The Extras - Warner Archive October 2022 Release Highlights: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Mark of the Vampire, and The Curse of Frankenstein

Episode Date: September 28, 2022

Warner Bros executive George Feltenstein is joined by horror expert and filmmaker Constantine Nasr to discuss the October 2022 Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive.  We kick off the discussion with a revisit of the 1957 Hammer Horror classic  THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN" starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and directed by Terence Fisher.  Constantine Nasr reviews the extras he produced for this release during the height of COVID and George explains the reason for the 2-disc Special Edition.Next, we discuss the restoration of the 1935 horror classic "Mark of the Vampire" starring Lionel Barrymore, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi as the Vampire, and directed by Tod Browning.  This film has been described as a remake of Brownings lost 1927 silent film "London After Midnight."  And finally, we discuss the restoration and historical importance of the pre-code horror classic "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931) starring Fredric March who won an Oscar for his portrayal of both Jekyll and Hyde, Miriam Hopkins, and Rose Hobart. George provides background on the restoration and history behind the film, including the ground-breaking direction by Rouben Mamoulian.  Film historian Constantine previews his audio commentary with Dr. Steve Haberman, which is new to the release and provides fascinating revelations about missing scenes, risqué visuals actually cut from the film for many years, and the importance of this film along with Dracula and Frankenstein, in ushering in a new age of horror to the talkies.Purchase on Amazon:Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) Blu-rayMark of the Vampire (1935) Blu-rayThe Curse of Frankenstein Blu-rayOtaku 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.  The 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 they're released on digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Large, your host.

Today, George Feldstein joins the show to take us through the October 2022 Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. George, it's good to talk with you today. It's great to be back with you, Tim, as always. Well, I'm excited because you suggested this guest, and joining us is a multiple Rondo Award winner. He's a horror expert and he's a friend of the podcast, Constantine Nasser. Constantine, welcome back. Thank you, Tim.

And good to see you, George. This is going to be fun. Yeah. Great to see you, Const. We were just talking before, but not only are you a award winner constantine but you're in this monster kid hall of fame well every every year thanks to the folks on the classic horror film board and the uh the rondos um they nominate a handful of people to uh and vote them in as as people who have helped the genre i'm really not not sure what qualified me, but I'm definitely honored that they granted me

induction several years ago, right around the pandemic. So even though I was stuck at home during COVID, the nice thing in that April of 2020 was that I got inducted, which was at least a nice thing for that night. Yeah. Well, that's pretty cool. Well, before we dive into the October titles, which, you know, it's October, it's Halloween, it's Horror Month. But before we dive into that, I wanted to take the opportunity, since you're both on the podcast today, to talk about the film that came out maybe a year and a half, almost two years now, but it's the 1957 Hammer Horror classic, The Curse of Frankenstein.

And George, let's start with you. This was one of the unique titles where you did it as a two disc release on Blu-ray. This was a labor of love for many people. And Constantine is probably at the top of the list. And Constantine is probably at the top of the list. And the fact that it ended up being a two-disc set with three aspect ratios, that release was really a byproduct of collaboration during COVID over the phone and over emails and whatnot. Constantine was working on all the special features, which we don't usually have the budget to do, but we went all out on this one. And we knew we had a very tough consumer base to please. And everything was almost done. And we had planned to release it with a 166 and a 185 aspect ratio because it was distributed in both of those formats But the previous DVD was tilted and scanned by someone who is no longer with the company.

And so it showed parts of the open full aperture frame that you wouldn't see if we only went 1.66 and 1.85. And for basically 30 plus years, if you were seeing this on television or on 16 millimeter rental prints, you were seeing it full aperture with a 1.37 aspect ratio. So Constantine and I were talking about it. I said, if we do the 137 and acknowledge why we're doing it, then we cover every base. of bitrate so that you're not squeezing everything all onto one bd50 because my bitrate requirements are usually around 34 35 you know it's a big thing with me is you must have a very healthy bitrate for a healthy image And if we had taken all these special features plus the two aspect ratios and put them on one BD50, it would have had an impact on the bit rate of at least the beautiful special features that Constantine made, if not the different aspect ratios of the feature.

So by going to two discs, everything had room to breathe. And I may be wrong. This is one of those rare occasions where I don't think there was any complaint. I think all the reviews were ecstatic. The sales were phenomenal. And it was setting me up that I thought, okay, now we're going to open the doors and we'll do Dracula again next. You know, with everything but the kitchen sink. And we'll do the mummy. And then there were all sorts of things that happened that made life very difficult.

