Warner Archive Discussion Thread (FEEDBACK) - Page 96

I rented both BAD RONALD and DBAotD and both were fine to me.  Are they one million dollar remasters?  No but they're a lot better than various PD releases out there.  A lot of these TV movies are out there from other companies and none of them have looked good and the four or five I've seen looked downright horrid.  BR and DBAotD didn't look great but they were far from being poor IMO.  Not worth $20 but I found both movies to be good and worthy of perhaps $10.

Agreed.  What I said, but not as good as you did.

I'm aware of the uneven quality of the Archive titles - what I meant to convey was that I thought these DVDs were only sold online? Before I pick up any more of these I need to know if I should proceed with caution. This store has a copy of  Razorback for $24.99 which I'm willing to shell out IF it's a legitimate Archive disc.

There are several on-line companies that have been purchasing the titles from WA to rent and re-sale.  I am sure that there are some independent brick and mortar rental stores that are doing the same thing.  The way to tell is that the disc has a distinctive WA label on the DVD which while not impossible to reproduce, it would take a lot of trouble and look clumsy. 

Anyone can buy from the WA and resell.  Since the price $24.99 and they can get the disc for $15.99 with coupons, that would also suggest it is legit.  But If I were you, I would just go on the WA site and find five films you want, use a coupon and save $9 on each disc.

I thought BAD RONALD fared better as far as the transfer goes.   DBAOTD suffers more because a lot of it takes place in darkness and some of those shots are hard to make out.  It definitely never looked this dark on broadcast.  I think the USA Video vhs release looked cleaner and sharper, but that came out only about 10 years after the film was made and now we're 25 more years after that!   Maybe the video master degenerated over time or a different one was used.  Still happy to have this title on disc, but it really could have looked a heck of a lot better. 

I agree that the archive program is a great idea in theory. It is only price that puts me off. I have bought 4 titles from the initial launch, and would buy more, but I cannot see paying the same for a burned DVD-R as I pay for a Blu-ray.

I also like your reference to "obscure" movies. IMO, much of the archive is for completists who want darned near every movie made by their favorite star(s). IMO, many of the archives are not top-tier titles, and it is not "disgraceful" to me that they are not being released on DVD. Some films are very important to a few people, but not to a lot of people. They could do a limited release, but the fan who really wants it may not be able to find a copy. The burn on demand is a great way to ensure that fans of somewhat obscure stuff can get a copy.

There are movies I absolutely love that I know would never find a lot of buyers. I like the idea of being able to order a title when there are not a lot of us who would want it. But until the price comes down, I will keep recording from TCM and Fox Movie Channel to my DVD recorder (except that does not work on widescreen films).

This is in response to Marco Biscotti's post in the Warner Archives Announcements thread. Mr. Biscotti finds it "disgraceful" that a second Esther Williams set is being released, as opposed to anything by Fritz Lang. "Perhaps if they were actually on store shelves..." he suggests. My question to him is "What store shelves?" Tower Records has gone bottom up. Virgin Megastore is a thing of the past. Best Buy wouldn't even consider it. Brick and mortar retail outlets for DVDs are going the way of the dodo bird. It's sad, but true.

I assumed that he meant the very same shelves that the Esther set is going on.  The point wasn't shelves, but rather the arbitrary method that Warner seems to be using to determine pressed releases.

Dear Scott: I understood that. But simply putting a product out doesn't guarantee that the few remaining DVD outlets will carry it. That's why I said "Best Buy wouldn't even consider it." (Have you ever tried finding a classic foreign film at Best Buy?) I apologize if I wasn't totally clear on my first post.

It is pretty funny, though, that after George Feltenstein pointedly mocked Fox in that Macleans interview for its "irresponsible" Joan Collins box set (a release I thoroughly enjoyed), Warner Bros. selects for one of its few upcoming burned-DVD releases ... a second Esther Williams box. 

Of course, Warners may have the sales stats to justify another Williams release, but I wonder how exactly they expect the same retailers who (again, per Feltenstein in the Macleans piece) returned all those dusty Joan Collins sets to now welcome Esther onto their ever-dwindling catalog-DVD shelves.

Esther Williams Volume 1 obviously sold very well, which shouldn't be surprising.   Anyone who has seen That's Entertainment knows that the segment on her musicals is one of the highlights of the film.  Mass audiences who shop at Costco apparently like Esther Williams movies enough to buy them when they are marketed smartly.

Whereas Joan Collins, however popular she may have become decades later on TV's Dynasty, was never a star with any drawing power whatsoever during her '50s bigscreen heyday.  Why Fox picked her of all people was rather curious.  I would think Betty Grable would lend herself to another box set before Joan Collins.

Just bought 10 sci-fi/horror and WB has stuck it to us! These DVD-Rs will not upscale/upconvert over component, because that's all I have.
 
How do they do that...cheap DVDs, high prices and are still able to have them HDCP compliant?

Please enlighten me!

There two films in the Joan Collins Collection that Fox had a lot of requests, RALLY 'ROUND THE FLAG BOYS and THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING.  Fox added the three other films to create a box set in order to make it special, it wasn't.  I think Fox was having a hard time deciding what to do with their library and how to present it, while they had some success with Ford at Fox, the real success was the individual small collections and they had a huge miss-step with the Murnau/ Borzage.  Not sure where the Tyrone Power Matinee Collection sales were, but the Carmen Miranda collection was also a miss-step for them. I do think more Alice Faye and Betty Grable would have fared better, but I understand Fox was disappointed in those sales also.  By the way, I do own all the Fox sets that I mentioned so I did my part is supporting them and the Murnau/Borazage Collection is one of my favorite, but I know there can not be more than a couple of dozen people that feel the same way I do.  The deeper the vault is mined, the less interest the masses have.  Esther Williams is a mass market entertainer based on the sales of her first collection and ratings on TCM.  Which is one of the guideposts for Warners on what to release in what format, how well it plays on TCM.  Also while Best Buy does not carry the collection along with Wal-Mart and Target, Costco and Sam's sees value and carries the title.

