Warner Brothers Archive Collection (DVDs only)

[captveg]

WAC 6th Anniversary Q&A with George Feltenstein

[domino harvey]

Femme Fatale, the Science of Sleep, and Death to Smoochy are among the latest pressed titles that could justify a Blu-ray release and yet are getting downgraded to MODs

Also a four disc Eddie Cantor Goldwyn set is coming in June, doesn't say it'll be pressed yet but most likely it will

[fdm]

Any idea whether there will be 5 for $50 sales in the future, or did they maybe go the way of the dodo bird? Been a while.

[whaleallright]

Femme Fatale, the Science of Sleep, and Death to Smoochy are among the latest pressed titles that could justify a Blu-ray release and yet are getting downgraded to MODs

I don't usually wade in on these issues, but I think this characterization is misleading. after all, the DVD and Blu-Ray markets are not identical. WB may have decided that, after over a decade of being in print on pressed DVD, there is no longer a market for a film on DVD that would justify a new run of over 1,000 (or even 500) pressed copies. it would not be hard to argue that most people who wanted to own Femme Fatale on DVD have purchased it already. however, there might very well be a market for a Blu-Ray of that film. (perhaps it's a small market and it would make more sense for a studio to license the film to a boutique label like Criterion or Twilight Time.)

put another way, relegating a film to release as a MOD DVD does not necessarily say much about its future value as a Blu-Ray release. (and it says nothing at all about Warners' perception of a film's aesthetic value; the tone of some posts on this board make it sound as if relegating a favorite film to MOD is a personal affront.)

[Gregory]

relegating a film to release as a MOD DVD does not necessarily say much about its future value as a Blu-Ray release.

Statistically, it says quite a lot about the likelihood of such films ever getting a pressed release again. How often has that happened in over five years of the MOD model? WAC has released a couple thousand films on DVD-R, and the other studios' MOD labels have produced a few hundred each. How many of those will be given better restorations or be released on Blu-ray? This is following a similar trend in book publishing of trying to streamline and increase profitability by killing the midlist, which used to be a huge area of publishing that occupied a lot of areas between blockbuster titles and truly arcane niche subjects. Because the retail market that the big studios' existing model was based upon has changed, more any more back-catalog titles (including widely familiar ones) end up in the niche end of the market, and the studios use MOD (or licensing to third-parties) to cut down on excess risky unsold product and because so many who still really want these obscure titles will pay premium prices to get them on DVD-R.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Can anyone offer thoughts on Lolly Madonna XXX? I've had an interest in this movie for awhile, but I couldn't find any insights on the forum.

[Werewolf by Night]

Check here-- if they're included, they're still pressed

This handy listing of Warner Archives' pressed discs seems to have vanished, has anyone been able to find a more recent listing?

[domino harvey]

They stopped labeling them when they switched over to the WB site exclusively. They don't even mention if recent multi-disc sets are pressed or not anymore, sadly

[Gregory]

Any idea whether there will be 5 for $50 sales in the future, or did they maybe go the way of the dodo bird? Been a while.

They've now announced a $12.49 sale, through June 21. This may be better for those who only want a couple of discs, not 5. In fact, 5 is the maximum that can be ordered in the sale, something I've don't remember seeing before. I wonder if all this suggests that they don't make any profit during these sales and are doing them to boost interest in WAC or that maybe they don't want to run out of stock too quickly and only have a few on hand of most of the MOD titles.

Also, 20 Blu-rays are included at the same price point.

[fdm]

Saw that. May bite on a few blu-rays, if there's enough of them of interest to me that haven't been in one of these sales before.

(They started calculating my sales tax wrong last year or the year before, so between that and everything else I've griped about before, they're kind of on my shit list, unless there's some title or other I really gotta have. Plus I still have a bunch that I haven't watched yet from before, so need to back off some anyways.)

