George Feltenstein of Warner Bros joins the podcast to review 5 films from the 1950s now available on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive. We discuss the merits of the films, the restoration, and all of the EXTRAS so that you can make an informed buying decision.
First up is the women's prison drama, "Caged" (1950), starring Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, and Hope Emerson. We break down the exceptional performances in this socially conscious drama that make the film still relevant today.
Next is the noir thriller "The Damned Don't Cry" (1950), featuring a powerful performance by Joan Crawford, and strong supporting performances by David Brian, Steve Cochran, Kent Smith. For years this was an underrated film, but now it has returned to its rightful place as one of Joan Crawford's best. Loaded with extras, this remastered release has never looked or sounded better.
Then put on your seatbelt, as we examine the RKO noir classic "Angel Face" (1953) starring Robert Mitchum and a dazzling performance by the beautiful Jean Simmons. A new 4K scan restores this film to its original luster making for a mesmerizing viewing experience.
Our next film is pure entertainment, as we review the 1953 MGM musical "Dangerous When Wet" starring "America's Mermaid" Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, Jack Carson, Charlotte Greenwood, and Denise Darcel. This new 4K scan of the original technicolor camera negatives plus a disk packed with Extras makes for a tremendous new release.
And we finish with a review of the lyrical classic "The Old Man and the Sea" (1958). Writer Earnest Hemingway requested star Spencer Tracy and Tracy's performance earned him another Academy Award nomination. A new 4K scan of the original color camera negative returns the film to its original beauty, and restored audio means that Dimitri Tiomkin's Oscar-winning score has never sounded better.
Purchase on Amazon:
CAGED (1950)
ANGEL FACE (1953)
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950)
DANGEROUS WHEN WET (1953)
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1958)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
TIM MILLARD (00:06):
Hello and welcome to the extras, where we take you
behind the scenes of yourfavorite TV shows, movies and
animation, and they're releasedon digital DVD, blu-ray and 4K
or your favorite streaming site.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me today is George
Feltenstein of Warner Brothersto review the June Blu-ray
releases from the Warner Archive.
Hi, George.
George Feltenstein (00:26):
Hi Tim, how are you?
TIM MILLARD (00:29):
Well, I'm excited to talk about these June
releases because I reallyenjoyed all of them, so I'm
looking forward to this.
But before we dive into thefirst title, there was one more
Blu-ray and that was pushed backto July, and that's Land of the
Pharaohs.
Is there any update we can giveto the listeners as to why that
was pushed back?
George Feltenstein (00:49):
There was a production issue and we resolved
it, but in order to not havepeople expecting it in June,
when it won't be ready untilJuly, we moved the street date
to July 18.
So that will give plenty oftime for everybody to get their
disc, and I know that title isvery, very much in demand.
(01:11):
The fans are really excitedabout it and it'll be worth the
wait.
So a couple more weeks.
TIM MILLARD (01:18):
And it actually pushes the release of that one a
little closer to the Helen ofTroy, which I think is a little
later in July.
So those who are ordering one,i think, are often ordering both
of those two because they fallinto the same kind of epic
storytelling.
So they'll have a great Julywhen those releases come out.
Absolutely, yeah.
(01:38):
Well, I'm excited to go overthese releases, as I mentioned,
and they're all from the 50s,which is kind of fun.
The first one we were going togo into, i think,
chronologically here is Cagedfrom 1950.
George Feltenstein (01:53):
Really a magnificent film and the new
presentation is revelatory.
Most of what we are doinglately falls into that category,
So it's almost like we'respoiling everyone, but happily
so, because our standards areexacting.
(02:14):
And in the case of Caged wewent back to the nitrate camera
negative.
And the difference between thisand what was on DVD is pretty
jaw-dropping and it looksamazing.
And when we released this filmon DVD, we released it as part
of a series of films that werein little box sets called Camp
(02:39):
Classics, And whereas this filmdoes have a little aspect of
that, that's somewhat demeaningin the sense that this film is
much more a piece of seriousfilmmaking than it is, let's say
, something like Queen of OuterSpace, which falls into that
(03:00):
other category.
It was a way to get the filmout and market it at the time,
And that was 16 years ago.
But now we have this beautifulnew 4K scan of the camera
negative, beautiful new Blu-ray,impressive extras and a film
that was nominated for bestactress for Eleanor Parker,
(03:23):
who's sensational in the leadingrole, Marie Allen, the innocent
young lady who is considered anaccessory to a crime because
her young husband was pulled outof the film.
Her young husband was pullingoff a robbery and she was
considered an accomplice.
She's thrown into this woman'sprison and the film is really
(03:50):
not shy about being realisticAnd it's deeply disturbing in a
lot of places.
It's deeply upsetting to watchin a lot of places, which means
it's effective filmmaking.
The performances are reallyexceptional by everyone.
The direction by John Cromwellis equally impressive and not
(04:14):
only did Eleanor Parker get abest actress nomination, but
Hope Emerson, who plays thematron of the women and she's
just evil as all get out.
She was nominated for bestsupporting actress.
1950 was a pretty tough yearbecause you had movies like we
(04:34):
talked about this before, movieslike all about Eve and sunset
Boulevard and asphalt jungle.
So many great movies made 1950.
So while it didn't win thosecoveted Oscars, it was a big hit
at the box office and gotunofficially remade 12 years
(04:54):
later as House of Women withShirley Knight, which is
something one archive put out onDVD years ago.
But he stands on his own twofeet.
And I'd be remiss if I alsodidn't call out the exceptional
performance of Agnes Morehead asthe warden, because she gives a
performance that iscompassionate and yet dealing
(05:16):
with the reality of, you know,the women's prison life, And it
also made me think about anothertitle that we released, which
was pre code Barbara Stanwyck.
Ladies They Talked About whereBarbara Stanwyck is in a women's
prison And to compare the 1933look at a women's prison Before
(05:40):
the code versus 1950 during thecode.
This pretty much pushed the codeenvelope because there are a
lot of things in the movie, inthe scenario, that are deeply
disturbing and a lot of thingshave to be implied rather than
stated outright.
But the audience is smart andgets what the story is about And
(06:03):
this is a bona fide classic andone that Warner Brothers can be
very proud of.
This is perfect to be in linewith our 100th anniversary
releases because we have, youknow, we dedicated one month in
April to just Warner Brotherstitles And this month has
(06:24):
several in it And next monthwill have several in it And the
month after that will have a fewin it.
But you know these reallyimportant movies will be
scattered throughout the yearAnd very, very grateful that we
have the opportunity to put thisout.
And we threw on a Bugs Bunnycartoon called Big House Bunny,
(06:48):
which is from the same year, butobviously as a prison theme.
I thought that would work wellAnd we also included a radio
show, Screen Directors Playhouse, which features Eleanor Parker
and Hope Emerson, and a verybrief bit of speaking after the
show with director John Cromwell, So that was not on the prior
(07:11):
DVD release.
I think it's a great disc And Ithink people really owe it to
themselves to add it to theircollection.
It's a very distinct upgradefrom the DVD as well.
TIM MILLARD (07:22):
Yeah, and I've talked about this movie on
several different podcasts.
For those listeners who arefrequent listeners And I'm a big
fan of this film theperformances that you just
mentioned I mean some of themare nominated, so people have
acknowledged how great they are.
I don't know Parker.
She was fairly young.
I remember reading about itthat she actually wanted to do
(07:45):
this role, which you think wow.
That's pretty risky for anactress who's young, but she
really, i think, wanted to testout her acting chops in a role
that was demanding, like this,where she really has to
transform from this naive19-year-old girl who gets caught
up in this robbery into thishardened criminal over the
(08:07):
course of time.
But the other beautiful thingabout this film, i think, is
that it fits right into thatsocial consciousness that Warner
Brothers is so known for Andthat really comes across, i
thought, in the trailer, whichpushes the need for reform and
prison and all of those issuesin this movie.
George Feltenstein (08:25):
I couldn't agree more.
It is of its time, but thereare themes in the movie that are
relevant today And our penalsystem is still in need of help,
and I think this film pointsout the pitfalls of it.
In a way, it's a kind of areal-life horror film and the
(08:48):
monsters are real people.
I've always been impressed byit And I'm grateful that we've
had the opportunity to give itthe upgrade for both
preservation, restoration andcreating a new new release.
It's in nice with the rest ofthe Warner Archive mission.
TIM MILLARD (09:10):
Yeah, the image quality is terrific.
I did see this in the theaterabout a year ago and it was
terrific to see it on the bigscreen at a film festival.
But to see it on my 4K, it'sthe Blu-ray, but to see it on my
4K monitor, man, it's crisp andit looks terrific.
And then, of course, i love theBig House Bunny Just such a
(09:34):
great extra on there.
George Feltenstein (09:37):
It sets the tone because if you were to have
seen it in the theater in 1950,it's very possible that would
have been shown in the theaterwith it.
It's very difficult to knowexactly what was paired with
what and we try to research that, But I thought in this case
they shared the same year and,more importantly, there's a
(10:00):
thematic tie-in And it doesn'tmake fun of the movie.
It just kind of puts you in agood mood before you start to
get really disturbed by the filmitself, Right.
