The Silver Screen Oasis

Everyone,

I am very interested in THE TRAIL OF '98 (1928) with Delores Del Rio. My copy is from 2000-2001, and isn't the best recording. I don't need any of the Garbo features, as I have them all on Laser-disc, that were not previously released on DVD. I doubt that these will look much different. Wouldn't mind having a copy of Marion Davies THE RED MILL without Station bugs. However, for those of you who already have a few films in the series, just how "Bare-Bones" are these DVD-R's? Do they have any Chapters or Menu's? I haven't heard anyone mention if they do or not? I can't believe that they wouldn't at least have some menu design at $20.00 a pop? Thanks.

Perhaps some of the dvds have more features than others. Writer R. Emmett Sweeney outlines his impressions of the new discs from the WB Archive here. His comments seem to indicate that there are some with chapters, though they seem pretty bare bones.

Scott Eyman mentions his impressions of the Archive dvds here.

R. Emmett Sweeney's comment: "Chapters are programmed every ten minutes regardless of the shot." appears to jibe with what Miss Goddess posted, and with other posts I've seen on these DVDs so far, and with my own experience. The DVDs don't have traditional chapter markers as most of us think of them -- just the ability to advance and reverse in raw ten-minute increments using the forward and backward buttons on the remote.

I keep wondering when Sony will finally get on the ball. According to TV Shows on DVD, Sony's been contemplating doing this for over a year now, and it was rumored that they were especially interested in freeing their extensive TV holdings. It'd certainly be welcome news for collectors to find that the remaining seasons of Maude, All in the Famly, Mary Hartman, Rocky and Bullwinkle, etc. were finally available for download.

Professional Tourist wrote:R. Emmett Sweeney's comment: "Chapters are programmed every ten minutes regardless of the shot." appears to jibe with what Miss Goddess posted, and with other posts I've seen on these DVDs so far, and with my own experience. The DVDs don't have traditional chapter markers as most of us think of them -- just the ability to advance and reverse in raw ten-minute increments using the forward and backward buttons on the remote.

A few of us could easily load these into our computers and make our own chapters/menus/etc. I can't understand all the carping about these discs.

April,

Thanks much for the confirmation Rather discouraging I feel.

Kyle,

I had ordered THE TRAIL OF '98 tonight. So that's what I fully intend to do, add my menu's as usual. I just think the price is pretty steep for that Bare-Bones of DVD-R's. Allot of people have told me that will not pay this amount. I would like to see them drop the price to $14.95, or even $12.95. They would sell allot more of them this way. $20.00 for a plain recording doesn't show me much. For longer movies, better than Two hours running time, I would hope that they are using Dual-Layer Media? I have no information saying that they are or not? Derek was terribly unimpressed on GAOH with any of this. He thought these disc's were really overpriced, and that Warner's was being rather cheap here. And I believe He was under the impression that they at least had Menu's and thumbs? Which it seems they don't have?

I've received Idiot's Delight and thought I should report the caveat that it does not include the alternate ending... As usual, from the Archive, the only extra was the trailer. Also received Ice Follies of 1939. The color section is so beautifully "wrong". Very crisp look to it. But the disk hesitated three times during the play. Was it my machine or the disk? Time will tell, I suppose.

We received our first 5 and each have timed chapter breaks, as others have noted. That's fine - it's what I do for TV recordings. Why should I expect Warner Archives to actually install good Scene Detection Software that I sometimes use, although it takes about 40 minutes to run. Still, I could save the end-result files and record them from that point on with proper chapter marks. Oh well...

"It's as good as we can get" is still the operative line. Fine. The price doesn't make it a good value, I feel.

I wish they'd look to Best Buy's deals with those two Ult Sci-Fi Collection offerings a few years ago, where Best Buy apparently fronted the remastering expenses in exchange for a few months of exclusive sales. Those are gorgeous remasters, with all the proper chapter marks, subtitles, trailers, etc. Five for $20. THAT still is a great value.

I actually fear some scoundrel will insist that Warner Archives' slow sales be used as their excuse to shut down operations. Instead of recognizing the difference between a good and bad value, they'll insist it's "too small of niche market". Yeah. Not enough people willing to spend for a bad value. Wot a shame! Hopefully, their Florida Swampland Sales are going fine. We may get a handful more, but I'd happily buy a hundred or more IF they were good values - not bad ones.

Ollie wrote:I actually fear some scoundrel will insist that Warner Archives' slow sales be used as their excuse to shut down operations. Instead of recognizing the difference between a good and bad value, they'll insist it's "too small of niche market". Yeah. Not enough people willing to spend for a bad value. Wot a shame! Hopefully, their Florida Swampland Sales are going fine. We may get a handful more, but I'd happily buy a hundred or more IF they were good values - not bad ones.

Are sales slow? I thought I'd read that they were surpassing their expectations. But now I don't remember where I read that... was it all a wonderful dream?

Moraldo,

Am not sure where Ollie got the idea that WB Archives was suffering from slow sales. By all the accounts I have read in the trades, in the LATimes and on the internet, sales are beyond their initial expectations.

15 new archive titles listed (no silents):

Break of Hearts (1935)
Carson City (1952)
Christopher Strong (1933)
Having Wonderful Time (1938)
Joy of Living (1938)
The Little Minister (1934)
Luxury Liner (1948)
The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
Meet the People (1944)
Quality Street (1937)
Return of the Bad Men (1948)
Spitfire (1934)
Thousands Cheer (1943)
Trail Street (1947)
A Woman Rebels (1936)

MichiganJ wrote:15 new archive titles listed (no silents):
Break of Hearts (1935)
Carson City (1952)
Christopher Strong (1933)
Having Wonderful Time (1938)
Joy of Living (1938)
The Little Minister (1934)
Luxury Liner (1948)
The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
Meet the People (1944)
Quality Street (1937)
Return of the Bad Men (1948)
Spitfire (1934)
Thousands Cheer (1943)
Trail Street (1947)
A Woman Rebels (1936)

Thank you! After seeing Warner Archive commercials featuring Thousands Cheer, I was surprised to find it wasn't listed over the weekend. Thanks for the head's up; I'll order it tonight.

Six titles are RKO Hepburns, that seems a bit much for one month. A wider variety of titles each month with little in common would seem to pull in bigger sales. And frankly I think the Hepburn titles could sell in a commercially released set fairly well.