So that's still a dream for the future, but I'm hoping that we can make it happen. We just need internal human resources. We need bodies, living bodies to help move the product out into the marketplace. And our staff is kind of on the lean side right now. So hopefully we'll be getting a few more people, maybe. That's my prayer. That's not based on any fact. But I'm hoping that we'll have a few more people around to enable us to do more things like that. And I am fairly confident that next year we will have a more robust release schedule. Well, Constantine, you and I actually did talk a little bit about this release, but George wasn't there at that point. Why don't you

kick us back a little bit and just give us the highlights of some of the extras that you produced for that release? Well, all I all I really can say or I have to say at the beginning is a big thank you to George for not just championing myself and the team and the idea of special features, but just getting this movie done. Was a dream come true that I just was like on the sidelines for. And I know George guaranteed like he was working on this for years and he always told me little things in my ear and I was hopeful and hopeful. And then, of course, it happened right during COVID when Warner Brothers took it on. I mean, the archives took it on themselves. COVID when Warner Brothers took it on. I mean, the archives took it on themselves and I just volunteered even in the midst of COVID to do anything that he would want to do. And he found the means and the time and we pulled it all together. So, I mean, it wasn't just my dream,

but I think back on COVID and having had the curse of Frankenstein and having weekly calls with George to find out all these interesting and insightful challenges that he was overcoming. At the same time, we were working on this Bugs Bunny documentary. It couldn't have been a better time secluded at home with the efforts of having a movie like The Curse of Frankenstein to be something to work on during this time. So I just can't thank George enough. And I hope the fans out there just... I know they say they appreciate him and everything that he does. But from the bottom of my heart, it's like even for what we're talking about today, it's been an honor. And really, I think back on the stuff over 20 years we've been doing, the Curse of Frankenstein is like right up there under the challenges of the four documentaries that we were able to pull together, people willing to come out

of their homes to talk to us. It was hard, but we did it. And I highly encourage anybody who loves classic cinema or the Warner archives to see how it's done right or hammer fans. And this is a movie that everybody should watch and everyone should, again, thank the folks at Warner archive and the entire team and George for what you pulled off. Thank you. Well, it's a great release. And I mean, I watched all those extras and that was a wealth. I mean, I couldn't believe it when you told me what you just said about the challenges of COVID, just how you were able to do it. And so that was a real, real gift for the fans. 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. The problem we had with this at the outset, and this is where, you know, the film is the thing. Everything else is the grand dessert, you know, but if you don't it was embarrassing that the movie came out with nothing on it. And I was not involved with that because I was at that time only working on older films. only working on older films. Curse of Frankenstein was too recent.

We had so many people that the catalog marketing team was divided into three groups. And I was like, basically, you know, anything before 1955. So whoever was handling the release of those Hammer titles on DVD for the first time wouldn't OK any special features. And one of our mutual friends was just devastated over that because Christopher Lee was still alive and maybe we could have gotten him for a recording. We didn't know. Anyway, none of that happened. You know, fast forward almost 20 years later, and the problem is that the original negative had faded terribly. We did not know how badly it had faded. And just because of bad fade, faded. And just because of bad fade, sometimes we now have the tools that we can remedy that. And a recent example of this was that after a long period of not being able to distribute them,

we negotiated a new deal to get the video rights back for Damn Yankees and Pajama Game, both of which were filmed on Eastman Color stock that is of this vintage where it's very problematic because the yellow layer collapses and it brings up fade and pushes up grain. And with the Pajama Game, they were able to use the original negative, whereas Damienkis, which was made the year after, the negative was so badly faded and couldn't be manipulated for improvement that they needed to go to separation, second generation, and rebuild the negative from those separations. That's exactly what we had to do for Chris Frankenstein because the fade on the original negative was so horrific that we had a little bit of generational loss, which didn't give us quite the amount of sharpness we would have had off a 4K scan off the original negative. But we had 4K scans of each of the separations, and they were meticulously aligned, and the color correction was good. Everything was just right. And then you get to add to it these wonderful special features, great packaging and a great price. And because it took so long to get it all done, we didn't make Halloween because it was the really worst. I think it was Delta, COVID or, you know, it was like the really worst, I think it was Delta, COVID, or it was the really worst time.