[Gregory]

When I posted that, I was planning to order a few things, but then I remembered that I've purchased WAC Blu-rays from DD for around $11 before, and that was with free shipping and a little Ebates cash back to sweeten the deal that much more. I'll plan to wait for the end-of-year 5 for $45 sale, considering that I have more than enough to watch, and at both WBShop and FoxConnect by far the best deals are offered in Nov.–Dec.

[domino harvey]

I only bought one Blu-ray and the Cantor set (which is pressed/replicated, according to HTF) and it didn't charge me any shipping because both titles were on sale via the promotion, FYI

[Werewolf by Night]

If anyone cares, the recent WAC release of Star 80 is indeed in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but it still looks and sounds like an old VHS/TV transfer.

[domino harvey]

the Cantor set (which is pressed/replicated, according to HTF)I

Got my copy in and can confirm that it's pressed when ordered from WBShop. No idea why they aren't advertising this aspect anymore, since surely there's a lot of hesitant Archive shoppers who'd prefer to purchase only pressed titles

[PfR73]

If anyone cares, the recent WAC release of Star 80 is indeed in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but it still looks and sounds like an old VHS/TV transfer.

I haven't seen the disc myself, but a good friend of mine told me basically the same thing last month, that it was one of the worst-looking DVDs he'd personally seen. Which is really a shame, because I saw a pretty knock-out print at Austin Film Society last year.

[CSM126]

That's just pathetic. If WB can't be bothered to do a basic scan of a perfectly good print, why even bother at all? Would've been better to license it to Criterion and let them do the leg work and do it right. Star 80 is a great and important film by a great filmmaker and it deserves better.

[Randall Maysin]

No, it deserves worse. Much, much, much, much worse. Star 80 is nothing more than a mindless, feelingless pornography of disgust. Whatever good intentions Mr. Fosse no doubt had.

[rwaits]

Well, it's certainly not Fosse's best film, but Eric Roberts is absolutely amazing in it. His performance is top line psychopath. For that alone it deserves a better release.

[Randall Maysin]

LOL! You're right, good point. Poor Eric Roberts, I keep hoping someone will rehabilitate his career, preferably Tarantino. I mean he seems like a perfect Tarantino actor to me.

[Grand Wazoo]

Eric Roberts did appear, albeit briefly, in Inherent Vice.

I received a copy of Star 80 today and while the transfer is certainly bad, it's by no means unwatchable and definitely not one of the worst I've seen. I do however wish someone would give this film proper treatment.

[hearthesilence]

He was in Dark Knight, one of the greatest films ever made! (Sez imdb voters)

[palntsc]

Just wanted to share this for those of you particularly keen on classic westerns like myself: according to a video posted on their Facebook page, Sam Fuller's Run of the Arrow is coming out in July as part of the Warner Archive series! Though it's going to be on dvd only, let's hope it'll be a properly remastered, anamorphic version...

[jorencain]

I just watched "The Lusty Men" on TCM (my first viewing - continues to cement my feeling that Ray was one of the greatest American directors), and I have a question about the Warner disc. The audio was pretty rough on TCM...quite soft, and inconsistent. I was constantly riding the volume control on my remote. Is the audio any better on the DVD?

[Feego]

the Cantor set (which is pressed/replicated, according to HTF)I

Got my copy in and can confirm that it's pressed when ordered from WBShop. No idea why they aren't advertising this aspect anymore, since surely there's a lot of hesitant Archive shoppers who'd prefer to purchase only pressed titles

I haven't purchased from Warner Archive since their website switch-over. Have they provided a way for customers to see what is on pressed disc vs. DVD-R since this last post, or is it still pretty much up in the air?

[hearthesilence]

I just watched "The Lusty Men" on TCM (my first viewing - continues to cement my feeling that Ray was one of the greatest American directors), and I have a question about the Warner disc. The audio was pretty rough on TCM...quite soft, and inconsistent. I was constantly riding the volume control on my remote. Is the audio any better on the DVD?

I have this and didn't have any problems with volume levels that I can recall from the two viewings I've had so far.