The Extras - Warner Archive March Release Announcement

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

George Feltenstein announces the Warner Archive's late March 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. MovieZyng Affiliate The BEST place to buy all of your Warner Archive and Boutique DVDs and Blu-raysDisclaimer: 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, this is Tim Mallard, 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 they're released on digital DVD, Blu-ray and 4K, what are your favorite streaming site? I'm Tim Lager, host. And joining me is George Feltonstein to announce more March Blu-ray releases from the Warner

Archive. Hi, George. Hi, Tim. How are you? Good. Well, I know you just released on Facebook the announcements for what's coming out in late March, but it's always great to hear from you what these titles are, a little bit of background, and if they have extras and the restoration and all that. So I'm really looking forward to it. And of course, it's

the 15th anniversary in March, so it's a big month for you. Thank you for mentioning that, because I was going to say that the 23rd, March, 2030 is our 15th anniversary. It's the little engine that could, and 15 years later, and 3,500 titles, maybe 4,000 titles at this point. I know we're closing in on 500 Blu-rays

and it's just been a wild ride, but my hope is, and indications are very favorable, that 2024 could be our best year yet, if initial plans come to fruition. But that's why I was excited about these March releases because they go from the silent era all the way up to 1997. And there are people that are passionate about the film from 1997, just as there are people who have no interest in 1997 and want older classics. And I hope that we've given a little taste to everybody

because we certainly wanna please all the fans. It's impossible to do that, but we do our best. Our heart is in the right place. And we're also looking at the bottom line for the shareholders of the company. That's the Balance Act. Why don't we start with the first title, which is the most recent, what I call a recent release that's only 27 years old. from 1997 we have Money Talks which was really kind of a breakout film for Chris Tucker and I think this was made right before he did the first Rush Hour movie and he co-stars with Charlie Sheen and it's an action comedy that's a lot of fun.

It's also sleekly photographed. It's really a nice looking film. So aside from the inherent humor, it's also beautiful to look at in this nice two, three, nine letter box. So it's got that scope sheen of the late nineties when film stock was really at its peak before the digital era began. So it's a great looking film. It's a lot of fun.

There are really terrific performances in it, gags, good music. And this was directed by Brett Ratner right before he directed the first Rush Hour movie. Yeah, and if I recall, I mean, Chris Tucker, I mean, when he came on the scene, it was, he came on the scene. I mean, it was not quietly mean, when he came on the scene, it was, he came on the scene. I mean, it was not quietly in this movie.

He exploded. He exploded on the scene. He's been more quiet in recent years. I mean, and he was the executive producer of this film, which is pretty impressive for someone who had yet to establish himself as a super box office attraction, but New Line really believed in him and got behind him. And this film was just beginning because his career strengthened from there. So that's something to be excited about for fans of action comedies from the late 90s. Yeah. And I worked with Charlie Sheen who's in this with him. So it's kind of the

buddy action comedy. And then we have Heather Locklear. I mean, you get a bunch of great cast members here in Paul Servino. So it's a really great cast. I don't know that the Warner Archive puts out what the ratings are on this, but do you recall? This is rated R. Yeah. I was going to say most of the Chris Tucker movies I think were. Yeah. Yeah, it's part of that R rated kind of guy. Exactly. I mean, we do list the ratings on the package, but generally that's really not an issue for

us. I think I've already seen some comments, people who are like, oh, this is great that it's coming out finally on Blu-ray. I mean, it's been quite a while, and this has never been on Blu-ray before I take it. That's right. Yeah. I mean, the amount of films that have yet to make it onto Blu-ray from our library is a daunting task. And between what we're trying to do and our partners who are out there making

