COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER - Page 2

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I think they've made wise choices for these sets. The Brando set interests me the most, but all of them have merit, and I hope Warners continues to drown us in classic releases.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I get the business end of things, and I am a supporter of WB's classics - they are clearly the best in the game. It's just unfortunate for me, a student/Elizabeth Taylor collector on a budget. Maybe these are films I'd like to own at some point down the line, but right now I'd only like REFLECTIONS.

Andy

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I for one am very happy for this announcement. I'll wait for a good deal on the boxsets, such as the bi-annual Deep Discount DVD 20% off sale, and add these to my collection, if I'm not able to purchase all of them during release week.

The Newman box set would be a great opportunity to simultaneously release Sometimes a Great Notion (1971). Please Universal?

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Too bad about no Hanging Tree as it would've been the most interesting title in these sets. As it is I'll just spring for Sergeant York and Harper out of this batch.

Might have bought Springfield Rifle and The Left Handed Gun if they were made available separately. Neither are great films but I remember enjoying both.

Chalk up 2 more lost sales due to your box-set exclusive tactics Warner.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Warner Bros France will release the Hanging Tree next week on region 2.
Original version will be available as usual.

Here is the link :
http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B000...734850?ie=UTF8

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

You know, some of the smaller titles might not sell well enough on their own for a release so perhaps that's why Warner is doing this. I doubt RETURN OF DR. X would sell enough copies but packaged in a box, they can get the thing out there. I'd much rather a title be in a box rather than not getting released at all.

As for the titles selected, I've seen all of the Newman and Brando titles and as a fan I want to own all of them. On its own, I wouldn't have bought a couple of them but at a discounted box set, I'm happy to take them.

I'm somewhat shocked that no one has jumped on them for releasing so many sets at one time. Again, I'm personally happy to get three great boxes in one month even if THE FORMULA is a poor film IMO.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I hope you're right... I wondered if Warner's focusing on actors because they think more men buy DVDs, and would prefer testosterone-fueled westerns and action films...

I'd love an Olivia de Havilland set! Neglected to mention her in my list of favorite actresses (this time) because I don't have much hope of it happening. After all, WB doesn't own her Oscar winners, and her "major" Warner films have already been released - most in the Errol Flynn box. I'd be interested in her "lesser" Warner films as well...thanks to TCM I've discovered she had a knack for lighthearted comedy as well as drama. But I don't know if Warner thinks there's an interest. Then again, that's why we're here, right? Hey Warner - I'm interested! Gimme!


I live to amuse! I think I have pretty eclectic tastes and can appreciate a wide variety of stars/genres. Although I bought Universal's Gary Cooper set, these particular Cooper titles don't grab me. You might not be a fan of June, Jane and Esther (or the musical comedy genre?), but I think we can all agree they were big stars in their own right, and do have many fans...and their films deserve to be on DVD. I should *really* make you guffaw and ask for Ann Miller, Ann Sheridan, Ann Harding, Joan Blondell, Kathryn Grayson, Janet Leigh, and Margaret O'Brien sets!


I feel for you, Andy. It's funny, TCM is trying to target the youth market, yet this Warner boxset-exclusive thing only alienates younger collectors who are on a budget. And older collectors on a budget. I mean, the boxsets are pretty affordably priced, but they're only a good deal if you want at least 2 of the titles within. 'Cause buying them individually would cost about the same as getting the whole box anyway. But if someone only wants *one* of the movies... and it's not sold separately...they're screwed.

I think in this case it would be silly for WB to assume Reflections wouldn't sell well enough to warrant it's own release... Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're big enough stars that people would pick up the DVD if they saw it on store shelves with those familiar faces plastered on the cover. Whether they were familiar with the film beforehand, or not. If the price is right.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Don't worry Warner, you still have consumers like me that's going to buy them all.





