Warner Archive Discussion Thread (FEEDBACK)

re: Warner Archive Discussion Thread

I expected such as it's something that they will probably address tonight about that possiblity. Case in point, some of those Gable and Grant films will probably sell well with retailers.




Crawdaddy

re: Warner Archive Discussion Thread

Debbie Reynolds just announcd this on the Today show.

So much for an exclusive even if it wasn't mentioned before.

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Some of these films are important to warrant a commentary (Like the Garbo & other Silents), but I can live without it.

Some of the films have not just trailers but featurettes that go with them, so we will be paying more for a film like Made in Paris that does not come complete with a featurette but paid less on Amazon for The Yellow Rolls Royce that should have come with it's featurette also but didn't (what makes one worth more than the next). Should I now assume that every film that is "Officially pressed" and available through other channels will have all extras available?

What does this mean to the TCM vault collection those were DVD-R but came with extras?

But the most important thing to me is if a film comes with an alternate sequences like Idiot's Delight & Love that have alternate endings or a musical that have a deleted sequence to it those should be included without exception.

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I'm not sure how I feel about the 20.00 a title price for DVD-Rs, I know it sounds mean, but they are of lesser quality and they do not hold up well.

I really wish they would have pressed specific quatities at a time and just repressed the title once they were running low on stock. They are WB's It isn't as if they can't make that possible.

I will wait a bit longer I wish the artwork was the full poster style artwork rather then the style they are using.. but I guess you can bookshelf them together and so they should look good.

I still think 20.00 for a burned disc is too much. They should at least have a buy so many for a certain price they would sale more.

Then again I am just an advocate for original 70's Opening Title logos to be used. I will stay outa this fight and I hope that tonites chat doesn't dwell on this topic the whole nite otherwise we may miss bigger issues that need to be addressed such as poor bit rates on blu-ray releases - and DNR issues with titles such as Amadeus.

This past year at WB as much greatness as they send out, the bad times still stick out like the Speed Racer non-lossless audio which was one of the biggest dissapointements, also remember that odd DEVILS artwork that cropped up at another DVD website with release info then was quickly pulled!

I am not negative, but we all need to stay on target for tonites chat and state things in a positive manner.

I am just going to push for original opening WB logos to be used on all ongoing releases.

I am sure the chat will clear up some issues with these Archive releases, I just wish they'd press a large quality to have stored for they selling use. The discs would last longer... the DVD-Rs they don't have a long life span and you'd want to make sure no one ever touches them but yourself or they'll treat them like a sled haha.

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I bought the TCM RKO exclusives in December - these were DVD-Rs too and they could not look or sound better. And these all dated back to the 30s. So I am not upset at all about the DVD-R format.

By the way, the TCM exclusives sold through MoviesUnlimited shipped to Canada and quite possibly to other countries too (I did not check), maybe that would be another way to get them out to international customers?

Another great article here with more quotes from the amazing George Feltenstein.

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I hope someone at the chat will ask "If my disc goes bad in 2 years, will you replace it?"

If so, I'm in (for MANY titles). Otherwise, forget it.

DVD-Rs are not ideal for long-term storage. That's a scientific fact.

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Why do studios even bother paying for CSS on DVD these days? Fellas, the cat's out of the bag. Save your money.

It's a good idea that should have been attempted years ago but the price is ridiculously high. Add shipping costs and I could be getting a Criterion.

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If regular versions are released you should be able to trade in the Archive version for a discount.

It would also be good to know if they are single or dual-layer blanks. I am hoping they are all dual layer so there are no compression issues.

If they are going to sell thousands of these, then I'm pretty sure they'd get a good deal on dual layer blanks.

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Today I had the opportunity to interview the Frankenstein Monster (as portrayed by Boris Karloff in "Bride of Frankenstein"). I wanted to ask his opinion about the new Warner Archive DVD's. Here is the complete transcript of my interview:

William: What do you think of the new Warner Archive DVD program? They will be releasing thousands of deep catalog titles.

