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I was eagerly waiting to see what Warner had in store for both films, and yet I can't say it's a total shock to see such a lazy, uninspired release. It is tremendously disappointing all the same. Hopefully there will be a single disc release of KANE, as I'm not spending $50+ to get the rest of the junk they've packaged with it (AMBERSONS aside).

What would have been a dream would be to do a set entitled WELLES AT RKO, or something similar, and package KANE, AMBERSONS, and JOURNEY INTO FEAR (both cuts) together. Get the BBC Arena interview, the RKO Story episode, do a documentary about the destruction of AMBERSONS, and so on.

If they couldn't be bothered to do anything extra for Ambersons, I think the chances of a deluxe "Journey into Fear" with both cuts is pretty much out the window. Probably end up being a burn on demand job or something. ](*,)

It's frustrating, because if they care that little, one wonders why they didn't license it out- presumably Criterion would have been willing to pay them more than the value of an Amazon exclusive throw-in, and I can only assume the people at Criterion would kill their own mothers to have a chance to put Mag Ambs back out.

Probably an unfortunate by-product of the success of the Warner Archive--they figured out that even titles they don't want to bother with are worth money to somebody (in this case, lots of somebodies.)

Set is a joke in so many ways. Too much to hope that this "Amazon Exclusive" gets blown up after a good run, "Kane" gets a regular Blu and "Ambersons" (and "Journey into Fear") goes to our friends at the Collection?

Spoiler

Definately.

('Lil shoutout to the old-timers, there. Haven't posted here in a minute..)

atcolomb wrote:...And the funny thing about it is that on the back cover of the Ambersons dvd shows a scene that was cut from the film..crazy!!...

Not only that, but poor old Joe Cotten gets the "Cotton" treatment on his credit - the guy can't catch a break! Also, Tarkington has had his name modified to sound closer to his literary family's name: "Tarkinson".

I'm sure these typos will be corrected for the released version, but it is disappointing to have this film released as a bonus feature to KANE. I will be curious to see the quality of the transfer. AMBERSONS was supposed to have undergone a 4K scan to prepare it for an eventual HD release, but when TCM-HD showed it last week it was the same dingy-looking picture quality that has been airing for years. If this was a Blu-ray disc, I'd say there would be no chance that a more extensive version would be released, but I'm thinking that Warner decided to get the DVD version out there with the plan for a more extensive Blu-ray release next year (or later). JOURNEY INTO FEAR would probably be included as a (SD?) bonus feature at that time. If this is all we get as far as AMBERSONS is concerned, that guarantees that JOURNEY will end up as a Warner Archive release.

P.S. There's something deeply ironic about the fact that last week Warner released all the "Mexican Spitfire" films as Archive editions. As fans and historians will note, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS was initially released in July, 1942 on a double-bill with MEXICAN SPITFIRE SEES A GHOST!

Given the massive MSRP, I'm sticking with my recent off-air BBC recording of Ambersons. It's better than any of the current commercial DVD releases as far as I can judge from frame-grabs.
I can't see how this release will please anyone: DVD collectors excluded; Blu-ray collectors disappointed; everyone gouged by the price...
More evidence of the downfall of the once magnificent Warner Brothers!

wow, I see that my thread regarding the news about Ambersons coming out got hooked onto a thread that hadn't had a new post since 2008.
Now if that original thread had had any recent posts that would be one thing, but I saw the news about MA coming out on dvd and made a point to come over here and post a thread with this news, and honestly it feels like a slap in the face to check back here today and see that this has happened.
I'm sorry, but this action would be viewed on most internet forums as very disrespectful imo.
It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it is very disappointing.

It could have been worse. In honor of its DVD release they could have gone back and cut a few more minutes, added color, and tweaked the ending a little. Or they could have made it an extra on the made for TV remake. At least that would have revealed a sense of humor instead of just laziness.

poor orson can't catch a break and this guy is upset because his post was moved to an already existing thread...amazing how everything in the internet world is about me, me, me!

Arkadin wrote:wow, I see that my thread regarding the news about Ambersons coming out got hooked onto a thread that hadn't had a new post since 2008.
Now if that original thread had had any recent posts that would be one thing, but I saw the news about MA coming out on dvd and made a point to come over here and post a thread with this news, and honestly it feels like a slap in the face to check back here today and see that this has happened.
I'm sorry, but this action would be viewed on most internet forums as very disrespectful imo.
It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it is very disappointing.

Not searching for an existing discussion of the topic at hand is roughly a trillion times more disrespectful. This has always been how this board rolls. We're glad for your update, but chillax

Also, a lot of other internet forums would just let its heavy users self-moderate along the lines of "you stupid goddamn noob, learn to use the fucking search function!!" any time that some new person makes a mistake like starting a duplicate thread just to print new news about an existing topic. Our system of silent ninja mods is much, much superior to this cycle of endless bickering and hurt feelings.

