Various thoughts about NEWS from the WB Chat! (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey]

No one asked for it, but with Michael Wayne's passing (the Duke's elder son who did most of the wheeling/dealing for the estate), it will prolly be a few months before another attempt is made to negotiate for the rights; maybe this can be brought up at the next Warners chat.

Jeffrey

>Also what about The High and The Mighty?

 

[Stephen Orr]

Well, good news about two more Harryhausen classics finally making it to DVD, along with Willis O'brien's BLACK SCORPION.

 

[Doug Bull]

Some great questions asked and some even better answers kindly given by the Warner reps, but where were the questions regarding the huge catalogue of ever popular MGM and Warner classic Musicals.

Also, will we ever see Anamorphic remasters of "Brigadoon""How the West was Won" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" plus a decent quality Stereo release of the 1950 "Show Boat"

 

[Nick Graham]

Brent, I thought about asking about a Heat SE, but I honestly want DTS if I double-dip it. That and the deleted scenes Mann offered to NBC for their version...but mainly DTS, so I decided not to bother.

 

[Patrick McCart]

How The West Was Won is likely a possibility. They recently struck a new 3-panel Cinerama tri-print for the Seattle Cinerama Theater and it's been said to be quite a beautiful print (and I'm sure the sound is the same!)

It looks like WB might be the one to release the other Cinerama films from what I've read on rec.arts.movies.tech

One of the concepts is to have a smilebox presentation of the films (meaning the flat 2.59:1 image is distorted to create the wide-angle look of the projection. This takes away the distortion made by the flat image) in 16x9.

Cinerama films would be a nice starter for HD-DVD, IMO. They would really show off the clarity.

 

[Jeff_HR]

How The West Was Won is likely a possibility. They recently struck a new 3-panel Cinerama tri-print for the Seattle Cinerama Theater and it's been said to be quite a beautiful print

As long as they get rid of those horrid lines on any re-release, I'd be happy.

 

[BrentJ]

Brent, I thought about asking about a Heat SE, but I honestly want DTS if I double-dip it. That and the deleted scenes Mann offered to NBC for their version...but mainly DTS, so I decided not to bother.

No prob Nick. I too would want DTS for Heat. I know True Romance got DTS because it was produced by another company or something. I noticed that Heat was a Regency release. Would this help in maybe getting DTS someday? Not sure if I even know what I'm talking about or not.

 

[Patrick McCart]

As long as they get rid of those horrid lines on any re-release, I'd be happy.

Since the negatives seem to have retained their color correctly (the print samples look amazing), the lines shouldn't be too obvious.

They'll be there, but with a little bit of adjusting for panel overlap, color correction, etc, you'll forget they're visible.

Now, the Cinerama Inc. films (This Is Cinerama, etc) were not preserved as well. However, Smilebox seems to help blend the panels well. It at least looks 10x better than the optically fused images on the 35mm anamorphic version.

 

[Paul Drake]

I attended the chat, but was unable to get through with what would have been my questions:

Status of the Dead End Kids films (one qualifys as a Cagney)

Status of other Reagan films (Kings Row, Knute Rockne, Voice of the Turtle, etc.). Storm Warning is a great film, but there are others more well known.

However, I was very pleased at the announcements. I for one don't mind the spacing out of releases; it gives my wallet a chance to recover in between.

Thanks to HTF and Warners for hosting this event.

 

[Doug Bull]

Pat,
You and I and several others here no doubt think that the smilebox is one way to go with HTWWW, but as much as I hate to admit it, I doubt very much it would work on an unsuspecting public.
And how would the resolution work? Anamorphic?

Warners have told us how important quality is to them when referring to the 3D issue, so I really can't see Smilebox being a consideration.

Hopefully there will be some optical or Digital way of correcting the distorted horizon effects.

 

[MatthewA]

I wanted to ask about ALF season sets. Hopefully, it's one of the ones they were talking about in reference to Dave Lambert's question, or one of the "sitcoms under consideration."

I was going to ask if that company in Canada was going to do any more ALF releases. Warners hold the US syndication rights, but may not hold the video rights, which seems to be the case with "The Wonder Years."

 

[Nicholas Vargo]

My sentiments exactly about "Brewster McCloud."

It is an obscure film, but the movie seems to be dissed no matter who releases it. About a year ago, TCM showed the film with an inroduction and closing by Robert Osbourne and he mentioned in his closing that when the film was green-lighted, MGM was under a different regime (This was before Kirk Kerkorian took over the company). When the film was finally finished, Kerkorian had taken over MGM and he supposedly did not like the film, so the studio released the film in December 1970 in only a few markets, thus making it a box-office bomb. This is the main reason why it is such an obscure film because MGM didn't treat it right.

