The Extras
The Extras
Warner Archive December Release Announcement
George Feltenstein announces the Warner Archive's upcoming Nov/December Blu-ray releases. PLUS an update on Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Vol. 2 release date and a tease about 2024.
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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, 4k or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Lager host, and joining me is George Felonstine to announce the December Blu-ray releases from the Warner archive. Hi George, hey Tim how are you?
Speaker 1:today. I'm great and I'm very excited to talk to you about the releases here. We've got quite a few of them, but before we dive into them, I wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about how the schedule has changed a little bit, and some of the October titles moved in November and then that impacted the December ones.
Speaker 2:Well, it actually goes back even further than that.
Speaker 2:Some September titles moved into October and October titles moved into November and it's basically reflective of the fact that there's really only one manufacturing plant in the whole United States for the entire industry and, contrary to what some people may believe, there is a great demand for physical media and this plant needs to basically keep up with all the demand, and demand is very high from all over the industry.
Speaker 2:So we've had some delays that have been very frustrating and we want to make sure that the next group of titles is available on the street date and everybody has it in supply and there aren't going to be these little snaffoos.
Speaker 2:So there would have been a real rush to try to make these November releases and we scheduled December 12th as the day for all of them so that we would be able to deliver in comfortable amount of time the discs to the various places they need to go to to get to the consumers, so they're on their doorstep If they want them. On release date they'll be able to have them and that's the goal. So we set December 12th as the street date and we've always as I've tried to indicate that we're always working on anywhere from 12 to 15 titles in some form of production at any given time. So if something has a snaffo and needs to go back to the manufacturing or needs to go back to the mastering facility for a correction, we need to have the time to do that. So I'm very confident we'll be able to make December 12th for all seven of these titles, which we're very excited about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and having worked there at Warner Brothers, I just remember how hard everybody was working to get all of the content that comes out for the holidays in this Q4, the last quarter of the year. Well, that's a lot of time that people are gifting and buying physical media, so it's not just the titles from Warner Archive and Warner Brothers, but Universal, so all of the whole industry, as you said, trying to rush to get things there. So, whether it moves a week or two, the beautiful thing here is that you have a lot of titles coming out in early December so that people can get them for the holidays. So we have a lot of them.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of them, so shall we dive right in with the first one for December.
Speaker 2:Let's go for it.
Speaker 1:And let's go with the oldest ones first, and then we'll come up all the way up to 2000 with the last release. So what do we have first off there, george?
Speaker 2:Well, the earliest release, chronologically, at a mere 93 years young, is Anna Christie from 1930. And this is a very monumental film in the history of Hollywood lore because this was the first sound film that Greta Garbo starred in and there was great concern that could Garbo make the transition from silent to sound, as everything was getting very much into sound during 1929. Garbo continued to be in silent films only, the last film being the Kiss with Lou Ares in 1929. And Irving Thalberg, as head of production at MGM, was very careful about what they would select to be Garbo's talkie debut and they selected Eugene O'Neill's play Anna Christie to be Garbo's starring vehicle. And the headline of the era was Garbo Talks, exclamation point. And that phrase became so familiar that it ended up being the title of a 1984 United Artists movie about a woman who was a big Garbo fan. That really had nothing to do. The plot was different, but the point is that that phrase, garbo Talks became so much of a vernacular that it had to be in the parlance of many people. So the film itself is really terrific and you've got Garbo proving that indeed she could talk. She gives a fantastic performance. It's directed by Clarence Brown, who is one of her favorite directors, certainly one of the great directors in history at MGM, and it is also a fine film version of O'Neill's Great Play.
Speaker 2:Not the first film version. It was made as a silent film in 1923 with Blanche Suite, but it was perfect for remake and the results were enormously successful around the world at the box office. Interestingly enough, at this period of time the industry hadn't quite gotten the hook on dubbing yet, so it was not inordinate for the studios with a big picture to film multiple language versions. And I believe Garbo starred in five, if I'm correct, five different versions of Anna Christie in different languages, and the only one of these foreign language versions that survive is the German version of Anna Christie. And when we released these films the two films, the American and the German on DVD many, many years ago, people really appreciated being able to see the German version because up until that time it had remained out of sight for decades.
