Pre-Code and Early Talkie Films on Blu-Ray

[revgen]

Added

If I Had a Million (1932) Elephant Films Release
One Hour With You (1932) Elephant Films Release
Design For Living (1933) Elephant Films Release

[revgen]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Some other actresses who flourished in the Pre-Code years: Dorothy Mackaill, Miriam Hopkins, Ruth Chatterton, Glenda Farrell, Helen Twelvetrees (Gotta love the name!), Kay Francis, Constance Bennett, Ann Dvorak, etc. Some like Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Joan Crawford had great careers after '34 but others faded.
A great book on these ladies is Complicated Women.

I read the book 10 years ago. Fascinating reading. Especially about how much money actresses like Kay Francis made. They often made more than the studio executives.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by revgen

I read the book 10 years ago. Fascinating reading. Especially about how much money actresses like Kay Francis made. They often made more than the studio executives.

Kay was class. I remember reading that Jack Warner had decided her days as the queen of Warners were over and he wanted her out for a new star. Trouble was; she had a contact that she intended to fulfill. Warner proceeded to give her crappy scripts that he made sure had lines of dialogue designed to accent her lisp. She toughed it out though and finished out her contract. The irony (or karma) was that Warner's replacement for her was Bette Davis. Kay was a cakewalk compared to the headaches and battles ahead with Davis.

[Havenbull]

Would love to see Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels get a blu-ray release.

[revgen]

Added A Bill of Divorcement (1932).

Originally Posted by Kino Lorber Insider

Coming July 10th!
First Time on DVD and Blu-ray!
Brand New Master - From a 4K scan of the original camera negative!

A Bill of Divorcement (1932)

LINK

Katharine Hepburn made her screen debut in this pre-code melodrama.

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by Havenbull

Would love to see Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels get a blu-ray release.

Same here. It seems like a great pick for Criterion since it's owned by Universal.

The DVD is quite impressive, though. Clearly had a lot of work done on the video master and it has all the bells and whistles - tinting, the 2-color scene, hand-coloring, and even the original intermission title.

[revgen]

I picked up The Eagle and Hawk (1933), which is only available from France.

Good news.

1) It's region free.
2) English and French lossless audio tracks.
3) French subtitles are removable.

[revgen]

Added

The Sign of the Cross (1932)
The Black Cat (1934) - The Boris Karloff / Bela Lugosi Collection
Pardon Us (1931) - The Very Best of Laurel & Hardy Collection
Sons of the Desert (1933) - The Very Best of Laurel & Hardy Collection

[Richard--W]

Great idea for a thread.

You should put the link to this thread in your signature, revgen, so that people can find it
through your posts elsewhere on the forum.

My most wanted pre-code on blu-ray is The Story of Temple Drake (Universal 1933)
which I understand really provoked the Hayes people into enforcing the code. There are
excellent transfers around, but no disc. A rickety print is on youtube.

Murders In the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
(1932) also lead my list of most wanted pre-codes.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Richard--W

Great idea for a thread.

You should put the link to this thread in your signature, revgen, so that people can find it
through your posts elsewhere on the forum.

My most wanted pre-code on blu-ray is The Story of Temple Drake (Universal 1933)
which I understand really provoked the Hayes people into enforcing the code. There are
excellent transfers around, but no disc. A rickety print is on youtube.

Murders In the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
(1932) also lead my list of most wanted pre-codes.

Temple Drake is also high on my most wanted list of pre-code titles.
The posters from that era were mighty risqué:

IMG_0735.jpg

[revgen]

Originally Posted by Richard--W

Great idea for a thread.

You should put the link to this thread in your signature, revgen, so that people can find it
through your posts elsewhere on the forum.

My most wanted pre-code on blu-ray is The Story of Temple Drake (Universal 1933)
which I understand really provoked the Hayes people into enforcing the code. There are
excellent transfers around, but no disc. A rickety print is on youtube.

Murders In the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
(1932) also lead my list of most wanted pre-codes.

TCM and Universal did a restoration for The Story of Temple Drake awhile back for a TCM Film Festival. But it hasn't made it's way to disc yet. Jack La Rue's performance gave me chills the first time I saw it. The best version I have was aired on TCM awhile back. I believe it's an old (but still good) broadcast master.

Murders In the Rue Morgue is available on a French blu-ray disc, but BigShot says the music is wrong. Apparently they replaced the original soundtrack with stock cues from the 1940's. BigShot writes about it here. I did consider buying it and reinserting the audio from the DVD.

[revgen]

Added

Kept Husbands (1931) - RKO Classic Romances Collection
Lady Refuses, The (1931) - RKO Classic Romances Collection
Millie (1931) - RKO Classic Romances Collection
Sin Takes a Holiday (1930) - RKO Classic Romances Collection
Woman Between, The (1931) - RKO Classic Romances Collection

Painted Desert, The (1931) - RKO Classic Adventures Collection
Pay-Off, The (1930) - RKO Classic Adventures Collection
Silver Horde, The (1930) - RKO Classic Adventures Collection

[Richard--W]

It would not be inappropriate to list the pre-codes only available on DVD with small icons
at the bottom. There's so many important pre-code films in those box-sets.

[Ned Brainard]

Originally Posted by Richard--W

Great idea for a thread.

You should put the link to this thread in your signature, revgen, so that people can find it
through your posts elsewhere on the forum.

My most wanted pre-code on blu-ray is The Story of Temple Drake (Universal 1933)
which I understand really provoked the Hayes people into enforcing the code. There are
excellent transfers around, but no disc. A rickety print is on youtube.

Murders In the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
(1932) also lead my list of most wanted pre-codes.

While the general rule of thumb is to assume most 1930s Paramount films are now held by Universal, there are a handful of exceptions of which The Story of Temple Drake is one. If my memory is correct, Fox purchased the property for remake purposes, and the earlier film was included with the purchase. So I guess that means that Disney is now the owner of the film (or will be very soon). If Disney is willing to keep licensing out its non-Disney/Lucas/Marvel properties, perhaps Kino could make a deal at some point. Did anyone ever ask the Kino rep about this title when Kino was licensing from Fox?

[revgen]

Originally Posted by Richard--W

It would not be inappropriate to list the pre-codes only available on DVD with small icons
at the bottom. There's so many important pre-code films in those box-sets.

The pre-codes and early talkies available on DVD is vast and extensive. Listing them all will be a long chore. I'm going to make the blu-rays the focal point of this thread for now.

[Logos14]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Warner proceeded to give her crappy scripts that he made sure had lines of dialogue designed to accent her lisp.

My favorite: "Gwegowy, we awwive at Mandaway tomowwow."

Kay Fwancis - YouTube

And playing opposite Ronald Colman with his impeccable diction certainly didn't make her sound any better.

[Logos14]

Trouble in Paradise, Love Me Tonight, Counsellor at Law, and Twentieth Century are my most desired pre-code blu-rays.

[Tae]

Originally Posted by Logos14

Trouble in Paradise, Love Me Tonight, Counsellor at Law, and Twentieth Century are my most desired pre-code blu-rays.

You're in luck, because the KL Insider just recently confirmed that they'll be releasing Love Me Tonight

[Logos14]

Originally Posted by Tae

You're in luck, because the KL Insider just recently confirmed that they'll be releasing Love Me Tonight

Excellent news--I'll have to to keep an eye out for that. Thanks for telling me.

[revgen]

Added

The Vanishing Shadow (1934) - VCI Release