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Andre Jurieu wrote:I'm just getting impatient about The Magnificent Ambersons.

Well, don't hold your breath. This is what Warners said in this year's chat:

Warner still looking for better elements for The Magnificent Ambersons and will release
Journey into Fear with it. Be patient this might stretch out for a couple more years.

And apart from the ones I mentioned above, I'm also tired of waiting for Zabriskie Point, America America and Brewster McCloud. Hopefully next year...

Lino wrote:And apart from the ones I mentioned above, I'm also tired of waiting for Zabriskie Point, America America and Brewster McCloud. Hopefully next year...

As painful as it is, I can understand the need to be patient for what they're doing on the Welles titles. However, they don't have the same excuse for Zabriskie Point, so I'll be pretty irritated if it doesn't show up by the end of next year.

Seconded for Zabriskie Point. Surely this is a no-brainer release for Warner? I'm quite sure we'd be quite happy at this point with the film, spruced up, in a box.

Lino wrote:This is what Warners said in this year's chat:

Warner still looking for better elements for The Magnificent Ambersons and will release
Journey into Fear with it. Be patient this might stretch out for a couple more years.

Yeah, I remember what they said, but for how long this has taken it's kind of unbelievable that there aren't at least decent elements for The Magnificent Ambersons in their possession somewhere. It sounds like they're just waiting for the original Welles cut to materialize out of nowhere before they start producing a DVD.

tryavna wrote:One thing is sure: not much in the way of silents in '06.

Maybe those alleged efforts on Greed, Big Parade, et al will begin showing up in early '07.

i was just thinking the same thing. if it was coming this year, we would've heard an annoucement already. same thing with the Harlow set.

From Barrie Maxwell at the Bits:

...I begin this column's section on new announcements with some comments that George Feltenstein, Senior Vice President of Theatrical Catalog Marketing for Warner Bros., kindly passed on to me. I've already mentioned above the hiatus in Bogart titles for 2007, but that will be more than compensated by Warners' plans to release 200 or so titles new to DVD this coming year. Although no specific titles were mentioned, classic enthusiasts can look for at least one collection and usually two each month. These will include all new-to-DVD titles except where a previously released title has been substantially upgraded in terms of master quality and supplements (such as was the case with The Maltese Falcon recently). In addition, there will be some repackagings of previously-released titles into box sets, but that will be distinct from the 200 or so new titles. There will be no sets issued that include a mixture of old and new releases. It sounds like Warner Bros. is already staking out best studio of the year status for 2007. Classic fans can only rejoice in the continued commitment!

Surprised to see no reactions at all to this wonderful bit of news there. Warner continues to make supreme efforts to please the devoted cinephile.

Apart from what we already know it's coming, I'm personally anxious to see what surprises they might have up their sleeves.

What kind of reaction did you expect? This is par for the course for Warner these days. Sure, we're all happy, I'm sure. But that bit of news could just as easily have described 2006.

EDIT: I think many of us are probably just waiting to hear about specific titles (like Greed, Big Parade, O Lucky Man!, The Devils, etc.).

tryavna wrote:that bit of news could just as easily have described 2006.

It did.

tryavna wrote:I think many of us are probably just waiting to hear about specific titles (like Greed, Big Parade, O Lucky Man!, The Devils, etc.).

Yes, I'm already looking forward to Stroszeck's complaint that he wanted 200 different titles.

It is another great year for Warner.But I must confess that I get king of frustrated every time there's "repackagings of previously-released titles into box sets".Because I already have the movies but I will not have the box.Like the Bogart&Bacall signature collection.I had the movies,but I'm too lazy to sell it.And I always say to myself that is stupid to do all that just to get a paper box to put my dvds on.

By the look of things(and Warner chats) Garbo will not be part of that at all.And I found this on a Garbo message board.

I wouldn't want to find SUSAN LENNOX on a Gable box.That's stupid.I didn't even liked to see Dacing Lady on the Gable signature collection(but I'm happy to finally have it). Anyway,I hope they're wrong.

Apart from that it will be a great year. I'm especially anxious to get Greed, The Wind and The Scarlet Letter. Jean Harlow,Stanwyck and Glenn Ford box sets are most welcome.

Eclisse wrote:It is another great year for Warner. But I must confess that I get kind of frustrated every time there's "repackagings of previously-released titles into box sets".

