Warner Bros Archive Wish List 2022 and Beyond!! (1 Viewer)

[Broomy]

My WBHV / Warner Archive Wishlist (in the Future [any announcement year]):

Short subjects:

Looney Tunes: Collector's Choice Vol. 4 to 6 [Just rolling the dice to see whether or not Vol. 3 is the breaking point of the series or not (without bonus material, that is). I'm simply suggesting we'd give Warners a second chance to refill their remastering budget, before the collection becomes just another home video release hiatus statistic]

Feature films:

Gunga Din (1939)
Raintree County (1957) (A costly project, if done with 65/70mm large format (General Release) and 35mm Trims of [Roadshow Version])
Ryan's Daughter (1970) [Warner Archive's prerogative]

Honorable Mentions (Extras):

Bonus WB/MGM shorts [1930-1967/69] (as usual in HD)
A Future Looney Tunes Collection (this time around re-instating/introducing missing Music-Only Tracks and Music and Effects Tracks [maybe] on the selected shorts from:

PC: Vol. 1:

Ducking the Devil (1957) (had only Partial Music (Compressed) and Studio Effects) [includes parts of Uncompressed Music-Only Track can be heard in the background on Marvin the Martian documentary on PC: Vol. 1]

Bugs Bunny 80th AE Collection:

Robot Rabbit (1953) [Found on "The Carl Stalling Project Volume 1 (Found under the track name "Various Cues from Bugs Bunny Films")
Beanstalk Bunny (1955) [Found on "The Carl Stalling Project Volume 1 (Found under the track name "Various Cues from Bugs Bunny Films")
Hare Brush (1955) [Found on parts of the Storyboard reels of "Sahara Hare" (1955) and "Porky's Party" (1938)]
This is a Life? (1955) [Found on some parts of the Music can be found on the Tex Avery documentary on PC: Vol. 2]
Napoleon Bunny-Part (1956) Some parts of the Music Master can be heard in the background on Marvin and Taz Documentaries on PC: Vol. 1)
Half-Fare Hare (1956) [Found on "The Carl Stalling Project Volume 1 (Found under the track name "Various Cues from Bugs Bunny Films" Chuck Jones documentary "A Life In Animation" and the parts of the Storyboard reel of "Sahara Hare" (1955)]
Piker's Peak (1957) [Found on "The Carl Stalling Project Volume 2, Track 4 "Bad Swiss Band" (as well as a 1995 Turner Dubbed M/E Track [EU])

Need I say more?

@Ronald Epstein Is there anyway that the person can send podcast questions to "The Extras" so they can read them to George Feltenstein? Just curious.

Gunga Din and more LT are high on my wish lists too. Looking at what’s been released from RKO so far there’s loads more I’d love to see from them. Experiment Experiment Perilous is a fun movie I’d love to see. His Kind of Woman and Hitler’s Children are also a few other lesser known RKOs I’m hoping to see my hands on.

 

[SwatDB]

Gunga Din and more LT are high on my wish lists too. Looking at what’s been released from RKO so far there’s loads more I’d love to see from them. Experiment Experiment Perilous is a fun movie I’d love to see. His Kind of Woman and Hitler’s Children are also a few other lesser known RKOs I’m hoping to see my hands on.

I too am a breath holder for RKO titles on BD or 4K (if their titles are popular enough), thanks to my own personal "rtf" Home Video Breakdown list I've made by myself.

 

[Flemming Kristensen]

I'm hoping for a 4K of MGMs Where Eagles Dare next year. An enjoyable romp of a war movie (which doesn't sound quite right, but that's what it is). I'm not that bothered about the 4K bit, but it is in need a new transfer, as the Blu-ray we have now doesn't look great.

Agree wholeheartedly. I'd love a new transfer.

 

[RichMurphy]

@Ronald Epstein Is there anyway that the person can send podcast questions to "The Extras" so they can read them to George Feltenstein? Just curious.

Why not contact them (i.e., Tim Millard) directly? ([email protected])

 

[Plaxamate]

My wish list for the coming year would include The Deliberate Stranger, Unholy Three (both versions), Hollywood Canteen (80th anniversary!), Black Belt Jones, Blossoms in the Dust, Lassie Come Home

 

[Camps]

Did I remember to mention WB's remaining Golden Age 3D titles... ?

 

[Robin9]

I'd like a new transfer of 10 on a 4K disc. When the Blu-ray disc was released, several people judged it little better than the DVD so I didn't buy it. As Warner's standards have improved so much since the early days of high definition transfers, I'd be very interested in a 4K disc and I suspect many others would be too.

