December 12, 2025 • 50 mins
The Warner Archive kicks off 2026 with a diverse lineup of 6 classic films, including a Clark Gable and Jean Harlow erotic pre-Code, a hard-hitting Robinson/Raft/Dietrich drama, a suspenseful Greenstreet-Lorre team up, a highly anticipated noir with Charles Mcgraw, a Technicolor musical, another Mario Lanza classic, and more Hanna Barbera. PLUS two more film collections! George Feltenstein of the Warner Archive provides all the details behind the restoration and the included extras.
Pre-order links:
THE NARROW MARGIN (1952) Blu-ray
BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON (1953) Blu-ray
FOR THE FIRST TIME (1959) Blu-ray
THE NEW FRED AND BARNEY SHOW (1979)-The Complete Series Blu-ray
James Stewart 4 Film Collection Blu-ray
Robert Taylor 4 Film Collection Blu-ray
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (02:04):
Hello and welcome to the X-Piz.
I'm Tim Large, your host, andjoining me is George Feltstein.
And we're going to be kickingoff 2026, George, with the
January Lou-Ray releases fromthe Warner Archives.
Very exciting.
George Feltenstein (02:17):
I'm excited too, Tim, and it's always it's a
pleasure to be with you to talkabout what we've got coming up.
Tim Millard (02:23):
Every month, you know, I'm like a kid.
What's coming, what's coming?
And I know a lot of otherpeople feel exactly the same way
because you just do a great,you know, job of trying to, you
know, meet something for all thedifferent various groups out
there.
And I think that is true ofwhat you have coming in January,
because we're gonna have ananimation title.
(02:46):
We're gonna wait a little bitlater to talk about that one.
But I thought today we'll startoldest first, just because I'm
also very excited about it.
Uh, and I wanted to get to itright away.
And I know it's it's got a lotof fans out there who are very
excited to see Red Dust from1932.
What can you tell us about thispre-code film?
George Feltenstein (03:10):
Well, this is something I'm really thrilled
that we're doing.
I've been wanting to do it forso long.
It finally got approved.
We had done a lot of work onthis film, you know, everything
in perspective, for its DVDrelease in 2012.
And it's a very difficult filmto deal with because it's shot,
(03:34):
you know, kind of dark becausethere's so many night scenes and
they're out in the middle ofAfrica at night and huts and
this and that and so forth.
And there's also rain.
And when you've got rain, youhave to make sure that the rain
is preserved.
It reminds me of uh before uhsomething I was not involved in,
(03:58):
but uh the DVD debut of CitizenKane was very controversial
because not only did they removethe grain, they removed the
rain.
Uh it was a real disaster.
Yeah.
Um that was uh something thatyou want to avoid when you're
dealing with a film that hasrain.
So our restoration team had tomake sure that the film as
(04:23):
photographed was reproduced.
Again, another MGM film wherethe original negative is long
gone.
And I think this one was evenlong gone, maybe before the
fire, just because this film wasreissued countless times,
mostly due to the fact that JeanHarlow passed away at 26 years
(04:46):
of age, such a young, youngwoman when she died, and
re-releases and retrospectivesof her films really preceded the
growth of revival cinemas inthe 70s and 80s.
And so this is a film that justnever wasn't popular.
But we did have ourdifficulties making it even
(05:09):
digestible for DVD.
Now, here we are years later,13 years later, and we need to
make it shine on Blu-ray.
And I'm thrilled with whatWarner Brothers Motion Picture
Imaging and the artists thatlabor there have done on our
(05:30):
behalf.
It looks really great.
It sounds really great.
It doesn't feel like a93-year-old movie.
Wow.
93.
But this is also one of themost important films that
cemented the chemistry of GeneHarlow and Clark Gable.
And they made, you know,several films together, uh, some
(05:52):
of which we've talked abouthere on the extras in the past.
But people were frustrated.
Oh, it's great that you releaseSaratoga, but where is where is
red dust?
I don't think anything werelease gets just you know a
thumbs up, and that's great.
But it usually is followed by,but what about dot, dot, dot,
(06:14):
dot, dot?
unknown (06:15):
Right.
George Feltenstein (06:15):
And I'm not saying that in a pejorative or
negative way uh towards anyone.
Enthusiasm for classic film issomething I am euphoric over.
And our job is to try to pleaseeveryone, which is impossible,
but we do our best to try andhit all the buttons.
And based on what we've gotplanned in 2026, Red Dust is
(06:39):
very indicative of thewell-known, high-level,
well-loved films that a lot ofpeople have been waiting for.
And there will be a lot morefollowing Red Dust.
But this is one of the greatMGM classics of the 30s,
directed by Victor Fleming.
The chemistry between Harlowand Gable is electric.
(07:03):
Mary Astor is wonderful, uh,Gene Raymond is terrific, which
is not something I would oftensay, but he really gives a great
performance in this film.
And it's just to see theapplication of our technology to
make it as clean as possibleand have it look as much as if
(07:25):
you were looking at a brand newprint in 1932.
I think we've achieved that.
It has a very healthy grainstructure.
It looks wonderful consideringhow weathered the surviving
elements are, because this wasone of the films that MGM
converted from nitrate to safetyearly on in their preservation
(07:45):
program.
So uh we have a radio broadcastfrom 1940 with Gable, but uh
obviously Gene Harlow had passedaway, could not recreate her
performance.
But interestingly, her role istaken on by Ann Southern.
And what's interesting aboutthat is Ann Southern had just
(08:07):
started making a series of filmswhere she played the character
of Maisie, and uh an early filmin the Maisie series was Congo
Maisie, which was written byWilson Collison, who wrote the
play on which Red Dust is based.
(08:27):
And I've often heard it saidthat the Maisie films that Ann
Suthern did, that that characterwas originally something the
studio had in mind for Harlow.
And I'm not a Gene Harlowexpert, so I can confirm that
with 100% accuracy, nor have Iever plowed through the files to
(08:49):
see if it's true, but I bet itis.
But they're great in the radioversion, and Screen Guild
Theater had to condense the90-minute movie or 83-minute
movie to be exact into a halfhour.
And it's a good condensation,and a lot of the visuals that
you can't see when you'relistening to a radio show.
(09:09):
I think they did a very goodjob at conveying the atmosphere
for audio only.
But that's one of the bonuseson here.
And we also have two 1932two-color technicolor short
subjects from the era, somethingyou would have seen in the
theater.
And then the trailer for reddust we have, which we used on
(09:30):
our DVD in 2012, is veryinteresting because it's the
only surviving trailer elementwe have.
Usually from 1932, theselection of MGM trailers is
really limited.
It gets better as the decadegoes on.
But this is an original releasetrailer.
(09:51):
The kicker is the text is allin Spanish, the audio is
English, and the scenes in thetrailer, some of them were not
used in the final film of RedDust.
So you're actually getting tosee alternate scenes.
(10:12):
But when we came upon this filmelement back in 2012, we were
like, oh, this is so awesomebecause it's very, very
different.
And so that trailer will be onhere.
It is a very weathered filmelement, but it is an HD.
It's gonna be a terrific disc,and I'm thrilled that we get to
(10:34):
kick off the year with such animportant film.
Tim Millard (10:37):
Yeah.
And I don't know if we if wemention the director.
George Feltenstein (10:41):
Mr.
Fleming.
Tim Millard (10:42):
Victor Fleming uh also did a small picture, Gone
with the Wind.
unknown (10:48):
A few.
George Feltenstein (10:48):
And a little picture called The Wizard of
Oz.
Yeah, and uh a lot of otherwonderful films at MGM uh before
his relatively early death.
He died, I believe, in 1949.
But uh his work speaks foritself, and I think he did a
great job with this film.
(11:09):
This film is one of thosereally old feature films that
you can put in front of acontemporary audience and
they'll be thrilled by it.
And just the pre-code nature ofit is quite uh unexpected for
those who are more familiar witholder films having all the
(11:31):
constrictions of the productioncode.
Tim Millard (11:33):
Uh I I think you wrote up that there's a erotic
kind of a comedy.
George Feltenstein (11:39):
Without question.
Yeah, erotic comedy.
I mean, basically, Gene Harlowand uh Mary Astor's characters
both want Mr.
Gable, not an unusual uhrequest from ladies of that era.
Mr.
Gable was quite popular.
There's a reason why theycalled him the King of
Hollywood.
He had by 1932 really ratchetedin his stardom.
(12:05):
Right.
You know, he had the previous,I'd say 18 months, made some
other films at MGM thatunderscored his superstar
quality, and it was very muchcemented by the time of the
release of Red Dust.
