Warner Archive Discussion Thread (FEEDBACK) (1 Viewer)

[Mark_D_Fischer]

It was one of my most wanted too Jacqui!

So it looks like the manufacturing process is indeed identical to the RKO Box - I did have a defective disk in that box, so I hope quality control has improved in the few months since then.

Assuming thats the case, I hope the price can come down and we can get some incentives to really dig into this program. I've ordered the following in an initial gesture of support, but as many have said here, I won't be able to keep up this kind of momentum without a price break from WB's end:

The Beast Of The City

On Borrowed Time

Possessed (1933)

Dance Fools Dance

The Big Circus

Rasputin and The Empress

Money Trap

Big House

Private Lives

 

[Jacqui]

It was one of my most wanted too Jacqui!
Assuming thats the case, I hope the price can come down and we can get some incentives to really dig into this program. I've ordered the following in an initial gesture of support, but as many have said here, I won't be able to keep up this kind of momentum without a price break from WB's end:
The Beast Of The City
On Borrowed Time
Possessed (1933)
Dance Fools Dance
The Big Circus
Rasputin and The Empress
Money Trap
Big House
Private Lives

I want most of those on your list, so hopefully one day, Warners might do a three for two type of promotion to make things a bit easier on the back pocket.

 

[John Hodson]

Here's the post:
WB Archives - Classic Horror on DVD - Classic Horror in Other Media - Classic Horror Film Board - Message Board - Yuku

That's...a little shocking. More than a little actually.

 

[Jacqui]

That's...a little shocking. More than a little actually.

Hmm, must admit, I was a little perplexed. Waiting on the reviews with baited breath....

 

[Simon Howson]

That's...a little shocking. More than a little actually.

Maybe Warner should have two price points, one for old film to analog video transfers, and a higher price for film to digital video transfers.
For example, Bohwani Junction was a candidate I think twice for the "DVD Decision" voting contests in 2005 and 2006. So it is quite likely that that was a new film to digital transfer prepared in case it was a winning candidate.
But by the sounds of it, the On Borrowed Time transfer is very old, most likely made for TV more than a decade ago.
Customers should know the source that the DVD was made from before buying. One way to do this would be for Warner to say on each film's page if it was a digital or analog master.

 

[flagbrothers]

Please Warner release CinemaScope classic film noirs ie..."Hell on Frisco Bay",

"I Died A Thousand Times", "House of Numbers", "Slightly Scarlet" just to name a few. Also the Sci-Fi classic "The World The Flesh and The Devil" which is one of the most requested titles on the TCM website.

 

[Simon Howson]

Please Warner release CinemaScope classic film noirs ie..."Hell on Frisco Bay",
"I Died A Thousand Times", "House of Numbers", "Slightly Scarlet" just to name a few. Also the Sci-Fi classic "The World The Flesh and The Devil" which is one of the most requested titles on the TCM website.

I asked about I Died A Thousand times, they said it will likely be on the archive. I'm hopeful it will be done this year.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Slightly Scarlet is available from VCI in widescreen format:
SLIGHTLY SCARLET

 

[Matt Hough]

I'm not surprised about ON BORROWED TIME. I burned a copy off TCM a few months ago, and the print was in very bad shape, but I suspect without lots of money invested in it, it's not going to look any better. I'm glad that wasn't one of the five I chose for my first order.

 

[Simon Howson]

I'm not surprised about ON BORROWED TIME. I burned a copy off TCM a few months ago, and the print was in very bad shape, but I suspect without lots of money invested in it, it's not going to look any better. I'm glad that wasn't one of the five I chose for my first order.

Maybe we should make a thread where people can rate the image quality of different releases out of 10?

 

[Matt Hough]

Maybe we should make a thread where people can rate the image quality of different releases out of 10?

I think that's a good idea. My titles shipped Monday afternoon, so perhaps if they come today, I'll be able to talk about one of them later tonight.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Except that is not what this is. We were told in the chat that this process is not at all the same as burning the dvd ourselves at home, and yields a much higher quality. From the chat: "The discs are of the highest quality. They are manufactured via propriatary MOD process which is very different from home-used DVDRs on one's computer....we guarantee the quality of these discs and will stand by them." Not to mention the lack of a cable channel bug in the corner. It's hardly comparable to buying a home burned disc off ebay of a rare film. (And frankly, when people do that, they usually spend more than $20 for it!)

