Warner Archive Announcements Thread (20 Viewers)

[RICK BOND]

From that original list, I'd go crazy over Julius Caesar, Land of the Pharaohs, Ivanhoe, Scaramouche or Freaks. I sure wish they'd consider a, "epics" blu-ray set with the first four or perhaps with The Silver Chalice and The Prodigal involved. It's surely a sadly under-represented genre considering what WB is sitting on and, as a set (or two), it would probably sell quite well.

Knights of the Round Table and Helen of Troy !

 

[RICK BOND]

How about The Narrow Margin and some of the other great RKO noirs. B&W presumably costs much less to put out. Do Warners still have the Goldwyn classics like Walter Mitty?

Where's .... The Pride of the Yankees (1942) Samuel Goldwyn ???

 

[dana martin]

Okay, I already know that this titles been mentioned in the thread. But I was reading my Criterion Channel newsletter today and Tod Browning's Freaks is appearing on the channel; does that mean that possibly were going to see a Criterion release or Warner's going to take it and do it themselves?

 

[Astairefan]

Okay, I already know that this titles been mentioned in the thread. But I was reading my Criterion Channel newsletter today and Tod Browning's Freaks is appearing on the channel; does that mean that possibly were going to see a Criterion release or Warner's going to take it and do it themselves?

Realistically, who knows? I'm not a subscriber, but I've seen stuff mentioned on the FB page that they were showing, that's not available. At one point earlier in the year, I saw them mention an emphasis on four of the Astaire/Rogers films, yet only Swing Time has made it to blu. Could the others be coming? Maybe, but there is no guarantee how soon, so I would be wary of assuming Freaks might be coming soon. That being said, I wouldn't mind being wrong, either.

 

[Patrick McCart]

As part of my annual horror/scifi viewings in October, I've had a chance to finally check out a few WAC discs...

Innocent Blood - Had never seen this before, despite being a fan of a lot of John Landis films. Robert Loggia is amazing (and hilarious) in this. It's not only a funny movie, but it has plenty of scares. And if you're a fan of gore, this has enough to satisfy. Again, without having seen it before, the Blu-ray looks absolutely stunning, but not too "pretty" as Landis' films tend to have a nice bit of grime to the settings.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - I had seen this on TCM years ago, but it was like a new film this time around. Great film with a lot of surprises. The restoration here is gorgeous, looking almost like a fresh nitrate print (and a few certain shots really pop out).

Body Snatchers - One of the creepiest films I've seen and I'd actually have to say it's a little superior to the 1956 original (it's been a while since I've seen the '78 remake). Again, a perfect Blu-ray with a really active 5.1 mix.

and while not exactly Halloween-themed, I got around to seeing The Thin Man and I can't believe how amazing it looks. It's one of those films I thought would never look good as even the DVD was rough.

 

[Astairefan]

Certainly an interesting bunch of titles announced. I'll probably grab The Bad And The Beautiful at some point, and possibly Great Day In The Morning as well, since I'm curious about Virginia Mayo (although, given the choice, I'll probably grab the Classicflix release of Out Of The Blue first, since as a screwball comedy, that's more in my wheelhouse). What disappoints me, more than anything about this selection, is that there was no new-to-blu musical announced. I'm really hoping that one is announced for December, because if there isn't, it's continuing the (to me) disturbing trend of WAC releasing fewer and fewer new-to-blu musicals every year. And that's my favorite genre!

 

[Ken_Martinez]

They're going back to their comfort zone of easy-to-remaster 1950's titles.

Did theThe Thin Man and Footlight Parade not sell well enough for them?

 

[Astairefan]

Well, not too easy, as they are releasing the 1952 film The Bad And The Beautiful, and the last few years, they have mainly been released films from 1954 onwards (with only a handful before). But, at the same time, I could have sworn that it might have been mentioned on the podcast that, depending on the elements (especially with nitrate, I thought), they can only work on some of them at certain times of the year.

 

[Arthur Powell]

The moment I saw the release announcement for "The Bad and the Beautiful" I knew a lot of people were going to be pleased. I've had the film on my DVR for some time so perhaps now is the time for me to watch the film. If I like it enough, I'll pick up the blu-ray.

The question that I'm wondering about is how well "The Sea Hawk" sold last year. I was hoping that we would have had at least one additional Errol Flynn title by now.

 

[Patrick McCart]

They're going back to their comfort zone of easy-to-remaster 1950's titles.

