Warner Brothers Archive Collection (DVDs only)

[Feego]

Some of those silent films are attractive to me: La Boheme, The Patsy, Souls for Sale. I also picked up Wonder Bar a while back.

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

Some more titles up for pre-order:

The Amazing Captain Nemo (yet another mediocre Irwin Allen production)
A "Remastered and Restored" Mammy by Michael Curtiz (I think Feltensetein was touting as one of their flagship restorations a while back)
Steel, with Shaquille O'Neill (!!!!!! I've always wanted to see this. It was SUCH an incredible bomb.)

[planetjake]

Steel, with Shaquille O'Neill (!!!!!! I've always wanted to see this. It was SUCH an incredible bomb.)

Seriously, don't get your hopes up. It's no Kazaam.

[domino harvey]

I got my copy of Saint Joan in and was surprised at the 1.85 aspect ratio. Were the other transfers open-matte, ie is this an Anatomy of a Murder scenario? Some tops of heads are missing but it looks mostly right in its current framing, so it's hard to tell what the intended ratio is and my memory of the previous academy ratio is fuzzy. The quality of the print itself is a BEAUT though, one of the best from the Archives

[domino harvey]

So, some notes on a few more Archive titles:

She's Working Her Way Through College I doubt this musical was on anyone else's radar but I picked it up hoping for a Good News-esque retread. No such luck, but while the film is pretty bad, it is bad in an interesting way. I'm much more forgiving of Ronald Reagan the actor than most but this is surely his worst performance. Whoever told him to go broader in his drunk scene should have had a civil suit brought against him. Though I didn't discover until after I'd seen it, turns out the whole musical is a remake of the Male Animal, unseen by me and likely to remain that way. I do wonder if the offputting anti-intellectualism of this musical was present in the source material, because it gets to be really obnoxious-- who wants a fun college musical made by people who hate college? Thankfully most of the numbers are quite good, particularly the one with Virginia Mayo and partner dancing around a classroom, sliding around and kicking books off desks. The transfer from the Archives has beautiful bright colors (thank God) but the print used has a lot of bleeding and looks something of a mess.

Interrupted Melody Eleanor Parker has really fallen out of favor in the years since her heyday but I'm an unapologetic fan and that's good because I doubt anyone else would get very far in this peculiar biopic of Australian opera star Marjorie Lawrence. The film has a pretty weird structure, with the film devolving into almost an hour of nothing but Parker playing dress up and lip-synching to Eileen Farrell, but man, I gotta admit that it does hold appeal for this viewer! Then polio strikes and Parker writhes around on the ground like James Caan in Misery. I don't know what's weirder, that the Academy was so enamored with Parker that they gave her a third Best Actress nom for this or that it won the Best Screenplay award. No, I do actually, and it's the last one!

But enough about the film, let me take time to address the Warner Archive disc, which is without question the single worst DVD I have ever spent money for. The transfer here is worse than any bootleg I've ever bought. It's even worse than most YouTube videos. First, on a minor note, because the vocals in the opera sections are so loud, Warners has thoughtfully transferred the film's soundtrack a much lower than normal level, so that the only thing that registers correctly are the operettas. This resulted in two hours of me having to raise and lower the volume every three minutes. Annoying. The print is filthy, with the grain looking like a fine layer of dirt covering the TV screen. But even this is not what makes this the worst transfer I've ever paid money for, as Warners has encoded the disc at such a low level that whenever the color red makes an appearance, the picture breaks out into giant pixel blocks. This results in sequences where the film takes on the appearance of an episode of Cops. I sat there agog, contemplating whether I could actually sit through this quasi-Lego shit. I made it, but oh woe is he who sits through the scenes where red made an appearance. Let me put it this way so it comes up in some poor soul's Google Search: Interrupted Melody Warner Archives DVD review picture quality is sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks horrible sucks

Confessions of a Nazi Spy First, the running time for this one is actually fifteen minutes longer than that listed, so if that's been keeping anyone back, don't let it. I quite enjoyed this procedural and appreciated the perversity of top-billing Edward G Robinson and then not introducing him until 45 minutes into the film! But George Sanders steals the show, sporting what has to be the greatest haircut the studio system ever let a star sport on-camera. His sneering German is sorely missed in the film's second half once the pass is made off to Robinson. The DVD has some interlacing and the print isn't the greatest but it's hard for me to find fault with Interrupted Catastrophy still fresh in my mind!

[whaleallright]

On a positive note, I received the DVD of UNTAMED YOUTH and it looks beautiful. Very sharp anamorphic transfer with rich grayscale.

[Props55]

I realize some of the silents have been addressed individually but has anyone here seen enough of them for a few mini-reviews/commnents? Not just picture quality but the scores (if any) as well. I know someone had a rather scathing comment about a live recording which included ill-timed audience laughter (I believe the Garbo/Gilbert LOVE) but I'm also dimly aware that there may be others with new chamber/small ensemble scores that were the result of the TCM music competitions. I don't have TCM but the Garbos and Chaneys from the TCM silent collections were pretty impressive for the most part and I'd be curious to get opinions of any titles in the Archive similarly scored.