TIM MILLARD (10:12):
Yeah, i mean it gives a little counterweight to
the seriousness of the movie,but it's a terrific package And
I'm sure any fan of this filmwill want to pick up this new
transfer.
But I highly recommend it tothose who aren't as familiar
with this film.
That you won't be disappointed,that's for sure.
Well, next we have, i have tosay, probably my favorite from
(10:36):
this month, but that's just myown opinion.
George Feltenstein (10:38):
You got good taste.
TIM MILLARD (10:41):
Well, the next word is the damned don't cry from
1950.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (10:46):
Well, this is in my opinion.
There were a few more that cameafter this, but this is the
apex of Joan Crawford's tenureas a leading lady at Warner
Brothers And I've always feltthis is like aside from Mildred
Pierce, which is in its ownestablishing era at the studio,
(11:12):
this is like the penultimatezenith of Crawford at Warner
Brothers And the way hercharacter transforms and the
plot is somewhat wild because itgoes from so many it isn't
particularly plausible, but itis basically using every device
(11:40):
from several different kinds ofportrayals that Joan Crawford
had done in the past And shechoose up the scenery
appropriately.
I think it's one of her bestperformances.
I think the film isexceptionally well cast And it's
always been a favorite, notjust of mine but of many people
(12:03):
I know who appreciate JoanCrawford's talent and artistry,
and we had the great goodfortune years ago of recording a
commentary with directorVincent Sherman, who lived
almost to the age of 100 and hadperfect recall, and we had him
(12:25):
report a commentary for thisfilm and also appears in a
little featurette that's on thedisc and that adds so much
gravitas to the wholepresentation.
This film was originallyentitled The Victim, but I'm
glad they changed the title toThe Damn Don't Cry, because it
(12:46):
just really hammers home What akind of lush melodrama this is,
and it's really a consummateCrawford performance.
That draws from the girl fromthe wrong side of the tracks And
I use the term girl looselybecause Crawford was about 46 or
(13:13):
45 when she made this film,depending.
We don't quite know for surewhat her actual birth year is.
Some people say 1904.
Some sources say 1907.
I tend to believe it was 1904.
And it was shooting in 1949,released in 1950.
(13:33):
So let's say she was 46 at thetime.
They were already lighting herin such a way to try to hide the
age.
But she's very convincing as ayoung-ish mother who lives near
the train tracks with herworkaday husband and they're
living in basic, close topoverty.
(13:53):
And after a tragedy she leavesthe small town, heads to the big
city and won't let anythingstand in her way.
I don't want to give away thethought.
But there are also wonderfulsupporting performances in this
film.
David Bryan is her leading man.
They were reunited after makingFlamingo Road the year before,
(14:18):
which we released earlier thisyear.
And there's also Steve Cochran,who is in Storm Warning that we
talked about a couple of weeksago.
And then Kent Smith of CatPeople fame has another role in
the film And he really proveshimself to be the man that loves
(14:43):
Crawford's character.
Crawford transforms fromDoughty housewife Ethel
Whitehead to Lorna Hansen,forbes Socialite.
Yet no one can trace where shecame from.
And I think this film is morethan a guilty pleasure.
It is to be enjoyed.
(15:04):
And now I believe in recentyears, it has come to be more
seriously appreciated Because,let's say, 20 years ago it was
pretty much forgotten And whenwe released it on DVD it was a
very long time ago.
It had never been released onVHS, never been released on
(15:25):
Lazardis.
This film was very hard to seefor a long time.
When we released it on DVD aspart of our first Joan Crawford
collection DVD set, and that wasprobably around 2005, i'm
thinking or 2006, it was verywell received And I think that
(15:45):
helped.
Usually it started being shownon television more frequently
and there were theatricalretrospectives that included it
in Crawford festivals And nowpeople get to really enjoy it.
But it's a packed disc becausethis film was given a treatment
(16:06):
like Cabe's that was restoredfrom the original camera
negative, which was nitrate, andgiven an audio restoration as
well.
It's in sounds tremendous, andwe have Vincent Sherman's
archival commentary.
We have the feature at aboutCrawford at Warner's that deals
(16:27):
with the kind of roles she'splaying at the studio.
It's short but sweet.
And then we have the radio showfrom screen directors playhouse
but unlike Caged, VincentSherman is on hand with Crawford
and the leading man role playedby David Bryan is covered by
(16:48):
Frank Lovejoy, who was a Warnercontract player at the time, who
was actually starring with JoanCrawford in a film that was
being shot when the radio showwas done, called Goodbye My
Fancy.
So the whole package worksreally, really well.
The trailer is on there, soit's a solid package that looks
(17:10):
and sounds great.
It's a film that is veryentertaining and a must for
Crawford fans, and I would evensay this is a film among others,
that's if you're not familiarwith Joan Crawford.
This is a great film to startwith, along with things like
Mildred Pierce and Mingle Roadand her early MGM work, it's
(17:33):
really quite remarkable.
TIM MILLARD (17:34):
Well, that's surprising to hear, George, that
it had kind of fallen off theradar for some people because I
mean, it's a tour de force.
I thought She plays this justpowerhouse.
Once she kind of decides thather old life is going to be in
the rearview mirror And shedrives this movie.
I think your friend GlennErickson.
(17:56):
He says in that feature ad thatthis is a very Warner Brothers
film.
I mean it moves, the time fliesin this because the action just
goes, it goes, it goes, it goes.
And Joan is in the center ofprobably almost every scene And
her character and the transitionthat she develops through the
course of the film is reallyjust you can't take your eyes
(18:18):
off her because she really hasthat force of nature in a kind
of man's world obviously.
Yet she's pulling a lot of thelevers and driving a lot of the
men through this.
So it's a terrific noir in thatsense.
And of course Sherman does anamazing job directing the action
and the actors And I thoughtthis, this foursome of Crawford,
(18:41):
bryan, cochran and Smith wereterrific together.
George Feltenstein (18:46):
Yeah, they really are, and you know.
To talk about its lack ofavailability, this was a film.
Let's say we go back to the1970s.
Maybe you'd see this film insyndication on a television
station, cut up with commercials, and God knows how awful it
would have looked.
(19:06):
But it wasn't available forlike film societies to show in
film series.
There were no 16 millimeternon-theatrical prints
circulating at that time.
And again in the 80s evenharder to see was never on VHS,
it was the DVD.
And also after the DVD itstarted to be shown on to the
(19:31):
classic movies because we had anew master that we made for the
DVD, which pales in comparisonto the master we have now, but
at the time it was a big stepforward and it got the film out
there.
Ironically I don't know ifthere's any tie to this at all,
but there's a music group whosename is The Damned Don't Cry.
I don't know if it's a punkgroup or what, but every time
(19:56):
I'm looking up stuff about thismovie, sometimes it'll cross up
in a Google search and pop upabout the music group.
I think it's really cool.
But I can't say enough goodthings about this movie.
It is one of my favorites ofthe Prophet films, and there are
many favorites.
TIM MILLARD (20:15):
And Joan is so associated with the golden era
of Warner Brothers and thiswe've talked about, this Warner
Brothers 100 celebration.
I think this is one of thosehey, which movie should I buy?
that are coming out this year.
I think this is one you're likehey, The Damned Don't Cry, buy
that one.
It's got one of the major starsof Warner Brothers and it's a
(20:35):
great picture and it looks great.
The new transfer if you'venever seen the film, you're
going to watch it and it justlooks so great.
And if you've only seen it, asyou mentioned, on TV all cut up
or some of the previous places,it's going to be a major jump
for you in your enjoyment.
I think of this film And it'sjust packed with extras.
George Feltenstein (20:56):
There's one more film she made at Warner
Brothers, which was the filmthat followed Novi Pierce, and
it's a tour de force triumph,and that's Humoresque.
That's the one that I think isnext in our restoration
preservation program.
No work has begun on it, so Idon't want to mislead people
(21:17):
into thinking it's coming justaround the corner.
But I'm certainly fighting forthat to happen because it's too
important a film not to beavailable.
But the two films she madeafter this at Warner Brothers
before leaving the studio wouldbuy my fancy and This Woman is
Dangerous are not as strong asthe run up between Bill Dupier
(21:43):
and Damned don't Cry.
All those other picturesHumoresque, Flamingo Road,
Damned Don't Cry, along withMildred Pierce.
They're really sensational andshe's terrific in them.
TIM MILLARD (21:56):
People mentioned that film Humoresque as one of
their favorites, so I'm surethere's a lot of listeners who
are excited to hear you.
You mentioned that, though, asyou say, not coming soon
necessarily, but in the queue,so to speak.
George Feltenstein (22:10):
But again, this is a very long process and
we're constantly battling whendo we bring the elements in?
This is another one where thenitrate is across country and
budgets need to be approved andP&Ls need to be approved and
people look at the performanceof how these films are selling.
(22:34):
That's why it's so importantthat people who are on the fence
but want to see more of thesekind of films, their support is
a direct line to more to follow,and if something doesn't
perform well, it kind ofcabaches the likelihood of more
of the same coming their way,because we have to be able to
(22:57):
defend every new prospectiverelease with data that shows
that like titles have performedproperly.
