The Extras
The Extras
5 Warner Archive April Blu-ray Releases: Lili, Side Street, Springfield Rifle, Just Friends, Clean & Sober
George Feltenstein joins Tim Millard to review the Warner Archive's April Blu-ray releases, a diverse collection spanning from 1950s classics to 2000s comedies that have been restored with stunning new transfers and special features.
• Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer star in "Lily" (1953), a Technicolor gem restored from original 3-strip negatives
• Despite studio doubts, "Lily" became a massive success that was later reissued theatrically instead of going to television
• "Side Street" (1950) features rare on-location New York City filming with Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell
• Anthony Mann's noir thriller uses the city as a character, with John Alton's cinematography and a memorable climactic car chase
• "Springfield Rifle" (1952) starring Gary Cooper presented restoration challenges as an early Warner Color film
• "Just Friends" (2005) with Ryan Reynolds finally gets its first proper U.S. Blu-ray release with all special features
• "Clean and Sober" (1988) showcases Michael Keaton's breakthrough dramatic role alongside Morgan Freeman
• Glenn Gordon Caron's film about addiction remains relevant today, balancing serious subject matter with moments of hope
Purchase Links:
SPRINGFIELD RIFLE (1952) BLU-RAY
CLEAN AND SOBER (1988) BLU-RAY
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Upgraded Audio is available on Just Friends and Clean and Sober
Important news : Recently, we upgraded the audio tracks to five releases. These changes were what we call, “running changes” so many customers already have the upgraded Audio. But if you were one of the early purchasers of these titles you may be eligible to receive a free replacement disc that includes the upgraded audio.
Clean and Sober
“Clean and Sober” (Blu-ray) is eligible for a replacement disc that will include DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo audio. To know if you’re eligible for the replacement, check your purchased disc. If it does not have DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo you’re eligible for a replacement.
Just Friends
“Just Friends” (Blu-ray) is eligible for a replacement disc that will include all special features and DTS-MA HD 5.1 audio. To know if you’re eligible for the replacement, check your purchased disc. If it has only 2.0 audio and one special feature – the trailer - you’re eligible for a replacement.
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Hello and welcome to the Extras. I'm Tim Millard, your host, and joining me is George Feltenstein to continue our review of some of the April Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive, Hi, George.
George Feltenstein:George.
George Feltenstein:Hello, tim, great to be back with you again. But the nice thing about these is that we're talking about five or six films that range from classic film to more modern. So I love it when we get that kind of different decades and different genres. But the first one I want to talk about is the one Technicolor film released in April and that is Lily from 1953. And this film is enchanting.
George Feltenstein:I know the song of love is a sad song. I have no better soul.
George Feltenstein:Hi Lily, Hi Lily.
George Feltenstein:I know, I know, hi Lily, hi Lily, I know. Hi Lily, hi Lily I know, I know, hi Lily, hi Lily, I know.
Tim Millard:I had not seen this film before and when you read it this girl, these puppets it's like okay, we'll see Musical, you know. But when you watch it it just like any good film does it sucks you in with this innocence and charm. It leaves you feeling so good when you're done, and I'm sure that's a huge credit to both the director, charles walters, and, of course, the cast of leslie, caron and mel, for I just love this film, george well, I happen to love it too, and and uh, it is really unique.
George Feltenstein:It's really not like any other movie, and people frequently refer to it as a musical, which it really isn't. It has one song in it and there are ballets you know little, basically dream ballets, as it were. But because the song was so became very popular, people think of the film as a musical and I think that it really is more of an for lack of a better word. It's an enchantment. It has some darkness to it. It is beautifully constructed, beautifully written, beautifully directed by Charles Walters. Constructed, beautifully written, beautifully directed by Charles Walters and, of course, leslie Caron and all the cast, but particularly Leslie Caron. They're all wonderful, everybody in the film is wonderful and it's only 81 minutes long. And the history of this film is unique. I may have talked about this when we announced that this release was coming, but this was made at MGM, during a time when they were starting to dwindle down the amount of musicals. The studio committed to making this movie in three-strip Technicolor, which means, of course, three times the cost of film, raw film stock. So it did have a significant budget, but not a huge budget, and it was directed by Charles Walters, who had directed many successful MGM musicals, like Easter Parade and Good News, and he was held in the highest esteem at the studio. And this is based on a short story by a gentleman named Paul Gallico. The studio bought the story and thought it would be an ideal opportunity to star Leslie Caron in the movie. When the movie was completed, the studio was very they were very unsure of its success and a lot of executives at the studio were kind of bad-mouthing it and as they were fumbling, not knowing what to do, there was an exhibitor in New York who owned a small chain of theaters. His name was Harry Brandt, the Brandt Theaters in New York. The Brandt Theater is in New York and he made a deal with MGM and said I will run this film at my theater if you'll give me an exclusive and that nobody else gets to run it while I'm running it. And they made the deal with him. The film opened at his theater. It was one of the Translux theaters. I don't remember exactly which one. I'd have to look it up, but the bottom line of it is the film was a bonanza in terms of box office success. It got great reviews. Audiences loved it. People were going back to see it multiple times and the studio basically had to beg to get the exhibitor to allow them to show the film elsewhere, meaning in other cities and so forth and so on. I believe it was nominated for Best Picture. I think that Leslie Caron was nominated for Best Actress. I am certain of that, but I think it was nominated for Best Picture.