[Frankinho007]

New titles:

Above Suspicion (1943)
Amazing Captain Nemo, The (1978)
Cave In! (1983)
Escape (1940)
Fire! (1977)
Flood! (1976)
Hanging by a Thread (1979)
Mammy (Restored and Remastered) (1930)
McConnell Story, The (1955)
The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1983)
No More Ladies (1935)
Paid (1930)
Steel (1997)
Susan and God (1940)
Their Own Desire (1929)
This Modern Age (1931)
Torchy Blane Collection (1936 - 1939)
Disaster Films Produced by Irwim Allen (5 Films)
Classics Starring Joan Crawford (5 Films)

[perkizitore]

Paid sounds very promising!

[HarryLong]

I do wonder if the offputting anti-intellectualism of this musical was present in the source material, because it gets to be really obnoxious

I've never seen SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE (or I've forgotten it), but the point of THE MALE ANIMAL is Henry Fonda's character fighting for the right to read the Sacco & Vanzetti statement to his class, so ...

[jsteffe]

Out of curiosity I clicked the Art/Foreign category link and one of the films was Irwin Allen's TV trashterpiece Fire!, starring Ernest Borgnine. Someone over at the Warner Archive has a wicked sense of humor.

[jsteffe]

I got my copy of Saint Joan in and was surprised at the 1.85 aspect ratio. Were the other transfers open-matte, ie is this an Anatomy of a Murder scenario? Some tops of heads are missing but it looks mostly right in its current framing, so it's hard to tell what the intended ratio is and my memory of the previous academy ratio is fuzzy. The quality of the print itself is a BEAUT though, one of the best from the Archives

Considering the release date (1957), more than likely it was composed for widescreen projection. 1.85:1 is probably about right. Nice to hear that it's a solid transfer!

[domino harvey]

Susan and God is a Cukor that's been on my list. Also, boy, there's nothing Warners likes dumping more than Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor titles, eh

[colinr0380]

I'm pretty sure that I saw Hanging By A Thread (the 'trapped on a cable car' film, which I seem to remember had particularly misleading action-packed cover art for such a static Airport-styled portmanteau drama film) and "Flood!" as a kid (this was in the early days of VHS where rental choice seemed limited to Cocoon, Ringo Starr in Caveman or these made for TV disaster movies), but don't recall ever getting to see "Fire!"

[Cash Flagg]

Classics Starring Joan Crawford (5 Films)

$49.95 for all 5, which seems to be a relatively good deal. Use the coupon WELCOME09 for an additional $5 off.

[headacheboy]

I most recently used the WELCOME09 code for an additional five percent off. While it registers on the website and when I printed out the bill, my credit card revealed that Warner Archive did not give me the additional money off. I used it in the five for $55 sale at the end of March. So rather than my cost being $50 and shipping it was actully $55 and shipping.

[Cash Flagg]

I most recently used the WELCOME09 code for an additional five percent off. While it registers on the website and when I printed out the bill, my credit card revealed that Warner Archive did not give me the additional money off. I used it in the five for $55 sale at the end of March. So rather than my cost being $50 and shipping it was actully $55 and shipping.

Perhaps if you contact WB Shop's customer service, they'll be able to give you a refund. I just ordered the Crawford set (my first, and extremely reluctant, dip into the DVD-R pool) and can post a few screencaps once they arrive if Beaver reviews aren't forthcoming.

[manicsounds]

IGN review of STEEL

[Murdoch]

Finally.

[Matt]

Mammy is the 2002 UCLA restoration that includes the 2-color Technicolor sequences.

[anne_zombie]

Susan and God is a Cukor that's been on my list.

I'd rather go with PAID, as I feel it's the superior movie. SUSAN AND GOD appears to try to emulate the rapid-fire delivery of lines found in the bona fide classic HIS GIRL FRIDAY - not too successfully at that. SUSAN's just a puffed-up chick flick!

[Ashirg]

DVD Savant on Mammy

[Matt]

I don't get why people are applauding the release of this "troublesome" film through the Warner Archives like it's an act of bravery:

The Warner Archive Collection upgrades its mission with the release of Mammy, a part-color archival restoration unsuited for release through conventional channels. One doesn't have to go back very far in film history to discover plenty of film content disparaging to minorities of all stripes; mainstream films reflected the attitudes of their times, racial and otherwise. Mammy is just the sort of film that might be protested today, if it were exhibited in an insensitive manner.

The archive collection makes it possible for us to release a film like this in a historical context as opposed to someone just innocently putting the movie on a shelf in a store not knowing what it is and running the risk of being viewed out of context.

Isn't releasing it through the Archive (devoid of any extras putting the film in its historical context, despite what Mr. Feltenstein claims) actually rather insensitive and out-of-context? To quietly slip it out there in hopes that the NAACP or Al Sharpton or somebody doesn't notice? (Psst. Hey buddy. Yo, whitey. Can I interest you in a early Jolson talkie?) Wouldn't the truly admirable thing be to release it with at least a short documentary on the history of minstrelsy with interviews with (at least some black) scholars and historians?

[domino harvey]

Why are there taglines of the new Archives covers? I mean, think about it for a second

[stereo]

Wouldn't the truly admirable thing be to release it with at least a short documentary on the history of minstrelsy with interviews with (at least some black) scholars and historians?

Exactly. I had the same reaction to their Archive release of Wonder Bar with Jolson's whole Glory Mule sequence. Love and Theft by Eric Lott is good text on the subject.