Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[Guy LeDouche]

They've literally released more from the 80s than the 30s. If anything the 30s are lagging behind.

[xochipilli]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

As usual the TCM festival had some restoration premieres and screenings that might indicate possible releases to come along with some dcps of WAC titles like A Star Is Born.

Oh, did some of the unreleased films on the slate actually get restored? I had asked earlier and apparently noone had been there or heard what was the condition of the masters. Do you happen to know which films had work done?

[Ned Brainard]

It's interesting to see how things change. Prior to 2019, WAC had only released one single film from the thirties - 42nd Street. I remember how disappointing it was month after month for a few years to see nothing from before 1940 announced. Then, 2019 came and the dam proverbially broke, and we've been getting a fair stream of 1930s titles since then. If I had the chance to interview Feltenstein, one question that I would ask would be what caused the abrupt change from hardly no 1930s to seeing such titles on a more regular basis. I'm certainly not complaining as I still have a large number of titles that I would love to see upgraded.

[Ned Brainard]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

Agreed. I wouldn't buy any of those on that list. I'm patiently waiting for them to release the rest of their John Wayne films. Including Baby Face.....

I just finished reading Scott Eyman's bio of the Duke, and I realized how many holes I have in my collection of his films. Serendipity struck with Deep Discount's Olive sale, and I now I have all of his Republic catalog on blu (with one or two unreleased exceptions). Still have more holes to plug though. My most wanted title from WAC is definitely The Wings of Eagles.

[gudemameshiba]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

Oh, did some of the unreleased films on the slate actually get restored? I had asked earlier and apparently noone had been there or heard what was the condition of the masters. Do you happen to know which films had work done?

I don't think anything shown at the festival was restored, but I also feel like I must have hallucinated Okeh1931's post because I'd have thought it would take over thread discussion:

Originally Posted by Okeh1931

All films listed are owned by Warner and newly restored, so we might be seeing WA releases of these soon.

[Beckford]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

Agreed. I wouldn't buy any of those on that list. I'm patiently waiting for them to release the rest of their John Wayne films. Including Baby Face.....

Love love love the look of sepiatone photographs! Always wished more of the vintage films that initially played in sepia prints had emerged on home video. I treasure the ones I have (like "Thunder in the Pines" with George Reeves and "The Jungle" with Cesar Romero). But I yearn (and always will, I suspect) to see titles like "The Firefly" and "The Girl of the Golden West" (both gleaming Jeanette MacDonald vehicles from MGM) and the stunning Douglas Fairbanks/Maria Montez/Max Ophuls collaboration "The Exile" in their original sepia sheen.

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by Beckford

Love love love the look of sepiatone photographs! Always wished more of the vintage films that initially played in sepia prints had emerged on home video. I treasure the ones I have (like "Thunder in the Pines" with George Reeves and "The Jungle" with Cesar Romero). But I yearn (and always will, I suspect) to see titles like "The Firefly" and "The Girl of the Golden West" (both gleaming Jeanette MacDonald vehicles from MGM) and the stunning Douglas Fairbanks/Maria Montez/Max Ophuls collaboration "The Exile" in their original sepia sheen.

I love it too. I think I fell in love with it as kid, watching one of my most beloved films of all time....

[Show spoiler]

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by gudemameshiba

I don't think anything shown at the festival was restored, but I also feel like I must have hallucinated Okeh1931's post because I'd have thought it would take over thread discussion:

Okay, so I just looked at Park Circus and the following movies are showing as having DCPs and I am pretty darn sure they weren't before. Perhaps they are upcoming WAC releases:

Blonde Crazy
Jewel Robbery
A Free Soul
Employee's Entrance
Female
Red Dust
Freaks
The Mind Reader
Baby Face
Red-Headed Woman
Night Nurse

Fingers crossed. I'd buy about half of these day 1, and probably all of them at some point

[Riwriwriw]

Freaks and the already announced 31 Dr Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde would make for a wonderful October.

[Dave Bannion]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

I just finished reading Scott Eyman's bio of the Duke, and I realized how many holes I have in my collection of his films. Serendipity struck with Deep Discount's Olive sale, and I now I have all of his Republic catalog on blu (with one or two unreleased exceptions). Still have more holes to plug though. My most wanted title from WAC is definitely The Wings of Eagles.

Love Eyman’s bio, humanizes Wayne beyond the cartoon he became later on. Wings of Eagles is fascinating, too. Wayne doing a flawed-hero turn, good stuff especially for students of Ford.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by Guy LeDouche

They've literally released more from the 80s than the 30s. If anything the 30s are lagging behind.

They could give us Ronald Colman's The Prisoner of Zenda, Alice Adams, and David Copperfield and help rectify this injustice.

[SanCarolina59]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

Okay, so I just looked at Park Circus and the following movies are showing as having DCPs and I am pretty darn sure they weren't before. Perhaps they are upcoming WAC releases:

Blonde Crazy
Jewel Robbery
A Free Soul
Employee's Entrance
Female
Red Dust
Freaks
The Mind Reader
Baby Face
Red-Headed Woman
Night Nurse

Fingers crossed. I'd buy about half of these day 1, and probably all of them at some point

If this ends up being true, then these films are also listed as having new DCPs via Park Circus:

Lassie Come Home (1943)
The Unvanquished (L'insoumis) (1964) (unsure if with Warner in U.S., an upcoming MOMA showing here says it is)
You’re A Big Boy Now (1966)
The Rain People (1969)
Captain Nemo And The Underwater City (1969) (listed as 1970 on Park Circus)
Ryan's Daughter (1970) (TBH, would have thought this would have caused more of an advance notice if it was being done ala Brothers Grimm)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) (I think Alex Cox said this was coming from Criterion finally this year)
O Lucky Man! (1973) (Criterion rumored)
Shoot The Moon (1982)
Bird (1988)
Quest For Camelot (1998)

[Shanghai Express]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

Okay, so I just looked at Park Circus and the following movies are showing as having DCPs and I am pretty darn sure they weren't before. Perhaps they are upcoming WAC releases:

Blonde Crazy
Jewel Robbery
A Free Soul
Employee's Entrance
Female
Red Dust
Freaks
The Mind Reader
Baby Face
Red-Headed Woman
Night Nurse

Fingers crossed. I'd buy about half of these day 1, and probably all of them at some point

This is insane. I’d buy pretty much all of these.

