Warner Archive July Announcement: 12 Highly Anticipated Classic Films

NOTE: SIX of the titles will release August 4th, instead of July 28th: Random Harvest, The Sisters, Presenting Lily Mars, Macao, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Seventh Cross.

July’s Warner Archive lineup spans Technicolor adventure, razor-sharp noir, pre-Code troublemaking, MGM romance, big-studio prestige, and WWII realism, all framed by what it takes to bring classic films to Blu-ray. We share what’s new in the restorations, what extras make each disc worth owning, and why these titles still delight us decades later. 

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Transcript

Welcome And July Preview

Tim Millard 0:01

Hello and welcome to the extras. I'm Tim Lard, your host, and joining me is George Beltenstein to announce the July Blu-ray releases from the Wano Archive. Good morning, George. Good morning, Tim. Well, you told us July was going to be a loaded month, and boys and ever, so I'm very excited to dive into these releases. There's some pre-codes, some noir, and just uh a lot of great titles. So let's dive right in.

Captain Horatio Hornblower Restored

Tim Millard 0:26

And first up, we have Captain Horatio Hornblower from 1951. What can you tell us about this squash buckling or film?

George Feltenstein 0:35

This is directed by Rael Walsh. It was a huge success when it came out. It has the most lustrous technicolor photography. And uh Gregory Peck, who wasn't a Warner contract player, he made occasional films at Warner Brothers, but I believe during this period he was still under contract to David O'Selznick, who really wasn't making films himself. He was just taking his contract players and loaning them out, and that was how he was making money. But Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo star in this adaptation of the C.S. Forrester story, and the film is just nonstop action, and the photography is so gorgeous, it just enraps you. And that has to do a lot with going back to the original nitrate camera negatives, aligning them as we do, and what we've been able to do with Technicolor is really very gratifying to me. And I think people will be blown away by the huge leap of quality of how this film looks now. We have the same extras that were on, I think all of these were on the DVD, but we have the natural Looney Tune spoof, Captain Hair Blower, which is a great Bugs versus Yosemite Sam classic. So they always liked to make a cartoon that could play off uh a feature title of the era. Not necessarily didn't have to be a Warner film, but we have that. Uh that cartoon, I think, is from 1953. Then we have a 1950 short called My Country Tis of the, which was actually an Academy Award-winning short, which is uh really a lot of fun and very interesting, very much of its time. And then we have a Lux Radio Theater broadcast, which has both Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo and the original trailer. So it's got a lot of nice special features, and the film's the thing, and the film looks absolutely marvelous. And the way Wals directs, he's so about action and having the plot constantly moving. It's just terrific. The supporting cast is wonderful. Uh, that's why it was such a big hit theatrically and remains very popular to this day, 75, 76 years later.

Tim Millard 3:13

Yeah, yeah. These are a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to this.

Macau Noir With Mitchum

Tim Millard 3:17

Next we have Macau from 1952. What can you tell us about this film noir?

George Feltenstein 3:23

Well, this was another teaming that created Sizzle on the screen with none other than Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell at RKO. It was directed mostly by Joseph von Sternberg. There were contributions from other directors as well. RKO in this period was very tumultuous because of Howard Hughes owning the studio and interfering, especially if Jane Russell was involved. But this is set in a Portuguese-owned island that was off the coast of China. And it was like a center for gambling and prostitution, which of course they don't talk about. It's filled with intrigue, it's filled with twists and turns. It's a very fun movie for noir fans, and this is a 4K scan off the camera negative, so it's gonna look a lot better than what people have seen before. We also have a commentary with the return of TCM's own Eddie Muller, and Eddie Muller is the noir god to all of us who love film noir, and one of the co-screenwriters, Stanley Rubin. It's more of a discussion that Eddie has with Stanley Rubin about what they went through to make the picture. It's a fascinating commentary. And then we also have from the earlier days of TCM, Robert Osborne would have certain famous people on for private screenings. It's usually just one person. In this case, he had Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell together. And we had this on the DVD, we're porting that over again for the Blu-ray. But it makes this an irresistible choice for film noir fans, and I think people are going to be very happy with the disc. It's terrific.

Tim Millard 5:23

Yeah, a lot of excitement. And it wasn't too far back that you released His Kind of Woman. So this is a nice addition for fans of Noir, and of course for Mitchamin Russell. So really looking forward to this one. Well, our next film is very highly requested,

Random Harvest And Its Legacy

Tim Millard 5:39

George. I see it mentioned in social media quite a lot, and that is Random Harvest from 1942. What can you tell us about this romantic drama?

