The Extras - Warner Archive October Release Announcement: THE DEVIL DOLL (1936), DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE (1931), DOUBLE TROUBLE (1967), MAD CITY (1997), RAPA-NUI (1994), IN LOVE AND WAR (1996), plus a special Looney Tunes Announcement

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

George Feltenstein announces the Warner Archive's upcoming October Blu-ray releases. PLUS details on Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Vol. 2 and an exclusive announcement you don’t want to miss!Now available for Pre-order from Amazon: Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Vol. 2 Pre-orderTHE DEVIL DOLL (1936)DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE (1931)DOUBLE TROUBLE (1967)RAPA-NUI (1994)MAD CITY (1997) IN LOVE AND WAR (1996) 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, 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 their release on digital DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Lard, your host. And joining me today is George Feltenstein to announce the October Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive.

Hi, George. Hey, Tim. How are you? Good, good. Well, there's been a lot of excitement. People are anxiously awaiting the October releases. But before we dive into those, I did want to ask you a little bit about, I saw three September releases had moved to October. Is there any update you can give us on those? Well, obviously everybody knows they're

now streeted for October 24th, and this is due to production limitations and we were not happy about this, but we wanted to make sure that we got those titles out and that October didn't suffer. And that's why we're here to talk about a full slate of six additional titles for October 31st. Oh, wow. That's terrific news. So just a little bit of delay, but that's exciting to hear that October has got a full slate. So we better dive in if you have six to announce. Yeah, it's a very, very group of people. And I know that the diehard Halloween fans probably were expecting a full slate of Halloween movies. Ideally, that would be wonderful, but we can only release what's ready.

And fortunately, we do have one that's one of the best in our library, in my opinion, an underrated film, in my opinion, and that's Todd Browning's The Devil Doll. So we've given that a special treatment by having a brand new commentary from Dr. Steve Haberman, the film historian and film historian and filmmaker Constantine Nazar. And that's a brand new commentary along with a 4K scan of our preservation elements for the film. And it is really a tour de force for Lionel Barrymore. And I know that people who really liked our classic Legends of Horror set on DVD many years ago were hoping that all those films would make it to Blu-ray. So this is one down and very, very happy about that.

I wish we could have had six horror films for Halloween. That would be what we would have done 10 years ago on DVD. But we barely squeaked by to get this ready in time. Because when you're dealing with films this old and a state of basically essential protection, and as well, striving for perfection in the end product that goes to the consumer, you can't always make those deadlines. And I also think that Halloween is not the only time you could release horror films and make it a successful business venture. You can release them 12 months out of the year because they're such a popular genre. And just Friday, I found out about another one that's going to be added to our output. So horror film fans, I know you're probably happy about The Devil Doll,

but a lot of people don't look at the glass half full. They look at it half empty. Fear not. We hear you. And there are more on the way. Some surprises, too. So that's one thing for October that I wanted to get out of the way. That'll be ready on Halloween itself, October 31st.

And also that day, we have a very interesting film from 1931 that is a 4K scan off the nitrate camera negative. This is a film that made its DVD debut from an ancient shelf master when Warner Archive was launched. It's a huge upgrade in quality and a really terrific film that is very much of its time. It's Dance Fool's Dance with Joan Crawford in her first of eight pairings against Clark Gable, who's actually fifth billed, but walked away stealing the picture from the other men in the movie. And it led the way for Crawford and Gable to cement a relationship on screen that would last almost 10 years at MGM. So Dance Fool's Dance is the first of the films that we'll talk about,

aside from The Devil Doll. We'll talk about that more a little later. But I'm very, very excited about that. The fact that the original camera negative still exists on a black and white MGM film and didn't succumb to the disaster of the fire is pretty remarkable. And I'm so glad that we've scanned it for preservation. We had protection safety elements, of course. And the fact that we were able to go back and get the camera negative and do a 4K scan of it is very, very impressive. So very excited about that. Is that a film that you've seen, Tim? It is not, but I have seen, you know, because you've released a lot of the Crawfords this year,

many people were hopeful that this would be on the list because you had kind of teased that there would be more coming this year. So I know I'll be looking forward to it along with a lot of others. Well, we did something cool for the disc also. The film is relatively short and we were able to add an hour-long documentary

that won an Emmy Award back in 19, I guess it was made in 72, so I assume it got its award in 72. It might have been 73, but it's called Hollywood the Dream Factory. And this was produced by a small documentary unit that existed at MGM in the late 60s and early 70s and kind of, I think, was an unofficial test run for what eventually would become That's Entertainment. But it's narrated by Dick Cavett and it is a superb documentary. It's really about MGM, but it doesn't call it out as much as it does Hollywood itself.

And it's really an astute piece of filmmaking. It holds up. And this is a high definition presentation, which is something I'm particularly happy about, because we have made this available before on DVD as a bonus on another film. And now you get an HD master as a bonus on this film. And Dance Fs Dance is excerpted briefly in Hollywood, The Dream Factory. And that's why it's here. We also added two Warner Brothers cartoons that are in high definition as well. One More Time and Smile, Darn Your Smile. So I think this is going to be a very, very fan pleasing disc.