And such is the life ofbusiness and the constant battle
between art and commerce.
TIM MILLARD (23:14):
Right.
Well, i'm hoping for goodthings for the release of this
one, because I thought it was aterrific film.
In the next film we're going totalk about, i also really
enjoyed a lot the 1953 noirthriller, angel Face.
George Feltenstein (23:31):
This is a very interesting film because
there's so many great things youcan say about it.
RKO borrowed Otto Preminger,who sealed his noir au tour
place in film history with Laurain 1944 at Fox, and RKO
(23:53):
borrowed Otto Preminger from Foxto make this film.
And you've got Robert Mitchum,who is always great, giving a
wonderful performance, and GeneSimmons with a knockout
performance Yes, the leadinglady And Herbert Marshall and
(24:13):
Mona Freeman.
It's a great cast.
It's a very tightly told story.
The film is also one of thesefilms that is often referred to
with two years, because it wasgiven a general release in 1953.
I believe it opened in LosAngeles in 1953.
(24:34):
But it was copyrighted in 1952and I believe it had an initial
engagement in 1952.
So people refer to it as fromeither 1952 or 1953 and neither
of them are wrong.
This is a case where we wentback to the original elements
and that ended up creating thisbeautiful master.
(24:59):
And how did you think the filmlooked?
TIM MILLARD (25:02):
Well, there were only a few instances where I
thought maybe it was a littlesoft, but I thought it looked
terrific.
George Feltenstein (25:07):
Yeah, it's a quantum leap from where we came
, but therein lie or lay aproblem that we were not aware
of and hadn't had encounteredbefore.
We have a commentary for thisfilm done by the great Eddie
Muller, who's now a superstar ontelevision thanks to Laura
Alley on Turner Classic Movies.
(25:27):
But at the time he was a staramongst a smaller group of
people who followed hisactivities in the Film Noir
Foundation.
He's always been a good friendto us and he recorded the
commentary for this film.
So when we went to use thecommentary recorded for this
film for its DVD release, itcouldn't sink and we didn't
(25:49):
understand why.
And I couldn't release thiswithout his commentary.
So we found out that there wereframes left out of the fine
grain that was used for theprior standard definition
transfer that were in thematerials that were used for the
(26:10):
new fluke A-Scan.
So as a result, that's why thecommentary kept going out of
sync.
So the only way to save it waswe presented on the disc along
with the old standard definitionmaster so that you can watch
the film, albeit with lesserquality.
But here Eddie's greatcommentary.
(26:30):
Ideally it had been ourintention and preference to want
to have the commentary be withthe feature in Blu-ray and from
this wonderful new master madefrom the 4K scan.
But we couldn't get it to syncbecause of how it was created
And at the time the commentariesweren't archived without a
(26:55):
mixed track.
They were archived as they wererecorded with the film as it
was released on DVD, so wecouldn't separate them And we
were forced into this compromise.
While not ideal, it saves thecommentary and gives the person
the ability to watch the film.
They want to watch the filmlooking beautiful and amazing.
(27:18):
They can't listen to thecommentary, but if they want to
hear what Eddie has to say, theycan at least use the other
version, which is of lesserquality but certainly watchable
as a reference.
And, given it's an Eddie Mollercommentary, it's filled with
incredible information on thefilm.
(27:39):
So it is exciting.
And we were able to add thetrailer to this, which wasn't on
the DVD.
RKO trailers are few and farbetween because they did not
make their own trailers the wayWarner Bros and MGM did.
They were made by NationalScreen Service, so when the
(28:00):
library was sold, trailersdidn't go with it.
So we've had to go to all sortsof lengths to get a trailer and
we have one here.
So that is good news for fansof the film.
But this is a very brutal noir.
It's just luscious And I thinkit looks great.
TIM MILLARD (28:20):
Yeah, and just to go to the trailer, it's not on
the packaging that the trailerwas on there, so I was
pleasantly surprised when I wentto the extras to see it there
And it was fun to watch that.
But I suppose with Eddie'sexpertise at noir, that having
his commentary on here does hesee this as one of the very fine
(28:41):
noirs that are out there.
George Feltenstein (28:42):
Yeah, he did several commentaries for us,
but this was one that he was allover, and once you hear his
commentary, you see the film ina whole different way, which is
what a good commentary does.
So I'm grateful that it's there, and I'm grateful that the new
master is so superior to what wehad before, and the RKO films
(29:06):
are always a challenge, and thisone now looks terrific, as it
rightly should.
TIM MILLARD (29:14):
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed this, George.
It's a good watch, I mean.
It's got everything that youexpect out of a noir.
It's got the man caught up inthese circumstances and it
slowly pulls him in.
And Gene Simmons wow, what aperformance by her.
She's fantastic as this youngheiress and just the kind of the
(29:35):
web she weaves throughout thefilm, And we're not going to
give anything away, but it'sfantastic.
I thought her performance wasoutstanding.
George Feltenstein (29:45):
Well, she was really a magnificent actress
and her tenure at RKO was alittle bit compromised by the
fact that Howard Hughes wasrunning the studio at the time.
He wanted the women undercontract to behave a certain way
(30:05):
, whether it's on screen or offscreen, and that made things
very difficult for a lot ofactresses, including Gene
Simmons during this film.
But the net result of it is acinema classic And it's such a
wonderful thing to be able toadd this in Blu-ray to the noir
archive collection.
TIM MILLARD (30:25):
And she was married to an actor that we highlighted
last month in King Solomon'sMind, and that's Stuart Granger
right.
George Feltenstein (30:32):
Yes, yes, they were married.
And then, after their divorce,she was married for a very long
time to a great director andscreenwriter, richard Brooks,
who directed Cat on a Hot TinRoof from so many wonderful
films, and they ended up, ibelieve, getting divorced in the
1970s.
(30:52):
But that was a much happiermarriage for her.
I think she had a life whereshe wasn't appreciated enough
for her abilities as an actressAnd she gave so many wonderful
performances.
I just think anytime you get anopportunity to put out
wonderful films in which you gota chance to really give a great
(31:15):
performance and there's so manyof those we're very fortunate
and Mitcham and Simmons togetherunder the direction of Auto
Premature, it's just a winnerevery inch of the way.
TIM MILLARD (31:27):
Yeah, i think this is a must-own for noir fans For
all the reasons you justspecified the acting, the script
, the directing and then theextras that you have on here.
It's terrific.
One last thing, george I lovethe packaging on this one as
well.
George Feltenstein (31:42):
Yeah, the great artwork for sure.
We had a lot of differentpieces to choose from what the
cover art would be, but this washands down.
I'm pretty sure that's what weused on the DVD as well.
It's wonderful art And the RKOArt Department really did a slam
(32:03):
bang job promoting this film,and we're very delighted that it
looks so great and thepackaging is so attractive.
It's a winner.
TIM MILLARD (32:17):
Well, the next film we're going to talk about.
I also love the packaging onthat one, and that's Dangerous
When Wet, from 1953.
George Feltenstein (32:26):
I think I had that poster years ago.
I don't think I still do, butit's a great poster.
But more importantly, this is avery charming musical comedy
from Esther Williams And it's alittle different from a lot of
her films because there's nohuge water ballet spectacle,
(32:51):
it's just a sweet little story,really good original songs And
there's obvious chemistrybetween Esther Williams and
Fernando Lamas which led to themgetting married in real life.
Almost a decade later They gottogether.
I think they got married evenlater than that, but they were
together about 1962 or 1963.
(33:15):
They obviously had anattraction to each other but
they were right to other people.
But their chemistry on screenwas terrific.
And there's also a greatsupporting cast in this movie
Charlotte Greenwood, walterDemerist, denise Darcel, who
(33:35):
appeared at MGM in movies likeBattleground And she never
really became a star but she hadsome interesting roles.
You also have Jack Carson who'susually found it at Warner
Brothers in Warner Brothersmovies, but he went to MGM to do
this.
And there are songs with lyricsby Johnny Mercer and music by
(33:59):
Arthur Schwartz.
But the technicolor restorationhere again off the original
camera, negatives, re-registeredis just luscious.
The thing that sets this filminto a special realm is the idea
they had to create a sequencewhere Esther would swim with Tom
(34:20):
and Jerry, and that was comingabout seven or eight years after
Jerry the Mouse danced withGene Kelly in Anchors Away.
This film is also unique inbeing an MGM musical that wasn't
produced by her usual or mostprolific film producer, joe
(34:44):
Pasternak.
Joe Pasternak would make thesemusicals that would stop the
plot in order to have noveltyacts performed.
So you know, like in her firstmovie, bathing Beauty, the movie
stopped so that Ethel Smith canplay the organ.
The story stopped so XavierKugat can do a few musical
(35:06):
numbers.
And this film doesn't have thatpadding.
It's got a nice brisk runningtime.
It tells its story very sweetly, it's got some great songs in
it, the Tom and Jerry sequencein it, and a lot of people are
always very affectionate towardsthis film and refer to it as
one of their favorites.
