Warner Brothers Archive Collection (DVDs only)

[whaleallright]

it's funny that despite knowing her distaste for violence in movies, you showed her Get Carter

[feihong]

It was a coincidence, really: she came into the room and I happened to be checking the disc. She decided almost instantly that she wanted me to keep it playing. She had never seen Michael Caine in a movie before, and she found his screen persona exceptionally compelling. The night before I had pulled out The Tarnished Angels as a picture I thought she might actually enjoy, and she thought it was precious, shrill and maudlin. So it did surprise me quite a bit to find that Get Carter was more her speed.

As for the violence thing, I really take that prohibition with a grain of salt. How many movies out there really steer clear of such stuff? Her favorite film, Some Like it Hot, features the St. Valentine's Day massacre, and Edward Robinson Jr. icing George Raft almost point blank with a tommy gun. That's some violent sh*t if you ever stop and think about it. I would say that the violence in Get Carter is comparably cruel, and only slightly more bloody. But is this stuff actually more violent because there's more blood on display?

[domino harvey]

I was just either threatened or insulted by Warner Archives' latest email title

[FrauBlucher]

Not sure why I'm posting this ......

This is Glenn Erickson's review of Out of the Past. His PQ reviews are always very limited to the most general of observations. So, take it with a grain of salt, because he dropped this little nugget for Children of Paradise:

Criterion's Blu-ray of Children of Paradise sparkles as never before thanks to Pathé's 2011 restoration, which was performed at 4K resolution.

But hopefully, Out of the Past does look as good as he suggests.

[FrauBlucher]

Bluray.com....And oh boy, does this look sweet! \:D/

[tenia]

So WAC, which is considered the "discount" branch of Warner, gives a BD-50 for a 97 min B&W 1.37 with only 1 2.0 lossless track and barely any weighty extras, but WHV keeps on straining video bitrates to less than 20 Mbps ?

[captveg]

I wouldn't call it their "discount" branch. It's their "special interest" branch for more niche (from a marketing view) titles.

[Drucker]

If this is what it takes for Warners to get their back-catalog out, by putting it in the hands of a film lovers who will do right by their titles, that's good enough for me!

[flyonthewall2983]

The Warner Archive Collection re-releases Cronenberg's Crash.

Those bastards. After Videodrome, Crash might be my favorite Cronenberg film, so this is rather disappointing. ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

I wouldn't go bashing my head too much over this, because doesn't Jeremy Thomas still own the rights to it? I'd figure this release is a last-ditch effort by WB to get as much water from this stone as possible before a possible Criterion release (including Blu-ray, not like here). Could be wrong, but that's how I'm seeing it right now.

[FrauBlucher]

If this is what it takes for Warners to get their back-catalog out, by putting it in the hands of a film lovers who will do right by their titles, that's good enough for me!

Agreed. This can't viewed as anything but a big positive. I've killed WB in the past so it's only fair that I raise a glass to them when they give us stuff like this.

[domino harvey]

And again, Out of the Past looked real sketch on DVD, so they not only put it out, they clearly did some serious resto work on it and apparently it shows. Can't wait!

[Adam X]

The Warner Archive Collection re-releases Cronenberg's Crash.

Those bastards. After Videodrome, Crash might be my favorite Cronenberg film, so this is rather disappointing. ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

I wouldn't go bashing my head too much over this, because doesn't Jeremy Thomas still own the rights to it? I'd figure this release is a last-ditch effort by WB to get as much water from this stone as possible before a possible Criterion release (including Blu-ray, not like here). Could be wrong, but that's how I'm seeing it right now.

I like your wishful thinking.

[tenia]

If this is what it takes for Warners to get their back-catalog out, by putting it in the hands of a film lovers who will do right by their titles, that's good enough for me!

Oh this is indeed quite positive, and it's always very nice to see a movie getting done such a good technical work.
But considering these are more "niche titles" commercially speaking, it's still strange to me that Out of the Past gets more care than say Transcendance or Training Day.

[med]

But considering these are more "niche titles" commercially speaking, it's still strange to me that Out of the Past gets more care than say Transcendance or Training Day.

