Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[EVOLVIST]

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

A tale of a privileged neurotic cougar and the gaslighting kid who loved her. Or not.

On the level? These people are out of their friggin' minds.

Bette Davis is unmatched. Francis Bacon is good. Alan Hale, Sr. does a fair job as The Earl of Tyrone. Errol Flynn is on again, off again, but mostly outclassed by any number of bit players. The film isn't particularly good, yet it contains a dozen or so powerful moments, driven by Davis, that are as spellbinding as most dramas get. I often forgot that I was watching a film from 1939. The penultimate throne room scene between Davis and Flynn is the tits. The movie should have ended at about the 1:30 mark, but then wouldn't have gotten the final scene, which was a good capper.

In other words, this film was a vehicle for Bette Davis' chops, yet it needed some editing. I can't blame them, though; it's difficult to keep Davis off the screen since she was needed so much to carry the movie.

The real draw is this miraculous transfer, struck from the original negatives. It's amazing that if you're not hip to WAC, this miracle of cinema slips under the radar, as most consumers think that color pictures began when Dorothy entered Oz.

The image is nothing short of astounding. I've never considered myself much of a mouthbreather; still, my jaw was slack through most of the film; either that, or I was couchlocked with a perma-grin. Outside of a few soft shots (which isn't many), there is absolutely zero faults with this picture. The blu-ray is so clean that you see behind the illusion. A case in point, in a few scenes you can see the join lines on chamber walls, where carpenters cut the wood, then they were taped and floated to join the panels of the walls. There's a scene where Davis grabs the back of a chair and one of her hands twists and loosens a wooden knob that was assuredly held fast by a modern screw. That stuff is brilliant! The way they aged the 30-year old Davis to look 60 is seamless under 2K scrutiny. You can see the shave bumps on Flynn's neck while he's sitting in prison. It's easy to identify the types of fabrics and weaves: velvet, cotton, herringbone, etc. One pink dress that Davis wears, though, had a crinkly type texture that was difficult to identify (not that I'm a fabric expert). But you can hear the sound the dress makes, differentiating itself from cotton.

The mono soundtrack has maybe a little too much upper-mids, howbeit, it sets mostly in the pocket, with a natural tape hiss that isn't obtrusive. It's authentic.

Natural looking grain, deep blacks, a perfect grayscale, and vibrant colors? Check, check, check and check. You know, once you see HDR it's kind of difficult to unsee it, so as always, I'm curious what a UHD release would look like; nonetheless, it's not needed, as boldly saturated colors pop. I mean, there's no way that folks saw how good this looks in 1939. As I've just watched Singin' In the Rain (1952) on UHD, yes, my eyes got a little spoiled. I have little doubt that Elizabeth and Essex would look just as good, or better, than The Wizard of Oz. Hell, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) might clobber them all if only it had a better encode.

In close, the film is as paranoid as its characters, with both principle players being toxic as fukc. It's a demo disc for glorious three-strip Technicolor, plus Bette Davis puts on a clinic, despite the director milking her presence a little much.

This is another WAC release that I'm glad I own. Thanks for the recommendations.

[Mushi Minion]

Originally Posted by belcherman

They had me at noir musical.

Ditto.

[EVOLVIST]

I have defected and ordered Dr. Cyclops (1940) from Kino Lorber.

But to be fair, I also ordered The Pirate (1948) from WAC.

[keithvg]

Originally Posted by EVOLVIST

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

A tale of a privileged neurotic cougar and the gaslighting kid who loved her. Or not.

On the level? These people are out of their friggin' minds.

Bette Davis is unmatched. Francis Bacon is good. Alan Hale, Sr. does a fair job as The Earl of Tyrone. Errol Flynn is on again, off again, but mostly outclassed by any number of bit players. The film isn't particularly good, yet it contains a dozen or so powerful moments, driven by Davis, that are as spellbinding as most dramas get. I often forgot that I was watching a film from 1939. The penultimate throne room scene between Davis and Flynn is the tits. The movie should have ended at about the 1:30 mark, but then wouldn't have gotten the final scene, which was a good capper.