(35:27):
And having known Esther, i knowthat she had particular
affection for this movie,especially because she made it
with Fernando and their marriageended with his very premature
death at a relatively young ageAnd she basically retired from
(35:50):
the public eye to be married tohim And he was very much in her
memory.
And so this was among thefavorites of her films because
they performed together.
But audiences generally aregreat fans of this film and it
was quite a brisk seller inprevious iterations.
(36:12):
But it looks terrific, itsounds great.
We have a deleted musical numberon the disc.
We have another Dick Simmons,esther Williams radio
promotional interview.
We've got a Tom and Jerrycartoon.
We've got a Pete Smith short.
We have audio demo recordings ofsongs written for the movie
(36:33):
with very different lyricsperformed by the lyricist,
johnny Mercer.
That was applying when we foundthat audition disc And it has a
song on there called Fifi,which is in the movie very
briefly.
Fernando sings it as he's likegetting dressed.
He sings a few bars of it.
It was supposed to be a bigproduction number, so you get to
(36:56):
hear Johnny Mercer do thislonger version And the song that
opens up the movie.
I got out of bed on the rightside.
It was a very catchy tune.
He had written very differentlyrics for the film that were
more about basically havinggotten drunk the night before
And that was not quiteappropriate what the MGM wanted
(37:16):
to do.
This film was made on a modestbudget and was very profitable
when it was released, and it'sremained very popular whenever
we've released it in a newformat And this being a
restoration from the originalnegative and perfect alignment
of the technical negatives, itlooks and sounds terrific and
(37:36):
very great.
Please that we're adding it tothe collection.
TIM MILLARD (37:40):
Yeah, it really does look great.
You know it's fun because itstarts off with her and her
family in Arkansas And that songjust fits the mood.
You know they're going out,they're going swimming in the
river or lake or whatever thatpond or reservoir is near their
home.
It sets up the family as thisvery athletic, positive, can-do
attitude, and so that's reallyfun.
(38:01):
And then it transitions, youknow, because they go over to
swim the channel, to this moreinternational And you get the
flavor of the athletes from theother countries And of course
Fernando he's supposed to beFrench And this wealthy
Frenchman with the sailboat.
It really takes a few funtwists and turns, keeps you
(38:22):
interested.
It's got the swimming of thechannel, kind of to push the
action, and then it's got thesongs intertwined, so and then
you just really packed it withall of these extras and they're
a lot of fun.
George Feltenstein (38:34):
Absolutely, and we're, as I said you know,
i'm hoping that we will havemore of Esther's films in the
future, because there's so manygood ones we haven't gotten to
yet.
But these Technicolorrestorations are really like
restoring three movies.
So you've got three layers ofnegative that need to be aligned
with our proprietary technology, and that takes a lot of time,
(38:57):
but then that results are worthit And we're very proud of the
movies.
TIM MILLARD (39:04):
Well, the last film we're going to talk about also
takes place on the in waterGeorge, Interestingly enough,
but totally different obviously,with the old man and the sea
from 1958 starring Spencer Tracy.
George Feltenstein (39:17):
Well, what's interesting about this film is
it's based on a novella byErnest Hemingway, who of course
was very much attached to thewater and was a seafaring fellow
.
And you know we've had otherfilms based on Hemingway works
that are water bound, like tohave and have not, but the old
(39:39):
man in the sea.
He specifically wanted SpencerTracy to take on that part And
it gave Tracy an opportunity tobe reunited with his director
from the bad day at Black Rock,john Sturges, who later went on
to great greater fame with filmslike the Magnificent Seven and
(40:00):
The Great Escape.
John Sturges was a sensationaldirector.
So for Sturges to reunite withSpencer Tracy and do this
basically one man film I meanthere are brief shots of other
people in certain sequences butit's almost like a soliloquy in
the sense And it's really a workof art.
(40:23):
We've gotten so many requestsfor this movie.
There are people that just lovethe movie And I think, a lot of
people who are seafaringfellows and seafaring ladies.
They have a special place intheir heart for this film.
And Tracy got nominated for anOscar one of his many
(40:44):
nominations.
But the film did win the Oscarfor Dimitri Tiomkin's amazing
musical score.
So it is really many greatartists coming together to
create this very specific andunique kind of filmmaking
experience.
(41:04):
And we do have a little extra onthere.
We call it a documentary.
It's really footage from adocumentary that was never
completed.
That was made by a youngfilmmaker and he brought the
footage to us in the 90s And itwas crafted into a little piece
(41:26):
that was on prior iterations andis now being carried over to
the blue light.
But it gives you a sense ofsome of the fun that they had
and it just adds a little flavor.
And you can also tell by thetrailer which is on the disc
that this was quite aprestigious movie to Warner
Brothers and the kind offilmmaking that Jack Warner
(41:48):
really focused on in the 50s and60s, you know, films based on
great pieces of literature orgreat works of the stage.
That was his primary focus forbig pictures And this certainly
was a very prestigious releasefor Warner Brothers in 1950.
TIM MILLARD (42:09):
Yeah, that trailer is really unique.
It's got the artwork and thenyou turn the page, so to speak,
into another painting And it'sreally fun.
But, as you say, it's gone withthe prestige element, the
literary element, in pushing thefilm.
And I recall watching this, ithink in high school, when we
read the book and you know, inliterature class, red Hemingway
(42:33):
I mean I absolutely adored thebook and I thought the movie was
fantastic.
But it's been many years and tosee it looking like this
because it is in color, icouldn't take my eyes off of the
images.
And then that very naturalistic,understated acting that Tracy
does for this, i mean he justcarries it And of course the
(42:54):
music really accentuates thedrama and being on the ocean and
the weather and everything, imean the time flew by, i thought
.
Just the combination ofeverything makes this film, i
think, a terrific one to have onBlu-ray for fans of the film,
fans of the book, fans of TracyI mean there's fans of Tiompkins
(43:18):
There's just a lot of reasonsto get this Blu-ray and I really
enjoyed it.
George Feltenstein (43:25):
And this is yet another 4k scan off the
camera negative And it was shotin watercolor So you do have
those opticals that are doopsthat unfortunately degrade the
picture you're in there.
But we did our best to minimizethose problems And this is the
best I've ever seen the filmlook.
(43:45):
They really did a wonderful jobat one of those motion picture
engine bringing out the colorand having it not be, like you
know, with the yellow tint to it, as I'm used to seeing.
It would always be grimy andyellow and ugly.
And now it's really like Yeah,blues really pop.
(44:07):
I thought The blues in the seareally pop, and it's the blue
channel that usually is thefirst to go when the yellow
layer on the original negativestarts to collapse on these
Eastman color films made in thesecond part of the 1950s.
So we were very lucky that wewere able to use the camera
negative, and the result is agorgeous disc.
TIM MILLARD (44:30):
I'm just reminded there's the VO when it's talking
about the old man and it saysthe old man with his blue eyes
And that shot right there.
I mean to just talk about thetransfer you have.
I mean the blue of Tracy's eyesjust pops in that shot as
they're talking about it and thedetail and everything.
I thought, wow, this is aterrific transfer you guys came
(44:52):
up with And I did notice that,you know, there were a few times
maybe wasn't quite as sharp,but overall it was fantastic
looking and it sounds so goodYeah and Tiongkin's score plays
an integral part, is almostanother character in the movie.
George Feltenstein (45:09):
There's Tracy's there, all by himself,
and there's the language ofHemingway that screenwriter
Peter Vietel translated intocinema, but it's a lot of
Hemingway's own language.
This is a very personal project, with Hemingway's involvement
(45:32):
and for Tracy to be his personalpick and Sturges behind the
camera, and Leland Haywardy, avery respected stage and screen
producer, produced this moviefor Warner Brothers and it's
just the first class productionall the way through, and another
way to celebrate the hundredyears of Warner Brothers with a
(45:55):
classic from is fast.
TIM MILLARD (45:58):
Yeah, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Well, George, another greatmonth.
I thought the releases for Juneare just so strong, And so I
think there's a lot that fanshave to look forward to.
I would recommend buying allfive of them that we talked
about today, because I thinkthey look so good and the movies
are just so good, But for thosewho have their favorites, I
(46:19):
think they're gonna really enjoywhat they get this month.
George Feltenstein (46:24):
I hope so, and we've already announced our
July titles and they are all ontheir way.
I'm expecting to see finisheddiscs pretty soon on the
Broadway melody Simeron 1931,the Very Was A Lady, the Fast
Disc and Alive Helen of Troy andThe Last Time I Saw Paris.
(46:46):
But when we next speak we'llalso be talking about The Land
of the Pharaohs, since that gotpushed into July.
So we'll actually have seventitles in July.
TIM MILLARD (46:56):
Well, thank you so much as always for coming on to
share with the fans all of yourknowledge about these films and
the restorations and what fanshave to look forward to with all
the extras here on this bluerace.
George Feltenstein (47:07):
Oh, it's always a pleasure, tim, and
thank you for the opportunity toshare background of these
movies with our dedicatedcustomers, who we appreciate
their support of every day.
TIM MILLARD (47:26):
Well, it's always great to have George Felmsden on
to talk about the WarnerArchive releases.