George Feltenstein 5:50

Yes, you're right. Everybody is asking for this movie, and there's a reason. It's a great film. I think it's very representative of MGM's really being the Tiffany of Studios and you know, just putting their very best people and their very best foot forward. This is an adaptation of a James Hilton novel, as was Goodbye, Mr. Chips, as was Lost Horizon. When they bought the rights to this book, they knew they could make a great film out of it. This stars Greergarson gives a remarkable performance. And of course, the leading man, not a frequent visitor to MGM by any means, but thank goodness they cast him. I can't think of anybody else who would have been as good in this role. But the leading man is Ronald Coleman. And basically, the story is that Ronald Coleman's character is married to Greer Garson, but during World War I, he's so traumatized that when he returns home, he has no memory of his prior life. He doesn't know who he is. He establishes himself, and Greer Garson is there, his wife, but he doesn't know they were married. They told her, well, you can't tell your husband. So she's just, you know, heartbroken, like through the whole beginning of the picture. Then the complications ensue when the Ronald Coleman character, not knowing that he's married, starts to fall for a young girl. I don't want to spoil the plot for those who've never seen the movie, but this is handled with such deep care, such delicacy, and it's just a little bit longer than two hours. It flies by because the filmmaking is so good. You have a producer in Pandro S. Berman, who had migrated from RKO to MGM, who was really responsible for so much fine work. And then the director is Mervyn LeRoy, who of course established himself here at Warner Brothers and then made the move to MGM, I guess, around 1938-39, because he was the producer of The Wizard of Oz. But his direction, his directing abilities were one of his greatest talents. And I think everyone involved in this film gave their very best. But Garson did this the same year of release as Mrs. Miniver, which she won the Oscar for. So the one-two punch of Mrs. Miniver and Random Harvest just diecast herself. As probably, I would say, along with Lana Turner and Hedy Lamar, they were the really big stars amongst the female leading ladies at MGM. As Norma Shearer was retiring, Greta Garbo was gone, Joan Crawford was not yet gone, but not getting the kind of roles she wanted. Elby Mare just was uh, I don't want to say, in love with Greer Garson in a romantic way. He was just smitten by her talent and her beauty and her grace as an individual. I, of course, did not know her, but I know people who did, and they spoke very, very highly of her. Just as Mrs. Miniver and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which we released a few years back, show off just what a wonderful talent she was. She won the Oscar for Mrs. Miniver, but I think her performance here is probably even better than that, and that's saying something. How she deals with this horrific complication, it's heartbreaking. I will say that anybody who watches this film will be glad that they did. Another film where the negative burned, but the preservation elements are so good that our new 4K scan from those elements looks spectacular. It's going to be a beautiful disc, and I can't wait for people to enjoy it.

Tim Millard 10:31

Yeah, and George, do you have any extras on this release?

George Feltenstein 10:35

We have replicated the addition of short subjects that were on the DVD. People like when we carry over all those extras. There's also two short. There's one called Don't Talk, and the other one is called Marines in the Making. And then there's a Lux Radio Theater version, of course. I mean, they were always good, but the way they were able to condense a story into an hour and capture the essence of the film, they were really very talented at doing that. And this is a very enjoyable radio broadcast. So it's a nice companion to the film, and it should make a wonderful disc.

Tim Millard 11:17

Yeah, well, this is going to make so many people so happy. So I'm I'm really excited this is finally coming out.

The Keyhole Pre-Code Debut

Tim Millard 11:24

Up next, we have the keyhole from 1933. What can you tell us about this pre-code film?

George Feltenstein 11:30

Well, first and foremost, this is the home video debut of the keyhole. There was never a video cassette, there was never a laserdisc, never a DVD, and we went back to the original Nitrate camera negative for this. This is a 1933 Warner Pre-Code. So we know what those are like, and especially when Kay Franz is involved, they tend to be a little bit sizzling. She plays a woman who is married to a nice older man, but still not quite divorced from her previous husband, like legally. She's kind of married to two people. And she wants to straighten that out because she doesn't like that. And the first husband is an oily creature who's out to blackmail her. So she heads to Cuba to try to get a Cuban divorce that will straighten things out. And meanwhile, her current true husband, the older gentleman, he is not trusting his wife's trip to Havana. So he hires a very uh very young, handsome detective to tail her while she's on the trip. And guess what happens? So this is directed by Michael Curtiz, no slouch. It is a fast-paced, well-written Warner Brothers pre-code classic. I thoroughly enjoy this movie. I've been wanting to get it out for a long time. And the materials we had on hand to work with were pretty poor, which is why we didn't have a prior release, but bringing the camera negative in, which was in great shape, we did our magical work. I should say the people at Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging did their magical work to create a beautiful new master. So I think people are really going to enjoy this.

