digitalbits rumor mill 10/31 - Grand Hotel, My Fair Lady: SE, Tom & Jerry, more! (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

Clicky

According to information released on a German DVD forum, Warner Europe has announced the DVD release of several new titles for R2. It's possible these are soon to be announced by the studio for R1 release as well. Here's the list (thanks to Bits reader Christian L. for the tip).

3/18 - My Fair Lady: Special Edition

TBA - Mutiny on the Bounty, The Great Ziegfeld, Gaslight, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Grand Hotel, Mrs. Miniver, Tom & Jerry: The Classic Collection, Volumes 1 & 2 and Kung Fu: Season One.

Not done yet... we also have a list of upcoming Paramount catalog titles for early 2004. No street dates yet, but these are reportedly all in the works: Top Gun: Collector's Edition, We're No Angels (1989), Permanent Record, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, The Ten Commandments: Collector's Edition, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Little Prince, Half a Sixpence, Fat Man and Little Boy, The Molly Maguires and My Side of the Mountain.

Stay tuned...

Personally, I'm excited about The Great Ziegfeld.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I wonder which Mutiny on the Bounty it will be.

 

[oscar_merkx]

those are some great classics, personally I am looking forward to The Greatest Show on Earth

 

[george kaplan]

I am praying like crazy that they are mistaken about We're No Angels. Please let it be the 1955 version.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Same here, George.

I believe that Mutiny on the Bounty will be the 1935 version. ( I seem to recall reading a rumor that the 1935 and 1962 versions would both receive releases, but I could be mistaken. )

Googling around on the web I found this interview over at Barnes & Noble

George Feltenstein: We’ll be releasing some Best Picture winners such as Mutiny on the Bounty and Grand Hotel. Also things like the Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller, the Thin Man series, Warner Bros. gangster movies starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn swashbucklers, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals, and even some silent movies with Lon Chaney Sr. In fact, we’ve got three Chaneys coming out later this year.

- Walter.

 

[Greg Black]

the Thin Man series

Those words right there just made my day.

 

[Greg_M]

"Half a Sixpence" - Joe Caps, are pigs flying?

 

[Scott Leopold]

I am praying like crazy that they are mistaken about We're No Angels. Please let it be the 1955 version.

No kidding! How in the blue hell could they release the 1989 version before the original?!? I still can't fathom why it hasn't had a decent Christmas-time release yet. This is one of my family's favorite Christmas movies of all time. I'll really be disappointed if the other version comes out first.

 

[Greg_M]

Hope Warner includes a seperate soundtrack with Audrey Hepburn's vocals (like the laserdisc did) so you can watch the film with her singing. There are more of Hepburn's vocals floating around (I've heard them and they're quite good) Hope these are also included.

 

[TimJS]

Barry Maxwell's column at the Bits has the following info on the Warner releases:

Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939, with Robert Donat), Gaslight (1944, with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935, with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton), William Wyler's Mrs. Miniver (1942, with Greer Garson), The Great Ziegfeld (1936, with William Powell), Around the World in 80 Days (1956, with David Niven), Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966, with Vanessa Redgrave),The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969, with Maggie Smith), and The Sunshine Boys (1975, with Walter Matthau and George Burns). Other titles that appear fairly certain for 2004 are The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975, with Jack Lemmon) and Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938, with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland).

Wish we could get Gaslight as a dbl feature with the '39/'40 British production included.

Tim

 

[David Lambert]

Kung Fu Season 1 is guaranteed for 2004 in R1...we posted about that at TVShowsOnDVD months ago. Unfortunately it will be cropped top and bottom for a fake widescreen appearance, according to what we were told. I hope Warner can be convinced not to do this.

 

[todd s]

Dave,

I remember reading about Kung Fu at the TVshowsondvd website and being psyched. I find it funny that we can't get MOVIES in their OAR. But, a fullscreen tv show, they are making it WS. :rolleyes

 

[Roger Rollins]

It would be very hard for Warner Bros. to release THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE since it's very much a 20th Century-Fox film

 

[Paul_Scott]

theres some good stuff mentioned, for sure- but the title i'm most excited for, and maybe the only one i'll end up picking up is...
The Prisoner Of Second Avenue- YAHOO!

this seemed to play constantly on HBO in the mid seventies and even though i wasn't even into double digits yet, i loved it. wonderful performances from both Lemmon and Bancroft and i love the depiction of NYC in this movie.
can't wait to see it again.

after that the titles i'm most craving are
The Libled Lady, Swing Time (though Top Hat will probably get released first)
and Meet Me In St.Louis (mentioned in the last chat, iirc) .

all these with the addition of the other 15 titles that we in the AOL poll already provide a pretty good look at whats coming.
combine everything that was mentioned in the chat, and i wonder just how close we are to seeing Warners full slate of vintage/classic catalog titles for '04?

 

[Jim*F]

I've looked but not found any information about the My Fair Lady laserdisc. Were there two complete separate audio tracks -- one with all the dialogue but Marni Nixon singing, and a second one with all the dialogue and Audrey Hepburn singing? (Does that make sense? I mean to ask if Audrey Hepburn's vocal were seamlessly woven into the film itself?)

What other extras are out there for a Special Edition? I hope this is release is true and we get a US street date soon!

 

[rob kilbride]

Barry Maxwell's column at the Bits has the following info on the Warner releases:

His article also states that Hitchcock's Rebecca from Criterion will be going out of print. Should I hurry out and buy it or is this an indicator that a less expensive SE will be coming out similar to when Silence of the Lambs came out?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I think George Feltenstein reads this forum.

 

[Kevin Porter]

Kung Fu: Season One.

I'm gonna Netflix this one. I had never heard about it until a little flick entitled Kill Bill came along. I researched up on Bill and had always wanted to see this show. Regardless of if I like it or not, it will be interesting to see.

 

[StevenFC]

Great stuff man! As far as I'm concerned, they could release nothing but classics like those (apart from a precious few recent ones) that were mentioned, and I would be as happy as a clam.

 

[Derek_McL]

Yes these will all be very welcome particularly the Warner titles. Great to see the Thirties getting some good releases at last : the likes of Grand Hotel, Mutiny On the Bounty and Goodbye Mr Chips.

Hopefully these will come around the time of the Academy Awards : that makes sense with most of them being best picture winners and Chips winning for Robert Donat's lovely performance.

The Great Ziegfeld to me is the least of these films : I saw it again quite recently and was even underwhelmed I've got to say by some of the big musical numbers which are really the highlights of this looong film. Still if Warner stuff the disc full of relevant extras as has been their custom of late I might even buy that one. But please Warner as far as Thirties MGMs go don't stop here more Garbo please and more Gable.

I'm not as excited by the My Fair Lady SE. I honestly didn't think there was much wrong with the present disc but I've just finally broke down (after about a year)and double dipped on Singin' In the Rain so who knows ?

Now Warner when are the Marx Brothers, Hitchcocks, Meet Me In St Louis, more silents, more Flynn and more Cagney coming out ? If they all appear in 2004 its going to be very expensive year !