Next TCM Exclusives: Rhapsody in Blue & The Great Waltz

These look to be exclusive Warner Archives, rather than the Universal Vault series. Assuming I'm correct, no big rush to get them, particularly at that price.

Will probably get "The Great Waltz" (which is a real treat I heartily recommend, if only for the luscious soprano Miliza Korjus). I currently have the film on a Bo-ying (Hong Kong) DVD and the quality is quite reasonable.

MoviesUnlimited.com seems to like their music-themed Warner Archive exclusives.

Hmmm, the year for The Great Waltz is listed 1938, but director and actors are for 1972 version....

The 1972 version? Now that's a version I have seen on 16mm anamorphic in some one's home in the mid-1970s.The guy worked at Fox's local exchange and hired it for the Saturday night with friends and my sister & I were invited. The guy had a projector in his bedroom wardrobe and had a hole with a door in the back that he could project the film thru the back of the wardrobe thru the passage/hallway into his living room and onto the wall above the inbuilt gas heater/fire. Looked great but not a film that is favored by many. Never seen it since available anywhere.

What was interesting about the night was that I met a lot of guys who were older than me, came with wives(they made supper) and some kids. They all seemed to be keen 35mm collectors at the time. The reason being that 35mm reels were dirt cheap to get hold of because few collected them because they were bulky and little playback equipment available. I must say more equipment became available when it was abandoned as Drive-Ins started to close in favor of videotape etc. Operators just walked away and the sites were often used as Sunday markets and for a time there was an occasional Saturday night midnight horror show that soon all ceased. Even the doors to the projection rooms were left open inviting people to come and take. A sad end, I guess, but just a business decision to the operators.

I wonder if these are standart DVDs and not DVD-R? I know Warners went back to the camera nitrate negative for RHAPSODY IN BLUE. On the product page, they only say DVD video. Maybe, like Universal, they are doing a small pressed run for these titles as a test.

They are DVD-R. Just as the last two exclusives are. If you check all WAC listings on Movies Unlimited you will find they indicate DVD dispite the fact they are DVD-R.
Edited by ahollis - 9/19/11 at 7:09am

I am curious as to what, if any, extras are included with these titles, especially Rhapsody In Blue.

Both discs now have covers and The Great Waltz is indeed 1938 version despite what credits say. And both discs are remastered, but no extras are listed yet.

In the old days, Warners would have added the 1972 version as an extra to the 1938 version of THE GREAT WALTZ and we would have bought it at Tower Records & Video or Best Buy for $14.99.  Sigh. . .

Sigh... What we used to take for granted from Warners...

Anyone got the DVD? According to a clip they posted on the TCM site, the quality is quite amazing, also sound-wise. Might be worth getting it, already for having a decent-sounding version of the soundtrack at last ...

Forgot to mention that I was referring to the "Rhapsody in Blue" movie ;-)

Rhapsody in Blue is definitely a DVD-R. The quality is very good, in my opinion. It has not been "cleaned", and it looks like film, by gosh. There is quite a bit of grain in process shots and some scratches, but very watchable. The sound is very good, robust mono. The only extra is the trailer (which is pretty rough and a poor transfer). However, they did include a ten minute overture that I had never heard before, which is a great panoply of Gershwin tunes. Of course the music itself is great; how can you go wrong with Max Steiner and Ray Heindorf handling the music arranging and supervision? Unfortunately, there is an "Overture" title card displayed for all ten minutes.

As long as you don't expect it to look like the high-def version of Casablanca I think you will be pleased.

(Fun to see Rosemary DeCamp playing Mama Gershwin twenty years before she would be Ann Marie's mom on That Girl and Shirley Partridge's mom on Partridge Family.)

---Kevin

WB's new RHAPSODY IN BLUE is revelatory in its high quality. I'm lovin' this DVD. But if you want to see a quality sample, go to Warner Archive's website and click on the clip available on the product page.

http://www.wbshop.com/Rhapsody-In-Blue/1000252578,default,pd.html?cgid=ZARCHIVEALL-BEST


If you go to TCM's website, you'll see the same clips they've been using for years, and given that they are from the old master, if you compare the clips there with the clip on WB's site, it really underscores the huge improvement of the new WB DVD. Picture quality overall is near-perfect. To my eye, aside from the errant scratch in process shots, it looks like there has been a lot of picture clean-up. As for the audio, it's just awesome...plain and simple. I don't think any other Warner disc does a better job reproducing the sonics of their amazing orchestra of that era.

Thanks for the info! Right, that is the clip of the restoration that I had seen. On WBShop, and not on the TCM site as I had written. Disappointingly they don't deliver to Europe, but I'll have a friend buy it for me and get it over here.
I have heard the Overture, though. It's on Rhino's "Gershwin in Hollywood" CD, which also includes a few more extended/alternate/remastered versions of songs from the movie.

I look forward to this, having not seen it since watching it as a kid on television.  Also look forward to the overture, which will be totally new to me.

 

That said, I want to say loud and clear, here and elsewhere, that I am thoroughly SICK of the continuing studio mis-treatment of overtures, entr'actes and exit music.  Show the word "Overture" for a few seconds, then fade it out.  The dumbing down of this stuff is getting worse all the time.  Expect nothing of your audience, and that's exactly what you'll get -- and more of it with every subsequent release.

Watch this for a second time in two weeks last night.  It is an exceptional DVD and an entertaining film.  I always enjoy watching Joan Leslie in just about anything and she does not disappoint.  Alexis Smith is perfect in her role as a lady that can't be good.  But what is so great about the film are the people appearing as themselves credited and not credited.  You got Al Jolson and Hazel Scott in the same film with Paul Whiteman striking up his band, and Oscar Levant playing himself.  Then at a party who should be there but Elsa Maxwell. nice work if you can get it.  Al Jolson gives a brilliant performance of Swanee with enthusiasm as if it was the first time he sang it.  The only draw back for me is Robert Alda, in his first starring role, comes out whinny and wooden.  It is said that John Garfield wanted the role and that the director wanted Tyrone Power.  Either would have made the film a little more interesting. 

 

The Overture is s'wonderful. 

Edited by ahollis - 2/5/12 at 7:32pm