In other words, this film was a vehicle for Bette Davis' chops, yet it needed some editing. I can't blame them, though; it's difficult to keep Davis off the screen since she was needed so much to carry the movie.

The real draw is this miraculous transfer, struck from the original negatives. It's amazing that if you're not hip to WAC, this miracle of cinema slips under the radar, as most consumers think that color pictures began when Dorothy entered Oz.

The image is nothing short of astounding. I've never considered myself much of a mouthbreather; still, my jaw was slack through most of the film; either that, or I was couchlocked with a perma-grin. Outside of a few soft shots (which isn't many), there is absolutely zero faults with this picture. The blu-ray is so clean that you see behind the illusion. A case in point, in a few scenes you can see the join lines on chamber walls, where carpenters cut the wood, then they were taped and floated to join the panels of the walls. There's a scene where Davis grabs the back of a chair and one of her hands twists and loosens a wooden knob that was assuredly held fast by a modern screw. That stuff is brilliant! The way they aged the 30-year old Davis to look 60 is seamless under 2K scrutiny. You can see the shave bumps on Flynn's neck while he's sitting in prison. It's easy to identify the types of fabrics and weaves: velvet, cotton, herringbone, etc. One pink dress that Davis wears, though, had a crinkly type texture that was difficult to identify (not that I'm a fabric expert). But you can hear the sound the dress makes, differentiating itself from cotton.

The mono soundtrack has maybe a little too much upper-mids, howbeit, it sets mostly in the pocket, with a natural tape hiss that isn't obtrusive. It's authentic.

Natural looking grain, deep blacks, a perfect grayscale, and vibrant colors? Check, check, check and check. You know, once you see HDR it's kind of difficult to unsee it, so as always, I'm curious what a UHD release would look like; nonetheless, it's not needed, as boldly saturated colors pop. I mean, there's no way that folks saw how good this looks in 1939. As I've just watched Singin' In the Rain (1952) on UHD, yes, my eyes got a little spoiled. I have little doubt that Elizabeth and Essex would look just as good, or better, than The Wizard of Oz. Hell, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) might clobber them all if only it had a better encode.

In close, the film is as paranoid as its characters, with both principle players being toxic as fukc. It's a demo disc for glorious three-strip Technicolor, plus Bette Davis puts on a clinic, despite the director milking her presence a little much.

This is another WAC release that I'm glad I own. Thanks for the recommendations.

“A tale of a privileged neurotic cougar and the gaslighting kid who loved her. Or not.” 😂😂🤣 just too good to not appreciate. 👏

[REPLAY]

Would like to see the MGM 1936 film "The Great Ziegfeld" on blu. Hope Warner Archive would bring it out.

[xochipilli]

New "The Extras" podcast with George, talking about the March, April and May releases(save for Brothers Grimm which got it's own episode before this. He says that the March slate has been very successful and that he's so happy to see the praise coming from the customers, calling Grimm "a phenomenon, far more successful than he could even dream", plus Captains of the Clouds has apparently been a "surprisingly hefty seller". This is, of course, outstanding news for not only the titles in question but for future difficult restorations which will hopefully benefit from these successes. The more good news I hear about the sales of Brothers Grimm in particular, the better!

We also learn that Jekyll & Hyde '41 is indeed coming from a 4K scan of the best preservation elements, and it's confirmed that the '31 version is in fact currently in the works to be hopefully released before the end of the year. He also teased that him and Jerry Beck are currently working an a previously unmentioned animation project, which will hopefully arrive before Christmas so long as they can make the numbers work, that "will really be aimed squarely at the most avid collectors, and along the lines of Popeye and Tex Avery, which they still haven't finished yet", though it has yet to be green-lit at the time of recording.

He also hopes that the recent releases of Singin' in the Rain and Giant in 4K UHD are only the beginning of more deep Warner classics in the format, also stating that more are coming.

Now for the annoying part, George and crew had "mapped out quite a robust 2022 schedule, which got spread out over a longer period of time" due to the staff having been downsized by about 85 to 90%. He still underlines that the future is solid for the Archive, that the work doesn't stop that and that there's plenty of "treasures" in the pipeline, and that with the people responsible for the downsizing now gone, hopefully they'll be able to "rebuild from the ashes and do more".

