The Extras - Warner Archive April Release Announcement

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

George Feltenstein announces the Warner Archive's April Blu-ray releases.  George provides background on each film or TV series, the remaster, and all of the extras that are included.  And he always drops some knowledge about what is being worked on for the future. There is no better way to learn about what is on the Warner Archive schedule than to hear directly from George.Purchase links are not yet 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, this is Tim Millard, host of The Extras Podcast, and I wanted to let you know that we have a new private Facebook group for fans of the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers catalog physical media releases. So if that interests you, you can find the link on our Facebook page or look for the link in the podcast show notes. Hello and welcome to The Extras where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies and animation and the release on digital DVD, Blu-ray and 4K or your favorite streaming site.

I'm Tim Allard, your host and joining me is George Feldstein to announce the April Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. Hi George. Hello Tim. It's great to be with you as always. Yes. And especially for these announcement podcasts, they're so much fun. I was thinking about it.

You get that excitement, it's a little bit like Christmas, the anticipation of finding out what actually not get, but what you're going to get yourself in the upcoming month. And I think that's what makes it so much fun because people are like, oh, I'm getting that. I've been waiting so long for that or I'm getting this. So it's always fun to do these. Absolutely, I feel exactly the same way. And I'm glad that as usual, the enthusiasm from our fans and consumers couldn't do it without them.

So it's a thank you to all the fans that are keeping us going. And I'm delighted to talk with you about these six latest releases that are scheduled for our April 30th release. Well, why don't we dive right in since there's six of them. That's a nice number.

I guess that's what you had in late March as well. But it's great that there's been so many of these releases because it allows you to do a kind of a variety of them so that everybody can find something that they're interested in. Well, our releases span this month's announcement from 1932 to 2019. So I think that's a pretty good span of eras.

Let's start talking about the one from 2019, which is actually a bonus on the prime feature of a Anna Barbera double feature, starring everyone's favorite dog, Scooby Doo. And it's Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, which is from 1998, and it's a beautiful HD master, and the Blu-ray is gonna look fantastic.

And most importantly, this is something that fans have really been very vocal about how much they wanted it. It seems to be the favorite or one of the top five favorite of the Scooby-Doo movies that were made for either television or video or both. And there are many, many of those. But this one is the one we've gotten the most requests for. We've added the sequel, which came almost 20 years later, actually 21 years later,

returned to Zombie Island and people who are very serious about their Scooby-Doo lore almost find that to be, you know, like anachronistic. But for our purposes, there are other consumers that just want to see Scooby and the gang on Zombie Island. So the double feature provides both, and it also provides the ability for people to not have to pay for two movies. You get two movies on one disc with our notoriously high bit rate and dedication to quality and very excited about this for the Scooby fans. And that comes right on the heels of the three releases that were part of the Hannah Barbera set. So it's been quite a wealth of Scooby-Doo for the fans there. You mentioned that in our last discussion. I think that there'll be more coming for the Scooby-Doo fans. So they didn't have to wait too long. Well, after being in a virtual desert

of no Hanna-Barbera on Blu-ray, we were able to make a little bit of a dent with Hey there, it's Yogi Bear last year. But this year, fans are going to be really, really happy. And not just fans from one particular era, but representing the very many eras of Hanna Barbera, we've got some pretty exciting things up our sleeve. I'll leave it at that. But people can speculate from where they will. And there will be more of those most demanded Scooby-Doo movies. Wow. That's terrific. All right. Well, what's next that you have on the release schedule here, George?

The next two films we're going to discuss are early works from one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. He's actually got a new movie coming soon. I'm talking about Francis Ford Coppola and we start with 1966's You're a Big Boy Now. This is a quirky comedy that was almost kind of an indie film in a sense because it was made as his UCLA master's thesis. But it ended up getting released by Seven Arts Productions right before Seven Arts bought out Jack Warner's stock and the company became Warner Brothers Seven Arts for about two years. Before it switched to be Warner Brothers Inc. again when the Seven Arts people went away. But

they acquired this film and it was released I believe toward the end of 1966 and was praised not just for the writing and Mr. Coppola's direction, but also there are some really phenomenal performances in this film. You've got Elizabeth Hartman, who Warner Archive fans will know from Apache Blue. She was the leading lady in that film, and she's delightful in this. Rip Torn and his wife, the great Geraldine Page, are also in it.