Tim Millard 13:46

Yeah, and George, do you have any experience on this release?

George Feltenstein 13:49

Yes, we do. We have two cartoons, and one of them is not a Warner Brothers cartoon. We have a 1933 cartoon starring a guy named Popeye, Wild Elephinx from 1933, because we want to try to get some of these the black and white Fleischer Popeyes. We have HD Masters on them. They're not really up to snuff for us to do a Blu-ray collection, but as an extra, you know, with the warts and all that are built into those masters, it's still better than anybody's been able to see them before. Then we have a Warner Brothers cartoon with Buddy, the ever-neglected Buddy, and it's called Buddy's Day Out, and that's in HD also. Sadly, we do not have trailer elements, so we didn't have anything we could uh add in that regard. But overall, it's a terrific film. The fans of Forbidden Hollywood releases often wondered why there wasn't more Kay Francis, why there wasn't a film like The Kehole. Well, now we've remedied that. And I think people really enjoy it.

Tim Millard 15:00

Yeah, very exciting. I love it when you go back and you go to the original camera negative for a film this old. Boy, is it stunning when you do that.

George Feltenstein 15:07

You're 93 years old and looks as good as new.

Tim Millard 15:11

Yeah, fantastic. Uh I'm looking forward to

Presenting Lily Mars In HD

Tim Millard 15:14

it. Well, next we have a Judy Garland film, and we haven't had one with Judy for a while, so I'm excited about this. And this is the 1943 film Presenting Lily Mars.

George Feltenstein 15:24

This is a very entertaining film. For fans of Judy Garland, it's obviously a delight from start to finish. But I think almost any audience would look at this film and enjoy it because it's very well made. It's almost more of a comedy than it is a musical. There aren't that many musical numbers in the film. But this is a period where Judy was really establishing herself as a leading lady versus the Mickey and Judy movies. And she had already made for me and my gal the year before with Gene Kelly, which really was an adult role. And here she's playing probably close to her real age at the time, was uh 20 when they were shooting. She looks really beautiful. And the studio was really trying to give her more of an adult persona. The irony is that a year later she would be uh starring and Meet Me in St. Louis as an older teenager. But here they're putting her as a young girl who wants to make it on Broadway and she wants to head from her home in the Midwest to the Great White Way and hopefully become a Broadway star. The story adds an extra complexity when a famous Broadway producer just happens to be visiting that hometown where he originally grew up. And so Lily Mars does everything she can to try to get the interest of the producer, John Treadway, and she's not very successful about it. He heads back to New York, but she follows. Eventually, as things are in classic Hollywood films, eventually she gets the big break, becomes a big Broadway star, at least for the finale of the movie, and there's a wonderful big production number that she does at the end of the movie that even has Tommy Dorsey in his orchestra. It's a song called Where There's Music, which was written for the film that introduces everything. It segues into a Broadway rhythm, which was originally written for Broadway Melody of 1936. Of course, it was used later in Singing in the Rain. It's a big black and white production number, and Judy's dancing with somebody who would be a future director of hers, Charles Walters. What's interesting is the production number was originally mammoth in length. It was like 10 or 12 minutes. That footage doesn't survive, but the recordings do. So one of the bonuses on this disc is we have the complete recording, which is a medley of many different songs. And if you look at the filmmaking process, I'm sure that when they looked at this, having a film that really wasn't musically centric and then has this big 12-minute production number at the end would have felt imbalanced. So I can see what they did. It's a shame that the film doesn't survive, but I'm grateful for all the MGM musical outtakes that do survive. But we did have the audio, and that's on here as an alternate. There's also a song that was very much World War II era, Paging Mr. Greenback, which was written for the movie and about people who don't want to uh support the war effort. I think the reason that was cut out is they realized that it would date the film tremendously. But again, no picture survives. We have the complete audio recording that is on here. The film is all built around Judy, and she's got a little bit of that MGM glamour going on. She looks wonderful. Her performance is very witty. She was a very funny person in real life, much to uh the surprise of a lot of people who think of her as a tragic figure. Everyone I know who knew her said she had an outrageous sense of humor and was very funny. Her comedic gifts are evident in various films, but in this film, since the emphasis is not as much on music, the performances really have to rely on the script and the story. And Booth Tarkington's story was well adapted by the studio to build a vehicle around Judy Garland. It's also of note that this was one of the earliest MGM musicals produced by Joe Pasternak. In the building, they called him Joseph Pasternak. He was an emigre fleeing the Nazis, had quite an impressive run at Universal making Deanna Durbin movies, and MGM snatched him up. And I think MGM was his home for subsequent 20 some odd years. Joe Pasternak's films were very different than Arthur Fried's films. In many cases, they were more profitable. But this is a film that shows how he was such a capable producer at a relatively early part of his career. It's really a terrific movie, and people have been asking for it. They want everything Judy ever did, and I can't say I blame them. So we've got this coming. This is one of those many, many MGM films where the original negative burned in the fire. So we were working from protection safety elements. They look, it looks spectacular. It's still a 4K scan with a 1080p new master. Blows away anything anyone has seen on this film. And it sounds terrific. And we also have other bonuses, including a radio broadcast from the Lux Radio Theater, and that has Van Heflin recreating his role as the leading man. And relatively new MGM star, June Allison, takes Judy's place as the leading lady. And the radio broadcast is very charming. And I think people are really, really going to enjoy this disc.

