*** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread - Page 6

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Wow, this chat had some fantastic news! I think I counted at least 50 different releases I want (not including however many movies would be included in various sets). Everything from Fred Astaire to Orson Welles to Elvis to John Wayne to John Garfield to Jimmy Stewart. This was great! I'm gonna need a second job to pay for this stuff! Thanks Warners!

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So, trying to theorize on the movies from the chat that Warner claims they no longer own...

ELECTRIC DREAMS was pretty much financed by Virgin Records, since Culture Club figure heavily on the soundtrack. 20th Century Fox released it in the UK while MGM released it in America. My best guess is that the rights have reverted back to Virgin, or more appropriately, EMI Records. This may require some sort of sublicensing arrangement to get it back in circulation, though I'm sure the music clearances are not helping matters any.

Since FANNY was based on multiple source materials (a Broadway stage play, a Marcel Pagnol novel), perhaps in this situation WB no longer owns the movie because the intellectual property rights have reverted back to any one of these parties.

DRUM BEAT was produced by Jaguar Productions, a company founded by Alan Ladd, and Jaguar did many movies with WB. I remember that at least two of them, HELL ON FRISCO BAY and THE DEEP SIX, were not initially released on VHS by WB, but by tiny VCI in Tulsa. WB did later release these on VHS, but I think they reinherited the movies through their Lorimar purchase, since they had TV rights to the films. I suspect that all the Jaguar films that WB released have reverted back to Ladd's estate, maybe with producer Alan Ladd Jr.

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My back-up question was to ask about the status of two wonderful Jack Benny films controlled by Warners. I believe there is some reason for hope given the statement that more Ann Sheridan is coming. The two co-starred in the delightful "George Washington Slept Here". That and "The Horn Blows at Midnight" would be welcome additions to my library.

In my opinion, WHV is wise to be a bit vague in discussing dates, etc. Element issues, rights problems, marketing considerations, etc. all can wreak havoc on even the most well thought out releases so why set yourself up for disappointment later? (The BOWERY BOYS are a prime example of this.) I'd much rather have some comfort knowing that something is in the works for the not too distant future than be given a date that may or may not be reality.

I sense some frustration in various posts about various titles not coming out until 2008. Frankly, I scratch my head at this since 2008 is only 10 months away which means many of these titles will be on our home shelves within 18 months or so. That's not that long. Many of these titles never got widespread distribution on VHS (if at all) so what's a little while longer to wait for a high quality product? One of the worst thing that can happen, in my opinion, is that the DVD presentations be "dumbed down" for the sake of rushing product to market.

For example, it appears that WHV has reached some sort of breakthrough with regards to AMBERSONS. That is great news and I certainly don't mind having had to wait a few years to get a much better and complete print than we would have gotten otherwise.

Finally, a huge thanks for Warners for making my day with the news on the 30s PERRY MASON films. I had expected some positive news on the Sanders/Conway titles, but MASON came out of left field. 2008 is the 75th anniversary of the character so perhaps there is a tie in there. This release is personally thrilling to me since MASON is not my favorite fictional character. Although I've been familiar with Gardner's books and the TV show since the mid 70s I never saw these 6 films until TNT ran them around 1990 or so. To me, they are among the most fun programmers Warners produced in that era. We need more Warren William and Ricardo Cortez on DVD.

Steve

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Excellent research Mark. Thanks for the information. I do think that Warners produced in house, among others, "The Iron Mistress" where Ladd played Jim Bowie, and the cinemascope adventure film "Santiago", so they should be available if Warners wants to do anything with them. Ladd has been sorely neglected, especially by Universal which controls his Paramount output in the 1940's when he was arguably at his peak as a star. They've released This Gun For Hire, but nothing else so far. The Glass Key, The Blue Dahlia, O.S.S., etc. are long overdue.

c Jim Bur

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I'm just happy to see HODS finally make the cut. NODS is not a huge deal with
me. It just didn't seem the same without Jonathan Frid.

I hope the big Elvis Presley announcemnet will include the last few Presley films being released to dvd.

As for Perry Mason, I think Erle Stanley Gardner was turning over in his grave. From what I understand he hated the films. When a offer was made to bring Perry Mason to tv, Gardner made sure he retained control over the character.

As for these re-issues, I have mixed feelings. It's great to see them release improved versions of previous releases. However it also means another film that is sitting in Warner's vaults. There are still so many titles they control that I would like to see released.

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Some great surprises amid these wonderful announcements.

My favorites:

Branagh's HAMLET on Blu-ray

UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE at long last!

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hods and nods, oookay.

anyway.
urgh a music war is on uniHd now.
i never knew about this moivie.
glad someone asked about it or i wouldnt have thought twice about looking at
it tonight.

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Very true. The films are quite unfaithful to the original character and Gardner pulled the rights to prevent future films from being made. Warners ended up converting the last film into a Harry Davenport/May Robson western/mystery (Granny Get Your Gun) and wrote out the Mason character.

However I still feel they are highly enjoyable in their own right. Great casts, super atmosphere, and that intangible ingredient that gives many of the 30s Warners output an endearing and enduring quality.

