The Extras - Warner Archive December 2022 Release Highlights: "Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman" & "The Night of the Iguana"

Episode Date: December 2, 2022

Warner Bros George Feltenstein and horror and monster film historian Tom Weaver take us through the December 2022 Warner Archive Blu-ray releases.  We start with the 1958 sci-fi horror film "Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman" starring Allison Hayes, Yvette Vickers, and William Hudson.  Tom provides background on the film and the unfortunate tragic end to stars Hayes and Vickers.  George details the 4K scan from the original camera negative to make a terrific new HD master. Then we discuss the John Huston-directed 1964 drama “The Night of the Iguana" starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, Grayson Hall, and Sue Lyon.  This adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play is a showcase for the actors and director John Huston and the new 4K scan provides a wonderful clarity to the black and white picture.Purchase on Amazon:Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman Blu-rayThe Night of the Iguana Blu-rayThe Sitcom StudyWelcome to the Sitcom Study, where we contemplate the TV shows we grew up with and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Warner Archive Store on Amazon Support the podcast by shopping with our Amazon Affiliate linkDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.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, I'm film historian and author John Fricke. I've written books about Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz movie, and you're listening to The Extras. Hello and welcome to The Extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies, and animation, and then release on digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Millard, your host. Today, George Feltenstein of Warner Brothers joins the show to take us through the December 2022 Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive.

And joining us for part of the discussion is former podcast guest and Monster Kid, Tom Weaver. Well, hi, George. It's good to talk with you today. As always, Tim, it's a pleasure to be with you. And hi again, Tom. I'm glad you were able to make it on the show. It means you survived another Halloween there in Sleepy Hollow. Yes, I did. It's a privilege to be invited back, Tim. Thank you very much. Well, before we dive into our discussion today on the Warner Archive releases for December, I'm curious how you two know each other. George, why don't you start off? How did you guys meet?

Well, it's been a long time, but when we were both youngsters and entering into the film industry, we both worked for the same company in film distribution. And Tom and I hit it off right away because we were both passionate about movies. And it was a delight to meet him then. And we've stayed in touch and been friendly this entire time. And when I moved into the home video business, whenever I was needing advice or help or direction with genre titles, this is the man I called. Whenever I want to impress a fellow film fan, George, I tell them that you and I have known each other since we were kids and our dogs used to play together. That's right. That's about 60% true.

Exactly. I didn't get my first dog until I was about to move to Los Angeles. Boy, take it this is when you're still back in New York, George? Absolutely. is but well i take it this is when you're still back in new york george absolutely yeah we worked i worked at a place called audio brandon a 16 millimeter film rental place in mount vernon new york and all of a sudden this giant much bigger film company called film zinc gobbled us up but in their infinite mercy they uh they spared four or five of the uh or whatever Audio Brandon employees hired them for Films Inc. And I was one of them and met George at that time and fell in love right away because he

was just as nutty as I am about movies. And we just immediately clicked. And the thing is that it was a really transitional time for Films Incorporated. And a lot of people in the industry got their start in the non-theatrical business and a lot of them at Films Incorporated. And it was a wonderful place to work. And I remember that it was unfortunate

that when Films Incorporated acquired Audio Brandon that a lot of people had to be let go. But it was unquestionable it had acquired Audio Brandon that a lot of people had to be let go. But it was unquestionable how needed Tom was because he was an encyclopedia of information about the company and everybody recognized that and it would ensure a smooth transition. And I was so grateful because, you know, I had a compadre, you know, in Mount Vernon and I used to take the train from Manhattan to Mount Vernon. And I grew up in Westchester County where Mount Vernon is. So I knew the area well, but the point is, is that I would go up there to check on things and do what needs to be done and then go back to our offices on Park Avenue South all in a day.

And that was many years ago. I wish I knew. And we're still here. I wish I had known then how valuable I was to film Zink. I might have asked for a raise. Well, it's great that you've been able to join us for this very special edition of the extras podcast because we have two war archive releases for the month of december and one of them i can't think of this film without thinking of you attack of the 50 foot woman and it's a lifelong favorite and it is a thrill for me that you are on the disc with a commentary recorded probably about 16 years ago, 17 years ago, maybe, maybe less, maybe 15.