wonderful versions of our films available in concert with what we're doing in the Warner Archive, hopefully we're making a dent in it. Certainly 500 Blu-rays is nothing to sneeze at. So that's over a 12-year period. But with a more increased and robust release schedule, we certainly hope to be getting to more titles that people are asking for. Speaking of which, the next film is something that we've had a lot of requests for. It's the 1984 version of the little drummer girl starring Diane Keaton. And I say version because there was also a television iteration of that in more recent times. But this is based on the novel by John Le Corre, and it's directed by George Roy Hill,

who was responsible for films like Butch Cassie and Sundance Kid, World of Henry Orient, The Sting, really terrific director. Terrific director. Yeah. It also has Klaus Kinski, who's one of my favorite character actors. This is something that we released on DVD at the dawn of the Warner Archive. So to have it, you know, with a beautiful new high-def master and a lovely presentation is something that we're very proud of. And I hope people will enjoy it. Yeah, I mean, I love all of the, you know, John LeCarr's books

and the movies usually tend to be pretty good. I don't recall this one, but when you look at what the description of this storyline is, I mean, it is, it's really kind of a prescient to what's going on in the world right now. I think it is more prescient than it was when we released the DVD. And just to clarify for those listening in case they don't know, I mean, there's what a Palestinian intelligence and an Israeli counterintelligence storyline here in the plot. So that's, you know, obviously that's in the news every day that we see. So well, and it has been for decades, you know, even in the 1980, it's always been a conflict that's been

addressed and I think this film addresses it with a great deal of fearlessness and Diane Keaton gives a really phenomenal performance that is not appreciated enough. I think even though she won her Oscar for any all deservedly so I Don't think people really recognize the scope of her abilities as an actress films like this underscore that and I still can't believe that she didn't win an Oscar for her performance in reds. She's just magnificent So this might be a rediscovery because I know a lot of people haven't seen it,

but for those who have, it'll be even more exciting with a beautiful new Blu-ray. So we're happy about that. Yeah, and then this is a 40 year old film. I mean, it's 1984, doesn't seem like it's that far back necessarily for us. But these films from that era deserve to be out on Blu-ray.

And to get some promotion again. I agree. And I think that that's the point is that, as films became, once the production code was over and films got to be more honest, films from the last several decades tend to stay more relevant to contemporary audiences who weren't born when these films were made.

So it's really great to make them available. And staying in the 1980s, our next release is probably one of the most requested titles where people could not believe there wasn't a Blu-ray of this film, but the days here stand and deliver coming to Blu-ray, 4K scan off the camera negative for our new master, It Looks Gorgeous. And this film features outstanding writing and outstanding performances, especially by Edward James Olmos, who was nominated for Best Actor Oscar

for his work in the film. A lot of people have said it's a feel good movie because it's inspiring and it's based on a true story. That's really what is so compelling to me. There is a still from the making of this movie down the hallway from my office of the real Jaime Escalante, the teacher, and Edward James Olmos while they were making the film. And I walk by that huge still every day

and it just reminded me, oh, you know, we've been working on this one for, I'd say over a year and a half because there was like a shot missing from the negative and we were able to find it and put it back. It's all, it's super gorgeous. But like every project we work on, we'll figure, oh, this movie is from 1988, it's going to be no problem. Well, you never

should say that. You never say anything's going to be easy. But it's done. I think people are going to love it. And we're really proud that finally people can scratch this off their most wanted list. Yeah, I'm probably with the rest of the crowd out there reading this or hearing this from you and saying, really? It's never been on Blu-ray? That's, I mean, this is such a well-known, well-respected movie, at least in my mind,

I think of it that way. And of course, we all think of the performances by Edward James Almos and Lou Diamond Phillips. He was pretty young when he did that role and wow, was it a powerful role and Andy Garcia is in there as well. And I think schools play this film. Oh, for sure. All the times. Right. So it'll be nice for them to be able to show it now in HD by the Blu-ray for their class and everything.