I really do. Yeah, the others that I briefly mentioned, our Dancing Daughters is from that same era, roughly. And boy, the remaster on that just made it look so terrific and all the extras in the package you had on that. So looking forward to this one as well. This is of equal impressiveness. I would say it looks even better because on our Dancing Daughters, we didn't have the camera negative.

And our Dancing Daughters had previously looked horrible. The result of our work made it look great. Here, we're able to go back to the negatives, so the results are even more impressive. I'm excited for people to be able to see it for sure. even more impressive. I'm excited for people to be able to see it for sure. Then the next film I'd like to talk about, we go to 1967 for another Elvis at MGM effort called Double Trouble. Elvis was making a lot of films at MGM at this time, and the plots are pretty simple, but they're an excuse for Elvis to sing, and he sings a lot of songs in this movie, including City by Night and Could I Fall in Love? And There's So Much World to See.

And it's a gorgeous master because it's a 4K scan off the camera negative. So the colors are eye-popping. It's a lot of fun. We also added two Chuck Jones, Tom and Jerry cartoons in high def, Rock and Rodent and Surfboard Cat. And certainly Chuck had his own way with Tom and Jerry. And we're really happy about that. The next film we're going to talk about is something that's been a little bit forgotten. talk about is something that's been a little bit forgotten. And it'll be good for people to have a chance to revisit this movie because it deserves to be given a second look. And that is In Love and War from 1996, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, who, of course, is very famous for having directed several important motion pictures. And this is a tale based on a true story.

Ernest Hemingway, when he was about 18 years old, was fighting in World War I and fell in love with a nurse. And the nurse is played by Senator Bullock, and Chris O'Donnell plays Ernest Hemingway. It's a very tender love story. It was a very impressive effort on New Line Cinema's part in 1996. It was ambitious for them to make something that was not a negative pickup made by somebody else. They produced it in-house and they really wanted to make

a prestige film. And the performances are very, very impressive. The new master is lovely because it's a 4K scan off the camera negative. And we know this film has its fans because we've heard from them on social media. So In Love and War gets a thumbs up from the Warner Archive collection. Tim, have you seen this movie? You know, I do remember when it came out, I was a big, of course, and still am, big Sandra Bullock fan. Chris O'Donnell was huge in the 90s, of course. He had, what, The Three Musketeers and many other great movies. And it's a great cast. I'm looking forward to

kind of revisiting it again. Well, the next film we're going to talk about is from a cinema master, and that is the director Kostas Gravras. I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly, but I remember when I was a kid in film school seeing his film Z, which was a monumental motion picture of its time with Yves Montand. And he did make several English language movies. And I hope I'm not incorrect in saying this, but I believe he's still with us. And this is a 4K scan of the camera negative for a new presentation of a movie called Mad City, made in 1997, and starring Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, and Alan Alda. And I would say it's almost like a Dog Day Afternoon meets Network, both of which are Sidney Lumet movies. But Costa Gavras brought his sensibility of making political films to Mad City,

which is an indictment of basically corruption and the psyche of criminals. And it's really quite a thriller. And it was not as appreciated when it came out as I think it deserves to be. But when you have a cast like that and a director like that, it warrants reappraisal. And I think people will be very pleased by this film, and it looks gorgeous. Well, there's two right there from the 1990s. So you've got a few this month that are more current, which is fantastic. Yes, all the people who were complaining and complaining and then complaining again and complaining. This is another month where they get their wish fulfilled.

Of course, it might not be the specific movie they're looking for, but who knows the specific movie they're looking for might be around the corner. They just don't know. And to some degree, we don't know because something will have working may take two years to complete and other films may take two months. It's so much of a roll of the dice. is so much of a roll of the dice. And we're happy with these releases. And the next one is a film that did not do well at the box office. It was a hugely expensive production, a very ambitious production, and I don't think it got enough appreciation for what the filmmaker intended. And the film is Rapa Nui. It was made in 1994. And the film is Rapa Nui.

It was made in 1994. And this was a co-production of an overseas company as well as Warner Brothers. We have the domestic rights. This is a brand new master. Rapa Nui basically is a South Seas adventure. And it was co-produced by Kevin Costner and directed by his friend, Kevin Reynolds. And the two of them had collaborated before on a film we released not that long ago, Fandango. Now, many years later, we're releasing a film that they worked on almost a decade later, this is a visual feast for the eye and also for the ears, because this was

an early 5.1 surround release. This is when DTS had become pretty prevalent in motion picture theaters, and it didn't take a huge epic to get a huge epic soundtrack and uh the cast is uh jason scott lee who at the time made dragon the bruce lee story and isai morales who was in la bamba and uh it's a very very interesting look at a culture that we don't get to see on the screen very often so we're looking forward to this and we released a dv DVD of it many years ago when we were just trying to get films out in their proper aspect ratio because the original DVD was four by three. So we did release a letterbox DVD years ago, but people at that time were rightly so saying, where's the Blu-ray? Well, here it is. Right. And I know there's a lot of fans of Kevin

Reynolds and his films, and he's a terrific filmmaker. And then this was co-produced by Kevin Costner, who he partnered with. Yes. And from Kevin Costner's production company, TIG Productions. So he was utilizing the support that he received as a filmmaker, producer, from Bob Daley and Terry Semel, who were the two gentlemen running Warner Brothers in the 80s and the 90s. And it was because of that relationship that this film got made. And we're very pleased to be releasing it to Blu-ray. It looks amazing.