I listened to it just this morning. And at one point I mentioned that it's 2007. Okay. So I was 15. I was right. I mentioned that it's 2007. Okay, so I was 15. I was right.

It's hard to remember what we did when because there's been so much back and forth, but you've done other commentaries for us as well. Yeah, and it's always been a lot of fun. But I got to tell you that listening to it this morning, it was a lot of fun because I hadn't heard it in years. But it was also a little depressing because Yvette Vickers was so up and so sharp and so with it. Lively. Yeah, yeah. And unfortunately, she went downhill after that.

She became kind of paranoid, but she just became a different person in later years. And of course, being those are the more recent years, that's the Yvette I remember more. And listening to her so sharp and funny and laughing and coming out with titles of movies and everybody's names without prompting, oh, it broke my heart. She used to be, she was so great to know as a person. And I really enjoyed knowing her and it was tremendous fun to do that commentary. And that's the beauty of these commentaries is that they're frozen in time. I'm thinking a year ago, maybe a little. Well, actually, I can remember correctly. It was March, I think March of 2021. We released the 1951 version of Showboat with a commentary from director George Sidney that was recorded in 1995 or 6 for Laserdisc.

in 1995 or 6 for Laserdisc and George has been gone for a long over 20 years and yet there he is speaking about his movies from a relatively contemporary viewpoint

and it's precious to have these kind of commentaries where participants in the actual film are there to speak, especially when they're... The beauty of Attack of the 50-Foot Woman commentary is that Tom and Yvette talk together

as opposed to just being one person, and the conversation makes it as enjoyable as the movie itself. Nothing's as enjoyable as the movie itself. Right. The people woman to me is, Joe Dante once called it a perfect movie, and I mused and I rubbed my chin, and you know what? He's right.

That's how much pleasure I get out of it. Well, I think the thing that I'm most excited about, because, Tom, you haven't seen it yet. And the thing is, is that we were getting ready to release this movie about three years ago. And we were going to master it from a second generation, fine grain positive, which is the usual or was the usual course of mastering that we would take on. And we already had a high definition master that was made around the DVD time, but it was not up to our standards. So we knew we had to create a new master. we knew we had to create a new master and there was mold all over the fine grain.

And we knew we would have to go back to the original camera negative. So this new Blu-ray disc is a 4K scan from the original camera negative. And from that 4K scan, we have a new HD master and this film looks better than you've ever seen it before. It's astounding. It was just shocked because it was shot on such a low budget and it looks great. Yeah. And you don't see through the special effects. I mean, they hold up. Stay with us. We'll be right back. 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. You can find the link on our Facebook page or31 movie magazine. You can read enough of the bottom edge that you can tell it's a movie magazine. And thank you so much, George, for everything. You know, when they build a Mount Rushmore to the people who've kept the movies alive. You need to be on it for all that you're doing. I mean that. For those of you listening, there's no picture, but I'm

blushing. We are so thrilled at the reception that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has gotten. To see the top 10 Blu-rays of the week right before Halloween, number seven amongst all these new theatrical releases, was this 91-year-old film by Ruben Mamouian. And

it was such a labor of love for everyone involved. And again, always I have to pay tribute to my colleagues at Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging because they approach every project with such fervent dedication, making sure everything is perfect. And it's wonderful to be among colleagues like that who care that much. And we all really collaborate. And we all really collaborate. It's really fascinating because every film we take on is going to have a different set of issues and problems and how do we solve them?

And we solve them together. And it's so rewarding when people love the end product and you finally put the disc on the shelf and just, it's, it's, it's especially fun if it's like a year or two after a project has been completed, you haven't watched it in a while and you put the disc on and go, Oh wow, this looks great. I'm so happy. And, uh, you know, for me it is that I am a consumer. I buy other discs from other companies, and I know what I want as a consumer, and I know what the consumer wants from us. make for happy consumers and being one of the people who has oversight of the treasures in this amazing library at Warner Brothers Entertainment, it's my job to make sure they get off the shelf

and onto people's shelves in the home and to move with the technology accordingly. So this is a very pleasing Blu-ray. And Tim, I believe you've seen it already and I would love to know what you think. Yeah. And to your point, I'm a consumer. And one thing I really enjoy when you're on, George, is you introduced me to a lot of titles that I know are very well known by a lot of people, but that I maybe I'm a little younger, so I don't know them as well. I didn't grow up with them. And this film, as much as, you know, it's in the zeitgeist of film history and everything, I really didn't remember watching it.

