Press Release Warner Archive Press Release: A Star is Born (1937) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Mark B]

never mind

 

[Will Krupp]

I'm curious about how that happened to be. I know that this film has been in the Public Domain, but that doesn't explain why the OCN was available to Warner (and wasn't to Kino, who released it back in 2012). It's not like the film was originally distributed by them and they happened to have the OCN around (it was distributed by United Artists).

There were a few rarities that were all discovered together in a disused vault on the Warner lot.

New restoration of GIANT (1956) to premiere at the 2022 TCM Film Festival

Why would Giant prints be 1.19? I thought we were done with negative area soundtracks after 1932.

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[RobertMG]

A legal oversight, but a step away from Nothing Sacred, another Selznick 1937 production. Keep in mind that Mr. Selznick passed away in 1965, the renewal year.

Doesn't Disney own the rights to Nothing Sacred? Thought Disney did a restoration on that years ago when Scott MacQueen was there? Looking to pre-order A Star Is Born!

 

[Thomas T]

I think the cover for this release needs to be changed. It's a nice image, but given that most people associate the 1930s with black and white films, it seems in incredibly poor taste ..... It's a shame that it may be too late to fix this.

I think most film buffs are so happy to finally get this in pristine form that they'd be happy even the cover said nothing but A Star Is Born in dark lettering on a white background! It's what's inside that counts.

 

[Garysb]

"What Price, Hollywood" with Constance Bennett even in SD would have made a nice extra. Many think that is the true first version of "A Star Is Born". The male lead is a director, not an actor, and the leads are not a couple, but the bones of the story are the same. Perhaps it will be a future Archive blu ray. It also includes one of the strangest studio opening credits A rooster on top of the world for RKO-Pathe.

 

[jayembee]

I think the rooster was typical of Pathé releases. Even the current (French) Pathé logo uses a rooster image.

Pathé - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But, yes, the rooster standing on the globe is a stitch.

 

[Matt Hough]

"What Price, Hollywood" with Constance Bennett even in SD would have made a nice extra. Many think that is the true first version of "A Star Is Born". The male lead is a director, not an actor, and the leads are not a couple, but the bones of the story are the same. Perhaps it will be a future Archive blu ray. It also includes one of the strangest studio opening credits A rooster on top of the world for RKO-Pathe.

It would have been a nice extra. And that film was directed by George Cukor, too, so his 1954 film was not his first experience with this kind of story.

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

Concerning the upcoming technicolor print being color saturated or muted…Apparently Natalie Kalmus (Technicolor inventer’s widow) was in charge of authorizing the color depth to approve prints and favored a more muted color palette. She believed that too intense hues would be detrimental to audiences eyes.

 

[Will Krupp]

Natalie Kalmus (Technicolor inventer’s widow)

Just as an FYI, she wasn't his widow (Dr. Kalmus lived until 1963) she was his ex-wife.

 

[ahollis]

Just as an FYI, she wasn't his widow (Dr. Kalmus lived until 1963) she was his ex-wife.

And from what I remember he then married Cammie King Conlon mother, the actress that played Bonnie Blue Buttler in Gone With The Wind.

 

[Will Krupp]

And from what I remember he then married Cammie King Conlon mother, the actress that played Bonnie Blue Buttler in Gone With The Wind.

Yes, sir! He married Eleanore King in 1949! Interestingly enough, he had been Cammie's godfather and then became her stepfather. I bet there's a story there!

 

[Mark-P]

I think the cover for this release needs to be changed. It's a nice image, but given that most people associate the 1930s with black and white films, it seems in incredibly poor taste to advertise an early Technicolor production as though it is a black and white film. I know, for myself, I had forgotten that the film was in color when I saw the announcement, because I saw the cover and immediately assumed it was for a black and white film.

There's been some speculation that this cover has been chosen to associate the film with the latest 2018 version (or possibly even the 1976 version), but that's not evoked here, in my opinion, in part because the title text for the 2018 version was gold and not red. While both the 1976 and 2018 versions have a black and white image, the releases of Warner's own 1954 version use color imagery, in part to show off that it is a color film. However, WACs upcoming release doesn't even mention that the 1937 film is in Technicolor on the cover.