 

[Into The Archives]

Since it’s MGM’s 100th next year, I would be thrilled if a few of these from my “want list” are released on Blu-ray in 2024:

• Red Dust
• Boys Town
• Marie Antoinette
• The Good Earth
• Command Decision
• Northwest Passage
• Captains Courageous
• A Guy Named Joe
• Test Pilot
• Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
• Love Crazy
• Cabin In The Sky
• Words And Music
• Royal Wedding
• Small Town Girl
• Knights Of The Round Table
• The Opposite Sex
• Mogambo
• High School Confidential
• The Tunnel Of Love
• Invitation To The Dance
• Teahouse Of The August Moon
• Blackboard Jungle
• Trial
• Ransom (1956)
• Merry Andrew
• Butterfield 8
• Flipper
• The VIP’s
• The Sandpiper
• Girl Happy
• Live A Little, Love A Little
• The Liquidator
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
• Ryan’s Daughter
• Marlowe
• The Outfit
• The Last Run
• Hero At Large
• Buddy Buddy
• Pennies From Heaven
• That’s Dancing!

...plus a few Man From U.N.C.L.E features would be fun as well!

 

[xochipilli]

Cabin in the Sky is coming in January and The Opposite Sex was released back in 2020, though the promised replacement program for the botched audio still hasn't come to fruition. Otherwise great list!

 

[Douglas R]

I wonder whether there’s any chance of having James Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks on Blu-ray. I have the three DVD sets but they would look wonderful in HD.

 

[OliverK]

I'd like a new transfer of 10 on a 4K disc. When the Blu-ray disc was released, several people judged it little better than the DVD so I didn't buy it. As Warner's standards have improved so much since the early days of high definition transfers, I'd be very interested in a 4K disc and I suspect many others would be too.

Maybe there were different Blu-ray releases of 10 as the German Blu-ray certainly cannot be mistaken for the DVD:

10 • DE Blu-ray vs. US DVD

caps-a-holic.com

10 • DE Blu-ray vs. US DVD

caps-a-holic.com

10 • DE Blu-ray vs. US DVD

caps-a-holic.com

Not saying that a 4K version wouldn't look better but this certainly is a substantial upgrade.

Sadly it looks like this disc is not readily available any more so it is about time for a US or UK (re-)release.

 

[Broomy]

I wonder whether there’s any chance of having James Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks on Blu-ray. I have the three DVD sets but they would look wonderful in HD.

Yes please! I’d definitely be up for those in HD.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Well with the upcoming release of Errol Flynn's "Prince and the Pauper" I am hoping for the other missing Flynn titles of "They Died with their Boots On" "Charge of the Light Brigade". "Scaramouch" with Stewart Grainger and Janet Lee, among others, and another one of his "Prisoner of Zenda".

As well as a nice adventuer pairing from Bert Lancaster "The Crimson Pirate" and "The Flame and the Arrow" in restored HD would do wonders to any collection!!

And finally, a pair of my favorites for adventure movies that has really been MIA for a restoration is "Sinbad the Sailor" With Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Maureen O'Hara and a wonderful nemesis portrayed by a young Anthony Quinn. And "Gunga Din" with Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Victor McLaughlin, Cary Grant and the mighty Sam Jaffe in the title role.

 

[timk1041]

A few I would like to see: Captain Blood, Adam's Rib, Babes In Arms, Babes On Broadway, The Andy Hardy series, Random Harvest, Captains Courageous, maybe a few more Warner Gangster titles, Red Skelton, the rest of The Marx Brothers.

 

[Beckford]

I was watching my old Warner Archive DVD of the Fred Astaire/Jane Powell musical “Royal Wedding”, specifically the terrific “I Left My Hat in Haiti” number – and it reminded me of what an eye-popping wonder old style Technicolor was in its heyday. When I was a child in the 50’s going to Saturday matinee double features this is the kind of saturated color experience I was able to revel in on a regular basis. Once the 70’s dawned, everything seemed to shift into color corrected greyness, with a palette fixated on duplicating reality at its most humdrum. And it seems to me that’s been the norm ever since.
Thank goodness Warner Archive has been giving us so many beautifully restored Technicolor gems on Blu-ray. Especially MGM musicals. All in all, it’s made me feel considerably less bereaved.

Here are some MGM musicals I think we might reasonably expect on Blu over the next year or two:

NEAR CERTAINTIES
HIGH SOCIETY(’56) Bing, Frank,Grace Kelly,Louis Armstrong,Cole Porter
THREE LITTLE WORDS(’50) Astaire, Skelton,Vera-Ellen,Arlene Dahl
Mr. Feltenstein’s already mentioned this as being in the pipeline
THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY(’49)
I don’t like it but it’s historically important as the only Astaire/Rogers film in color and I think that’ll be enough to give it the green light
ROYAL WEDDING(’51) Astaire,Jane Powell, great original score
EASY TO LOVE(’53) Esther Williams,Van Johnson,Tony Martin
Mr. F. already indicated there’s more Technicolor Esther coming and this one has
some splashy Busby Berkeley choreographed aqua numbers
TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY(’46)
all-star Jerome Kern biography
WORDS AND MUSIC(’48)
all-star Rodgers & Hart biography (Judy’s in both this and the Kern picture)
BABES IN ARMS(’39) Judy & Mickey
THE MERRY WIDOW(’34) Maurice Chevalier,Jeanette MacDonald
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, which gives it a snob appeal the Macdonald/Eddy musicals don’t seem to enjoy
A DATE WITH JUDY(’48) Jane Powell,Elizabeth Taylor
I have a hunch Feltenstein and his crew are fond of this one – and the presence of both Taylor and Carmen Miranda give it added commercial zip, at least among oldies fans.

