Suggested titles for Warner Archives future selections - Page 6

"They ought to be releasing a better mix of more recent -- as in titles from the '60s onwards"

Different strokes for different folks. I'm not much interested in titles after 1975. 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s are where my interest lies.

"I have zero interest in paying $20 a title for the quality of product they are delivering"

In that case, what do you care what Warners is stuffing in the Archives?

I'm not much interested in titles after 1965!  Give me more '20s titles in addition to the '30s, '40s and '50s.  More silents and precodes!

Ditto - the 20s, 30s, and 40s titles aren't at all obscure to me - I've never heard of most from the 60s and later and have zero interest in the majority of them!

I am going to double ditto here.  I have several WA titles, but most are pre-1970.  One on One and Freebie & The Bean are the only two out of the dozen or so titles that are 70's and up that they released, sorry forgot I got Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark also.  I can not help my self when I see a title that is from the 30's, 40's or 50's.  The film making in those decades is a treat to enjoy with plot and characters that are not pushed by effects and violence as the 70's titles started to evolve into.

I completely agree.  While not true for other studios, I can say that I have never seen a bad Warner Bros. movie from 1932-1934.  Even the lowliest little "B" is entertaining and I'm constantly discovering unheard-of little gems such as "Easy to Love" with Genevieve Tobin, Adolphe Menjou and Mary Astor.  Just release every Warners from these years to the Archives and I'll be broke and happy.

I just finished watching GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS and enjoyed it as a poor man's Busby Berkeley (he had nothing to do with this).  I did enjoy Joan Davis and have also enjoyed her in the Abbott & Costello film, HOLD THAT GHOST and with Shirley Temple in JUST AROUND THE CORNER.

So with that said, how about RKO's SHOW BUSINESS and IT YOU KNEW SUZIE in the Archives.  Joan and Eddie Cantor, maybe a little over done, but still as good as Ham on Rye.
Edited by ahollis - 11/11/09 at 11:02am

Joan Davis was not in WHO DONE IT?--I suspect that you're thinking of Mary Wickes.

You are correct, but I was not thinking of Mary Wicks, I think I was thinking about JUST AROUND THE CORNER and it came out Who Done It (total mental disconnect).  I would also love to see WA put out AROUND THE WORLD, where Miss Davis starred with the great Kay Kyser.

The World, The Flesh, and The Devil (1959)
Edited by MLamarre - 11/4/09 at 5:29am

I notice that DON JUAN (1926) is the only title in the Warner Archive previews that has not been  brought out yet on dvd.  Is it too much to hope for that they could bring out a two-disc edition that would replicate the inclusion of an hours' worth of Vitaphone shorts that preceded DON JUAN at its original road show presentation?  This first sound-on-film event was replicated on the laserdisc.

Would like to see some not so popular films by Sidney Lumet...

The Sea Gull (1968)
The Appointment (1969)
Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

BYE BYE BRAVERMAN is out now as an Archive title and JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT looks to be coming, so maybe the rest will be due, too.

The Seventh Cross and The Rising of the Moon

Max Ophüls' Caught (1949)
Howard Hawks' Ceiling Zero (1936)
Sam Fuller's Run of the Arrow (1957)
Douglas Sirk's Hitler's Madman (1943)

Presumably you'll see them all, in time. The Archive program was launched to empty Warner's vaults.  

CAUGHT is owned by LionsGate, and CEILING ZERO has some copyright issues.

And both are available outside the States: Ceiling Zero from Warner France under the title: "Brumes", for example.

Here's a review of one version of CAUGHT. The reviewer makes point of the fact that the video quality isn't the best.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=68987

     Quote:
Why would it be owned by Lionsgate when it's an MGM film?

CAUGHT was produced by Enterprise and released through MGM.  CAUGHT was frequently shown in the early days of television as part of a package of films repoed by the Bank of America.  Enterprise went bankrupt (John Garfield was one of the founders) and films like ARCH OF TRIUMPH, BODY AND SOUL, and FORCE OF EVIL are now controlled by LionsGate as the result of their buyout of Republic Video (which did release CAUGHT on VHS),  Other titles from the Bank of America repo and Republic  that have yet to be released from other-than-Enterprise productions are THE SENATOR WAS INDISCREET, LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF UNCLE HARRY, Welles's MACBETH, THE RED PONY, THE MAGNIFICENT DOLL, MOONRISE, PITFALL, THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES, CHINA GATE, THE DARK MIRROR, THE BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY, THE PRIVATE AFFAIRS OF BEL AMI, Renoir's THE DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID, THE LOST MOMENT, GOOD SAM, and MAGIC TOWN.