So I knew that the only way we'd be able to get out in the year would be like December. And December, we usually don't like to put anything out after Thanksgiving because it's hard to get attention for the product. But just letting people know this was coming, the anticipation was huge and the expectations were guarded because I don't think people trusted that we would come through with the goods. And thanks to Constantine and a lot of other people

and our people here at the studio were working during the height of COVID in masks, only one person scanning at the time. They were working in isolation at MPI. And then I would get files sent to me via Espera and look at them at home. I wasn't used to working like that, Farah and look at them at home. I wasn't used to working like that, but I was putting trust and faith in a lot of people. It all came together. And the hope is that it continues to sell. And the hope is that maybe next year or the year after, we'll get to attack the other two and maybe more. I really hope that happens and we can do more definitive presentations. So it's perfect to be talking about this as we launch into Halloween of this year and

the new releases. That's exciting. I want to add one other thing because George mentioned, you know, when we tried years and years ago, I was probably the thorn in everybody's side over there bugging about this film or some of the other ones that effectively seemed like it didn't have any special features. But it really wasn't that they didn't try. I know that there was an effort made by others to get Christopher Lee. I personally was authorized at one point to go out. I don't know, George, you may remember all this, but we went out to Lee with a financial offer to get interviews and commentaries. And he was off making movies with Peter Jackson and George Lucas and didn't have time. I've made this point on the internet just about how the effort was made and even had filmmaking friends of Warner Brothers go out on behalf of the studio to try to convince Christopher Lee.

But his relationship with Dracula and Frankenstein is quite complicated. And that is no disrespect, but I think for 20 years, we were trying and were somewhat, I guess, blocked. And I think that we did the best we could. I mean, of all times for this to happen, to happen during COVID. And the end result was about as best as we could effectively have achieved anyway outside of COVID. It's kind of a miracle. And I'm just really, again, grateful to George for just pushing this and pushing this and not letting go and delivering what I think is a flawless release. Well, this is a great time. If you haven't edited to your collection to take a look at it, purchase it. That's a fantastic release and well worth having.

release and well worth having. 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. George, shall we dive into the October releases? Absolutely. The first title we're going to talk about is a remake of a silent horror film that was made at MGM that is now a famously lost film. And the lost film was London After Midnight with Juan Chaney, as directed by Todd Browning.

And when MGM decided to remake it in the sound era, they did so in 1935 with Todd Browning directing again. Only this time the cast had Lionel Barrymore and Gene Herschelt and Elizabeth Allen and a guy that was kind of known for being a vampire here and there, none other than Bela Lugosi. He's got, I think, more lines in the trailer than he does in the movie, but he doesn't have to say anything. Just seeing him on the screen is enough. And the thing that's very, very cool about this movie is it's very efficient in its storytelling. It's barely an hour long, and this is a new 4K scan off the nitrate camera

negative. And what makes that notable is that not most, but a very large percentage of the MGM black and white nitrate films, the original negatives no longer are existing because of a terrible fire that happened at George Eastman House in 1978, where hundreds of films were destroyed, the original negatives. This one survived, and we brought the negative out and scanned it. So it's a brand new, pristine presentation. And it's very entertaining. And we've carried over the legacy extra content from the original DVD release from 20 years ago or so.

So there's a commentary and there's an MGM cartoon and a crime does not pay short. So it makes for a very nifty disc. But people will be really shocked at how great it looks because it is immaculate and it comes from the first generation source. So it will make for quite a lovely Blu-ray. And I have to say also, we always strive to find original art, but the original MGM poster they found for this one, I had never seen before, and it knocked my socks off. It's just gorgeous. It's blue, and it's, I bet it was an alternate image. You know, it may have been a B-style poster or something or something but in any case that is coming out

at the beginning of october and then at the end of october that's the reason why i wanted constantine to be on this podcast because this is a film that he worked on when we put it on DVD 20 years ago. And that was a labor of love. And now, and you've actually gotten to see it, even though the discs aren't out yet, but you saw a proxy. So you've got an idea of how good it looks. This is an event, I think. This is really an event. This is the 1931 Paramount production of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and I'm pronouncing it correctly. Right? That's how they say it in this movie. Everybody's used to Jekyll and so was I until I saw this version. And what's funny is

in the 1939 MJ movie, The Women, one of the women is having a fit and she goes, the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And I always thought it was an affectation. Meantime, she was quoting

what they said in the movie. So, in any case, this is directed by Ruben Mamoulian. It was made at Paramount. It stars Frederick March in the role of both Jekyll and Hyde that won him an Oscar,

Miriam Hopkins, and Rose Hobart, co-star. And the reason why we own this movie is because we own everything MGM owned when Ted Turner bought MGM in 1986. And then we bought Ted Turner in 1996. And in fact, MGM bought the original film from Paramount to remake it with Spencer Tracy. And that Spencer Tracy version we put out several months ago.

