Olive Films

[Tommaso]

Ophuls' worst film is clearly "Lachende Erben", closely followed by "The Exile". Be glad you've never seen them.

[Cold Bishop]

The Exile is a superb swashbuckler, with Ophuls camera having a ball navigating the elaborately bizarre, vaguely avant-garde set-design (I'm shocked to not see William Cameron Menzies in the credits). I am very much glad to have seen it.

[Tommaso]

Okay, I take back that last sentence with regard to "The Exile", as it's well made and certainly fun in an Errol Flynn sort of way. Still, camerawork notwithstanding, it remains so much outside of what I normally associate with Ophuls that I usually forget it was he who made it. But all right, probably that doesn't make it a bad film.

[captveg]

Per HTF post of the press release:

8/12/14

Fanie Fourie's Lobola (2014) - DVD (108 Media)

8/19/14

Magnificent Doll (1946) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)
That's My Man (1947) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)

8/26/14

High School Confidential! (1958) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)
It Was You Charlie (2014) - DVD (108 Media)
I've Always Loved You (1946) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)


That leaves by my count 29 BD/DVD releases and 6 BD upgrades for the Paramount licensed titles.

[boywonder]

I am wondering about Borzage's "Magnificent Doll" and "That's My Man". I love his silents and have never seen his newer films. How are these two coming soon from Olive?

[whaleallright]

I admit I haven't seen those two. I've Always Loved You is one of his most delirious melodramas. Indeed the emotions are so heightened, the melodramatic plot devices so underlined, that it can be hard to take. I'd say it's a must if you're truly interested in Borzage, as it represents one end-point of his fixation on the transcendent power of love. (a more subdued, noir-ish end-point is Moonrise from 1948, to which Criterion is alleged to hold the rights.) I should add that as I recall there's an expressionist use of color in I've Always Loved You that complements/intensifies the melodrama. in other words, YMMV.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver on Caught....solid if not spectacular.

[FrauBlucher]

Arch of Triumph (Milestone) featuring Bergman, Boyer and Laughton......Beaver

[captveg]

Per HTF post of the press release:

9/9/14

Shame the Devil (2013) - DVD

9/16/14

The Big Operator (1959) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)
Honour (2014) - DVD

9/23/14

Daisy: A Hen Into the Wild (2014) - DVD
Distant Drums (1951) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)
South of St. Louis (1949) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)

9/30/14

Betty Boop: The Essential Collection Vol. 4 (13 Shorts, 1932-1938) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)
TT: Closer to the Edge (2011) - DVD
TT3D: Closer to the Edge (2011) - Blu-ray 3D


That leaves by my count 25 BD/DVD releases and 6 BD upgrades for the Paramount licensed titles.

And it seems they are now back on to a 4 Paramount titles per month schedule, which means they should finish 'em up around May-June 2015 (assuming they don't release anything in December like the last few years).

[Gregory]

Betty Boop: The Essential Collection Vol. 4 (13 Shorts, 1932-1938) - BD/DVD (Paramount licensed)

Completely unnecessary release, just like Vol. 3, because all four volumes' worth of cartoons could have easily fit on two BDs. What a waste of money and materials.

[captveg]

In this case, it's a company maximizing their profit margins, something fairly common to small labels.

[Grisbi]

I'm looking forward to giving DISTANT DRUMS another go - I'm a big Walsh fan, and this one has its defenders (Sarris italicizes it) but it seemed remarkably DOA to me when I watched it. Cooper is obviously only half-there at any given moment, and even presumably reliable elements like Arthur Hunnicutt in a supporting role never amounts to much. And the big underwater knife fight at the end which is one of the main things people talk about with this movie seemed very crude and dull, very un-Walshian.

I do remember the Everglades location photography being excellent, which is one reason to be thankful for this release, I'm sure it'll look great in hi-def. Otherwise its status in my head as clearly one of Walsh's weaker efforts has always nagged at me a bit and I'm definitely game to revisit.

[swo17]

In this case, it's a company maximizing their profit margins, something fairly common to small labels.

I would have been more inclined to buy all of their Betty Boop holdings if they would have put all four volumes in one set at four times the MSRP of each volume.

[Gregory]

It's short-sighted and a waste to spread out shorts over that many discs. The people who will buy all the separate releases of old cartoons like that, waiting months between releases, are the hardcore animation buffs. But many non-animation buffs would have made a one-time splurge for a 2 or 3 BD set. Plus they save on all the costs of producing and distributing separate releases. And they avoid annoying fans, many of whom already were very disappointed that none of the PD cartoons would be included.

If Olive can put 3 Preminger films into a single set with a $69.95 retail price, then they should have been able to put roughly the same amount of content (~340 minutes) into a single Boop set and charge roughly the same, rather than spreading it out over 4 releases that total $119.95 retail. I know they're trying to maximize their profits. And it's still a waste of money and materials.

[matrixschmatrix]

Do you seriously think they're not going to bundle them into a box after the fourth disc is released? That way, they get everyone (like me) who is sucker enough to buy the individual releases and the people who are only interested in one fell swoop of a purchase.

[captveg]

Right, but the Preminger release was a BD upgrade, which frankly was a surprising move for them (just like the Noir set upgrade). Personally, I find the separate DVD releases a far larger waste of their resources in this day and age.

They did save on resources by ditching the slipcase halfway through.

[SpiderBaby]

Something tells me The Stationmaster's Wife is not being announced for another year yet again.

[Fred Holywell]

I am wondering about Borzage's "Magnificent Doll" and "That's My Man". I love his silents and have never seen his newer films. How are these two coming soon from Olive?

Saw "Magnificent Doll" many years ago. A real disappointment, and I'm a Borzage fan. A flat, uninspired movie, with some interesting actors giving rather colorless performances. Maybe it would all look better today, but I tend to doubt it.

[Cronenfly]

The AV Club's war on domino's media-related sense of propriety continues: Olive's release of Caught gets an A courtesy of Vishnevetsky.

[domino harvey]

Reminder that the AV Club gave Persona an A-

[Gregory]

It seems like he wants to give the film an A, but not the release itself. I guess that's why reviewers who want the criteria for their grades to be at least slightly clear (Blu-ray.com, DVDTalk, etc.) give separate grades for the film itself and then the A/V and extras (if any).

[rockysds]

Guilty of Romance (both cuts included) and Himizu on blu-ray in October.

[captveg]

10/14/14

Cauldron of Blood (1971) (BD/DVD) (Paramount licensed)
Dragonfly Squadron 3D (1954) (BD/DVD) (3D on BD only) (Paramount licensed)

11/11/14

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) (BD/DVD) (Paramount licensed)

[domino harvey]

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) (BD/DVD) (Paramount licensed)

Isn't this from Republic?

[captveg]

Paramount owns the Republic library. If Warner licensed one of their RKO owned titles, would it be more proper to say it was Warner licensed or RKO licensed? (But LOL at Warner licensing).