June is a very strong month anda great follow-up to the eight
blue rays released in May And,just as a reminder, you can go
back and listen to the May andprevious months reviews at any
time.
Just look for those in ourpodcast archives.
And for those of you interestedin ordering the films we
discussed today, there are linksin the podcast show notes and
(47:50):
on our website at wwwtheextrastv, so be sure and check those out
.
If you're on social media, besure and follow the show on
Facebook or Twitter atTheExtrasTV or Instagram at
TheExtrastv to stay up to dateon our upcoming guests and to be
a part of our community.
And you're invited to a newFacebook group for fans of
Warner Brothers films called theWarner Archive and Warner
(48:11):
Brothers catalog group.
So look for that link on theFacebook page or in the podcast
show notes.
And for our long-term listeners, don't forget to follow and
leave us a review at iTunes,spotify or your favorite podcast
provider.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Malart, stay
slightly obsessed.
Hello and welcome to the extras, where we take you
behind the scenes of yourfavorite TV shows, movies and
animation, and they're releasedon digital DVD, blu-ray and 4K
or your favorite streaming site.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me today is George
Feltenstein of Warner Brothersto review the June Blu-ray
releases from the Warner Archive.
Hi, George.
George Feltenstein (00:26):
Hi Tim, how are you?
TIM MILLARD (00:29):
Well, I'm excited to talk about these June
releases because I reallyenjoyed all of them, so I'm
looking forward to this.
But before we dive into thefirst title, there was one more
Blu-ray and that was pushed backto July, and that's Land of the
Pharaohs.
Is there any update we can giveto the listeners as to why that
was pushed back?
George Feltenstein (00:49):
There was a production issue and we resolved
it, but in order to not havepeople expecting it in June,
when it won't be ready untilJuly, we moved the street date
to July 18.
So that will give plenty oftime for everybody to get their
disc, and I know that title isvery, very much in demand.
(01:11):
The fans are really excitedabout it and it'll be worth the
wait.
So a couple more weeks.
TIM MILLARD (01:18):
And it actually pushes the release of that one a
little closer to the Helen ofTroy, which I think is a little
later in July.
So those who are ordering one,i think, are often ordering both
of those two because they fallinto the same kind of epic
storytelling.
So they'll have a great Julywhen those releases come out.
Absolutely, yeah.
(01:38):
Well, I'm excited to go overthese releases, as I mentioned,
and they're all from the 50s,which is kind of fun.
The first one we were going togo into, i think,
chronologically here is Cagedfrom 1950.
George Feltenstein (01:53):
Really a magnificent film and the new
presentation is revelatory.
Most of what we are doinglately falls into that category,
So it's almost like we'respoiling everyone, but happily
so, because our standards areexacting.
(02:14):
And in the case of Caged wewent back to the nitrate camera
negative.
And the difference between thisand what was on DVD is pretty
jaw-dropping and it looksamazing.
And when we released this filmon DVD, we released it as part
of a series of films that werein little box sets called Camp
(02:39):
Classics, And whereas this filmdoes have a little aspect of
that, that's somewhat demeaningin the sense that this film is
much more a piece of seriousfilmmaking than it is, let's say
, something like Queen of OuterSpace, which falls into that
(03:00):
other category.
It was a way to get the filmout and market it at the time,
And that was 16 years ago.
But now we have this beautifulnew 4K scan of the camera
negative, beautiful new Blu-ray,impressive extras and a film
that was nominated for bestactress for Eleanor Parker,
(03:23):
who's sensational in the leadingrole, Marie Allen, the innocent
young lady who is considered anaccessory to a crime because
her young husband was pulled outof the film.
Her young husband was pullingoff a robbery and she was
considered an accomplice.
She's thrown into this woman'sprison and the film is really
(03:50):
not shy about being realisticAnd it's deeply disturbing in a
lot of places.
It's deeply upsetting to watchin a lot of places, which means
it's effective filmmaking.
The performances are reallyexceptional by everyone.
The direction by John Cromwellis equally impressive and not
(04:14):
only did Eleanor Parker get abest actress nomination, but
Hope Emerson, who plays thematron of the women and she's
just evil as all get out.
She was nominated for bestsupporting actress.
1950 was a pretty tough yearbecause you had movies like we
(04:34):
talked about this before, movieslike all about Eve and sunset
Boulevard and asphalt jungle.
So many great movies made 1950.
So while it didn't win thosecoveted Oscars, it was a big hit
at the box office and gotunofficially remade 12 years
(04:54):
later as House of Women withShirley Knight, which is
something one archive put out onDVD years ago.
But he stands on his own twofeet.
And I'd be remiss if I alsodidn't call out the exceptional
performance of Agnes Morehead asthe warden, because she gives a
performance that iscompassionate and yet dealing
(05:16):
with the reality of, you know,the women's prison life, And it
also made me think about anothertitle that we released, which
was pre code Barbara Stanwyck.
Ladies They Talked About whereBarbara Stanwyck is in a women's
prison And to compare the 1933look at a women's prison Before
(05:40):
the code versus 1950 during thecode.
This pretty much pushed the codeenvelope because there are a
lot of things in the movie, inthe scenario, that are deeply
disturbing and a lot of thingshave to be implied rather than
stated outright.
But the audience is smart andgets what the story is about And
(06:03):
this is a bona fide classic andone that Warner Brothers can be
very proud of.
This is perfect to be in linewith our 100th anniversary
releases because we have, youknow, we dedicated one month in
April to just Warner Brotherstitles And this month has
(06:24):
several in it And next monthwill have several in it And the
month after that will have a fewin it.
But you know these reallyimportant movies will be
scattered throughout the yearAnd very, very grateful that we
have the opportunity to put thisout.
And we threw on a Bugs Bunnycartoon called Big House Bunny,
(06:48):
which is from the same year, butobviously as a prison theme.
I thought that would work wellAnd we also included a radio
show, Screen Directors Playhouse, which features Eleanor Parker
and Hope Emerson, and a verybrief bit of speaking after the
show with director John Cromwell, So that was not on the prior
(07:11):
DVD release.
I think it's a great disc And Ithink people really owe it to
themselves to add it to theircollection.
It's a very distinct upgradefrom the DVD as well.
TIM MILLARD (07:22):
Yeah, and I've talked about this movie on
several different podcasts.
For those listeners who arefrequent listeners And I'm a big
fan of this film theperformances that you just
mentioned I mean some of themare nominated, so people have
acknowledged how great they are.
I don't know Parker.
She was fairly young.
I remember reading about itthat she actually wanted to do
(07:45):
this role, which you think wow.
That's pretty risky for anactress who's young, but she
really, i think, wanted to testout her acting chops in a role
that was demanding, like this,where she really has to
transform from this naive19-year-old girl who gets caught
up in this robbery into thishardened criminal over the
(08:07):
course of time.
But the other beautiful thingabout this film, i think, is
that it fits right into thatsocial consciousness that Warner
Brothers is so known for Andthat really comes across, i
thought, in the trailer, whichpushes the need for reform and
prison and all of those issuesin this movie.
George Feltenstein (08:25):
I couldn't agree more.
It is of its time, but thereare themes in the movie that are
relevant today And our penalsystem is still in need of help,
and I think this film pointsout the pitfalls of it.
In a way, it's a kind of areal-life horror film and the
(08:48):
monsters are real people.
I've always been impressed byit And I'm grateful that we've
had the opportunity to give itthe upgrade for both
preservation, restoration andcreating a new new release.
It's in nice with the rest ofthe Warner Archive mission.
TIM MILLARD (09:10):
Yeah, the image quality is terrific.
I did see this in the theaterabout a year ago and it was
terrific to see it on the bigscreen at a film festival.
But to see it on my 4K, it'sthe Blu-ray, but to see it on my
4K monitor, man, it's crisp andit looks terrific.
And then, of course, i love theBig House Bunny Just such a
(09:34):
great extra on there.
George Feltenstein (09:37):
It sets the tone because if you were to have
seen it in the theater in 1950,it's very possible that would
have been shown in the theaterwith it.
It's very difficult to knowexactly what was paired with
what and we try to research that, But I thought in this case
they shared the same year and,more importantly, there's a
(10:00):
thematic tie-in And it doesn'tmake fun of the movie.
It just kind of puts you in agood mood before you start to
get really disturbed by the filmitself, Right.
TIM MILLARD (10:12):
Yeah, i mean it gives a little counterweight to
the seriousness of the movie,but it's a terrific package And
I'm sure any fan of this filmwill want to pick up this new
transfer.
But I highly recommend it tothose who aren't as familiar
with this film.
That you won't be disappointed,that's for sure.
Well, next we have, i have tosay, probably my favorite from
(10:36):
this month, but that's just myown opinion.
George Feltenstein (10:38):
You got good taste.
TIM MILLARD (10:41):
Well, the next word is the damned don't cry from
1950.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (10:46):
Well, this is in my opinion.
