A Few Words About A few words about...™ Warner Bros. Home Video & The WB Archive Collection -- in Blu-ray (4 Viewers)

[Robert Crawford]

I'd love to see John Ford's 3 Godfathers and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon in Blu-ray.

Those might be at least two of those Technicolor titles that RAH has alluded to as John Wayne sells very for the studios.

 

[Dr Griffin]

I would think if you are buying Blu-ray you would at least have a little bit of techie in you, otherwise you would be perfectly happy with DVD, like a large portion of the population. With the extra cost of the gear and title upgrades, I want as little 'anomalies' as possible. Banding is my pet peeve. It reminds me of the early days of streaming, with those color gradation rings, mainly in darker scenes. That down rez'd crap. And, of course, you still see it. I still see it on new production Blu-ray releases, not all, but some. You'd think that would be eliminated by now. That being said, slight imperfections will not totally stop me from buying and enjoying some titles. I won't support outright negligence though.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Those might be at least two of those Technicolor titles that RAH has alluded to as John Wayne sells very for the studios.

I'm awaiting re-dos of The Searchers and Rio Bravo.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm awaiting re-dos of The Searchers and Rio Bravo.

Well, I know those two are or have been revisited, but I was talking about specific Technicolor Wayne films.

 

[John Morgan]

Not having any inside information, here are a few of my guesses at what Warners will release.
BETTE DAVIS: I think THE LETTER, DARK VICTORY, JEZEBEL or NOW VOYAGER have the best chance. Based on the DVD, I would say THE LETTER and NOW VOYAGER look the best, although NOW VOYAGER has over processed sound. My guess would be NOW VOYAGER, as it is an iconic “Bette Davis” film.
ERROL FLYNN: Like many others, I wouldn’t mind any prime Warner Bros. title for one of my favorite actors. I feel they would go with one of his black and white classics. OBJECTIVE, BURMA! is one of the best WW2 era war films, but I think they will go with THE SEA HAWK or CAPTAIN BLOOD. I don’t know if any recent material has turned up on THE SEA HAWK, but I think it would be a nightmare to get it ready and proper for Blu ray. Warner’s had to go to England for the longer version and it doesn’t seem to have the crispness that most of other films do as they had only a negative or fine grain for the shorter version. And this is one of those films you can’t just cut in the missing footage and call it a day. When they prepared it for rerelease, they actually re-formatted it with added dissolves and reconfigured the music so there wouldn’t be jump-cut music for these shortened scenes. (Sort of what happened to THE BIG SKY and THE THING) Although I would prefer THE SEA HAWK, I bet they go with CAPTAIN BLOOD, which I don’t mind.
I hope we get YANKEE DOODLE DANDY for next July.
Bogart I would suspect THE BIG SLEEP.
The Astaire-Rogers look and sound great on DVD, and my guess would be SWING TIME, although my preference would be THE GAY DIVORCEE.
And I hope THE GREAT RACE, THEM!, THE THING, a couple of 3-Ds and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS are in there somewhere.

 

[trajan]

I know the focus is on releases for 2015, but it is only July. What about the rest of the year?

 

[Will Krupp]

I know the focus is on releases for 2015, but it is only July. What about the rest of the year?

Good question! I'm hoping for some more "out of the blue" surprises like THE WOMEN (hint hint)

 

[trajan]

Or THE GREAT RACE--- THE GREAT RACE -- THE GREAT RACE Anyone have a poster ad to show?

 

[dana martin]

I know the focus is on releases for 2015, but it is only July. What about the rest of the year?

year is not over yet, think a surprise or two may show up, but to be honest, I could use a small break on the wallet, for what ever complaints or request that everyone has, look at all the releases that have come this year so far from all the studios and independents, it hasn't just been a great year for classic films but classic TV as well, and all of the Halloween announcements plus Sopranos and a couple more Cinerama Titles from Flicker Alley, lets me know that I have no worries in the classic department waiting on WB to fill 2015 with surprises. Thanks Robert, for giving a heads up!

 

[atfree]

year is not over yet, think a surprise or two may show up, but to be honest, I could use a small break on the wallet, for what ever complaints or request that everyone has, look at all the releases that have come this year so far from all the studios and independents, it hasn't just been a great year for classic films but classic TV as well, and all of the Halloween announcements plus Sopranos and a couple more Cinerama Titles from Flicker Alley, lets me know that I have no worries in the classic department waiting on WB to fill 2015 with surprises. Thanks Robert, for giving a heads up!

I hear you on the wallet part. Between Twilight Time, Kino Lorber, etc, my wallet is shrinking rapidly. I do wonder if there will be some type of NEW big boxset released in time for Christmas?

 

[ScottGros117]

I have been reading seemingly constant complaints on line regarding Warner Bros. and presumed non-activity or lack of interest in bringing important catalog titles to the home video market.

Wrong.