Unfortunately, this seems to indicate that they won't be able to beef up the slates quite as quickly as we'd hope, and we'll have to wait through a few more smaller months before the beefy five to nine title slates of last year come back. A shame, as what's been missing from the announcements has, in my opinion, been some variety. I really miss months like May and November of 2021 where we got a lot of different types of films, and was hoping we got back to that status quo sooner rather than later. Still, it's just one small(hopefully temporary) disappointment amid a bunch of good news and intriguing teases. Eager to hear more in the future!

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR...AAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

He also hopes that the recent releases of Singin' in the Rain and Giant in 4K UHD are only the beginning of more deep Warner classics in the format, also stating that more are coming.

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by EVOLVIST

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

A tale of a privileged neurotic cougar and the gaslighting kid who loved her. Or not.

On the level? These people are out of their friggin' minds.

Bette Davis is unmatched. Francis Bacon is good. Alan Hale, Sr. does a fair job as The Earl of Tyrone. Errol Flynn is on again, off again, but mostly outclassed by any number of bit players. The film isn't particularly good, yet it contains a dozen or so powerful moments, driven by Davis, that are as spellbinding as most dramas get. I often forgot that I was watching a film from 1939. The penultimate throne room scene between Davis and Flynn is the tits. The movie should have ended at about the 1:30 mark, but then wouldn't have gotten the final scene, which was a good capper.

In other words, this film was a vehicle for Bette Davis' chops, yet it needed some editing. I can't blame them, though; it's difficult to keep Davis off the screen since she was needed so much to carry the movie.

The real draw is this miraculous transfer, struck from the original negatives. It's amazing that if you're not hip to WAC, this miracle of cinema slips under the radar, as most consumers think that color pictures began when Dorothy entered Oz.

The image is nothing short of astounding. I've never considered myself much of a mouthbreather; still, my jaw was slack through most of the film; either that, or I was couchlocked with a perma-grin. Outside of a few soft shots (which isn't many), there is absolutely zero faults with this picture. The blu-ray is so clean that you see behind the illusion. A case in point, in a few scenes you can see the join lines on chamber walls, where carpenters cut the wood, then they were taped and floated to join the panels of the walls. There's a scene where Davis grabs the back of a chair and one of her hands twists and loosens a wooden knob that was assuredly held fast by a modern screw. That stuff is brilliant! The way they aged the 30-year old Davis to look 60 is seamless under 2K scrutiny. You can see the shave bumps on Flynn's neck while he's sitting in prison. It's easy to identify the types of fabrics and weaves: velvet, cotton, herringbone, etc. One pink dress that Davis wears, though, had a crinkly type texture that was difficult to identify (not that I'm a fabric expert). But you can hear the sound the dress makes, differentiating itself from cotton.

The mono soundtrack has maybe a little too much upper-mids, howbeit, it sets mostly in the pocket, with a natural tape hiss that isn't obtrusive. It's authentic.

Natural looking grain, deep blacks, a perfect grayscale, and vibrant colors? Check, check, check and check. You know, once you see HDR it's kind of difficult to unsee it, so as always, I'm curious what a UHD release would look like; nonetheless, it's not needed, as boldly saturated colors pop. I mean, there's no way that folks saw how good this looks in 1939. As I've just watched Singin' In the Rain (1952) on UHD, yes, my eyes got a little spoiled. I have little doubt that Elizabeth and Essex would look just as good, or better, than The Wizard of Oz. Hell, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) might clobber them all if only it had a better encode.

In close, the film is as paranoid as its characters, with both principle players being toxic as fukc. It's a demo disc for glorious three-strip Technicolor, plus Bette Davis puts on a clinic, despite the director milking her presence a little much.

This is another WAC release that I'm glad I own. Thanks for the recommendations.

