Official Warner Chat Discussion See Post #2 for Chat Transcript Link. (1 Viewer)

[Lucas Anderson]

Looking forward to the Bogie/Bacall collection!!

What an awesome year for DVD releases. I think I have just died and gone to heaven!!

Can't wait for a release date on the Paul Newman collection!!

 

[Steve...O]

Warners - for your Ultimate Collector's Editions (or even for regular releases) please continue to make full size repro one sheets for your classics available (a la King Kong). They don't even have to be freebies, I'll gladly purchase these high quality items.

Thank you for your consideration.

Steve

 

[Dick]

Whoops.

But this sort of thing happens to me sometimes, being a movie fanatic: I make associations that sometimes get mixed up in the matrix: Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton, both fairly portly men, were both in SPARTACUS. Charles Laughton really did only direct one movie (NIGHT OF THE HUNTER).

When I typed in my plea for BILLY BUDD (can anyone else vouch for the superb quality of this, or am I the only one who saw it??), and I typed in Ustinov's name, I just kind of went on auto pilot and said he'd directed only one movie. Hopeless, this sort of obsession.

 

[John Hodson]

It's a marvellous film, with every bit as much a feel for the period as Huston's Moby Dick, another Melville adaptation. The cast is marvellous - Ryan, Stamp and Melvyn Douglas in particular are great - and Ustinov does a great job both sides of the camera. It's a beautiful looking movie, wonderfully shot in lush black and white 'scope. I like it!

BTW, I've held off buying both Key Largo and The Big Sleep in the hope that Warners would, one day, give us releases that befits their status; I have the other titles in the proposed Bogie / Bacall box, so I think I'll pass and keep my fingers crossed...

 

[DouglasBr]

I guess I'm doing the same wrt Bogie/Bacall. I don't know exactly what I expect them to do to improve them (and justify the wait), but since I'm in no particular hurry. . . .

I'm looking forward to the Maltese Falcon SE, as well as the Dickens titles they said are in the works (which I do hope will eventually include Little Dorrit -- my seemingly annual plea).

 

[walter o]

I second BILLY BUDD, a great film that made Terence Stamp a household name at the time, that sadly seem to have dropped off the radar.

 

[dana martin]

i think the one that most interest me at the moment is the Pre-code box that they have planned, and the titles in it, if i am lucky just maybe Dr. Jekyll will come in a non snapper

 

[FrancisP]

I had several thoughts about the chat.

It seemed to me that they were saying if a film hadn't been previously released on dvd, it would be very unlikely that it would make it to dvd. They never said never but the impression was that it would be unlikely.

This is the one criticism of Warner that I do have. Their refusal to license films. They admitted during the chat that there were some titles that they didn't think there was enough interest in. Also if they do hold to releasing rimarily films that were on video then that leaves around 4,000 titles that will never see the light of dvd. Why would they rather see a film gather dust if some else has an interest in releasing them? There are companies out there like Criterion, Anchor Bay, and Image that generally do good work.

I also would have loved to delve more into the process of how a film is selected. I'm sure more goes into a release than saying 'How about this movie?' and 'Let's do it.' For example, can the numbers a film draws on TCM facor into it? Is any marketing research done? How much does word of mouth go into it?

As far as movies go, happy to see that the Dark Shadows movies are finally on the radar. Hopefully they will do the expanded version of Night and maybe a commentary since a number of the principals are still alive. Glad to see that we were pretty much promised earlier MGM movies like Mark of the Vampire and Fu manchu. Hopefully that will include The Beast With Five Fingers. Also glad to see the interest in No Time For Sergeants. They made me nervous when they said 'We want to do it and Andy Griffith wants to do it.'
Was expecting a 'but' to be in there somewhere.

I would have loved to ask about a trio of James Garner films, Boys Night Out, 36 Hours, and Marlowe. But guess you can't have everthing.

