Warner Archive Discussion Thread (The Announcements/The Films) (3 Viewers)

[Thomas T]

Since its been out of print for awhile and goes for a fortune on e-bay people who don't have the title yet will appreciate it. Thats the whole point of their Paramount releases is to put titles back in print that are out of print.

Thank you! I find it a wee bit presumptuous for others to declare put it on blu or don't bother! Realllly! There are other people in the universe besides the blu club. It's not all about you! A simple "I wish they had put it on blu" would have been sufficient.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

Thank you! I find it a wee bit presumptuous for others to declare put it on blu or don't bother! Realllly! There are other people in the universe besides the blu club. It's not all about you! A simple "I wish they had put it on blu" would have been sufficient

Well said.

 

[Moises]

Having materials good enough to remaster for DVD is one thing. Having good enough materials to master for Blu-ray is a whole other matter. I appreciate the emotion and passion behind the "Blu-ray or GTFO" attitude, but it is shortsighted and terribly disrespectful of the people working insanely hard to accomplish what is truly God's Work, whether you believe in a deity of any sort.

I'm thrilled every time they reissue something on DVD that chops the legs out from under eBay and Amazon scalpers, even if it's something I budgetary decide to wait on until it theoretically hits Blu-ray.

 

[JoHud]

Up in Arms and The Kid From Brooklyn on DVD.... Finally! Transfers of A Kid From Brooklyn that I had come across in the past were all horrid, and Up In Arms never even got a DVD release overseas.

Also, the decision to put The Court Jester in the WAC is a pretty clear sign that Paramount is not interested in getting that one out on DVD. So it's really the WAC or nothing. At least in the near future. Sad and disappointing, but that's apparently how it is.

Also, Wonder Man and A Song is Born go for absolutely insane used prices, so their inclusion here at a sane price is extremely welcome (even though I already have them). A shame because the HBO Video edition of Wonder Man looked drop dead gorgeous.

 

[[email protected]]

Maybe the four reaming Goldwyn Eddie Cantor titles will get a similar one set release.

 

[Dick]

DEAR WARNER BROS:
If you are reading this thread, you can already see there is demand for a Blu-ray of THE COURT JESTER. Please consider releasing it, if only as part of the Archive series. Many thanks!

 

[Ken_Martinez]

P.S. Cartoon fans have been waiting for a DVD release of Tex Avery's cartoons for 16 years now. Consider that, too.

 

[[email protected]]

Maybe the four reaming Goldwyn Eddie Cantor titles will get a similar one set release.

Whoops! I meant the four remaining Eddie Cantor titles. Sorry about that.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I'm guessing The Court Jester would cost too much to remaster. The DVD is borderline awful - color is OK, but it has this thick dupe look and built in dirt on the lens they used for printing down the film. It looks like someone sneezed on the screen.

I remember seeing the VHS tape and while it didn't seem as dupey (as if a tape would show much), the color was all over the place and had extreme fading in spots (heavy yellow tinting). Sort of like The Man Who Knew Too Much. I'm guessing that the original negative is too faded and the separations were not made correctly.

 

[Moises]

I'm guessing The Court Jester would cost too much to remaster. The DVD is borderline awful - color is OK, but it has this thick dupe look and built in dirt on the lens they used for printing down the film. It looks like someone sneezed on the screen.

I remember seeing the VHS tape and while it didn't seem as dupey (as if a tape would show much), the color was all over the place and had extreme fading in spots (heavy yellow tinting). Sort of like The Man Who Knew Too Much. I'm guessing that the original negative is too faded and the separations were not made correctly.

I know for a fact, from both hearing the WAC podcast and reading interviews, that The Court Jester is one of George Feltenstein's favorite movies, and if there is a single person in film preservation whom I believe in to pull off the impossible, it's him by a country mile.

Even though it's technically Paramount's decision to make, if the WAC guys have any pull or influence to offer, I'd be shocked (purely speculatively) if they didn't throw in their chips to Court Jester getting badly-needed restoration and remastering. For marketing purposes, it does have a 60th Anniversary in 2016…the NFR/LoC selected it for preservation almost 10 years ago. It's absolutely the top of my wished-for list when it comes to a very expensive and thorough restoration of a VistaVision/Technicolor classic.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I would love to pick up a Blu-ray of The Court Jester if made available. For the time being though I'm glad the DVD is no longer OOP.