Speaker 2:We do have on a select group of titles, we do have these alternate versions. We have a release on DVD of the Big House from 1930, where there was a French version that survived and a Spanish version that survived, but this is our first time doing one of these kind of productions where another version survives, where we're doing it as a blu-ray and accordingly you not only have this stunning restoration of the main American English language feature, but you also have the German version in high definition. And this is very important because in the past we have had multiple versions of a film on a blu-ray and there wasn't the ability to provide the high definition presentation of the secondary version on the same disc, and here we felt it was essential to be able to do that. And it is often mentioned that Garbo preferred her German language performance versus her English language performance, and Jacques Fédér, if I'm pronouncing his name correctly, was the director of the German language version. So people will now have an opportunity to look at them both, and there are also other extras on this disc.
Speaker 2:This is the extras. We need to talk about that. A few months ago we released one of Garbo's films with an episode about the latter part of her career from the television series MGM Parade, and we are using the other episode of MGM Parade, the 1955-56 television series that MGM used to test their toe in the water of television. The first episode about Garbo's earlier career is on this disc, as well as a 1930 classic Warner Brothers cartoon, the Booze Hangs High and High Definition. So I think people are going to be very happy with this disc. The main feature is a testament to everyone that was involved in creating something that set the pathway for Garbo's stardom to continue in the sound era.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just fantastic that you're getting basically a second movie on here, because you put it in HD, this German language version of the film and it's very stylistically subtle but different, and that's a good thing.
Speaker 2:I guess, if we're moving chronologically, the next thing would be a film with a guy that has a very strange yell. That's Tarzan the Eight man from 1932, starring the most famous of all, tarzan's, johnny Weismiller. I'm hoping that if this release succeeds in terms of being profitable, which is essential for everything that we do, that not unlike what happened with the Thin man movies, the Thin man 1934 first film performed so well that it enabled us to get the green light from the various powers that be to do the entire series. Now that was six films. With Tarzan, we have well close to 30 features that go from basically 1932 all the way to the late 60s, and we've released some of those later films I'm Blu-ray, but none of the Weismillers and I'm delighted that we're starting with this. It's a really seminal film for a franchise that was powerful enough to last several decades, and this is in the era when there weren't film franchises. Johnny Weismiller was an Olympic champion swimmer. They thought he'd be perfect for the part, and no, he does not. Say meet Tarzan Eugene. It's one of those apocryphal film quotes that doesn't exist, just like Jimmy Cadney never said you, dirty rat and Carrie Grant never said Judy, judy, judy. So in any event, I'm very excited about this.
Speaker 2:There is going to be a documentary we put together a while ago for when Tarzan made his DVD debut. It's a feature link documentary called Tarzan Silver Screen, king of the Jungle, so that'll be on here which I think people will enjoy if they haven't seen it. And we have two 1932 loony tunes that are in high def I wish I had wings and moonlight for two and then the theatrical trailer, so that will be a lot of fun. I should mention that there's no trailer on Anna Christie because it doesn't exist, or at least it doesn't exist anywhere within our library. It might be in a private collector's hand someplace.
Speaker 2:We don't know about that. We don't have any idea. But we couldn't put a trailer on because we don't have one. But thankfully we do for Tarzan the Eight man, 1932. And I always have to mention the year when talking about that title, because there was a remake of that story with that title in 1959. And Tarzan was played by Denny Miller. And then, of course, no one can forget the cinematic masterpiece of 1981, starring Bo Derek as Jane and Miles O'Keefe as Tarzan. It is one of the great moments in cinema history. But the original is what everybody wants to see and we're delighted to be bringing Tarzan with Johnny Weismiller to Blu-ray in a spectacularly restored presentation.