And the young man named Peter Kastner plays the protagonist in this story. And it's really a wonderful snapshot of the mid-1960s. And it's a lot of fun. There's a lot of wonderful photography of location shots at the time. So it's a timepiece, but it's so well written. And this is a beautiful new master. It's a 4K scan off the camera negative and the Blu-ray is just going to be gorgeous. So we're very, very excited about that.

And this is one of the films that made its DVD debut through the Warner Archive at the very beginning of our being in this little boutique industry. So it's a special treat to be able to be bringing the film back on Blu-ray, this time with a 4K scan off the camera negative. Not familiar with this film, but it's great that it's able to come out.

And is this something that people are pretty familiar with this film or is it more obscure, George? I think it's a little bit of both people who are very into kind of the new wave of directors that it in the 60s and 70s. Coppola was among that group, William Friedkin was another, these are the Raging Bulls and Mavericks.

There's a whole book about that. This was Coppola's first theatrical feature to come from the Warner seven arts umbrella, if you will, but it wouldn't be his last because he followed that with Finnean's Rainbow, which we released on Blu-ray a few years ago. And that is a perfect segue to the next film he made, which is the 1969 release of The Rain People, this was a much more major mainstream feature production than Your Big Boy Now, which had that indie feel. But it was a very progressive film for its time.

Shirley Knight gives a wonderful performance as young woman trying to find herself. And two people who would collaborate later with Mr. Coppola on his landmark film about the Corleone family, James Cahn and Robert Duvall are the co-stars of The Raid People. It's R-rated, it's very mature, and it's also something that I don't feel is dated in its thematics. Certainly, it looks like it was filmed in 1969, but the writing and the direction by Coppola, he wrote and directed this film. It's a very personal film.

I think people, again, haven't been exposed to it as much. And it was an early Warner Archive DVD release. So now, again, 4K scan off the camera negative, it really does justice to a really remarkable film that is ripe for rediscovery. And that's a good thing. Yeah. Well, I'm excited because these two are going to go nicely on my shelf

next to my Godfather trilogy in my apocalypse now set. And I'm looking forward to watching this since I'm not as familiar with some of the earlier work of this master. This is the exciting part of the month when we get to announce what new things are about to arrive. Yeah.

Because we've been working on these things for so long. It's terrific. Yeah. And he's got a new film, I think, coming out soon. Yes, he does. So what a filmography he's had and continues to have. Well, I'm very biased because The Godfather is probably one of my top three movies of all time.

So I'm just in awe of the man that created it. Yeah. But I like a lot of his other films too, The Conversation, and these, all three of these Warner films, Finian's Rainbow, You're a Big Boy, Now the Rain People, they're all excellent. And he's just a remarkable individual. And it's very exciting to think he's been working on a passion project for many years that we'll get to see in theaters soon. Yeah, yeah. So moving on to our next release, we'll go back to the 1950s.

And there are certain really strong films in our library that have been existing only in standard definition. or in the case of our next film, there has been an HD master shown on television that was what we refer to as a one light, meaning it was a quickie master done for a TV sale years ago, but it's not the kind of thing you could ever put on a Blu-ray, or at least that we would ever put on a Blu-ray.

Friendly Persuasion is the film nominated for multiple Oscars for 1956. This is a 4K scan off the original camera negative. It looks amazing. It was produced and directed by the incomparable William Wyler and stars Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, and in his major film debut, Anthony Perkins. And what's particularly poignant about this film, I remember seeing it when I was very, very young with my family. It's about a Quaker family and they are pacifists,

and they're confronted by the Civil War around them. And it deals with some very, very heavy issues, but it's also very heartwarming and family-oriented and of course Gary Cooper is amazing in it. And 1956 was one of those years for film where you just had amazing performances, amazing films, Giant, The King and I, The Ten Commandments. There were just so many wonderful films that year. So Friendly Persuasion kind of took a back seat at the Oscars, but it was nominated for a lot of them.