There were a few more that cameafter this, but this is the
apex of Joan Crawford's tenureas a leading lady at Warner
Brothers And I've always feltthis is like aside from Mildred
Pierce, which is in its ownestablishing era at the studio,
(11:12):
this is like the penultimatezenith of Crawford at Warner
Brothers And the way hercharacter transforms and the
plot is somewhat wild because itgoes from so many it isn't
particularly plausible, but itis basically using every device
(11:40):
from several different kinds ofportrayals that Joan Crawford
had done in the past And shechoose up the scenery
appropriately.
I think it's one of her bestperformances.
I think the film isexceptionally well cast And it's
always been a favorite, notjust of mine but of many people
(12:03):
I know who appreciate JoanCrawford's talent and artistry,
and we had the great goodfortune years ago of recording a
commentary with directorVincent Sherman, who lived
almost to the age of 100 and hadperfect recall, and we had him
(12:25):
report a commentary for thisfilm and also appears in a
little featurette that's on thedisc and that adds so much
gravitas to the wholepresentation.
This film was originallyentitled The Victim, but I'm
glad they changed the title toThe Damn Don't Cry, because it
(12:46):
just really hammers home What akind of lush melodrama this is,
and it's really a consummateCrawford performance.
That draws from the girl fromthe wrong side of the tracks And
I use the term girl looselybecause Crawford was about 46 or
(13:13):
45 when she made this film,depending.
We don't quite know for surewhat her actual birth year is.
Some people say 1904.
Some sources say 1907.
I tend to believe it was 1904.
And it was shooting in 1949,released in 1950.
(13:33):
So let's say she was 46 at thetime.
They were already lighting herin such a way to try to hide the
age.
But she's very convincing as ayoung-ish mother who lives near
the train tracks with herworkaday husband and they're
living in basic, close topoverty.
(13:53):
And after a tragedy she leavesthe small town, heads to the big
city and won't let anythingstand in her way.
I don't want to give away thethought.
But there are also wonderfulsupporting performances in this
film.
David Bryan is her leading man.
They were reunited after makingFlamingo Road the year before,
(14:18):
which we released earlier thisyear.
And there's also Steve Cochran,who is in Storm Warning that we
talked about a couple of weeksago.
And then Kent Smith of CatPeople fame has another role in
the film And he really proveshimself to be the man that loves
(14:43):
Crawford's character.
Crawford transforms fromDoughty housewife Ethel
Whitehead to Lorna Hansen,forbes Socialite.
Yet no one can trace where shecame from.
And I think this film is morethan a guilty pleasure.
It is to be enjoyed.
(15:04):
And now I believe in recentyears, it has come to be more
seriously appreciated Because,let's say, 20 years ago it was
pretty much forgotten And whenwe released it on DVD it was a
very long time ago.
It had never been released onVHS, never been released on
(15:25):
Lazardis.
This film was very hard to seefor a long time.
When we released it on DVD aspart of our first Joan Crawford
collection DVD set, and that wasprobably around 2005, i'm
thinking or 2006, it was verywell received And I think that
(15:45):
helped.
Usually it started being shownon television more frequently
and there were theatricalretrospectives that included it
in Crawford festivals And nowpeople get to really enjoy it.
But it's a packed disc becausethis film was given a treatment
(16:06):
like Cabe's that was restoredfrom the original camera
negative, which was nitrate, andgiven an audio restoration as
well.
It's in sounds tremendous, andwe have Vincent Sherman's
archival commentary.
We have the feature at aboutCrawford at Warner's that deals
(16:27):
with the kind of roles she'splaying at the studio.
It's short but sweet.
And then we have the radio showfrom screen directors playhouse
but unlike Caged, VincentSherman is on hand with Crawford
and the leading man role playedby David Bryan is covered by
(16:48):
Frank Lovejoy, who was a Warnercontract player at the time, who
was actually starring with JoanCrawford in a film that was
being shot when the radio showwas done, called Goodbye My
Fancy.
So the whole package worksreally, really well.
The trailer is on there, soit's a solid package that looks
(17:10):
and sounds great.
It's a film that is veryentertaining and a must for
Crawford fans, and I would evensay this is a film among others,
that's if you're not familiarwith Joan Crawford.
This is a great film to startwith, along with things like
Mildred Pierce and Mingle Roadand her early MGM work, it's
(17:33):
really quite remarkable.
TIM MILLARD (17:34):
Well, that's surprising to hear, George, that
it had kind of fallen off theradar for some people because I
mean, it's a tour de force.
I thought She plays this justpowerhouse.
Once she kind of decides thather old life is going to be in
the rearview mirror And shedrives this movie.
I think your friend GlennErickson.
(17:56):
He says in that feature ad thatthis is a very Warner Brothers
film.
I mean it moves, the time fliesin this because the action just
goes, it goes, it goes, it goes.
And Joan is in the center ofprobably almost every scene And
her character and the transitionthat she develops through the
course of the film is reallyjust you can't take your eyes
(18:18):
off her because she really hasthat force of nature in a kind
of man's world obviously.
Yet she's pulling a lot of thelevers and driving a lot of the
men through this.
So it's a terrific noir in thatsense.
And of course Sherman does anamazing job directing the action
and the actors And I thoughtthis, this foursome of Crawford,
(18:41):
bryan, cochran and Smith wereterrific together.
George Feltenstein (18:46):
Yeah, they really are, and you know.
To talk about its lack ofavailability, this was a film.
Let's say we go back to the1970s.
Maybe you'd see this film insyndication on a television
station, cut up with commercials, and God knows how awful it
would have looked.
(19:06):
But it wasn't available forlike film societies to show in
film series.
There were no 16 millimeternon-theatrical prints
circulating at that time.
And again in the 80s evenharder to see was never on VHS,
it was the DVD.
And also after the DVD itstarted to be shown on to the
(19:31):
classic movies because we had anew master that we made for the
DVD, which pales in comparisonto the master we have now, but
at the time it was a big stepforward and it got the film out
there.
Ironically I don't know ifthere's any tie to this at all,
but there's a music group whosename is The Damned Don't Cry.
I don't know if it's a punkgroup or what, but every time
(19:56):
I'm looking up stuff about thismovie, sometimes it'll cross up
in a Google search and pop upabout the music group.
I think it's really cool.
But I can't say enough goodthings about this movie.
It is one of my favorites ofthe Prophet films, and there are
many favorites.
TIM MILLARD (20:15):
And Joan is so associated with the golden era
of Warner Brothers and thiswe've talked about, this Warner
Brothers 100 celebration.
I think this is one of thosehey, which movie should I buy?
that are coming out this year.
I think this is one you're likehey, The Damned Don't Cry, buy
that one.
It's got one of the major starsof Warner Brothers and it's a
(20:35):
great picture and it looks great.
The new transfer if you'venever seen the film, you're
going to watch it and it justlooks so great.
And if you've only seen it, asyou mentioned, on TV all cut up
or some of the previous places,it's going to be a major jump
for you in your enjoyment.
I think of this film And it'sjust packed with extras.
George Feltenstein (20:56):
There's one more film she made at Warner
Brothers, which was the filmthat followed Novi Pierce, and
it's a tour de force triumph,and that's Humoresque.
That's the one that I think isnext in our restoration
preservation program.
No work has begun on it, so Idon't want to mislead people
(21:17):
into thinking it's coming justaround the corner.
But I'm certainly fighting forthat to happen because it's too
important a film not to beavailable.
But the two films she madeafter this at Warner Brothers
before leaving the studio wouldbuy my fancy and This Woman is
Dangerous are not as strong asthe run up between Bill Dupier
(21:43):
and Damned don't Cry.
All those other picturesHumoresque, Flamingo Road,
Damned Don't Cry, along withMildred Pierce.
They're really sensational andshe's terrific in them.
TIM MILLARD (21:56):
People mentioned that film Humoresque as one of
their favorites, so I'm surethere's a lot of listeners who
are excited to hear you.
You mentioned that, though, asyou say, not coming soon
necessarily, but in the queue,so to speak.
George Feltenstein (22:10):
But again, this is a very long process and
we're constantly battling whendo we bring the elements in?
This is another one where thenitrate is across country and
budgets need to be approved andP&Ls need to be approved and
people look at the performanceof how these films are selling.
(22:34):
That's why it's so importantthat people who are on the fence
but want to see more of thesekind of films, their support is
a direct line to more to follow,and if something doesn't
perform well, it kind ofcabaches the likelihood of more
of the same coming their way,because we have to be able to
(22:57):
defend every new prospectiverelease with data that shows
that like titles have performedproperly.
And such is the life ofbusiness and the constant battle
between art and commerce.
TIM MILLARD (23:14):
Right.
Well, i'm hoping for goodthings for the release of this
one, because I thought it was aterrific film.
In the next film we're going totalk about, i also really
enjoyed a lot the 1953 noirthriller, angel Face.
George Feltenstein (23:31):
This is a very interesting film because
there's so many great things youcan say about it.
RKO borrowed Otto Preminger,who sealed his noir au tour
place in film history with Laurain 1944 at Fox, and RKO
(23:53):
borrowed Otto Preminger from Foxto make this film.
And you've got Robert Mitchum,who is always great, giving a
wonderful performance, and GeneSimmons with a knockout
performance Yes, the leadinglady And Herbert Marshall and
(24:13):
Mona Freeman.
It's a great cast.
