Warner Brothers Archive Collection (DVDs only)

[Drucker]

The Cameraman by Keaton is available, so doesn't look like Warner will be licensing it out on Blu-Ray to anyone else, which is a shame.

"Seastrom's" The Scarlet Letter is another listed. Hope that doesn't bode poorly for a real, pressed-disc release.

[jsteffe]

The streaming service is open to subscribers now, $10 a month with a free 2-week preview. That's a little pricey for the limited selection of titles available right now, but it looks promising. Several high-profile titles in HD (via Roku).

http://instant.warnerarchive.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Agreed - there are some very good titles in there, including in HD. But there's just not enough content yet to justify the monthly fee. I'm going to hold off for a few months to see how much content they load in the meantime.

[rockysds]

FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD VOLUME SIX (1932-34) It’s back — and more forbiddery than ever! Presenting an easy-on-the-eyes speakeasy with a pre-Code quartet starring a selection of Golden Age Hollywood’s taboo-transgressing titans in some of the most sought after pieces of verboten sin-ema. All four films have been remastered for the first time in 20-25 years and initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand!

Films included:
The Wet Parade, Downstairs, Mandalay, Massacre

[Matt]

But there's just not enough content yet to justify the monthly fee. I'm going to hold off for a few months to see how much content they load in the meantime.

The "coming soon" section exclusively lists films from the '60s, '70s, and '80s, but they assured me via Twitter that they want a balance of titles in the service and will be adding earlier films as well. I'm really only interested in the '30s, '40s, and '50s titles and what's there now I've seen and/or own on DVD. I'll be waiting a while for the selection to expand (and I also don't own a Roku yet).

[AlexHansen]

Isn't it going to be a rotating selection with titles coming and going? And not all the titles on the site are available via Roku (as of yet). There's no film noir, musical, or pre-code sections. I'll probably end up suspending before my two weeks is up, but hopefully things flesh out quickly.

[Matt]

The rotating selection was a possibility they floated in the early stages of development, but there's no indication that that will be the case.

[jwd5275]

In the beta stage they had whole sections labelled 'film noir', 'pre-code', 'musical' and 'forbidden hollywood'. These are unfortunately all gone now. Through the beta stage there was nearly double the selection that is available now that you have to pay. I was seriously considering subscribing based on the beta test, but now I will likely cancel after my two weeks are up.

[AlexHansen]

From the FAQ:
Is this service the entire Warner Bros. library?
Warner Archive Instant offers hundreds of film and TV selections at any given time, reflecting the broad selection of content in the library. New content will be regularly added to the service, offering a consistently fresh experience with plenty of time to explore and discover.
How long will I have to watch a movie?
You will have several months to watch most content. There will be a few exceptions with longer or shorter timeframes. But don't worry – content scheduled to be removed from the service will be listed as "Leaving Soon".

[zedz]

FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD VOLUME SIX (1932-34) It’s back — and more forbiddery than ever!

I've always wondered how one would form an adjective from 'forbidden'.

[jwd5275]

Warner Archive's response to my inquiry about the loss of all the titles when it came out of beta:

Hi,

On Roku, a couple of categories were mistakenly removed. They were just added back. You may have to exit the channel and re-enter for the categories to appear.

Yes, a few titles that were in Beta are not on the service now.  The current service only includes titles with closed captioning.  We're working to add captions on the other titles.  Once captions are added, the titles will be added back to the service.  We expect several titles to be added in the next few days.

Thanks.

Warner Archive

To be fair, they did add the categories I mentioned, but I wonder how on the level they are when one of the missing films is Truffaut's Day for Night which should already be subtitled in English.

[captveg]

To be fair, they did added the categories I mentioned, but I wonder how on the level they are when one of the missing films is Truffaut's Day for Night which should already be subtitled in English.

English subtitles and English SDH/CC are two different files entirely. Not surprising that they may not have the latter ready to go for a non-English film.

[repeat]

Has anyone here bought any of the French FNAC exclusive Warner discs? They have a series of about 75 titles, most of which are available as Warner Archive MOD discs (and some are available in non-MOD boxsets), but as far as I can tell these are not DVD-R's. Each one I've checked has an identical runtime to the US releases, so PAL speedup would not appear to be an issue. I don't know if the subs are removable or not.

These are the titles that are to my knowledge either out of print and not available MOD, or entirely exclusive to this series:

The Amazing Doctor Clitterhouse (Anatole Litvak)
The Americanization of Emily (Arthur Hiller)
Beyond the Forest (King Vidor)
Manhattan Melodrama (W.S. Van Dyke)
Marie Antoinette (W.S. Van Dyke)
Mission Of Danger (Jacques Tourneur / George Waggner)
Picture Snatcher (Lloyd Bacon)

Also the entire series is currently part of a "3 for 20 euros" sale at FNAC, making them about 30% cheaper than the DVD-R's even with international postage added. I can post the full list that I made for my own convenience if it's of interest to anyone.

[Feego]

Footlight Parade is still in print in Region 1. It can be had in the Busby Berkeley set.

