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This cover always reminds me of Gaslight(1944), should I start dreaming about a BD of that film now?

Is Pete Kelly's Blues a popular title? I have to say I'd never heard of it before.

No, I'd say it's the least loved of the wave of Blues-related titles Warners put out in terms of anyone ever talking about it or legacy (though I haven't seen it yet and will try to sell my sealed DVD to just go with the Blu now). Now, give us the indescribably weirdo Blues in the Night on Blu and all will be forgiven, Warners

felipe wrote:Is Pete Kelly's Blues a popular title? I have to say I'd never heard of it before.

This is another title from the depths of the WTF zone.

Well I'll pipe up in defense: I love Pete Kelly's Blues very much and am thrilled for this Blu release. Jack Webb is a pretty fascinating auteur imo, though this is one of his most uncharacteristic works. But I don't think it'd be pushing it to call it one of the most gorgeous of all 'scope films.

Jonathan Rosenbaum has some substantial love for it as well: http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2008/0 ... lys-blues/

There is no doubt that titles like Pete Kelly's Blues should get a blu release. There are so many well known, money making titles still in their vaults that should be getting released first. Of course, being this is a color film is a big reason this is coming sooner then many other titles.

The WB execs should never ever complain that Blu ray is not a money maker for them, when they release little known films that the general audience will probably never buy.

But as Robert Harris wrote on that other forum back in July...

Several weeks ago, I had a meal with friends from WB, and while I cannot report titles, I can report that things are alive and well at both Warner Home Video, as well as the Warner Archive Collection.
2015 portends to be their biggest year since the start of the format.
A quick overview. Three-strip Technicolor. Minnelli. Bogart. Flynn. Davis. Astaire. Garbo. Sinatra. Hammer Horror is a high priority.
The immense amount of work (and expense) that must go into each film to make it right for Blu-ray can sometimes hold things up, but what's coming represents some of the finest productions from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I would start saving up now. For those who love classic cinema, it's going to be an expensive year.

RAH

So, we'll see.

Of course Minnelli inexplicably turned out to be Lust for Life

felipe wrote:Is Pete Kelly's Blues a popular title?

It was enormously popular in its day. In the 1950s (and for decades following) everyone knew who Jack Webb was, as he was very popular in multiple mediums. PETE KELLY'S BLUES, and the significantly more popular and better-remembered DRAGNET, were Webb's creations first appearing as radio shows, followed by feature films, and finally as television series. The feature of PETE KELLY'S BLUES was one of the highest-grossing films of 1955, earning in initial rentals roughly $5 million, and ranking between EAST OF EDEN and THE SEVEN-YEAR ITCH. It earned Peggy Lee an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress and the soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy. The film also features Ella Fitzgerald in a very rare appearance as an actress, in addition to performing as a singer. As a cultural artifact it is singular and significant. Likewise, the TV series, which starred William Reynolds (frequent Douglas Sirk performer), and featured the great Connee Boswell in a recurring dramatic/singing role, near the end of her performing career.

In my experience, the first, pre-credits, scene in Pete Kelley's Blues is surprisingly good, and most of the rest of it falls flat. I might have just been mad because Lee Marvin is wasted in a throwaway role, though. There are a couple of good musical performances in the film that are sure to make Jazz enthusiasts happy, in any event. Wouldn't have pegged this for the Warner Blu-Ray slate in a million years :-k

thanks for the history, George Kaplan. I'm a cautious admirer of Pete Kelly's Blues. Webb's jazz fandom has always charmed me (he was a semi-professional musician himself), and it's interesting that the rather tricky visual style of this film is a world away from the rigorously functional approach he took to shooting and editing Dragnet. Webb was something of a formalist, as a few interviews in American Cinematographer and elsewhere reveal.

the DVD suggests that the elements for Pete Kelly's Blues are in fantastic shape. I'm all for this Blu-Ray.

I'll also give some credit where it's due to Warner's decision to do a Blu-ray of this and to use the WAC series for films like this rather than stuff like Out of the Past. The music in it is nice, though very "trad" for its time, as the film is set in the 1920s, but anyone who appreciates Ella Fitzgerald at all should see this film at least once. Her role in it really added something unique.

FrauBlucher wrote:There is no doubt that titles like Pete Kelly's Blues should get a blu release. There are so many well known, money making titles still in their vaults that should be getting released first. Of course, being this is a color film is a big reason this is coming sooner then many other titles.

But it's not like Warner owns just a handful of color films to choose from.

It's nice to see they are porting over the extras (on The Picture of Dorian Gray) after Hit the Deck didn't do that...

Grisbi wrote:Well I'll pipe up in defense: I love Pete Kelly's Blues very much and am thrilled for this Blu release. Jack Webb is a pretty fascinating auteur imo, though this is one of his most uncharacteristic works. But I don't think it'd be pushing it to call it one of the most gorgeous of all 'scope films.

Jonathan Rosenbaum has some substantial love for it as well: http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2008/0 ... lys-blues/

Folks can get a chance to see before they decide to buy.....
TCM will air "Pete Kelly's Blues" Thursday November 16, 9 A.M. Set the DVRs.

Tacit acknowledgement from WB that burned discs are inferior...

Man, they're not even selling enough Blu-rays to afford a tripod (or an intern who isn't drunk).

swo17 wrote:Tacit acknowledgement from WB that burned discs are inferior...

The BD spec (specifically using AACS) makes BD-R use far less studio friendly than DVD-Rs. It's not exactly comparable.

captveg wrote:

swo17 wrote:Tacit acknowledgement from WB that burned discs are inferior...

The BD spec (specifically using AACS) makes BD-R use far less studio friendly than DVD-Rs. It's not exactly comparable.

The great majority of customers wouldn't know that, so swo's point still stands.

Because ignorance is a solid basis for assumptions, amirite?

It's natural for people who don't have much experience with BD-Rs and haven't read up on Warner Archive's Blu line yet to think that they might be BD-Rs. Even a couple of members here were confused.

ZABRISKIE POINT showing theatrically here this week in a D-Cinema copy from Hollywood Classics Distribution/WB (presumably @ 2K or 4K), thus HD master available for potential BR, I guess...

Why wouldn't Criterion want this, though?

Because it's awful? Joking aside they might not have the option to take it. What we know of the WB deal suggests that they were not given the opportunity to pick and choose willy nilly, but from a certain list or criteria. It might not have been an option.

Just returned from seeing this ZP on the large screen... OMG, a total revelation, a symphony of spellbinding visuals and sounds, especially visceral in the desert... In this rendering it is so beautiful, a masterpiece which is very moving, marred just by the syrupy upbeat Roy Orbison song at the end that the studio imposed over the chosen Pink Floyd piece wanted by the director (I have an off air VHS from the BBC with this version)... Bring on the BR!...