Warner chat at HTF 2006

[bjeggert82]

We could add The Smiling Lieutenant on to a question about potential Lubitsch releases including The Merry Widow.

[justeleblanc]

We could add The Smiling Lieutenant on to a question about potential Lubitsch releases including The Merry Widow.

I believe the only other Lubitch talkie that Warner could possibly release is The Merry Widow. But here are the silents that could make an amazing box set:

Eternal Love
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
So This Is Paris
Lady Windermere's Fan
Kiss Me Again
Three Women
The Marriage Circle
Rosita

I say someone should surely ask about a Lubitsch silent box!!!!!!!!! \:D/

[Cinephrenic]

Will they re-release some Kubrick films in better editions.

[justeleblanc]

Will they re-release some Kubrick films in better editions.

Dude, checks it here:
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vie ... php?t=3823

Look for 4 new Stanley Kubrick SEs including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980) and the original unrated version Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Each will include new documentaries and never-before-seen footage blessed by the Kubrick Estate (although don't look for deleted scenes - Stanley himself never wanted them released).

[tryavna]

I believe the only other Lubitch talkie that Warner could possibly release is The Merry Widow. But here are the silents that could make an amazing box set:

Eternal Love
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
So This Is Paris
Lady Windermere's Fan
Kiss Me Again
Three Women
The Marriage Circle
Rosita

I say someone should surely ask about a Lubitsch silent box!!!!!!!!! \:D/

Posted this in the other thread, but thought I should re-post here in order to avoid confusion:

Warner does not own the rights to "The Marriage Circle," "Lady Windemere's Fan," or "Eternal Love." In fact, each has already been released by a different company. David Shepard released a decent print of The Marriage Circle. (Like a lot of Shepard's lesser-known titles, it goes in and out of print, but you can usually find it on Amazon's Marketplace.) Milestone released UCLA's stunning (considering the limitations) restoration of Eternal Love. And Lady Windemere's Fan was part of the "More Treasures from the American Film Archives" boxset.

[Lino]

A couple more:

- Is Warner planning to release Elvis on Tour? And will they revisit Elvis: That's the Way it is?

[htdm]

Paramount apparently still controls the rights to So This is Paris which is why Grapevine no longer sells their DVD-R copy (can you say Cease and Desist?). But you can find about one reel of it (featuring the Jazz montage sequence) in the Unseen Cinema collection. Milestone Films, who has been working with the Pickford Foundation to bring out the surviving Mary Pickford silents on DVD, has the rights to Rosita and said that they were interested in bringing it out in a later release, but that it needed significant restoration first.

[barnyard078]

Will Lolita, Barry Lyndon, and Full Metal Jacket get any love, or at least shed their snapper cases for Amaray keep cases?

Will the movies that still use snapper cases ever be converted to keep cases? I know no new DVD release uses the snapper cases, but I have been waiting on a few certain older titles for either rereleases (like the new Kubricks), or a full conversion (like New Line did). Any information there?

[clutch44]

I would suggest taking it one step further and advocate going from conventional amaray cases to thinpack releases especially for box sets. I'm sure many of you have large DVD collections as I do and can relate to the increasing space requirements. The most efficient packaging that I've observed is the type used with The Jerry Lewis Collection, 10 DVDs taking up the space of less than 3 standard single cases. I'd even settle for the fold out type packaging, an example would be Sherlock Holmes The Definitive Collection, where 7 DVDs take up the space of 3. Warner could and should set the new standard for user friendly packaging.

[Dylan]

Any plans to release Bernardo Bertolucci's 1981 film "Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man?"

[Lino]

One more:

Any chances of a Broadway Melody Boxset containing The Broadway Melody (1929), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), and Broadway Rhythm (1944) aka "The Broadway Melody of 1944"?

[bergelson]

Hi,

What about Heart is A Lonely Hunter?

[stroszeck]

Compilation of DVD related questions from MANY friends:

When will the following titles be released in Original Aspect Ratios on DVD:

- SHY PEOPLE (Andrei Konchalovsky) -- Won Best Actress at Cannes

- THE DEAD (John Huston) -- The final film of a legend.

- THE NEW AGE (Michael Tolkin)

- RACHEL, RACHEL (Paul Newman) -- Newman's only directorial effort.

- TAKING OFF (Milos Forman) -- Many requests on this particular title.

- LAST SUMMER (Frank Perry)

Thank you.

[FilmFanSea]

As with most every year at the HTF Warner Chat, my chief concern is about MGM's silent catalogue (most of the relevant titles have already been mentioned above).

Another title I don't believe has been mentioned is John Cromwell's great women-in-prison flick, Caged. Ahh, Hope Emerson: the archetypal prison matron.

I also have a soft spot for Harold Bucquet's Death-up-a-tree fantasy, On Borrowed Time (1939).

Finally, three Western films I'm dying to see: Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952), Anthony Mann's The Tall Target (1951), and Jacques Tourneur's 1950 Stars in My Crown.

[Ishmael]

Finally, three Western films I'm dying to see: Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952), Anthony Mann's The Tall Target (1951), and Jacques Tourneur's 1950 Stars in My Crown.