 

[Tory]

I got the same impression about those titles that never made it to VHS and had to restrain myself when my question time came up as I had a very dedicated question and wanted to focus more on it.. Also I am in fear for some lesser known films that made it to VHS and Laser disc when they were owned by other parties who, had they survived to modern times would likely have put them on DVD by now. I wish they would reconsider their licensing policies, just put up for market those films that they know they are going to ignore, let rot, and force to be forgotten.

 

[David Stanley]

I have some titles on my dvd wish list that never made it to vhs. However, I have MANY more titles on my wish list that did make vhs, but have yet to see a dvd release. What bothers me is all the requests for, and promised releases of, SEs when there are literally thousands of vhs released titles waiting for there dvd debut that can't find a slot in the SE/TV dominated release schedule.

 

[dana martin]

actually a lot of titles that were missing were ask for this year, some are continuations of specific titles, what some are doing is expressly discussing certain ones, granted Kubrick will always be a topic, as will plans foe older signature collections that have had 2 disc se released afterwords.
i think public "outcry" like this forum is one of the deciding factors for some of the SE's but it has also been the launching pad for so many titles that never made it on video. simple math, Casablanca is going to sale more than Tarzan, but if it interest them that they are willing to dig through the vaults, we end up with the best of both worlds.
the other thing on the horizon is the next gen, while some are ready for this to happen, is might make way for even more catalog and classics to make way on standard disc. agreed that the current push of tv titles take a lot of shelf space, but the occasional gem is found in that aspect too, the superman serials are coming that way. as always keep and open mind and ready for the next chat,

 

[Steve...O]

I never got the impression that films not on VHS won't make it to DVD.

Quite the opposite. There are many films that are about to be released or are in the pipeline that never made it to VHS.

For example: only 6 Bowery Boys films went to VHS. All 48 are planned for DVD. The upcoming pre-code set includes a film not seen since its original release. The Bette Davis set includes a new to video title. The RKO Tarzans were not released to VHS as far as I'm aware. The list goes on.

As long as the current management team is in place at WHV I am going to trust them to do their library right. They know their product and they know their audience. In my opinion, I see no need for them to outsource to another vendor.

Steve

 

[David Stanley]

Perhaps someone can correct the numbers for me, but my understanding is that Warner has around 6500 films in their library. Around 3000 have been released on VHS and about 1200 or so on DVD. It has been ten years and less than half of the VHS releases have made it to DVD. With the way the release calander the past couple of years has been filled with double and triple dips of existing DVD titles, I'm becoming skeptical that we will ever see the wide range of offerings that we saw with VHS.

 

[oscar_merkx]

When is the Pre-Code boxset coming out ?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

"Planned" being the key word at this stage.

 

[Doug Bull]

I wish somebody had asked about HOW THE WEST WAS WON.

Hopefully TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE , SUMMER HOLIDAY , BELLE OF NEW YORK , WORDS AND MUSIC , DEEP IN MY HEART , ATHENA and RICH YOUNG AND PRETTY will be among the MGM Musicals being considered for up-coming release.

Where are all the fabulous WARNER BROTHERS TECHNICOLORED Musicals and Westerns of the 40s and 50s?
GARY COOPER, ALAN LADD, ERROL FLYNN, DENNIS MORGAN, JACK CARSON, JUNE HAVER, GORDON MacRAE , etc, etc.
I'm amazed that Warner's own product seems somewhat overlooked.

 

[Robert Crawford]

They can only release so much product especially due to the status of some of these film elements. If you want to give grief to a studio not putting out enough classic product, how about Universal or Sony?





Crawdaddy

 

[Patrick McCart]

If WB released a quarter of their entire unreleased library this year, there would still be complaints about the other three quarters not being included.

I think there was a press release on the Warner/HP digital system they're using for Cinerama. Thus, they're likely working on at least How the West Was Won. It wouldn't surprise me if they did a large set with that film, This is Cinerama, and Cinerama Adventure.

 

[Paul_Scott]

does Warner own Lili('53)?
if so, has anyone heard any rumours about this?

 

[Charles Ellis]

Yes, it's part of the MGM/Turner library and is therefore owned by Warners.