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.
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Otaku 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
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 AffiliateThe Extras Facebook page
The Extras Twitter
Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group
Otaku 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
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 your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Lard, your host and joining me is George Feltonstein to announce more March Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. Hi, george.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:Thank you for mentioning that, because I was going to say that the 23rd March 23rd is our 15th anniversary and it's the little engine that could. And 15 years later and 3500 titles maybe 4000 titles at this point, and then 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 want to please all the fans. It's impossible to do that, but we do our best and 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,?
Speaker 2: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 90s 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 and there are really terrific performances in it and gags good music. And this was directed by Brett Ratner right before he directed the first Rush Hour movie.
Speaker 1: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 in this movie.
Speaker 2:He exploded.
Speaker 1:He exploded on the scene.
Speaker 2:He's been more quiet in recent years. I mean, 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.
Speaker 1: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 Locklair. I mean you got 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?
Speaker 2:is rated R.
Speaker 1:I was going to say most of the Chris Tucker movies I think were. So yeah, it's part of that R rated kind of guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, I mean, we do list the ratings on the package, but you know, generally that's really not an issue for us, you know.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:That's right. 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, right. Well, 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 and speaking of which. The next film is something that we've had a lot of requests for, and 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 LeCarré 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.
Speaker 2: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 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.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I love all of the John LeCarré'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's really kind of prescient to what's going on in the world right now.
Speaker 2:I think it is more prescient than it was when we released the DVD.
Speaker 1: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? Yeah, so that's you know. Obviously that's in the news every day that we see.
Speaker 2:Well, and it has been for decades, you know, even in the 1980s. 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.
Speaker 1: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 for us. But these, these films from that era deserve to be out on Blu-ray and To get some promotion again.
Speaker 2:And I think that that's. That's. The point is that you know, 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 skin off the camera negative for our new master. It looks gorgeous and this film features outstanding writing and outstanding performances, especially by Edward James almost, who is nominated for best actor Oscar for his work in the film.
Speaker 2: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. And 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 almost while they were making the film, and I walked by that huge still every day and it just reminded me. Oh, you know, we're working on it. 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 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 gonna be no problem. Well, you never should say that. I never say anything's going to be easy. Right, it's done. I think people are gonna love it and we're really proud that finally people can scratch this off their most wanted list.
Speaker 1: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 Unblue ray that's. I mean, this is such a well-known, well respected movie At least in my mind I think of that way and of course we all you know, think of the performances by Edward James, almost, and Lou Diamond Phillips that was, I think you know he was pretty young when he did that role and wow, was it a powerful Role and Andy Garcia's in there as well. And I think schools play this film Right, so it'll be nice for them to be able to show it now in HD by the blue ray for their class and everything, and 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.
Speaker 2: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. 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.
Speaker 1:I am too. I know that last year at the TCM, I believe, they 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 release. So this is terrific that it's finally coming out.
Speaker 2:Well, now we'll go all the way back in time to the twilight years of the silent film, and 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.
Speaker 2: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 and 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.
Speaker 2: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 and this, I thought, was a perfect opportunity to release 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 is a huge star of the silent era. She, to this day, almost 100 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.
Speaker 2: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 vitophone 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.
Speaker 2: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 ilk.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm one of those people who don't really know sound in 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.
Speaker 2:I mean, the perception of silent movies is oh, they're fast in there, they don't look real, and so forth and so on, because presentations until the last few decades have been improperly. 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 or 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.
Speaker 2: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 year 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 Raoul Walsh and Strawberry Blonde is Raoul Walsh. Lion in the Streets is Raoul Walsh.
Speaker 2:But they Drive by Night is a great taught thriller. 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.
Speaker 2: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, and then we've added a Lux Radio Theatre 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 fun. 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, and this isn't a film that looked awful before, but there's never been a high definition master and now there is, and it's certainly something we're very, very proud of.
Speaker 1: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 before Casablanca and you get to see Adelopino and Ancherda. I mean what a great cast for this one as well.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 2:But 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 Winton Hodge, who would win two of his three Oscars, working with John Ford and 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, the pictures restored. It looks wonderful and we also have the trailers for both the 1936 and the 1948 version.
Speaker 2:So I think people will be very happy with this film. It's often shown at Christmas because of the wise men 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 HD 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 and I hope people really like the presentation. We're very proud of it.
Speaker 1: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, collector's Choice, volume 3, 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 you, yeah, and then now these six coming out here late at March. So I mean, it's just a packed month.
Speaker 2: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 and we'll be excited to join with you, jerry Beck and myself, to discuss Looney Tunes Collector's Choice, volume 3, 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.
Speaker 2: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 and 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 Gold45. 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 lucky to be celebrating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's a great month. It's a month of March coming up and obviously here in late February with the Hanna-Barbera releases, so it's a fantastic start to the year, george, and it's great to hear that the rest of the year also looks very strong. So, 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.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, tim, it's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1: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 10 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 Mallard Stay slightly obsessed.