George Feltenstein:It was a surprise success to everyone, and all the people that were being naysayers about it within MGM suddenly were praising it to the hilt. And it was so successful that when movies from 1953 were being sold to television by MGM in the early 60s, lily was not part of what was available for syndication or sold to networks. Lily was kept on the shelf and was reissued in the mid 1960s and I know that it ran again in one theater in Manhattan, I believe for like close to two years for the re-release, and it actually made its television debut in the late 60s as part of a one-season attempt by MGM to use its film library, along with other special productions, to be on Friday nights what the Disney show was on Sunday nights on NBC. It was called Off to See the Wizard and it had animated versions of the characters from the Wizard of Oz Animation was done by Chuck Jones and Lily and the Puppets, I think it was called, was presented over the course of two one-hour broadcasts, and that's how it made its debut onto television. It has since been, of course, a staple on home video from the videocassette days to Laserdisc days. Dvd came in 2012.
George Feltenstein:Didn't look so great. We needed to do a full Technicolor restoration. We scanned it 4K. We recombined it almost looks like 3D. The colors pop out at you and the wizards of Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging outdid themselves. The score by Bronislaw Kaper is so enchanting and beautiful that did win an Academy Award for best scoring.
George Feltenstein:I can't speak high enough about everybody in the film, particularly and he's someone really people don't know today, which is very sad, because he did have a level of stardom at one time Mel Ferrer as the puppeteer who's secretly in love with Lily but can only express his love through his puppets. And you know, I saw this film when I was very little and it just captured me as a child and ever since it's always been very special to me. I get emotional talking about it. Unique kind of thing. Uh, that today, now you can get to see it look better than it looked the day it opened, because of what we can do with technicolor negatives and, uh, it's a testament to the talent of Leslie Caron. Mel Ferrer is wonderful, jean-pierre Aumann is wonderful, kirk Kasnar, zsa Zsa Gabor they're all terrific and the fact that they were able to tell that story without overblowing it.
George Feltenstein:It was very tight filmmaking and I know that there's an excellent biography about Charles Walters, the director that I recommend highly to anyone who's interested in his work, and he is not given enough credit for the great work he did, particularly at MGM, given enough credit for the great work he did, particularly at MGM. He didn't limit himself to musicals. He directed lots of comedies that were very successful. I'm thinking of films like the Tender Trap with Debbie Reynolds and Frank Sinatra, thinking of Please Don't Eat the Daisies with Doris Day and David Niveniven. He was a very efficient, effective director that could do things very, very well and it just so happens that we happen to have a little movie coming out in 4k that was directed by mr walters. Little pastiche called High Society has been crossed, we would say Right, and we're going to have a lot to talk about when that disc is ready to be unveiled, because I just signed off on it last night and I couldn't be more proud or excited about it.
George Feltenstein:Charles Walters is not as credited for his contribution to film as he deserves to be and that's why I'm very glad that such a fine biography was written about him. So he's not forgotten and he passed away in the early 80s. He had mesothelioma and didn't really live to see the resurgence of interest in his films and people can really appreciate that Lily really had his personal touch, had his personal touch. Lily was very much. You know. He crafted all the dance and the ballet and so forth.
Tim Millard:It was really, really wonderful. Yeah, I think that if you're a fan of this film and you know it and you want to get the Blu-ray to see it in this beautiful Technicolor restoration, that it's an easy choice to say I'm going to buy this, or you already did. But if somebody doesn't know this film, I just want to say this is an amazing blind buy. I mean, I kind of compare Leslie Caron and that innocence that she portrays of this 16-year-old girl. I can't help but think of Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz and that innocence that she portrays and the loveliness of the storytelling. So if you're a fan of the Wizard of Oz, I think you would also be probably a fan of Lily. It's a fabulous film and you loaded it with some nice classic MGM cartoons all in HD and the trailer, so it has a nice batch of extras as well.