So I think people are gonnalove the disc, and uh, I'm
(12:28):
excited that we get to kick offthe year with talking about
movies like Red Dust.
Tim Millard (12:33):
Yeah, very exciting, very exciting.
Well, next we have up uh adrama from 1941, Manpower.
Love the title.
Uh, what can you tell us aboutthis release?
George Feltenstein (12:46):
Well, Manpower has a very interesting
production history because itwas directed by Roe Walsh, and
you had two Warner Brothersleading men who uh are known for
being tough guys, and they'rebasically fighting over Marlena
(13:08):
Dietrich, who is not a WarnerBrothers contract player.
She did work at many studios,primarily Paramount in the early
part of her American career.
But the chemistry between thethree stars is quite electric,
and I say that with a little bitof tongue-in-cheek, because
(13:29):
this is all about power linesand people who work them and the
danger of it.
And then there's the explosivenature of the jealousy between
Robinson and George Raft.
And interestingly enough, Ibelieve I read in some
(13:52):
legitimate history uh book aboutthe making of this film, uh,
that Mr.
Robinson and Mr.
Raft didn't exactly get alongvery well.
And I think it actually endedup in a physical altercation on
the set.
Um, not sure about that.
There are people who probablyknow this like the back of their
hand, but I have to keep 8,000movies in my head at once, so I
(14:16):
can't give you every singledetail.
I do believe there was a veryconflicted set on this movie,
but the movie was a hit.
And uh Raul Walsh, I'm thrilledthat we're bringing more of his
works to Blu-ray and to highdefinition and make them look
terrific.
(14:36):
As I'm looking at these films,when the work is completed and
we've gone back to the cameranegative, it just blows my mind.
I've never seen these filmslook so good.
And it transcends the viewingexperience from entertaining to
superbly entertaining.
(14:56):
You're just drawn into it.
And I think people are gonnalove this disc.
And we added two cartoons from1941, one in black and white,
one in color.
They're not very commonly seenWarner Brothers cartoons, so I
think people will enjoy havingthe uh addition of them.
(15:18):
But Manpower is one of thosefilms that we were constantly
being, you know, and I look atthe lists of people sending in,
you know, their their posts onour Facebook page or what have
you.
This is asked for a lot.
So uh I'm very happy wheneverwe can check off another box of
(15:39):
something that people reallywanted.
For those who don't know themovie, I think it is no pun
intended dynamite entertainment.
I think Dietrich is just pureDietrich in this movie.
And uh I love watching theinteraction between the actors
and the great Warner Brotherssupporting players who are
(16:02):
wonderful in the film.
It's a terrific movie.
Tim Millard (16:06):
What a lineup between the director and the
cast.
Uh, it's it's uh it'sfantastic.
And just to go back to thoseextras, if anybody wanted to
know the titles on those, it'sno time for comedy and Joe Glow
the Firefly, that's probably notgonna mean a lot to a lot of
people, but there might be a fewpeople listening that that hits
a button for them.
George Feltenstein (16:25):
Joe Glow the Firefly is a very underrated uh
animated short subject.
I was gonna say cartoon, but Idon't want that to be demeaning.
It's a short film that happensto be animated.
Right.
And it's quite beautiful, andit's black and white.
Um, and uh it is an HD.
Uh, both cartoons are an HD,and I think people will enjoy
(16:47):
both of them.
And as a whole, it's really avery, very entertaining film.
You will note that there is nota trailer on this film.
We do not have any filmelements of a trailer for
manpower, which is just weird.
We did extensive searches tosee, you know, what was there
(17:11):
one at one time?
Did we lose it?
Do we not have it?
We have no record, we didn'teven have like a 16 millimeter,
we had nothing.
Yep.
Uh so we do the best that wecan.
But if someone has a trailer ofmanpower around and would like
to help us add it to ourarchive, we would be very
grateful for access to make acopy.
(17:31):
For sure.
Tim Millard (17:33):
Well, I've been excited for the first two, but
I'm also really excited for thisnext one, George.
Uh, it's called The Verdic from1946.
What can you tell us about thisthriller?
George Feltenstein (17:44):
Well, in 1941, when John Houston made the
Maltese Falcon, it introducedSidney Greenstreet to the
screen, and also a member of thecast of that amazing classic
was Peter Lorrie.
And there was a chemistrybetween Green Street and Lori
(18:05):
that ended up making thembasically a screen team,
although you don't hear themreferred to in that way, like
you know, as Sterren Rogers or,you know, they were not cast in
a series of films.
Rather, they were WarnerBrothers contract players that
(18:26):
happened to appear together inthe Maltese Falcon.
And then from there, theirperformances on the screen
became more frequent.
And this film happens torepresent the feature film
directorial debut of a gentlemannamed Don Siegel, who had
(18:48):
previously been an editor atWarner Brothers, and this was
his graduation to direction.
And of course, I think he'sprobably best known as the
director of Dirty Harry.
This is one of his greatestfilms, but this film is actually
a remake of a 1934 movie thatis almost never seen called The
(19:09):
Crime Doctor.
The rights to the story werebought by Warner Brothers and
remade as the verdict in 1946.
I always stress the year.
I don't want people to confusethis with the 20th Century Fox
Paul Newman film, The Verdict,which is also an amazing movie.
Unfortunately, not part of ourlibrary.
Tim Millard (19:31):
Right.
George Feltenstein (19:31):
This verdict is one that really warrants
seeing.
It's uh an investigative story.
We did not have a traileravailable for this either to
include on the disc, although weare on the trail of getting
one, but not we were not able todo so in time for this release.
(19:51):
So what I did was include somevery entertaining Peter DeLore
and Sidney Greenstreet radioappearances.
There's one from the seriesSuspense, which is a very famous
radio series, Inner Sanctum,another famous radio series, and
then The New Adventures of NeroWolf, which Sidney Greenstreet
(20:12):
did right before he passed away.
So you've got those radioshows, and then we have two
Warner Brothers cartoons, HairRaising Hair, which is the
introduction of the orangemonster, also seen in Water
Water Every Hair, that is calledGossamer, but this was his
first appearance, and Birth of aNotion.
(20:34):
So I thought that was perfectlyappropriate for this disc.
This is very, veryentertaining.
It is a very fast-paced,well-made film.
And it's kind of a little bitof a proto-noir.
(20:56):
It isn't a, you know, it's setin 1890 London.
It's not set in 1940s Hollywoodor San Francisco or New York,
you know.
But there is a definite senseof shadow and light that gives
it a noir-ish quality.
And Green Street and Laurie areterrific.
Tim Millard (21:16):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (21:17):
And I think people are going to really
appreciate the verdict when itends up on their shelf.
Tim Millard (21:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Looking forward to this one.
Uh, it should be a lot of fun.
Well, next we have a classicnoir, The Narrow Margin from
1952.
A lot of excitement for thisone, George.
What can you tell us aboutthis?
George Feltenstein (21:36):
I I would say there's more excitement for
this than almost everything.
Um, this has been so heavilyrequested, and the DVD we had
was not anything to write homefor.
It came from a fourthgeneration element.
By going back to the cameranegative, wow, it just looks
(22:00):
amazing.
It moves.
Like a bat out of hell.
And no one expected this movieto be of any substantial nature
because uh Richard Fleischer wasnot a well-known director at
that time.
He had directed some other uhfeatures.
He is the son of Max Fleischer,by the way, the famed animator
(22:23):
whose work is always something Icheer.
But Richard Fleischer developeda reputation for being an
excellent film director.
And uh as he was on staff atRKO, he was assigned this
picture.
There were no big stars in it.
Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor,Jaclyn White, they were all like
(22:46):
B stars.
And this was a very short,lower budget movie.
But the reviews this movie gotwhen it came out were all
spectacular.
And as Phil Noir has grown inre-evaluation and popularity in
the last two or three decades,the narrow margin is like an
(23:11):
essential noir.
And it did get remade in the90s.
And uh the original is alwaysthe best, you know.
So uh we have a uh commentaryhere that was done by uh a good
friend of mine who passed awayrecently, but people know his
(23:32):
work as a film director, WilliamFriedkin.
He was a passionate film fan,and he wanted to record
commentaries for films that hewas passionate about, and he
approached us when we were doingthe DVD to do this commentary.
And since we lost him, it's allthe more something to treasure
(23:53):
to have his comments.
And he's speaking to it both asa fan of film from the classic
era and being a film directorhimself.
So that's quite fascinating.
And then we also have interviewexcerpts that Richard Fleischer
did for our archival interviewproject that are cut in with
(24:17):
Friedkin's commentary, so youactually get to hear Richard
Fleischer speaking about thefilm and his own perspective of
making it.