 It may be heretical, but I'd rather have a second Esther Williams set than a Fritz Lang set.  Not commenting on the quality of filmmaking, just what I like and would buy.  Different people have different tastes.  

Most definitely heresey!!  I almost always skip the Esther Williams section in "That's Entertainment" and the two boxsets are two of only a small number of WB boxsets that I don't own.  On the other hand, I would pre-order a Lang boxset yesterday if I could.

I read somewhere the Tyrone Power films sold very well for Fox.

Tyrone Power did sell very well for Fox, except the Matinee Collection which were not the action/adventure films, but some of his earlier films when he was not the main star and his comedies.  I do no think even one of the films was in the mainstream public's mind and was just lost on a majority of the DVD audience.  I found the collection to be fun and entertaining and certainly showed another side of Power that most people do not see.

I guess in other words, EASY TO LOVE and MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID are much more popular than LOVE IS NEWS and THAT WONDERFUL URGE.  We are still missing a DVD releases of SUEZ and LLOYD'S OF LONDON while WB/TCM is already working on a 3rd volume of Esther.

All of this is in the eye of the beholder on who they think is a great actor, but the decision being made are strictly economic for the studios and there is a lot of thought and research put into the process.  As mentioned earlier, ratings of the films on TCM and public broadcasting station, plays a more important role in what is released than letters and emails.  I have sent numerous letters,emails, and phone calls to WB (and MGM) concerning films I would like to own, but still I do not have SH! THE OCTOPUS but I do have ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY today.

Allen,

Where did yiu read that WB is already working in a third voulme of the Esther Williams collection? Don't get me wrong, this would be incredible news, is just that I've nt heard of it before.

From a source that knows and I have said too much already.  End of comments.

Much as I enjoy Ms. Williams movies - a third set would seem to be scraping the bottom of the pool, so to speak.

I wouldn't be surprised at a 3rd Ester set since WB doesn't have a lot of her films left to release:

-Jupiter's Darling
-Skirts Ahoy
-Duchess of Idaho
-Texas Carnival
-The Hoodlum Saint

Her Warners filmography would, thus be complete with the exception of A Guy Named Joe (Warner Archives most likely) and Andy Hardy's Double Life (set still coming I presume).

You are right on target.

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post this or not.

I bought the Adventures of Mark Twain. During the frog jumping scene , when they go to a close up of John Carradine, there is a line that goes across the top third of the screen. There is also a loud audio distort that goes for a few seconds.

i got a replacement disc today.I checked the disc and it has the exact same issue in the same place.

My copy i recorded from TCM does not have this issue. It plays fine.

Did anyone else purchase this title? Did it have the same issue?

I just picked up Genesis II and Planet Earth in a local shop in NY - picture quality looks great for a pair of TV movies from the 70's. They had a ton of the Archive titles in stock including The Terminal Man. I'll be picking some of those up whenever there's a slow week - some of them are going for $25.

I received my latest WB Archive order this week and ran into a new playback problem. 

I have, two DVD players, a Philips and a Toshiba, which have both played all the Archive DVDs  I have bought between March and July.

But on my newest order, which included the Joe McDoakes set and some single movies, the single movies would not play on the Toshiba although it played the McDoakes set.

Since the Philips plays them all, I won't try to return them, but it is still odd that they are doing something different now in the manufacturing process, that is blocking my Toshiba player.

All the discs from this order have a new anti-piracy logo which loads on all the discs, but on the discs that don't play  on the Toshiba, the piracy warning loads but  the counter stops at 11 seconds and nothing else happens.

This was the first Archive film I bought when it was offered. I was really hoping it would have been restored and maybe issued in a bio set or Fredric March set. I haven't watched it yet, as I too had a TCM copy. After reading your post, I got it out and viewed the entire frog jumping sequence with John Carradine. 
And yes, you are correct, there is a line and buzz for a few seconds on that closeup of Carradine. Also, like you mention, the TCM video didn't have this. It looks like perhaps the master video got a wrinkle or something in it for that section. Luckily it lasts only a few seconds. 

My copy of "The Bribe" freezes up about 30 seconds before the end of the film. The audio playback continues (somewhat erratically) and I am able to hear Charles Laughton's final line that caps the film, but this DVD is a substandard product.

John . Thanks for your post. I guess this is going to be it. I doubt they are going back and fix the master video for me. A little disappointing.

Most of the movies i've got from the archives have been fine. I also found a similar blip about an hour into Above and Beyond.

 Although Sony, Universal and others still do "film" preservation and make new fine grains, I have heard that Warners does not restore films anymore, at least photochemically. As I understand it when the need comes to fix up an old film the nitrate material is shipped and they scan it digitally and do any work in the digital domain. 
Knowing the expense involved, I think it is doubtful that their library will ever look and sound as good as the Sony library. (I am talking about all the undigitized films, not their restorations) I assume they figure any theatrical use for the films will be video projected in the future. I guess that is where things are heading.

Warner recently asked for customers to reply to a survey in reference to the Warner Archive Program, here are the results.  Very interesting information...

www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsSurveyResultsPage.aspx