The Warner Archive

News and Upcoming Releases
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speedracer5
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Re: The Warner Archive

Post by speedracer5 »

TikiSoo wrote: May 12th, 2023, 6:05 am Glad I'm not the only one still collecting DVDs. Talk to anyone in the music/movies store and they'll tell you DVD sales have plummeted to a trickle.

Generally, my beef with streamed movies is the picture quality/cropping/sound. That, and I often have to turn DVDs back because of dozing off.
I have a large movie collection, but that's because 1) I don't want to have to rely on having a decent connection to stream, half the time, it doesn't "buffer" completely and the overall image is bad or keeps stopping; 2) I don't want to have to subscribe to everything under the sun to get the programming I want (I already admittedly have too many services); 3) With the exception of HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Amazon Prime, there is barely any service that provides a good selection of classic film. And with something like HBO Max, they usually only show the usual suspects in terms of classic film. No obscure pre-codes on there; and 4) I like having physical copies. Most of the time it's easier to deal with, though I can see it being more cumbersome if you have limited space.

Warner Archive keeps releasing blu rays of movies that I already own. I'm not at the point where I need to switch my entire collection over from DVD to Blu Ray, because most of the time, the DVDs look just fine. I have found that the old DVDs (manufactured in late 90s-early 00s) tend to have bad sound. If I don't already have the movie, I'll probably get a blu ray. If the blu ray has a new restoration or some cool special features, I might upgrade. I upgraded my Bogie/Bacall box set to Blu Ray, because the DVDs looked so flat. Of the June releases, I'm definitely going to get "Dangerous When Wet." I have this movie, but my copy is damaged and won't play past a certain part. However, it's part of a box set, so I don't want to replace the whole thing.
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speedracer5
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Re: The Warner Archive

Post by speedracer5 »

umop apisdn wrote: May 10th, 2023, 7:21 pm June releases!
  • Angel Face
  • Dangerous when Wet
  • The Old Man & the Sea
  • Land of the Pharaohs
  • The Damned Don't Cry
  • Caged

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This is a great list of movies. If I didn't already own them, I'd be all over "Angel Face," The Damned Don't Cry," and "Caged." I am probably going to get "Dangerous When Wet" to replace a damaged DVD I have.
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umop apisdn
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Re: The Warner Archive

Post by umop apisdn »

speedracer5 wrote: May 12th, 2023, 3:04 pm This is a great list of movies. If I didn't already own them, I'd be all over "Angel Face," The Damned Don't Cry," and "Caged." I am probably going to get "Dangerous When Wet" to replace a damaged DVD I have.
Like you I don't feel the need to replace movies I already own. I had a few DVD which I bought in college, but since money was tight I didn't buy a lot. When I finally had disposable income the HD format wars were in full swing, so I waited until there was a winner. So I really lucked out on my timing. I purchase mainly Blu-rays and have no interest in re-purchasing in 4K.

About 15 years ago I made a list of about 100 movies I wanted released on Blu-ray. I am down to about 30 now.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Ball of Fire
Captain Blood
The Enchanted Cottage
Farewell My Concubine
Great Expectations
Hamlet
Hud
I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Remember Mama
Julius Caesar
Lili
The Little Foxes
Meet John Doe
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
The More the Merrier
Oscar & Lucinda
Pink Floyd's The Wall
The Prisoner of Zenda
Quills
Raintree County
Random Harvest
Scaramouche
The Secret Garden
Splendor in the Grass
The Taming of the Shrew
That Hamilton Woman
Top Hat
Twentieth Century
Wuthering Heights
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speedracer5
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Location: Portland, OR Metro Area (Westside)
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Re: The Warner Archive

Post by speedracer5 »

umop apisdn wrote: May 12th, 2023, 8:30 pm
speedracer5 wrote: May 12th, 2023, 3:04 pm This is a great list of movies. If I didn't already own them, I'd be all over "Angel Face," The Damned Don't Cry," and "Caged." I am probably going to get "Dangerous When Wet" to replace a damaged DVD I have.
Like you I don't feel the need to replace movies I already own. I had a few DVD which I bought in college, but since money was tight I didn't buy a lot. When I finally had disposable income the HD format wars were in full swing, so I waited until there was a winner. So I really lucked out on my timing. I purchase mainly Blu-rays and have no interest in re-purchasing in 4K.

About 15 years ago I made a list of about 100 movies I wanted released on Blu-ray. I am down to about 30 now.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Ball of Fire
Captain Blood
The Enchanted Cottage
Farewell My Concubine
Great Expectations
Hamlet
Hud
I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Remember Mama
Julius Caesar
Lili
The Little Foxes
Meet John Doe
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
The More the Merrier
Oscar & Lucinda
Pink Floyd's The Wall
The Prisoner of Zenda
Quills
Raintree County
Random Harvest
Scaramouche
The Secret Garden
Splendor in the Grass
The Taming of the Shrew
That Hamilton Woman
Top Hat
Twentieth Century
Wuthering Heights
Great list! I would buy blu rays of Twentieth Century, Ball of Fire and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in a minute. I have a bunch of these titles on DVD, but a blu ray would be exciting. I feel like "The More the Merrier," "Ball of Fire," "Captain Blood," and "Twentieth Century" would all be ripe for Criterion releases. I did read that "Meet John Doe" is being released by Classic Flix on blu ray, I think in the Fall.

