A Few Words About A few words about...™ Warner Bros. Home Video & The WB Archive Collection -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[davidmatychuk]

I bet if Frank had been in "The Alamo", the Sinatra girls would be all over MGM about restoring it.

 

[Edward Weinman]

Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse: "The Band Wagon" and "Silk Stockings."
"Deep In my Heart"
"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
"Brigadoon"
...and ALL the MGM musicals that have so endeared film fans all through the years...

 

[AnthonyClarke]

And Three lIttle Words ....
but top priority must go to the Fred and Ginger catalog!

 

[Jari K]

"Mr. Harris's mention of Minnelli and Sinatra makes me wonder if "Some Came Running" will make its debut on Blu Ray next year. "Let's hope so. I love Sinatra and The Rat Pack so these are exciting "news".

 

[ahollis]

The Minnelli reference could mean so many good filmsGIGITHE BAND WAGONTILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BYTHE BAD AND THE. BEAUTIFULZIEGFELD FOLLIESand of courseBRIGADOON. and a few more.

 

[classicmovieguy]

We've already had "Gigi" but maybe there has been a revised restoration... though I think the current Blu-ray is pretty good.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Very hopeful for Three Little Words and of course High Society.

 

[Alan Tully]

Next year will be Mr. Sinatra's Centennial Birthday...I'll be VERY surprised if Warner Home Video doesn't release a sizable chunk of his film catalog in a box set on blu-ray next year...

I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but I'd really like a Blu of, Robin & The 7 Hoods '64, I'm sure it would look really good.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Warners had a perfect window to release "High Society" on Blu-ray with the theatrical engagement of "Grace of Monaco", but I've still got my fingers crossed for that as well.

 

[atfree]

If Warner’s is listening, I propose the following for Errol Flynn BD release:

The Ultimate Errol Flynn Collection (Blu-Ray)- 20 film Collection

Featuring:

Captain Blood
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Sea Hawk
They Died with Their Boots On
Dodge City
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Gentleman Jim
The Adventures of Don Juan
The Dawn Patrol
Dive Bomber
Desperate Journey
Edge of Darkness
Northern Pursuit
Uncertain Glory
Objective Burma
Santa Fe Trail
They Died With Their Boots On
Virginia City
The Master of Ballantrae

Bonus Features:

The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Trailers for each film
Whatever else you can throw in.


Price: Whatever you think is fair (and I might throw in one of my children )

NOTE: The list of films is my PERSONAL preference and, I’m sure, is debatable according to taste.

 

[Will Krupp]

You left out one of my favorites, FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK (1941) !!!!

(and you know, even if they DID release your fabulous blu-ray box set at the stunning low price of $19.99, some of us would STILL bitch that we had to re-buy ROBIN HOOD! )

 

[atfree]

You left out one of my favorites, FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK (1941) !!!!

Yes....I left out several that I debated about including in my arbitrary 20 disc set. Maybe Warner's will improve on my idea and do a 25 disc set!

Ironically, I just broke down over the weekend and order Footsteps in the Dark on DVD from the WBShop as I had pretty much given up on more Flynn on BD. It's one that I had neglected to add to my collection years ago.

 

[Will Krupp]

Ironically, I just broke down over the weekend and order Footsteps in the Dark on DVD from the WBShop as I had pretty much given up on more Flynn on BD.

I love it for its change of pace (plus I was always a sucker for comic murder mysteries) plus that cast just can't be beat! It's a veritable who's who of early 40's character actors with Alan Hale, Lee Patrick, Ralph Bellamy, Lucille Watkins, Grant Mitchell, Alan Jenkins, William Frawley and even Turhan Bey all in the same place! Plus Brenda Marshall, IMO, is one of the prettiest leading ladies of the period. Word of advice, don't watch the trailer first, it gives important plot points away!

 

[atfree]

I love it for its change of pace (plus I was always a sucker for comic murder mysteries) plus that cast just can't be beat! It's a veritable who's who of early 40's character actors with Alan Hale, Lee Patrick, Ralph Bellamy, Lucille Watkins, Grant Mitchell, Alan Jenkins, William Frawley and even Turhan Bey all in the same place! Plus Brenda Marshall, IMO, is one of the prettiest leading ladies of the period. Word of advice, don't watch the trailer first, it gives important plot points away!

Oh, I've seen it countless times, just didn't own the DVD. And yes, Brenda Marshall was a great, beautiful leading lady. I thought she and Flynn had great chemistry together in their films.