If anything, it's a travelogue and an entertainment because the location of photography is stunning. It kind of makes you wonder how they were able to shoot where they shot and get those kind of results. It's very, very impressive. And a beautifully made film that again, you know, we're about trying to shine a light on rediscoveries. Uh, yeah. I mean, it's great that it's coming back out so that people can get a reappreciation, so to speak for this movie.

I remember watching it when it was in theaters and it's visually stunning and anything that Kevin Reynolds does, I think is worth, uh, you worth, you know, there's so many fans worth looking at. So he just has done so many good stuff. Absolutely. And then I'll go back to our last release, which was the first thing I talked about, because it's the thing that we're most excited about. And that is the release of the Devil Doll as our kind of showcase for Halloween arriving just in time on October 31st. This is a 4K scan of the preservation elements. This is one of those films where, of course, the camera negative did burn in that tragic fire. So the safety preservation elements were used.

And this is the first time the film has been mastered in over 30 years. So it's a dramatic improvement. And happily, we have a brand new feature commentary by two friends of the Warner Archive, Dr. Steve Haberman and your friend and mine, Konstantin Nazar. They were very passionate about wanting to speak about this film. And anything Todd Browning did, or I should say virtually anything Todd Browning did at MGM is worth creating a celebration. And our friends at Criterion are releasing Freaks along with The Unknown and The Mystic as a celebration of Todd Browning around the same time. So we're happy to be able to provide the devil doll on Blu-ray.

So everybody will be talking about Todd Browning because he's a fascinating filmmaker. And I do think this will keep the horror fans at least satiated until we can give them our next surprise. As we kind of touched on before, I think this is going to be, you know, really, really popular. And those other ones you just mentioned by Criterion, were you working with them a little bit on that? I mean, we don't want to go deep into that story, but was there any involvement of Warner Brothers? Very much so. Everything they do, we're involved to some degree, but I was very involved in trying to make Freaks look a lot better than it ever has.

And there's a story in that in and of itself that maybe that warrants doing a special podcast. Yeah. Why don't we save that for a little discussion? Maybe we'll just kind of do something around Mr. Browning and a couple of those movies there and see what we can come up with. I think that could be a fascinating podcast episode. That sounds terrific. Yeah.

And I do want to make notice of something we announced on our Facebook page just a few minutes ago that November 28th will provide the release date for Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 2. And we're going to have a lot more to say about that Blu-ray. It has 25 cartoons making their Blu-ray debut. And it is in response to the fan support of the first volume. And we're going to have a lot to say about that.

And that's coming at the end of November. But we let people see the packaging today to let them know what's in store. And we're going to have a lot more to say about it very, very soon. That's fantastic. I mean, I got a big smile because I love that first volume. And I know so many, just so many people have purchased it, enjoyed it. And fingers crossed, we're hoping that their support would bring a volume too. So that's great news. And I can even give you a little exclusive here that we haven't mentioned

yet. We're already working on volume three. Wow. So that tells the fans that their support was heard loud and clear throughout Burbank. And that's enabling us to continue with this series for not just this volume that's coming out on November 28th, but another one next year and hopefully many more to follow. So that's good news that I'm delighted to share. And we've had to keep it under wraps for a long time until we were sure we would have something ready to release before the end of the year. And I'm delighted that we do. Right. Right. Wow. Fantastic. For those who are still listening and hopefully everybody is, that is quite the little drop here at the end of this episode. So thank you, George, as always for coming on, giving us the announce so that we can

get a little background on these. And then also, you know, you always give us a little extra here in these little teases for other things. So thank you for that. It's my pleasure, Tim. And as always, thank you for giving me the opportunity to share details with the fans here on The Extras. Well, I was not expecting such a robust number of releases in October, so this is great news for everyone who has been hoping that the Warner Archive can get back to a greater number of releases each month. And what great news for Looney Tunes fans, that A Collector's Choice Volume 2 is coming soon,

and as announced first here on the podcast, that a Volume three is already being worked on. I will post more information on these releases on our Facebook page and in our Facebook group, the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers Catalog group. So look for all of those links in the podcast show notes. Whether you are a first time listener or a long-term fan of the show, don't forget to follow or subscribe at your favorite podcast provider. That way you won't miss any of our podcasts and you'll get some of these exclusive announcements that are only on the extras. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed. you Thanks, George, for giving us that exclusive announcement about volume three you know we'll

be highlighting volume two of course here on the podcast and look forward to volume three in the future so thank you for that 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.