Tim Millard 21:56

Yeah, so many Judy Garland fans, I'm sure, are so excited to hear that. This is finally coming out in HD because obviously it'll look and sound terrific. So uh looking forward to this one.

Lily Turner And Pre-Code Edge

Tim Millard 22:08

Well, next up we have Lily Turner from 1933. What can you tell us about this pre-code film?

George Feltenstein 22:14

Another pre-code from 1933 from War Brothers. Lily Turner stars Ruth Chatterton. She's being directed here by a gentleman by the name of William A. Wellman. Lily has to deal with some very pre-code, uncomfortable situations. And as Ruth Chatterton did in other movies like Female as an example, she's no nonsense. She is a strong example of female empowerment, and she deals well with the forces of negativity around her. There's all sorts of aspects to the storytelling that would never have been possible once the code was enforced. Wellman was a no-nonsense director. Chatterton was almost like his muse when they worked together. And I'm very excited about this release. The more pre-code films that we can rescue, the better, especially when they're good. And I don't think William Wellman would be upset with us for having gone back to the original camera negative. This is another one that we did not approach because all the elements we had on hand were subpar. And by going back to the camera negative, we could create a wonderful presentation.

Tim Millard 23:39

And do you have any extras for Lily Turner, George?

George Feltenstein 23:42

We do have some really cool extras. We have a Vitaphone, Warner Brothers Short, starring a comedian that isn't very well known now, Harry Gribbin. But fourth build is Shemp Howard. And anytime it's Shemp, it's worth paying attention. We also have a cartoon with Bosco, Bosco's picture show, and that's also an HD. We have a trailer for Lily Turner, unlike the keyhole. We had a trailer for it. Another would-be entry into Forbidden Hollywood that we weren't able to do before that we can do now. Yeah, terrific. And I should also mention, just like the keyhole, Ruth Chatterton's leading man here is George Brent.

The Sisters With Davis And Flynn

Tim Millard 24:24

Next up we have The Sisters. What can you tell us about this drama?

George Feltenstein 24:29

Well, there are two people in this movie that may be known to our loyal Warner Archive fans. A woman named Betty Davis and a guy named Errol Flynn. This is a 1938 release, and it's a beautiful, beautiful film. Very well acted. It's a period piece. It's a very different side of Flynn because he was building his reputation for his swashbuckling. This is a period piece, kind of the Teddy Roosevelt era, if I'm correct, about that. It's very well acted. Davis looks beautiful in the film. Errol Flynn is dashing, and the supporting cast is terrific. It's just a very, what I would call a very high-class Warner Brothers production. And this is the first time that we've ever had a high-definition master of the movie. And we did a 4K scan off the Nitrate Camera Negative, so it looks gorgeous. It sounds gorgeous. You know, Betty Davis fans are waiting for more Betty Davis. And uh of the hundred plus titles we have in the Conga line, there's even more Betty Davis and more famous movies than The Sisters. But The Sisters is a fine film of its own, and I particularly find the interplay between Flynn and Davis quite enjoyable. Now, we put something on this disc that we've used before. The prior release of The Sisters was an early Warner Archive DVD. It didn't have anything on it. We put on the breakdowns of 1938 Real. And what those were, for those listening to this or watching this that don't know, every year Warner Brothers would have their editors save bloopers. And every January after the preceding year, they would have a big night down at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA where the Warner Club would gather and they would celebrate the year before. And Warner Brothers was very much like an intimate family amongst the employees. They started doing this around 1934. The highlight of these evenings was when they would show the breakdown reel. In this particular breakdowns of 1938, there are some bloopers from the sisters. One in particular with Betty Davis and Errol Flynn that is one of the funniest bloopers I've ever heard, whether television or film. It's just great. So we thought we should put that on here. We also have a Warner Brothers short called The Night Intruder, and it's in HD and it's from 1938. And we also have a Luxe radio theater version of the story. So it's a nicely loaded disc, but I think people will enjoy, especially having the bloopers in context with everything. And this blooper reel has had a lot of availability and exhibition because it also has bloopers from the adventures of Robin Hood. So of course that was on our Robin Hood DVD and our Robin Hood Blu-ray. So it's not something that has been like never before seen, but it had to be on this release. Just for that one gag alone, it's worth it.

