Yeah, my copy's waiting for me at my post office box. Certainly a shock when it finally got fulfilled!

Just barely cracked the massive Joe McDoakes set and already I'm comfortable calling it one of the year's most important releases. Though the first couple shorts find the filmmakers still sorting out their concept, from the third and fourth short the leap in quality is astonishing. So You Want to Play the Horses might be the funniest film I've seen all year, with the high points including a brilliant Lost Weekend parody and absurd color commentary on a thrilling horse race (where a horse wins "by an arabesque"). I can't recommend this set more (especially to fans of the Simpsons and its ilk), even without getting in on the previous good deal-- it's already worth three times what I paid for it and I'm still only on the first disc.

Are you able to annotate any of the shorts from this that have turned up on earlier DVDs as a featurette? I can remember at least three but I'm damned if I can remember what disc they're on.

From Home Theater Forum:

So You Want to Be a Detective (1948)-- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Warner Legends Collection)
So You Think You're Not Guilty (1950) -- White Heat (Warner Gangsters Vol. 1)
So You Think You're a Nervous Wreck (1946) -- A Night in Casablanca (Marx Brothers)
So You Think You Need Glasses (1942) -- The Man Who Came to Dinner (Bette Davis Vol. 2)
So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947) -- The Hasty Heart (Ronald Reagan Signature Collection)
So Your Wife Wants to Work (1956) -- The Spirit of St. Louis (James Stewart Signature Collection)
So You Want to Give Up Smoking (1942) -- All Through the Night (Humphrey Bogart Vol. 2)
So You Want to Be on the Radio (1948) -- Adventures of Don Juan (Errol Flynn Vol. 2)
So You Want to Be an Actor (1949) -- My Dream is Yours (Doris Day Vol. 2)
So You Want to Learn to Dance (1953) -- By the Light of the Silvery Moon (Doris Day Vol. 2)
So You Want a Television Set (1953) -- By the Light of the Silvery Moon (Doris Day Vol. 2)
So You Want to Enjoy Life (1952) -- Big Jim McLain (John Wayne Film Collection)
So You Think You Can't Sleep (1953) -- Trouble Along the Way (John Wayne Film Collection)
So You're Going to Have an Operation (1950) -- The Flame and the Arrow (Burt Lancaster Signature Collection)
So You Want to be a Paper Hanger (1951) -- Jim Thorpe: All American (Burt Lancaster Signature Collection)
So You Want to Be an Heir (1953) -- South Sea Woman (Burt Lancaster Signature Collection)
So You Want to Know Your Relatives (1954) -- His Majesty O'Keefe (Burt Lancaster Signature Collection)
So You Want a Raise (1950) -- Montana (Errol Flynn Westerns)
So You Want to Move (1950) -- Rocky Mountain (Errol Flynn Westerns)
So You Want To Hold Your Husband (1950) - Tea for Two (Doris Day Spotlight Collection)
So You Want To Be A Bachelor (1951) - Starlift (Doris Day Spotlight Collection)
So You Want To Wear The Pants (1952) - April in Paris (Doris Day Spotlight Collection)

I know that there aren't many people on here from the Portland area, but I have noticed that Movie Madness seems to have begun carrying a large selection of the Archive for rental. A good deal for those not willing to drop $15 for a dvd-r.

Apparently I can only own one of the following: Blu-ray player, DVD player, Wii/XBox/etc, Laserdisc Player.

Either I'm only the second person to take that survey or the coupon code isn't unique to the survey taker. But it's probably fair to give them the input they want anyhow.

The survey centers around the idea of a subscription service that requires a 6-month commitment but doesn't give particularly impressive options. So you could get a movie (selected from a list, so possibly not the whole catalogue) for $17.99, but you'd have to commit to buying one every month for six months (they do roll over if you don't get one, but you've still bought the six movies).

I like the idea of the subscription service, but I don't feel like I'd get much out of it as it's described in the survey.

You can suggest your own idea of a subscription service in one of the question. I kind of like the idea of current value pack pricing (5 for $49.99) where you can pick any title they have (plus use coupons and free shipping!)