Crawdaddy

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I will be buying them all as well. I hope THE PRIZE wil show up someday. I'm not sure why THE HANGING TREE was not included considering it is being released in Europe.
As others have mentioned, a Natalie Wood Boxset including Inside Daisy Clover and Sex and the Single Girl, Splendor in the Grass SE, a Gypsy SE
Great Race and Penelope.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I had mentioned an Olivia de Havilland set in an earlier thread that these titles would be good:
-The Male Animal
-Princess O'Rourke
-Anthony Adverse
-Light in the Piazza
-Santa Fe Trail

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Does that mean that she did not get any roles after that

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Well If my only choice to get title (whatever) was by buying a whole set, I'd rather all the movies would be ones I'd want to own. I could care less if crap like Return of Dr X ever gets a release or not.

I know I'm rather selfish but who isn't?

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

It's very disappointing to hear that "The Hanging Tree" (1959), may not be included in the Gary Cooper box set that Warners in releasing. As discussed on other threads (see "Outstanding Westerns not on DVD"), The Hanging Tree is one of the great western films. Along with "The Viriginian (1929), The Westerner (1940), and High Noon (1952), it represents Cooper's most distinguished contribution to the Western genre. My recollection is that at the forum back in February Warners indicated that The Hanging Tree would be included in the Cooper box set, so there must be some explanation as to what went wrong. It is particularly annoying to have The Hanging Tree being apparently replaced in the box set by the film Dallas (1950), which is a truly mediocre western film. Of the 17 "A" Westerns that Cooper made in his career, "Dallas" is dead last in terms of quality. In the past when Warners has omitted a strong title (s) in one of its box sets, the argument is usually adanced that the reason is so that there will be strong titles left for future box sets. However, I don't think that argument works at all in this instance. After the films in this box set are released, Warners won't have very many Cooper films left for any future box set, and none of the remaining films would even remotely be of the quality of The Hanging Tree. Most of the outstanding films that Cooper made during his prime in the 1930's and 40's were for Paramount and Goldwyn, and so most of Cooper's unreleased films now are owned by Universal (which controls Paramount's 1930/40's catalog) and Sony (which controls the Goldwyn catalog).

I'm hoping that the information that The Hanging Tree is not included is wrong,. Having done such a good job with so many of their recent releases, such as the John Ford/John Wayne collection, I can't believe Warners would pull such a boner. Of course, a contemparaneous release of The Hanging Tree on a separate DVD, would do just as well, though it would cost us consumers more money. All the other announced titles on the boxset (except for Dallas, which should just be considered a throwaway), are just fine, and the boxset seems to include all the good Cooper films that Warners has under its control, except for The Hanging Tree. I will be buying the boxset even if it doesn't include The Hanging Tree, however it would have been very easy for Warners to have got it right, and they should have done so. c Jim Bur

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I'm not. I'm pretty sure the format wasn't started for just Michael Elliott so I try not to get upset over something getting better treatment over something else. What might be crap to you or I could be someone else's favorite film so with that in mind, I hope everything gets released and I'm not going to complain that crap like RETURN gets released before classics like ISLAND OF LOST SOULS. I know people who want 5 of the 6 horror titles in Warner's upcoming set yet they refuse to buy the thing because they don't want the 6th title. Just doesn't make too much sense to me considering they can sell the one they don't want or trade it off.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Nice box sets. But why isn't WB issuing a real live girl (of legal age) to watch these movies with me?

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

That so? Really?



Who's upset? It's not even the same argument. I still don't even know what the hell Return of Dr X had do to with anything in this thread but I'm not the one who brought it up.



Again not quite the same scenario as wanting only one or two films and having to buy a whole set to get them, but nice try. I'm rather surprised by your fickle attitude especially from someone who threw a fit in the Fox Clark Gable Box thread because the MSRP was $5 (oh no ) more than the average Warner set. Go figure.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Nope. Look at the retail price of these, the # of extras and the # of films compared to that set. That's why I continue to be happy of Warner even if a certain sets has 1-3 titles I wouldn't buy on their own.