Because I think students these days, they respond when they see things in HD much better for these kinds of films that just kind of endure with the lessons that they tell, the stories that they tell, like this one does. Well, and this film was mastered in HD, in HD's infancy, probably I'd say, you know, more than 20 years ago. And that's what's been floating around on television and digitally and so forth and so on. But we won't put those kind of masters out on Blu-ray. It's just not feasible because they were QC'd on CRT monitors. They came from substandard elements. I mean, when you're coming off the negative, it's revelatory, and it really makes a huge difference.

And this film warrants that kind of attention. So I'm really, really excited that people can cross this off their lists because I know it's on a lot of lists. I am too. I know that last year at the TCM, I believe they've showed this film and Edward James almost was there

and I wanted to go, I couldn't make it. But when I saw that, I was hoping that it could come out and have a Blu-ray released. So this is terrific that it's finally coming out. Now we'll go all the way back in time to the Twilight Years of the Silent Film. A lot of people have been looking forward to us releasing Silent Films on Blu-ray.

Now we re-released the big parade on Blu-ray, but we did not create that disc. It went out of print and we put it back in print, but it wasn't initiated by Warner Archive. This double feature was, and we've got a film from 1926 directed by William Wellman, one of my favorite directors as you know because we've talked about them a lot and it's called The Boob. It's a very funny comedy. It's just a little more than an hour

long and it stars George K. Arthur and Gertrude Olmsted. But third build was a young lady named Joan Crawford. This was part of her building her career that would have led to two years later our dancing daughters and establishing her as a marquee star. She paid her dues in films like this but she makes quite an impression. And it's a very funny spoof, very much a product of the jazz age, and kind of makes fun of the culture of the era. It was scored by a man named Arthur Barrow when we had a silent scoring program here. I wish we had it still, but it was released on DVD by Warner Archive. And now we've got a brand new HD presentation with Mr. Barrow's score. And since the movie is only an hour long, basically, 61 minutes, I thought it would be great if we could add another comedy to give the disc heft.

I don't like the idea of just an hour film going on a disc. Why Be Good from 1929, which is one of those silent films that was released at the very, very end of silent cinema, where it went out with a vitophone synchronized soundtrack with music and sound effects. And this star is the adorable Colleen Moore, who was a huge star of the silent era. She, to this day, almost a hundred years later, she still has a very vibrant fan base. This was considered a lost film. It was discovered a little over 10 years ago, I believe, in Italy, and through the restorative efforts of many people on both continents, this film was rescued, restored, and now we're able to release it in high definition on Blu-ray with the boob as a double feature. So it gives the consumer

value getting two silent films for a reasonable price and with superb quality. So, the quality of the stereo audio on the boob being a more modern score and the audio on the VitaPhone track obviously is of its time. But it's all, I think, going to very much please fans of Silent Film. And for those who aren't fans of Silent Film, try them. They really are nothing to be afraid of. They can be very entertaining.

And people who do discover Silent Cinema are open to a whole world of things that are fascinating. And I'm happy to say we have another one in the works right now. We've been working on it for a very long time. So I'm looking forward to finally being able to let people know what that is and then what's going to follow thereafter. So I highly recommend this double feature. And of course, the support of the fans for this kind of film will help us be able to

beg, plead, and do whatever is necessary to get more out. The more success we have with a particular kind of film, it helps me make my case to get the funding for additional titles of that. Well, I'm one of those people who don't really know silent films that well, but over the course of the last few years, and talking with you and watching the films, I've become a real fan because they're so good in the interpretation or in the restoration that you've been putting out. I think that really helps for people like myself to see them looking so good

and also sounding good when they have these scores with them. And that makes it so entertaining. The perception of silent movies is, oh, they're fast and they don't look real and so forth and so on because they were projected in theaters at the wrong speed. They were shown on television at the wrong speed. They came from ninth, 10th generation elements. These quality presentations of which there are now many from many companies, all of whom deserve a tip of the hat for their work.