I believe, if I'm correct, that William Wyler won the palm door for this film, for his direction. And he's one of my favorite directors. I find he is remarkable in what he achieved in his career. And this was an allied artist production. An allied artist was usually making B pictures and small budget pictures. This was one of the few times where they really went out and made a big budget movie with a big name cast and a big wonderful acclaimed award-winning director.

The results were sensational. It was a big hit at the box office all over the world. Ironically, because Allied could not afford to distribute films all around the world because they were a small company, they would usually, with a big picture, they would sell off the international rights to another company.

And in this case, for friendly persuasion, the international rights went to MGM. The irony of it is that Allied Artists was bought by Lorimar, which was bought by Warner Brothers. That's the domestic side. And of course, the MGM library ended up being part of Turner Entertainment Company, which has been part of Warner Brothers since 1996. So we have worldwide rights to the film and all the more reason why we do a 4K scan from the original negative and have this beautiful new master.

And this film has looked really poor for so long. I'm particularly excited that people are going to get to see this new presentation. This one also has some extras on here that look pretty interesting, George. Yes, there was a program on at the time this film was released called Wide Wide World. They did a little behind the scenes of the making of the film. So accordingly, that was on our old DVD and it will be carried over to this new Blu-ray

along with the trailer. So people have a lot to look forward to with Friendly Persuasion's arrival on Blu-ray. Yeah, and I saw on Facebook already that the excitement for this film is pretty strong already. So, I think there are a lot of people who are eagerly awaiting this to finally come out. Well, this is the conundrum.

Because of the size of our library, we have so many films of enormous reputation and with an enormous following that still haven't made it to Blu-ray yet. The costs involved, especially with films from the 50s where the film stock is unstable, that requires a lot of extra effort, but the results will be what people see on the screen and it's really quite beautiful. We're trying to get to everyone's requests that make sense. And this is a film that has a huge following and we know it will be profitable for the company and I hope people will support it. Well, next you have another film from the 50s

that I'm assuming also has a huge following because there seems to be a lot of interest for this one. Exactly, this is The Nun's Story for 1959 directed by another legendary film director, Fred Zinneman. So well known for so many films, Man for All Seasons, From Here to Eternity, and Oklahoma even. But the Nunn story, this film has a very devoted, passionate following. It's beautifully shot. It may be Audrey Hepburn's best performance. I think she's magnificent in it. It's kind of shocking

that she didn't win an Oscar for this. This film came out the same year as Ben Hur which won 11 Oscars. So most other movies in 1959 didn't stand a chance. But best actress that year, she lost to Simone Signore for Room at the Top. But everyone expected that Audrey Hepburn would win and she did get a lot of other accolades for her performance as did the motion picture itself. But the cast here is magnificent under Zinnaman's direction. Peter Finch is the male lead and there's a wonderful performance from Edith Evans and it's so wonderfully shot and I must also call out one of the best underscoring masterpieces of

cinematic music is the work of Franz Waxman one of my favorite composers from the classic Hollywood era. Franz Waxman's score for The Nun Story is just another, it's like another part of the cast. It's so important to creating the tapestry of cinema that this movie is. I can't imagine the movie without that score. If you're a Franz Waxman fan, you already know what I'm talking about. But this is, again, another 4K scan

off the original camera negative. And we were very happy to find out that the camera negative, 1959 film stock can be very, very, you know, you never know what you're going to end up with. And we have a belief that because this film was processed overseas and shot overseas, that's why the film's processing or whatever the negative is in fine shape and the colors

are quite beautiful. And people are going to be so impressed with the improvement of this. There has been an HD master clinking around television and digital for a long time that was made over 20 years ago. This is a huge step up and I'm very excited for people to finally see and hear how wonderful the film was presented on this new blu-ray. Yeah and just the chance to get another you know

great film starring Audrey Hepburn is a real treat. I mean she was in so many great movies during that time and is just such a beloved star. Well we have one more film to talk about then. What's that, George? Well, this disproves the rumor that Warner Archive only releases horror films in the Halloween season. The Mask of Fu Manchu, starring Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, and Myrna Loy as Fu Manchu's daughter. And Gene Herschel, this is the first film really for Karloff to give a performance having established

himself as Frankenstein's monster, but this time he gets to give a performance where he chews up the scenery, he's great as Sax Roemer's evil villain, Dr. Fu Manchu. This film was enormously popular. It's also very much a product of its time and pre-code. So when the film was reissued years later, there were little bits and pieces chopped out of it. And we were able to put the film back together as it was originally released for the DVD years and years ago. But now we have this brand new master that's just really, it's like coming out of the fog. It's so much better than what people have seen before.