 

[ahollis]

CLASSIC MUSICAL SHORTS FROM THE DREAM FACTORY - VOLUME 2November 19Following the success of Classic Musical Shorts from the Dream Factory comes this rollicking follow-up volume of mostly musical shorts produced by MGM. Two-reel Technicolor extravaganzas, one-reel earthy “Tabloid Musicals”, showstopping MGM Revues and more are waiting in the wings in this 3-Disc Collection of 36 Theatrical Short, featuring performances from vaudeville greats and future celluloid superstars like Shaw and Lee, Jack Benny, Ann Rutherford, Dennis Morgan, Deanna Durbin, Dick Winslow, Arthur Lake and Judy Garland.Set contains:Copy (1929)The Rounder (1930) (with Jack Benny)Gentlemen Of Polish (1934) (with Shaw and Lee)Gypsy Night (1935)Memories and Melodies (1935)Two Hearts in Wax Time (1935)Violets In Spring (1936)New Shoes (1936) (with Arthur Lake)Swing Banditry (1936) (with Georgie Stoll Orchestra)No Place Like Rome (1936)Annie Laurie (1936)Every Sunday (1936) (with Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin)A Girl's Best Years (1936)Dancing on the Ceiling (1937)Bars and Stripes (1937)Some Time Soon (1937)The Little Maestro (1937)Song of Revolt (1937)Carnival in Paris (1937)The Canary Comes Across (1938)Snow Gets in Your Eyes (1938)The Magician's Daughter (1938)It's in the Stars (1938)Streamlined Swing (1938) (dir. by Buster Keaton)Men of Steel (1938)Once Over Lightly (1938)A Dream of Love (1939) (dir. by James A. FitzPatrick)Somewhat Secret (1939)Happily Buried (1939)Rhumba Rhythm (1939)Love On Tap (1939)Mendelssohn's Wedding March (1939) (dir. by James A. FitzPatrick)Heavenly Music (1943)Ode to Victory (1943)Spreadin' the Jam (1945)Musical Masterpieces (1946)

 

[JoHud]

Great news on the MGM musical shorts. There's less early talkie shorts than I expect from a set like this, which I'm sure had some involvement from the Vitaphone Project and UCLA, but I'll be buying this nontheless to support their ongoing efforts in preserving and restoring these shorts. Speaking of which, that Three Stooges set has to be right around the corner.

Also two very long awaited Jack Benny films are going to be released today.

GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE (1942) Jack Benny stars in this classic comedy about a ’confirmed cliff dweller’ banished to the wilds of the Pennsylvania countryside and the confines of a Colonial fixer-upper. Ann Sheridan plays the spouse who catches the old house flu and Hattie McDaniel co-stars as the maid along for the ride. Directed by William Keighley from a story by comedy kings George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Remastered.

THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT (1945) This cult classic comic fantasia finds Jack Benny playing the angel Athanael, sent down to Earth to blow The Last Trumpet and usher in Armageddon. Alexis Smith co-stars as his amorous angel co-worker, while Allyn Joslyn and John Alexander play Osidro and Doremus, a pair of fallen angels trying to cancel his apocalyptic gig. The butt of many jokes in its initial release — many of them thanks to Mr. Benny himself — The Horn Blows at Midnight is a cinema survivor that has the last laugh. Remastered.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

AHEAD OF TODAY'S NEWSLETTER

Warner Archive Collection: New Releases for 4/2/2013http://l.email-warnerbros.com/1x1.dyn?0vEGgqr-CxUvGh22H8uJt-gxU=0

