*** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread - Page 7

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

The re-affirmed that statement in this year's chat, and also have re-affirmed it in their actions. There haven't been any mixed sets in a very long time. They kept their word.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

They mentioned that last year (I remember because I asked the question) that it was probably slated for 06/07, along with several others (Shoot The Moon, Rain People, Far From The Madding Crowd, Big Hand For A Little Lady).

The most maddening thing about these chats for me is that we get to ask about 1 film/1 subject. Of course, to accommodate more would probably lengthen the chat to a month!

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Good chat, as always. I always make sure to blind-buy at least one WB title a year (my budget can only afford the one blind-buy). Looks like The Man Who Would Be King is now on that list. Dare I hope for a Connery/Caine commentary?

I was disappointed that I didn't get to ask a question, but I was glad to see that two of my possible questions were answered. I'm excited that O Lucky Man is coming this year (alongside the Criterion If... no less) and that a better DVD of The Road Warrior's on the way.

(Frankly, with all the classics mentioned, my question about a reissue of Logan's Run - which was on a release list with RW that the Digital Bits posted two years ago - seems a bit out of place.)

Looking forward to the TV chat.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

If that means less snappers get re-released in keepcases, I think it's a pity. Personally I don't mind buying doubles of certain films and I didn't have a problem with, for instance, "Now Voyager" being included in the Bette Davis set, even though I'd already bought the snapper version before. Glad to upgrade.

Anyway, even if they stick to the "no mixed sets" rule, there might be some stars with enough movies out in snappers to fill up a repackaged boxset...without including new-to-dvd films. Or grouped together by genre/theme, if not by star.

John Wayne (and Katharine Hepburn) - I like them well enough, if the rest of the movie's great, but I don't feel the need to see/own everything they've ever done. (They're no Barbara Stanwyck! Sorry, had to throw in another plug for her. ) I do hope "Without Reservations" gets released, whether it's in that 100th birthday box, or just on it's own... Surely Wayne's westerns are well represented on DVD, and it'd be nice to showcase how well he can do in a charming romantic comedy (opposite Claudette Colbert of all people - but it works ) Whatever happened to the Classic Comedies collections btw? I'd like to see more of those...lots of great screwball/romantic comedies unreleased!

Still sad about ELECTRIC DREAMS... the OOP VHS is so pricey, I guess I'll have to settle for tiny, compressed, chopped-up youtube clips!

DanMel - I like your Gary Cooper boxset suggestions - although I'd add SARATOGA TRUNK, a great one with Ingrid Bergman.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

An Eleanor Powell boxed set? That's excellent news---I didnt think she had that large of a fan base. Her laserdiscs were among the few I held onto.

More Norma Shearer, Forbidden Hollywood, and even TROG! Please God let the gloriously ridiculous TORCH SONG be in that Crawford box set!

Great chat...thanks HTF!!

Really can't believe some of the pissy comments in this thread regarding the chat...most of us really do appreciate these "events" and all of your efforts to keep us informed about the movies we love.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Yes it was a WB title but for some reason it is listed on the MGM site.

http://www.mgm.com/title_talent.php?id=143056

I don't know how accurate the list is because they don't list The wedding Night, Marco Polo, The Real Glory, The Winning of Barbara Worth and The Cowboy and the Lady all of which are being released by MGM on May 22nd. However, there must be some reason they list Saratoga Trunk as an MGM title when it was originally WB. Perhaps they bought it off of Warner Brothers.

I do know that Warner and MGM were working together a while back as I believe Saratoga Trunk was listed on Video tape as MGM Warner, but MGM must have obtained the rights to it after the merger was done.

I gave up trying to figure out who owns what as there are rules for all this such as Univerisal owning Paramount titles prior to 1948 and MGM owning Samuel Goldwyn titles ect but when mixing in public domain into the equation, I don't know if Warner Brothers owns anything other than the Hanging Tree from the list I gave. The rest of the titles could now be public domain. Many bootleg sellers claim Operator 13, Bright Leaf and One Sunday Afternoon are all public domain now but who knows for sure except Warner Brothers I guess. It is not like you can go to any of the major film company web sites and find a list of every movie they currently own. I do wish there was a web site that listed every single movie that is currenlty public domain but such a web site does not exist and it seems like the public domain status on movies is all a mystery with many ebay sellers claiming pretty much that all movies that have never been released on DVD or video tape as being public domain.

