Warner Archive Announcements Thread (6 Viewers)

[Ed Lachmann]

Having subjected myself to the film twice, I have to say I’m inclined to agree with Newman on the film. Except for Waxman’s score, which is undeniably brilliant, I found the film an absolute mess with way too many subplots that were never fully followed through (I’ve read that Jack Warner apparently had a few scenes cut from the movie, some of which were scored by Waxman and turn up on the near-complete FSM soundtrack, but personally, I don’t think he cut enough) and some really inept dialogue. Additionally, I found the sets way too stagy for this kind of movie.

Just hope that WB doesn't follow your recommendations, but I imagine that they will. Thank God we did get grand classics like From Hell it Came, The Cyclops and Queen of Outer Space. That's not to say I didn't pick one or two up, however. "One man's crap" as they say.

 

[OliverK]

I'm trying to recover the thread, no luck yet. That poster wrote that he saw the HD Pharoahs on a U.K. site, said it looked fabulous. I've tried to find it in HD on Amazon and iTunes, no luck yet. Speaking of Kazan, I'd kill for a blu-ray of America America! Wish WB would go for more real classics by beloved directors too.

I think I read a post about that HD screening in the meantime but I do not believe a 4k scan was done. Pharaoh is quite colorful and gets shown in HD from time to time but I saw one such HD recording and if you have a very good upscaler there is not really that much difference to the DVD.

The good thing is that the current HD version is of low enough quality that Warner would not dare to release it on blu-ray.
This means that when we get Pharaohs on Blu-ray it will look excellent as it will have been done recently.

 

[richardburton84]

Just hope that WB doesn't follow your recommendations, but I imagine that they will. Thank God we did get grand classics like From Hell it Came, The Cyclops and Queen of Outer Space. That's not to say I didn't pick one or two up, however. "One man's crap" as they say.

Don’t get me wrong, but Silver Chalice was one historical epic that did absolutely nothing for me, besides I doubt my criticisms will discourage Warner from eventually releasing the film through the Archive. That being said, I do happen to like quite a few historical epics, some of which you yourself have suggested the Archive release on Blu-ray, like Land of the Pharaohs (by the way, who was it that the film had already received a 4K restoration and where did he/she hear it) and especially Ivanhoe, which was a favorite of mine growing up.

 

[Robin9]

Having subjected myself to the film twice, I have to say I’m inclined to agree with Newman on the film. Except for Waxman’s score, which is undeniably brilliant, I found the film an absolute mess with way too many subplots that were never fully followed through (I’ve read that Jack Warner apparently had a few scenes cut from the movie, some of which were scored by Waxman and turn up on the near-complete FSM soundtrack, but personally, I don’t think he cut enough) and some really inept dialogue. Additionally, I found the sets way too stagy for this kind of movie.

Time for me to watch the film again!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I totally get Newman's hatred for Silver Chalice. He got a "crap" part as Virginia Mayo's boy toy in revealing little feminine togas which I'm certain, against his aspirations, he loathed having to wear in his first major studio "introduction". The movie belonged to Mayo and Jack Palance, who both chewed the scenery into smithereens. The sets are outlandish, the dinner orgy is a hoot, the tower finale is a whole lot of wild fun, the fabulous Franz Waxman score is legendary. I'd LOVE to have it HD.

I watched it once and it was a chore to get through it so I concur with Paul Newman regarding the quality of this movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Time for me to watch the film again!

The thought of doing so gives me chills.

 

[Robin9]

I watched it once and it was a chore to get through it so I concur with Paul Newman regarding the quality of this movie.

Obviously, you don't like Virginia Mayo as much as I do!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Obviously, you don't like Virginia Mayo as much as I do!

I like Virginia Mayo just fine, but I can watch her in better movies.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Having subjected myself to the film twice, I have to say I’m inclined to agree with Newman on the film. Except for Waxman’s score, which is undeniably brilliant, I found the film an absolute mess with way too many subplots that were never fully followed through (I’ve read that Jack Warner apparently had a few scenes cut from the movie, some of which were scored by Waxman and turn up on the near-complete FSM soundtrack, but personally, I don’t think he cut enough) and some really inept dialogue. Additionally, I found the sets way too stagy for this kind of movie.

Yeah I love epics but need at least a little bit of battle scenes or action in them. So I find The Silver Chalice, Land of the Pharaohs and The Prodigal all deadly dull and not interesting as Dramas either so I would definitely pass on Blu Rays. I would take more Italian epics over those 3.

 

[Alan Tully]

Yeah I love epics but need at least a little bit of battle scenes or action in them. So I find The Silver Chalice, Land of the Pharaohs and The Prodigal all deadly dull and not interesting as Dramas either so I would definitely pass on Blu Rays. I would take more Italian epics over those 3.

Ha, the opposite with me. I did see a lot of Italian epics when I was young & not many made an impression (I do have happy memories of Duel of the Titans & Sons Of Thunder, but they'd probably bore me now), whereas I still enjoy Land Of The Pharaohs, no battles, but lots of spectacular scenes, & the closing of the pyramid at the end alone is worth the price of admission (plus a blacked-up Joan Collins). It does have a problem that even a Blu-ray release wouldn't solve, & that's that it has lots of duped dissolves that don't look to hot now. I've never seen The Silver Chalice, but I have seen some pictures of the art deco sets, I'd have to buy it & The Prodigal if they were ever released on Blu-ray. The two top Warner ancient world epics for me are, Helen Of Troy & Land Of The Pharaohs, maybe one day...