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I think you are completely right because there are no other WB/RKO Wayne movies without a dvd.
But I wonder if they will be released in time for the 100th birthday on May 26th.

By the way: Barbara Stanwyck's 100th birthday is on July 16th 2007 !

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and Miss Barbara Stanwyck deserves a Signature Collection !

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Anyone else care to guess about some of the titles in the Lana Turner boxset that Warners mentioned for 2008? That had been rumored for a while, but I think this is the most solid information yet about when it can be expected.

I'm guessing that they'll re-package The Bad and the Beautiful from the original snapper release into a keepcase for this set--it has the Lana documentary that TCM did a few years ago. A few of her other '40s MGM movies that are already out and presumably wouldn't be in this set are Ziegfeld Girl, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Postman Always Rings Twice (I'm guessing that'll be re-packaged for the Garfield boxset, it has the TCM documentary on him), and The Three Musketeers. So some of these other movies will probably show up in the boxset:

Green Dolphin Street (I really hope this one gets in)
Johnny Eager (more appropriate for a Robert Taylor boxset, but have they ever mentioned one as a possibility?)
Honky Tonk, Somewhere I'll Find You, Homecoming (all with Gable)
Weekend at the Waldorf

And maybe they'll include something from her earliest or latest leading roles at MGM.

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God--I really hope they don't repackage ANYTHING in a Turner Box...

given my druthers, these five would make up the set:
Johnny Eager
Weekend at the Waldorf (she really seemed to be giving her all in the midst of these all-star shenanigans!)
Cass Timberlane
Slightly Dangerous
and........................

They Won't Forget (she's not in it for long--but it IS her debut--and it may be the best way to get this masterpiece out on home video at long last!)

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I'm just guessing that since it has the TCM documentary on it, The Bad and Beautiful might get a keepcase (or maybe slimcase) re-release for the Turner boxset, a la Mildred Pierce in the first Joan Crawford box. The same might go for Postman Always Rings Twice in the Garfield box.

Gotta have Green Dolphin Street in a Lana collection. That movie is really great.

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Oh I completely understand your reasoning, and you're probably right, but since I already have B & B (not to mention Postman), I'm gonna cheer against it! (perhaps they could put the doc--which is pretty decent--on a separate bio-extra disk?)

I've actually never seen Green Dolphin Street, but I wouldn't be upset at its inclusion in the set (although I'd hate to lose any of my top 5!)

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Actually, checking the chat transcript just now, Warners said "Lana maybe 2008," so we shouldn't assume that it's definitely going to be out next year. But it does seem like it's in the works.


Dude! It's a must, certainly for any Lana fan. The supporting cast is terrific, excellent production values, a pretty amazing earthquake sequence--all kinds of great stuff in that movie. I saw it on TCM last year, and they just showed it again in the last week, I think. Next time it's on, don't miss it!

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I'm convinced! (unfortunately, we Canadians are still barred from access to the magical world of TCM, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for it!)

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Yes she really really does. Warner's gotta commemorate her 100th birthday if they're doing it for John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn...right? Please? Barbara Stanwyck was such an amazing actress, one of my very favorites. I'd be thrilled no matter which films were selected for a boxset - I've never seen her give a poor performance.

I'll buy that Wayne box for sure, especially for "Without Reservations" and "Tycoon".

And I like all your suggestions for the Lana Turner set, Haggai. Or if that doesn't happen, "Johnny Eager" could be released in a Film Noir Collection. Or a Van Heflin boxset? Kidding, although I think he's great. "Green Dolphin Street" might also fit in another Literary Classics collection (along with "The Picture Of Dorian Gray", eh dana? )

I'd also love to have "The Bad & The Beautiful", and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" repackaged... I love it whenever Warner upgrades a snapper to a keep/slimcase - wish they'd do it more often!

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hasn't WB already stated they won't be repackaging titles already available with new ones after the complaints that follow the first Bette Davis set? I think they did it in last year's chat.

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emphatic agreement here on the matter of as many Stanwyck sets as possible! (she's by far my favourite star, and she worked EVERYWHERE--Warners, Universal, and Columbia could each release boxed sets--and there are NO bad Stanwyck movies!)

it's beyond sickening that John Wayne is more important to the American public than Barbara Stanwyck...

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absolutely gobsmacked once I read the transcript.

