Warner Archive Announcements Thread (17 Viewers)

[Varietyguy]

Last year I posted a list of 25 titles I suspected might show up in 2017 in the Archives releases. Only one was actually released, which surprised me, although I was happy with many of their titles.

This year, I am listing my favorite non-Blu-ray releases from Warner Bros, MGM and Allied Artists that might actually be under consideration or which I seriously want to see released, with the hope that at least 10% of them will be reach us. We'll see...I could again be way-y off.

If you hate lists, ignore this post, go about your business and enjoy your day.


WARNER BROS. TITLES
Angels With Dirty Faces
Awakening, The (1980)
Baby Doll
Black Scorpion, The
Bronco Billy
Captain Blood
Carny
Countdown (Robert Altman, 1968)
Crimson Pirate, The
Damn Yankees
Dead End
Devils, The
Femme Fatale
Fox, The
Going In Style (1979)
Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, The
I Love You Alice B. Toklas
Julius Caeser
King's Row
Land Of the Pharaohs
Last Of Sheila, The
Late Show, The
Letter, The
Life Of Emile Zola, The
Local Hero
Looker
Midsummer Night's Dream
Mister Roberts
Night Shift
Objective Burma
Oh God
O Lucky Man
Pajama Game, The
Petulia
Prince Of the City
Quick Change
Rachel Rachel
Sea Hawk, The
Straight Time
Sundowners, The
They Drive By Night
White Hunter, Black Heart

MGM
Adam's Rib
Alamo, The (United Artists, but now property of MGM)
Cameraman, The
Canterville Ghost, The
Captain Sinbad
Children of the Damned
Dark Of the Sun
Day At the Races, A
Edge Of the City
Freaks
Great Ziegfeld, The
Green Mansions
Harvey Girls, The
Ivanhoe
King Solomon's Mines (1952)
Les Girls
Libeled Lady
Lili
Mark Of the Vampire
Moulin Rouge (1952)
My Favorite Year
Naked Spur, The
National Velvet
Never So Few
Night Of the Iguana
Patch Of Blue, A
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Queen Christina
Red Badge Of Courage, The
Scaramouche
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
7 Faces Of Dr. Leo, The
Shoot the Moon
Show Boat (multiple versions)
Thin Man, The
Three Musketeers, The (1948)
tom thumb
Village Of the Damned
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Wild Rovers, The
Young Cassidy

ALLIED ARTISTS
Big Circus, The
Billy Budd
Friendly Persuasion
Giant Behemoth, The
Macabre
Not Of This Earth (may not belong to WB)
Queen Of Outer Space

How about "The Jolson Story" (Col, 1946) eventually winding up as a Blu-Ray release???

 

[Varietyguy]

How about "The Jolson Story" (Col, 1946) eventually winding up as a Blu-Ray release???

 

[Nick*Z]

And what about only 1 Esther Williams movie, or one Mario Lanza movie?!?

Bathing Beauty and That Midnight Kiss, pretty please!
...followed by Easy to Love and The Toast of New Orleans
...and then, Dangerous When Wet and The Student Prince (I know, no Lanza, but his voice is there in spades).

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

How about "The Jolson Story" (Col, 1946) eventually winding up as a Blu-Ray release???

That would be from Sony/Columbia, not Warner.

 

[TheSteig]

99.9% sure those were meant to be joke posts just based on the 2 items chosed. They even had mockups of the covers with the WAC banner. As far as I can tell there has never been a WAC bannered title from 2000+ and very few with 1990 release dates. There are several TV, 3D, and others from 2000 on but none have the Banner at the top and probably should be considered in a different category than the Archive Collection.

You know what- I think you are 100% correct with this post. The problem is they do/did look convincing and every month they always post leaks of upcoming titles and that was my original thought, but I do believe the posts that I saw were 100% BS by people with nothing better to do than whine and cry over no WAC releases.
I will patiently wait for them to release anything of interest on Blu-ray.

 

[Beckford]

Some Personal Favorites I think Have a Good Shot at Blu-ray release:
Helen of Troy(1956)
Land of the Pharaohs(1955)
Gold-diggers of 1935(1935)
Marie Antoinette(1938) Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power
Dangerous When Wet(1953)
Beyond the Forest(1949 )Bette Davis

Would also imagine that Blu-rays are highly possible for
Humoresque(1946) Joan Crawford, John Garfield
Captain Blood(1935)
A Midsummer Night's Dream(1935) James Cagney, Dick Powell
Back from Eternity(1956) Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger

