The Extras - UPDATE! Warner Archive APRIL & MAY Schedule Changes and a NEW Blu-ray Release

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

George Feltenstein joins the podcast for a brief update to the Warner Archive April release schedule. Three films -  'Friendly Persuasion,' 'The Nun's Story,' and 'You're a Big Boy Now' are now moving from April 30th to a May 14th release. The other three titles - 'The Mask of Fu Manchu,' "The Rain People,' and the 'Scooby-Doo Zombie Island' double feature will still be released on April 30th.  George also announces the unexpected treat of 'Devil's Doorway' arriving ahead of schedule on April 30th, and he provides background on the film, the restoration, and the extras that are included.Pre-orders will be posted when available.The Extras Facebook pageThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog GroupOtaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv

Hi, Tim Lard here and this is just a quick little update to our April announcement schedule from the Warner Archive. And George is going to join me for an exclusive update for our listeners here of what is changing for the April releases and an announcement of a addition only right here on the extras. Well here I have with me George Feltenstein. George, we have a little update for the listeners that you wanted to provide on the release schedule. Yes, indeed, Tim. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to get the word out to our loyal consumers

and fans. We're having a little bit of a schedule shift, and that is that three of the titles that we just talked about that were coming we had hoped for April 30th will require a little more production time and are moving to May 14th as a street date. Those titles are Friendly Persuasion, The Nun Story, and You're a Big Boy Now. And by getting out in front of this and giving them enough time for production, there are many, many, many disks being made from many, many companies. It's creating a little bit of a production logjam.

There's evidence of the havoc that that can bring when street day comes and people don't receive their product. So we're trying to make sure that doesn't happen going forward. And by moving those three titles out to the 14th, that assures that we'll be able to deliver them in ample time and in normal fashion. But on the other side of it, something was ready a little early that I had planned for May, so we're putting that into April 30th. And it's a very important film that maybe not everybody knows about, but they need to know about it. And it's a 1950 MGM film called Devil's Doorway. It's directed by the great Anthony Mann and it stars Robert Taylor and Louis Calharn

and Paula Raymond. And this is one of the earlier films in the Hollywood studio system to deal with the poor treatment of Native Americans. And Robert Taylor portrays a Native American Shoshone Indian, as they would say in the day, who is a war hero in the Civil War. And he gets a Congressional Medal of Honor. And when he returns home to his land, he finds out that Native Americans can't own land legally. And despite him being a glorified war hero, his Congressional Medal of Honor means nothing.

And this is really one of the first Hollywood films to address that kind of basically racism and prejudice and it does so under the brilliant direction of Anthony Mann who is an auteur with a great following. This is the kind of film that was basically overlooked to some degree on original release although it got a rave review from the New York Times. But in subsequent years it's been rediscovered. And more importantly, this is a 4k scan off our best preservation materials and it looks sensational. And it will be released with two cartoons in the original trailer. So Devil's Doorway joins the April 30th remaining lineup, which includes the Mask of Fu Manchu,

the Rain People, and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island paired with Scooby-Doo Return to Zombie Island. So April 30th will be a fine day with four releases. We will have three releases on May 14th that moved from April. And then the best news of all, end of May, we will have a whole new group of classics to announce that I think are going to really excite people. So we've just had a little detour and we wanted to make everyone aware that this is happening so that people could prepare accordingly. And we've got a lot in store and a lot to celebrate. So there is good news ahead. But just the announcement of telling people Devil's Doorway is coming to Blu-ray is a pretty big deal for Anthony Mann fans and fans of MGM because it is MGM's

100th birthday this year. Yeah, that worked out pretty well that you had that done a little bit early so that could slide into the schedule as these other three move into May. And we're only talking about a week or two back into May. So exactly. Yes, because we have so much in production right now that things shift. And one little thing that may be caught in QC or something can basically set everything on a delay. And we've been hoping that the manufacturing facility would

be able to deliver us disks when they promise and they have fallen short on their promises often. So we're hoping that that won't be a problem going forward and we're building in some larger lead time so that we can be able to give the consumers what we promise. So it's just a change in status, but people can look forward to a normal May lineup. The previously announced April titles will all show up just a few weeks later, and we're adding another one with Devil's Doorway. And we didn't mention it, but there are two classic cartoons on

this Devil's Doorway release as well. The Chump Champ and All Cat. So fans can look forward to that as well being included. So that's always something we want to mention. Absolutely. And the cartoons are in HD and they look great. I'm very excited about Devil's Doorway because it's such an important film. And I think that people will have even more excitement

when they hear what else we're planning for the end of May. So much to look forward to. Yes, and you mentioned recently that, you know, you've got this list of 50 some odd titles. So there's just a ton to look forward to. So thanks for coming on. 50 in various state of pre-production or production. Yeah.

50 plus actually. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming on and sharing this and I'll be sure and get the word out to all of our listeners and fans of the Warner Archive. Thank you, Tim. As always, it's a pleasure. Well, thanks to George for coming on and giving us an exclusive update on that release announcement and the changes to the schedule for the Warner Archive April releases, which now bleed into May. And of course, we'll have the May announcement at some point with those other titles that

George mentioned.