And then we've added onto thedisc uh Joe McDoak's short, So
You Never Tell a Lie, and aLooney Tunes uh classic cartoon
in HD, The Super Snooper.
(24:38):
And even though it's an archaeofilm, we actually do have the
trailer for this movie.
A lot of people say that thisis almost Hitchcockian, and uh
it would be a good cousin toStrangers on a train.
It's just great.
And I'm so thrilled we canfinally bring it out with this
(24:58):
beautiful new master with a 4Kscan off the camera negative.
It's something we're very proudof.
And I'm excited to hear whatpeople think when they see the
disc.
Tim Millard (25:07):
Right, right.
And you mentioned it, but thisis a 4K scan of the original
camera negative.
So right.
George Feltenstein (25:14):
As the verdict is and as manpower is,
all of them are 4K scans of thecamera negative.
To have that luxury, obviously,we don't have that luxury with
red dust.
We do our best with what wehave.
But when the negative survives,we're able to bring so much
more clarity to thepresentation.
(25:34):
And that's particularlyexciting when it comes to R.
KO movies because RKO was notas meticulous in taking care of
the original negatives as manyother studios were.
So it's a victory for noirfilms everywhere, and I hope
people enjoy the disc.
Tim Millard (25:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So many people, you're makingtheir month of January uh
bringing this one out very, veryexciting.
Uh, I mentioned the the the 4Kscan for the previous films.
You know, you just clarified,but I also wanted to kind of
lead that into this next onebecause when you do these scans
(26:15):
of these technicolor negatives,the final movie looks fantastic.
And we're talking about by thelight of the silvery moon from
1953.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (26:27):
Well, this was a rarity of its era, but
certainly not a rarity in theworld we live in now or have
been for decades.
It was very unusual for astudio to have a hit film and
then make a sequel.
There were series films likethe Andy Hardy movies uh or the
Nancy Drew movies.
You know, there were there wereall sorts of film series.
(26:48):
But to have a film where youbring back the whole cast and
pick up where the story left offof the first movie, that's
exactly what happened here.
Warner Brothers produced aTechnicolor musical in 1951
called On Moonlight Bay that wasset in just before World War I
(27:09):
and had lots of music from theera.
It was a gorgeous Technicolorproduction, and we had the good
fortune of having one of oursignature Technicolor
restorations created for thatmovie.
By the time this comes out, itwill be the five-year
anniversary of when we put outon Moonlight Bay.
(27:33):
But literally, the story picksup basically where the uh first
film left off.
And Dara Stay and Gordon McCraewere a really great team
together.
I think they did four moviestogether, and then they also
were guest stars in anotherfilm, so that would be five.
(27:53):
But their voices blendedtogether wonderfully.
And this is a funny, funnymovie.
I wouldn't call Meet Me in St.
Louis a funny movie, but it's adelightful entertainment.
This is similar to Meet Me inSt.
Louis and being a nostalgiclook back at years gone by from
(28:15):
a 1953 perspective, but it'salso got a very funny script.
And the comedy, a lot of itcomes from the magnificent Mary
Wicks, who was a great characteractress and comedian for
decades.
Billy Gray, who plays DorisDay's little brother in these
(28:38):
movies, later went on to do theFather Knows Best series.
And happily he's still with usand has a great perspective on
his Hollywood career.
But these films, both onMoonlight Bay and by the light
of the silvery moon, are looselyadapted from Booth Tarkington's
(28:58):
Penrod stories.
And Warner Brothers had madePenrod and Sam uh in the early
30s, and then they made a remakein the late 30s with a
different cast, and there was asilent film developed from these
properties.
So this was a modern reboot, ifyou will, with music, with Ray
(29:22):
Heindorf leading the WarnerBrothers Orchestra, great songs.
It's just delightful.
I carried over all of thespecial features that were on
the original DVD because we havetwo Joe McDoak shorts, and one
of them, So You Want aTelevision set, has a little
(29:43):
cameo appearance by Doris Dayand Gordon McCrae.
So that doesn't wasn't even inmy team count for them.
But so I had to put that onhere.
And we also have another JoeMcDogue short, So You Want to
Learn to Dance, and then theRoadrunner and the Coyote in
From A to Z Z Z Z Z.
So, and that's in HD, and we'vegot the original trailer.
(30:04):
People who bought on MoonlightBay were saying, We want the
sequel, we want the sequel.
Well, now you have it.
Right.
Tim Millard (30:12):
That's exciting.
It's kind of interesting, youknow, what you're saying about
they didn't do these sequels,and and now that's you know,
yeah, it was a it was a realrarity at really any studio, it
just wasn't part of thinking.
George Feltenstein (30:27):
It was a rare occasion that it would
happen, but here it was socomfortable for Warner Brothers
to just take the story of thosecharacters and take it into a
new scenario, and it's a lot offun, and there's there's great
songs, and it's the TechnoColoris just stunning.
(30:50):
I mean, our folks did such agreat job as they always do in
aligning the Technicolor recordsfor that sharpness and
breathtaking Technicolor.
And this is one of those rarefilms that was shot on Safety
Film and in Technicolor.
So uh there are only uh smallnumber of films that were made
(31:12):
that way before the industrymoved to a single strand Eastman
Color Negative.
This is gorgeous.
And uh I think people are gonnabe very, very happy to add it
to their shelves.
Tim Millard (31:23):
Well, we have more music in film to talk about for
our next title, and that's Forthe First Time from 1959.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (31:35):
Well, this was the last film in which Mario
Lanza appeared.
And this film was released, Ithink about two or three months
before he died, at a very youngage.
He had health problems duringthe production of this.
And I think I've talked on thepodcast before with you about
(31:57):
when we talked about ThatMidnight Kiss, about some of the
challenges he had with alcoholand overeating, and just he had
a lot of problems.
This film was actually wellreceived by the public and
critics.
I went back to the New YorkTimes review of this movie, and
(32:20):
the reviewer was like surprisedto be able to say, hey, this is
a really good film.
And Lanza looks better, helooks healthier, and uh, it's a
sweet little love story.
And if you're into uh opera,there are some operatic excerpts
really in the center of thestorytelling that would be like
(32:44):
gold for Lanza fans.
And even though he passed awayover 65 years ago, there's still
a legion of rapt fans for Mr.
Lanza's unique vocal gifts.
And what makes this filminteresting from a technical
standpoint is it was shot intechnorama.
(33:06):
We've talked about technoramabefore.
It went through the camerasideways like this division,
only it was with a 2.35 aspectratio like traditional cinema
scope of the period.
So the film was shot onlocation throughout Europe.
(33:29):
And I would say one of the mostimportant members of the cast,
and I'm speaking figuratively,are the various locations where
this film was shot, with theadded benefit of Technorama, you
get that incredible depth offield, the sharpness, the images
(33:50):
are beautiful.
We released a DVD of this filmmany years ago.
It was not so beautiful, but itwas the best we could do on a
limited budget for a DVD.
This makes up the differencefor that.
The audio for this film ismono.
We do not have any stereophonicaudio elements.
And given that it was producedin Europe for MGM's
(34:14):
distribution, I went through thefiles quite viciously trying to
find out was this ever releasedwith stereophonic sound, even
though we we don't have it.
If you go to IMDB, it says, youknow, four tracks there.
IMDB is not a hundred percentreliable with technical facts,
(34:37):
because anybody can go in thereand put in whatever they want.
I could find no evidence that astereo track was ever created
for this film, but what we haveis what we have, and we did the
best we could do.
The sound is good, the pictureis gorgeous, it's very
entertaining, and it's charming.
One of the cast members in thismovie is the famous Jahabor,
(34:59):
the Queen of Outer Space.
She made this movie after Queenof Outer Space.
She's actually quite charmingand good and not a caricature of
herself in this movie.
And uh I think people will besurprised by the film.
It is a lovely piece ofentertainment.
I'm very passionate about wideformat film and being able to
(35:21):
get it out there so that peoplecan see.
We've we've run the course withVistaVision.
Now we're taking on Technorama,and there will be more
Technorama.
But right now, the film we'resaluting in Technorama is for
the first time.
And uh I think people need togive it a chance if they haven't
(35:43):
seen the film before.
They'll find it is a refreshingentertainment and a salute to
the incredible vocal talents ofMr.
Lonza.
Tim Millard (35:53):
You know, the film you released just a month or two
back.
I don't know why the name'sescaping me, but I really
enjoyed that one.
Um, the last kiss.
Uh, I really enjoyed it.
And I'm a sucker for music inmovies, whether it's a you know
outright musical or justsomething where it just fits
(36:13):
into the plot line.