Tim Millard 28:18

Oh, yeah.

George Feltenstein 28:19

People are really going to enjoy the film.

Tim Millard 28:21

I love the fact that you still have these bloopers as we call them now, um, because they're so popular, they're so fun, people love them, and it really humanizes the actors when you see them uh making mistakes, and especially these that are you know classic film actors that we hold such high esteem.

George Feltenstein 28:39

Also reflective of the mentality of the studio because I cannot imagine, you know, uh MGM was so prim and proper, and you know, they could never let their hair down. But Warner Brothers was the people studio. Long may it rain, underlined, underlined, underlined. And this is part of the legacy and represents the warmth that was very much a part of what kept all the people here like an extended family. So for sure. The sisters is about obviously a family, and I think people will be very impressed with it, especially since it isn't as well known as some of Davis and Flynn's other films.

Bonnie Scotland And Laurel Hardy

Tim Millard 29:27

Next we have the 1935 film Bonnie Scotland. What can you tell us about this comedy?

George Feltenstein 29:33

I could tell you that on a personal level, Laurel and Hardy have meant a lot to me since my youth. Laurel and Hardy's fan base inspired people in the early 1960s, I believe, to start a lodge that is in the name of one of their most famous films, Sons of the Desert. So there are tents. Various cities have groups of Laurel and Hardy fans. This has been going on since the 60s, that celebrate Stan and Ollie. I got to go to my first Sons of the Desert grouping in New York City when I was about 13. And I got in a lot of trouble for it because my parents didn't know I had gone. But my uh dedication to being a fan of the two of them and their work was very strong even at an early age. Now, what's interesting about Laurel and Hardy's film career is they accidentally were paired together at Halroach Studios in the later part of the 1920s. And after a few movies where they weren't playing their Laurel and Hardy personas as we came to know them, Halroach realized he had a wonderful chemical balance with these two talents, and they were teamed for two real shorts, eventually three real shorts for a little while there in the early sound era, and they were popular all over the world. And in 1931, Hal Roach put them in a feature film called Pardon Us. So they would continue to make, I think, one feature every year, in addition to their two real comedies. In 1935, Hal Roach came up with a terrific idea for a comedy set in Scotland, and basically that Stan Laurel was the recipient of a gift that had been uh deeded to him by a relative because he was part of the Mac Laurel clan in Scotland. Stan and Ollie go to Scotland, get involved with other family members there. The features that Laurel and Hardy made for Hal Roach, some of them were really terrific, and a few of them were just good. This is one of the ones that I would say is really terrific. Now, Hal Roach distributed his shorts and then later features with MGM from 1927 to 1938. 1938, Hal Roach severed his ties with MGM. And part of that reason was that he wanted to make features only. And for the prior two years, the only shorts he made were one real versions of the Argang Comedies. So when Hal Roach and MGM parted company, I would just say there was a dispute between the two companies between MGM and Roach. And in 1941, the uh lawsuit came to a settlement that ended up with seven Hal Roach features that MGM had distributed becoming wholly owned by MGM. And that's why we still have rights to Bonnie Scotland, which we're very grateful for. The two major Halroach features that are among the seven films that we retain the rights for are Bonnie Scotland and The Devil's Brother, also known as Fra Diablo. People have been really wanting to see us step up to the plate with Laurel Hardy because the owners of the other films that remained with the Roach Library have started to come out on Blu-ray looking better than people have seen them in a very long time. Yeah. So in the case of Bonnie Scotland, we are very fortunate in that we had a nitrate lavender, which is basically a second-generation nitrate element that was created as a protection. Uh, we had that to work with. So people will be, I think, aghast when they see how great this looks. It's also Laurel and Hardy really as establishing their superstardom throughout the world. And I think they were even more popular internationally than here. Certainly in later years they would reissue the films and then eventually television, but the popular, I just say worldwide, remained a major force uh for entertainment for people for decades. And that's why there still is uh the group of The Sons of the Desert and why they have tents all over the world of Laurel and Hardy fans. It's really wonderful. So those are the folks that primarily will be the beneficiary of our work bringing this film up to date and having it look so spectacular and sound quite good as well. Yeah. And we have a commentary that was previously recorded for the DVD release with Hal Roach, expert extraordinaire, and film historian Richard Bann, Dick Bann, lovely, lovely guy, and my good friend Leonard Malton, who basically we became friends over many different common interests, but specifically the Roach connection is pretty strong, and the Laurel Hardy connection is pretty strong. I'm just delighted that we're able to bring this out with their commentary, and I think people are going to really enjoy it. One of the things I will say that we've added, which were used on the DVD as well, Laurel Hardy made guest appearances in a handful of features. And one of them was an MGM film for which How Roach lent them to MGM to do this little 10-minute bit. And it's highlighted by a routine with Lupe Velez involving eggs at a bar where there is liquor being served. And it's a very funny routine that's kind of famous. So we have that, and we also have an excerpt from a Howl Roach feature called Pick a Star, which starred Jack Haley and Rosina Lawrence and Patsy Kelly. But Laurel and Hardy made a guest appearance in that film to help give it more box office legs. So their sequences from both of those features are on here as extras. They're in high def, but they are not restored. But this will be better than anyone has seen them before. And we're glad to be able to add them. Yeah. And I'm I'm very excited about this release because uh, you know, being a Laurel and Hardy diehard fan for most of my life, it's particularly rewarding.