 

[Randy Korstick]

Ha, the opposite with me. I did see a lot of Italian epics when I was young & not many made an impression (I do have happy memories of Duel of the Titans & Sons Of Thunder, but they'd probably bore me now), whereas I still enjoy Land Of The Pharaohs, no battles, but lots of spectacular scenes, & the closing of the pyramid at the end alone is worth the price of admission (plus a blacked-up Joan Collins). It does have a problem that even a Blu-ray release wouldn't solve, & that's that it has lots of duped dissolves that don't look to hot now. I've never seen The Silver Chalice, but I have seen some pictures of the art deco sets, I'd have to buy it & The Prodigal if they were ever released on Blu-ray. The two top Warner ancient world epics for me are, Helen Of Troy & Land Of The Pharaohs, maybe one day...

Don't get me wrong I prefer big budget US epics over the Italian. I Just do not care for those 3 at all and to be honest I have not heard people talk much about those 3 epics in my 36 years of movie collecting before this thread. The DVD's didn't sell well so no surprise to me that WAC would release B sci fi movies or Italian epics that need minimal work over spending big bucks to restore and release those lesser epics. Helen of Troy I would buy although its not a favorite. It lacks some big stars or something to move the drama. The action scenes are good but the drama falls flat but I do like that film.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

I think I read a post about that HD screening in the meantime but I do not believe a 4k scan was done.

That's most likely the same post I read. Did get me a bit excited, though, as Pharaohs is an HD release I'd die for.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Obviously, you don't like Virginia Mayo as much as I do!

Or Jack Palance either.

 

[DVBRD]

I'm trying to recover the thread, no luck yet. That poster wrote that he saw the HD Pharoahs on a U.K. site, said it looked fabulous. I've tried to find it in HD on Amazon and iTunes, no luck yet. Speaking of Kazan, I'd kill for a blu-ray of America America! Wish WB would go for more real classics by beloved directors too.

I don't think WB owns the rights to America America; last time I checked, it was owned by Castle Hill, which. I believe no longer exists. Then again the Castle Hill library also included Baby Doll and WAC released a DVD of it a few years back, so who knows?

 

[OliverK]

Ha, the opposite with me. I did see a lot of Italian epics when I was young & not many made an impression (I do have happy memories of Duel of the Titans & Sons Of Thunder, but they'd probably bore me now), whereas I still enjoy Land Of The Pharaohs, no battles, but lots of spectacular scenes, & the closing of the pyramid at the end alone is worth the price of admission (plus a blacked-up Joan Collins). It does have a problem that even a Blu-ray release wouldn't solve, & that's that it has lots of duped dissolves that don't look to hot now. I've never seen The Silver Chalice, but I have seen some pictures of the art deco sets, I'd have to buy it & The Prodigal if they were ever released on Blu-ray. The two top Warner ancient world epics for me are, Helen Of Troy & Land Of The Pharaohs, maybe one day...

I'd get almost all the Hollywood ancient world epics - there weren't that many and beggars can't be choosers as they say.

We have a decent chance of seeing Land of the Pharaohs and Helen of Troy as they have big director names attached to them and at least they were relatively short single strip 35mm productions that should be complete with no missing parts which all helps keeping restoration costs down.

 

[OliverK]

That's most likely the same post I read. Did get me a bit excited, though, as Pharaohs is an HD release I'd die for.

Same here, which is why I asked. Hard to believe but I never watched it in its entirety as I always wanted my first viewing to be memorable and for such a movie a certain amount of resolution is needed to bring out the visual splendor to better effect.

I still hope that I'll see it soon in either a 35mm print or on blu-ray but if this doesn't happen in the next one or two years I will have to watch one of the lesser versions.

 

[Worth]

I don't think WB owns the rights to America America; last time I checked, it was owned by Castle Hill, which. I believe no longer exists. Then again the Castle Hill library also included Baby Doll and WAC released a DVD of it a few years back, so who knows?

America America is available in HD on iTunes, from Warner.

 

[dana martin]

ok so i got my Warner Archive e-mail today announcing the March pre-orders and one very major surprise, Tom and Jerry : Golden Collection Vol 1, this is now being released by WAC, hopefully that means, that they are going to finally treat the original theatrical cartoons in the same manner as the Popeye set's, and the upcoming Tex Avery set. My biggest hope is that the possibility of Vol 2, and 3 of the original William Hanna & Joseph Barbera shorts are released proper.

 

[ToEhrIsHuman]

ok so i got my Warner Archive e-mail today announcing the March pre-orders and one very major surprise, Tom and Jerry : Golden Collection Vol 1, this is now being released by WAC, hopefully that means, that they are going to finally treat the original theatrical cartoons in the same manner as the Popeye set's, and the upcoming Tex Avery set. My biggest hope is that the possibility of Vol 2, and 3 of the original William Hanna & Joseph Barbera shorts are released proper.

Here's hoping that they have located better elements for some of the shorts and it isn't just a straight re-press. I would double-dip if so, though mostly the quality is excellent already. The Tex Avery set Vol. 1 is amazing!

 

[Astairefan]

Here's hoping that they have located better elements for some of the shorts and it isn't just a straight re-press. I would double-dip if so, though mostly the quality is excellent already. The Tex Avery set Vol. 1 is amazing!

I wouldn't count on that. They didn't announce it with all their other new releases, so it is likely just them releasing essentially the same discs as before, with no new work done. So far, WAC hasn't redone anything released on Blu-ray by WHV. It's just a way of keeping things in print, since the numbers (and costs) to reprint them for retail would be too expensive for how many people would buy them at this point. To keep things simple, if you have the previous release, you don't need this one (unless you have money to spare to grab a second copy and in the process, help convince them to release a volume 2).