I have exactly 2 4ks, both Criterion. I upgraded my DVDs of Citizen Kane and Double Indemnity to 4k/Blu Ray combos. I've upgraded quite a few of my DVDs to blu ray, but I'm not making a point of upgrading every single title. I would rather get new titles for my collection, not just more copies of the same title. I don't need 4k films. I only have one way of watching 4k, through my husband's PS5, which sometimes is more cumbersome to use than just the blu ray player. Right now I'm using it because our switchbox died, and the PS5 is connected directly to the TV, so it's easier.
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umop apisdn
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Re: The Warner Archive

Post by umop apisdn »

speedracer5 wrote: May 13th, 2023, 12:34 am
Great list! I would buy blu rays of Twentieth Century, Ball of Fire and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in a minute. I have a bunch of these titles on DVD, but a blu ray would be exciting. I feel like "The More the Merrier," "Ball of Fire," "Captain Blood," and "Twentieth Century" would all be ripe for Criterion releases. I did read that "Meet John Doe" is being released by Classic Flix on blu ray, I think in the Fall.

I have exactly 2 4ks, both Criterion. I upgraded my DVDs of Citizen Kane and Double Indemnity to 4k/Blu Ray combos. I've upgraded quite a few of my DVDs to blu ray, but I'm not making a point of upgrading every single title. I would rather get new titles for my collection, not just more copies of the same title. I don't need 4k films. I only have one way of watching 4k, through my husband's PS5, which sometimes is more cumbersome to use than just the blu ray player. Right now I'm using it because our switchbox died, and the PS5 is connected directly to the TV, so it's easier.
Good news about Meet John Doe. The existing releases are pretty bad, especially compared other Capra films. I suppose this has to do with its public domain status, but now you have given me hope.

A few films are with Criterion which has a tendency to sit on titles for years before releasing them. I know Great Expectations, Hamlet, Twentieth Century, and That Hamilton Woman and are with them.

I wish Paramount would license out Hud to Criterion. Their Paramount Presents line had some decent long awaited releases: Roman Holiday and A Place in the Sun, but then they released the terrible remake of The Haunting (1999). Doesn't seem like a prestige line anymore.

Criterion released Romeo & Juliet (1968) earlier this year, so that might be good for future releases from Paramount.

WAC or Criterion could release Captain Blood or I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. There are rumors for both.

I know WAC was working on some Greer Garson titles. Random Harvest looked better when I saw a few months back on TCM. I am not an expert, and it may have been wishful thinking on my part. ;)

Feltenstein was asked about the Astaire/Rogers films and said they would love to get to those, but the original elements are not in good shape precisely because they were so well loved and exhibited a lot.

WAC is on the lookout for better elements for Zenda.

WAC will release Mr. and Mrs. Smith in the next few years. It's not an important Hitchcock, by any means, but I find it oddly entertaining in parts. It's one of those good to have restored for posterity films.

A Raintree County restoration is probably not in the cards due to costs. I don't feel the need to own it, but would probably just buy it to support what WAC does.

Someone (anyone!) needs to get those Samuel Goldwyn titles out! George Lucas' foundation helped with the Dodsworth restoration. Hopefully, the Film Foundation will work on the others with WAC.

Farewell My Concubine will be released in 2023 by a company called Film Movement. I look forward to that. I purchased an Australian box of Zhang Yimou + Gong Li film a few years back. The restorations were decent, but not what WAC or a boutique label could do.
umop apisdn
Posts: 58
Joined: November 17th, 2022, 8:52 am

Re: The Warner Archive

Post by umop apisdn »

I've been really busy with work, but for reference here are the past few months releases from Warner Archive:

July releases:
  • Cimarron
  • The Fastest Gun Alive
  • Helen of Troy
  • Du Barry Was a Lady
  • The Last Time I Saw Paris
  • The Broadway Melody
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August releases:
  • Wichita
  • Spinout
  • Little Women (1933)
  • The Life of Emile Zola
  • Gay Purr-ee
  • Father's Little Dividend
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Good to see 3 early Best Picture winners restored for posterity. I prefer to watch Cimarron to The Broadway Melody. I liked Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola, but am slightly disappointed WAC didn't release one of my holy grail titles: I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.

It's interesting that WAC has rescued the Elizabeth Taylor's 2 public domain titles: Father's Little Dividend and The Last Time I Saw Paris. I hope they have others up their sleeve.
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