Tim Millard 37:01

Yeah, I've noticed a lot of these Hal Roach Studios Blu-rays and just how popular they are. So uh this should really, really please so many Laurel and Hardy fans, and I'm looking forward to it. Like you, uh, I mean, from my childhood, I just have so many fond memories of watching these films on TV because uh they used to replay them all the time.

George Feltenstein 37:23

Yes, they did.

Tim Millard 37:24

Yeah.

Crime Wave’s Dark L.A. Noir

Tim Millard 37:26

Well, next we have Crime Wave from 1954. What can you tell us about this film noir?

George Feltenstein 37:33

This is a very special film. We did release it on DVD as a double feature, and we were working from second-generation elements. Now we have a 4K scan off the camera negative, and this has almost shot documentary style. Very non-Hollywood, non-Warner Brothers style. This film actually sat on the shelf for over a year before the studio was ready to release it. And it was shot and completed in 1952, but not released until early 1954. When you have a 1954 film and it's in Academy Ratio, you're gonna say, well, wait a minute. You know, everything was widescreen by the end of 53, you know, whether it was 166 or 175 or 185. This was shot and finished in 1952, and the license plates prove it. Basically, Gene Nelson, who's primarily known for musicals, plays an ex-con who's trying to get his life together, and he is caught in a web, not of his own making. He's a good guy, but by these really terrifying criminals. It's a dark, dark, dark film. And the detective who's out to solve the crime is none other than Sterling Hayden. The director of this film was the underrated and wonderful Andre de Toff. I also have to shout out the cinematography by Bert Glenn. This film was shot on location in LA. You get to see LA 1952. It's like a time travel. It's so fascinating. The film began production as The City is Dark. That was the name of the film in production. And when Jack Warner finally decided, yeah, we might as well release that picture. It's sitting on the on the shelf. It did okay, but it's only in recent years that the film has gotten a reappraisal. Film war people generally look at this and say, all right, this is an amazing movie. We have a commentary on this disc from our good friend Eddie Muller, the Tsar Noir, along with James Ellroy, who is the writer of the story of LA Confidential. So it's focusing on the Los Angeles long gone of 74 years ago. I should mention the female lead is Phyllis Kirk. Phyllis Kirk would later work with Andre DeToth on the landmark 3D film House of Wax. Uh, the joke of that being that De Toth had only had one eye, so he couldn't appreciate the 3D effects. The commentary from Eddie and James, it really gives you so much back history that it's really a deep dive into the making of the film and why it's so uh impressive because it feels much more modern given that there's no Hollywood style there. It's quintessential noir, it's fantastic. We have a featurette about the making of the film with various people being interviewed, uh, including some archival pieces at the time with De Toth himself. It's just a great package. The cartoon is another Chuck Jones masterpiece, in my opinion, called Baby Buggy Bunny, and it's about babyface Finstack, who's you know a huge criminal who masquerades as a baby. I think everybody loves this cartoon. I do too. I do. And then we have a WB short from 1954 called Gadget's Galore, which is in HD. So we've got the trailer, it's it's a wonderful package, but the featurette and the commentary give great context to what you're seeing on the screen. And I shouldn't let our discussion of this film go by without mentioning a young actor in the movie named Charles Buczynski, who later changed his name to Charles Bronson. So you get to see a little young Charles Bronson in this movie, too, and he's good. The acting in this film is really tremendous, and the the bad guys are really scary, like John Wick level scary.