And so I came at it with new eyes and it looks and sounds terrific, but I was really drawn into the story, which I really enjoyed. So, Tom, maybe for others like myself, you could take us back to a little bit of the background to this film and why you love it so much. Shrinking Man being such a success because all of a sudden, after years and years of science fiction where human giants were never or almost never or maybe never, never the monster, all of a sudden we started getting one after another, after another. And even a comedy, another giant woman movie, this one, a comedy, 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock with Luke Costello. I never tied the two together, but yes, the same period, basically. Absolutely. And Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, when I saw it as a kid, I was small enough that the meant-to-be-scary parts were scary,

like when the sheriff and the butler and the spaceship and the giant reappears and several other points. Once I'd seen it a couple of times, as I watched it each new time, I almost dreaded those parts because they were almost too scary when I was knee high. And then you get a little older, and suddenly you're readier for the scary parts, but also you start noticing quite how bad these special effects are, and suddenly it's funny. And then you get even older and you start to realize how good the performances are. And it just keeps coming at you with new things.

I don't want to say new things every time because I've probably seen it 30 times, but it's evolved quite a bit with me. And the funny parts, the meant to be funny parts, they're like a comedy duo, the sheriff and his deputy. I find, especially the deputy, very, very funny. I wrote him a letter once asking for an interview, and I never heard anything. And I was heartbroken because I would have had such fun talking to the deputy. He was

the son of a screenwriter named Borden Chase, who wrote a lot of big Westerns. And he has small, Frank Chase. His son has small parts in a bunch of them his sister is barry chase the dancer i didn't know that yeah and the old sheriff is an actor named george douglas who's the brother of melvin douglas and to me they are a highlight of the movie matter of fact you know once um allison hayes kind of disappears at the midpoint and then she doesn't come back till the end when she hardly speaks at all just as the giant so she's gone for almost half the movie and they become the movie and i love those two guys and they're a big part of why i love the movie so much and also 1958 was a big year for female

monster movies i don't know which movie started it, but in addition to 50-Foot Woman, we also got She Demons and Astounding She Monster and The Lost Woman within a year or so and The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock, etc. So in 1963, the producer of 50-Foot Woman said he was going to make a sequel, and he said the first one made a million dollars. And I think that probably was well known throughout the industry. And 50 foot woman may have led to a lot of other never led to a sequel, but it might have led to a lot of the other science fiction pictures that followed. So I was just curious if you could give us a little more backdrop on this kind of era of science fiction what kind of launched that and where does this fit in terms of the overall importance of this film well another inspiration might have been Sputnik because that happened around this same time and as soon as Sputnik

hit the headlines and the cold war started heating up. Somewhere I read, and I can't remember the exact number, like 40 or 50 titles were registered with the motion picture wherever by low-budget producers wanting to make science fiction outer space rocket movies. So Jack of the 50-Foot Woman got in on the ground floor on that also. And another thing I love about the movie is the score. It's scary when it's supposed to be scary, and it's toe-tapping in the bar scenes and in a couple of other places. Ronald Stein, it's one of his best scores, and that's a highlight of the picture for me also.

I had a question for you, Tom, about this. I've read little pieces here and there about this, but I don't know the detail, and I'm sure you would, that there was some kind of lengthened version for syndication? for a 60-minute slot, but not long enough for a 90. So what an editor named Herbert Strach did, he was hired by Allied Artists, and he took a whole bunch of Allied Artists movies that were an awkward running time, like 60 or 65 minutes, and he took a scene from within the movie, and he put it at the beginning as a teaser.

And then he wrote an endlessly long foreword that would run after the credits. And then in scenes with no dialogue, he actually slowed the projection rate down by adding extra frames. And any trick he could do to add five minutes to these movies, he would do.