Clip:Joe is no murderer. He wouldn't hurt anyone anything. If he's innocent, mrs Norton will help help him. But we want to locate him now. I told you I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him. If you want your husband alive, keep him on this line. Answer it. You're trading this car. Remember, we want him alive as much as you do. Answer it, you're trading this car. Remember, we want him alive as much as you do. Run Joe, run the police are trading this car. Nothing, mr Sherrod, hello, nothing.
Tim Millard:Well, next, george, we have this Anthony Manoir side street from 1950, and this is a terrific thriller starring Farley Granger and Kathy O'Donnell. As a young couple struggling to make it in New York, young postal worker, joe Norton, is tempted when, as the poster says, $30,000 drops into his lap, and the film is really the spider web of intrigue that develops as Joe faces the repercussions of his decision. So it's a terrific story, a great noir, and it looks fantastic in this new Blu-ray release.
George Feltenstein:This is also. It's a great noir. It's Anthony Mann, but there's a third character besides Farley Granger and Kathy O'Donnell. That is the city of new york. Right, it was very unusual for location shooting to happen. Mgm could have made this on their backlot, where they had a new york street, and it would have looked exactly the same as 30 other mgm black and white movies of that era. No, they got the support to go to New York to shoot on location and the location photography is really quite amazing.
Tim Millard:Yeah, the use of the city is so integral to the story and Anthony Mann he makes such interesting choices of where to place the camera and how to show the side streets and the back streets. I'm thinking of the climactic car chase scene at the end. It's epic. I mean it holds up with any car chase scene today just in terms of the way that it has this high angle shots, the way he's accentuating this mouse in a maze concept. It's just fabulous, and I know that people love the fact, but we're so used to seeing things filmed on location. It's fascinating.
George Feltenstein:This was one of the early ones to take advantage of that, so it's fabulous to see the use of New York in this film you know the use of New York in this film Well, like I said, the fact that they took the time and effort and spent the extra money to photograph New York, and it really encapsulates what the city looked like when they were shooting 1949. You know, I mean it's remarkable. As someone who grew up there, I love seeing what it looked like back then. I'm fascinated by it. I always love seeing photographs and films and it's very rare that you see films like that.
Tim Millard:Yeah.
George Feltenstein:What makes this really exciting is, yeah, several years ago we put the two of them together, uh, which made for a really nifty double feature. But now, with this beautiful new remaster, our old master wasn't terrible, but uh, what we have now is so immaculate and clean. It really brings you right to the forefront of New York City at that era and I also think it's pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat film viewing. It is just a great, suspense-filled film and the performances are terrific. The direction is terrific. The photography by John Alton, one of my favorite cinematographers. It's wonderful. People need to add this film to their collection.
Tim Millard:It is a need, yeah, and I love the extra feature that you have there where temptation lurks, because it does give you a lot of the background of filming in New York and how unique that was and things of that nature. And then you've got a nice feature commentary with film historian Richard Schickel, and those give you a lot of information for those who want to know a little bit more about the production and the whole New York filming and the importance of all that. So those are great. Those are on there. You've got a bunch of other classic cartoons and A Crime Does Not Pay Short and then the trailer. So it's a really fantastic release with all of these extras.
George Feltenstein:I'm delighted by it. I mean, even when I saw the packaging and we used the original one sheet, I was like this is awesome, it's so great to be able to bring these films out with wonderful quality and with a nice presentation. And that featurette manages to encapsulate the film's production history so efficiently in a very brief running time is really a great piece.
Tim Millard:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's great to have that on there.
Clip:Sergeant Snow will give you a receipt for these, mr McCool, I'm bringing more. Next time my spread's not too big, colonel, I'll buy all you can get me. How can they buy stock like that? That's the sorriest looking bunch of jackrabbits I ever saw. You ain't got nothing to say about what the army buys anymore yellow belly. Never could understand why you were so particular with us ranchers, major, unless you were making sure those raiders got good sound horse flesh.
clip:Sir Kearney's giving the army a bad name hanging around like this. I know we don't have jurisdiction over him anymore, but I wish there were some way to get him out of town.
Clip:He'll be leaving soon, Lieutenant Captain Tenick. Captain Tenick, I see you haven't got my gold leaves yet. You're mighty brave with that whip, Captain. I'll be back without my whip when I get my through the railhead. There's something eating that fella.