The Tall Target is in no way a Western, although it is an intense, gripping film that I'd also love to see on DVD. Stars in My Crown isn't a Western either. It takes place out west, if I remember correctly, but that's hardly the same thing. Personally, I didn't find it very interesting, but I think Jonathan Rosenbaum has gotten some buzz started on it, which might help the chances of a DVD release slightly.

[bergelson]

Another bunch of films worth inquiring for are Warner's Vincente Minnelli's
films, and especially: Undercurrent, Clock, Two Weeks in Another Town, Some Came Running. Tea and Symphaty, Cobweb, Pirate and Home From The Hill.

And what about Fred Zinnemann gems, such as: Seventh Cross. Act of
Violence, Search and the Sundowners.

[Ashirg]

From Barrie Maxwell's update:

As a follow-up to Bill's report, I queried Warner Bros. on a number of other specific titles of continuing interest to myself particularly and classic enthusiasts in general. As one might expect, Warners was not willing to release specific information at this time, but they did indicate that virtually all of the following titles are in the hopper, either under active consideration or in production: King's Row (Reagan, Sheridan), The Magnificent Ambersons, Journey into Fear (both Welles), Black Legion (Bogart), They Won't Forget (Rains), Manhattan Melodrama, The Secret Six, San Francisco (all Gable), Gentleman Jim, Virginia City, Silver River, Edge of Darkness (all Flynn), The Mortal Storm (Stewart), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (Robinson), Mission to Moscow (Huston), and Bowery Boys, Charlie Chan (the Monograms), and Andy Hardy series. It's all still vague information, I know, but promising nonetheless.

[bjeggert82]

What about Michael Curtiz's "Four's a Crowd" or Hawks's "Ball of Fire"? They would go great in a screwball comedy set...

[Ashirg]

Ball of Fire is not owned by Warner. HBO previously released it, but it's Goldwyn title and now owned by MGM/Sony. See, similary released Best Years of Our Lives, Come and Get It, Stella Dallas or Princess and the Pirate...

[otis]

From The Digital Bits:

As a follow-up to Bill's report, I queried Warner Bros. on a number of other specific titles of continuing interest to myself particularly and classic enthusiasts in general. As one might expect, Warners was not willing to release specific information at this time, but they did indicate that virtually all of the following titles are in the hopper, either under active consideration or in production: King's Row (Reagan, Sheridan), The Magnificent Ambersons, Journey into Fear (both Welles), Black Legion (Bogart), They Won't Forget (Rains), Manhattan Melodrama, The Secret Six, San Francisco (all Gable), Gentleman Jim, Virginia City, Silver River, Edge of Darkness (all Flynn), The Mortal Storm (Stewart), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (Robinson), Mission to Moscow (Huston), and Bowery Boys, Charlie Chan (the Monograms), and Andy Hardy series. It's all still vague information, I know, but promising nonetheless.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/ ... 21506.html

[justeleblanc]

Ball of Fire is not owned by Warner. HBO previously released it, but it's Goldwyn title and now owned by MGM/Sony. See, similary released Best Years of Our Lives, Come and Get It, Stella Dallas or Princess and the Pirate...

Goldwyn titles are owned by Warner up until mid-80s. MGM only owns UA films.

[FilmFanSea]

Finally, three Western films I'm dying to see: Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952), Anthony Mann's The Tall Target (1951), and Jacques Tourneur's 1950 Stars in My Crown.

The Tall Target is in no way a Western, although it is an intense, gripping film that I'd also love to see on DVD. Stars in My Crown isn't a Western either. It takes place out west, if I remember correctly, but that's hardly the same thing.

Thanks for the correction. I got The Tall Target mixed up with Budd Boetticher's The Tall T (a bona fide Western). As for Stars in My Crown, looks like I was misinformed.

[Ashirg]

Ball of Fire is not owned by Warner. HBO previously released it, but it's Goldwyn title and now owned by MGM/Sony. See, similary released Best Years of Our Lives, Come and Get It, Stella Dallas or Princess and the Pirate...

Goldwyn titles are owned by Warner up until mid-80s. MGM only owns UA films.

Goldwyn titles are owned by MGM, MGM titles are owned by Warner.

[tryavna]

Ball of Fire is not owned by Warner. HBO previously released it, but it's Goldwyn title and now owned by MGM/Sony. See, similary released Best Years of Our Lives, Come and Get It, Stella Dallas or Princess and the Pirate...

Goldwyn titles are owned by Warner up until mid-80s. MGM only owns UA films.

Goldwyn titles are owned by MGM, MGM titles are owned by Warner.

This is correct. (I know for a fact that Stella Dallas was released by MGM because it was UA property.)

[Brian Oblivious]

The Tall Target is in no way a Western, although it is an intense, gripping film that I'd also love to see on DVD. Stars in My Crown isn't a Western either. It takes place out west, if I remember correctly, but that's hardly the same thing.

Like both films a lot, the Mann somewhat more (it might actually my favorite of his non-Westerns). Stars in my Crown is what you might call a "Southern". In fact, I'd be tempted argue the opposite of you, that the film resembles a Western in many way except for its small-town Southern setting. Joel McCrea plays a Civil War vet like so many Western protagonists, the themes all revolve around the nature of American community, which is typical of Westerns, etc.