Howard Hawks on Blu-ray

[Rafows]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I don't want to take the thread too far off-topic, but if people will indulge me on a brief DVD question, I'm wondering if anybody can tell me for sure whether or not the "Danny Kaye: The Goldwyn Years" set from Warner Archive is one of those sets where the first printing was pressed. I'm mainly interested because of "Song Is Born", but I've also gotten curious to see more Danny Kaye anyway.

I have the first printing of the set and I can guarantee you it is pressed.

[John_Drake]

Same here

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by Jason Rietman4k

Well, you definitely should notice grain. Can't tell if you're being serious or not

Well I think...you shouldn't. I was a colour grader/timer in a movie lab for 25 years, & from there on a telecine colourist until I retired, & if a picture looked grainy, well, there was something wrong. I'm not saying that you shouldn't see film grain if you get up close to the screen & look for it.

Anyway, let's just agree to disagree

[Mattmck99]

More Howard Hawks titles are coming to blu, courtesy of Indicator

Release date: 22 March 2021

Howard Hawks (Twentieth Century) made his first film for Columbia Pictures with this pre-Code prison movie. The great Walter Huston (Dragonwyck) stars as a district attorney-turned-prison warden who gets to witness first-hand the effects of his convictions, especially Phillip Holmes (An American Tragedy), imprisoned after killing a man in a drunken brawl. Co-starring Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), The Criminal Code is tough, no-nonsense, quintessential Hawks.


INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

High definition remaster
Original mono soundtrack
Audio commentary with film historian Nora Fiore (2021)
The Howard Hawks Masterclass with John Carpenter (1997): archival audio recording of an event from the British Film Institute’s 1997 Howard Hawks retrospective at the National Film Theatre, London
Kim Newman on Boris Karloff (2021): the author and critic discusses the non-horror roles of the iconic actor
Codes and Convictions (2021): video essay comparing The Criminal Code with its 1950 film noir remake, Convicted
Lux Radio Theatre: ‘The Criminal Code’ (1937): radio adaptation starring Edward G Robinson
Image gallery: publicity and promotional material
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Philip Kemp, extracts from interviews with Howard Hawks, Henri Langlois on the early sound films of Howard Hawks, overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
World premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies

All extras subject to change

Release date: 22 March 2021

The second film Howard Hawks (The Criminal Code) made at Columbia Pictures is among his greatest works. John Barrymore plays a theatre impresario down on his luck. Carole Lombard is his former protégé, now a major star. When the two meet by chance aboard the Twentieth Century locomotive, their love-hate relationship is reignited.

Now recognised as a classic, Twentieth Century is the film which established the template for the screwball comedy – and made Lombard a star.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

4K restoration
Original mono soundtrack
Audio commentary with novelist and film historian Farran Smith Nehme (2021)
Stars in Her Eyes (2021): academic Lucy Bolton discusses the film career of Carole Lombard
Howard Hawks Study Day (1997): archival audio recording of an event from the British Film Institute’s 1997 Howard Hawks retrospective at the National Film Theatre, London
Super 8 version: cut-down home cinema presentation
Image gallery: publicity and promotional material
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Pamela Hutchinson, extracts from interviews with Howard Hawks, overview of contemporary and modern critical responses, and film credits
World premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies
All extras subject to change

[bonehica]

Thanks for the update. Day one for a Hawks fan!! As soon as they are in the database I will get them on the OP.

[Dailyan]

Good news about a potential Blu for "The Big Sky"

Originally Posted by BillWatkins

Big surprise for me to see Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952) added to The Criterion Channel in the section dedicated to Film Foundation restorations. When I read Criterion's December 2020 lineup post at the beginning of the month (https://www.criterion.com/current/po...er-2020-lineup) it doesn't even mention The Big Sky. I got an email today from Criterion and it was mentioned almost as a footnote at the end of it.