Speaker 1:Well, I know there's been a lot of excitement about Tarzan the Eight man, so, and many people have already mentioned, they're hoping that this will be the first of many, so let's hope that we can get the support for this release.
Speaker 2:I hope so. I'm feeling very confident that people are going to support this release because they saw the benefits of what happened with the thin men, and when we see that kind of support, the results are always pleasurable. And, of course, the next film in the series is actually my favorite, which is Tarzan and his mate from 1934. So I'm really hoping we get to sink our teeth into that one. So, fans, please support our releases.
Speaker 1:Well, I think there's been a lot of excitement about this next one You're going to tell us about the great Ziegfeld from 1936.
Speaker 2:Obviously we have more Best Picture Oscar winners in our library than any other studio and we've been trying to get to a lot of them and with the release of this great Ziegfeld we check another box. And Great Ziegfeld is a fascinating film, very unique because Florence Ziegfeld was the great showman of the early 20th century and the film is epic in its scope because Ziegfeld himself was a masterful showman. He was really focused on bringing great talents into the forefront of the theater. And William Powell plays Ziegfeld with his usual aplomb and you have Mourinaloi cast alongside him, really in the second part of the movie, playing Ziegfeld's second wife, billy Burke. Everybody knows Billy Burke as the Glinda, the Good Witch of the North and Wizard of Oz or from her many wonderful supporting performances. And we just released a few months ago Christopher Straughn in which he had a very important role. But Billy Burke blessed the great Ziegfeld being made, signed off on it because Ziegfeld himself had died a few years earlier and it was really a testament and a tribute to Ziegfeld that they made this movie. And it was originally going to be a universal film and Universal was in terrible financial straits and it ended up going to MGM instead and that was to everyone's benefit and that's how it won the Oscar.
Speaker 2:It's really a spectacular film with very impressive different musical numbers. This is the period of time where the MGM musicals we came to know it had really not come into formation and musicals were not a kind of cornerstone of MGM at that time. So you have some very interesting production numbers. Some really wonderful songs were written for the film and you have at least one, if not more, ziegfeld stars that made their name on the stage in Ziegfeld Productions and then repriezed their activities in this movie, the Great Ziegfeld, and specifically I'm speaking of the one and only Fanny Bryce. People are more familiar with Fanny Bryce today thanks to Barbara Streisand's amazing portrayal of her life in Funny Girl, both on the stage and screen, and that's how a lot of people in future generations knew Fanny Bryce.
Speaker 2:Fanny Bryce died in 1950 and she was really popular in the 20s and in the 30s and then on radio in the 40s. But people know of her and she got her start with Ziegfeld in terms of becoming a huge star. So having her in this film is very, very impressive. All the performances are great and I need to mention Louise Reiner, who played Ziegfeld's first wife, anna Held. She has a telephone scene in this movie that is incredibly memorable and everyone is pretty much in line with thinking that's the scene that won her the Oscar for Best Actress. And she won the Oscar for Best Actress the following year for her role in the Good Earth.
Speaker 2:Very rare that you have an actor or actress who wins an Oscar in consecutive years. It has happened subsequently it happened with Catherine Hepburn, it happened with Spencer Tracy about this time, it happened with Tom Hanks in the 90s, but it's rare that it happens and the performances really need to be remarkable to make that happen. And I think people will love this presentation of the film, because I don't think this film has ever particularly looked good in any of its prior iterations and I've been involved with a lot of them. This 4K scan from our preservation elements really sparkles and the audio is wonderful and it is the roadshow version where we had done this initially for the DVD, where we restored the overture, intermission and end-track and exit music. So it's really a superb presentation that is in line with what you would have experienced back in 1936. So we're very excited about this one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think there's a lot of excitement for that roadshow version element of this and that makes this a very unique, unique release.
