Warner Bros HTF Chat - lots of exciting news

[Mr. Toad]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/ ... fchat.html

Lots of stuff announced there. Hamlet and Maltese Falcon on Blu-Ray are both exciting.

[Escapay]

Awesome read, was especially excited for the following news:

-More Jane Powell films coming to DVD via Warner Archives

-The Complete Show Boat Collection WILL happen (after being promised for like, the past 3-4 years!).

-The Magnificent Ambersons will have "a significant exploration on the film's production history" among its supplements when it eventually is released.

-The Dark Shadows films will be released to tie-in to the new Johnny Depp version, no word yet on if Night of Dark Shadows will be the 2-hour director's cut or not.

-a 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION DVD and Blu-Ray for The Goonies in 2010!

-another Esther Williams boxset via TCM Spotlight.

-A Jean Harlow collection in 2011 for her centenary

-Greed and various other silent films are being planned and prepared for DVD and Warner Archive releases.

albert

[SpringHeelJack]

Whennnn will I get my "Little Shop of Horrors" with spruced-up original ending? That's what I want.

[Mr. Toad]

Although I applauded the idea, I did not think Warner Archive was going to release anything I wanted but now comes Penn and Teller get killed, which was great. Could have swarn it was an HBO movie but I am glad to see it and will get it.

[Cordy_Biddle]

I don't care how much they trumpet the "new improved" methods of manufacturing their DVD-R's. They still play badly on many players. Just read some of Barry Maxwell's reviews on The Digital Bits or customer reviews on Amazon.com to see what I mean.

They just don't stand up as well as regular pressed discs; but saying that, in my 10+ years of collecting DVDs, most of the defectives I've encountered have been from Warners.

[Mr. Toad]

I own over 800 DVDs including slews of Warners and have never had a defective one. I am not expecting some great transfer, just a couple of laughs.

[Cordy_Biddle]

All I know is that whenever I buy a Warners box-set collection, I can usually count on at least one of the discs to have something wrong with it.

The Archive Collection makes me sad because of how low Warners quality has slipped by releasing it in the way that they have. Boring cover art, DVD-R discs, no extras for the most part, combed/interlaced/unrestored transfers. Warners used to fly the flag of unsurpassed quality for classic movie collectors, but now it's as if they no longer give a damn.

[Mr. Toad]

But the releases in the Archive collection are pretty obscure stuff. They could not possibly recover the costs for remastering them. I am just glad that something that has been on my want list for years has finally been released. Only five movies left now - Song of the South, Original Incredible Journey from Disney, Scavenger Hunt, Little Darlings and the African Queen.

[SpringHeelJack]

Unless I'm mistaken, Cordy is talking about a problem with the discs themselves, not the actual picture.

[Cordy_Biddle]

Unless I'm mistaken, Cordy is talking about a problem with the discs themselves, not the actual picture.

Right. It's a proven fact that DVD-R discs aren't as reliable as genuine factory pressed ones. Release these movies by all means, but if companies like Alpha can bring out tonnes of movies for less than $7 a pop on genuine pressed discs, then why can't Warners?