And then within action scenes, he would let an action scene play and then he started all over again. And then there'd be a cast list at the end, which there never was before. And it crawled by about as slowly as the blob. It was like 60 seconds. By the time he got to the bottom name and it would stop, that shot would just linger for another 20 seconds. So he managed to add five or six minutes to a whole bunch of movies, including 50 Foot Woman, just by doing all these crazy tricks, which were not appreciated by, even as a kid, I could tell that the action was kind of jumpy, where he would add repeat frames and scenes would stop and then start over again. These were not appreciated by any of us, but at least I got the movies on TV

in 90-minute slots instead of 60-minute slots, and that's what was important. Well, you solved the mystery for me because I knew there was something funky that had happened to the film in 16mm syndication, but I didn't know the details, and you have, as I expected, known exactly the answer. He disembodied also with Allison Hayes. He did it to that. Indestructible Man, Out of This Earth, Attack of the Crab Monsters,

the list goes on and on. Including some films that we don't have the rights to anymore, unfortunately. Yeah. Like Attack of the Crab Monsters. But you have disembodied. Yes, we certainly do. We put it out on DVD.

Someday I hope that will be on Blu-ray. That's the goal. Sounds good. We need an Allison Hayes collection. Right. Well, then I'd have to put out the hypnotic eye, which I'm dying to do, and which I wouldn't have even been drawn to had it not been for our discussion.

And the DVD of that looks pretty good. You know, I don't think anybody had touched those film elements in a really long time. And it was in the early days of Warner Archive DVD remastering. And this is before we could afford to do Blu-rays and the things we're doing now, but we really went deep into the Allied Artist Library,

and I've always felt that the Allied monogram titles here have been neglected not only by prior Warner people, but before that by prior Lorimar people and Allied artists people, it's just, there's been so much neglect in terms of taking care of the film elements and getting the films out to the people to see. So, you know, that was when I moved from MGM to Warner Brothers, it was like, okay, one of the things I really need to do is get

into the monogram and allied artists mess because so many of the films were scattered. Half the negative would be at one archive and half the negative would be at another archive if it was Nitrate.

A lot of what we've been doing recently is getting those pieces back together. And, you know, this is not just for really, really important famous films. This is just for making sure these films don't go away. Because I found documentation from Laura Mar and allied artists, individuals who said, Oh, it's okay. There's no money in this film. Let it rot. You know, don't bother putting any money into this. And that's a horrific thought because regardless of what the film is, every film is important and preservation is terribly important.

So what we've done with the tag the 50-Foot Woman has other benefits as well, not just in terms of being able to put out a new Blu-ray, but the original negative had some problems that we were able to address and rectify and now it's doubly protected with the 4K scan of the original negative. And when we scan our negatives, we don't do any kind of processing or filtering.

There's no infrared cleed up or any color correction. It's a raw scan of the exact original negative so that if we need to go back to it when tools get better, we can then approach it appropriately. So I'm just so excited to bring this film out to the huge amount of fans that want it, no pun intended. And when we announced that it was coming, the response was really positive. And I was so thrilled about that. I thought it would be that way, but I think people are really, really going to enjoy this. And they're going to watch it twice because they have to watch it first without the commentary and then watch it again with the commentary.

And that would still be equivalent to a two hour feature film. Five words, George. Indestructible Man, the Platinum Edition. There'll be a crown waving in heaven if you ever do such a thing. Well, you know, there's some problems with that movie, but, you know, I hope we get there someday. I really do. I think we should also talk about Alison Hayes,

the leading lady. Yeah, she is a cult favorite. That poster for the movie, which I hope is going to be on the Blu-ray cover. Yes, it is. I think that's a

big part of why she has as many fans today as she does. She's in, oh, half a dozen of our favorite horror sci-fi movies from the 1950s. And she didn't live long enough to start to go to any of the conventions or be interviewed or anything like that. Open World, she actually was interviewed by an actor named Barry Brown, and it was never published. So she was interviewed once, but never published. And there's a little bit of mystery about her past.

There's a lot of typical Hollywood publicist nonsense has been written about her over the years, and separating fact from fiction with Allison Hayes is very hard. So between her cult movies and the interest in her past, fiction with Allison Hayes is very hard. So between her cult movies and the interest in her past, finding out what the truth is and all the glamorous cheesecake shots she took over the years and the

50-foot woman poster, she was 50 feet tall in Monster Kids' imaginations. Well, I didn't know anything about the darkness at the end of her life. I didn't know anything about, you know, the darkness, you know, at the end of her life. I didn't know anything about that. And that's quite tragic.