The film suffers from being adapted from a Maxwell Anderson stage play I think. It has many of the same problems as Mary of Scotland (1935) which was also based on an Anderson stage play. Both films are only really made special by the photography, cast, lead performances and directors Curtiz and John Ford. What helped Mary along is that its basically Ford and Hepburn almost falling madly in love onscreen.

Davis has great presence as Elizabeth in varying moods and didn't see Flynn as taking things seriously leading to her dislike of him during shooting. When she slaps him in the film it was a real slap complete with all of the heavy prop rings. However her reappraisal came years later when she realized just what an impact he was having onscreen. In fact Flynn steals the film right out from under her by underplaying in the right places and rather adroitly showing just how well Essex was suited for Elizabeth's personality. I adore them both and its a two-hander star vehicle between them...but Errol really takes it and by that end scene (which is the best moment in the entire film and worth waiting for if you don't like talky costume pictures) its obvious.

Curtiz's legendary drive keeps the film moving which helps combat the talky script. The photography and opulence are breathtaking and the supporting cast are great though both Vincent Price and Olivia DeHavilland are underutilized. Poor Olivia was given this smaller supporting role as payback for doing GWTW for Selznick. This was according to her own words but given her star status at the time and the fact that things like this happened frequently it makes perfect sense.


The fun comparison is in looking at Elizabeth and Essex vs The Sea Hawk made the very next year. Three strip Technicolor vs B&W, completely different tones, same lead actor, same director, most of the same production team and totally different versions of Elizabeth that are both outstanding.

[JasonMichael]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

He also teased that him and Jerry Beck are currently working an a previously unmentioned animation project, which will hopefully arrive before Christmas so long as they can make the numbers work, that "will really be aimed squarely at the most avid collectors, and along the lines of Popeye and Tex Avery, which they still haven't finished yet", though it has yet to be green-lit at the time of recording.

Great news!

[TravisTylerBlack]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

He still underlines that the future is solid for the Archive, that the work doesn't stop that and that there's plenty of "treasures" in the pipeline, and that with the people responsible for the downsizing now gone, hopefully they'll be able to "rebuild from the ashes and do more”.

Justice. Hope the door smacked them on the way out!

[Leviathan]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

We also learn that Jekyll & Hyde '41 is indeed coming from a 4K scan of the best preservation elements, and it's confirmed that the '31 version is in fact currently in the works to be hopefully released before the end of the year. He also teased that him and Jerry Beck are currently working an a previously unmentioned animation project, which will hopefully arrive before Christmas so long as they can make the numbers work, that "will really be aimed squarely at the most avid collectors, and along the lines of Popeye and Tex Avery, which they still haven't finished yet", though it has yet to be green-lit at the time of recording.

I'll believe it when I see it.

The fact that finishing what they started (Popeye and Tex) doesn't give me much hope. If it even comes out, it'll be another half-finished abandoned project.

I won't even rule out shoddy restoration work. If WAC did it before (Tex #2) they'll do it again.

[Hammerlover]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

I'll believe it when I see it.

The fact that finishing what they started (Popeye and Tex) doesn't give me much hope. If it even comes out, it'll be another half-finished abandoned project.

I won't even rule out shoddy restoration work. If WAC did it before (Tex #2) they'll do it again.

That's your prerogative, of course, but I'd sooner trust WAC than just about any other boutique label out there.

[Leviathan]

Given that they're the only studio-affiliated boutique label that puts out animation, that's not saying much.

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

I'll believe it when I see it.

The fact that finishing what they started (Popeye and Tex) doesn't give me much hope. If it even comes out, it'll be another half-finished abandoned project.

I won't even rule out shoddy restoration work. If WAC did it before (Tex #2) they'll do it again.

The last time you stirred things up here you left with your tail between your legs. Maybe quit while you're behind?

[Justin2000]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

I'll believe it when I see it.

The fact that finishing what they started (Popeye and Tex) doesn't give me much hope. If it even comes out, it'll be another half-finished abandoned project.

I won't even rule out shoddy restoration work. If WAC did it before (Tex #2) they'll do it again.

This year is Daffy Duck's Anniversary.
Or Maybe a Coyote & Roadrunner collection to promote Coyote Vs. ACME Next Year?