WARNER ARCHIVE HOME • NEW RELEASES • BESTSELLING DVDs • FORWARD TO A FRIEND

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DANNY KAYE: THE GOLDWYN YEARS (1944-48) After conquering the Borscht Belt and Broadway, David Daniel Kaminksi (Danny Kaye) got the nod from maverick impresario Samuel Goldwyn and quickly conquered cinema as America’s favorite clown. Set contains four features. Note: initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand. UP IN ARMS (1944) Kaye makes his feature film debut as the hypochondriac soldier Danny Weems who is enamored of nurse Mary (Constance Dowling) who actually loves Danny’s pal Joe (Dana Andrews), whose girl, nurse Virginia (Dinah Shore), really has the hots for Danny. The war might have proved the respite, but the whole quartet is now on a ship to the South Pacific… WONDER MAN (1945) Virginia Mayo makes the first of her multiple movie pairings with Kaye in this crime comedy featuring a signature Kayeschtick: multiple roles in the same film. Kaye plays twins with a twist, one of them is a nightclub performer, the other a reclusive bookworm. One of them dead, murdered by the mob, the other possessed by his sibling’s spirit and set after the mobster that rubbed the brother out. Also features Vera-Ellen, Allen Jenkins and S.Z. Sakall. THE KID FROM BROOKLYN (1946) A mild-mannered milkman accidentally ends up on the pro-boxing circuit thanks to a thick skull and an uncanny ability to avoid a punch. This re-working of Harold Lloyd’s The Milky Way features Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden and Lionel Stander reprising his role from the original. A SONG IS BORN (1948) Howard Hawks re-envisions his screwball classic, Ball of Fire as a superstar Jazz musical with Danny Kaye in the Gary Cooper role playing an out-of-it professor and Virginia Mayo in the Barbara Stanwyck role as the Snow White moll who sweeps seven monastic academics off their feet. With performances by Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Benny Carter, Charlie Barnet, Mel Powell, Harry Babasin, Louis Bellson, Al Hendrickson, The Golden Gate Quartet, Russo and the Samba Kings, The Page Cavanaugh Trio, and Buck and Bubbles. DANNY KAYE DOUBLE FEATURE (1956,1959) After stints at an array of studios, Danny Kaye came to call Paramount Pictures home for much of the fifties.It was there that Kaye created some of his most memorable screen portrayals, as evidenced by the pair found in this collection — both of which enjoy contributions from Kaye’s songstress spouse, Sylvia Fine. THE COURT JESTER (1956) This epic comic fantasy sees Kaye playing a carnival performer who impersonates a fool to aid in the ouster of a usurping tyrant. Thanks to the amazing all-star cast (including Angela Lansbury and Basil Rathbone), a score courtesy of Sylvia Fine and Sammy Cahn, and creators Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, The Court Jester is rightly considered a cinema classic — ripe fare for young and old alike.16x9 Widescreen THE FIVE PENNIES (1959) This biopic, based on the roller-coaster life of Jazz hornblower Red Nichols, reteams Kaye with the legendary Louis Armstrong alongside a bevy of Big Band greats. Just as Red’s career takes off, his beloved daughter is stricken with polio and he must curtail his Dixieland dreams. Years later, Red makes a musical comeback thanks to the aid of some astonishing friends. Also stars Barbara Bel Geddes, Susan Gordon and Tuesday Weld (in her screen debut). 16x9 Widescreen

GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE (1942) Jack Benny stars in this classic comedy about a ’confirmed cliff dweller’ banished to the wilds of the Pennsylvania countryside and the confines of a Colonial fixer-upper. Ann Sheridan plays the spouse who catches the old house flu and Hattie McDaniel co-stars as the maid along for the ride. Directed by William Keighley from a story by comedy kings George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Remastered THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT (1945) This cult classic comic fantasia finds Jack Benny playing the angel Athanael, sent down to Earth to blow The Last Trumpet and usher in Armageddon. Alexis Smith co-stars as his amorous angel co-worker, while Allyn Joslyn and John Alexander play Osidro and Doremus, a pair of fallen angels trying to cancel his apocalyptic gig. The butt of many jokes in its initial release — many of them thanks to Mr. Benny himself — The Horn Blows at Midnight is a cinema survivor that has the last laugh. Remastered CHEYENNE: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON (1962-63) After seven seasons, Cheyenne put up the saddle after saving a studio, a network, and forever changing American entertainment. Under the auspices of William T. Orr and creator/developer Roy Huggins, Cheyenne established the one-hour continuing drama as a pop-culture staple, eventually emerging as the dominant narrative force in American fiction. Helped in no small part by the charms of its star, the Big Man himself, Clint Walker, and the show’s blend of high adventure, drama and romance — all of which may be found in high abundance in this complete 13-Episode Collection. From shotgun marriages to abominable mountain-monsters, from range wars to the state senate, from amnesiac gunslingers to blind saloon singers, Cheyenne Bodie faces them all as he delivers his two-gun mix of justice and mercy across the plains. Long may he ride! Note: Initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand.

GOODBYE, COLUMBUS (1969) Film adaptation of Philip Roth’s best-selling social satire brings together Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw as young lovers crossing class lines and disapproving parents. Co-starring Jack Klugman and Nan Martin. 16x9 Widescreen THE LAST TYCOON (1976) F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel about studio politics in early Hollywood comes to the screen courtesy of director Elia Kazan and screenwriter Harold Pinter. Robert DeNiro heads an astonishing cast playing a thinly disguised Irving Thalberg stand-in with Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Theresa Russell, Anjelica Huston, Donald Pleasance and Jack Nicholson playing the studio chief’s cronies, lovers, pawns and opponents. 16x9 Widescreen THIEF OF HEARTS (1984) This romantic thriller from the titanic production team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer stars Steven Bauer as a thief who seduces a wealthy suburbanite after stealing her diary (Barbara Williams). David Caruso co-stars as the accomplice that stand between the thief and a new life. 16x9 Widescreen D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) Mary Beth Hurt and Michael McKean star in this Sci-Fi family drama that turns Frankenstein on its head. The Data-Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform appears to be a teenager, but is built to be a weapon.Escaping the analyzing government, D.A.R.Y.L. gets a chance to be a real boy thanks to the love of Joyce and Andy Richardson but the government is on the hunt for their lost piece of hardware. 16x9 Widescreen EXPLORERS (1985) Fab fan favorite director Joe Dante mixes flights of fantasy, innocence and humanist humor in this tale of three young visionaries who dream their way into a breathtaking interplanetary adventure. A very young River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke make their big-screen debuts. 16x9 Widescreen SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER (1993) Steve Zaillian directs an all-star cast in this heartwarming adaptation of Fred Waitzkin’s memoir, Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess. Josh (Max Pomeranc) is a chess prodigy, so his hyper-competitive father (Joe Mantegna) sets him up with a demanding tutor, chess champion Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley). But Josh might prefer the lessons found with Washington Square Park chess hustler Vinnie (Laurence Fishburne). Also stars Joan Allen, William Macy, Laura Linney and David Paymer. 16x9 Widescreen