Speaker 2:And we've carried over some of the special features that were on the DVD featurette. We put together, as they've felt, on film an excerpt from a newsreel about the New York premiere of the film. We've added an HD classic Warner Brothers cartoon, Toy Town Hall. Toy Town Hall. I have to say that three times, twice. And then we have the air trailer of Leo is on the air promoting the movie and, of course, the original theatrical trailer. So it's a loaded disc and I think people will really enjoy it.
Speaker 1:That takes us to the next release, gentleman Jim, from 1942. What can you tell us about that release, george?
Speaker 2:Well, this is one of my favorite Aero Flynn movies and that's saying something because I have so many favorite Aero Flynn movies. But what sets this apart is it's not a swashbuckler. This is a wonderful, loving, admirable portrayal of the gentleman who really legitimized prize fighting, james J Corbett, and this is based on his life story. It was authorized by his widow for Warner Brothers to make this film. Aero Flynn is just stupendous. He's charming, he's believable. The film is meticulously directed by Rah Walsh and this is a 4K scan off the camera negative, so people will notice a huge uptick in quality from our DVD, which was not bad looking for its time, but it's really, really terrific. There's a great supporting cast here, particularly to me, ward Bond, as John L Sullivan gives a fantastic performance. It represents a real golden era in the history of Warner Brothers, because this is the same year that you had Now Voyager and Casablanca and so many wonderful other films. And 21 year old Alexis Smith really is enchanting and beautiful. And I also have to call out Alan Hale. He's terrific in this and he made a lot of films with Flynn.
Speaker 2:I've been wanting this to come out for a long time and I know the fans have been asking for it for a long time. We added three high definition Warner Brothers cartoons the Dover Boys at Pimento University, phony Fables and Hobby Horse Laughs. And then we have a radio show from the Screen Guild players from February of 1944, with Flynn and Alexis Smith recreating their roles in the original trailer, which will be in HD. So it's gonna be a superb disc. I can't wait to see it, but I've seen everything in preparation and everything looks fantastic, so I think fans will be very happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of excitement for this one as well. I mean obviously getting another Arrow Flynn film in. I mean, the ones we've gone through so far is just a terrific cast of stars, but I know this one has created a lot of excitement as well. So so far, this December is just a home run. Every single one. These are just terrific and I'm sure the fans are going to be over the moon with these. But we have three more, so let's jump into the next one, and that's the 1949 film Madame Bovary, directed by one of your favorite directors, George Vincent Minnelli.
Speaker 2:One of the reasons why Minnelli is so fascinating to me is his ability to conquer virtually all genres. He's best known for his musicals, but he brought his talents to great dramas as well as comedies and, in this case, a fascinating romantic drama. That's almost like a fever dream of a movie. He brings his visual sense to it and it is just a stunning, unique telling based on the famous Gustave Flaubert novel, which was quite what do I say? Like a dirty book of the 19th century. This is handled with such taste. Mgm borrowed Jennifer Jones from her husband, david O Selznick, to appear in this movie. Ben Heflin is terrific. A very young Louis Jordan is in this film, and I think this is one of James Mason's first American films. He's terrific in it. The whole way the film was put together is astounding. Jennifer Jones really gives an exceptional performance as Emma Bovary, and the tale of Madame Bovary has been filmed many times, but I don't think anyone has ever done it as well as what Minnelli did here, and it was with the support of producer Pandro Berman, who you know later on would work with Minnelli on films like Fath or the Pride in the Long, long Trailer, and who I think of as being a genius behind so many great RKO movies in the 30s. Pandro Berman is not somebody who rolls off the tip of the tongue, unfortunately. He needs to be remembered for his contribution as a great producer, just as Minnelli was a great director. So here you've got greatness all over and it's all underscored. This can't be emphasized enough by the amazing music of the great Miklos Roja, and it's Roja's Madame Bovary Waltz sequence in this movie. That's probably the most famous part of the movie, and I'm a little bit of a Miklos Roja obsessive so I get very excited anytime he scores a movie. And this is really, I would say, probably the earlier part of his MGM tenure, which went on for quite some time, and it's one of his most impressive scores and this film looks amazing in this new presentation. I think fans are going to be very, very happy.