But this is by and large considered the more superior version. I don't really know anyone who thinks the Spencer Tracy version is better, but I do know people that have great respect for the Spencer Tracy version. It's a different kind of movie. MGM would never have made this kind of a movie. And also, this film was made before the production code. So it's very racy on many levels. And in fact, it was reissued in 1938 after the production code was established and Paramount cut 17 minutes out of it. This film was not viewable by anybody.

For about 30 years, MGM kept the original version suppressed so that only their remake would be seen by the public. And they did that a lot. They did that with the original versions of Showboat that Universal made. And they did that with the original version of Gaslight from England. And they did that with a few other films that they remade. Roberta with Fred Astaire and Judy Rogers, they remade that as Lovely to Look At. Well, as of 1968 or 9 or whatever, you couldn't see any of these original versions. And it was around 1970 that they finally liberated these original versions of films that they remade.

did so with Dr. Jekyll, they did it with the post-censorship version. So it was up to us for, I guess, the VHS release when I was at MGMUA to make sure the whole thing got put together. And that happened. There was virtually the whole thing, but not quite every frame. But it was better than what people had seen. And then we made further improvements for the DVD. But now you have a 4K scan of nitrate elements. What was left of the original negative and then what was cut for the reissue comes from second generation nitrate elements. So the net result is it's been scrubbed beautifully. It has healthy grain structure. It is beautiful to see and hear. And I will say there are a few missing frames,

but there was nothing we could do about that unless we were to make the film look weird. And it makes more sense to see a skipped frame than to see a faked frame. But I'm nitpicking. I have to tip my hat to our colleagues at Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging again, because they do amazing restorative work. And I was so thrilled when I saw the first test disc of this. I said, this is going to be a knockout. People are going to love it. a knockout. People are going to love it. And then I started talking to Constantine.

We already had a legacy commentary on this, but Constantine was dying to do his own new one with Dr. Steve Haberman. So we have two commentaries. And that is a real special gift

because his passion for this movie is unparalleled. And I defer the microphone over to you, Constantine, to kind of talk about what this movie means to you. Well, thank you again, George. You know, this is one of the very first things way back when we started working together. I'd done Looney Tunes with you. And then this film came up. I don't even know why.

Someone asked me. This is in 2003. And even something like putting the logo, Paramount logo back onto the movie was exciting. I mean, that shouldn't be exciting to most people. But to me, it was exciting to be able to help restore things and see this movie come back together. Because I was one of those kids, teenagers at the time that the VHS came out. I was so excited. Back in the day before there was advertisement, how did I know that they were going to put this thing out? And I saw it at Suncoast Video. I almost fell over because it was a movie that you couldn't see, certainly wasn't played

very much on TV. And so my journey with it began way back as a kid, seeing it in pictures and seeing, you know, the monster is never always as good as the picture you end up with in a magazine or a book. And as a kid, and it's just not me, it's generations of people that had only seen it in photographs. So as the movie slowly kept, I guess, creeping back into circulation, as George is saying, from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even now, it's just been getting better and better. And I was really stunned by how good the, you know, Carl Struess's cinematography was, you know, it just is the blacks are black, you know, like the, the crispness of the image and, and seeing really seeing the makeup, the trials that poor Frederick March had to go through to endure the transformation, the physical work he had to put in. It's very, very impressive. So I was very grateful that back in 2003, we had

a man who I respected greatly all my life. And then we've now become very good friends. That's Gregory Mank. He was generous enough to come in and do a commentary. We did this double disc right here of both the 31 and the 41 versions. And there wasn't enough, whether it was money or they just didn't want to get it done. We couldn't do two commentaries. So Greg, of course, he had written the book on this. So he did a historical track that covered the gamut from Barrymore all the way to Frederick March and Tracy. And so I knew I wanted to try to offer something to fans and also to see if I could share some insight. And the key thing for me was discovering a screenplay that gave me insight into the film, into scenes that I thought were or they were

rumored to have been there, to have been shot because the movie did go through a lot of changes. And so finding a copy of this script some years ago, it just allowed me to have a reason. It's like with The Curse of Frankenstein, that script that we found at the Warner Archives gave me reason to say there's something more to offer for clarity's sake in telling this story. So we specifically did not want to repeat what Greg Mank had so expertly and passionately done. We just tried to reveal some of the material that may have been shot. You know, there's photographs of scenes of the movie that it looks fairly authoritative that these scenes were shot. There's no, there's no footage of it that exists, but now that we have a script, it's just, it's more reason to be able to have