Great news about JW's 2 disc Rio Bravo and HTWWW

I'll be back once I have digested everything

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oh you shouldn’t take it so hard on John Wayne, after all a Legend shouldn’t be brought down just because he has a large body of work that the public wants to see, hey to be honest, if WB would rescue some of the old Lone Star Productions from PD and include them in the 100th anniversary set I would be happy, a really good copy of Randy Rides Alone would make my day. And just to add to that, the question goes out does WB own all the Monagrams if so this could happen:

With Producer Paul Malvern's Lone Star Productions
Released by Monogram:

RIDERS OF DESTINY (Lone Star/Monogram,1933)
SAGEBRUSH TRAIL (Lone Star/Monogram,1933)
THE LUCKY TEXAN (Lone Star/Monogram,1933)
WEST OF THE DIVIDE (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
BLUE STEEL (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
THE MAN FROM UTAH (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
RANDY RIDES ALONE (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
THE STAR PACKER (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
THE TRAIL BEYOND (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
THE LAWLESS FRONTIER (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
'NEATH ARIZONA SKIES (Lone Star/Monogram,1934)
TEXAS TERROR (Lone Star/Monogram,1935)
RAINBOW VALLEY (Lone Star/Monogram,1935)
THE DESERT TRAIL (Lone Star/Monogram,1935)
THE DAWN RIDER (Lone Star/Monogram,1935)
PARADISE CANYON (Lone Star/Monogram,1935)


But I think the biggest problem is that most people only know Miss Stanwyck from one body of work namely the Big Valley, damn good show in its own right, but I agree that she deserves a set, and I agree that all the studios that have her films and are just sitting on them because the don’t know what they have. The quintessential femme fatale. Watch Double Indemnity, then think to yourself where would Sharon Stones character in Basic Instinct be with out this model. Actually I think that is the biggest problem at all of the studios, except WB, and as of lately Universal. I know some will flame me for that statement, but most of what is coming from Fox/MGM is double dipping anymore.

As for a second Literary Classics set with Dorian Grey, yes Serena  that would be something that I would love to have. We have Tennessee Williams, ok where is Faulkner, Hemingway?

Funny though something else that came to mind about that is that Branagh’s Hamlet will be coming out this year as well, Now that would be a candidate for a box set actually; with one other Director WB did something truly great, for Oliver Stone, they worked with the other studios for the Oliver Stone Collection.
What a kick it would be to see Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare Collection to include Henry V (1989) • Much Ado About Nothing (1993) • Othello (1995) • Hamlet (1996) • Love's Labour's Lost (2000) • As You Like It (2006)

There has been collaboration on other sets, Kubrick, Mel Brooks, so this just would be another in line with that, and who wins in this is both the studios and us the viewing public

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No questioning John Wayne's legend status but Gary Cooper is ahead of him on the top 25 AFI listing. He has already had his 100th birthday back in 2001 but one more box set would complete everything that Warner Brothers has on him:

1) The Hanging Tree
2) Bright Leaf
3) Task Force
4) Today We Live
5) One Sunday Afternoon
6) Operator 13

Not sure what to think on Billy Bob Thorton's statement on Cooper except that he probably was never able to compare his performances in Sgt York, Ball of Fire and Bright Leaf, which show three completly different characters. If he has seen them all, I wander which one of the roles Cooper played he thinks was the real Gary Cooper.

""Gary Cooper was always Gary Cooper," he continues. ""You’re watching the actor. It’s the persona. You’re never completely in the movie."

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I'm happy about O Lucky Man, Man Who Would be King and Deliverance coming.

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While thinking on this more one odd caveat, a lot of attention to all of these classic films is in no part due to television, and the package deals that went with them. The very same medium that the film industry saw as its competition in the early 50’s is where a lot of film enthusiasts got there first viewings of the classics. Unless you live in a larger metropolitan area that does a retro showing, how often is the kid on some farm somewhere going to see a Bowery Boy’s picture? And curse him for colorization of classics, but Back before TCM, TBS was the station, where you could count on seeing Citizen Kane, or almost any classic title. So much so that Turner was able to buy up film libraries. Which in turn with the merger goes to WB and now we get restored prints, great sets. I just thought it funny how in its own way TV saved film.

As for Cooper i have to agree, he was more natural, and worked better across different types of film, more so that John Wayne wevey could, i dont see the Duke doing a screwball comedy like Ball of Fire or Mr Deeds, to drama , to western, to war picture.
So many stars are over looked, as somone else mentioned when are we ever going to see an Alan Ladd set? 95 films and how many are actualy on disk?

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Crap! I forgot to ask about The Hellstrom Chronicle and Atlantis The Lost Continent

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Gary Cooper has not been overlooked by WB as they did release a wonderful box set on him last November. I'm hoping that he get's a final box set released by WB with the Hanging Tree used as a selling point for some of the other WB movies that are no less as good but certainly less well known.

Alan Ladd certainly deserves to get a whole lot more released on to DVD. John Wayne was certainly good at what he was known for in westernes and war movies, buy I give the slight edge to Cooper in both of those but that is just my personal preference. Also, Cooper did not live as long as John Wayne giving Wayne a whole lot more time to make movies and stay in the public's mind. Gary Cooper has certainly been in the critics eye, which is proof by the AFI ranking.

Of course the ETS top 25 puts Wayne at number 2 and Gary Cooper at number 4 showing that both are about equal in their legend staus on most ranking lists.

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Is that an implication that Gary Cooper movies do not sell well Mr. Crawdaddy?

I don't know as I don't have the numbers on sells like you proffessionals get sent to you.

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Does anyone have more info about the release of "The Man Who Would Be King" - will this be some kind of remastering ? and the "Kubrick Promo" for later this year - might there be an R1 release of the uncensored "Eyes Wide Shut" ?