Warner Brothers Archive Collection Blu-rays

[FrauBlucher]

There are a bunch of older Warner bluray releases from around 2010. I hope they get a spiffy new shine.

[What A Disgrace]

Since the 6 will also contain "lots of extras", I think it's a safe bet that some of the discs will be of films that already HAVE some extras. Apart from the films already mentioned, lots of older DVDs have extras but have never been released on Blu-ray: Gunga Din, O Lucky Man, the Astaire-Rogers musicals, the older Popeye DVD collections, and of course, the elephants in the room...I Walked With a Zombie and Seventh Victim.

[rapta]

Looks like Warner Bros might be starting up their HMV Premium Collection again - or perhaps just porting over Warner Archive titles to the UK - as they just submitted Mann's The Naked Spur to the BBFC. Good news for us UK folk who were starting to worry about having to import...we might not need to!

I was wrong, seems WB are actually bringing Warner Archive to the UK! First titles are the following: The Naked Spur, Quick Change, Pump Up the Volume, Night Shift, and Ladies They Talk About. They're WBShop exclusives, at least to begin with...

Also noticed listings for Straight Time, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and Drunken Master II (possible HMV exclusive?), so assume those will come later on, amongst others. Great stuff! No need to consider importing these anymore.

[FrauBlucher]

Two of the 6 for March have been announced...

[FrauBlucher]

Supposedly here are the other 4...
Flamingo Road
Confessions Of A Nazi Spy
The Prince and The Showgirl
Neptune's Daughter

[Matt]

Flamingo Road is a nice surprise. One of Joan Crawford’s best from her “comeback” run at Warner Bros, with menacing supporting performances by Sydney Greenstreet (as a Boss Hogg type) and Zachary Taylor (as his usual slimeball type). Directed by Curtiz.

Even more surprising that they are now dipping into the 2nd Joan Crawford Collection DVD set with this rather than going with Humoresque or The Damned Don’t Cry to finish out the first. Their release decisions must really be based on ready condition of elements because there often seems to be no other logic behind them. This batch seems to be more “Oh, sure” and less “WTF” than previous seasons.

[therewillbeblus]

If these are the "highly requested" titles, what kind of superlatives will WA place in front of all the aforementioned classics speculated upthread?

[FrauBlucher]

I kinda thought the same. And are there really that many people requesting these titles in big numbers. :-k

[Finch]

Camille makes me hope they get around to Queen Christina!

[Gregory]

I'm not complaining about any of the announced titles but how are we more than ten years in on this Blu-ray line but still lacking After Hours and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore?

[ryannichols7]

I'm not complaining about any of the announced titles but how are we more than ten years in on this Blu-ray line but still lacking After Hours and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore?

there's a certain New York based company who this website is named after that Scorcese wants all of his movies released from....

[hearthesilence]

I'm not complaining about any of the announced titles but how are we more than ten years in on this Blu-ray line but still lacking After Hours and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore?

I would've assumed an HD master of the latter was created when they did the DVD, but I have some vague recollection that the BFI tried to license it only to find out there was no HD master at all, hence the DVD only release. Is this true? If so, it could also explain why they've been slow to make a Blu-ray.

[dwk]

Yes, the BFI canceled the Blu-ray of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore because it didn't have an HD master.

[pistolwink]

There's a HD streaming version of Alice out there, so there was a HD scan at some point ... same w/ After Hours. Maybe not good enough for Blu-ray?

[hearthesilence]

That's partly why it was a surprise to me. I thought Warner generally made HD masters for all of their DVD's beginning in the '00s, almost in anticipation of an HD format (basically future-proofing), but to be fair, many of those early HD masters really do look dated, so they're not ideal even if they're available. Just look at The Wild Bunch and Rio Bravo, which IIRC used the same transfer as the DVD's - definitely HD, but they can do much better scans now.

[ford]

Considering how they prefaced the announcement, just extremely disappointing.

[Peacock]

Well I for one am grateful for Camille!

But you guys need to reign your expectations in a little overall and look at the titles they typically release each month, you’re never going to see Greed, The Crowd, Freaks, He Who Gets Slapped etc all together. Sadly.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Whoops, sorry guys. They must've been thinking of me when they called The Prince and the Showgirl (my favorite Marilyn movie and one of my all-time favorites, period) highly requested –– although it's a film that deserves a blu-ray, truly one of the most beautiful films. I for one am very excited about that...

[hearthesilence]

Well I for one am grateful for Camille!

Yeah, same here. As much as I love Garbo, it's probably one of the very few Garbo films I'd pick up, the others being Ninotchka and Queen Christina. Maybe one of her silent films too, but otherwise Camille is one of the few times I thought the film around her rose up to the level of her performance.

[FrauBlucher]

Wasn't MWCTD already announced?

This was from bluray.com thread that was taken from Feltenstein on a podcast....

The Man Who Came to Dinner(1942)-will take a bit more time given the condition of the elements requires a full blown restoration.

[FrauBlucher]

On the latest The Extras podcast in Mr Feltonstein in discussing The Prince and the Showgirl dropped this hint....

"We will be releasing another film of hers in a few months in which she had a pretty significant...people can probably figure out what it is...but it is a film where she wasn't the leading lady but she kind of had the second lead. It's a dramatic film in which she has a very light role and she was very impressive in it and it was right before she became a huge star. People can figure out what it is but I'm not going to spill the beans at this moment."

.... has to be Clash by Night

[yoloswegmaster]

Coming in April:

Safe in Hell (1931)
One Way Passage (1932)
The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
Storm Warning (1951)
A Lion is in the Streets (1953)

EDIT: The DCPs for all of these titles were recently added to the Park Circus website. Expect the following titles to also receive a WAC release since the DCPs were also recently added to the site:

Spoiler

Red-Headed Woman
The Mind Reader
Employee's Entrance
Night Nurse
Red Dust
Blonde Crazy
A Free Soul
Jewel Robbery
Female
Baby Face
Clash By Night
Land of the Pharaohs

George Feltenstein also confirmed that The Roaring Twenties was coming soon, though he didn't say if it was from WAC or Criterion.

[Glowingwabbit]

Coming in April:

The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

YEEEEEESSS!!!!

[What A Disgrace]

Strawberry Blonde is one of my favorite films, period, so I'm pretty tickled. Safe In Hell is also a must-buy, and I may as well pick up One Way Passage and Storm Warning when the time comes (neither of which I've seen, but both sound up my alley).

[bottlesofsmoke]

Good month! Love to see pre-code, Walsh and Cagney. hopefully The Roaring Twenties is coming soon.

Safe in Hell is a fun, trashy pre-code drama with a wild ending and memorable performance by Nina Mae McKinney, One Way Passage is a favorite of mine, a wistful Borzage-esque romance filtered through pre-code Warner Bros, The Strawberry Blonde is an absolutely delightful classic, A Lion in the Streets is an interesting, in some ways superior version of the Huey Long story that inspired All The King’s Men, and Storm Warning is Ronald Reagan and Doris Day vs. the KKK, need I say more?