We have done a lot of them, but not a lot of them have been done in high definition. So we need to revisit a lot of them. And I know there are people out there saying, where is such and such? And where is such and such? Well, there's gonna be a lot more silent films from our library surfacing soon. So just be patient, we've got some surprises in store. So we'll leave it at that and we'll move on to the next film. The next film happens to be a personal favorite of mine

and has been since I guess I was about 10 or 11 when I saw this movie on TV and I just adored it. They drive by night directed by Raoul Walsh with an amazing cast, George Raft, Humphrey Bogart and Sheridan and Ida Lupino chewing up the screen with a great performance. Everybody in this movie is good. The writing is good. It's tight as a drum. And it is just part of the amazing body of work. I was just talking to somebody else about this

not too long ago. The work that Raoul Walsh did at Warner Brothers, like virtually every film was a home run. He just did such great work over the dozen years or so that he was under contract here. And don't get me wrong, he started directing I think in 1915. His last film was made here in 1964. He had basically a fifth future career as a director and he certainly made great films elsewhere.

But his films at Warner Brothers, we've released some recently, Gentleman Jim is Raul Walsh and Strawberry Blonde is Raul Walsh, Lion in the Streets is Raul Walsh. But they drive by night is a great taught thriller. It's some people say it's a noir I really don't think it is. It has a crime element to it. Raft was the star. Bogart was coming up right behind him and then

of course as Raft declined to take certain roles, Bogart got cast and within two years Raft was definitely on the downside while Bogart's career continued to ascend. But they're great together and Anne Sheridan is wonderful. And I love the dialogue in this movie. It's a lot of fun. It's just a little over an hour and a half. The disc will come with the featurette we made

called Divided Highway, the story of they drive by night, which is very insightful. We've also carried over a short that was on the DVD that's in Technicolor, Swing Time in the Movies. There's a brief shot of Bogart in Technicolor in there, which is... Oh, wow. Yeah.

And then we've added a Lux Radio Theater broadcast with George Raft, but making her way over from MGM for the radio mic was Lana Turner in the radio show. So that's been added. And of course, the trailer is on this as well. And I should mention, the exception of the silence where the trailers don't exist, at least within our inventory. All the other films we talked about earlier

have trailers, which is really great. They Drive by Night is another 4K scan off the original nitrate camera negative. So people will see it look terrific as they haven't seen it before. This isn't a film that looked awful before, but there's never been a high definition master. And now there is. It's certainly something we're very, very proud of. I'm looking forward to this one. And I know people already who have seen the announcement on Facebook have really been excited about this one as well.

So, I mean, you get to see Bogart, you know, before Casablanca, you get to see Adelapeño and Ancierta. I mean, what a great cast for this one as well. So, the last film we'll talk about is kind of the cherry on top of the Sunday because we've been working on this one for about two years. It's really two films. Both have the same title, Three Godfathers, but the prime feature here is the 1948 version of Three Godfathers, which has the number three in the title and it is a 4k scan off the original nitrate technicolor camera negatives which we have used our proprietary technology to recombine for the most perfect alignment of the technicolor camera negatives so we have that registration that's razor sharp. The color is gorgeous. And this is one of those John Ford directing, John Wayne starring collaborations that are

always a treasure. But this is a particularly poignant one. It's based on a story, Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kine. I think it's been filmed five or six times. In the silent era, I know it was filmed at least, I believe three times, not necessarily with that title. But after the silent version, there was a 1930 version, which we do own called Hell's Heroes,

was made in 1930, directed by William Weiler, I believe. And we were not able to include that on here, but we were able to include MGM's 1936 version, which is written out as three godfathers. And that is a full HD restoration completely cleaned up and of equal quality, even though it's presented as a special feature. I didn't want anything to take away from the marquee value of the Ford Wayne Technicolor collaboration, but to provide the other film as we did with Anna Christie, where we had the

English version and then the German version, we weren't able to afford to restore the German version to the degree that we've been able to do here with the 1936 Three Godfathers. This is particularly poignant because it's kind of a parable that takes the story, the biblical story of the three wise men, and transports it to the Western frontier. It was also shot in Technicolor by Wynton Hodge, who would win two of his three Oscars working with John Ford. I hope I pronounced his name correctly. It could be Hoke, I don't know. But this is something that we've really wanted to do for a very long time.