[Guy LeDouche]

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

New "The Extras" podcast with George, talking about the March, April and May releases(save for Brothers Grimm which got it's own episode before this. He says that the March slate has been very successful and that he's so happy to see the praise coming from the customers, calling Grimm "a phenomenon, far more successful than he could even dream", plus Captains of the Clouds has apparently been a "surprisingly hefty seller". This is, of course, outstanding news for not only the titles in question but for future difficult restorations which will hopefully benefit from these successes. The more good news I hear about the sales of Brothers Grimm in particular, the better!

We also learn that Jekyll & Hyde '41 is indeed coming from a 4K scan of the best preservation elements, and it's confirmed that the '31 version is in fact currently in the works to be hopefully released before the end of the year. He also teased that him and Jerry Beck are currently working an a previously unmentioned animation project, which will hopefully arrive before Christmas so long as they can make the numbers work, that "will really be aimed squarely at the most avid collectors, and along the lines of Popeye and Tex Avery, which they still haven't finished yet", though it has yet to be green-lit at the time of recording.

He also hopes that the recent releases of Singin' in the Rain and Giant in 4K UHD are only the beginning of more deep Warner classics in the format, also stating that more are coming.

Now for the annoying part, George and crew had "mapped out quite a robust 2022 schedule, which got spread out over a longer period of time" due to the staff having been downsized by about 85 to 90%. He still underlines that the future is solid for the Archive, that the work doesn't stop that and that there's plenty of "treasures" in the pipeline, and that with the people responsible for the downsizing now gone, hopefully they'll be able to "rebuild from the ashes and do more".

Unfortunately, this seems to indicate that they won't be able to beef up the slates quite as quickly as we'd hope, and we'll have to wait through a few more smaller months before the beefy five to nine title slates of last year come back. A shame, as what's been missing from the announcements has, in my opinion, been some variety. I really miss months like May and November of 2021 where we got a lot of different types of films, and was hoping we got back to that status quo sooner rather than later. Still, it's just one small(hopefully temporary) disappointment amid a bunch of good news and intriguing teases. Eager to hear more in the future!

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR...AAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

It's awesome that Captains Of The Clouds is a good seller! The colors are incredible on that one... and the aviation stunt work with the seaplanes was jaw-dropping!

As for the unmentioned animation project, "aimed squarely at the avid collector," my hopes are for a Happy Harmonies collection. I think the most recent collection dedicated to that catalog was on laserdisc.

[Leviathan]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

The last time you stirred things up here you left with your tail between your legs. Maybe quit while you're behind?

I mean, it's great that their live action catalog is unblemished by bad transfers and incomplete series. You must be in hog heaven.

But their animation releases don't inspire nearly that much confidence from me, and no amount of snark out of you will change that

[EVOLVIST]

Originally Posted by dressedtokill

Unfortunately, like most films distributed and produced by RKO, there's a lot of issues with the film elements. They require a lot of work and that takes time and money. The same thing happened with Bringing Up Baby, another RKO property and that one took ages to come out.

Suspicion (1941) from WAC is the best RKO restoration that I've seen. I haven't seen all RKO restorations, but damn, WAC did a helluva job.

It looks better to me than Swing Time (1936) from Criterion. Apples and oranges of course.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Why is Raintree County still not on Blu-Ray?

The bigger reason, if you'd bother to read any of the numberless discussions in this thread, is that the original materials are in a deteriorated state and it would be an enormous financial undertaking to salvage them.

The smaller reason is that it's a flaming bag of doo doo.

[SoundOfSilence]

Originally Posted by EVOLVIST

Suspicion (1941) from WAC is the best RKO restoration that I've seen. I haven't seen all RKO restorations, but damn, WAC did a helluva job.

It looks better to me than Swing Time (1936) from Criterion. Apples and oranges of course.

If you haven't seen it already, Notorious is a very good restoration.

As is Rebecca - though it is Selznick/UA and not RKO. But still Hitchcock and Joan Fontaine.

There's no doubt Criterion and WAC are the best labels for restorations.

IMHO.