A LIFE OF BARBARA STANWYCK: STEEL-TRUE 1907-1940 Author Victoria Wilson tackles just part of the life of one of Hollywood’s most iconic actresses, Barbara Stanwyck, in a stunning biography that covers her climb from the edges of society to America’s center stage. Not only do we get to peek behind the curtain on her personal and work life, but Ms. Wilson successfully weaves Stanwyck’s narrative into the sweeping panorama of 20th Century history. What emerges is a complete portrait of woman who took what life threw at her and shaped it into her own destiny. We were lucky enough to talk to speak with Ms. Wilson on our podcast not only about the life of Barbara Stanwyck but the challenges in creating a biography of this magnitude.

We just added a big batch of all kinds of classics including John Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948), Flipper (1963), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940) with Judy Garland, Jacques Tourneur’s Stars in My Crown (1950) and Bright Road (1953) starring Dorothy Dandridge. Also remember to join us this Noirvember with co-hosts @TCMParty for a series of Film Noir live-tweets.Embrace the dark and get the complete schedule. Not yet on Instant? Sign up for a FREE two week trial!

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[Doug Bull]

Wow! Wow! Wow!
Classic Musical Shorts From The Dream Factory Vol 2

I've been waiting and waiting for more of these wonderful forgotten gems and even though a few of the titles are already featured on other DVDs, I will be ordering the set as soon as it becomes available.
This is one of those rare announcements that really does get me excited.

A bit of self indulgence:
I think I'll get greedy here and request more Vitaphone Musicals and all the MGM classic shorts, like Fitzpatrick, Smith, Nesbitt and Wilson (Carey that is)
and of course volume 3 from the Dream Factory.


Doug.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Whilst it is excellent news that Gunfight at the OK Corral is due to be released, VistaVision titles seem to have dried up. I am concerned that The Court Jester (and Five Pennies) will not now be released on blu-ray before the expiry of Warners agreement with Paramount. If high profile titles such as High Society (MGM) are not considered for release there isn't much hope for the others from Paramount. In addition to those mentioned I would also like Artists & Models and Pardners, both of which looked good on DVD.

 

[Doug Bull]

Olive have been able to release Blu-Rays from the Paramount transfers given them.
One would think that Warner Archives, with Paramount "A" titles at their disposal could do the same, although I think Warner's standards might be set somewhat higher than Olive.
Costs might also come into the equation.


You appear to enjoy Vista Vision movies Keith, so here is a larger image of my present Avatar.

Though the VV logo is hardly rare, this clip probably hasn't been seen much, It's from the trailer of Paramount's "The Girl Rush" - not on DVD yet, but maybe Warners might surprise.

 

[Garysb]

Here's hoping the Danny Kaye films do well enough that Warner would consider archive blu ray releases. The Goldwyn films I assume are all new to DVD.

 

[JoHud]

Here's hoping the Danny Kaye films do well enough that Warner would consider archive blu ray releases. The Goldwyn films I assume are all new to DVD.

Wonder Man was released by HBO Video ages ago, and A Song Is Born was on of the very last Goldwyn titles to emerge from MGM's DVD line before it completely dried up as is now curiously one of the rarest DVD released by MGM out there. Both are outstanding looking Technicolor releases, so I expect the same here.

The other two are indeed new to DVD and I'm very curious to see how they turn out.

They better be doing the same thing to the remaining Eddie Cantors. I've been waiting ages for the rest of those to get on DVD.

As far as the OOP HBO Video Goldwyn titles, it seems the only one that has yet to be reissued is John Ford's The Hurricane. Surely that one has to be around the corner as well.

 

[Garysb]

DVD Planet is have a Warner Archive sale. Some good prices on box sets like Jean Harlow box for $ 36.59.

http://www.dvdplanet.com/Search/grp/4287383825/Warner-Archive-Sale/_page/28