better conjecture with, with facts on, on, on paper. So I think that there was, you know, my attempt was bringing some scholarship to the table and also my passion for this. And we, my passion, as well as Steve Haberman's passion, my friend, Dr. Steve Haberman. And we, we, we, when we began, we decided, are we saying Dr. Jekyll or are we saying Dr. Jekyll? Because in this film, it's the only film that says Jekyll. And, and it was quickly Dr. Jekyll? Or are we saying Dr. Jekyll? Because in this film, it's the only film that says Jekyll. And it was quickly Dr. Jekyll right afterwards. I mean, right. I think that may have been what Paramount's contribution to the lore is, you know, overall was, all right, we're going to swing the pendulum and we're going to get rid of the Jekyll because that's the old version. And now from every movie onward, every television adaptation, it was Jekyll.

So that's really what was exciting was to get behind a movie that needs to be seen. It'll blow your mind when you just see how good it looks. Not good, it's great. For a movie I love so much, I was so, so excited when George sent me the little proxy. So I cannot believe we're going to get to see it in full HD. And the last thing I will add is that I love the cover you picked because the Warner Archive, you really go for these amazing covers. That's my favorite movie poster of the movie. So I'm thrilled that even the design is like, it's perfect.

Everything is perfect. There's an interesting story going back to the VHS that you were involved with. It was originally supposed to be released on DVD. And the Spencer Tracy version was in that group of 30 and was one of the five winners and as we were working on the disc we didn't have any budget to get the frederick march version mastered and it was done by someone who was willing to work really, really hard, basically on his own time, out of admiration for the movie. And also, DVD in a myriad of sins. So when you watch a DVD now on an HD or 4K television,

you see so much dirt and damage, it's deplorable. So we're now spoiled. On Monday, I got to see a little bit of what the DCP looks like, because this is going to be available to theaters to show. And it is amazing. I was like, I'm watching a 91-year-old movie, and it's clean and crisp. movie. And it's clean and crisp. And if they made film that looked that beautiful as nitrate, which they don't, it could be shot yesterday. That's how crisp and sharp and beautiful the image is. And I think people are really going to be impressed with the presentation, but that shouldn't take away from the film itself, because it enhances your ability to enjoy a great 91-year-old movie and not make you feel

like you're watching something that is nearly 100 years old. His performance is so powerful, very, very different than Tracy's performance. And Mamoulian's direction was remarkable because he was a director that didn't make a lot of films. He directed on the stage as well as on movies. And he's responsible for monumental pieces of theater history. He directed the first stage production of Porgy and Bess. He directed the first stage production of Oklahoma. And he also directed an early sound film at Paramount in 1929 called Applause, which, unlike most early talkies, made very significant use of the camera. Most early talkie films, they were afraid to move the camera, and they were like film plays. Mamoulian, even with his stage background, he was being very cinematic.

And Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is highly cinematic, visually stunning, and I think this is going to surprise a lot of people. Now I'll give you a very interesting piece of trivia that is what I would say more contemporary irony, even though this happened over 50 years ago. MGM decided to reissue this Dr. Cheekle, as well as Mark of the Vampire and another film, for children as a horror triple feature. And they rated the films G. So there is a G rating on the back of this package, and it is legitimate. It is what the MPAA granted it. If you

gave this film to the MPAA now, it would definitely be at least PG-13. Maybe even, might even get to R, maybe. Although I kind of doubt that. But definitely would be PG-13.

You know, because not only is there horrific imagery, but there's also sexual innuendo, and there's implied nudity. It was very racy for 1931. And then I think the other thing to address is most people refer to this as you know and they pronounce the film wrong and they also give it the wrong year they say dr jekyll mr hyde 1932 this is almost always referred to as a 1932 movie even though the copyright on the movie is 1931 it was made in 1931 it was released i believe in la on christmas day in 1931. It was released, I believe, in L.A. on Christmas Day in 1931 and then on New Year's Eve in New York in 1931.

So by and large, its general release was 1932. So it's one of several famous movies that really can have a validity in more than one year. Casablanca has a similar issue because that ran in New York in November of 42, it was rushed into release, but didn't play Los Angeles until 1943 and the rest of the country. And as a result, that's why it won the Best Picture Oscar for the year 1943. There are a whole bunch of films that were released on New Year's Eve or Christmas Day and get applied to the next year. So I just wanted to clear that up.