Did theThe Thin Man and Footlight Parade not sell well enough for them?

The Bad and the Beautiful is in the same league as either of those!

I did read on another board there’s one particular early-30s film in the works that I don’t think anyone here would have imagined ever getting a remastered DVD, let alone a Blu-Ray.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Wow, people actually criticizing the November Warner Archive releases. I thought WA hit a home run, but I should have known better that some people would be unhappy.

 

[OliverK]

Wow, people actually criticizing the November Warner Archive releases. I thought WA hit a home run, but I should have known better that some people would be unhappy.

I think that one has to accept that certain parts of the back catalog are almost never among the Archive releases (silent, historical/biblical epics, large format productions) either due to (perceived) low interest or high cost or a combination of both.

Warner can do what they want obviously as they can sit on these for another century and all of us will be dead by then and not complain anymore about what they haven't released yet Kidding aside certain people will not be happy with most of the Archive announcements as they are waiting for releases that are just very unlikely to happen.

Personally I have accepted that very few if any of my most wanted Warner titles will see a release in the Archive collection and with that in mind I would think that it is a good month with at least two releases that will go on my Warner Archive shopping list.

Edit: I just saw that The Bad and The Beautiful got a 4k scan of the camera negative so Warner went the extra mile for that one. Make this a VERY good month for me!

 

[Astairefan]

Wow, people actually criticizing the November Warner Archive releases. I thought WA hit a home run, but I should have known better that some people would be unhappy.

It wasn't my intention to come here and criticize what WAC is releasing. As I said, a few of their November releases appeal to me, and, if it were released at a different time of year, I would be looking at grabbing The Bad And The Beautiful right away. But, going into the holiday season, the only dramas I would be likely to grab (due to budget and genre preferences) would be Christmas dramas (I've never seen any of the films announced, so if one of them is a Christmas drama, I don't know it), as I would otherwise prefer musicals and comedies. And you really can't blame me for worrying when, going into the November releases (and WAC has been inconsistent about releasing anything in December), there are only TWO new-to-blu musical releases from them for the year (not counting re-releases), compared to three last year, compared to four in 2017, compared to five in 2016. That is my favorite film genre (at least, from the late twenties through the fifties), and I know I'm not the only one who wants more. With the two that have been released being the first new-to-blu WAC releases of any pre-1954 musicals since Thank Your Lucky Stars back in 2015, I certainly didn't expect more from that era, nor do I expect an expensive restoration like High Society, but it would be nice to see at least one more musical this year!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, I'm not a big musical fan perse, so you and I have different film tastes as I like all kinds of films across the many different film genres and eras. Warner tries to appeal to movie fans across those different film genres/eras which is quite difficult in a shrinking consumer disc market as people are buying less physical discs each and every year.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Wow, people actually criticizing the November Warner Archive releases. I thought WA hit a home run, but I should have known better that some people would be unhappy.

That's what we do here. Been that way in this thread for a few years. Even if you release a wide variety every month you can't please everyone.

 

[PMF]

WAC continues to thrill and yesterday's announcements were no exception.
Just one announcement of a single coveted title is another month that's plenty good and exciting to me.
In my case, it was "The Bad and the Beautiful";
long awaited and another Bulls-eye from WAC, in a year that's already been stupendous.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I know we still have the December slate to be revealed, but this has been a great year so far.

14 pre-60s films plus two volumes of 40s Popeyes, and four 50s films back in print. Three of those 14 from the 30s (Footlight Parade, The Thin Man, and Jezebel) and all A-list.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Wow, people actually criticizing the November Warner Archive releases. I thought WA hit a home run, but I should have known better that some people would be unhappy.

Not me, although that slate is not anything that I'd buy. Other folks have different likes, and I assume WAC research says these titles will be profitable. I would like to see the two musical running mates, Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, plus Angels in the Outfield (the original), Arsenic and Old Lace, The Late Show, Mister Roberts and The Sea Wolves. Unfortunately, WAC has this silly idea that I'm not the only one who matters. Imagine that!

 

[RafaelPires]

I did read on another board there’s one particular early-30s film in the works that I don’t think anyone here would have imagined ever getting a remastered DVD, let alone a Blu-Ray.

Are you referring to Mistery of the Wax Museum (1933), that is being restored by UCLA in partnership with WB?

 

[Ethan Riley]

I don't expect a musical every month. It would be nice to see three or four a year. Summer Stock was one of the best releases they've ever put out, I hope they know.