Tim Millard 42:15

Wow, yeah. I'm looking forward to that. I uh I love when you get all these pre-codes and these film noirs. So this is just a great month for fans of those genres.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Roadshow

Tim Millard 42:23

Next we have the 1935 film, A Midsummer Night's Dream. What can you tell us about this film?

George Feltenstein 42:30

I don't think there's any film quite like this. Before this movie was made, European stage impresario Max Reinhardt had created this stage production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream that played all around the world, really. And when he came to Los Angeles to do it, he planned to do it at the Hollywood Bowl, where indeed it did happen. And in the cast of that stage production was a young lady who I think she was 18, and her name was Olivia De Havillon. And because of that, that got her signed to Warner Brothers, and she appears in this movie along with virtually everybody's favorite Warner Brothers star of the era. I think the only person I can think of of major renown associated with the studio at that time that isn't in the movie would be Paul Muni. You've got James Cagney, you've got Joey Brown, you have Frank McHugh, you have Olivia de Havilland, you have Anita Louise, and a very young Mickey Rooney. He was about 14 or 15 when this movie was made, and he plays puck. What fools these mortals be? Uh Dick Powell is in the movie. I should have mentioned him. They went to all their talent and especially seeing Cagney play the comedy and it's just a wonderful combination of events uh that all took place that led to the making of this movie. You have to see it to experience it. And this version, not unlike what we released on DVD over 20 years ago, this is the original roadshow version uh with the overture and the exit music, presented with such care. The Warner Brothers were very proud of this movie. They didn't make this movie saying, Oh, yeah, this is gonna be hot box office. They really wanted to be recognized for being able to make a prestigious film. And it's beautifully shot, beautifully staged. It has a great deal of fan popularity low these uh 91 years later. So we worked primarily from the original camera negative, but this film was reissued, and unfortunately, Warner Brothers did as a lot of other people did, they cut the original camera negative to be the general release version. So we were able to access a nitrate fine grain for the sections that had been removed for the reissue. So it's not a hundred percent off the camera negative, but I'd say it's probably 85%. But it is the complete film as released, roadshow version, with beautiful photography that is gorgeously represented by the 4K scan into the new master. It's something that needs to be experienced, and the pride the studio had in this movie is reflected in the pride we have for this Blu-ray release. It's it's going to uh make a lot of people happy. It's also stuffed with extras because the studio made all these little, I would say teaser pieces, if you will, with all the stars of the movie kind of saying, you know, I'm playing this role in the movie, and I hope you go to see a Midsummer Night Stream. So we have a slew of those. Uh, we also have a featurette about the making of the film that was made at that time, which was very rare, called The Dream Comes True. And then, as we did on the DVD, we have a Warner Brothers short that makes fun of it all called uh Shake Mr. Shakespeare. And the trailer is on there too. It's just a great gathering of wonderful memories to commemorate this very important part of Warner Brothers studio history and have people be able to view it in an unprecedented level of quality way.

Tim Millard 47:14

You've had a nice stretch here of Olivia De Heaven films that you've been releasing, I uh I think over the last year or so. But I love seeing her, especially in these early roles. She's just magical, she's terrific.

George Feltenstein 47:25

Everyone is really good in the film, and that's the important thing. Right. Yeah. What a

Colt 45 Technicolor Western

George Feltenstein 47:31

treat.

Tim Millard 47:31

Well, next up we have the film Cult 45. What can you tell us about this 1950 Western?

George Feltenstein 47:38

Well, this star is Randolph Scott, and it's shot in Technicolor, and Randolph Scott is the good guy, and he's got his new Colt 45 pistols, and there's a really bad guy played by Zachary Scott, and Zachary Scott wants to get his hands on those guns. Randolph Scott didn't work exclusively for Warner Brothers during the 50s, but he did make many films for the studio, along with working at at Columbia and other places. But the fact that this film was shot in Technicolor, it just raises the level of the production quality, and it moves like a jackrabbit. It's only about 74 minutes long, but it is truly an A-level film. And Ruth Roman is the female lead. The viciousness of Zachary Scott's bad guy, it's very different for him, you know, because he played bad guys and good guys in other films. But the casting is tremendous, the acting is wonderful, the photography is luscious. We went back to the original Technicolor negatives and scanned them at 4K to create this new master. This film has looked awful up till now, and now it's gorgeous. So I think people are really, really gonna like it.

Tim Millard 49:08

Yeah, and do you have any extras on here, George?

