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The one thing I will give Warner credit for is that the blu's do look great. So, that really is the most important thing.

I'm going to guess it's Gun Crazy for two reasons:

1) We know it already exists in a beautiful HD restoration that was recently released by Wild Side in France
2) Because I already have the Wild Side version, this would fit the pattern of WA only releasing Blu-Rays that I have no reason to buy.

warren oates wrote:Compared to the those great noirs from the first box, The Big Sleep is such a relatively mainstream a title, though, that seeing its debut relegated to Archive Blu would just be sad.

I tend to agree that The Big Sleep is probably too mainstream to be handed over from WHV to WA. The old DVD also had the Pre-Release Version of the film and other substantial bonus content, so while I doubt the Pre-Release Version will be in HD when Warner gets around to releasing it on BD (they tend to keep "non-main release" versions of films or bonus feature films in SD on their Blu-rays), it seems all a bit much for WA to possibly package together on the types of releases they have done so far. Though I guess precedent could be changed.

domino harvey wrote:Presumably one of the titles from their first Noir box: Guessing it's not Out of the Past to jinx it into being Out of the Past

It worked!

It's ridic that they let it languish OOP for years, but all is momentarily forgiven

All I have to say is sell baby sell!!!!!

Well I'm certainly picking it up.

Great news, I'll certainly be getting it. Despite the fact that they've annoyed me with their head in the sand approach to the issues with Performance. Keep in mind "THIS is on Blu Ray, but none of your Best Picture nominees???" as a Facebook comment exclaims.

Calvin wrote:Keep in mind "THIS is on Blu Ray, but none of your Best Picture nominees???" as a Facebook comment exclaims.

EddieLarkin wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Presumably one of the titles from their first Noir box: Guessing it's not Out of the Past to jinx it into being Out of the Past

It worked!

I actually find it vaguely depressing that the most celebrated noir from their noir series is being relegated to WAC. A pressed Blu-Ray is a pressed Blu-Ray, but as a portent of future upgrades, it's troubling. If OotP doesn't rate a "mainline" release there's that much less chance that some of the other noirs get upgraded at all. I was confident that there'd be a Bogie and Bacall Blu set like the Classic Gangster one, but now I'm less sure.

Warner Archive did say on Facebook yesterday that WHV has eventual plans to release The Big Sleep on Blu-ray, so I really do think it comes down to them believing they can market Bogarts name still in the regular catalog market but not Mitchum. And they're probably right in the disparity of name recognition amongst the modern general public.

Are noirs not good sellers? I've often heard westerns and musicals (and gangsters maybe?) have historically sold better than noirs.

Calvin wrote:Great news, I'll certainly be getting it. Despite the fact that they've annoyed me with their head in the sand approach to the issues with Performance. Keep in mind "THIS is on Blu Ray, but none of your Best Picture nominees???" as a Facebook comment exclaims.

This guy is on HTF. All he cares about is Oscar Best Picture nominees. It's insane.

Woody wrote:Are noirs not good sellers? I've often heard westerns and musicals (and gangsters maybe?) have historically sold better than noirs.

Noirs are great sellers, but they are often black and white and Academy ratio, which until now has been a combo Warner Archives Blus have avoided

mteller wrote:

Calvin wrote:Great news, I'll certainly be getting it. Despite the fact that they've annoyed me with their head in the sand approach to the issues with Performance. Keep in mind "THIS is on Blu Ray, but none of your Best Picture nominees???" as a Facebook comment exclaims.

This guy is on HTF. All he cares about is Oscar Best Picture nominees. It's insane.

That HTF guy IS the most annoying guy on any forum. He once wrote a comment that he doesn't really care for Criterion because they release mostly Japanese films.

He also used "Life is Beautiful" as his proof that he's open to non-English films.

Eh, everyone has their niche. His is simply codified by a very odd arbitrary method.

So...is having an arbitrary limit to what movies you'll give a chance a requirement at HTF, or just encouraged?

captveg wrote:Eh, everyone has their niche. His is simply codified by a very odd arbitrary method.

I don't. And being dismissive of one of the major national cinemas in the history of the medium isn't having a niche; it's being closed-minded to the extreme.

Also, it would be one thing if he were simply expressing his enthusiasm for Best Picture nominees, but he's complaining about the release of a film just because he's not interested in it and making a totally silly statement about none of Warner's Best Picture-nominated films being out of Blu.

captveg wrote:Warner Archive did say on Facebook yesterday that WHV has eventual plans to release The Big Sleep on Blu-ray, so I really do think it comes down to them believing they can market Bogarts name still in the regular catalog market but not Mitchum. And they're probably right in the disparity of name recognition amongst the modern general public.

As others have suggested, Mitchum isn't the primary marketable element for OotP. They released 5 noir boxes, so obviously the first few at least sold very well. And the first one got a lot of fanfare in the media when it came out. Noir is marketable enough that movies that aren't noir are packaged as such all the time. That being said, they may be a notch below major Bogie films sales-wise, but then again who knows if Key Largo or High Sierra will ever get a Blu.

captveg wrote:Eh, everyone has their niche. His is simply codified by a very odd arbitrary method.

There is a difference between having "a niche" (say, a favorite genre) and being exclusively oriented by one external factor (only Oscar nominees) when deciding what films to watch/value/buy.

It is very annoying to be in a movie discussion board and read complaints that only Oscar nominees should be released on Blu-ray, especially when it is the occasion of the announcement of an undisputed classic like 'Out of the Past'.

Well, I just can't get worked up about such things I guess.

And compared to most people I know in real life my tastes are very eclectic, but on this forum they are one of the more mainstream, so it's all relative, IMO.

Warner can keep their Best Picture Nominees! Bring on the Tourneurs, baby! I'll buy every one. [-o<

FrauBlucher wrote:

mteller wrote:

Calvin wrote:Great news, I'll certainly be getting it. Despite the fact that they've annoyed me with their head in the sand approach to the issues with Performance. Keep in mind "THIS is on Blu Ray, but none of your Best Picture nominees???" as a Facebook comment exclaims.

This guy is on HTF. All he cares about is Oscar Best Picture nominees. It's insane.

That HTF guy IS the most annoying guy on any forum. He once wrote a comment that he doesn't really care for Criterion because they release mostly Japanese films.

I read the HTF thread and this was not the guy I was talking about. I guess it's littered with the "very odd arbitrary" collector types over there.

domino harvey wrote:

Woody wrote:Are noirs not good sellers? I've often heard westerns and musicals (and gangsters maybe?) have historically sold better than noirs.

Noirs are great sellers, but they are often black and white and Academy ratio, which until now has been a combo Warner Archives Blus have avoided

WHV hasn't put out a lot of noirs either, that's why I imagined they were not strong sellers for them. And the fact that they let WAC release one of their biggest noirs just added to that notion.