Warner Archive Collection

I was in Entertainment Outlet last night, a discount DVD store on W. 40 St. in Manhattan and I was looking for the latest Gamera double feature in their "Classics" section and imagine my surprise when I saw two long shelf rows devoted to Warner Archive titles. All of them were $20.99 each, a very high price for a single film in this particular store. I bought the long-sought-after CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD (1975 and possibly the newest film in the bunch), but there was little else I would have shelled out that kind of money for. This is, after all, the store where I bought 6 DVDs containing 18 movies total for the grand sum of $30 last September. None of them marked "used" and all legit studio releases. So $20.99 per film is a bit steep. Heck, while I was there last night I also bought a 6-film Bob Hope set with the long-sought CAT AND THE CANARY for $29.99 and I did indeed find the Gamera double feature (ZIGRA/SUPER MONSTER)--for $16.99.

Both CLARENCE THE CROSS-EYED LION (1965) and the first season of DAKTARI (1966) came out yesterday via Warner Archive. I'm interested to see how these two childhood favorites hold up for me 30 years after I last saw them.

Bigger news, IMO: the long-awaited (by me, anyway) SAFE IN HELL (1931) is now out:

http://www.wbshop.com/Safe-in-Hell/1000244...cgid=ARCHIVENEW

Stars Dorothy Mackaill and features a very young Nina Mae McKinney (19) in her first role post-HALLELUJAH!

SAFE IN HELL is great. (I also like Wellman's MY MAN AND I, which is also now part of the WA.)

The 25% off sale that the Archive has launched also includes the Columbia titles, a rarity.

Yes, those are fine - and to top it off this week was the announcement that Wellman's WINGS (1927) is coming to standard DVD and Blu-ray at the end of January . . .

This post has been edited by Wade Sowers on Nov 17 2011, 06:17 PM

I recorded CLARENCE off TCM on Wed., but haven't watched it yet to see how it holds up. I last saw it on a neighborhood double bill with OPERATION CROSSBOW 46 years ago.

I received a phone call today from the WA and a person told me my corrected copy of NO BLADE OF GRASS is on the way.

Their annual Black Friday sale has begun. 5 single-discs for $50. Free shipping. There's no limit to how many you buy. I just bought 20 for $200 before tax. Sony titles are not included.

Received an email for 5 DVDs fo $45, with free shipping, through the 16th at the WB shop.

Over 900 titles to choose from.

This post has been edited by Michael Blanton on Jan 15 2012, 04:26 AM

I just discovered that SIMON has been released via the Archives! This is one I've wanted to see for a while, despite its poor critical reception upon release. And not everyone hated it:

"Frankly, I found SIMON a terribly touching film, although its intentions, apparently, were comic. What I saw in it that moved me so was the confrontation between the divine and the horribly ordinary, as expressed by the absurd program for world improvement that Simon proffered. The timing, the dialog, the little elements--all were superb, but what, I think, truly elevated the film to greatness was the final scene of the three of them, the father, mother and the child, out in the wilds, and the news coming over the radio about the Nobel Peace Prize, and then the final shot of the woman lying back: a visual symbol that it had all ended and ended (somehow) successfully.

"In my own writing I try again and again to juxtapose the holy and the crass, usually with limited success. There is nothing more spiritually exciting than to discover a trace here and there of the divine in the debris of the world...and this seemed to me what SIMON conveyed." - Philip K. Dick

SIMON is a mixed bag, a continuation in part of the sch-fi themes writer/director Marshall Brickman and Woody Allen were exploring in SLEEPER (a script that Isaac Asimov reviewed for them, favorably, before it went into production). But it has a wonderful "New York" cast, including De Palma regular William Finley. The kind of movie the Archive was designed for.

Well, scratch Entertainment Outlet as a source for these discs--or any discs for that matter. It's closed--and thoroughly emptied out. They have a smaller branch on W. 14 St., which is still open, and which has taken "some" of the closed store's stock, according to the lady on the phone.

I loved SIMON on its original release. (Hell, I even remember my mom liking it.) A few years ago, I bought a cheap VHS copy off eBay and, sadly, I thought it didn't hold up. Too bad, as I remember laughing uproariously when I saw it first run.

Very interesting to see PKD's comments, though!

Bill, where did find that quote?

This post has been edited by Jim Donahue on Jan 30 2012, 01:06 PM

A Groundhog Day sale (25% off most items, including recent titles, multidisc sets, and Sony MODs) is on through 2/6. The Archive is now selling MGM MODs, as well as Sony's.

This post has been edited by Bob Cashill on Feb 3 2012, 05:53 PM

Jim, it was in issue 2 of the Bewilderbeast fanzine out of LA. Dick also really, really liked ALL THAT JAZZ!

Warner Archive put out two great comedies this month that were long overdue.
I reviewed both of these back in the earliest days of my blog.

WHO'S MINDING THE MINT? (1967) is fantastic old school fun. Those who were disappointed in TOWER HEIST can take a look at how it's supposed to be done:

http://www.wbshop.com/Whos-Minding-The-Min...default,pd.html

And Warner Archive is starting to put out the also long overlooked Wheeler and Woolsey RKO comedies. DIPLOMANICS (1933), which is one of their best, is the latest:

http://www.wbshop.com/Diplomaniacs/1000273...d.html?cgid=NEW

Warner Archive also made RAINMAKERS, ON AGAIN OFF AGAIN and KENTUCKY KERNELS available this month as well; unfortunately those three are all from the "post-Code" era and W&W were really at their peak in the pre-Code films. PEACH O'RENO (1931) was made available by the Archive last year.

Big day for Jim Brown fans as THE SPLIT (very good), THE SLAMS, KENNER, and TICK...TICK...TICK enter the Archive.

Some interesting stuff today including the spaghetti Western HATE FOR HATE with John Ireland and Antonio Sabato, a Rita Hayworth/Klaus Kinski (!) movie I'm unfamiliar with, THE CATS (68), the vintage mystery GRAND CENTRAL MURDER, and a noir double feature, HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET/HOMICIDE. Fascinating what they bring up.

This post has been edited by Bob Cashill on Mar 27 2012, 11:09 AM

I never heard of THE CATS until two minutes ago, but it sounds great. I think I'm all over HATE FOR HATE as well.

If THE CATS had starred Joan Crawford as intended, we would have heard of it. Crawford as Kinski's mother...wirehangers required!

Anyone ever seen the Hugh Sinclair Saints?