This is a 1931 movie released in 1931. And if you wonder why there's a MPA rating on the packaging, we didn't make a mistake. That is real. You can check the filmratings.com website and find out. I'm newer to this film. And when I listened to your commentary, Constantine, and I was watching it. I was pretty shocked by how racy it was, to your point, George. And Constantine, you and Dr. Haberman, you guys talk about that. And some really interesting stuff you bring out about that and the time period and everything. And I think that's going to be really interesting for the fans who purchase this and listen to that commentary to get all that background.

I was going to say with this film, we tend to think and rightfully so that Dracula and Frankenstein launched the horror movie in 1931. And that is true. But this is the third and quite frankly, I think most crucial film in terms of what the horror movie can do of that unholy trinity, because it is very deep in character, very deep in performance and very, I think, groundbreaking in story convention with what could be possible in both technique. And again, all these movies are coming about about the same amount of time. You have to have sort of one with the other, see how far you can push. I always say people that complain about Dracula, the film format was changing. Acting was changing. All of these

things were changing so fast, but to see what Ruben Mamoulian did with his cast and with his camera and with his team, as George has pointed out, I don't want to repeat everything he said about Mimoulian's skill as a filmmaker. It's, sorry, light years advanced from even what James Whale was trying to do in Frankenstein cinematically. And what I think the movie does offer is a chance for real acting to be legitimized in a motion picture of this sort of scandalous nature. And I think other people, and certainly Paramount saw that by making a movie, their next film was The Island of Lost Souls with Charles Lawton. So you're putting heavyweights or on the way to being heavyweights in these roles. And when we look at what would we were talking about Mark of the Vampire, you've got Lionel Atwill and Gene Herschelt as well as as, you know, a staple like Lugosi.

I think what Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does is really legitimize the possibility of what story and character can be in a horror film, especially, you know, Frederick March wins best actor. And then it's as if all of that goes away, really, as the horror film develops into something a little less legitimate in some people's eyes. And that just may be the subject matter. But, you know, it took it took 60 years for anybody else to to sort of be praised in terms of here's a character. Here's a performance that that goes all the way to Anthony Hopkins. But just what Dr. Jekyll does on so many cinematic and performance and writing, the levels are worth studying. And and now we can really, really enjoy it.

I cannot wait to see it in the form that George has been talking about. But I know I was truly blown away with the little tiny proxy that I saw, put a smile on my face and made this opportunity so rich and important. And I felt very responsible for the work we were doing. So yeah, I hope everyone likes it. Happy Halloween, everybody. Yes, indeed. A very happy Halloween. You know, I wish that we had six classic Halloween movies this year. Maybe we will next year. But the two we have to offer this year that are new made the fans so happy when we announced them. And it just furthers my point that you give the people what they want and the reward will be in the joy you bring into people's lives by being able to own such treasured films and such beautiful presentations. Well, George, Constantine, that was a lot of fun.

And thanks again for coming on the podcast to talk about the releases. This is a great month. These are great titles. And I'm sure ones that all classic horror fans will want to have as part of their collection. But also anybody who's really into film history. These are really important films. I would second that you don't have to be a fan of horror movies, even though I don't know anybody who isn't from this era. But you don't have to be a horror expert or a genre-focused person to really appreciate what both of them have to offer. Both of them have to offer. But when it comes to films that made a huge impact in history, especially as movies were moving from out of the silent days and into sound, Dr. Deco and Mr. High, it takes the cake.

Thanks, Constantine. Thanks, George. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. have a list of some of the most popular Warner Archive classic horror films from over the years on our website for those of you who want to browse those classics. So be sure and check those out. If this is the first episode of The Extras you've listened to and you enjoyed it, please think about following the show at your favorite podcast provider. Some upcoming episodes that you might enjoy are my discussion with the film historian who literally wrote the encyclopedia

on James Bond for our 60th anniversary of Dr. No. My discussion with classic film historian who literally wrote the encyclopedia on James Bond for our 60th anniversary of Dr. No. My discussion with classic horror expert Tom Weaver to talk about the 4K release of Universal's Icons of Horror Vol. 2, the usual suspects releasing on 4K, I look back at Harry Potter after 20 years, and in November, Casablanca releasing on 4K. If you're on social media, be sure and follow the show on Facebook or Twitter at The Extras TV or Instagram at TheExtras.TV to stay up to date on our upcoming guests and to be a part of our community. And for our long-term listeners, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review at iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast provider. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Millard.

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