Re: MY QUESTIONS!!!!!

[quote=Joe Karlosi]Well, they did answer this. Warner said the films will not be released this year because they're still looking for better elements for some of them. They went on to say that they know they will sell well, and that they could put out a non-chronological set tomorrow, but they want to wait until they can put them all in order and find better elements.

Since WB reads these threads, I would like again to remind them that not everything they put out in all series sets (like their SUPERMAN TV Series or the Val Lewton Set) is always possible to be "100% sparkling", and so if 9 or 10 of the 48 Bowery Boys movies are not as perfect as the others, that's fine with me and understandable. Even though chronological order is always preferable to me, it's not really so necessary with the Bowery Boys movies. There's no difference between a film made in 1949 or 1951, really, and no continuous storyline or anything. Also important is that the core audience for those films - those who either saw them in the theaters in the 40s and 50s or on television in the 60s and 70s, aren't getting any younger, and they are, after all, going to be the main ones interested in these, sight-unseen.


Joe
I couldn't agree more about the Bowery Boys considering these were such low budget releases from a small studio(Monogram) I don't think its even reasonable to expect pristine releases for these. Its also curious that they commented on the quality of the 2 Abbott and Costello films being due to the film elements available. But they still released them. Are they saying that they think the Bowery Boys will be better sellers than Abbott and Costello and they are therefore willing to spend alot more time and money searching for good prints and restoring these. I find this nearly impossible to believe. I still have a bad feeling that these films may never be released. They gave us the same answer at last years chat. "They are on the way but not this year-We're still looking". Will we get the same answer next year? As you said the core audience for these isn't getting any younger.
One thing to consider as to why I think Chronological order is important for the Bowery Boys is that you see the series develop and the changes along the way by watching them in order. The 1st few years of the series had some film noir and drama leftover from the East Side Kids series. This gradually went away so that by 1951 the films were pure slapstick. Also some of the supporting cast changes along the way such as "Whitey" so I feel it is important to see them in order.

Re: MY QUESTIONS!!!!!

Randy - without checking the chat transcription, if I'm not mistaken I think Warner said the Abbott & Costello films no longer had their original negatives. Like you, at first I thought there was a kind of contradiction in what they were releasing for the A&C's versus the work they're doing for the BB's. Perhaps with the BB films they're really trying to find better elements before deciding what path to take, or until they discover that nothing "perfect" exists. It does seem like they're keen on releasing the Bowery Boys movies, even going as far to say "we know these will sell well," or something along those lines. I have to say I was very surprised that they've taken that positive an attitude toward them; the last thing I want to do is dent their optimism, but I am not quite as confident that they'll be so lucrative! I hope so, and hope they're more right than I am!


This is actually true, and it's a good point.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

The other set that nobody mentioned was the Sinatra set.

I remember rumors of a Sinatra set that was going to include Minelli's "Some Came Running". I've been wanting to see this film for years, and I keep waiting for the eventual DVD release.

Has anybody heard anything new on this or was it just a rumor?

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Am I the only one that thinks it could be a good thing that Warner no longer owns the rights to Electric Dreams? Don't get me wrong, I think Warner does a great job on their releases. However, it's obvious that they had no plans to release this. Maybe there is a chance now.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

I was disappointed to hear that Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins is deemed too obscure. I wasn't as interested in this title as Dusty and Sweets McGee, but I fear it falls into the same boat as the former. I would have thought that films such as these ("obscure" New Hollywood 70s titles) could be creatively packaged in a boxset with other oddities and curios of the era. Unfortunately, I was unable to get into the chat to post my query.

A former programmer at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco relayed to me that the theater had a lot of success running the new print of Dusty and Sweets McGee over several occasions from the mid-90s thru the early 2000s. It's also recently played at L.A.'s Cinematheque under the "Not on Home Video!" banner.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

That tape of Saratoga Trunk just predates the 1996 Time Warner purchase of Turner's library, which included the Warner films of Saratoga Trunk's era. Turner's MGM/UA video division issued these older Warner films on tape and/or laserdisc. Presumably Turner Entertainment is still the copyright holder for Saratoga Trunk with WB now the home-video distributor.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

MGM needs to do some serious updating to their web site then as they do have it listed as of today on their web site:

http://www.mgm.com/title_talent.php?id=143056

It is listed as MGM movies Featuring Gary Cooper but maybe they have not updated their web site in 10 years.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

I actually got over my disregard for snappers. I hadn't purshased a lot of my favorite classics due to them being in snappers i.e. The Bad and the Beautiful, Goodbye Mr. Chips, On the Town, A Star is Born, etc. Honestly, I don't even think I would rebuy them either if they were released in amarays either. I do hope that The Great Ziegfield is is repackaged in Loy & Powell V2, though.