And uh so I I highly recommendit because I'm not somebody who
was that familiar with MarioLanza, and I thoroughly enjoyed
it.
And I'm really looking forwardto seeing this one after what
you just described.
I mean, it says here from a 6Kscan.
Wonderful.
Um the last thing you did waswas fantastic.
(36:36):
So oh, we didn't talk about theextras here, uh, George.
George Feltenstein (36:39):
Uh there's only, aside from the trailer,
there's only one extra.
Tim Millard (36:43):
Okay.
George Feltenstein (36:44):
And and that is I put one of my favorite
Bugs Bunny cartoons on here,Long Haired Hair, and it's where
Bugs is basically doing battlewith an opera tenor.
You know, it was made waybefore for the first time.
So it isn't, oh, it's a 1959cartoon.
I wanted it to be somethingthat would thematically sit
(37:07):
nicely with the feature.
It's a Chuck Jones cartoon.
He was just brilliant, and uhit's bugs at his best, and it's
a nice little extra.
That's what extras are for.
There you go.
Is to entertain, yeah, and uh,I think people will enjoy it.
Tim Millard (37:22):
Well, let's jump from that animation to our last
title.
What can you tell us about thisTV series now from Hanna
Barbera?
George Feltenstein (37:31):
Well, this is the new Fred and Barney show,
which is not that well known.
It was done in 1979, and it wasshown on Saturday mornings on
NBC.
But in the early 70s, HannaBarbera revisited the
(37:52):
Flintstones by having Pebblesand Bam Bam grown up as
teenagers, and this kind of tookthe Flintstones back to the
original format where Pebblesand Bam Bam are little children
again.
When originally broadcast,these shows were formatted with
(38:15):
other characters.
There was The Thing and The NewSchmoo, both of which were not
Hanna Barbera createdcharacters.
We do not have the rights torelease those programs as they
were originally broadcast.
So this brings together theactual Flintstones segments of
(38:41):
the new Fred and Barney show.
So the permutations, it's 17episodes that were spread the
end of the 1978-79 season, thenthe 7980 season.
But what's interesting aboutthis is that we had planned to
release this on DVD when we weregoing very deep into the
(39:03):
Hanna-Barbera library, and theexisting masters were unusable.
They were so old and soterrible.
We were doing a limitedremastering on a lot of
Hanna-Barbera things, you know,10 years ago, uh, 12 years ago.
I think it was even a littlelater in the history that we
(39:28):
started to work on the new Fredand Barney show just for DVD.
And we ran into serious filmelement problems and missing
footage.
So that project had to beaborted.
And now we're able to go backto the original negatives and
have the shows be.
They run about 24 minutesapiece, leaving room for
(39:51):
commercials, which we don't haveany.
There are 17 episodes on twodiscs.
They come from 4K scans of theoriginal negatives, and they
look terrific.
By the point that this show isdone, Alan Reed, who was the
original voice of FredFlintstone, had passed away
about two years before, andHenry Corden had taken over as
(40:13):
the voice of Fred Flintstone,which he did for decades.
And you have Mel Blank, theoriginal Barney, uh returning as
Barney Rubble, and JeanVanderpeil, the original Wilma,
returning to her role.
Then there's another actresswho does the voice of Betty.
And the original Betty was, ofcourse, B.
(40:35):
Ben and Derrett, and then sheleft the Flintstones to star in
Petticoat Junction.
So the woman who voices Bettyin this particular series, her
name was Gay Otterson.
But you have the whole coreHannah Barbera crew working on
these shows.
And uh, for people who loveFred and Barney, this is a nice
(40:58):
little piece of nostalgia.
When we announced that this wascoming out, a lot of people
said, I've never heard of this.
And uh, you know, uh, I've alsoseen many people say, we want
Hanna Barbera that's never beenreleased before.
And given how deeply we wentinto the Hanna Barbera library
(41:21):
with DVD releases, there aresome people that don't care that
it's Blu-ray and looks sobeautiful.
You know, they consider itreleased already when it's on
DVD.
We have a responsibility tomake things look great.
So finding that balance, herewas an unreleased show that
never came out on DVD, althoughwe planned to.
(41:41):
I had heard there was VHS likein Europe, and I don't know if
that's legit or bootlegs,frankly, but I could find no
record of legitimate releasehere in the US, even on video
cassette.
So it's really a repremiere.
These things were ontelevision, and uh, you know.
So they would appear on uhBoomerang or on Me TV Tunes, uh,
(42:07):
but this is the first timethey're getting a home
entertainment physical release,and on Blu-ray, I think fans of
Hanna Barbera and fans of theFlintstones will be very happy
with it.
Tim Millard (42:20):
Yeah, yeah.
I love it when when you're ableto release for the first time,
you know, never on DVD, so tospeak.
You've done that a few timesthis year, maybe.
George Feltenstein (42:30):
I mean, all of Huckleberry Hound, except for
the first season, wasunavailed.
Tim Millard (42:33):
Except for the first season.
Yeah, there you go.
George Feltenstein (42:35):
And and so it's and we have a lot of other
things in store.
So people who want theunreleased will be happy with
what's coming out, and peoplewho want an upgrade from
something that didn't look sogood in prior iterations will
also get their wishes fulfilled.
And will everybody be happy?
No, you can't please everybodyall the time, but we really try.
(42:59):
And we know we have a dedicatedfan base for our releases, and
there are fan groups ofdifferent kinds of
entertainment.
Some people want, you know,this kind of film or this kind
of television series, or theywant a comedy, or they want a
western, or they want a drama,they don't want old TV, they
(43:21):
want new TV.
They, you know, everybody wantssomething different.
We've got a lot of people totry and please, so we're never
going to be able to be a hundredpercent successful every month.
But I think what's nice aboutthe January release slate is
there's a little bit ofdiversity, and yet an emphasis
(43:41):
on quality entertainment.
And I hope people really enjoythe January releases.
Tim Millard (43:47):
I think it's a terrific, uh, terrific month.
You got classic films,including Technocolor musicals,
noir dramas, and then you've gotmore animation.
And I almost forgot, but we'renot gonna finish our episode
without mentioning you come backwith two film collections also
in early January, and it escapedmy mind for a bit, but those we
(44:12):
should mention because thispodcast is to announce
everything coming from theWarner Archive in January.
So two uh you know, kind ofknown guys, uh James Stewart for
films and uh Robert Taylor.
So maybe you could tell us alittle bit about those.
George Feltenstein (44:29):
Well, I feel badly that people have
forgotten Robert Taylor.
You know, he first burst uponthe scene in an MGM short in the
mid-30s, and soon thereafterwas the leading man for Garbo
and Camille, and he could doeverything.
And one of the last things heever did was a maid for
(44:53):
television, but of theatricalquality movie called Return of
the Gunfighter in 1967.
He died of lung cancer, veryyoung, heavy smoker, and he died
at a time where people werejust becoming aware of the
dangers of cigarette smoking andcancer, and um the tragedy of
(45:16):
his early death, relativelyearly death, kind of made an
impact on a lot of people.
But the screen career that hehad as a leading man, the 30s,
the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, quiteremarkable.
And this four-film collection,which I've talked about the
film, the multi-film collectionsbefore, they're not designed
(45:39):
primarily for our core WarnerArchive consumers, because our
core Warner Archive consumersand collectors will have likely
bought some or all of the filmsin these collections.
They're designed to provide avalue proposition to build your
(46:00):
library if you're missing onething or the other, one
performer, one director, onegenre, and be able to affordably
a four-film collection is$39.98.
That's a very attractive price.
Sometimes they get discounted.
So I'm very, very excited aboutthe Robert Taylor collection.
(46:20):
Uh, some of the films in therewe've talked about here on this
podcast.
Yes.
I think the most recent uhrelease included in this
collection is Devil's Doorway,which we just talked about last,
but it's it's a greatcollection.
And then for Jimmy Stewart,four film collection spans from
1940 to 1962, because we haveThe Shop Around the Corner,
(46:49):
which is a beloved romanticcomedy directed by Ernst
Lubitsch.
The Blu-ray we released, Ithink four or five years ago.
Uh, it's a perennial Christmasfavorite.
It was the basis uh for remakefor In the Good Old Summertime
with Judy Garland and VanJohnson, and You've Got Mail
with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
(47:10):
So it's a wonderful love story,and this is the original film.
And the same year, JamesStewart co-starred in Shop
Around the Corner with MargaretSullivan.
He also co-starred withMargaret Sullivan in The Mortal
Storm, which was really one ofthe first MGM films to address
(47:31):
fascism and the coming threat ofthe Nazis in 1940, and uh is a
film that definitely deserves tobe seen more.