Also, the deal about sales figuires is absolute rubbish. MGM/UA has released all previous incarnations of the film. Warner has not released the film themselves on any format. What are they trying to pull? Anyway, if they pay any attention to the pic in a couple of years, they should keep in mind that "Brewster McCloud" is Altman's favorite of all of his films. This way, Altman may want to do a commentary for the pic, since he still does remember it. I hope Warner changes their decision because if they don't, it should be the only title that Warner acquired from MGM that hould go back to MGM. Then again, they might just treat it the same way. Just my opinion.

Anyway, I'm happy about all the titles that are coming out. "A Christmas Story" Special Edition, 16x9 edtions of the Vacation movies(Note to self: Must sell off full-frame "Christmas Vacation"), and the rest of the "Police Academy" movies coming as well. Plus, all of the titles like "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "The Great Dictator", "Little Giants", and "Curly Sue" that are coming out soon to make my life even better.

Thank you Warner Bros. for those titles, but for God's sake, change your mind about "Brewster McCloud."

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Which Sweeney Todd are we talking about? The 1982 tv version with Angela Lansbury?

 

[Seth Paxton]

Great to hear the stuff about the silent film work coming.

Happy about the Soylent Green and Haunting news, and THX-1138 even though its so far out.

16x9 enhancement re-releases is nice to hear.

It's great to know that WB understands the desire people have for the Blade Runner SE.

Sierra Madre, Robin Hood, MARX BROS...all terrific news.

 

[Greg O' Connel]

The fact that The Magnificent Ambersons is being worked on for release and the Casablanca 60th Anniversary Edition were the only high-points of the chat for me. That said, it was the most enjoyable chat with a major studio that I've read. The Warner reps responded like they were real people, not PR robots like in most studio chats.

mark_basile: Thanks for coming and forgive me if this has already been asked.
How does Warner determine which titles get DTS or not?

Warner: It's easy. None do.

That made me laugh out loud. I want DTS as much as the next guy, but I appreciated the Warner rep's refreshingly blunt response. The "it's not going to be released because it won't be profitable" responses were also much better than the standard "we'll look into it" responses, which of course mean the same thing.

 

[Derek_McL]

A very interesting chat. I'm overjoyed to hear about the release of The Adventures of Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (at last !) in September. I'm a bit sceptical about many of the rest of the "announcements" until we have something a bit more concrete to go on like probable release dates (a bit more specific than next year sometime) and specific titles. Warners certainly seem to be becoming a little more adventurous in dipping into their massive catalog of classic titles but there seems to be few plans to release any more this year apart from those already announced. The Marx Brothers, Hitchcocks, Meet Me In St Louis, more Flynn, Cagney and Bogart all seem to be earmarked for next year which I find slightly disappointing. I'm not sure about the silent films because no time frame has been set for them. On the bright side I suppose you could say that at least Warners know they have the rights to so many great films and evidently want to release them eventually but based on past form I doubt all the titles promised will be released next year.
The RKO films continue to be restored, apparently they are in the same mess they were a couple of years ago : I was hoping for some Fred and Ginger this year and a pity nobody mentioned Bringing Up Baby.
I also bemoan the lack of interest in the Busby Berkeley and the classic MGM musicals. What about those classic MGM films from the Thirties when it was the biggest studio in Hollywood featuring stars like Gable, Crawford, Harlow, Tracy and Harlow ?
Don't get me wrong its great Warners have such great plans for releasing so many great films I just wish they were moving just a bit faster. The titles I mentioned are hardly obscure but it seems they are becoming obscure. If they never make it to DVD it will be a shame.

Classic Films on DVD

 

[John Gilmore]

Which Sweeney Todd are we talking about? The 1982 tv version with Angela Lansbury?

Yes.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i was just going over the Lowry chat transcript and this response caught my attention



just wondering if anybody with expertise could chime in-
is there a chance he could be talking about Aventures Of Robin Hood here?
do you think Warners had YMC seperations for it
or would this probably be something else?

YMC is yellow, magenta, cyan right? this would be 30's,40's,50's technicolor?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Some great questions asked and some even better answers kindly given by the Warner reps, but where were the questions regarding the huge catalogue of ever popular MGM and Warner classic Musicals.

Also, will we ever see Anamorphic remasters of "Brigadoon""How the West was Won" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" plus a decent quality Stereo release of the 1950 "Show Boat"

Good point. All of these early musicals (4x3 lbx) need to be addresses and Show-Boat (4x3) could use some nice restoration.

Brigadoon is a shockinly bad DVD..compression artifacting, EE, mosquito noise...all the MPEG uglies along with aliasing and lack of res in 4x3 lbx form. It would make a nice 2-disc set with both the 1.33:1 and the widescreen version properly presented!

-dave

 

[EricMa]

I am now kicking myself, as I missed the chat and did not get to ask about:

The Picture Of Dorian Gray
Gaslight

I have been patiently waiting for these two great MGM films.

I also support the need for 1.66 anamorphic. There are a few titles I will not buy until this policy is changed.

Great chat. Thanks Warner. And thanks to those who asked some great questions.

Edit:
What about Quick Change? I have not heard anyone mention this title in some time.