Warner Brothers Archive Collection Blu-rays

[Finch]

At this rate, Act of Violence might be the only WAC title I'm getting in 2024.

[domino harvey]

I Remember Mama is one of my most wanted DVD upgrades, so I’m thrilled that they threw us that bone this month

[jheez]

We’re also getting Conflict (1945)

[domino harvey]

We’re also getting Conflict (1945)

Which is the noir with a big star teased earlier. A mediocre film, though

[yoloswegmaster]

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (2006) also being released

[Red Screamer]

I Remember Mama is quite good if you can handle high doses of sentiment. Sarris was a big fan IIRC. Anecdotally, it seems to have had made an impression as a representation of the immigrant experience for my grandparents’ generation, which goes to show that that type of audience engagement with film is not new!

[Finch]

Prairie Home Companion! Okay I take back what I said earlier.

[beamish14]

Prairie Home Companion! Okay I take back what I said earlier.

I’m ver ly partial to it. A fine way for Altman to bow out (although he still had at least two other projects in development afterwards)

[Altair]

Very annoying that Journey into Fear doesn't feature the longer European cut. Has it been put out on disc anywhere? Still, a BD should be a huge jump in quality from the old UK DVD and I'll be getting it.

[beamish14]

Very annoying that Journey into Fear doesn't feature the longer European cut. Has it been put out on disc anywhere? Still, a BD should be a huge jump in quality from the old UK DVD and I'll be getting it.

Nope. I don’t think it’s actually much longer; it just features six minutes worth of alternate footage. Norman Foster was an underrated filmmaker; Woman on the Run is a gem, and I love UCLA’s restoration of it

[swo17]

I believe there's a Spanish DVD with the European cut, which runs 2 minutes longer with 6 minutes of different footage as mentioned

[reaky]

The extra footage aside, does the longer cut address the film’s problems with chronology? I recall Orson Welles wryly noting during the BBC Arena interview that a character who was killed at one point later peers through a porthole.

[Roger Ryan]

The extra footage aside, does the longer cut address the film’s problems with chronology? I recall Orson Welles wryly noting during the BBC Arena interview that a character who was killed at one point later peers through a porthole.

Actually, Welles himself was partially responsible for chronology/continuity issues; he was the one who re-edited the film and either switched around some scenes himself or didn't bother to correct the chronology problem that already existed (without having the alternate version at hand, I don't recall exactly how that version was sequenced). The "European" edit is really the first version RKO released in American theaters in August of 1942 (a cut down/re-edited version of Norman Foster's 90-minute preview cut shown in June of that year). Welles was not happy to learn the film had been released without his approval and, as part of his exit contract from RKO, the film was pulled from release and Welles was given three weeks to re-edit the film and shoot a new ending. The revised version was then released in February of 1943 (and became the version prominently shown on American television and the one released on VHS in North America). A rogue print of the August 1942 version found its way to Europe at some point (likely sometime after the conclusion of WWII) and became the basis of European home video releases.

Welles' revisions almost all reflected the desire to tell the story from Howard Graham's point-of-view, so Joseph Cotten recorded a narration track and Welles edited out any footage/scenes that Graham would not have been witness to (the reason we lose a fun, flirtatious scene between Welles and Ruth Warrick in Welles' cut). Welles' new ending is an improvement on the original edit which lacked a proper concluding scene, but there is better continuity in that original released version. Neither version is really superior to the other, but, yes, both should have found their way onto this new Warner Archive disc.

[crimlaw]

This was a long-rumored Criterion release.

[domino harvey]

Journey Into Fear will contain these radio shows as extras

Audio-only Orson Welles Mercury Theater Radio Broadcasts:
DRACULA (7/11/1938)
TREASURE ISLAND (7/18/1938)
A TALE OF TWO CITIES (7/25/1938)

[hearthesilence]

Journey Into Fear will contain these radio shows as extras

Audio-only Orson Welles Mercury Theater Radio Broadcasts:
DRACULA (7/11/1938)
TREASURE ISLAND (7/18/1938)
A TALE OF TWO CITIES (7/25/1938)

FWIW, Joseph McBride posted this on Facebook:

[The Warner Archive Blu-ray] does have the DRACULA broadcast, which was Welles's favorite of all his radio dramas. The interplay of sound effects, music, and narration is extraordinary even for him.

[Tuppence]

It's also on Criterion's Citizen Kane.

