Passage to Marseille (1944)

[Akijama]

Passage to Marseille
(1944)
B&W-109 Min
BD-50
Subtitle: English SDH

SPECIAL FEATURES:
WARNER NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
Uncertain Glory Theatrical Trailer (SD)
Vintage Newsreel (SD)
I Won't Play (SD) - Academy Award Winning Short Subject
Jammin' the Blues (SD) - Academy Award Nominated Musical Short Subject
The Weakly Reporter (SD) - Cartoon Classic
The Free French: Unsung Victors (SD) - Featurette about the WWII French Resistance.
Breakdowns of 1944 (SD) - Studio Blooper Reel
Passage to Marseille Theatrical Trailer (HD) - Newly Remastered in HD!

https://www.facebook.com/warnerarchi...type=3&theater

[MifuneFan]

[movieben1138]

Any Bogie title is a good Bogie title!

[noirjunkie]

Inside the WAC offices.

WAC Staffer #1: Why have we been sitting on a lot of great Bogie titles for almost a decade?

Staffer #2: I don't know. The Big Sleep, To Have and To Have Not, Dark Passage, Key Largo, They Drive By Night, High Sierra...

#1: Do you think the boss read my e-mail about releasing them on blu-ray?

#2: I hope so. It's embarrassing how far behind other studios we are.

Their boss enters.

Boss: Hey, I decided to take action on that Bogie on blu-ray problem! You're gonna love it!

#1: That's great. We need to get those films out on blu-ray.

#2: Agreed.

Boss: Well, your wish has been granted. Prep the artwork for Passage to Marseille!

#1 and #2 (in unison): *facepalm*

[octagon]

WAC Staffer #1: Why have we been sitting on a lot of great Bogie titles for almost a decade?

WAC Staffer #2: Because disc sales don't generate the kinds of revenues that make BD-ready masters a priority. Most Bogie titles have masters that are perfectly serviceable for broadcast or streaming so there's really no incentive to master them again just for a BD release.

WAC Staffer #1: But a really nice BD of To Have and Have Not would be really awesome.

WAC Staffer #2: Well, yeah, it would but whattayagonnado.

[MikeZ.]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

any bogie title is a good bogie title!

ya got that right !

[The Great Owl]

I don't mind a reasonable amount of Humphrey Bogart films on Blu-ray.

I'm definitely in for this one.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by octagon

WAC Staffer #1: Why have we been sitting on a lot of great Bogie titles for almost a decade?

WAC Staffer #2: Because disc sales don't generate the kinds of revenues that make BD-ready masters a priority. Most Bogie titles have masters that are perfectly serviceable for broadcast or streaming so there's really no incentive to master them again just for a BD release.

WAC Staffer #1: But a really nice BD of To Have and Have Not would be really awesome.

WAC Staffer #2: Well, yeah, it would but whattayagonnado.

It seems that you've missed my point, so I'll spell it out. Why create a BD master for this much lesser-known Bogie title when other far more popular and requested Bogie titles continue to sit in the vault?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

It seems that you've missed my point, so I'll spell it out. Why create a BD master for this much lesser-known Bogie title when other far more popular and requested Bogie titles continue to sit in the vault?

Warner may have other plans for the big releases.

I'd like to imagine a Bogart/Bacall Blu-ray box set at some point in the future. Maybe one with the same design as the Hammer Horror or Warner Special Effects box sets. Hmmmm. That would be pretty cool.

[MikeZ.]

His entire catalog sounds reasonable to me.

[grundy]

This is still available in HD on WA streaming, though it has been in the Leaving Soon queue for a while. Odd that they would announce a title on Blu while it's still streaming. I'm watching it now, and it looks pretty good.

[Akijama]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

Why create a BD master for this much lesser-known Bogie title when other far more popular and requested Bogie titles continue to sit in the vault?

Money. Creating a BD master for PtM was probably substantially less expensive than those of other Bogie flicks you have mentioned.

That said, Bogie & Bacall flicks are a lock for BD release, it's only a matter of time. Probably sooner than later.

[javi92]

Certainly not the next Bogie title I expected to be released, but I'll be picking up Day 1 regardless. Even if they aren't coming quickly enough for me, WAC is at least doing them right.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

It seems that you've missed my point, so I'll spell it out. Why create a BD master for this much lesser-known Bogie title when other far more popular and requested Bogie titles continue to sit in the vault?