But it is not an isolated case. It's happened to a lot of people in the business. And, of course, in all walks of life, life is difficult. Life is difficult. But it never escapes me how important it is that we get to remember these people and what they contributed in their performances in front of the camera or what the people contributed behind the camera. fact that this film 60 almost 65 years later it still has such uh resonance and popularity is attributed to the efficiency under which it was made because it was made for a very low budget you were mentioning the dark end of allison hayes's life in case anybody's wondering um she was taking a food supplement that turned out to be more lead than food died of

lead poisoning after a long long and horrible illness after a long and horrible illness and sometimes you know sometimes you can learn too much about some movies nothing nothing's going to take away from the fun of 50 foot woman for me but

if I thought about it maybe I could could, because both of them, Allison Hayes and Yvette Vickers, came to very tragic ends. Yvette Vickers, well, she got a little paranoid. She cut off a lot of her friends, and she made the mistake of having two homes. And so when one person, when her neighbor's in one home, didn't see her for six months or a year, they didn't think anything of it. You know, for the other home, well, she died in one of them and laid there for like nine months before anybody

saw her body. And I hate to say it, but there was so little left of her. They couldn't even be sure it was her. They couldn't even be sure it was a man or a woman. There was so little left. It made the local news. I remember that. It was horrible.

It was in all the papers and even some of the magazines. It might have been people. I forget. But yes, it was really awful. So your restoration of 50-Foot Woman, George, I will consider it a tribute to both of them. I heartily concur. And it is a fun film. When I saw it on TV as a kid, I was terrified by it.

But as I got older, watching it from an adult point of view, I found it just so delightful because there's clearly a sense of the people making the movie were enjoying themselves. And that is a very difficult road to travel on where you have to make the audience believe that you're taking it totally seriously. And you're not having your tongue in cheek and you're playing it like it's Chekhov, which then has the effect of really letting the audience totally immerse themselves into the story and care about the characters, even though we're not talking about some masterful, brilliant piece of writing or filmmaking.

It isn't that. But for what it is, it is remarkable, I think. And I think it's also remarkable that they were able to achieve the special effects they did on such a minimal budget. Because they hold up. They're not something you would laugh at. Although I do, when you first see the satellite and it looks like, I don't even know why they call it a satellite instead of a spaceship because that's not what a satellite is. But when you see the satellite coming down

for the first time and it looks like a bubble, I expected the good witch of the East. Yeah, that's a very good point. Absolutely. Another thing we mentioned on the commentary, but for anybody out there who's going to watch the movie first before they listen to the commentary, notice that the space giant and the bartender at the bar, who was in several scenes, are the same actor. Oh, I did not notice that before.

Well, that's great. Yeah, as the giant, he's got a bald wig and funny eyebrows and like a Roman soldier's outfit for some reason. I didn't know that spacemen would be dressed that way. But yeah, yeah, that's another way they saved a few bucks. Having one actor play two parts. Well, it wouldn't be the first time that that was done, especially in an Allied Artist movie. Absolutely. You know?

But in any event, I think that this is a perfect Christmas movie for everybody, and that's why we're putting it out in December. So I hope everyone will enjoy this disc, and it is my hope that there will be more Allied Artist classic sci-fi from the 50s coming out on Blu-ray because I know the fans want to see a lot of those titles that we put out 10 years ago on DVD

like The Disembodied. Fingers crossed, if this does well, there will be more coming along and we'll be touching those long, untouched original negatives to make them look beautiful, and preserving them at the same time. It's basically a hole-in-one. Win-win. Absolutely. And now you guys are going to go on to talk about Night of the Iguana, I'm told? That is correct.

Now, if that's the movie with the giant bunny rabbits, I would like to hang on. But if it's not, maybe I'll... That's Night of the Leap, which is also one of our films, but did not arrive. We have it out on DVD, but the Blu-ray came from one of our partners. All right. So it's out there for everybody who likes giant rabbits and generally but uh tom thanks so much for spending time with tim and myself and as always it's a delight to hear your voice on the phone thank you so much george and thank you tim thanks tom

hi this is tim millard host 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. Tim, thanks so much for making that possible. I'm delighted that Tom could join us because he is the master of everything you'd ever want to know about horror and sci-fi, especially from this period. That's his real specialty. his real specialty. And I learned a lot from him because it was something I didn't have as much exposure to when we first met, but he turned me on to a lot of these great movies for the first time.