It's a very tightly told story.
The film is also one of thesefilms that is often referred to
with two years, because it wasgiven a general release in 1953.
I believe it opened in LosAngeles in 1953.
(24:34):
But it was copyrighted in 1952and I believe it had an initial
engagement in 1952.
So people refer to it as fromeither 1952 or 1953 and neither
of them are wrong.
This is a case where we wentback to the original elements
and that ended up creating thisbeautiful master.
(24:59):
And how did you think the filmlooked?
TIM MILLARD (25:02):
Well, there were only a few instances where I
thought maybe it was a littlesoft, but I thought it looked
terrific.
George Feltenstein (25:07):
Yeah, it's a quantum leap from where we came
, but therein lie or lay aproblem that we were not aware
of and hadn't had encounteredbefore.
We have a commentary for thisfilm done by the great Eddie
Muller, who's now a superstar ontelevision thanks to Laura
Alley on Turner Classic Movies.
(25:27):
But at the time he was a staramongst a smaller group of
people who followed hisactivities in the Film Noir
Foundation.
He's always been a good friendto us and he recorded the
commentary for this film.
So when we went to use thecommentary recorded for this
film for its DVD release, itcouldn't sink and we didn't
(25:49):
understand why.
And I couldn't release thiswithout his commentary.
So we found out that there wereframes left out of the fine
grain that was used for theprior standard definition
transfer that were in thematerials that were used for the
(26:10):
new fluke A-Scan.
So as a result, that's why thecommentary kept going out of
sync.
So the only way to save it waswe presented on the disc along
with the old standard definitionmaster so that you can watch
the film, albeit with lesserquality.
But here Eddie's greatcommentary.
(26:30):
Ideally it had been ourintention and preference to want
to have the commentary be withthe feature in Blu-ray and from
this wonderful new master madefrom the 4K scan.
But we couldn't get it to syncbecause of how it was created
And at the time the commentariesweren't archived without a
(26:55):
mixed track.
They were archived as they wererecorded with the film as it
was released on DVD, so wecouldn't separate them And we
were forced into this compromise.
While not ideal, it saves thecommentary and gives the person
the ability to watch the film.
They want to watch the filmlooking beautiful and amazing.
(27:18):
They can't listen to thecommentary, but if they want to
hear what Eddie has to say, theycan at least use the other
version, which is of lesserquality but certainly watchable
as a reference.
And, given it's an Eddie Mollercommentary, it's filled with
incredible information on thefilm.
(27:39):
So it is exciting.
And we were able to add thetrailer to this, which wasn't on
the DVD.
RKO trailers are few and farbetween because they did not
make their own trailers the wayWarner Bros and MGM did.
They were made by NationalScreen Service, so when the
(28:00):
library was sold, trailersdidn't go with it.
So we've had to go to all sortsof lengths to get a trailer and
we have one here.
So that is good news for fansof the film.
But this is a very brutal noir.
It's just luscious And I thinkit looks great.
TIM MILLARD (28:20):
Yeah, and just to go to the trailer, it's not on
the packaging that the trailerwas on there, so I was
pleasantly surprised when I wentto the extras to see it there
And it was fun to watch that.
But I suppose with Eddie'sexpertise at noir, that having
his commentary on here does hesee this as one of the very fine
(28:41):
noirs that are out there.
George Feltenstein (28:42):
Yeah, he did several commentaries for us,
but this was one that he was allover, and once you hear his
commentary, you see the film ina whole different way, which is
what a good commentary does.
So I'm grateful that it's there, and I'm grateful that the new
master is so superior to what wehad before, and the RKO films
(29:06):
are always a challenge, and thisone now looks terrific, as it
rightly should.
TIM MILLARD (29:14):
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed this, George.
It's a good watch, I mean.
It's got everything that youexpect out of a noir.
It's got the man caught up inthese circumstances and it
slowly pulls him in.
And Gene Simmons wow, what aperformance by her.
She's fantastic as this youngheiress and just the kind of the
(29:35):
web she weaves throughout thefilm, And we're not going to
give anything away, but it'sfantastic.
I thought her performance wasoutstanding.
George Feltenstein (29:45):
Well, she was really a magnificent actress
and her tenure at RKO was alittle bit compromised by the
fact that Howard Hughes wasrunning the studio at the time.
He wanted the women undercontract to behave a certain way
(30:05):
, whether it's on screen or offscreen, and that made things
very difficult for a lot ofactresses, including Gene
Simmons during this film.
But the net result of it is acinema classic And it's such a
wonderful thing to be able toadd this in Blu-ray to the noir
archive collection.
TIM MILLARD (30:25):
And she was married to an actor that we highlighted
last month in King Solomon'sMind, and that's Stuart Granger
right.
George Feltenstein (30:32):
Yes, yes, they were married.
And then, after their divorce,she was married for a very long
time to a great director andscreenwriter, richard Brooks,
who directed Cat on a Hot TinRoof from so many wonderful
films, and they ended up, ibelieve, getting divorced in the
1970s.
(30:52):
But that was a much happiermarriage for her.
I think she had a life whereshe wasn't appreciated enough
for her abilities as an actressAnd she gave so many wonderful
performances.
I just think anytime you get anopportunity to put out
wonderful films in which you gota chance to really give a great
(31:15):
performance and there's so manyof those we're very fortunate
and Mitcham and Simmons togetherunder the direction of Auto
Premature, it's just a winnerevery inch of the way.
TIM MILLARD (31:27):
Yeah, i think this is a must-own for noir fans For
all the reasons you justspecified the acting, the script
, the directing and then theextras that you have on here.
It's terrific.
One last thing, george I lovethe packaging on this one as
well.
George Feltenstein (31:42):
Yeah, the great artwork for sure.
We had a lot of differentpieces to choose from what the
cover art would be, but this washands down.
I'm pretty sure that's what weused on the DVD as well.
It's wonderful art And the RKOArt Department really did a slam
(32:03):
bang job promoting this film,and we're very delighted that it
looks so great and thepackaging is so attractive.
It's a winner.
TIM MILLARD (32:17):
Well, the next film we're going to talk about.
I also love the packaging onthat one, and that's Dangerous
When Wet, from 1953.
George Feltenstein (32:26):
I think I had that poster years ago.
I don't think I still do, butit's a great poster.
But more importantly, this is avery charming musical comedy
from Esther Williams And it's alittle different from a lot of
her films because there's nohuge water ballet spectacle,
(32:51):
it's just a sweet little story,really good original songs And
there's obvious chemistrybetween Esther Williams and
Fernando Lamas which led to themgetting married in real life.
Almost a decade later They gottogether.
I think they got married evenlater than that, but they were
together about 1962 or 1963.
(33:15):
They obviously had anattraction to each other but
they were right to other people.
But their chemistry on screenwas terrific.
And there's also a greatsupporting cast in this movie
Charlotte Greenwood, walterDemerist, denise Darcel, who
(33:35):
appeared at MGM in movies likeBattleground And she never
really became a star but she hadsome interesting roles.
You also have Jack Carson who'susually found it at Warner
Brothers in Warner Brothersmovies, but he went to MGM to do
this.
And there are songs with lyricsby Johnny Mercer and music by
(33:59):
Arthur Schwartz.
But the technicolor restorationhere again off the original
camera, negatives, re-registeredis just luscious.
The thing that sets this filminto a special realm is the idea
they had to create a sequencewhere Esther would swim with Tom
(34:20):
and Jerry, and that was comingabout seven or eight years after
Jerry the Mouse danced withGene Kelly in Anchors Away.
This film is also unique inbeing an MGM musical that wasn't
produced by her usual or mostprolific film producer, joe
(34:44):
Pasternak.
Joe Pasternak would make thesemusicals that would stop the
plot in order to have noveltyacts performed.
So you know, like in her firstmovie, bathing Beauty, the movie
stopped so that Ethel Smith canplay the organ.
The story stopped so XavierKugat can do a few musical
(35:06):
numbers.
And this film doesn't have thatpadding.
It's got a nice brisk runningtime.
It tells its story very sweetly, it's got some great songs in
it, the Tom and Jerry sequencein it, and a lot of people are
always very affectionate towardsthis film and refer to it as
one of their favorites.
(35:27):
And having known Esther, i knowthat she had particular
affection for this movie,especially because she made it
with Fernando and their marriageended with his very premature
death at a relatively young ageAnd she basically retired from
(35:50):
the public eye to be married tohim And he was very much in her
memory.
And so this was among thefavorites of her films because
they performed together.
But audiences generally aregreat fans of this film and it
was quite a brisk seller inprevious iterations.
(36:12):
But it looks terrific, itsounds great.
We have a deleted musical numberon the disc.
We have another Dick Simmons,esther Williams radio
promotional interview.
We've got a Tom and Jerrycartoon.
We've got a Pete Smith short.
We have audio demo recordings ofsongs written for the movie
(36:33):
with very different lyricsperformed by the lyricist,
johnny Mercer.
That was applying when we foundthat audition disc And it has a
song on there called Fifi,which is in the movie very
briefly.
Fernando sings it as he's likegetting dressed.
He sings a few bars of it.