Speaker 2:We've also added a very important I really can't say short Word film. It's more like a feature at 40 something minutes long from 1949. It's called Some of the Best and this was made as a promotional film by MGM to celebrate their 25th anniversary. It shows a lot of MGM movies of the past as well as MGM movies that were then in production and going to be forthcoming and it was the first time the public got to see the footage, which is now very famous, of the famed MGM 25th anniversary luncheon where they got almost all their stars together on one soundstage to have a luncheon that will never be forgotten. All of that is in Some of the Best, the 1949 version.
Speaker 2:I bring the year up specifically because they also did a film called Some of the Best in 1944 for their 20th anniversary. That was far less extensive. So this is a very special extra and it will be in high definition. We also have a high definition in 1949, tom and Jerry cartoon love that and of course the Madame Bovary trailer. So another disc that is filled with a great film and I hope what people will think is a fine presentation of extras.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really loaded in that retrospective feature, as you call. It sounds amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing that and I'm sure a lot of people we just want to highlight that will want to get that as and see that extra as well. So well, two more, george, and we're jumping ahead quite a few years to 1995 to a couple more modern films, which has been great fun that you've been able to bring so many movies from the 90s and 2000s in the last number of months. So, and that's it, and there will be more.
Speaker 1:There will. Okay, terrific. So this is a midwinter's tale from 1995. What can you tell us about this film, George?
Speaker 2:Well, kenneth Branagh was just becoming known as the Wunderkind of Shakespeare in the 90s and he extended his talents from the stage to the screen and this is a film in which he does not appear. But he directed it and I believe he co-wrote it and it's really a tongue-in-cheek kind of mockumentary. This is to Shakespeare what waiting for guffman is to regional theater. I mean it's just hysterical. And the cast that Brana put together for this as they really have fun with Hamlet as the subject includes a lot of actors that aren't that famous in this country but also people who are very well known in this country, like Joan Collins and Jennifer Saunders from Absolutely Fabulous, but the whole cast is terrific.
Speaker 2:I believe the film was released in the UK as in the bleak midwinter that was the title in the UK but Castle Rock, which became part of our company as part of the acquisition of Turner Broadcasting, castle Rock got behind this film in the US in a big way. But because it's black and white and because the subject matter is very much, I would say to the art film crowd, it isn't as well known as it should be. It made its debut on DVD as an early Warner Archive DVD title. So this new master is a revelation in how wonderful the black and white photography is, and I really hope people will enjoy having this film because it is hysterically funny.
Speaker 1:And then we have one more here that is from 2000,. Which not too long ago here. That's saving grace. What can you tell us about that one, george?
Speaker 2:I saw this film when it came out and it was very successful in this country. It's a film from the UK with Brenda Blethen. She is the grace in the title. She's a woman with lots of problems because her husband has died and left her a lot of debt. She's got a really good friend, played by Craig Ferguson, who at the time was only known as Mr Wick on the Drew Carey show. This was like a little bit of a breakthrough for him because he was also involved in the creation of this film and he's a pot grower and dealer. And they come up with a plan to turn Grace's greenhouse into a marijuana factory and this is 2000,.