Yes, but don't forget what they said about that: everytime an old release finds its way onto a new boxed set collection of titles, it will be in an upgraded form, meaning it will have a new A/V transfer and new extras as well, which is not bad at all and that way you will not feel like you're being cheated. Only slightly.

Titles that are getting that treatment are Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, An American in Paris and probably Splendor in the Grass and many others. Warner can count on my money for that lot.

I hope 7 Women and Wagon Master, can make it on disc next year.

TCM is playing both of them this month, November 21 and 22.

I'll be interested in the shape of the prints they air. I'm sad I don't have TCM anymore. I might need to ask anyone who happens to catch them. I also hope that we finally see Brewster McCloud in '07.

Watched ZABRISKIE POINT on TCM last night on large projection screen... totally lovely, poetically composed... Hopefully Warner Bros can slot this for release in 07....

Well, we all thought that we'd see Zabriskie Point before we saw Performance, after the Roger Water's website info, but there has been no further news.

where did the rumor about susan lenox sprout from??

In Production:


-Thousands Cheer
-Bachelor Mother
-Executive Suite
-Bhowani Junction
-Beyond the Forest ( Bette Davis V3 I presume)
-Not With My Wife You Don't
-April In Paris ( Doris Day V2 I presume)
-A Date With Judy
-Executive Action (Burt Lancaster set I presume)
-Jim Thorpe: All American (Burt Lancaster set I presume)
-Al Capone
-The Eddie Cantor Story
-The Strawberry Blonde
-Light in the Piazza
-Parrish
-Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
-A Damsel in Distress
-Sunrise at Campobello
-Anthony Adverse
-Four's A Crowd
-Uncertain Glory
-Northern Pursuit

I want The Devils next year.

I've been thinking of buying some older Warner classics on DVD but I'm kind of afraid that they will be revisiting them in the future, causing me to double-dip (a practice that I simply lost any patience to).

They are: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Double Feature (1932/1941) (1931) (the prints used and the extras are acceptable but come on, the disc is double-sided!); House of Wax (1953)/ Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) (again ,the prints used and the extras are passable but this one is also a double-sided nuisance); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) (such a classic surely deserves better treatment, no?).

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing them get a Halloween 2007 re-release with new packaging and extras in a boxset as I'm sure there would be a lot of critics lining up to do audio-commentaries for these babies. Warner could even call it Hollywood Legends of Horror Volume 2, for all I care. Just as long as they get rid of those horrid snappers -- yes, I forgot to mention that tiniest detail...

Anymore?

I expect we'll see a 2-discer of HUNCHBACK at some point. I don't see any dramatic need to reissue the other 2.

As for LEGENDS OF HORROR 2, or something like it, I'm hoping for THE WALKING DEAD (originally slated to be part of Vol. 1, but delayed so more restoration could be completed), THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS, FRANKENSTEIN 1970 and other titles that haven't yet been released to DVD at all.

Sorry, but how is having each film on one side of a disc "a nuisance." Surely it's only a nuisance if you had planned to watch both films without ever once getting up from the sofa (or out of bed).

I like to lick one side of the disc. Cleaning flippers is a nuisance.

Matt wrote:Sorry, but how is having each film on one side of a disc "a nuisance." Surely it's only a nuisance if you had planned to watch both films without ever once getting up from the sofa (or out of bed).

That was what I had in mind, actually! Warner has put two films on one disc more than one time in the recent past (Val Lewtons, Legends of Horror, Village of the Damned) and it is so much better that way. Surely more people will agree with me on this matter.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (released 1997; SE announced years ago)
Outland (ghastly transfer; released 1997)
Cool Hand Luke (released 1997; SE in 2007?)
The Candidate (1.33:1; released 1997)
Jeremiah Johnson (released 1997; SE due in 2007?)
The Man Who Would Be King (flipper; released 1997)

Star 80 (1.33:1; released 1998)
Running On Empty (1.33:1; released 1998)

Fearless (1.33:1; released 1999)
Death Trap (1.33:1; released 1999)
Dead Calm (released 1999; needs a SE)
The Exorcist III (released 1999; SE director's cut was planned years ago)

Poltergeist (good transfer?; released 2000; SE due in 2007?)
Westworld (grainy, faded transfer, needs a SE; released 2000)
Logan's Run (grainy, faded transfer; released 2000; SE to tie in with remake?)

Nightbreed (released 2001; SE director's cut is or was in the works)

I splurged on Badlands a few months back as I reckon we'll never see a SE and the R1 transfer is very good.