Then you move into 1953, andyou've got The Naked Spur,
directed by Anthony Mann, one ofour Technicolor Restorations,
(47:53):
that is one of the many westernsStuart made with Anthony Mann,
and it's a terrific film.
And then the set climaxes withan all-star film that was shot
in the Cinerama process,released here in the United
States in 1963, but it wasreleased in Europe in 1962, so
(48:19):
that's the actual release year,and that's how the West was won.
And it's an all-star cast withthree separate stories telling
the settling of the West.
But James Stewart really had apivotal role in the film.
I would say he and DebbieReynolds probably have the most
(48:42):
significant amount of screentime.
So we thought it would be a anice addition to this four-film
selection because it's a nicediversity of storytelling.
I think people will reallyenjoy it, especially if they
don't own the majority or any ofthe films in these collections.
That's what these collectionsare for, and there will be more
(49:05):
of them released each monththroughout the year.
Tim Millard (49:08):
Yeah, that's uh it's a fantastic two collections
for January.
And like you said, I own mostof them, but for those who
don't, this is a terrific value.
And uh just the amount of starsyou have there at Warner
Brothers that you can put thesecollections together around is
fantastic.
George Feltenstein (49:27):
Uh and and genres and directors, and
there's all there are gonna besome surprises.
Uh we will have some four filmcollections and some six film
collections, but they're allbased on giving the consumer an
opportunity to build or add totheir collection with a very
(49:52):
reasonable retail price.
And uh I hope people areenjoying them.
Yep.
All indications are that theyare.
Tim Millard (49:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fantastic.
I know I am.
Well, George, a great month ofJanuary to kick off 2026.
Uh, how do you do it?
I don't know how you do it eachmonth pulling together so much
variety, pleasing so manypeople, and uh it's just a it's
just a fantastic way to startthe year.
So as always, thank you forcoming on and and sharing.
George Feltenstein (50:20):
Thank you, Tim, and thank you to everybody
out there that supports theWarner Archive Collection.
We really appreciate it.
Tim Millard (50:29):
Well, it's another terrific month, and it's a great
way to start 2026 with all ofthese fantastic releases from
the Warner Archive.
Now, it's a little unusual, butthe pre-orders for all of these
releases are available.
So I do have those in the shownotes so that you can order
those right away.
That includes the two filmcollections that we talked about
(50:52):
as well.
And I just want to clarify forthose of you who are interested
in the film collections that wementioned what was on the James
Stewart collection, but didn'tgo through the titles on the
Robert Taylor.
So let me do that real quick.
And that's Devil's Doorway,West World The Women, Ivan Hope,
and the last five.
So those are the four films onthe fourth film collection of
(51:14):
Robert Taylor.
Those are fantastic films, bythe way.
So what a great collection forthose of you who do not have
these Robert Taylor films.
As always, if you haven't yetsubscribed, you do ask me to do
that.
Help this show, and of course,the picture that you get these
episodes right away.
Whether you're an animation fanor tactical film fan, or just a
fan of the one architect ingeneral.
(51:36):
The rest of 2026 is alsolooking very robust, and I know
you won't want to miss any ofthose episodes when they come
up.
There's just a lot of greatstuff in the community.
Until next time, you've beenlistening to Tim Light today.
Slightly.
Hello and welcome to the X-Piz.
I'm Tim Large, your host, andjoining me is George Feltstein.
And we're going to be kickingoff 2026, George, with the
January Lou-Ray releases fromthe Warner Archives.
Very exciting.
George Feltenstein (02:17):
I'm excited too, Tim, and it's always it's a
pleasure to be with you to talkabout what we've got coming up.
Tim Millard (02:23):
Every month, you know, I'm like a kid.
What's coming, what's coming?
And I know a lot of otherpeople feel exactly the same way
because you just do a great,you know, job of trying to, you
know, meet something for all thedifferent various groups out
there.
And I think that is true ofwhat you have coming in January,
because we're gonna have ananimation title.
(02:46):
We're gonna wait a little bitlater to talk about that one.
But I thought today we'll startoldest first, just because I'm
also very excited about it.
Uh, and I wanted to get to itright away.
And I know it's it's got a lotof fans out there who are very
excited to see Red Dust from1932.
What can you tell us about thispre-code film?
George Feltenstein (03:10):
Well, this is something I'm really thrilled
that we're doing.
I've been wanting to do it forso long.
It finally got approved.
We had done a lot of work onthis film, you know, everything
in perspective, for its DVDrelease in 2012.
And it's a very difficult filmto deal with because it's shot,
(03:34):
you know, kind of dark becausethere's so many night scenes and
they're out in the middle ofAfrica at night and huts and
this and that and so forth.
And there's also rain.
And when you've got rain, youhave to make sure that the rain
is preserved.
It reminds me of uh before uhsomething I was not involved in,
(03:58):
but uh the DVD debut of CitizenKane was very controversial
because not only did they removethe grain, they removed the
rain.
Uh it was a real disaster.
Yeah.
Um that was uh something thatyou want to avoid when you're
dealing with a film that hasrain.
So our restoration team had tomake sure that the film as
(04:23):
photographed was reproduced.
Again, another MGM film wherethe original negative is long
gone.
And I think this one was evenlong gone, maybe before the
fire, just because this film wasreissued countless times,
mostly due to the fact that JeanHarlow passed away at 26 years
(04:46):
of age, such a young, youngwoman when she died, and
re-releases and retrospectivesof her films really preceded the
growth of revival cinemas inthe 70s and 80s.
And so this is a film that justnever wasn't popular.
But we did have ourdifficulties making it even
(05:09):
digestible for DVD.
Now, here we are years later,13 years later, and we need to
make it shine on Blu-ray.
And I'm thrilled with whatWarner Brothers Motion Picture
Imaging and the artists thatlabor there have done on our
(05:30):
behalf.
It looks really great.
It sounds really great.
It doesn't feel like a93-year-old movie.
Wow.
93.
But this is also one of themost important films that
cemented the chemistry of GeneHarlow and Clark Gable.
And they made, you know,several films together, uh, some
(05:52):
of which we've talked abouthere on the extras in the past.
But people were frustrated.
Oh, it's great that you releaseSaratoga, but where is where is
red dust?
I don't think anything werelease gets just you know a
thumbs up, and that's great.
But it usually is followed by,but what about dot, dot, dot,
(06:14):
dot, dot?
unknown (06:15):
Right.
George Feltenstein (06:15):
And I'm not saying that in a pejorative or
negative way uh towards anyone.
Enthusiasm for classic film issomething I am euphoric over.
And our job is to try to pleaseeveryone, which is impossible,
but we do our best to try andhit all the buttons.
And based on what we've gotplanned in 2026, Red Dust is
(06:39):
very indicative of thewell-known, high-level,
well-loved films that a lot ofpeople have been waiting for.
And there will be a lot morefollowing Red Dust.
But this is one of the greatMGM classics of the 30s,
directed by Victor Fleming.
The chemistry between Harlowand Gable is electric.
(07:03):
Mary Astor is wonderful, uh,Gene Raymond is terrific, which
is not something I would oftensay, but he really gives a great
performance in this film.
And it's just to see theapplication of our technology to
make it as clean as possibleand have it look as much as if
(07:25):
you were looking at a brand newprint in 1932.
I think we've achieved that.
It has a very healthy grainstructure.
It looks wonderful consideringhow weathered the surviving
elements are, because this wasone of the films that MGM
converted from nitrate to safetyearly on in their preservation
(07:45):
program.
So uh we have a radio broadcastfrom 1940 with Gable, but uh
obviously Gene Harlow had passedaway, could not recreate her
performance.
But interestingly, her role istaken on by Ann Southern.
And what's interesting aboutthat is Ann Southern had just
(08:07):
started making a series of filmswhere she played the character
of Maisie, and uh an early filmin the Maisie series was Congo
Maisie, which was written byWilson Collison, who wrote the
play on which Red Dust is based.
(08:27):
And I've often heard it saidthat the Maisie films that Ann
Suthern did, that that characterwas originally something the
studio had in mind for Harlow.
And I'm not a Gene Harlowexpert, so I can confirm that
with 100% accuracy, nor have Iever plowed through the files to
(08:49):
see if it's true, but I bet itis.
But they're great in the radioversion, and Screen Guild
Theater had to condense the90-minute movie or 83-minute
movie to be exact into a halfhour.
And it's a good condensation,and a lot of the visuals that
you can't see when you'relistening to a radio show.
(09:09):
I think they did a very goodjob at conveying the atmosphere
for audio only.
But that's one of the bonuseson here.