The masses that generally buy the latter two films don't give a fig about bitrate. (And that's assuming they even know what bitrate is!)

[ianthemovie]

I don't know if this was ever mentioned, but the Warner Archive Crash is not pan and scan as was originally stated on their website. I received a copy in the mail yesterday and can confirm that it is in 1.78, includes both the NC-17 and R-rated versions, and looks generally good. It's no Criterion but is certainly a workable DVD edition.

[tenia]

But considering these are more "niche titles" commercially speaking, it's still strange to me that Out of the Past gets more care than say Transcendance or Training Day.

The masses that generally buy the latter two films don't give a fig about bitrate. (And that's assuming they even know what bitrate is!)

I guess so, but at some point, PQ could be impacted by a poor compression due to a low disc space given to the movie.
In the end, to sum up, it looks as if the niche products which won't sell a lot get better and more expensive releases than big sellers, which seems upside down marketing-wise (though Transcendance has a crappy PQ anyway which certainly won't prevent it to sell well anyway).

[captveg]

New Release titles are hard to compare to catalog titles because there's such a difference in how they are prepped for release. The HD master is done prior to theatrical release rather than being prepped specifically for video; the marketing and authoring cost is tied to the box office returns rather than the potential video sales; etc.

[Perkins Cobb]

Not sure why I'm posting this ......

This is Glenn Erickson's review of Out of the Past. His PQ reviews are always very limited to the most general of observations. So, take it with a grain of salt, because he dropped this little nugget for Children of Paradise:

Criterion's Blu-ray of Children of Paradise sparkles as never before thanks to Pathé's 2011 restoration, which was performed at 4K resolution.

But hopefully, Out of the Past does look as good as he suggests.

Glenn's a friend of a friend so I hate to say this, but he's totally useless in this regard. I've been burned by some horrible-looking discs that he recommended unreservedly.

[Roger Ryan]

New Release titles are hard to compare to catalog titles because there's such a difference in how they are prepped for release. The HD master is done prior to theatrical release rather than being prepped specifically for video; the marketing and authoring cost is tied to the box office returns rather than the potential video sales; etc.

My understanding is the catalog division has always operated independently of the new release division with different authoring and quality control personnel for each. A decade back, most of the WHV catalog DVD releases looked superb whereas new big box office films like the HARRY POTTER series and THE DARK KNIGHT were riddled with compression artifacts and video noise.

[rockysds]

The Lusty Men, no blu-ray, [edit] but pressed.

[Gregory]

From Feltenstein's Reddit AMA last year:

[Q:] I saw that there was a screening of Nicholas Ray's THE LUSTY MEN (1952) at ll Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna earlier this year that was advertised as being "restored by Warner Bros. in collaboration with The Film Foundation and The Nicholas Ray Foundation. Restored from the original 35mm camera negative using traditional photochemical methods".
First of all, thank you for preserving and restoring films like this for audiences both present and future. Secondly, are there any plans to release The Lusty Men on DVD or (hopefully!) Blu-Ray? Thanks.
[A:] YES! There are 35mm film elements being made at the lab (photochemically!) from the original negative from which we will be remastering. The last video master was done 30 years ago (what you see on TV) so we think it's about time! Thanks!

They did all that only to put it on a DVD-R? I'm glad if it will look better than the old TCM master, but what a waste of a new restoration of a unique film by Ray and Mitchum in their prime.

[Ashirg]

This film is newly remastered.

Initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand.

[domino harvey]

Well that is good news then!

WBShop's prices are awful right now and their codes not much better, but you can use WBVISA10 to get $10 off $50 -- of course, WBShop's raised the minimum for Free Shipping to $75, so buy ~$85 worth of WBShop goods to make it worthwhile. C'est la Archive

[rockysds]

Yeah, I guess I jumped the gun, though they should put that info up to begin with. Still, as with Show Boat it seems like a wasted opportunity not to go blu as well.

[domino harvey]

My copy of the Lusty Men has shipped out. I'll be sure to post some screencaps if I get it before the usual suspects beat me to it