I think people are really, really going to be happy to have this. We have gotten an enormity of requests for this to be available, and I'm delighted that it is. We have some classic cartoons on there to support it and also a wonderful commentary which was on the DVD release. It's been carried over here by Greg Mank. Greg Mank's commentaries are award worthy. He's such a wonderful historian and has such insight into the film.

I think people are going to enjoy watching the film itself and then watching it again with Greg's commentary. So it's going to be a great release and that wraps up our new releases for April. Well, it's exciting that you were able to get a horror title in here and one that's a pre-code as well on top of it. And just as a reminder for people, not that anybody forgot, but the ones that you've done over the last few years have just been stunning in their restoration

and just hugely popular because there is such a thirst for the classic horror. Yes, and I'm happy to say that this is not going to be the only classic horror film we released this year. There are several more in the pipeline. So we'll be talking about more because just as there are Scooby Doo fans and just as there are fans of one genre or this genre that the people that want their horror films,

they're very, very vocal and passionate and we want to address their requests. We've got a couple of things that we're working on right now that will surprise a lot of people actually and some that are oft requested. So much to look forward to in the coming year. We have, I think I may have mentioned this before, but we have about 50 different projects in some state of status. And we're working through carefully and there will be more television, more animation, and of course classic feature films and recent classic feature films, meaning within the last 25, 30 years as well as ones from 70 or 80 years ago and everything in between.

We're trying to continue our mission statement of giving the consumer what the consumer wants. And that's why Warner Archive is the boutique within the behemoth, as I say. Right. Well, this is a terrific lineup. And I say that every month, and I'm sure people kind of like, Tim, you get so excited each month. But I think it's because I see the excitement from the fans already. Like the minute some of these were announced, so many comments like,

I never thought that was going to get released or I've been waiting so long for this. And I think that really plays into the story of this 15th year anniversary, which you and I are going to talk about and celebrate here very soon. And just try to go over with the fans and the appreciation to bring these classics out. And yes, they take time and yes, there's obstacles. And but you've been there working for the fans. And, you know, obviously they need to be moneymakers as well. But part of that pent up demand, you know, is going to bring the fans to the purchasing of these titles.

I think this list here is a great example of that as well. Thank you. I agree. I firmly believe that there is so much to be mined within our library. And I'm grateful that I'm not alone here in that belief, that I have many trusted and respected colleagues who share the same vision in different divisions. But we're all united in our desire to unleash the library in the best possible quality. So we can only do, you know, so much at a given time. But between what we do and what we do with our partners, we're able to get a lot more of our

library onto the shelves of consumers as we support and shout out our unbridled support for physical media. Long may it live. For those of you who would like more information about the films announced today, be sure to check out our Facebook page and our Warner Archive Facebook group. Facebook is also the best place to get the pre-order links for these titles when they become available. They're not currently available, but we'll put them there when they get released. And taking a look ahead, we have a special episode celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Warner Archive. George and I will also be reviewing the classic TV series

Cold 45 at some point. It's going to take me a little while to get through all of those episodes. But we'll do that. And then Jerry and George will be back on to talk about the Looney Tunes Collectors Choice Volume 3, which released recently. And it's a fantastic collection of Looney Tunes cartoons, just like the previous two were. So I'm looking forward to talking with them about that one. And of course, we'll have our late March Blu-ray reviews.

So lots of good stuff ahead. If you aren't yet subscribed or following the show at your favorite podcast provider, you may want to do that so that you don't miss anything. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed. The Extras is a production of Otaku Media, producers of podcasts, behind the scenes extras, and media that connects creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals at www.otakumedia.tv or look for the link in the show notes.