But attack of the 54 woman, the first time I saw it was probably like six or seven years old and it was scary. Right. Chiller theater in New York. Right. Yeah. And it has that whole morality tale to built into it,

which we didn't necessarily get into the, the plot points of it, but that's a lot of fun. You know, it's a, you got your vet as kind of this. The bad girl. Yeah.

The bad girl that, that William Hudson's, you know, he's basically having an affair with pretty openly. It seems like the police know about it and everybody knows about it, but she loves him so much. She, yeah, it's almost ridiculous. And yet, you know, there is a compelling humanistic factor to it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's, it's a lot of fun. I love the cover art and I'm glad that you have it on there. And I think the fans are really going to enjoy it and seeing it, you know, these new updated

restorations are just making it so much more enjoyable to see the older films now. Well, I always say that the quality of the presentation is so critical because if you don't go the extra mile to seek perfection, it's going to take you out of the movie. And that's why we don't want any speckles or dirt or anything to mar the experience. And, you know, we'll send something back three or four times if we catch a deficiency and what we don't want is to release a title and then have people say

oh look you know there's a speck of dirt there or whatever I mean I we have a reputation now for delivering a pristine product and we aim for that. And I think that's really, really important. And I hope we can keep that track record up.

And I owe that all to my colleagues and their incredible abilities. We're quite fortunate to have such talented people here at the studio. But as Tom alluded to, we're also going to talk about the other December release, the film version of Tennessee Williams' play The Night of the Iguana. And this is quite a remarkable film because it has an amazing star-studded cast

and more importantly than that, everybody is seen really to their best advantage. This Tennessee Williams play opened at the very end of 1961, and Betty Davis was the star of the play. And it was really her first return to the stage in almost 10 years. And people were really excited to see her on stage. And it was interesting that Seven Arts, which later ended up buying Warner Brothers, and the company became Warner Brothers Seven Arts for two years in the later part of the 60s. Seven Arts was producing plays and films and releasing their films through various companies. In the case of The Night of the Iguana, they chose to partner with MGM to produce the film and release the film and finance the film. So they had financed the stage version and were preparing the film version.

And there were rumors that Betty Davis would recreate her role, but that was not to be. And what the people that ran Seven Arts did is they signed John Huston to a three-picture deal and put him on this film. And he began to collaborate with another writer to adapt Tennessee Wave's play into the screenplay. And usually when plays are made into films, so often the net result of cinema is disappointing and lacking in such a way. And there are exceptions to that. And I think this is one of those exceptions. This is a really filmic experience. You don't feel like it's proscenium bound.

You don't feel like it's proscenium bound. And I think it really shows Houston at the top of his craft. And this is more than 20 years, almost 25 years after the Maltese Falcon and his start as a director. You know, it started shooting in 63 and was released in 1964. And it was very well received and it was a substantial success. It was critically well received and it did well at the box office. And it earned an Academy Award for one of the supporting players in it. If my memory is

correct, Grayson Hall. So she was just nominated. She was nominated. That's why I was hemming and hawing there because I was like, George, I don't think you're right. You know, the only Oscar it won was for costume design,

but she won Best, nominated for Best Supporting Actress. And the fact that the film was intentionally black and white made it conducive to being nominated for Art Direction and Cinematography. By that time in 1964, black and white films were,

for major studios, were becoming a rarity. There were still several of them every year, but there were even less in 1965 and less in 1966. And I would say in 1966, the black and white film was considered not unlike what was happening in television. At the very same time, the black and white works were a rarity rather than the norm. So when someone chose to make a film in black and white, it was because of the material and how they approached it.

And that was Houston's approach to the Night of the Iguana. And there's stunning performances from Richard Burton as the defrocked priest, Deborah Carr and Ava Gardner, who I have to point out, 17 years before were starring with Clark Gable in the Hucksters, uh, at MGM. And this is obviously many years later and both women were no longer on the news.