[yoloswegmaster]

October releases:
THE WALKING DEAD (1936)
THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X (1939)
THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)
SWEETHEARTS (1938)
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION (2006)
A MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH (1965-66)

[domino harvey]

I think that's the first Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald musical on Blu-ray, no?

Some earlier thoughts on some of the releases:

the Walking Dead (Michael Curtiz 1936) A mixtape of a handful of genres that somehow all gel into a wonderful concoction. Is it a gangster pic? Proto-noir? Thriller? Social problem pic? Straight-up horror? All this and more! The sadness of the film, of Karloff's existence, and his profound "angel of death" effect on those responsible for his downfall resonate deeper than expected.

the Return of Doctor X (Vincent Sherman 1939)
Though it sounds like a sequel to Doctor X (and indeed shares the WB DVD with it), the titular Doctor X is actually the name for Humphrey Bogart’s resurrected child murder scientist. Bogart, in pasty(ier?) makeup and gray skunk-stripe, must trawl the streets for fresh blood donors to stay alive, and, well, I can understand why Bogart considered this a career nadir (though he was way, way worse in the Two Mrs Carrolls)

[Finch]

The Walking Dead is a lot of fun. Wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised.

[Finch]

Seeing For Your Consideration in there makes me probably foolishly hope that Cliff got Best In Show as part of Arrow's WB deal and that they restore it. WB's BD is OLD. Will no one think of us doglovers and Parker Posey fans?

[pistolwink]

I think that's the first Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald musical on Blu-ray, no?

That should make a lot of people born in the 1910s happy!

[Matt]

It was also MGM’s first three-strip Technicolor feature. Given the miracles Warner Archive has been working with their Technicolor transfers lately, this should look incredible. There’s also a mini fashion show in it, which automatically makes any classic movie better.

[yoloswegmaster]

November titles:

LOONEY TUNES COLLECTOR'S CHOICE-Vol. 4
This collection contains:

Spoiler

ALONG CAME DAFFY (Friz Freleng, 1947) - Daffy Duck
A BONE FOR A BONE, A (Friz Freleng, 1951) - The Goofy Gophers
THE CAGEY CANARY, THE (Tex Avery/Bob Clampett, 1941)
D’ FIGHTIN’ ONES (Friz Freleng, 1961) - Sylvester
DANGEROUS DAN MCFOO (Tex Avery, 1939)
DEVIL’S FEUD CAKE (Friz Freleng,1963) - Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam
DOUBLE CHASER (Friz Freleng, 1942)
DOUBLE OR MUTTON (Jones, 1955) - Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf
FOX POP (Chuck Jones, 1942)
HENHOUSE HENERY (1949, Robert McKimson) Foghorn Leghorn and Henery Hawk
HOLIDAY FOR DRUMSTICKS (Arthur Davis, 1949) - Daffy Duck
HOPALONG CASUALTY (Chuck Jones, 1960) - Road-Runner and Coyote
HYDE AND GO TWEET (Friz Freleng, 1960) - Tweety and Sylvester
THE IMPATIENT PATIENT, THE (Norm McCabe, 1942) - Daffy Duck
LEGHORN SWOGGLED (Robert McKimson, 1951) - Foghorn Leghorn
MEATLESS FLYDAY (Friz Freleng, 1944)
MOUSE-WARMING (Chuck Jones, 1952) - Claude Cat
MOUSE-MERIZED CAT, THE (Robert McKimson, 1946)
MUSCLE TUSSLE (Robert McKimson, 1953) – Daffy Duck
MUZZLE TOUGH (Friz Freleng, 1954) Tweety and Sylvester
PECK UP YOUR TROUBLES (Friz Freleng, 1945) - Sylvester
QUACK SHOT (Robert McKimson, 1954) Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
ROAD TO ANDALAY (Friz Freleng, 1964) - Sylvester and Speedy Gonzales
THE SNEEZING WEASEL (Tex Avery, 1938)
STREAMLINED GRETA GREEN (Friz Freleng, 1937)
BONUS CARTOONS:
LIGHTER THAN HARE (Friz Freleng, 1960) Bugs Bunny
STORK NAKED (Friz Freleng, 1955) Daffy Duck

THE COMPLETE THIN MAN COLLECTION (1934-47)

[domino harvey]

THE COMPLETE THIN MAN COLLECTION (1934-47)

Nice, glad I only picked up the first one already. I don’t think they’re all worth having, but I’m sure the set will eventually be the cost of the couple remaining titles from the series I’d want