The Silver Screen Oasis

Professional Tourist wrote:Oh! Summer Holiday! At last!!

Update: Not yet -- two more days to wait! Releasing on 7/22. Sigh.

The available date has been changed, pushed back to 7/26.

I've found that when I pre-order it takes much longer to receive it than if I wait until the release date. So I will try again on Monday.

This week's Archive releases:

Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
Young Bess (1953)
Agatha (1978)
The Locket (1946)
So Well Remembered (1947)
The Stars Fall on Henrietta (1995)

Apparently, None But the Lonely Heart is being released tomorrow.

Moraldo Rubini wrote:Apparently, None But the Lonely Heart is being released tomorrow.

Looks as if this is the only remastered title (list $24.99) this week.

The other Archive titles for this week include:
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)

and a number of Kay Francis films:
The House of 56th Street (1933)
Living on Velvet (1935)
Stranded (1935)
The Goose and the Gander (1935)
Give Me Your Heart (1936)

WA releases for 8/17

It's a Small World (1950)
Oil For the Lamps of China (1935)
Santiago (1956)
A Lady Without a Passport (1950)
Tomorrow is Another Day (1951)
The Sellout (1952)
Invasion Quartet (1961)

The following were announced as new releases on DVD luridly described by Warner Archive as "New DVDs! The Desperate and The Daring!" Guess which is which among these?

SONG OF LOVE (1947)
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS (1943)
FLESH (1932)
CRACK-UP (1946)
RIPTIDE (1934)
THE CONQUERORS(1932)

2 that I'll be saving my pennies for:
Flesh (1932) directed by John Ford and starring Karen Morley, Wallace Beery and Ricardo Cortez is one I've never seen. It's intriguing premise is, according to Warner's set in "the wrestling ring, [where] Polakai (Beery) is a colossus of muscle, sinew and sweat. At home with the tough-cookie ex-con he’s married and saved from the streets, he is a gentle giant. But his kindness is not enough to stop his wife (Karen Morley) from pursuing an illicit affair that topples Polakai into professional and personal ruin. Legendary director John Ford brings his clean, visually poetic style to Flesh, guiding Wallace Beery (in the year of his Best Actor Oscar® win* for The Champ) and Karen Morley (Scarface) to some of the finest work of their careers. As touching as it is uncompromising, Flesh takes its characters to the dark regions of their souls…and ends with a quiet, unforgettable scene that offers a hope for redemption."

The Conquerors (1932) is another pre-code I've never seen with Richard Dix and Ann Harding directed by the usually compelling William Wellman and in the background, a fascinating guy who usually never gets any credit, Slavko Vorkapich, an innovator in special effects. Here's what Warner's describes it: "Take heart, Depression-era America: the nation has faced dire economic crises in years past and with pluck, honest work and persistence has pulled itself aright. The Conquerors combines its morale-boosting message with a tale of one family’s lives and times, misfortunes and fortunes from 1873 to 1930. Richard Dix, star of the prior year’s sprawling Cimarron, plays dual roles as smalltown banker Roger Standish and his grandson (in a filmmaking virtuosity rare for the era, the two share the final sequence). The passage of time and events is conveyed in acclaimed montages by Slavko Vorkapich, whose masterly visual compressions also grace David Copperfield, The Good Earth and other classics."

George Feltenstein was at Cinecon and an attendee reported in with the following information:

The company [Warner Archive] will soon be upgrading from DVD 5 to DVD 9 which, among other things, will allow for extras to be included on future releases.

THE BREAKING POINT has finally cleared rights issues with the Hemingway estate and is scheduled for release next year.

There is a continual search for better source prints, and not only will many new release continue to be newly re-mastered, but a number of inadequate previous releases will be re-mastered as well.

There will be greater attention paid to the Allied Artists/Monogram library in the future. Indeed, Feltenstein mentioned that he had recently discovered prints of 200 Monogram westerns which the parent company didn’t even know it owned (Johnny Mack Brown fans take note).

In short, the theme of the entire presentation seemed to be that the Archive department is understaffed and under financed, but is working round the clock and prosperity is just around the corner. So, while we certainly aren’t living on velvet, we may not be entirely stranded.

Oh, thanks so much for posting this and the news about the Columbia DVDs as well from Sony, today, Paula. I am so glad that The Breaking Point (1950), one of John Garfield and Juano Hernandez's best movies, will be seen soon. That's wonderful about the extras making a comeback too. I miss those from the bare bones DVD-r On Demand ones.

Twelve new releases today, including Joan Crawford's Our Modern Maidens and Our Dancing Daughters.

Up for pre-order at Warner Archive:

Lon Chaney films:
He Who Gets Slapped
Mockery
The Monster
Mr. Wu
The Unholy Three (silent)
The Unholy Three (talkie)
(Also available as 6-Pack Collection)

WB Horror Mysteries 6-movies (3 DVD set) includes:
Find the Blackmailer (1943)
The Smiling Ghost (1941)
Sh! The Octopus (1937)
The Hidden Hand (1942)
The Mystery House (1938)
The Patient in Room 18 (1938)
(Haven't seen any of these but I may bite. Any thoughts?)

Eye of the Devil (1966)
The Green Slime (1968)
War of the Planets (1966)
The Wild, Wild Planet (1965)

http://www.wbshop.com/Pre-Orders/ARCHIV ... lt,sc.html

They're some of Lon Chaney's best movies. Well done Warner's for bringing them out.

The Warner releases are too expensive for me right now. They are all $20. and up. My purchase limit is $10.00 and down.

This week's new releases:

Wild, Wild Planet, The
War of the Planets (1966)
Once You Kiss A Stranger
Legends of the Super Heroes (1979)
Sell-Out, The (1976)
Treasure Island (1972)
>>> Opposite Sex, The (Remastered) <<<
All American Boy, The
Adam's Woman
Addams Family, The: Season 1 (4 DVD Set) (1973-74)
WB Horror Mysteries - 6 movies (3 DVD Set)
War of the Buttons
You're A Big Boy Now
Bancroft of the Secret Service Mysteries Collection - 4 movies
Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space Complete Series (4 DVD Set)
Code Name: Emerald (1985)
Hot Rod (1950) (Remastered)

I'll bet everyone can guess which one I've already ordered. Yahoo!

Along with the above Chaney's etc, this week includes:

One Romantic Night (1930) Lillian Gish talkie
One Way Passage (1932) Kay Francis & William Powell
Street of Women (1932) Kay Francis & Gloria Stuart
Stolen Holiday (1937) Kay Francis & Claude Raines
The Swan (1956) (Remastered) Grace Kelly

Oh, my -- The Swan! And remastered. And 25% off! Yippee!!

I must admit, though, that based on my copy of The Opposite Sex, "remastered" does not mean 'restored'. There are periodic color-shifts, from one moment to the next. But I suppose it's better than "not remastered."