I asked Warner Archive about 10 years ago when The Big Sky was going to be released on DVD (this was before they started releasing Blu-rays) and they said the hold up was that they were searching for better elements for the 20 minutes that were cut from the original version so that they could reinstate them to Hawks' original vision. The film hasn't been released to date on DVD (or Blu-ray). The version streaming on the Criterion Channel is the full 140 minute original cut so I guess The Film Foundation helped Warner restore the film.

I have to imagine there is a very strong chance that Criterion is going to be releasing the film now.

[CelestialAgent]

The best release for extras is the French DVD from Editions Montparnsse, but in terms of master it isn’t meant to be so hot.

[bonehica]

The Big Sky would be huge! I'm already amped about Twentieth Century and The Criminal Code, but that might push me over the edge.

[ilenewoodsfan99]

Always wanted to see The Big Sky! Here's hoping this potential blu ray will be my chance!

[CinemaScope]

Ooo, I'd love The Big Sky. I first saw it on TV in the early sixties, it's a magical western for me, when they start that boat journey in the early foggy morning to go where no white men has gone, & Kirk Douglas is really great in this.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

The best release for extras is the French DVD from Editions Montparnsse, but in terms of master it isn’t meant to be so hot.

Just tracked this down about six months ago, so I should've expected a blu-ray to come along...

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

Just tracked this down about six months ago, so I should've expected a blu-ray to come along...

I have no idea where to track these releases down from!

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

I have no idea where to track these releases down from!

There's actually a French ebay, and the listings will show on US ebay if they're willing to ship over here. But you have to search by the French name unless the seller goes way overboard.

[bonehica]

The defining screwball comedy is finally coming to Blu (at least in Region A )!!

Screwball sparks fly when Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn let loose in one of the fastest and funniest films ever made—a high-wire act of invention that took American screen comedy to new heights of absurdity. Hoping to procure a million-dollar endowment from a wealthy society matron for his museum, a hapless paleontologist (Grant) finds himself entangled with a dizzy heiress (Hepburn) as the manic misadventures pile up—a missing dinosaur bone, a leopard on the loose, and plenty of gender-bending mayhem among them. Bringing Up Baby’s sophisticated dialogue, spontaneous performances, and giddy innuendo come together in a whirlwind of comic chaos captured with lightning-in-a-bottle brio by director Howard Hawks.

- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2005 featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
- New video essay on actor Cary Grant by author Scott Eyman
- New interview about cinematographer Russell Metty with cinematographer John Bailey
- New interview with film scholar Craig Barron on special-effects pioneer Linwood Dunn
- New selected-scene commentary about costume designer Howard Greer with costume historian Shelly Foote
- Howard Hawks: A Hell of a Good Life, a 1977 documentary by Hans-Christoph Blumenberg featuring the director’s last filmed interview
- Audio interview from 1969 with Grant
- Audio excerpts from a 1972 conversation between Hawks and Bogdanovich
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Sheila O’Malley

Release Date: July 6, 2021

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by Chase540

Loved this film! I saw it for the first time on the Criterion Channel about a month or two ago. It looked pretty rough, though, so I figure a blu-ray is far into the future.

Great fillm!

But Public Domain

I have an average DVD copy

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by 50strat54

Great fillm!

But Public Domain

I have an average DVD copy

Ball of Fire is not in the public domain. It's owned by the Samuel Goldwyn company and WB currently has the home video license for it.

[Drake2222]

Road to Glory is the one I would want on blu, great WWI film. Of course it’s a remake of the great Wooden Crosses

[Acer2010]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

Ball of Fire is not in the public domain. It's owned by the Samuel Goldwyn company and WB currently has the home video license for it.

How do you know this?

[ABaglivi]

Land of the Pharaohs.

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by Acer2010

How do you know this?

Because WAC has the home video license for all Goldwyn titles and released the DVD of it. And if it was PD, every lousy PD company would release their own version of it. Why would you think this particular title is in the public domain?