Relatively speaking, the demand for 'far more requested' titles isn't all that much greater than the demand for much lesser-known. There's relatively little demand for BDs of any of these catalog titles.

Which means their relative ranking on our various wish lists is largely irrelevant to Warner's archiving and restoration schedule. Why did Passage to Marseille get a newer scan (assuming it has gotten a newer scan which is a fairly safe bet) before To Have and Have Not or High Sierra?

I don't know. Maybe the Passage to Marseille DVD master was significantly older or rougher than the existing masters for those far more popular Bogie titles. Maybe the source elements are in better shape. Or maybe they're in worse shape and in need of more immediate attention.

I don't know how Warner prioritizes their archiving and restoration schedules but I think I'm on fairly safe ground when I assume the relatively modest revenues generated by potential BD sales don't enter into their calculations.

[dsman71]

I dont think Ive seen this one only because Im not into War films, but Ill try it anyway - Im sure there will be more Bogie

Dead Reckoning would be great (its with Sony)

Id love All Through the Night also

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

Inside the WAC offices.

WAC Staffer #1: Why have we been sitting on a lot of great Bogie titles for almost a decade?

Staffer #2: I don't know. The Big Sleep, To Have and To Have Not, Dark Passage, Key Largo, They Drive By Night, High Sierra...

#1: Do you think the boss read my e-mail about releasing them on blu-ray?

#2: I hope so. It's embarrassing how far behind other studios we are.

Their boss enters.

Boss: Hey, I decided to take action on that Bogie on blu-ray problem! You're gonna love it!

#1: That's great. We need to get those films out on blu-ray.

#2: Agreed.

Boss: Well, your wish has been granted. Prep the artwork for Passage to Marseille!

#1 and #2 (in unison): *facepalm*

As with some of their other curious Blu choices, i.e. HIT THE DECK, DORIAN GREY, LADYHAWKE, I think it comes down to the PERSONAL tastes of two or three execs at the Archive. The impression I've gotten from talking to a couple of people who work there is that it's a very small, tight knit group and potential commercial prospects of a choice don't always enter into the selection process as much as the enthusiasm a decision maker has for a particular title.

If they wanted lesser Bogart from the 40's, ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, ACROSS THE PACIFIC, ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC and THE BIG SHOT are all better films than PASSAGE TO MARSEILLE, but even mediocre Bogart is better than no Bogart.

[BluPat]

Awesome news! Any classic titles are welcome!

[EVERYONE LIES]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Warner may have other plans for the big releases.

I'd like to imagine a Bogart/Bacall Blu-ray box set at some point in the future. Maybe one with the same design as the Hammer Horror or Warner Special Effects box sets. Hmmmm. That would be pretty cool.

This is what I'm thinking. The box would be WB and not WAC. Technically this is the 3rd Bogart movie from WAC this year, so they didn't lie.

[Aclea]

Unexpected but still very welcome. It's certainly one of Warner Bros.' oddest WW2 flag wavers, and not just because the flag they're waving is that of the Free French, who number among their ranks such typically Gallic actors as Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Helmut Dantine and George Tobias.

Ostensibly a tribute to the Free French bomber squadrons, it spends more time in the penal colony of French Guyana and aboard a tramp steamer en route to Marseille as a group of escaped convicts try to escape to defend their homeland from the Nazis in a plot that sees flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks. And surprisingly it's not a very flattering portrait of France the film paints in its pre-war scenes, emphasising the corruption, appeasement, arrogance and collaboration that led to the Vichy government. Yet for all that - and a surprising scene that sees Bogie machine-gunning the defenceless crew of a crashed German bomber - it's not exactly realistic. It's obvious that a lot of money has been spent on the film, but some of the special effects are positively bizarre, not least the model shots of the British countryside (complete with toy cows and toy tractors!) concealing a French aerodrome that looks like something out of Thunderbirds. The film's better at casting than execution, reuniting as many of the Casablanca/Maltese Falcon crowd as possible - Sidney Greenstreet's in there as well as a turncoat officer - under director Michael Curtiz, ensuring that while it's not always credible it is always watchable, especially with James Wong Howe working his usual magic with the cinematography. And the similarities with the later Papillon in the prison colony scenes are particularly intriguing.

[CinemaScope]

Well I think this is good news, I like this more than some of the better regarded Bogie movies, & we're going to get The Big Sleep sooner rather than later. I'd think the elements for this one are in better shape than some of the other Bogart films, & as someone said, none of the Archive releases are big sellers...now let's have some Flynn next!