The specific process is irrelevant, the point is that the studio's reasoning for offering these films through this venue is because the cost of producing them for a commercial and retail market would not be a viable option. In other words: selling mass produced DVD's of vintage and often obscure titles at commercial retailers on consignment is simply not profitable to Warner Home Video. Therefore, in order to recoup the costs of maintaining and preserving these films and their holdings for future generations, and in order to profit for their licensed catalog, the studio has opted to go through this "alternate" method of selling to a much more specific and direct consumer base. Fair enough. But the MOST OBVIOUS and telling factor in this program MUST be that the costs are SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than they would otherwise be through their standard factory pressed commercial route or else they would not be incorporating any of this! So regardless of how the discs are being mastered or which company or third party is doing the work... it is obviously costing Warner Home Video MUCH LESS to manufacture and produce these discs. Yet they are charging MUCH MORE in exchange, which is my main beef! Point blank... NO DVD-R from ANY company should ever cost as much as, or in excess of, a factory pressed retail disc. Ever.

 

[Jefty]

So to jump back to your initial question... YES, they should guarantee that any high-priced purchase from their "Archive Collection" remain exclusive to this collection!

oh but there's another (better, and, sadly, just as unlikely) way around this--and that's for people not to buy this stuff at all... and either record the movies off of TCM--or ask a friend with access to the channel to do it for them (that's what I do)
I'm at least as rabid an aficionado of studio age films as anyone on this forum ("blind buy" is not a question for me, at least re: the stuff from the 1930s and 1940s--I've either seen ALL of these, or want to see them, simply because I want to have comprehensive knowledge of the Warner, RKO, MGM catalogs) and I am absolutely not supporting this initiative from Warner...
make a Four Daughters and sequels Boxed set
make a "literary adaptations" set that includes Three Comrades (or a Margaret Sullavan set)
do anything you want, with pressed disks and shorts/trailers/commentary tracks, and I'll be first in line (as I currently am for about 10 releases from the same era) with my pre-order on Amazon.ca for ALL of them...
but I say take this archive and shelve it...

 

[Jim Peavy]

) a dual layer disc? I'd hope so for a 110 minute film.

Single layer (4.11 GBs).

 

[David_B_K]

They could've put the film samples (many of which are currently the wrong ratio or associated with the wrong film) on YouTube. That way it would work as free advertising as well.

Several films in the Archive interest me, chief among them Walter Scott's Quentin Durward with Robert Taylor. However, the clip associated with it is from some war movie, and the description says "standard edition". I don't know if that means P & S or that is has no bonus features (which none of the Archive selections have). TCM has shown a beautiful widescreen print of Quentin Durward, so I am hoping the Archive version was the master for that print.

I am also hoping widescreen movies are anamorphic. The fact that some of the clips are squeezed leads me to believe they will be. I, too will wait until some of the guinea pigs have received their discs before pulling the trigger on my own order.

 

[Jefty]

I should add that I'm objecting as strenuously as I am because I don't want to see the other studios follow suit in this folly

(although, sadly, I must admit that I'd be a lot more tempted by Universal, Columbia and Fox offerings of this sort, because a lot of those films, which also include the Paramount catalog from the crucial--for me--period, aren't available 24-7 on cable television...)

 

[Simon Howson]

I should add that I'm objecting as strenuously as I am because I don't want to see the other studios follow suit in this folly

That just means a lot of great films will never be available to be seen because, sadly, most people aren't interested with most of the films made throughout film history.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Crawdaddy

 

[David_B_K]

Posted by Jefty:

I should add that I'm objecting as strenuously as I am because I don't want to see the other studios follow suit in this folly

Why? I am totally psyched about this. This could really shorten our "Films Missing on DVD" lists. I'd love to se Fox get into this, as they have tons of classics not yet released. My only reservation is the price. I do hope they come down a bit.

Thanks, Crawdaddy and Simon on the clarification on the OAR/anamorphic thing. though I certainly hope it is not "fake" anamorphic, achieved by cropping the black bars. I did a fake remaster of the Star Wars OOT onto dual layer discs so I could watch the films with the subtitles in the right place (my TV/DVD player does not do zoom well), but it is certainly not the quality of a real anamorphic transfer.

 

[Jefty]

I am psyched about films being available too David--but the thing is, they're ALREADY available as DV-recordings... (although many Fox, Universal, Paramount, Columbia films from the 1930s and 1940s are not... that's why I'd be tempted to buy them, despite my objection to this entire line of thinking)
I will pay the studios to take a chance on mass-producing real DVDs, but I'm not subsidizing this print-on-demand cash grab...