And we also have two 1932two-color technicolor short
subjects from the era, somethingyou would have seen in the
theater.
And then the trailer for reddust we have, which we used on
(09:30):
our DVD in 2012, is veryinteresting because it's the
only surviving trailer elementwe have.
Usually from 1932, theselection of MGM trailers is
really limited.
It gets better as the decadegoes on.
But this is an original releasetrailer.
(09:51):
The kicker is the text is allin Spanish, the audio is
English, and the scenes in thetrailer, some of them were not
used in the final film of RedDust.
So you're actually getting tosee alternate scenes.
(10:12):
But when we came upon this filmelement back in 2012, we were
like, oh, this is so awesomebecause it's very, very
different.
And so that trailer will be onhere.
It is a very weathered filmelement, but it is an HD.
It's gonna be a terrific disc,and I'm thrilled that we get to
(10:34):
kick off the year with such animportant film.
Tim Millard (10:37):
Yeah.
And I don't know if we if wemention the director.
George Feltenstein (10:41):
Mr.
Fleming.
Tim Millard (10:42):
Victor Fleming uh also did a small picture, Gone
with the Wind.
unknown (10:48):
A few.
George Feltenstein (10:48):
And a little picture called The Wizard of
Oz.
Yeah, and uh a lot of otherwonderful films at MGM uh before
his relatively early death.
He died, I believe, in 1949.
But uh his work speaks foritself, and I think he did a
great job with this film.
(11:09):
This film is one of thosereally old feature films that
you can put in front of acontemporary audience and
they'll be thrilled by it.
And just the pre-code nature ofit is quite uh unexpected for
those who are more familiar witholder films having all the
(11:31):
constrictions of the productioncode.
Tim Millard (11:33):
Uh I I think you wrote up that there's a erotic
kind of a comedy.
George Feltenstein (11:39):
Without question.
Yeah, erotic comedy.
I mean, basically, Gene Harlowand uh Mary Astor's characters
both want Mr.
Gable, not an unusual uhrequest from ladies of that era.
Mr.
Gable was quite popular.
There's a reason why theycalled him the King of
Hollywood.
He had by 1932 really ratchetedin his stardom.
(12:05):
Right.
You know, he had the previous,I'd say 18 months, made some
other films at MGM thatunderscored his superstar
quality, and it was very muchcemented by the time of the
release of Red Dust.
So I think people are gonnalove the disc, and uh, I'm
(12:28):
excited that we get to kick offthe year with talking about
movies like Red Dust.
Tim Millard (12:33):
Yeah, very exciting, very exciting.
Well, next we have up uh adrama from 1941, Manpower.
Love the title.
Uh, what can you tell us aboutthis release?
George Feltenstein (12:46):
Well, Manpower has a very interesting
production history because itwas directed by Roe Walsh, and
you had two Warner Brothersleading men who uh are known for
being tough guys, and they'rebasically fighting over Marlena
(13:08):
Dietrich, who is not a WarnerBrothers contract player.
She did work at many studios,primarily Paramount in the early
part of her American career.
But the chemistry between thethree stars is quite electric,
and I say that with a little bitof tongue-in-cheek, because
(13:29):
this is all about power linesand people who work them and the
danger of it.
And then there's the explosivenature of the jealousy between
Robinson and George Raft.
And interestingly enough, Ibelieve I read in some
(13:52):
legitimate history uh book aboutthe making of this film, uh,
that Mr.
Robinson and Mr.
Raft didn't exactly get alongvery well.
And I think it actually endedup in a physical altercation on
the set.
Um, not sure about that.
There are people who probablyknow this like the back of their
hand, but I have to keep 8,000movies in my head at once, so I
(14:16):
can't give you every singledetail.
I do believe there was a veryconflicted set on this movie,
but the movie was a hit.
And uh Raul Walsh, I'm thrilledthat we're bringing more of his
works to Blu-ray and to highdefinition and make them look
terrific.
(14:36):
As I'm looking at these films,when the work is completed and
we've gone back to the cameranegative, it just blows my mind.
I've never seen these filmslook so good.
And it transcends the viewingexperience from entertaining to
superbly entertaining.
(14:56):
You're just drawn into it.
And I think people are gonnalove this disc.
And we added two cartoons from1941, one in black and white,
one in color.
They're not very commonly seenWarner Brothers cartoons, so I
think people will enjoy havingthe uh addition of them.
(15:18):
But Manpower is one of thosefilms that we were constantly
being, you know, and I look atthe lists of people sending in,
you know, their their posts onour Facebook page or what have
you.
This is asked for a lot.
So uh I'm very happy wheneverwe can check off another box of
(15:39):
something that people reallywanted.
For those who don't know themovie, I think it is no pun
intended dynamite entertainment.
I think Dietrich is just pureDietrich in this movie.
And uh I love watching theinteraction between the actors
and the great Warner Brotherssupporting players who are
(16:02):
wonderful in the film.
It's a terrific movie.
Tim Millard (16:06):
What a lineup between the director and the
cast.
Uh, it's it's uh it'sfantastic.
And just to go back to thoseextras, if anybody wanted to
know the titles on those, it'sno time for comedy and Joe Glow
the Firefly, that's probably notgonna mean a lot to a lot of
people, but there might be a fewpeople listening that that hits
a button for them.
George Feltenstein (16:25):
Joe Glow the Firefly is a very underrated uh
animated short subject.
I was gonna say cartoon, but Idon't want that to be demeaning.
It's a short film that happensto be animated.
Right.
And it's quite beautiful, andit's black and white.
Um, and uh it is an HD.
Uh, both cartoons are an HD,and I think people will enjoy
(16:47):
both of them.
And as a whole, it's really avery, very entertaining film.
You will note that there is nota trailer on this film.
We do not have any filmelements of a trailer for
manpower, which is just weird.
We did extensive searches tosee, you know, what was there
(17:11):
one at one time?
Did we lose it?
Do we not have it?
We have no record, we didn'teven have like a 16 millimeter,
we had nothing.
Yep.
Uh so we do the best that wecan.
But if someone has a trailer ofmanpower around and would like
to help us add it to ourarchive, we would be very
grateful for access to make acopy.
(17:31):
For sure.
Tim Millard (17:33):
Well, I've been excited for the first two, but
I'm also really excited for thisnext one, George.
Uh, it's called The Verdic from1946.
What can you tell us about thisthriller?
George Feltenstein (17:44):
Well, in 1941, when John Houston made the
Maltese Falcon, it introducedSidney Greenstreet to the
screen, and also a member of thecast of that amazing classic
was Peter Lorrie.
And there was a chemistrybetween Green Street and Lori
(18:05):
that ended up making thembasically a screen team,
although you don't hear themreferred to in that way, like
you know, as Sterren Rogers or,you know, they were not cast in
a series of films.
Rather, they were WarnerBrothers contract players that
(18:26):
happened to appear together inthe Maltese Falcon.
And then from there, theirperformances on the screen
became more frequent.
And this film happens torepresent the feature film
directorial debut of a gentlemannamed Don Siegel, who had
(18:48):
previously been an editor atWarner Brothers, and this was
his graduation to direction.
And of course, I think he'sprobably best known as the
director of Dirty Harry.
This is one of his greatestfilms, but this film is actually
a remake of a 1934 movie thatis almost never seen called The
(19:09):
Crime Doctor.
The rights to the story werebought by Warner Brothers and
remade as the verdict in 1946.
I always stress the year.
I don't want people to confusethis with the 20th Century Fox
Paul Newman film, The Verdict,which is also an amazing movie.
Unfortunately, not part of ourlibrary.
Tim Millard (19:31):
Right.
George Feltenstein (19:31):
This verdict is one that really warrants
seeing.
It's uh an investigative story.
We did not have a traileravailable for this either to
include on the disc, although weare on the trail of getting
one, but not we were not able todo so in time for this release.
(19:51):
So what I did was include somevery entertaining Peter DeLore
and Sidney Greenstreet radioappearances.
There's one from the seriesSuspense, which is a very famous
radio series, Inner Sanctum,another famous radio series, and
then The New Adventures of NeroWolf, which Sidney Greenstreet
(20:12):
did right before he passed away.
So you've got those radioshows, and then we have two
Warner Brothers cartoons, HairRaising Hair, which is the
introduction of the orangemonster, also seen in Water
Water Every Hair, that is calledGossamer, but this was his
first appearance, and Birth of aNotion.
(20:34):
So I thought that was perfectlyappropriate for this disc.
This is very, veryentertaining.
It is a very fast-paced,well-made film.
And it's kind of a little bitof a proto-noir.
(20:56):
It isn't a, you know, it's setin 1890 London.