Several weeks ago, I had a meal with friends from WB, and while I cannot report titles, I can report that things are alive and well at both Warner Home Video, as well as the Warner Archive Collection.

2015 portends to be their biggest year since the start of the format.

A quick overview.

Three-strip Technicolor. Minnelli. Bogart. Flynn. Davis. Astaire. Garbo. Sinatra.

Hammer Horror is a high priority.

The immense amount of work (and expense) that must go into each film to make it right for Blu-ray can sometimes hold things up, but what's coming represents some of the finest productions from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I would start saving up now. For those who love classic cinema, it's going to be an expensive year.

RAH

From my past conversations with Warner personnel, I know Warner's quality standards are high and some of these titles needed additional work from MPI before Warner would release them onto BD.

So *that's* what we've all been waiting for for all this time! This is the best news I've heard this week! Yaaaaayyyyy!!!

 

[dana martin]

I hear you on the wallet part. Between Twilight Time, Kino Lorber, etc, my wallet is shrinking rapidly. I do wonder if there will be some type of NEW big boxset released in time for Christmas?

Yep, there is this little title called Batman, that people have been talking about, sort of a big deal!

 

[atfree]

Yep, there is this little title called Batman, that people have been talking about, sort of a big deal!

Meh....I don't do TV shows so no big deal to me but happy for fans of the show.

 

[dnn1314]

Great news around I'd say. I know this topic is more blu ray news but really would love to see Joan Crawford's "Letty Lynton". I do know there is legal issues with this movie but I haven't heard any news for a few years now. This movie would make an awesome Blu Ray debut. Warner archives did say all her movies are available now on DVD when they released her last batch of DVDs but this one is still missing. I did write them and told them but never heard anything. Another movie missing is Bette Davis's "Beyond the Forest". I've never saw and would love to see it released. Hope I was not too long winded but this is my first post as I just registered tonight. An awesome web site and so informative...

 

[bujaki]

I don't think Letty's legal problems have been resolved. The original elements should be in good condition, given the fact that the film has not been legally shown since the mid-'30s. Maybe it will be seen again once it becomes public domain. It deserves to be restored. Beautifully directed by Clarence Brown, and as amoral, as opposed to immoral, as a pre-code film could be.
I don't know what might be holding up Beyond the Forest. it's been around in the past, theatrically and on broadcast TV.

 

[Joel Arndt]

dnn1314 Posted Today, 06:32 PM

Great news around I'd say. I know this topic is more blu ray news but really would love to see Joan Crawford's "Letty Lynton". I do know there is legal issues with this movie but I haven't heard any news for a few years now. This movie would make an awesome Blu Ray debut. Warner archives did say all her movies are available now on DVD when they released her last batch of DVDs but this one is still missing. I did write them and told them but never heard anything.Another movie missing is Bette Davis's "Beyond the Forest". I've never saw and would love to see it released.Hope I was not too long winded but this is my first post as I just registered tonight. An awesome web site and so informative...



David, welcome to HTF! There was a bootleg of Letty Lynton on YouTube a few years ago that was run in its entirety. I don't know if it's still there or not. WAC answered another inquiry about this title on Facebook recently reiterating that it is not coming out any time soon. They've stated that Beyond the Forest is tied up with rights issues, also. Both are excellent suggestions on your part. I just hope I'm still around to see them released in some format, either sd or bd.

 

[atfree]

Great news around I'd say. I know this topic is more blu ray news but really would love to see Joan Crawford's "Letty Lynton". I do know there is legal issues with this movie but I haven't heard any news for a few years now. This movie would make an awesome Blu Ray debut. Warner archives did say all her movies are available now on DVD when they released her last batch of DVDs but this one is still missing. I did write them and told them but never heard anything. Another movie missing is Bette Davis's "Beyond the Forest". I've never saw and would love to see it released. Hope I was not too long winded but this is my first post as I just registered tonight. An awesome web site and so informative...

Welcome to HTF!

 

[dpippel]

Great news indeed! I'm excited about the possible classic titles that have been mentioned here finally seeing the light of day on Blu. I'm *particularly* excited about the prospect of Warner releasing their Hammer titles and some of the 50s sci-fi though. Bring them ON! I'll purchase every single one of them if they're properly done.

Thanks, as always, for the inside scoop Robert Harris!

 

[dnn1314]

Thxs for all the welcoming post, I did just pre order "Out of the Past" and I also recently replaced "Sunset Boulevard", "Laura", "Double Indemnity" with there Blu Ray brothers and they look great. I do want to get the classic gangster blu ray set soon but gotta wait till I get some extra cash....Thxs again for the welcome messages!

 

[LouA]

Loads of WB titles I'd buy on Bluray. One I'm hoping for is the recent Danny Kaye double feature which was released on replicated DVD. WB now has the rights to release 8 Elvis Presley Paramount films in addition to the 17 Elvis films they previously owned. A Bluray box of all 25 might make a good releases , although that would probably go out to retail.