Speaker 2:So marijuana wasn't approved for legal use in certain parts of the world, still isn't in many parts and they made it into a very sweet, kind-spirited comedy. That's very, very. It's just a sweet, irresistible film, beautifully written, efficiently told. It was also a very big hit for an art film at the time of its release. It was a great success and it came from fine line features, which was the art film division of New Line Cinema at that time, and fine line had really established itself for being really at the forefront, along with other companies of the art film circuit at the time and they brought a lot of really important films, both from this country as well as imports, to theaters. And Saving Grace was a big hit and it's long overdue for a Blu-ray release, and on this Blu-ray we've carried over commentaries that were recorded for the DVD. There are two of them. One of them is more of a creative commentary and it has the director, nigel Cole, and Craig Ferguson and one of the other creators, I believe the writer, who's also, I think, the producer, and then there's a commentary with Craig Ferguson and Brenda Bleuthin. So you get two feature commentaries and the trailer, as well as a gorgeous new presentation of the film that is stunning to look at and quite enjoyable, and I can't believe this movie is 23 years old already.
Speaker 2:But it is our intention and we're not neglecting the 70s or the 80s. We were very heavy in the 70s and the 80s a couple of years ago and everybody's complaining that we weren't doing enough from the 30s and we're trying to please everyone, which is impossible, but I'm very grateful. I want to say thank you to all the fans who have supported Warner Archive this year, because our release schedule for 2023 got back to normal, with over 60 releases for the year, as opposed to last year where we were constricted to a much lesser number, much to my chagrin. And this is just reflective of Warner Brothers Discovery's support of the Warner Archive collection in terms of management, realizing that our little boutique label within the Bigamoth is a can do organization that can bring profit to the company by doing carefully managed, well prepared releases that are geared to the consumer, who is a connoisseur and wants the very best in quality.
Speaker 2:And if your particular favorite film has not yet made it out, don't be surprised if it surfaces soon. We're working on films from every genre, every era. We have all sorts of plans ahead for 2024. So if your particular favorite film is not available yet, know that if there is a demand and a reason, we'll get behind it and get it out to you on a beautiful disc which you will be able to place on your shelf and own forever, with the best possible quality. And that's our mission statement and we are married to it and proud of it.
Speaker 1:Well, before we wrap up, George, there was one title that I forgot to ask you about earlier, and that was the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice, volume 2, which is also falling in this time frame. What can you tell us about that and any updates?
Speaker 2:Well, we moved the streak date from November 28th to December 12th to the same production clog line, but we'll have to talk about that on another podcast because there's 25 cartoons on there and that means 25 different things to talk about. We're very excited about that and I did mention earlier, I believe, with you, that we let people know that we're already working on Volume 3. As a matter of fact, I will be looking at some new sources that have been created for Volume 3, and we plan to expand our animation activities in 2024, and read into that what you may, but we know we hear you out there. We love animation in the Warner Archive and we intend to do a lot more of it and we intend to make sure it's done right.
Speaker 1:Well, I just wanted to be sure a few people maybe had not heard about that slight move back a week or two for that release, but it's always exciting to hear your updates and, as you mentioned, as it gets closer we'll get more into that title specifically. But that means that on December 12th we'll have the seven you talked about today, plus that Looney Tunes will also be coming out on December 12th. So that's just a pat day and should be very exciting leading into the holidays. So, as always, george, thank you so much for coming on the extras to talk about these new releases from the Warner Archive.
Speaker 2:My pleasure, Tim, and once again, thank you, and thank you to all the consumers out there who have supported our efforts for almost 15 years now. We're getting ready for a big birthday, so there are big plans in store.
Speaker 1:Well, that's exciting to hear that there are big plans in store for 2023, including more animation ahead for all of you animation fans out there. And just to recap some of the changes to the schedule In Love and War and Rapa Nui have moved from October and are now releasing in November, on the 14th, and Looney Tunes, collector's Choice Volume 2, has now moved out to December 12th, so you have eight titles releasing that day. We will continue to update more information on these releases on our podcast Facebook page and in our Facebook group called the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers catalog group. So look for those links in the podcast show notes and we will let you know when you can pre-order these titles as soon as those are made available. So be sure and follow us on social media so you get that information right away. And, as always, if you are a long-term fan of the show, don't forget to follow or subscribe and leave us a review at your favorite podcast provider. Until next time you've been listening to Tim Mallard. Stay slightly obsessed.