DECENT CHANCE OF MAKING IT
LILI(’53) Leslie Caron
PRESENTING LILY MARS(’43) Judy Garland
BORN TO DANCE(’36) Eleanor Powell,James Stewart
BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938(’37) Eleanor Powell,Robert Taylor.Judy Garland
BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936(‘35) Eleanor Powell,Robert Taylor
THE STUDENT PRINCE(’54) Edmund Purdom,Ann Blyth,the voice of Mario Lanza
INVITATION TO THE DANCE(’56)
Gene Kelly -indigestibly arty but again something with snob appeal
JUPITER’S DARLING(’55) Esther Williams,Howard Keel, Marge & Gower Champion
The only widescreen musical Esther made - and it's uniquely set in Ancient Rome
THOUSANDS CHEER(’43)
A musical flag-waver from WW2; not a favorite of mine but the presence of Grayson,Kelly,Garland,Rooney etc makes it something of an event

UNLIKELY BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE
SWEETHEARTS(’38) MacDonald/Eddy
This one’s in color, which may give it an edge.
MAYTIME(’37) MacDonald/Eddy
ROSE MARIE(’36) MacDonald/Eddy

A DOZEN PERSONAL FAVORITES WITH NO CHANCE
THE KISSING BANDIT(’48) Frank Sinatra,Kathryn Grayson
A famous flop in its day – but I love it. A great original song score beautifully interpreted by Sinatra & Grayson turns this semi-swashbuckler into a kind of Technicolor crooneretta.
THE BELLE OF NEW YORK’(’52) Fred Astaire,Vera-Ellen
Another undeserved flop. A fantasy plot point that had characters literally dancing on air when they were in love seemed to be a deal-breaker for 50’s audiences. Personally, I don’t think Astaire ever had a more graceful or accomplished dancing partner than Vera-Ellen, Here they’re sublime.
I MARRIED AN ANGEL(’42) MacDonald/Eddy
THE FIREFLY(’37) Jeanette MacDonald,Allan Jones
GIVE A GIRL A BREAK(’53) Marge & Gower Champion,Debbie Reynolds,Bob Fosse
THE MERRY WIDOW(’52) Lana Turner,Fernando Lamas
I’m very fond of this one but I guess its only chance at Blu-ray release would be as a bonus feature on the Lubitsch version
TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE(’50) Jane Powell,Ricardo Montalban,Debbie Reynolds
THREE DARING DAUGHTERS(’48) Jeanette MacDonald,Jane Powell
RICH, YOUNG AND PRETTY(’51) Jane Powel,Danielle Darrieux,Vic Damone
I LOVE MELVIN(’53) Donald O’Connor,Debbie Reynolds
A nice spotlight showcase for the exuberantly talented Mr. O’Connor
EXCUSE MY DUST(’51) Red Skelton,Sally Forrest
I usually consider Red Skelton something of a gate-crasher in MGM musicals (though he’s
fine in “Three Little Words”). But this is a nicely crafted little song and dance piece about the
early days of the automobile. Likeable all round - with a nice sunny outdoorsy feel to it.

 

[Keith Cobby]

That's a fine list Ken, but I'm not as optimistic with the timetable. I hope they are working on Three Little Words and High Society. My next one would be The Belle of New York because I think Vera-Ellen is Astaire's best dancing partner, although I agree a blu ray is unlikely.

 

[Desslar]

Well with the upcoming release of Errol Flynn's "Prince and the Pauper" I am hoping for the other missing Flynn titles of "They Died with their Boots On" "Charge of the Light Brigade". "Scaramouch" with Stewart Grainger and Janet Lee, among others, and another one of his "Prisoner of Zenda".

I'd definitely be up for a complete Errol Flynn box set, or at least his major 30s/40s films.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I'd definitely be up for a complete Errol Flynn box set, or at least his major 30s/40s films.

Agreed, as well as Captain Blood!!!!

 

[Keith Cobby]

Yes, where's Captain Blood and Scaramouche, two titles requested frequently on HTF.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Yes, where's Captain Blood and Scaramouche, two titles requested frequently on HTF.