We try to keep one topic per film so that's why the threads were merged. It's always been this way.

What irks me about the Ambersons DVD (only! WTF?) is that a company like Criterion will take what is really a mediocre, if fun film like Mr. Arkadin and go all out with a 3-disc set and include the complete "novelization". That set is amazing! And then Warners, a far bigger company, couldn't be bothered with one of his most highly regarded films, which has such a fascinating history it just boggles the mind as to why they didn't at least include a commentary or even a short documentary. I'm hoping this is a teaser, but considering how much respect I've lost for Warner over the years I doubt it.

Dammit, I have to finally break down and buy that laserdisc when I can.

cdnchris wrote:We try to keep one topic per film so that's why the threads were merged.

Is Magnificent Ambersons really important enough of a film to merit its own thread though?

swo17 wrote:

cdnchris wrote:We try to keep one topic per film so that's why the threads were merged.

Is Magnificent Ambersons really important enough of a film to merit its own thread though?

Apparently it's no Night Flight

Everybody needs to calm down. On the plus side, Warner Archive finally released the complete Mexican Spitfire collection! Now you can finally see The Mexican Spitfire Sees A Ghost on a double feature like RKO originally intentioned! It's the more profitable of two movies in 1942 and therefore the better of the two.

On the serious side, I encourage everyone to get the original Criterion laserdisc. It comes with a fantastic commentray that's fully in depth about the creation (and eventual destruction) of the film along with archival Welles interviews, visual essays, the Mercury Radio adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons and clips from an earlier, silent adaptation of the book, Pampered Youth. Plus for such an early laserdisc, the picture quality is among the best from the classic films I've seen on the format.

Plus you get a neat drawing of the characters done by Norman Rockwell:


Edit: I just noticed Roger Ryan already pointed out the sad Mexican Spitfire irony.

Sorry I'm late, I had to run and get a torch and a pitchfork.
I plan to wait a few months after release date, or a year, and see what the used prices look like. No way am I supporting this horse shit by purchasing it new.
Yet again I'm envious of Jonathan S's collection of off-air recordings.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:On the serious side, I encourage everyone to get the original Criterion laserdisc.

What am I supposed to play it on? It's 2011, George Lucas!

There was a hue and cry when the Kubrick blu set was announced sans standalone Barry Lyndon and Lolita releases, but they soon announced those (amazon only). I wonder whether we've heard the last on Ambersons. The fact that this set is starting out as an amazon exclusive makes me pessimistic.

Given their marketing strategy in general, I would be shocked if Kane and Ambersons don't get released as stand alone discs down the line. Look at Gone With the Wind and the Wizard of Oz. They roll out the box with the souvenir underpants so they can squeeze extra margin out of anybody who can't wait or doubts that individual releases will see the light of day. Then they sell them individually to capture all those extra sales (see Fox and the Alien box). Then they sell the individual discs at steep discounts to capture any hold outs. I'm pretty confident we'll see the same approach here. They know we want Ambersons, and they won't miss the chance to sell it to us.

It is an amazingly lame release in terms of features and how they are handling Ambersons. (Ambersons actually makes sense in light of the absence of any new features on Kane - they're thinking, well, we don't want to spend any money on putting together new extras on Kane ... hey, I've got an idea, let's take this Ambersons flick and treat it like an extra! Brilliant!)

I think that if there was any doubt, it seems pretty clear than any silent releases are going to come out on the Archive. If they're going to invest as little capital as possible to release Kane, why would they spend any additional dimes to release silent movies? No chance. I only hope they "upgrade" Greed from iTunes to the Archive. Sigh.

And I hadn't even really considered that solid extras for Ambersons already exist in Criterion's hands. Even if they didn't want to license the film to Criterion, they easily could have made some deal with Criterion (a la Sony) to do a joint release (BBS box) or trade some other films for the extras (Taxi Driver blu). At this point, their refusal to do any licensing is just stupid. They are leaving money on the table for no good reason that I can discern.

I don't have anything to add to the anger except to sigh and mutter "fuckin' Warner Brothers" under my breath.

I, personally, am excited for the RKO docudrama. At least it is in color.

Guys please save your rants, or at least duplicate them, for WB themselves. They'll need all the complaints they can get if there's any chance of them doing Ambersons in Blu, or with extras.

I've sent them an email and I hope everyone here who cares about the film will join me and let them know directly your disappointment.

Amazing that Criterion can afford to release The Makioka Sisters on Blu-ray, whilst WB - one of the largest corporations in the world, seemingly can't release their famous silents even on DVD, or Ambersons on Blu, etc etc.

I'm still waiting for this thread to be merged with Kane's. In the meantime, I also sent some grumbles. Not going to hold my breath, but it surely can't hurt.

I am pretty sure Orson is having a good laugh up there somewhere...and i do hope that they will do something special for it's 70th anniversary next year.