Warner Archive Announcements Thread (3 Viewers)

[Nick*Z]

One of the great mysteries for me is the Jeanette MacDonald/Maurice Chevalier classic, The Merry Widow. It was theatrically re-issued in a stunning and handsome transfer as part of TCM's Summer Series back in 2018 along with Wife Vs. Secretary and a slew of other titles.

The image quality was remarkable. When WAC released Wife Vs. Secretary to Blu last year, I thought for certain The Merry Widow would not be far delayed. It has yet to arrive on Blu. Curious. Very curious indeed.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Just to clarify, Words and Music is NOT up for pre-order yet. Three Little Words is, and can be ordered on Amazon. None of the other August catalog is available for pre-order as yet.

Not sure about the other August titles, but Words and Music is available for pre-order on Amazon.

 

[Nick*Z]

That link must have just gone live. It wasn't there last night when I looked it up.

 

[Nick*Z]

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear, but that's not what my point was.

A lot of titles that come out of the Warner Archive do feel random. Maybe some of them are released because Warner MPI made a new scan of deteriorating film elements; maybe for some it's an experiment to see if they should put out some more movies like it; maybe George just personally likes the movie, etc. I'm just saying that there aren't enough A&C movies they own to have necessarily "won the lottery" by now and get one released on Blu.

There are, of course, also plenty of movies they release that are big deals that are, of course, a priority to release at some point. But I think it'd be a hard argument to say that any of their A&C movies should very obviously be on Warner Archive's A List. Other then it would make A&C fans happy. But of course there's many subsets of movie fans to please. Noir fans, Bette Davis fans, animation fans, MacDonald and Eddy fans (also nothing from Warner Archive), people who only like movies made after 1980, people who only like movies made before 1960, etc, etc, etc.

WAC is trying to appeal to a broad base. So, its monthly outputs span a diversity of genres and decades. It may appear random, but it's not. The biggest hurdle for WAC, especially with the embarrassment of riches it houses under its archive, is how to best distribute everything everybody wants to satisfy 'all' tastes. You know what they say, "satisfy many, satisfy none."

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just to clarify, Words and Music is NOT up for pre-order yet. Three Little Words is, and can be ordered on Amazon. None of the other August catalog is available for pre-order as yet.

That’s incorrect, Words and Music is up for preorder on Amazon in the States.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That link must have just gone live. It wasn't there last night when I looked it up.

It was live yesterday evening.

 

[Robert13]

That would be great. I’d also like to finally see a release of the 39-episode TV series.

Me too! I had asked years ago about this when Warner Archive were responding to inquiries on their FB page. They responded that it was a definite possibility but then nothing ever came of it.

In a perfect world, we'd already have Private Benjamin, its follow-up, Protocol, and, Demme's cut of Swing Shift on hi-def home video.

Would love Swing Shift as well!

 

[Robert Crawford]

My congratulations to Warner Archive for such a great looking and sounding Blu-ray release. Very impressive!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Private Benjamin was one of the very first DVD's Warner Home Video put out. Of that spate, NONE were in their original aspect ratio. The others included full frame only transfers of Chariots of Fire and Driving Miss Daisy. While these latter were eventually remastered in their proper aspect ratio, neither has a particularly solid 1080p transfer.

So, Warner Home Video has much work ahead of them if they wish to give us a Goldie Hawn classic, and two Oscar winners in exemplary quality. Just saying.

It's not WAC quality, but Private Benjamin has already been available in respectable (enough) 1080p quality via digital (like Apple/iTunes and Vudu/FaH) for a long time now. Definitely waaay better than the old DVD, especially considering the AR issue, but also PQ-wise IMO (though it could probably use at least a simple, little improvement tweak methinks)...

No idea why WHV didn't just release that existing master on BD a long time ago -- they've done similarly for some others in the past.

_Man_

 

[Robert13]

It's not WAC quality, but Private Benjamin has already been available in respectable (enough) 1080p quality via digital (like Apple/iTunes and Vudu/FaH) for a long time now. Definitely waaay better than the old DVD, especially considering the AR issue, but also PQ-wise IMO (though it could probably use at least a simple, little improvement tweak methinks)...

No idea why WHV didn't just release that existing master on BD a long time ago -- they've done similarly for some others in the past.

_Man_

I didn't know that. I don't use any of those high-tech things like Apple or iTunes. I stick to physical media. I would love for them to even just issue Private Benjamin in that current restoration as long as the aspect ratio is correct and it looks better than the dvd.

 

[Joel Arndt]

View attachment 229042

My congratulations to Warner Archive for such a great looking and sounding Blu-ray release. Very impressive!