The Monster: Goooood.

William: But they will be DVD-R's

The Monster: Baaaaaaad

William: And they will be priced at $20 each.

The Monster: Verrrrrrrrry baaaaaad.

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I would be shocked if they used dual-layer blanks. They're clearly trying to keep things as cheap and simple as possible. Besides, I believe most of their older titles have been released on single-layer DVDs anyway.

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No it isn't.

digitalFAQ.com | How Long Do Discs and Tapes Last?

Just use good media. Bad media can go bad in weeks after burning to it. I've had that happen. But I've been using Verbatim (for dual-layer), Sony and Taiyo Yuden for years now and frequently revisit discs I made in 2002-2003 without a single problem.

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Well, no... Most are pressed dual-layer, but they only use up between 4.5 GB to 5 GB with a lot of room unused. Kind've a waste, really, when a higher bit-rate could've been used, but the quality of the encoding is always quite good anyway.

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I discovered this when I read Crawdaddy's quote in the Yahoo News article this morning.

$20+shipping seems pretty high for a DVD-R though.

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Those Crawford and Garbo films will be eaten up. I already posted them on their respective fan boards and they're really excited. I highly expect Joan's films to go for wider distribution since she's a top seller.

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I think the Bette Davis boxed sets sell well enough for them to keep releasing them. However, her more obscure ingenue work will probably be released through Warner Archives. For the next Davis set, I see:

-Dangerous
-Beyond the Forest
-The Sisters
-Juarez
-A Stolen Life
-Bordertown/Ex Lady

re: Warner Archive Discussion Thread

By pricing these films at $20 each, Warners is targeting those who are familiar with the particular movie and will buy it no matter what. It's not an attempt to get these films out there to a more general movie-loving audience that might not know that much about the film but would be willing to give it a shot nonetheless.

Furthermore, it's disappointing that these films will not be official pressings but rather DVD-Rs. It sounds like Warners just wants to jump in and take over the underground business that goes on on e-bay, where people sell DVD-Rs of films they record off TCM. Warners has a complete right to do so, and who could argue with the quality of their product when compared to e-bayers. They just should come clean as to what these are and price them realistically, especially when there's always the possibility that some of these might become generally available in the future, with additional extras, at a lower price.

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As a major 80s fan, this definitely excites me. Over the course of this decade, I've purchased used VHS copies of titles like "Just The Way You Are", "Dream Lover", "Purple Hearts" and "Oxford Blues". Most of them have come cheap, but it can still take up space. Now I'll be able to compact it...

The titles may not have trailers, but to get these in widescreen will be great.

As it continues, maybe I might see some other 80s titles get released.

I would love to see them do releases of:

-"Feds"
-"Cookie"
-"URGH! A Music War!"
-"Reckless" (The Daryl Hannah movie from 1984)
-"Impulse" (The Theresa Russell movie from 1989, even though, for some bizarre reason, it wasn't released until 1990)

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I hope other studios will follow suit.

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There are some oddball titles listed that I have been wanting to see like Kalidescope, and Dream Lover with Kristy McNichol! and Man who Loved Cat Dancing, Little Drummer Girl with Diane Keaton... Ugh a bunch of others... I can't think of all of them.

Darn it! I don't like DVD-Rs I have no clue what to do... broke right now anyhow... I wish they'd do a better sale on them. Esp for burning them.

I really hope the 70's titles etc contain the original logos I would hope they weren't tinkered with since they were transferring them as they did.. I hope they didn't waste money cutting them out and replacing them with the new logos.

Hopefully someone con get some reviews of them once they start getting their copies.

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I hope MIKE'S MURDER will be included someday.

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Could this be the opening for Warner to finally release "The Devils"? I sure hope so. If it's only going out directly to the people who really want it and know what they're getting, nobody can be outraged or offended. Any potential controversy surrounding its release can be bypassed completely.

My first order will be "Abe Lincoln in Illinois".