Tim Millard:Well, next, george, we have springfield rifle from 1952 starring gary cooper, and I know you know the title accentuates the rifle, but this is really a spy, mystery, western, uh. All these genres brought together and it's totally riveting. I think this film is a great fun and I think this new HD scan is just beautiful.
George Feltenstein:Well, this, this film was a bit of a challenge because it was one of the earliest films shot in the dreaded Warner color process. Right, warner color was essentially using Eastman color negative and the processing done by the Warner color lab was not particularly wonderful. Processing done by the Warner Color Lab was not particularly wonderful and films shot in Warner Color tend to have a pretty shoddy reputation for their looks. This is the best the film has ever looked, certainly on any home entertainment venue, and we had to work with the negative and the separations to bring the best out of this film and it looks much better than I've ever seen it. Gary Cooper is terrific. He really carries the film and you have the unappreciated talent unappreciated by the masses. A lot of people don't know the name Andre de Toth. He was the one-eyed director of the 3D masterpiece House of Wax. He was most definitely an auteur. He had a great sense of style and anything that has his credit on it is definitely worth looking at.
George Feltenstein:This film was very successful at the box office when it came out. It was very rare that gary cooper had a misfire at the box office because he was top drawer attraction and, uh, this is just one of his many films, that we have a huge amount of great Gary Cooper movies that we want to bring out, and I can say that about 20 other Hollywood legends. We have so much that we want to bring out and there's just so many hours in the day and so much dollars in the budget hours in the day and so much dollars in the budget. But we finally got to Springfield Rifle and now it's a very enjoyable, beautiful Blu-ray and we added a couple of cartoons from the same year, some very well-loved ones, and I think it's a terrific disc and people will enjoy it.
Tim Millard:Yeah, yeah, if you're a fan of Gary Cooper, if you're a fan of westerns and and, uh, this one, like I said, it crosses into this spy genre um, it's, uh, it's a lot of fun, you're going to want to add it to your home collection for sure hey, look who's here.
Clip:What's up, hollywood? How'd the big date go it?
Clip:was terrible. I went in for a kiss, but she wants a hug, okay. Then I get caught in a sort of kiss, hug, limbo type thing. I don't know what that is. Then I ended up shaking her entire body.
Clip:So you gave her a body shake oh.
Clip:God, I should have just kissed her what am I doing. Looks like you picked up right where you left off. You're back in the friend zone.
Tim Millard:Well, next we're going to skip forward to 2005,. George, and that's to talk about the film Just Friends. And this has an all-star cast of Ryan Reynolds, amy Smart, anna Paris and Chris Klein. And this is it's a comedy and it really is a funny film. It has the trademark Ryan Reynolds humor. He's always engaging to watch. And then Amy Smart is perfectly cast as his best friend that, of course, he's always been in love with and wanted to transition into dating. And then Anna Faris she's just so wacky and funny and out there, which is totally what she brings to the film and I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun to watch and I'm glad that it's finally come out on Blu-ray because it has a lot of fans.
George Feltenstein:It has a very robust fan base. It's also a favorite at holiday time, and it was shocking to me when I was doing research and I found out that there had never been a Blu-ray in the United States of this New Line film, because it was released in 2005 and Blu-ray started to become part of our lives around late 2006 and so forth. This wasn't considered by New Line Home Entertainment and New Line Home Entertainment folded about a year later and Warner Home Video took over all New Line activity not just distribution but marketing everything and this film got left out and I just I knew a lot of people had been asking about it Social media, there was something out there from other countries that was interlaced and it wasn't the right aspect ratio, and so we were able to put together a disc that not only puts the film in a wonderful light but also has all the cool extras that New Line produced for the DVD release. And this is another film where what first got out into the market had problems. The 5.1 track was missing, the special features were missing.
George Feltenstein:So this is another film where we have a disc replacement program to be easy for those who ended. I mean, we caught it very early, so there's very few bad copies out there. But for those who have a copy that doesn't have the 5.1 audio, doesn't have the the special features, they can go to your Facebook group and find directions on how to get their replacement copy. They can also find that information on various enthusiast forums. Yeah, so the word is out.
George Feltenstein:Yeah, I'll also put that in the show notes here of the podcast as well, so it's just a one click for people to find and get to that information as someone to watch, that we knew his career was going places, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone but not unlike his more recent movies, there is something that he does at the end of this movie at the end credits that's worth the price of ownership. That is signature Ryan Reynolds humor and I think it's a great deal of fun and I'm glad we were able to bring it to the folks. Yeah, yeah.