My only fear now is that I've gotten my hopes up too high for these Flynn releases on BD, and that Warner's just chucks a couple at us and that's it. But for now, I'm riding high on optimism.

 

[Danny Burk]

Hoping for some long-awaited silents, especially those missing "big ticket" titles such as SCARLET LETTER, THE WIND, THE CROWD, GREED...more pre-codes and other 30s films would be great too, of course!

 

[Jari K]

WB is "back" in 2015? I mean it was the King during the golden days of DVD.We'll see.

 

[Robert Harris]

Just as a side note. The folks at WB really do know their library.

They're very much aware which are the Bogart or Flynn or Cagney films.

Problem is the cost to get these films up to Blu-ray quality. Scanning is easy. The rest can be extremely difficult and expensive, as to do thing properly, it's a return to the nitrate on the earlier titles.

Budgets can easily top 80k per b/w title just to get it prepared, on top of compression, authoring, and the costs of VAM.

All of this adds up, and we've not discussed the exigencies of color.

RAH

 

[atfree]

Just as a side note. The folks at WB really do know their library.

They're very much aware which are the Bogart or Flynn or Cagney films.

Problem is the cost to get these films up to Blu-ray quality. Scanning is easy. The rest can be extremely difficult and expensive, as to do thing properly, it's a return to the nitrate on the earlier titles.

Budgets can easily top 80k per b/w title just to get it prepared, on top of compression, authoring, and the costs of VAM.

All of this adds up, and we've not discussed the exigencies of color.

RAH

This (what I bolded) is my biggest concern with getting my hopes up. Hard to wrap my head around WB being able to make much, if any, profit from releasing these films on BD with costs like that. Probably just ignorance on my part to the business side of this but still it makes me want to temper my expectations.....

 

[atfree]

The Minnelli reference could mean so many good filmsGIGITHE BAND WAGONTILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BYTHE BAD AND THE. BEAUTIFULZIEGFELD FOLLIESand of courseBRIGADOON.and a few more.

Oh yes......

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Personally, I love coming here and reading these forums and I love the contributions of all of the "industry insiders" that drop hints, tips, or announcements, and I find it pretty wonderful that they take time to answer questions. One of the downsides of reading along here though can be the amount of negativity expressed over what has not been released, or complaints about what has been released, or just the outright bashing of releases that people feel "could have been better."

Yes, I know this is a discussion forum and people should and are welcome to express their opinions but with the amount of nitpicking that seems to precede and follow just about any and every release is it any wonder that Warner would take their time and try to put out the best product they can? I mean why rush to get stuff out when if they do a lot of people will complain how horrible the release is and that they should have done this or that? I mean every little thing can become an epic negative that some people will complain about to their graves it seems.

I know that as consumers the general cry is we want everything now, it all has to be awesome, and we want it cheap...or we have the right to complain forever. However it seems not much consideration is given to how these really are not fair expectations nor would it lead to a particularly healthy marketplace for the product.

Often it seems being a company or individual that works to bring us our blu-rays is a pretty thankless and tough job. You have to be willing to endure a lot...and I mean a lot...of criticism, bashing, and dissatisfaction with what you have done and be willing to accept it in a humble manner while asking "Please, sir, may I have some more?" while lining up for your next beating. It seems every release is accompanied by a chorus of "But why isn't this perfect and why can't you sell it to me for less?"

I wonder how a lot of these people that complain would feel if everyday when they did their job the entire population surfing the internet was permitted to watch them and critique them and constantly kept asking "Why can't you do your job faster and for less money, and why isn't everything you do perfect?"

After a short period of time I bet a lot of people would just want to quit doing their job and all of them would just wish all the people asking these questions would go away.

Now I'm not saying that everybody that is questioning something and complaining about certain releases is wrong or should not do so but I can say in my history with blu-ray only one release really burned me and I did not purchase it. This was the recent release of The Big Red One on blu-ray and the failure of forethought to actually (prepare for HD and) include the better and much ballyhooed (including Martin Scorsese) longer version that better represented Sam Fuller's vision. That was I think one of the most bizarre mistakes I think I have seen made so far with regards to blu-ray releases by a major studio and one that I would guess at some point will be addressed. I mean why go to all the work and trouble of assembling the longer cut only to ignore it when it came time to present it in high def? So I am in agreement that sometimes things can go horribly awry but it seems there are people that feel that way about every release.

Honestly I am fine with people expressing their opinion but I think once and a while before issuing a complaint we should step back and think about how good the blu-ray format has been to us and consider that while a release may not be perfect it may very well be the best version of the film we (or maybe just I because maybe I'm alone in this) have ever seen.