LionsGate is not merely indifferent to classic product.  They are contemptuous (e.g., the current debacle with THE DEAD).

Correct on all accounts, except Lionsgate did not buy out Republic.  They have leased the films from Paramount Pictures for a period of 15 years, with about 10 years left.  Spelling Entertainment purchased the Republic library and then leased them to Artisn Entertainment.  When Lionsgate bought Artisn the Republic films went with it for about 6 months.  The films then reverted back to Paramount and about 3 months latter (after announcing several DVD titles that never were released) they leased the films back to Lionsgate.  Which really has not done a thing with them and are contemptuous, as you point out.

The most complicated and interesting history is about who owns what films.  With the news today that MGM has to sell and no one wants them except for their library, the history of ownership is about to be more complicated.  Think of the titles that could be included in the Warner Archive if they end up with the library?  All of those great AIP films that have not seen the light of day, let alone the early Samuel Goldwyn titles. 

Lionsgate is a poor steward of its catalog but, to its credit, it quickly issued a replacement program for THE DEAD.  

That is good news.  They finally heard the consumer.

Personally, I don't care if Warner gets the AIP titles, or not.  They haven't exactly blown me away with lots of Archive releases from their Allied Artists library.

Since Fox will be releasing WHIP IT on DVD in late January, I'd like to see Warner Archives release two Roller Derby films:

THE FIREBALL (1950) Mickey Rooney, Pat O'Brien, Marilyn Monroe, Glenn Corbett
Although a Fox film, this was released on VHS by Warner in 1996.

UNHOLY ROLLERS (1972) Claudia Jennings, Alan Vint, Louis Quinn, Roberta Collins 
Could be AIP, but HBO Video (a Warner subsidiary label?) released this on VHS in the late 1980s.

Any yet they've done very little with the library at all!

I'd like to cast a vote for THE BOUNTY HUNTER, a terrific Randolph Scott western from 1954 with a good cast and fine direction by Andre deToth.

That is the strangest part of the whole thing.  Lionsgate has the third largest film library, behind Warners and MGM, and they just sit on it and what they do release is in need of new transfers or they release it not in OAR.  It just is so frustrating that there are so many good films that just sit and rot.

It scares the hell out of me that they are looking at the MGM library and are planning on making a bid for it. 

Lionsgate continues to license and sit on both the Republic library and the Granada/ITC library precisely because it makes them look big, i.e. when they go to banks for financing for their new movies, they can say "Look at this huge backlog of movies we control."  It's kinda like if you have a friend with nice furniture but no interest in using it in his house - you pay him to put that furniture in your house, and then you go to the bank and declare that furniture as if it were part of your entire estate, and then you can make home improvements...but you're not displaying that furniture either.

But the furniture is at least being used.  The Library is not and it seems that film libraries are devaluing. Lionsgate could into the same position as MGM by not exploiting the library. They say it is valuable, but if not used you see no value.  The banks can even see that.

I would add these titles, who were really successful with critics and audiences alike back when they were released - I wonder why no one has suggested them here:

1) The Woman in White (1948) w. Sydney Greenstreet, Alexis Smith, Gig Young and Agnes Morehead - IMDB Rating of 6.7
(Illegal copies fetch in some countries up to $ 500)

2) The Barrets of Wimpole Street (1934) Norma Shearer, Frederic March, Charles Laughton - need I say more? IMDB rating 7.1
(Was only released on LD and VHS - VHS tapes fetch up to $ 250 on Amazon)

3) Tales of Manhattan (1942) w. Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Charles Laughton et al. IMDB of 7.3

4) Slightly Dangerous (1943) w. Lana Turner, Robert Young, Walter Brennan - an all time TCM Favorite

5) The Woman of Straw (1964) w. Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson - also, a TCM Favorite - only 6.7 on IMDB because hardly ever screened!

6) A Woman of Distinction (1950) One of Roz Russell's best in my opinion

7) Take A Letter Darling (1942) Another Rosalind Russell Classic not yet available on any medium

8) Hands Across the Table (1935) Carol Lombard and Fred Mac Murray. IMDB 7.1

One a personal note, the Entertainment Industry is complaining that the sales of DVD is falling back. No wonder when one reads the list of upcoming releases. No one of a right mind is spending money on such trash made for TV or straight to video markets. These titles are mainly targeted towards a group of young people who do not spend their money on buying and collecting DVD's.

The group of adults who does collect DVD's in great numbers (such as me) does not find good classic and contemporary movies for purchase anywhere in this country. The solution is a multi-system which expands the horizon. This is different in Spain and Italy, where major US Classics from directors such as Mitchell Leisen (who have never seen the light of day in the US on VHS and/or DVD) are made available on DVD with great success!