And bringing in the nitrate technicolor negatives is really like bringing in three nitrate black and white negatives and it takes a very long time and this release has been in the formative stages for about a year and a half and the audio has been restored to pictures restored. It looks wonderful and we also have the trailers for both the 1936 and the 1948 version. So I think people will be very happy with this film. It's often shown at Christmas because of the Wiseman parable but you can take it as a holiday film or not.

It is a movie for any time of the year. I think people are going to be really knocked out when they see how gorgeous this is because there wasn't each D-Master of this created about 20 semi-years ago from an inter-positive. It didn't look bad but it certainly wasn't of the quality for a Warner Archive Blu-ray and that meant we had to get everybody to realize that it was really important that this film get the kind of treatment we can bring to Technicolor features when we go back to the negatives. Thankfully this one didn't burn in the fire and the net result is going to be what people

see and you're really getting, again, two movies for the price of one, great value. I hope people really like the presentation. We're very proud of it. Yeah. There's a tremendous amount of excitement for this release and then the fact that you've got the two movies basically here, both on HD, is fantastic. So boy, looking forward to that, looking forward to all the titles you've just gone through. It's a fantastic group with a lot of variety.

You have earlier, of course, in March, the ones we went over before, which is the, you know, for the animation fans, the Looney Tunes, Collectors Choice Volume Three, coming out on March 12th. Then you've got for the TV fans, you've got the Western Colt 45, the complete series. And then now the new. Yeah, and then now these six coming out here, late at March. So I mean, it's just a packed month.

I know we split the discussion here across a couple of different podcasts, but just to remind people that those are all coming out in March to celebrate 15th anniversary. And we'll be excited to join with you, Jerry Beck and myself to discuss Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume Three because we are obviously very excited about it.

And I think the fans that have been supporting this series, and thank you to everybody who has, because that's made it possible for us to continue doing that. And we want to get more of the cartoons onto the shelves, the physical shelves of consumers who love their physical media collections. And let me also say that this is just an example

of this company's commitment to physical media because Little Warner Archive is managing to get these films done properly and bring them to the consumers we know who want them. And it used to be about rare and hard to find, and now it's really about rare and hard to find with beautiful quality on Blu-ray. And I'm very happy about that. And I'm happy that we're able to bring animation.

I'm happy about the Hanna-Barbera releases for those fans, and we've had a great response to those who've finally gotten their discs. And we're going to be thrilled to be talking to you, Tim, once you see Gult45, because I think I'm the only person that's seen the discs outside of the people working on them, and they look and sound amazing. And I think the series is really going to be a rediscovery. It was for me because I never saw it until we started working on it because it wasn't around to be seen. So we're going to be celebrating. Yeah. I mean, it's a great month, the month of March coming up and obviously here in late February with

the Hannah Barbera releases. It's a fantastic start to the year, George. It's great to hear that the rest of the year also looks very strong. As always, George, thanks for coming on the podcast, taking us through it. It's always fun to hear your background on sometimes how many years it took to get these through the process and finally out to the fans and everything. So thank you. Well, thank you, Tim.

It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure. It's always a pleasure. For those who would like more information

about the film's announced today, be sure to check out our Facebook page and our Warner Archive Facebook group. You can find the links to those and all of our social media sites in the podcast show notes. Facebook is also the best place to get the pre-order links for these titles when they become available. And taking a look ahead, as George mentioned,

we'll have reviews of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars X and the classic TV series Colt 45. Jerry and George will be back on to talk about Looney Tunes collector's choice volume 3, so there's 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 Mellard. 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.