I'm too lazy to look back but I believe you're only wanting one or two of the Newman titles with one of the titles only available in the set. I will sell you my copy of THE LEFT HANDED GUN when the box is released. That way you won't have to spring for the entire box and you'll get the extra film you're wanting. I can get the set for around $40 so if you want LEFT HANDED for $15 then it's yours. You'll just have to spring for HARPER and Warner has another happy buyer.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I'm only aware of it because of the Ross McElwee movie, but any movie directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Gary Cooper (along with Patricia Neal, Lauren Bacall, Jack Carson, etc.) seems pretty worthy of at least a look.

Any chance that Bright Leaf might rear its head on DVD? Presumably, WB still controls this...

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

For those interested, Warner owns the following films that have yet to have a DVD release:

BRIGHT LEAF
THE HANGING TREE (If they said it's coming, it's coming. I trust them)
IT'S A BIG COUNTRY
LILAC TIME (silent)
ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON (1933-Was Paramount, but WB bought to remake)
OPERATOR 13
SARATOGA TRUNK
TASK FORCE
TODAY WE LIVE

Coop also has a bit part playing himself in two other films Warner owns. One is, IT'S A GREAT FEELING. The other is a little-known Paramount film MAKE ME A STAR, that is a derivation of MERTON OF THE MOVIES, which Warner also owns, since MGM bought the MERTON property from Paramount to remake it with Red Skelton.

....and by the way, I think COOPER & RUTH ROMAN in DALLAS are a heck of a lot of fun, and I'm delighted that it's being released.

Kudos (as usual) to the Brothers Warner.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

BRIGHT LEAF & TODAY WE LIVE are on my want on DVD list.

TODAY WE LIVE might be on a Joan Crawford collection in the future

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

yes! we were just talking about this gang lol. cant wait to see the cover art!

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

At Costco at least I have seen films that were originally exclusive to the Warner box sets. Some examples are The Thin Man films, Doris Day ,
Cary Grant, and Hitchcock films ( Mr and Mrs Smith etc.), and the Comedy Classics( To Be or Not To Be etc,). The point being if you really don't want the whole box, if you wait you will probably be able to find the individual films with in a year.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Sometimes I wonder if it might be easier for a studio to simply sub-license DVD rights to others, thereby allowing titles to arrive one at a time outside and away from all of the those studio people who obviously have no idea what they're doing.

I rather like this idea.

The price per title, of course, would most likely run between $29.98 and $39.98, but it would allow the purchase of single titles, marketed, packaged, distributed, and released one by one.

On the other hand there are some folks at Warner who not only won't sub-license, but want to put out these boxed sets that are under discussion, which street at the price of one of two sub-licensed discs.

Why would anyone want to be forced to purchase second tier titles, or even a few which don't interest them, even if they're going to arrive at minimal cost?

Possibly because there are many little gems yet to be discovered, and the positives and negatives of any film can not be covered in a one line review or a simple two or three star delineation.

It seems that marketing and getting the box sets into the stores is quite price efficient, but people still have to complain about something.

Take a quick look at one of the films that is setting of complaints.

Dallas.

Is it Gone with the Wind?

No.

What it is, is a Three-Strip Technicolor film, photographed by Ernest Haller (Dark Victory, Jezebel, Captain Blood, The Dawn Patrol...

and Gone with the Wind).

And with a score by Max Steiner (King Kong, Life of Emile Zola, Jezebel, Dark Victory, City for Conquest, Casablanca...

and Gone with the Wind).

Dallas has many things going for it, and it hasn't been seen in a quality version in decades.

As regards The Hanging Tree...

Plans change as unforeseen problems arise. And problems will arise when one is working in the most difficult period for color films, ie. 1954-60.

As scheduling is generally 18 to 24 months in advance, it would have been difficult to know with absolute certainly what all of the elements might have been like.