Uh, as a matter of fact, Ava Gardner's part in the Hucksters was relatively small. It was just as her fame was beginning to develop. And here, you know, Ava Gardner, beautiful woman, but she lived life on the edge and she liked to have a good time and she had her hard knocks being married to Frank Sinatra and being involved with other people. And there was, she smoked and she enjoyed her drinks.

And it showed in her face. You could tell that she had lived life hard. I think she had probably three husbands by that time. And I think this is really her last great film work. I mean, she's made other films for many years later. Ten years later, she was in Earthquake, but I won't make comments on that. It speaks for itself.

But here she is. She's awesome. She was really a very great actress and not appreciated enough for her acting ability, only really looked at it for her incredible beauty. And she, of course, had both. She was incredibly beautiful and she was a great actress. And I really think people need to see this film to see her at her,

really at her best. Her use of subtlety and her speech, everything about her. You can't look away from her when she's on screen. She's so magnetic. Yeah. And George, just to kind of follow up with that, I mean, in watching the film, every time she was on screen, I just thought this is her movie. I mean, it was to that extreme that she just was so good, I thought, in my opinion, so good in her scenes. And that life that she has lived was perfect for this role in so many ways because she did have it in her face. She did have it and she brought it to that character, you know? Absolutely. did have it in her face she did have it and she brought it to that character you know and the loss that she has as a character of her husband just recently which is kind of this whole world

weary and the anxiety and and it really added and of course the direction of john houston to bring this out of his actors can't be left on the table either. You have to really bring that out. But her interaction and her scenes and then, you know, she obviously has a lot of them with Richard Burton. Just really, I just my favorite parts of the movie. I agree. And having that triumvirate of such great actors and not to mention the fact that this is really the only other film I think of in terms of the actress Sue Lyon, who made her debut, I believe made her debut in Lolita. And I think she's fantastic in Lolita. And I think she's incredibly underrated, and she did not make very many films, and this is really a remarkable performance because she was quite young, and I think Houston, being as talented as he was as a director,

really brought out the best in her, and she's an incredible talent, and I'm sorry that she didn't do more work. I don't know much about her personal life, but I imagine that her limited filmography, there's, uh, you know, she worked in little clumps and hasn't, uh, I don't really know what happened to her. Yeah, I don't either. But she just made such an impression. And she's, I mean, this was the first film she did after Lolita. And it proved that she wasn't just a flash in the pan. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, I recall that she passed away recently at a relatively young age.

You know, I believe she was in like early 70s or something. But when she made this movie, she was like 17. Right. But the casting and the acting in this film george is is just top notch and obviously a couple of the documentary extras that you include with the film are fun to watch and i watched them recently because they go into well one of them kind of focuses on on john houston and his you know directing and and what he brings Houston's gamble, the piece is called, but to gamble on these volatile stars, right. That he's brought together. And of those,

was the only young one. The others brought a lot of star power and all of the things that come with that to the table. But he, being who he was by that time, was able to manage them and his acting style. But those pieces really do shed a light on both the directing and some of the actors. The other one on the trail, the iguana, is a lot of fun. That one gets a little bit more into the fact that not only did Houston have to deal with these actors, but Richard Burton had brought Elizabeth Taylor with him and she was still married at that point. So there was a lot of press and public interest. The vintage

featurette, which is on the disc and in color, which is very interesting. It captures, you know, the whole atmosphere of the filming and the whole situation with Richard and Elizabeth. I mean, they got married pretty soon thereafter, I believe, but this was the time where, you know, she wouldn't be anywhere without him. Right. Least of all on an island, a remote island somewhere in off of Mexico. Yeah. Yeah. And there was a television series that was on NBC at the time this movie was being made and it was cancelled it only ran one season on

NBC 1963-64 television season and it was called Hollywood and the Stars and it was produced by David Wolper and David Wolper was known for making great documentaries for television for many, many years

and eventually sold his company to Warner Brothers and his library. And working here on the lot, he produced both nonfiction and fiction works, but specifically fiction works like Roots. He was the producer of Roots. He had the vision for Roots. He was an incredible, incredible individual. incredible individual and he had created this television series about hollywood both past and present and it remember it was a half hour show and i got to see it in reruns as a kid if there

would be a rain out of a mets game game and they would run Hollywood in the Stars episodes and that's how I got to see it. It's unfortunate that the series isn't more seen because it was so well done. They had a whole half hour episode dedicated to the making of Night of the Iguana

and were on the set long before the film came out. Wow. Because this is contemporaneously, I think that's the right word. While they were filming, they were making a TV show episode, and if that series ever gets seen again, I'd love to see that episode because I remember it.