Much less likely - but I can dream
some MacDonald/Eddy titles
(Rose Marie, The Girl of the Golden West, Sweethearts, I Married an Angel)
a couple of Jeanette sans Nelson titles (The Firefly, Three Daring Daughters)
my favorite Hedy Lamarrs (I Take This Woman, Lady of the Tropics)
Storm Warning(1951)
strong anti-KKK drama: Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan are fine in the leads
but the standouts are Steve Cochran and Doris Day in terrific support
Juarez(1939) historical epic with great performances from Brian Aherne and Bette Davis

from the Monogram/Allied Artists catalogue
Suspense(1946) their best noir
Massacre River(1949) and Dragoon Wells Massacre(1957) their best westerns

other items
Sugarfoot(1951)
hard to find Randolph Scott/Raymond Massey western; rare female lead for Adele Jergens
Mystery in Mexico(1948) nicely scripted noirish proceedings south of the border (director Robert Wise)
Hotel Berlin(1945) topnotch melodrama set in a German luxury hotel during the last days of WW2
Of Human Bondage(1946) with Eleanor Parker's sensational performance as Mildred

any number of lower profile MGM musicals
The Kissing Bandit(1948) Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson
Two Weeks with Love(1950) Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds
Everything I Have is Yours(1952) Marge & Gower Champion
The Belle of New York(1952) Fred Astaire perfectly teamed with Vera-Ellen
The Merry Widow(1952) Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas
(I prefer it to the earlier and more celebrated versions from von Stroheim and Lubitsch))
Give a Girl a Break(1953) Marge & Gower Champion, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse
Jupiter's Darling(1955)
widescreen Esther Williams musical set in Ancient Rome - with Howard Keel
(Million Dollar Mermaid meets Quo Vadis)

 

[Capt D McMars]

You're all wrong. It'll be THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS.

 

[jayembee]

You know what- I think you are 100% correct with this post. The problem is they do/did look convincing and every month they always post leaks of upcoming titles and that was my original thought, but I do believe the posts that I saw were 100% BS by people with nothing better to do than whine and cry over no WAC releases.
I will patiently wait for them to release anything of interest on Blu-ray.

It doesn't take much to make up a convincing fake. Over in The Other Forum, someone would occasionally mock up fake Criterion covers for things like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken while everyone else was complaining about Criterion announcements being late.

 

[cadavra]

It doesn't take much to make up a convincing fake. Over in The Other Forum, someone would occasionally mock up fake Criterion covers for things like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken while everyone else was complaining about Criterion announcements being late.

Absolutely. I post this on my FB page every April Fool's Day and every year some folks think it's on the level.

 

[RobertMG]

Absolutely. I post this on my FB page every April Fool's Day and ever year some folks think it's on the level.

View attachment 143762

wish this would turn up up somewhere

 

[RICK BOND]

Some Personal Favorites I think Have a Good Shot at Blu-ray release:
Helen of Troy(1956)
Land of the Pharaohs(1955)
Gold-diggers of 1935(1935)
Marie Antoinette(1938) Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power
Dangerous When Wet(1953)
Beyond the Forest(1949 )Bette Davis

Would also imagine that Blu-rays are highly possible for
Humoresque(1946) Joan Crawford, John Garfield
Captain Blood(1935)
A Midsummer Night's Dream(1935) James Cagney, Dick Powell
Back from Eternity(1956) Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger

Much less likely - but I can dream
some MacDonald/Eddy titles
(Rose Marie, The Girl of the Golden West, Sweethearts, I Married an Angel)
a couple of Jeanette sans Nelson titles (The Firefly, Three Daring Daughters)
my favorite Hedy Lamarrs (I Take This Woman, Lady of the Tropics)
Storm Warning(1951)
strong anti-KKK drama: Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan are fine in the leads
but the standouts are Steve Cochran and Doris Day in terrific support
Juarez(1939) historical epic with great performances from Brian Aherne and Bette Davis

from the Monogram/Allied Artists catalogue
Suspense(1946) their best noir
Massacre River(1949) and Dragoon Wells Massacre(1957) their best westerns

other items
Sugarfoot(1951)
hard to find Randolph Scott/Raymond Massey western; rare female lead for Adele Jergens
Mystery in Mexico(1948) nicely scripted noirish proceedings south of the border (director Robert Wise)
Hotel Berlin(1945) topnotch melodrama set in a German luxury hotel during the last days of WW2
Of Human Bondage(1946) with Eleanor Parker's sensational performance as Mildred

any number of lower profile MGM musicals
The Kissing Bandit(1948) Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson
Two Weeks with Love(1950) Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds
Everything I Have is Yours(1952) Marge & Gower Champion
The Belle of New York(1952) Fred Astaire perfectly teamed with Vera-Ellen
The Merry Widow(1952) Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas
(I prefer it to the earlier and more celebrated versions from von Stroheim and Lubitsch))
Give a Girl a Break(1953) Marge & Gower Champion, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse
Jupiter's Darling(1955)
widescreen Esther Williams musical set in Ancient Rome - with Howard Keel
(Million Dollar Mermaid meets Quo Vadis)

Captain Blood, Helen of Troy, and Land of the Pharaohs have been High on my Wish list for a Long time.