Clip:Can I help you? Nice barns.
Clip:Yeah, I heard about the program and it sounds really good to me. I just want to make sure I understand the deal as far as the confidentiality aspect is concerned.
Clip:Yes, well, the program is completely confidential.
Clip:So no one would have to know I was in here, not unless you wanted them to know. Great, you take Blue Cross. Yes, we do. Good, let's say someone found out I was in here and tried to call me, or I wanted to get in here and bother me or something. Let me tell you what I asked. I'm going to let it wait. I got the police after me for some old bullshit, traffic violations, and you know, I think it would be a really good idea if I just avoided any outside pressure for a while. Well then, this is probably the safest place you could be.
Tim Millard:Well, finally, the last film we're going to talk about today, george, is the 1988 drama Clean and Sober, and that stars Michael Keaton, kathy Baker and Morgan Freeman. And this is a really powerful film that it still resonates today. And I'll have to say that as I was watching it on a personal note, I just recently lost my cousin's son. He struggled his whole life with addiction and we recently lost him. And as I was watching this, I was thinking how important it is that this message continues to get out and I'm hoping that this new Blu-ray of this fantastic film that really tells the story of addiction, that it will be able to get out there and resonate with people and do what it did when it first came out, which is make a difference.
Tim Millard:And it's not a message film, it's an entertaining drama. It's really well acted. Michael Keaton is fantastic. He brings so much personality to the main character. Morgan Freeman plays his kind of like the counselor or the therapist in the group there. He's always great and he's great in this film. So it's a really good film. But if you know anybody, like I did, it really hits you at a personal level and it really really has an important message.
George Feltenstein:Well, I couldn't agree with you more. And this was really a breakthrough film for Michael Keaton, because people only knew him as Mr Mom or Johnny Dangerously, and this precedes him being given the role of Batman. He was just only thought of as a comedian, and this showed that he was a great actor and obviously now has been recognized in so many different works for his talent as a serious actor. He was also an excellent comedian, but there's nothing funny about this film. It's very, very serious. Um, and think about this the this is before we entered into the era of the opiate epidemic that we're still living through now, but addiction is a problem that is probably lurking in anyone's family someplace.
Tim Millard:Yeah.
George Feltenstein:I think it's very important to also say that Glenn Gordon Karen who directed this film. I would also say that Glenn Gordon Caron, who directed this film, he was a talent that was recognized for his TV series Moonlighting, which was the hottest thing on television in the mid to late 80s, and he went from directing this very lighthearted comedy mystery show to this very serious drama and it dealt with an issue that we still have to deal with today and I'm hoping that people seeing this film, that it can help heal, because addiction is worse than ever, frankly, in many ways, worse than ever, frankly, in many ways, and people need to have that kind of comfort, the comfort that Morgan Freeman was able to bring to Michael Keaton in the film. I'm grateful that we finally brought this to Blu-ray. It's been a long time coming.
Tim Millard:And, of course, michael Keaton, with his comedic talent, does keep a lightness to the film as you're watching, which you know for a heavy topic. He keeps it very light and entertaining as you go through it.
George Feltenstein:That's kind of what makes this film work so well is it's not like this depressing, you know, overwhelmingly upsetting movie. It's ultimately a movie of hope, and Kathy Baker is really terrific at playing opposite Michael Keaton, and I can't say enough good things about it, and it is like so many films from that era that have fallen into the abyss of being forgotten. I can't believe the movie's 37 years old it is. You forgive people's hairstyles. There's nothing that dates the storytelling. It's a terrific movie. The Blu-ray looks great, it really sparkles, and I hope that people will buy this movie and it will bring entertainment as well as hopefully healing to many people, and so I think it's very important that we've made it available best possible way.
Tim Millard:Yeah, yeah. It's a great batch of films ranging from the 50s to the 2000s, from not a musical but a technicolor film.
George Feltenstein:A semi-musical.
Tim Millard:A semi-musical.
George Feltenstein:Some people call it a musical One song. You know the dancing. It's debatable, but I think of it more as a charming fantasy, and with enough reality in it to make you think.
Tim Millard:Yeah, and then a noir, a Western and Ryan Reynolds' film from the 2000s. So another great month, George, and always fun to talk to you and go over these films with you.
George Feltenstein:Well, I look forward. Next month is going to be a pretty big month. Yep, it is. We have a lot of different projects in the oven right now, so the rest of the year is going to hold a lot of surprises and a lot of joy. So just hang in there with us folks. We have a lot more for 2025 and beyond. Thanks, George, Thank you Tim.