It's not set in 1940s Hollywoodor San Francisco or New York,
you know.
But there is a definite senseof shadow and light that gives
it a noir-ish quality.
And Green Street and Laurie areterrific.
Tim Millard (21:16):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (21:17):
And I think people are going to really
appreciate the verdict when itends up on their shelf.
Tim Millard (21:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Looking forward to this one.
Uh, it should be a lot of fun.
Well, next we have a classicnoir, The Narrow Margin from
1952.
A lot of excitement for thisone, George.
What can you tell us aboutthis?
George Feltenstein (21:36):
I I would say there's more excitement for
this than almost everything.
Um, this has been so heavilyrequested, and the DVD we had
was not anything to write homefor.
It came from a fourthgeneration element.
By going back to the cameranegative, wow, it just looks
(22:00):
amazing.
It moves.
Like a bat out of hell.
And no one expected this movieto be of any substantial nature
because uh Richard Fleischer wasnot a well-known director at
that time.
He had directed some other uhfeatures.
He is the son of Max Fleischer,by the way, the famed animator
(22:23):
whose work is always something Icheer.
But Richard Fleischer developeda reputation for being an
excellent film director.
And uh as he was on staff atRKO, he was assigned this
picture.
There were no big stars in it.
Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor,Jaclyn White, they were all like
(22:46):
B stars.
And this was a very short,lower budget movie.
But the reviews this movie gotwhen it came out were all
spectacular.
And as Phil Noir has grown inre-evaluation and popularity in
the last two or three decades,the narrow margin is like an
(23:11):
essential noir.
And it did get remade in the90s.
And uh the original is alwaysthe best, you know.
So uh we have a uh commentaryhere that was done by uh a good
friend of mine who passed awayrecently, but people know his
(23:32):
work as a film director, WilliamFriedkin.
He was a passionate film fan,and he wanted to record
commentaries for films that hewas passionate about, and he
approached us when we were doingthe DVD to do this commentary.
And since we lost him, it's allthe more something to treasure
(23:53):
to have his comments.
And he's speaking to it both asa fan of film from the classic
era and being a film directorhimself.
So that's quite fascinating.
And then we also have interviewexcerpts that Richard Fleischer
did for our archival interviewproject that are cut in with
(24:17):
Friedkin's commentary, so youactually get to hear Richard
Fleischer speaking about thefilm and his own perspective of
making it.
And then we've added onto thedisc uh Joe McDoak's short, So
You Never Tell a Lie, and aLooney Tunes uh classic cartoon
in HD, The Super Snooper.
(24:38):
And even though it's an archaeofilm, we actually do have the
trailer for this movie.
A lot of people say that thisis almost Hitchcockian, and uh
it would be a good cousin toStrangers on a train.
It's just great.
And I'm so thrilled we canfinally bring it out with this
(24:58):
beautiful new master with a 4Kscan off the camera negative.
It's something we're very proudof.
And I'm excited to hear whatpeople think when they see the
disc.
Tim Millard (25:07):
Right, right.
And you mentioned it, but thisis a 4K scan of the original
camera negative.
So right.
George Feltenstein (25:14):
As the verdict is and as manpower is,
all of them are 4K scans of thecamera negative.
To have that luxury, obviously,we don't have that luxury with
red dust.
We do our best with what wehave.
But when the negative survives,we're able to bring so much
more clarity to thepresentation.
(25:34):
And that's particularlyexciting when it comes to R.
KO movies because RKO was notas meticulous in taking care of
the original negatives as manyother studios were.
So it's a victory for noirfilms everywhere, and I hope
people enjoy the disc.
Tim Millard (25:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So many people, you're makingtheir month of January uh
bringing this one out very, veryexciting.
Uh, I mentioned the the the 4Kscan for the previous films.
You know, you just clarified,but I also wanted to kind of
lead that into this next onebecause when you do these scans
(26:15):
of these technicolor negatives,the final movie looks fantastic.
And we're talking about by thelight of the silvery moon from
1953.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (26:27):
Well, this was a rarity of its era, but
certainly not a rarity in theworld we live in now or have
been for decades.
It was very unusual for astudio to have a hit film and
then make a sequel.
There were series films likethe Andy Hardy movies uh or the
Nancy Drew movies.
You know, there were there wereall sorts of film series.
(26:48):
But to have a film where youbring back the whole cast and
pick up where the story left offof the first movie, that's
exactly what happened here.
Warner Brothers produced aTechnicolor musical in 1951
called On Moonlight Bay that wasset in just before World War I
(27:09):
and had lots of music from theera.
It was a gorgeous Technicolorproduction, and we had the good
fortune of having one of oursignature Technicolor
restorations created for thatmovie.
By the time this comes out, itwill be the five-year
anniversary of when we put outon Moonlight Bay.
(27:33):
But literally, the story picksup basically where the uh first
film left off.
And Dara Stay and Gordon McCraewere a really great team
together.
I think they did four moviestogether, and then they also
were guest stars in anotherfilm, so that would be five.
(27:53):
But their voices blendedtogether wonderfully.
And this is a funny, funnymovie.
I wouldn't call Meet Me in St.
Louis a funny movie, but it's adelightful entertainment.
This is similar to Meet Me inSt.
Louis and being a nostalgiclook back at years gone by from
(28:15):
a 1953 perspective, but it'salso got a very funny script.
And the comedy, a lot of itcomes from the magnificent Mary
Wicks, who was a great characteractress and comedian for
decades.
Billy Gray, who plays DorisDay's little brother in these
(28:38):
movies, later went on to do theFather Knows Best series.
And happily he's still with usand has a great perspective on
his Hollywood career.
But these films, both onMoonlight Bay and by the light
of the silvery moon, are looselyadapted from Booth Tarkington's
(28:58):
Penrod stories.
And Warner Brothers had madePenrod and Sam uh in the early
30s, and then they made a remakein the late 30s with a
different cast, and there was asilent film developed from these
properties.
So this was a modern reboot, ifyou will, with music, with Ray
(29:22):
Heindorf leading the WarnerBrothers Orchestra, great songs.
It's just delightful.
I carried over all of thespecial features that were on
the original DVD because we havetwo Joe McDoak shorts, and one
of them, So You Want aTelevision set, has a little
(29:43):
cameo appearance by Doris Dayand Gordon McCrae.
So that doesn't wasn't even inmy team count for them.
But so I had to put that onhere.
And we also have another JoeMcDogue short, So You Want to
Learn to Dance, and then theRoadrunner and the Coyote in
From A to Z Z Z Z Z.
So, and that's in HD, and we'vegot the original trailer.
(30:04):
People who bought on MoonlightBay were saying, We want the
sequel, we want the sequel.
Well, now you have it.
Right.
Tim Millard (30:12):
That's exciting.
It's kind of interesting, youknow, what you're saying about
they didn't do these sequels,and and now that's you know,
yeah, it was a it was a realrarity at really any studio, it
just wasn't part of thinking.
George Feltenstein (30:27):
It was a rare occasion that it would
happen, but here it was socomfortable for Warner Brothers
to just take the story of thosecharacters and take it into a
new scenario, and it's a lot offun, and there's there's great
songs, and it's the TechnoColoris just stunning.
(30:50):
I mean, our folks did such agreat job as they always do in
aligning the Technicolor recordsfor that sharpness and
breathtaking Technicolor.
And this is one of those rarefilms that was shot on Safety
Film and in Technicolor.
So uh there are only uh smallnumber of films that were made
(31:12):
that way before the industrymoved to a single strand Eastman
Color Negative.
This is gorgeous.
And uh I think people are gonnabe very, very happy to add it
to their shelves.
Tim Millard (31:23):
Well, we have more music in film to talk about for
our next title, and that's Forthe First Time from 1959.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (31:35):
Well, this was the last film in which Mario
Lanza appeared.
And this film was released, Ithink about two or three months
before he died, at a very youngage.
He had health problems duringthe production of this.
And I think I've talked on thepodcast before with you about
(31:57):
when we talked about ThatMidnight Kiss, about some of the
challenges he had with alcoholand overeating, and just he had
a lot of problems.
This film was actually wellreceived by the public and
critics.
I went back to the New YorkTimes review of this movie, and
(32:20):
the reviewer was like surprisedto be able to say, hey, this is
a really good film.
And Lanza looks better, helooks healthier, and uh, it's a
sweet little love story.
And if you're into uh opera,there are some operatic excerpts
really in the center of thestorytelling that would be like
(32:44):
gold for Lanza fans.
And even though he passed awayover 65 years ago, there's still
a legion of rapt fans for Mr.
Lanza's unique vocal gifts.