It was supposed to be a bigproduction number, so you get to
(36:56):
hear Johnny Mercer do thislonger version And the song that
opens up the movie.
I got out of bed on the rightside.
It was a very catchy tune.
He had written very differentlyrics for the film that were
more about basically havinggotten drunk the night before
And that was not quiteappropriate what the MGM wanted
(37:16):
to do.
This film was made on a modestbudget and was very profitable
when it was released, and it'sremained very popular whenever
we've released it in a newformat And this being a
restoration from the originalnegative and perfect alignment
of the technical negatives, itlooks and sounds terrific and
(37:36):
very great.
Please that we're adding it tothe collection.
TIM MILLARD (37:40):
Yeah, it really does look great.
You know it's fun because itstarts off with her and her
family in Arkansas And that songjust fits the mood.
You know they're going out,they're going swimming in the
river or lake or whatever thatpond or reservoir is near their
home.
It sets up the family as thisvery athletic, positive, can-do
attitude, and so that's reallyfun.
(38:01):
And then it transitions, youknow, because they go over to
swim the channel, to this moreinternational And you get the
flavor of the athletes from theother countries And of course
Fernando he's supposed to beFrench And this wealthy
Frenchman with the sailboat.
It really takes a few funtwists and turns, keeps you
(38:22):
interested.
It's got the swimming of thechannel, kind of to push the
action, and then it's got thesongs intertwined, so and then
you just really packed it withall of these extras and they're
a lot of fun.
George Feltenstein (38:34):
Absolutely, and we're, as I said you know,
i'm hoping that we will havemore of Esther's films in the
future, because there's so manygood ones we haven't gotten to
yet.
But these Technicolorrestorations are really like
restoring three movies.
So you've got three layers ofnegative that need to be aligned
with our proprietary technology, and that takes a lot of time,
(38:57):
but then that results are worthit And we're very proud of the
movies.
TIM MILLARD (39:04):
Well, the last film we're going to talk about also
takes place on the in waterGeorge, Interestingly enough,
but totally different obviously,with the old man and the sea
from 1958 starring Spencer Tracy.
George Feltenstein (39:17):
Well, what's interesting about this film is
it's based on a novella byErnest Hemingway, who of course
was very much attached to thewater and was a seafaring fellow
.
And you know we've had otherfilms based on Hemingway works
that are water bound, like tohave and have not, but the old
(39:39):
man in the sea.
He specifically wanted SpencerTracy to take on that part And
it gave Tracy an opportunity tobe reunited with his director
from the bad day at Black Rock,john Sturges, who later went on
to great greater fame with filmslike the Magnificent Seven and
(40:00):
The Great Escape.
John Sturges was a sensationaldirector.
So for Sturges to reunite withSpencer Tracy and do this
basically one man film I meanthere are brief shots of other
people in certain sequences butit's almost like a soliloquy in
the sense And it's really a workof art.
(40:23):
We've gotten so many requestsfor this movie.
There are people that just lovethe movie And I think, a lot of
people who are seafaringfellows and seafaring ladies.
They have a special place intheir heart for this film.
And Tracy got nominated for anOscar one of his many
(40:44):
nominations.
But the film did win the Oscarfor Dimitri Tiomkin's amazing
musical score.
So it is really many greatartists coming together to
create this very specific andunique kind of filmmaking
experience.
(41:04):
And we do have a little extra onthere.
We call it a documentary.
It's really footage from adocumentary that was never
completed.
That was made by a youngfilmmaker and he brought the
footage to us in the 90s And itwas crafted into a little piece
(41:26):
that was on prior iterations andis now being carried over to
the blue light.
But it gives you a sense ofsome of the fun that they had
and it just adds a little flavor.
And you can also tell by thetrailer which is on the disc
that this was quite aprestigious movie to Warner
Brothers and the kind offilmmaking that Jack Warner
(41:48):
really focused on in the 50s and60s, you know, films based on
great pieces of literature orgreat works of the stage.
That was his primary focus forbig pictures And this certainly
was a very prestigious releasefor Warner Brothers in 1950.
TIM MILLARD (42:09):
Yeah, that trailer is really unique.
It's got the artwork and thenyou turn the page, so to speak,
into another painting And it'sreally fun.
But, as you say, it's gone withthe prestige element, the
literary element, in pushing thefilm.
And I recall watching this, ithink in high school, when we
read the book and you know, inliterature class, red Hemingway
(42:33):
I mean I absolutely adored thebook and I thought the movie was
fantastic.
But it's been many years and tosee it looking like this
because it is in color, icouldn't take my eyes off of the
images.
And then that very naturalistic,understated acting that Tracy
does for this, i mean he justcarries it And of course the
(42:54):
music really accentuates thedrama and being on the ocean and
the weather and everything, imean the time flew by, i thought
.
Just the combination ofeverything makes this film, i
think, a terrific one to have onBlu-ray for fans of the film,
fans of the book, fans of TracyI mean there's fans of Tiompkins
(43:18):
There's just a lot of reasonsto get this Blu-ray and I really
enjoyed it.
George Feltenstein (43:25):
And this is yet another 4k scan off the
camera negative And it was shotin watercolor So you do have
those opticals that are doopsthat unfortunately degrade the
picture you're in there.
But we did our best to minimizethose problems And this is the
best I've ever seen the filmlook.
(43:45):
They really did a wonderful jobat one of those motion picture
engine bringing out the colorand having it not be, like you
know, with the yellow tint to it, as I'm used to seeing.
It would always be grimy andyellow and ugly.
And now it's really like Yeah,blues really pop.
(44:07):
I thought The blues in the seareally pop, and it's the blue
channel that usually is thefirst to go when the yellow
layer on the original negativestarts to collapse on these
Eastman color films made in thesecond part of the 1950s.
So we were very lucky that wewere able to use the camera
negative, and the result is agorgeous disc.
TIM MILLARD (44:30):
I'm just reminded there's the VO when it's talking
about the old man and it saysthe old man with his blue eyes
And that shot right there.
I mean to just talk about thetransfer you have.
I mean the blue of Tracy's eyesjust pops in that shot as
they're talking about it and thedetail and everything.
I thought, wow, this is aterrific transfer you guys came
(44:52):
up with And I did notice that,you know, there were a few times
maybe wasn't quite as sharp,but overall it was fantastic
looking and it sounds so goodYeah and Tiongkin's score plays
an integral part, is almostanother character in the movie.
George Feltenstein (45:09):
There's Tracy's there, all by himself,
and there's the language ofHemingway that screenwriter
Peter Vietel translated intocinema, but it's a lot of
Hemingway's own language.
This is a very personal project, with Hemingway's involvement
(45:32):
and for Tracy to be his personalpick and Sturges behind the
camera, and Leland Haywardy, avery respected stage and screen
producer, produced this moviefor Warner Brothers and it's
just the first class productionall the way through, and another
way to celebrate the hundredyears of Warner Brothers with a
(45:55):
classic from is fast.
TIM MILLARD (45:58):
Yeah, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Well, George, another greatmonth.
I thought the releases for Juneare just so strong, And so I
think there's a lot that fanshave to look forward to.
I would recommend buying allfive of them that we talked
about today, because I thinkthey look so good and the movies
are just so good, But for thosewho have their favorites, I
(46:19):
think they're gonna really enjoywhat they get this month.
George Feltenstein (46:24):
I hope so, and we've already announced our
July titles and they are all ontheir way.
I'm expecting to see finisheddiscs pretty soon on the
Broadway melody Simeron 1931,the Very Was A Lady, the Fast
Disc and Alive Helen of Troy andThe Last Time I Saw Paris.
(46:46):
But when we next speak we'llalso be talking about The Land
of the Pharaohs, since that gotpushed into July.
So we'll actually have seventitles in July.
TIM MILLARD (46:56):
Well, thank you so much as always for coming on to
share with the fans all of yourknowledge about these films and
the restorations and what fanshave to look forward to with all
the extras here on this bluerace.
George Feltenstein (47:07):
Oh, it's always a pleasure, tim, and
thank you for the opportunity toshare background of these
movies with our dedicatedcustomers, who we appreciate
their support of every day.
TIM MILLARD (47:26):
Well, it's always great to have George Felmsden on
to talk about the WarnerArchive releases.
June is a very strong month anda great follow-up to the eight
blue rays released in May And,just as a reminder, you can go
back and listen to the May andprevious months reviews at any
time.
Just look for those in ourpodcast archives.
And for those of you interestedin ordering the films we
discussed today, there are linksin the podcast show notes and
(47:50):
on our website at wwwtheextrastv, so be sure and check those out
.
If you're on social media, besure and follow the show on
Facebook or Twitter atTheExtrasTV or Instagram at
TheExtrastv to stay up to dateon our upcoming guests and to be
a part of our community.
And you're invited to a newFacebook group for fans of
Warner Brothers films called theWarner Archive and Warner
(48:11):
Brothers catalog group.
So look for that link on theFacebook page or in the podcast
show notes.
And for our long-term listeners, don't forget to follow and
leave us a review at iTunes,spotify or your favorite podcast
provider.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Malart, stay
slightly obsessed.
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