 

[Dick]

I'm thinking that CAPTAIN BLOOD must certainly be in the pipeline, seeing as how many requests there have been for it (source quality pending, of course). I also think one of my major requests, SINBAD THE SAILOR, has a fair shot because it is one of the 3-strip Technicolor productions of the 40's. TOP HAT and other Astaire/Rogers titles seems likely. HIGH SOCIETY is another oft-requested title. My hope (and, indeed, my belief) is that 2023 is going to be an amazing year.

As for the rest of this year, with September coming up all too quickly, we might, alongside the 1932 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, get one or more of the other Halloween contenders, including MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, FREAKS and BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS, and the two remaining Val Lewton films, unless someone else has licensed them. Regards to the latter, it is unlikely Shout! / Scream wanted those, because they went and cancelled ISLE OF THE DEAD a couple of years ago. They wll probably emerge from either WAC or Criterion.

 

[Paul Penna]

I vote for Lady Be Good to make it on Blu because A) it's a great film, and B) it's become one of those Warner DVDs that's gone bad (see the sticky thread in the DVD forum here). I've had it since 2009 and it played perfectly in December 2021.

 

[Nick*Z]

I vote for Lady Be Good to make it on Blu because A) it's a great film, and B) it's become one of those Warner DVDs that's gone bad (see the sticky thread in the DVD forum here). I've had it since 2009 and it played perfectly in December 2021.

Of all the Eleanor Powell movies I would wish for, Lady Be Good wouldn't be tops on my list. Rosalie first, then, Born to Dance, and then, Lady Be Good. Maybe WAC could do a trifecta the way they did with Garland last month.

 

[TheSteig]

It doesn't take much to make up a convincing fake. Over in The Other Forum, someone would occasionally mock up fake Criterion covers for things like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken while everyone else was complaining about Criterion announcements being late.

It might not take much but to me people making fake covers of their wish-lists is for those with nothing better to do, IMHO.

 

[RobertMG]

Of all the Eleanor Powell movies I would wish for, Lady Be Good wouldn't be tops on my list. Rosalie first, then, Born to Dance, and then, Lady Be Good. Maybe WAC could do a trifecta the way they did with Garland last month.

the one that really needs a redo is the Grant film Night And Day looks horrible

 

[Alan Tully]

I'm having a big DVD clear-out (piles of DVDs everywhere), I'll fill the car up tomorrow & donate them to charity shops. I'm picking up Warner DVDs & thinking, can I get shot of it? Will it be released on Blu-ray? I'm playing safe with a few titles & keeping them (sods law, if I get rid of them, they'll never be released on Blu-ray)...& the same with other studios, like Paramount. I'm keeping Catch-22 & Paint Your Wagon & Li'l Abner (& a few others) just in case they never appear on Blu-ray.

 

[mskaye]

I'm thinking that CAPTAIN BLOOD must certainly be in the pipeline, seeing as how many requests there have been for it (source quality pending, of course). I also think one of my major requests, SINBAD THE SAILOR, has a fair shot because it is one of the 3-strip Technicolor productions of the 40's. TOP HAT and other Astaire/Rogers titles seems likely. HIGH SOCIETY is another oft-requested title. My hope (and, indeed, my belief) is that 2023 is going to be an amazing year.

As for the rest of this year, with September coming up all too quickly, we might, alongside the 1932 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, get one or more of the other Halloween contenders, including MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, FREAKS and BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS, and the two remaining Val Lewton films, unless someone else has licensed them. Regards to the latter, it is unlikely Shout! / Scream wanted those, because they went and cancelled ISLE OF THE DEAD a couple of years ago. They wll probably emerge from either WAC or Criterion.

I would love to see FREAKS on Criterion! It needs some great extras. That is some bizarre, singular stuff. One of the craziest, unique films ever made. The fact that it was ever made and at MGM no less is a miracle - I've made the pointed the following out before but it applies perfectly to FREAKS. It's a quote by the great Douglas Sirk: “This is the dialectic - there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.” Apologies for the minor detour.

 

[David Weicker]

I'm having a big DVD clear-out (piles of DVDs everywhere), I'll fill the car up tomorrow & donate them to charity shops. I'm picking up Warner DVDs & thinking, can I get shot of it? Will it be released on Blu-ray? I'm playing safe with a few titles & keeping them (sods law, if I get rid of them, they'll never be released on Blu-ray)...& the same with other studios, like Paramount. I'm keeping Catch-22 & Paint Your Wagon & Li'l Abner (& a few others) just in case they never appear on Blu-ray.

Why would you get rid of (or even consider getting rid of) something that hasn't been announced for an upgrade?

I assume you bought it because you wanted to watch it. What harm is there to keeping it until it is replaced.

And if you don't care about watching it again, does it matter if it might not be released on Blu?

 

[Alan Tully]

Well if you're going to get logical about it! I have a lot of DVDs in my little house & really need to have a clear-out, & there's a lot of films on DVD that I probably won't watch again, films that I would buy a good looking Blu-ray of, insane, but there it is (& I have kept a large number of DVDs).