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Warner Romantic Classics

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:59 pm
by Gigi M.
From DVDTimes:
Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of 9 digitally remastered romantic classics and modern favourites on 27th January 2009. All titles are new-to-DVD (in North America) and are split in two groups:

The All-Star Romance group of titles features Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), Far From the Madding Crowd, The Yellow Rolls Royce, Waterloo Bridge (1940) and Cannery Row, available as single titles and each selling for $19.97 SRP.

The Warner Bros. Romance Classics Collection features a quartet of ‘60s screen hits, featuring that decade’s teen heartthrob Troy Donahue, and his famous leading ladies including Connie Stevens and Suzanne Pleshette. The collection includes Palm Springs Weekend, Parrish, Rome Adventure and Susan Slade. These titles will be sold as a Collection only for $39.92 SRP.

There are no extras listed. Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969) is the original full-length roadshow version while Far From the Madding Crowd presents the film in its original uncut form, as seen in its international release.

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:07 pm
by Dr Amicus
Far From the Madding Crowd! I hope (and assume) this will be in its original 2.35:1 ratio. AFIK all the Region 2 discs are cropped to 1.77:1.

Still - a slightly odd collection. Not as disparate as Martini Movies, but...

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:05 pm
by Jack Phillips
Dr Amicus wrote:Far From the Madding Crowd! I hope (and assume) this will be in its original 2.35:1 ratio. AFIK all the Region 2 discs are cropped to 1.77:1.
The real question is, Has any restoration work been done on the film itself? The current R2 looks just awful, presumably, because the source material was so bad to begin with. Re-transferring and re-cropping alone won't make much of a difference.

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:34 pm
by domino harvey
Well, I'm sure we were all clamoring for this to get released before that Natalie Wood set :roll:

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:00 am
by AfterTheRain
Finally, Waterloo Bridge will come to DVD as well as the Peter O'Toole version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Ain't it sweet?

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:13 am
by Tolmides
I don't care how odd the collection is, I'm just glad that Waterloo Bridge is finally getting a release.

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:07 pm
by Perkins Cobb
So, if the first batch is the All-Star Romance Collection, then by implication the one with all the Troy Donahue movies is the No-Star Romance Collection? And would that refer to Mr. Donahue and Ms. Pleshette, or to the average Maltin Guide rating for the films included?

These holiday-themed releases are so silly and outdated anyway ... I mean, is anybody under the age of 60 going to run out and buy a DVD of Rome Adventure for his girlfriend?

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:28 pm
by Matt
Perkins Cobb wrote:These holiday-themed releases are so silly and outdated anyway ... I mean, is anybody under the age of 60 going to run out and buy a DVD of Rome Adventure for his girlfriend?
No, but I'm betting that Warners thinks that a lot of lonely, big-bottomed women who were in their teens in the early '60s and who have no plans for Valentine's Day that don't involve slippers and a pint of ice cream will run out and buy a DVD of Rome Adventure for themselves.

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 5:40 am
by domino harvey
Pixx stolen from DVDTalk's forums:

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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:16 am
by Perkins Cobb
Matt wrote:No, but I'm betting that Warners thinks that a lot of lonely, big-bottomed women who were in their teens in the early '60s and who have no plans for Valentine's Day that don't involve slippers and a pint of ice cream will run out and buy a DVD of Rome Adventure for themselves.
Well, my mother fits about 75% of that description and she certainly would ... if she had a DVD player.

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:20 pm
by Belmondo
The cover for "Madding" is, uh, maddening. Makes it look like a military movie. If the back cover shows the brief scene with Peter Finch holding a pistol, then the misinformation will be complete.
And, Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor don't have all that much to smile about in "Waterloo Bridge", either.
Maybe we should stick to "Rome Adventure". Kiss kiss - bland bland.

Re: Warner Romantic Classics

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 1:23 am
by HerrSchreck
A great film slips quietly into the market for the first--legally at least-- time. I've yet to see this later version, and love the Mae Clarke original.

Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2024 10:00 pm
by Matt
Matt wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:28 pm
Perkins Cobb wrote:These holiday-themed releases are so silly and outdated anyway ... I mean, is anybody under the age of 60 going to run out and buy a DVD of Rome Adventure for his girlfriend?
No, but I'm betting that Warners thinks that a lot of lonely, big-bottomed women who were in their teens in the early '60s and who have no plans for Valentine's Day that don't involve slippers and a pint of ice cream will run out and buy a DVD of Rome Adventure for themselves.
Ha, I was once so dismissive of these Troy Donahue movies and now I love them all. I finally broke down and bought this DVD set after 16 years—the first DVDs I think I’ve bought since the Eclipse Duvivier set in 2015.

Re: Warner Romantic Classics

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2024 10:16 pm
by domino harvey
Make sure they still work, so many older Warner DVDs are a crapshoot, sadly

Re: Warner Romantic Classics

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2024 11:34 pm
by therewillbeblus
I think someone figured out there was a date range for manufacturing? Like, there are two versions of They All Laughed - the 2013 version plays great, but the 2006 one doesn't. It's entirely possible that other 2013-manufactured discs are rotten, but that could be a benchmark when purchasing, if you have the manufacturing info on Amazon et al

Re: Warner Romantic Classics

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2024 11:59 pm
by starmanof51
I think it was '06 to '08 that was the dicey time, I lost a few to rot but not many

Re: Warner Romantic Classics

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2024 12:41 am
by Matt
domino harvey wrote:Make sure they still work, so many older Warner DVDs are a crapshoot, sadly
They look fine on the surface, but I will give them a run-through. Thanks for the warning!