies are unavailable from the Netflix DVD business.
To that list, let me add nine more movies that aren’t available from Netflix’s DVD service. All are over 10 years old and all are currently idling in my “saved” queue.

• Call Northside 777 (1948)
• Panic in the Streets (1950)
• The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
• Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1992)
• Cure (1997)
• Baise-Moi (2000)
• Bend It Like Beckham (2003)
• 1408 (2007)
• Martyrs (2008)

I expect the list to grow as time passes.

Related reading:

16 notable movies never released on DVD in the U.S. (Nov. 22, 2014)

Photo: Netflix DVDs (Netflix)