And it was in black and white, not like the color featurette. But to speak about our disc, the new Blu-ray is like Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, a 4K scan of the camera negative, which is just luscious black and white photography. And it looks gorgeous. And the new master takes full advantage of how meticulously the film was shot and made. And also on the disc is a vintage featurette that MGM had prepared at the time of release. And they used to send those out to local television stations.

But we also have a little Warner Home Video featurette called Houston's Gamble. You referred to it before. And, you know, that just gave a little context from a more contemporary perspective of, you know, Houston's career is so fascinating because very few directors have the ability to extend their career until an older age, usually the third act. So many great directors make films that weren't so good or that weren't, you know, up to their

usual level of excellence. And that's very, very depressing. And John Huston, until he died, was making great films like Pritzy's Honor in 1985. Right. 1985. Right. 21 years after Night of the Iguana, 40 through four years after the Maltese Falcon,

he was directing his daughter and Jack Nicholson in Percy's Honor. Right. And that was remarkable. And I think he made films for another three or four years before he passed away. And he was also an amazing actor when he chose acting roles. Right. Unforgettable to me. And this is kind of my first introduction to seeing him when I was a kid as an actor was scared the living daylights out of me.

But his role in Chinatown. Right. You know. Yeah. She's mine too, Evelyn. Yeah. Unforgettable. Yeah. scared the living daylights out of me, but his role in Chinatown, you know, he's mine too. Yeah. Unforgettable. But, uh,

phenomenal talent and the talent that runs in that family. Cause his father, Walter Houston, of course he directed John Houston, directed Walter Houston and directed Sierra Madre, and they both walked away with Oscars. Yeah. So it's a very talented family.

But John Houston's career as an actor, a writer and director is impeccable. And this is one of the real highlights of his film career. And I'm so grateful that we're getting the ability to bring it to people yeah I really enjoyed the two releases for this month George I mean it's fun to kind of wrap up the year with these two releases which are very different of course uh yet fans can really you know purchase them for the Christmas holiday and kind of give them to each other, to people that they know will really enjoy these movies. Right. And you just made a very important point.

The films are completely different because we want to appeal to different audiences and different groups of fans. And it's very hard to please everybody all at once. But I think I've shared this before and I will share it again, that we expect 2023 to be more in line with a more robust release schedule as we had in prior years. So I think fans can look forward to a lot of fun and surprises as we welcome in the new year. So looking ahead to January, George, is there any little sneak peek you can tell us?

Are there a number of releases scheduled for that month? Yes. Like I said, the cadence of releases will be coming back to be similar to what we saw in 2021 and 2020. And we'll be crossing genres. We'll be crossing decades. We'll be crossing eras. And we will even have some silent films,

which I know people have been asking for. So I think there are going to be a lot of people happy. There'll be Technicolor happy and Black and White happy and Cinemascope happy and all sorts of various degrees they're in because it spans uh i would say five or six decades worth of filmmaking so only good things to look forward to in the future that's the way we want it and there's one other group that is very vocal and i don't mean just for January, but sometime during the next year. Do you see any animation on the schedule?

Yes. Yes, there will be at least. Well, we have hopefully, hopefully we will have classic animation releases and one, if not two, animated features. So that should keep people guessing. But I think people are going to be very, very happy. We know that people have been looking forward to our continuing on with some of the things you were doing in the past. We obviously had some unexpected speed bumps that we had to contend with,

but I'm hoping that we're going to be back on track next year. And classic animation is terribly important to me both personally and professionally and we will not let people down so it's going to be a great year. Well George as always I want to thank you for coming on

and sharing your knowledge and just the background on all these great Warner Archive releases. Oh well thank you, Tim. And let me be the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Well, it's always great to have George Feltenstein and Tom Weaver on the podcast, but to have them on together was a real treat. So I hope you enjoyed that. For those of you interested in purchasing the films we discussed today,

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