The price on that Joe McDoakes set is pretty fair too.

Not according to their website! They only give you a pool of 16 films from which to bundle 5, and most are not worth the HTML they're printed on!

I think he's talking about a hypothetical idea, not something that Warner Bros. is actually doing.

I took the poll not because of the deal they were trying to get people interested in but so I could bitch about the discs being DVDR's at every possible moment. I have bought a few, well three, and one wouldn't play. I buy hundreds of DVD's and now BR's and they always play. I hate the DVD-R idea from the get go and told 'em multiple times. I also said the cover art was a mess (but I really don't care about that if I can just get a readable copy of a film). Can't they cover DVDR's with something to protect them.

Basically I told WB they went from being the best big company making DVD's to the worse. I don't really think they give a rip about the whole DVDR thing though, I think they are just trying to promote their buying program.

Indeed, you're right...........was having my little Ox-Bow Incident moment going after WB!

Some new additions:

Gilda Live (1980)
Holiday in Mexico (1946)
I Dood It (1943)
Made in Heaven (1987)
Mail Order Bride (1964)
See You in the Morning (1989)
Slither (1973)
Small Town Girl (1953)
So Fine (1981)
Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)
Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)
Tarzan the Magnificent (1960)
Tarzan's Fight For Life (1958)
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)
Under the Rainbow (1981)

Deep Discount apparently has picked up rights to distribute the entire Warner Bros. Archive Collection through its website. The only catch is that they have listed a MSRP of $29.95, with the discounted price of $23.88!!

Even with an upcoming 25% off sale taken into account, it only drops the price down to $17.91, the same amount you can get them for directly from the WB site.

At this point, the only advantage in buying these titles at DD would be during their semi-annual sales, and placing a bulk order to take advantage of their free shipping policy vs. WB's more expensive alternative, but that's about it!

You can also pick them up through the TCM store for $17.99

I also don't think it's the entire archive collection at DD. I can't find Urgh! A Music War or Carny for example (but I may just be blind).

The TCM store has Urgh, it was the first one I looked for.

Yeah, you're right. They don't have either...nor do they have Rudolph's "Made in Heaven," a title for which I searched.

New stuff, dominated by Edward G. Robinson:

Because You're Mine (Mario Lanza)
Call It A Day (Olivia DeHavilland)
Gun Glory (Stewart Granger)
I Love Melvin (Reynolds/O'Connor. Paging David Hare!)
The Man With Two Faces (Robinson)
Manpower (Robinson/Dietrich)
The Nutcracker (must be christmas)
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (Robinson)
Out of the Fog (Garfied/Lupino)
Rich, Young, and Pretty (Jane Powell)
Tiger Shark (Robinson)
Two Seconds (Robinson)

and a six disc collection of something called "The Big Band, Jazz, and Swing Short Subject Collection", that has serious potential but is sparsely described.

With all the Robinson they've spewed out one way or another, I'm flummoxed at the "The Sea Wolf" being unreleased. I'd like to think it's due to a pressed disc possibility, but I'm too jaded for that.

TIGER SHARK
They've started the dumping of Howard Hawks?! I was sure they were holding out for a Hawks set.

AND AND AND One of the greatest musicals ever, I Love Melvin, gets dumped?! So, what, no more musical boxes either?

I think we'll see a Film Noir Vol. 5 in 2010, a Jean Harlow set in 2011, Magnificent Ambersons in 2012 perhaps. That should cover classic releases for the next three years right there, with Greed after that in 2024 in a 100th anniversary edition.

Dumping OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES is downright criminal!

This is totally unfounded, but my guess is that it's probably similar (or identical?) to the Vitaphone sets they put out on laserdisc.

Update: The list is up and yes, it's similar.

Speaking of Edward G Robinson he was in a British film called Sammy Going South (1963) also titled as A Boy Ten Feet Tall, it's a good movie to watch about a Ten year old boy traveling 4500 miles on his own from the Suez Canal to Durban, South Africa. Well made and great performances and hard to get on dvd or any other format.