[MovieBill]

Please? a 4k and Blu? even Criterion is releasing Lean's SUMMERTIME on Blu.
One of the most beautiful films i've ever seen.

[bustthru]

Originally Posted by EVOLVIST

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't even see the survey in my packaging.

The only problem is, it asked my age, then my occupation, and that's as far as it went. After choosing my occupation the survey thanked me for my time and showed me the door.

Same thing here.

[SoundOfSilence]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

Okay, so I just looked at Park Circus and the following movies are showing as having DCPs and I am pretty darn sure they weren't before. Perhaps they are upcoming WAC releases:

Blonde Crazy
Jewel Robbery
A Free Soul
Employee's Entrance
Female
Red Dust
Freaks
The Mind Reader
Baby Face
Red-Headed Woman
Night Nurse

Fingers crossed. I'd buy about half of these day 1, and probably all of them at some point

It's a great selection.

Just need to add Queen Christina and the uncensored version of Mata Hari.

It'd be a good year.

[BluPat]

I just know we're gonna get Raintree County (1957) one millennia.

[SGFfilmfan]

Originally Posted by EVOLVIST

I'll tell you what's actually crap but not crap from WAC.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). The story was junk, but that's beside the point. The image is kind of dookie, yet at the same time, a lesser studio would have tried to "correct" "issues" with the DNR wand on the opticals (and there are tons of opticals), but WAC left them pretty much alone. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

It was a blind buy, as I was in the mood for some Marion Morrison, but I think the PQ was not as good as the reviews indicate. Thats okay, though. It goes toward my Three-strip Technicolor collection. Moreover, it serves an an excellent example of scanning the source, restoring the work, and not jacking with the film to "beautify" it.

I'm starting to favor "Fort Apache" out of the cavalry trilogy.

[xochipilli]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

Blonde Crazy
Jewel Robbery
A Free Soul
Employee's Entrance
Female
Red Dust
Freaks
The Mind Reader
Baby Face
Red-Headed Woman
Night Nurse
Lassie Come Home (1943)
The Unvanquished (L'insoumis) (1964) (unsure if with Warner in U.S., an upcoming MOMA showing here says it is)
You’re A Big Boy Now (1966)
The Rain People (1969)
Captain Nemo And The Underwater City (1969) (listed as 1970 on Park Circus)
Ryan's Daughter (1970) (TBH, would have thought this would have caused more of an advance notice if it was being done ala Brothers Grimm)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) (I think Alex Cox said this was coming from Criterion finally this year)
O Lucky Man! (1973) (Criterion rumored)
Shoot The Moon (1982)
Bird (1988)
Quest For Camelot (1998)

Interesting. I'd have thought that most of these would have gotten 4K scans, but since the four pre-codes showing in the UK are confirmed to have been 4K restorations that might not be indicative, necessarily. If Freaks has indeed been redone, it seems they might have decided to look into both it and the two Jekyll's at the same time, since the condition of the elements was brought up on the podcast at around the same time last year or two. I wonder if there's also been some progress on the '37 Prisoner of Zenda, since it was also said to be in a similar(if a bit more problematic) state around the same time...

I've been wondering for a while if we could see the remaining two Coppola titles soon since he's been going back to his stuff lately, and with The Rain People having a 4K DCP it might be going with Criterion. I won't get my hopes up for Ryan's Daughter just yet, but if this turns out to be the "quite long, and quite beat up" title they're working on, WOW is this going to turn out to be an insane year, even with all the delays and smaller slates! Brothers Grimm and Ryan's Daughter in the same year?!

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

Interesting. I'd have thought that most of these would have gotten 4K scans, but since the four pre-codes showing in the UK are confirmed to have been 4K restorations that might not be indicative, necessarily. If Freaks has indeed been redone, it seems they might have decided to look into both it and the two Jekyll's at the same time, since the condition of the elements was brought up on the podcast at around the same time last year or two. I wonder if there's also been some progress on the '37 Prisoner of Zenda, since it was also said to be in a similar(if a bit more problematic) state around the same time...

I've been wondering for a while if we could see the remaining two Coppola titles soon since he's been going back to his stuff lately, and with The Rain People having a 4K DCP it might be going with Criterion. I won't get my hopes up for Ryan's Daughter just yet, but if this turns out to be the "quite long, and quite beat up" title they're working on, WOW is this going to turn out to be an insane year, even with all the delays and smaller slates! Brothers Grimm and Ryan's Daughter in the same year?!

Very few Warner films have 4K DCPs, especially older ones. Even if you look at titles WAC announced as 4K scans, they're listed as standard DCPs on Park Circus. I also think WAC tends to do 4K scans and them restores them in 2K anyway So these being standard DCPs doesn't necessarily rule out Blu-rays to come.