George Feltenstein 49:11

Yes, we do. We have a short, we have a cartoon. The one thing we don't have is a trailer. I think we do have film elements on the trailer, but like they need to be evaluated. There was a lot of question about that. And I didn't want to hold up the release of this great film just for you know trying to solve the mystery of the trailer. So I apologize that we don't have one here, but if we put out another Randolph Scott Warner movie and we do have the trailer by then, we'll add it to that. So that'll be a fair deal.

The Seventh Cross And Zinnemann

Tim Millard 49:49

Next up, we have the 1944 film The Seventh Cross. What can you tell us about this World War II drama?

George Feltenstein 49:56

This basically takes place around a concentration camp. It is obviously very based in wartime. The director of the film, the great Oscar-winning director Fred Zinneman, he had escaped the Nazis and started his career at MGM making shorts, eventually becoming a feature director. This is one of his earlier features. But he directs Spencer Tracy, and the seven crosses represent people who've escaped the concentration camp. And the Nazis and the Gestapo do everything they can to find the escapees, bring them back, and kill them. So this is not by any means a fun entertainment. This is the reality of war in 1944, the horrific evil of the Nazis, and Spencer Tracy is the leading man who is determined to escape and not end up brought back as the Seventh of the Crosses. In this film, you also have the first on-screen pairing of real-life husband and wife, Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy, almost 40 years before Cocoon. And there's just a terrific supporting cast all around. This is another MGM film where the camera negative burnt in the fire, but our preservation elements were quite good to work with. It's a 4K scan off those materials to create the new master. So it looks terrific. And to make it special, we've added three Fred Zinneman-directed shorts made at MGM before he made the leak to being a feature director. That is one of the things I'm most proud of for this release because you get to see how he built his career. They range, I think, from 1939 to 41, and they are about very, very different subjects, but it's very interesting to watch the development of a director through that kind of work. And we also have the original trailer. So it's a terrific film, terrific disc. It's an important film people need to see, especially now. So I would urge fans of Spencer Tracy, fans of World War II movies, this is an essential ad.

Tim Millard 52:28

Well, this follows on the heels of another Spencer Tracy World War II drama, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, coming out in June. So it's a great addition that people can get this one as well. And what can you say about Fred Zinneman? He's a terrific director, and he just knows firsthand about what he's talking about when it comes to this subject. So this should be terrific.

Letty Linton DVD Update

Tim Millard 52:50

Well, before we wrap up, you have an update on Letty Linton for fans that I thought we should discuss today.

George Feltenstein 52:56

First of all, the response to the release of Letty Linton has been incredibly gratifying and exciting for everyone. But there are still some people that haven't upgraded to Blu-ray, and they were very vocal in saying, we really, really would love to have this, but we don't have Blu-ray, we only have DVD. So we made the decision to add a DVD release of Letty Linton to the menu here. We wanted to make sure that everybody who wanted to see the film could have the opportunity to buy it.

Tim Millard 53:32

Yeah, and this is a very unusual situation. I mean, number one, Letty Linton hasn't been available on any physical media at all. So people never had a chance to get it on Laserdisc or VHS.

George Feltenstein 53:43

Or see it in the theater or on television.

Tim Millard 53:46

Exactly. So I think that that's a key thing to know because many of the titles uh we talk about on a regular basis have had DVD releases, but uh Letty Linton didn't have anything. So for those who never had a chance to get the the DVD, this gives them an opportunity to do that. So I think it's a win-win, uh, especially for this title.

George Feltenstein 54:06

I certainly hope so.

Tim Millard 54:07

Yeah.

July Wrap-Up And What’s Next

Tim Millard 54:09

What a great month July is. You told us it would be uh like that, and sure enough, so a lot of fantastic titles on here for the fans.

George Feltenstein 54:17

This increase in number of releases will become more the rule rather than the exception. We're ramping up, we're gearing up, and the familiarity and popularity of the films themselves will also take a step up, as has already been proven over the last few months. So we're we're still on our mission.

Tim Millard 54:46

Well, George, as always, thanks for coming on the podcast to tell us about all these great releases coming in July.

George Feltenstein 54:52

Uh, thank you, Tim.

Tim Millard 54:54

Wow, another great month from the Warner Archive. July is looking to be a blowout month with lots of great titles. If you are fed of war, pre-code, westerns, drama, musicals. You should have something in here that will interest you for the month. If you aren't yet subscribed or following the show, you may want to do that so that you get all of the great Warner Archive podcasts that we have coming with all of these fantastic releases, just so many great releases in the future. I do want to thank everyone who has been following us. It's a great time to be a fan of the Warner Archive. Until next time, you've been listening to TimbalArt. Stay slightly obsessed about physical media.