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I thought about that also... I asked about the DEVILS last WB chat and they said they were gonna release - that is something in the positive... but nothing yet... I would also like it to be released on blu-ray but again catalog titles can be iffy when it comes to them choosing- I think the production design warrants a HD release...


I felt that Zabriskie Point needed a blu release also but we are just getting a standard DVD so far.

I am sure with the economy being so rough currently that WB and other studios are prob changing plans on releases all the time. I feel like the last few month the amount of releases coming out esp for Blu aren't as high as I would have thought esp for catalog titles.

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I'm thrilled that some silent films are being released. I hope there will be more on a regular basis. Making it a category would be a nice endorsement as well.

Also, a couple Myrna Loy films are in the Archive, which ideally could be in a Loy box set. So I'm going place an order.

I'm reading about a 20% - was that in the e-mail from WB? (EDIT: Okay, saw it on the site, but how does it work?.)

Thanks WB!

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Well this an interesting project. On one hand it's great they're offering films that have little/no chance of a regular release but on the other hand (like many others already stated) the fact thet it's a DVD-R which may or may not play in a couple years coupled with the $20 price for a DVD-R both dampens my enthusiasm a bit.

With having access to TCM for many years I've been able to see a pretty good chunk of Warners unrealeased to DVD library already so the blind-buy compulsion doesn't really effect me.

Nothing in this first batch screams out must own to me so I wait and see what they offer in upcoming waves and then I'll decide. But honestly I'll be hoping for regular good old fashioned pressed DVD releases for the unreleased Warner films on my want list.

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It would be cool for them to issue a few releases that were pan/scanned in the past like PROTOCOL w/ Goldie Hawn... but I would again like it on blu and a reg release... still would be cool to see it in scope format.. I believe it was a panavision 2:35:1 release (approx)

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I've been recording on DVD-R for 5-6 years, and so far I haven't seen any become unreadable. Not to say that they won't, but I store them carefully (same as pressed DVDs) away from light, heat, humidity, etc. Storage containers themselves can present a problem, in that some types of plastic will outgas and could affect the DVD-Rs, so it's a good idea to use storage that is considered archival. My guess is that other contaminants such as chemical vapors, cigarette smoke, etc. could also create longevity issues.

That said, do I wish that the Warners Archive relases were pressed? Of course I do, but given a choice of burned vs nothing, it's an easy choice for those titles that I really want. It's likely that I would buy a greater number if they were pressed, however, since I feel that they are more permanent over the long term.

I ordered 5 over the weekend, and look forward to receiving them:

THE KISS
TRAIL OF '98
SCARAMOUCHE (1923)
WILD ORCHIDS
THE RED MILL

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If according to Ron they are looking at small releases from the 70s/80s perhaps they could include that neglected gem Operation Daybreak... perfect for this type of release to order!

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Yes, be sure to introduce that note of unwarranted panic to the discussion.

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This is nice. Hopefully Universal and Paramount will do the same.

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None of these titles are going to sell "thousands." However, like most POD things, if they see the potential to make even more money they'll take it - it's what they're all about (and what studios are all about in general) - it's not necessarily a good thing for those who are supportive and put out their twenty bucks to then have it come out cheaper and with extras, but since a lot of Warners catalog titles don't have extras, not something to worry about. I do wish they wouldn't try to have it all ways, though - if these are exclusives then these are exclusives and that should be that. It would be like buying a limited edition print or limited edition CD only to be told that yeah sure we might put it out cheaper and press 1000s of them anytime we feel like it. POD is POD - keep it exclusive.

re: Warner Archive Discussion Thread

From ClassicFlix.com:

Four titles that show in the video promo on their site, but have yet to be listed:

Thousands Cheer (1943) - Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, Mary Astor and lots of Cameos

The Strawberry Blonde (1941) - James Cagney, Olivia deHavilliand, Rita Hayworth, Alan Hale and Jack Carson

Four Daughters (1938) - The Lane Sisters with John Garfield and Claude Rains

Bright Leaf (1950) - Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall, Patricia Neal, Jack Carson and Donald Crisp