It's a shame that it may be too late to fix this.

This seems to be a common complaint, with either color movies using B&W pictures in poster art, or B&W movies using garish colorful posters. WAC chose a perfectly lovely Black & White publicity photo, and I think their decision to not artificially add color is the right one. I’d also like to point out that both the 1976 and 2018 remakes also used monochromatic imagery in the posters.

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

Thanks for the Kalmus “addendum”…!!! That’s what I love about these threads…!!!

 

[Garysb]

"What Price, Hollywood" with Constance Bennett even in SD would have made a nice extra. Many think that is the true first version of "A Star Is Born". The male lead is a director, not an actor, and the leads are not a couple, but the bones of the story are the same. Perhaps it will be a future Archive blu ray.

Makes a bit more sense that the mentor of an actress would be a director rather than another actor. You would lose the public scorn and the loss of popularity due to alcoholism for the mentor if he were a director as most people wouldn't know what the director looked liked or even who they were in the 1930's. This might be one of the reasons they made him an actor in "A Star Is Born"

 

[David Weicker]

"What Price, Hollywood" with Constance Bennett even in SD would have made a nice extra. Many think that is the true first version of "A Star Is Born". The male lead is a director, not an actor, and the leads are not a couple, but the bones of the story are the same. Perhaps it will be a future Archive blu ray. It also includes one of the strangest studio opening credits A rooster on top of the world for RKO-Pathe.

Its been a long time since I've seen What Price, Hollywood. But without them being a couple, you lose that gigantic emotional wallop of "my name is Mrs. Norman Maine"

 

[Garysb]

Its been a long time since I've seen What Price, Hollywood. But without them being a couple, you lose that gigantic emotional wallop of "my name is Mrs. Norman Maine"

Yes, but in "What Price, Hollywood" he kills himself in her home and the gossip causes her to leave Hollywood for Paris with her son. This is kind of based on the death of director Thomas Ince in 1924 and the rumors that surrounded that.

You could call "What Price, Hollywood" a first draft of "A Star Is Born".

Thomas H. Ince - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Garysb]

Back to the Technicolor question muted verus saturated. If the colors are muted as they should be based on what the film looked like in 1937 will the public be disappointed in how the film looks and will they complain the colors are faded? On a similar topic are the colors in "Gone With The Wind" more saturated now on blu ray than they were on film in 1939? Were the colors more saturated over the releases of the film in 1947, 1954, 1961, and 1967?

 

[Robert Harris]

Back to the Technicolor question muted verus saturated. If the colors are muted as they should be based on what the film looked like in 1937 will the public be disappointed in how the film looks and will they complain the colors are faded? On a similar topic are the colors in "Gone Wind The Wind" more saturated now on blu ray than they were on film in 1939? Were the colors more saturated over the releases of the film in 1947, 1954, 1961, and 1967?

Early three-strip was shot differently than later variants, so there is no way to make it appear like startlingly brilliant 40s Technicolor.

I'm certain that Warner Archive and MPI worked with what the original negatives allowed, and it will probably be more colorful than the original 1937 print, which had additional timing built in. One thing for certain, as original prints were exceedingly soft - resolution should get a nice kick.

 

[RobertMG]

Early three-strip was shot differently than later variants, so there is no way to make it appear like startlingly brilliant 40s Technicolor.

I'm certain that Warner Archive and MPI worked with what the original negatives allowed, and it will probably be more colorful than the original 1937 print, which had additional timing built in. One thing for certain, as original prints were exceedingly soft - resolution should get a nice kick.

As I said earlier PLEASE Mr. F give us a clip a restoration clip like they were doing for a while - WOW how great would that be and it would really increase pre orders!

 

[Capt D McMars]

WOW - so tired of the YUCK prints out there on this classic, DAY one pre-order! Now wish Mr F reads this and graces us with a restoration clip on this here title would increase pre-orders BIG time PLEASE PLEASE give us some eye candy!

Yeah, I saw the write up about this cool release!!!