With Hanging Tree (1959), it turned out that both the extant interpositive and dupe negative had gone bad, and that the original negative was no longer viable. A full restoration is necessary.

Full restorations have already been performed for this set on both The Fountainhead and Sergeant York.

The Hanging Tree will appear in the future.

Please give the studios a bit more credit for knowledge, thought, and the desire to deliver quality entertainment at an attractive price.

RAH

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Mister Harris, it seems that the restoration has already been performed because this film will be available this week in Europe. I don't have to complain about Warner Bros France because they did a very good job about all the titles that are available here but alas not in the USA. We already have a stunning cinemascope version of "Party Girl" and "Moonfleet". I am sure the the Hanging Tree will get a first class treatment as usual.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

European and domestic software releases are not always based upon the same transfers.

RAH

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

To put it mildly. Warner Germany puts out cheap DVDs originating from VHS tapes. Be careful before you jump at this rubbish even if they may be the single releases in the world at the moment.

The Gary Cooper boxset seems to have been put together in order to ruin his reputation . I can't imagine why people would buy or want a 2-dics edition of SERGEANT YORK. It's such an embarassing folksy, patriotic propaganda rubbish, you'd never guess it's made by Howard Hawks .

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Well, I guess those of us that love "Sergeant York" as a film are nothing more than embarassing simple folks with jingoistic tendencies. Different strokes for different folks. Also, to fully appreciate many film classics, you have to give consideration to the context of the time they were filmed.




Crawdaddy

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

RAH,
I couldn't agree with you more. Actually, I find myself at odds with a few negative comments made in this thread, but that's not surprising, considering my disagreeable tendencies. The film "Dallas" is among my top ten favorite Cooper films. I always loved the story of Reb Hollister tracking down the three brothers responsible for Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Also, Ruth Roman was filmed beautifully in this technicolor film and I used to watch this film a lot during my youth on The Million Dollar Movie back in the day prior to cable.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I have a great deal of difficulty comprehending the concept of anyone thinking that the film SERGEANT YORK would ruin the reputation of Gary Cooper! It was in its day, and is, a hugely popular film, of which director Hawks was most proud, and for which Mr. Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

I'd put it up there with FRIENDLY PERSUASION, THE FOUNTAINHEAD, HIGH NOON, PRIDE OF THE YANKEES and LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON, as one of Coop's greatest performances.

Even writing this, it makes me thing about so many OTHER films in which he was so terrific. He was one actor who only got better as he got older. Not to knock his early roles, but he went from being a Robert Taylor-type 'handsome leading man' , to honing his craft to become a unique and amazing actor. He really blossomed under the direction of Frank Capra in MR. DEEDS, and as you watch his work, it only continues to intensify.

I think it's terrific that Warner has chosen to include Richard Schickel's fine portrait of Cooper in this boxed set. Schickel's documentary is too short to really cover the width and breadth of an amazing career, cut short by Cancer at a relatively early age.

The more I think about Cooper, the more I think he's due a more comprehensive and exploratory feature-length documentary, along the lines of what Warner has done (in partnership with their sister-company TCM or with PBS' American Masters) for (most recently) Bette Davis and the John Ford/John Wayne shows (both of which got Emmy nominations), or the earlier pieces on John Garfield, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Gene Kelly.

I'd love to learn more about who he was as a person. He was certainly a complicated individual, but one who left behind such an impressive and diverse body of work.

Truly a screen legend....and it is worth celebrating that perhaps his greatest performance, and the one that finally got him his Oscar, SERGEANT YORK, be given the 2-disc deluxe treatment by WB. Bravo.

Also thanks to HTF member Haggai for correcting my earlier reference to SGT. YORK being Mr. Cooper's only Best Actor Oscar, when of course he won for HIGH NOON as well.

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Do not forsake his other Oscar for playing Will Kane, O Roger Rollins.