Lana Turner 2008:
-Green Dolphin Street
-Cass Timberlane
-Slightly Dangerous
-Marriage Is A Private Affair
-Honky Tonk
-The Prodigal

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

I was just thinking, wouldn't Cool Hand Luke, Bonnie and Clyde, Deliverance, and The Candidate make a great Controversial Classics set?

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

I'm still waiting for that SE of Jeremiah Johnson. I wonder how soon we have to wait for that musicals set. Please let the Rooney/Garland set come in June.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Don't forget that Warners are supposed to be releasing 200-odd catalogue titles this year. They have only announced the tip of the iceberg so far: Errol Flynn V2, James Cagney, etc... There are still plenty of announcements to be made and we are only into March.

Warners addressed the questions that were asked of them, and some of the DVDs people wanted were unfortunately not discussed.

It is all awaiting game and as much as it kills us, we have to be patient. I too am keen on the Harlow, Powell/Loy, Bette Davis Vol 3 etc...but am prepared to wait until they are announced.

Whilst Fox and Universal are making the effort to release their classics, Warners are so far ahead, it isn't funny. I can't tell you how many of their classics I currently have on order and about 80% of my DVD Collection is all Warners. At least they are doing their best.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Lemme tell you within the last month I've bought these WB collections:
-Jame Dean
-Errol Flynn
-Hitchcock
-Marx Bros.
-Clark Gable
-Cary Grant
-Broadway to Hollywood
-Cole Porter
-Tough Guys
-Controversial Classics Vol. 1 & 2

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

2007 is going to be huge, but based on the answers Warner gave, it seems that 2008 is going to be even bigger.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Thanks to the Warner DreamMakers for all the exciting news for 2007 and 2008 plus so many surprises to come as well! I LOVE surprises most of all!!!!

Especially thrilled about the MGM musicals promo, Mickey & Judy Boxset, more pre-codes, Mame (guilty pleasure), Eleanor Powell boxset, SE of Rio Bravo, Lancaster boxset and next year's Berkeley vol. 2!!! WOW!!!!!!!

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

I too want to thank the WHV folks and "the man" George Feltenstein himself - his niche market MGM/UA laserdiscs were the ultimate home video experience of their day, some with extra features that haven't been matched on DVD.

If I could make a suggestion for next time. Provide them, in advance a transcript of the last couple of chats and let them "follow-up" in a message with updates on previously discussed products before the chat begins.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Gee wiz, that's a swell idea. Then people can ask completely new questions..

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Here's where I got the idea that Warners was interested in releasing Coonskin on DVD:

http://ralphbakshi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8925#8925


And here's where I got the idea that Warners was interested in releasing Godzilla 1985 on DVD:

http://tohokingdom.com/news/2005/10-...o_dvd_huge.htm

I hope someone from Warners clears this up.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

I seem to recall that Cliff Mac at BCI Eclipse said that they would be releasing COONSKIN, as it was part of the Bryanson package that they bought which also included Sig Shore's THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD.

And regarding GODZILLA 1985, while Lakeshore does have a relationship with WB, they deal with plenty of other studios too, so I think that this association is a faulty one. I would more likely believe that Toho is just waiting for Lakeshore's U.S. rights to expire and for the movie to revert back to them, much like the other outstanding licensed movies.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Wel what are they going to be releasing??? Most of what was asked about was answered with either "2008" or "in the future". What could some of the 200 titles be? I think 200 is a stretch. Anyone have a clue as to what some of the 200 are. Lets try a partial list to see what could be in store for us. I'm puzzled. LOL. I mean if they had any big amount of dvds coming in 2007 they would have let us know about 30 of em or so. "Look for DVD X with Star Y and more with director Z". 30 titles were not talked about as coming out in 07.

Re: *** Official Warner Chat and Discussion Thread

Do you think this will mean that the gap between announcement and release will become smaller, because they will only make the announcement when they are completely sure the release is going to happen?