Totally agree! I popped it in for a spot check last night and was blown away. Kudos to the Archive once again.

 

[Worth]

I didn't know that. I don't use any of those high-tech things like Apple or iTunes. I stick to physical media. I would love for them to even just issue Private Benjamin in that current restoration as long as the aspect ratio is correct and it looks better than the dvd.

There are an increasing number of titles in HD on digital that are only on DVD or aren't on disc, at all.

 

[roxy1927]

One of the great mysteries for me is the Jeanette MacDonald/Maurice Chevalier classic, The Merry Widow. It was theatrically re-issued in a stunning and handsome transfer as part of TCM's Summer Series back in 2018 along with Wife Vs. Secretary and a slew of other titles.

The Merry Widow is the kind of American film I was referring to when I claimed films have not been as good since the fall of the studio system. An incomparable staggering achievement. I can only marvel at the genius of Lehar and Lubitsch with the go for broke artistry of the craftmanship of the studio system. Of course this kind of quality exists in all genres way back when. From the epic expanse of Ingram's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to the existential horror of The Sin of Nora Moran(does Majestic Pictures count? Well the poster is one of the very best.) to the MGM deluxe roadshow 2001(often harkening back to silent movies with a symphony orchestra in the downtown movie palace orchestra pit if they had Bohm and Karajan on staff. Let's thrown in some Ligeti after all it is 1968.) Yes my opinion. And it is interesting that old time movie mogul Jack Warner(after all this thread carries his family name) introduced the beginning of the popular American New Wave with Bonnie and Clyde and Virginia Woolf.

 

[FrankXS]

Well Scarface(1932) was just announced as a Criterion release for November, Will be a day one purchase for me.

 

[mskaye]

Well Scarface(1932) was just announced as a Criterion release for November, Will be a day one purchase for me.

Watched Scarface (1932) a few months back and its greatness is undimmed. Moves like a rocketship and its full of stylish and iconic performances and scenes. So looking forward to this edition! Hmmm. Wouldn't it be great if Criterion could package Little Caesar and The Public Enemy on a one or two disc set? Total running time for both is: 163 mins.

 

[Alan Tully]

There are an increasing number of titles in HD on digital that are only on DVD or aren't on disc, at all.

Yup, that's the way it's going (or gone). A few years ago, a new HD transfer was a precursor to a disc release, not so now, also a big successful TV show was bound to get a disc release, that's a thing of the past as well.

 

[Worth]

Yup, that's the way it's going (or gone). A few years ago, a new HD transfer was a precursor to a disc release, not so now, also a big successful TV show was bound to get a disc release, that's a thing of the past as well.

There are even some new films that haven't received any disc releases.

 

[mskaye]

Yup, that's the way it's going (or gone). A few years ago, a new HD transfer was a precursor to a disc release, not so now, also a big successful TV show was bound to get a disc release, that's a thing of the past as well.

Equate it to what is going on with LP/vinyl releases. 1- a lot of iconic catalog titles on a nice deluxe pressings than something less popular. Examples: recent Black Sabbath, Simon and Garfunkel, Deep Purple, Steely Dan, Beatles, Miles Davis, Devo, Joni Mitchell, even beloved classical by the likes of Deutsche Grammophon to name just a few. 2- very popular artists sometimes want their new music on deluxe vinyl like Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, etc.

There are even some new films that haven't received any disc releases.

Apart from mega or cult successes with lots of repeat viewing potential, that will be the norm going forward. Oppenheimer yes. The Lighthouse yes. Marvel/DC stuff probably. I would say even the Disney kids market will be way more streaming forward than physical media forward. Kids watch on devices. People are not buying disc players anymore. If you have a phone or laptop you are streaming.

 

[Worth]

People are not buying disc players anymore. If you have a phone or laptop you are streaming.

I know a number of people in the film and television industry that don't even have disc players.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, friends and acquaintances often indicate they don't do disc players anymore and wonder if I do, heh -- of course, they don't realize remotely how many discs I own, if they're wondering/asking such... I still have a (extremely) few who prefer discs, but the numbers have definitely dwindled a whole lot over the last couple decades...

I just offered to give the rest of my small number of remaining DVDs (and maybe a handful BDs I don't feel like keeping) to my church's youth group's end-of-summer "bizarre" sale. Let's see if they can manage to sell any of them (maybe for a buck each), heh -- most of them are fairly well known classics or popular enough titles from the 90's and turn-of-millennium... plus a couple operas, including the 1984 film version of Bizet's Carmen (which I also have on BD)...

_Man_