[repeat]

Thanks, fixed that. Beyond the Forest is obviously the most appealing of those, but overall it's a pretty good deal for EU customers - the whole selection includes stuff like Rise And Fall of Legs Diamond, The Tall Target, Stars In My Crown, plus a good smattering of Hawks and Walsh - with a good third off the price compared to the Warner DVD-R's. I'm not 100% sure but I think the sale might actually end today, so couldn't resist grabbing a whole bunch of these

[Noiradelic]

The Americanization of Emily is also still available as part of the Controversial Classics box.

[rockysds]

The Warner Archive Collection is already taking pre-orders for the release of Volume 7 of "Forbidden Hollywood'' on April 30. This one includes two long-awaited Warren William vehicles, Edgar Selwyn's "Skyscraper Souls'' with Maureen O'Sullivan and Roy Del Ruth's "Employees' Entrance'' co-starring Loretta Young. The other titles are William Wellman's "The Hatchet Man'' (1932) starring Edward G. Robinson and Young and Robert Florey's "Ex-Lady'' (1933) with Bette Davis and Gene Raymond.

[Matt]

Oh! The Hatchet Man is superb (provided you're not too troubled by white actors in yellowface) and has a fantastic ending.

[Tommaso]

"Skyscraper Souls"! That's one of the most daring pre-codes in terms of sexual relations (and face it, ladies' undies) and at the same time criticising the finance industry in an unfortunately very up-to-date manner. And there's even a lot of comedy in it, too, in spite of the serious subject. A truly great one, I wonder why they kept it unreleased for so long. I hope they can do something about the sound, as the dialogue of the laserdisc version is often hard to understand for a non-native speaker (which however didn't distract from my enjoyment of the film).

[repeat]

French FNAC exclusive Warner discs

Just for the record, an update on these: of the 12 discs I ordered, all but one (Tiger Shark) have removable subs, and only two (Tiger Shark and The Tall Target) appear to be DVD-R's. The FNAC campaign is valid for another week (until the end of the month).

[Jonathan S]

Thanks for the FNAC info, repeat. In a previous post (before you ordered them) you wrote:

Each one I've checked has an identical runtime to the US releases, so PAL speedup would not appear to be an issue.

Have you checked any to see if this is in fact the case - and that they are PAL discs? I ask because my concern is actually the opposite of yours!

Unless they are NTSC discs (which would be ideal), I'd much prefer them with PAL speed-up, as otherwise they must be NTSC-PAL conversions like several Warner-sourced discs I've bought from France, Spain and indeed the UK (e.g. the Spanish DVD of Mann's Devil's Doorway). On my system at least, I find the visual flaws (usually combing, softness, smeariness, jerkiness) on these kind of transfers far more distracting than PAL speed-up.

[repeat]

Good points - I've only had time to watch one disc (Brewster McCloud) and that indeed did have PAL speedup! It must be that they've just copied the runtimes from the NTSC releases and neglected to account for the speedup. I've only played the other discs briefly while checking the subs, but I didn't notice any irregularities like combing or jerkiness - the case might indeed be that they are all sped-up after all. I'll have a look at the others in the evening and let you know

(BTW I forgot to mention that the French Tiger Shark disc should be avoided, as the subs on that are not only non-removable but actually burnt-in)

[Jonathan S]

Thanks for the further info. It sounds like in the case of Tiger Shark at least they must have used an old PAL master, rather than the one used for the WA release. Maybe it was just a one-off error but it raises some other concerns, like whether FNAC/Warner editions of Scope films are in the correct AR or maybe old European TV masters (Bhowani Junction for example is still shown on UK TV in 4:3!)

Incidentally, there are a lot more titles in the 3 for 20 euros sale including other Warner titles and some that appear to be sourced from Wild Side like House by the River. I suspect though the FNAC edition of the Lang could be the later of the two Wild Side issues referred to on DVD Beaver as having forced subs.

Any further info on the ones you bought much appreciated. I'm willing to gamble on some of these but I might buy more if most seem to be genuine PAL transfers (with removable subs).

[TMDaines]

That's quite the find! They have Human Desire too, which is never in-stock on Amazon.fr. M6 discs seem to be part of the sale too, which is great for mopping up their Italian exclusives, and there's also a load of the Gaumont on-demand stuff.

[Jonathan S]

Yes, there are some interesting titles in FNAC's 'Introuvables' series, particularly noirs (a useful standalone of Fuller's Underworld USA too) but does anyone know if the subs in this series (different to the Warner one discussed earlier) are unforced? In an addendum, the Beaver review of House by the River mentions a later (Wild Side) edition where the French subs are forced, though FNAC isn't specified.

A FNAC reviewer of Human Desire mentions: "La version Pal sans sous titres n'a pas ce défaut. Je n'aurai pas cru cela des Introuvables!" But I guess he's just complaining about the prioritising of a French dub track which (I gathered after digging around) is also on this release?

[TMDaines]

Wild Side releases do often have fixed (but not burnt-in) subtitles, so I'm buying them and expecting to play them through my PC to watch without subs.