And what makes this filminteresting from a technical
standpoint is it was shot intechnorama.
(33:06):
We've talked about technoramabefore.
It went through the camerasideways like this division,
only it was with a 2.35 aspectratio like traditional cinema
scope of the period.
So the film was shot onlocation throughout Europe.
(33:29):
And I would say one of the mostimportant members of the cast,
and I'm speaking figuratively,are the various locations where
this film was shot, with theadded benefit of Technorama, you
get that incredible depth offield, the sharpness, the images
(33:50):
are beautiful.
We released a DVD of this filmmany years ago.
It was not so beautiful, but itwas the best we could do on a
limited budget for a DVD.
This makes up the differencefor that.
The audio for this film ismono.
We do not have any stereophonicaudio elements.
And given that it was producedin Europe for MGM's
(34:14):
distribution, I went through thefiles quite viciously trying to
find out was this ever releasedwith stereophonic sound, even
though we we don't have it.
If you go to IMDB, it says, youknow, four tracks there.
IMDB is not a hundred percentreliable with technical facts,
(34:37):
because anybody can go in thereand put in whatever they want.
I could find no evidence that astereo track was ever created
for this film, but what we haveis what we have, and we did the
best we could do.
The sound is good, the pictureis gorgeous, it's very
entertaining, and it's charming.
One of the cast members in thismovie is the famous Jahabor,
(34:59):
the Queen of Outer Space.
She made this movie after Queenof Outer Space.
She's actually quite charmingand good and not a caricature of
herself in this movie.
And uh I think people will besurprised by the film.
It is a lovely piece ofentertainment.
I'm very passionate about wideformat film and being able to
(35:21):
get it out there so that peoplecan see.
We've we've run the course withVistaVision.
Now we're taking on Technorama,and there will be more
Technorama.
But right now, the film we'resaluting in Technorama is for
the first time.
And uh I think people need togive it a chance if they haven't
(35:43):
seen the film before.
They'll find it is a refreshingentertainment and a salute to
the incredible vocal talents ofMr.
Lonza.
Tim Millard (35:53):
You know, the film you released just a month or two
back.
I don't know why the name'sescaping me, but I really
enjoyed that one.
Um, the last kiss.
Uh, I really enjoyed it.
And I'm a sucker for music inmovies, whether it's a you know
outright musical or justsomething where it just fits
(36:13):
into the plot line.
And uh so I I highly recommendit because I'm not somebody who
was that familiar with MarioLanza, and I thoroughly enjoyed
it.
And I'm really looking forwardto seeing this one after what
you just described.
I mean, it says here from a 6Kscan.
Wonderful.
Um the last thing you did waswas fantastic.
(36:36):
So oh, we didn't talk about theextras here, uh, George.
George Feltenstein (36:39):
Uh there's only, aside from the trailer,
there's only one extra.
Tim Millard (36:43):
Okay.
George Feltenstein (36:44):
And and that is I put one of my favorite
Bugs Bunny cartoons on here,Long Haired Hair, and it's where
Bugs is basically doing battlewith an opera tenor.
You know, it was made waybefore for the first time.
So it isn't, oh, it's a 1959cartoon.
I wanted it to be somethingthat would thematically sit
(37:07):
nicely with the feature.
It's a Chuck Jones cartoon.
He was just brilliant, and uhit's bugs at his best, and it's
a nice little extra.
That's what extras are for.
There you go.
Is to entertain, yeah, and uh,I think people will enjoy it.
Tim Millard (37:22):
Well, let's jump from that animation to our last
title.
What can you tell us about thisTV series now from Hanna
Barbera?
George Feltenstein (37:31):
Well, this is the new Fred and Barney show,
which is not that well known.
It was done in 1979, and it wasshown on Saturday mornings on
NBC.
But in the early 70s, HannaBarbera revisited the
(37:52):
Flintstones by having Pebblesand Bam Bam grown up as
teenagers, and this kind of tookthe Flintstones back to the
original format where Pebblesand Bam Bam are little children
again.
When originally broadcast,these shows were formatted with
(38:15):
other characters.
There was The Thing and The NewSchmoo, both of which were not
Hanna Barbera createdcharacters.
We do not have the rights torelease those programs as they
were originally broadcast.
So this brings together theactual Flintstones segments of
(38:41):
the new Fred and Barney show.
So the permutations, it's 17episodes that were spread the
end of the 1978-79 season, thenthe 7980 season.
But what's interesting aboutthis is that we had planned to
release this on DVD when we weregoing very deep into the
(39:03):
Hanna-Barbera library, and theexisting masters were unusable.
They were so old and soterrible.
We were doing a limitedremastering on a lot of
Hanna-Barbera things, you know,10 years ago, uh, 12 years ago.
I think it was even a littlelater in the history that we
(39:28):
started to work on the new Fredand Barney show just for DVD.
And we ran into serious filmelement problems and missing
footage.
So that project had to beaborted.
And now we're able to go backto the original negatives and
have the shows be.
They run about 24 minutesapiece, leaving room for
(39:51):
commercials, which we don't haveany.
There are 17 episodes on twodiscs.
They come from 4K scans of theoriginal negatives, and they
look terrific.
By the point that this show isdone, Alan Reed, who was the
original voice of FredFlintstone, had passed away
about two years before, andHenry Corden had taken over as
(40:13):
the voice of Fred Flintstone,which he did for decades.
And you have Mel Blank, theoriginal Barney, uh returning as
Barney Rubble, and JeanVanderpeil, the original Wilma,
returning to her role.
Then there's another actresswho does the voice of Betty.
And the original Betty was, ofcourse, B.
(40:35):
Ben and Derrett, and then sheleft the Flintstones to star in
Petticoat Junction.
So the woman who voices Bettyin this particular series, her
name was Gay Otterson.
But you have the whole coreHannah Barbera crew working on
these shows.
And uh, for people who loveFred and Barney, this is a nice
(40:58):
little piece of nostalgia.
When we announced that this wascoming out, a lot of people
said, I've never heard of this.
And uh, you know, uh, I've alsoseen many people say, we want
Hanna Barbera that's never beenreleased before.
And given how deeply we wentinto the Hanna Barbera library
(41:21):
with DVD releases, there aresome people that don't care that
it's Blu-ray and looks sobeautiful.
You know, they consider itreleased already when it's on
DVD.
We have a responsibility tomake things look great.
So finding that balance, herewas an unreleased show that
never came out on DVD, althoughwe planned to.
(41:41):
I had heard there was VHS likein Europe, and I don't know if
that's legit or bootlegs,frankly, but I could find no
record of legitimate releasehere in the US, even on video
cassette.
So it's really a repremiere.
These things were ontelevision, and uh, you know.
So they would appear on uhBoomerang or on Me TV Tunes, uh,
(42:07):
but this is the first timethey're getting a home
entertainment physical release,and on Blu-ray, I think fans of
Hanna Barbera and fans of theFlintstones will be very happy
with it.
Tim Millard (42:20):
Yeah, yeah.
I love it when when you're ableto release for the first time,
you know, never on DVD, so tospeak.
You've done that a few timesthis year, maybe.
George Feltenstein (42:30):
I mean, all of Huckleberry Hound, except for
the first season, wasunavailed.
Tim Millard (42:33):
Except for the first season.
Yeah, there you go.
George Feltenstein (42:35):
And and so it's and we have a lot of other
things in store.
So people who want theunreleased will be happy with
what's coming out, and peoplewho want an upgrade from
something that didn't look sogood in prior iterations will
also get their wishes fulfilled.
And will everybody be happy?
No, you can't please everybodyall the time, but we really try.
(42:59):
And we know we have a dedicatedfan base for our releases, and
there are fan groups ofdifferent kinds of
entertainment.
Some people want, you know,this kind of film or this kind
of television series, or theywant a comedy, or they want a
western, or they want a drama,they don't want old TV, they
(43:21):
want new TV.
They, you know, everybody wantssomething different.
We've got a lot of people totry and please, so we're never
going to be able to be a hundredpercent successful every month.
But I think what's nice aboutthe January release slate is
there's a little bit ofdiversity, and yet an emphasis
(43:41):
on quality entertainment.
And I hope people really enjoythe January releases.
Tim Millard (43:47):
I think it's a terrific, uh, terrific month.
You got classic films,including Technocolor musicals,
noir dramas, and then you've gotmore animation.
And I almost forgot, but we'renot gonna finish our episode
without mentioning you come backwith two film collections also
in early January, and it escapedmy mind for a bit, but those we
(44:12):
should mention because thispodcast is to announce
everything coming from theWarner Archive in January.
So two uh you know, kind ofknown guys, uh James Stewart for
films and uh Robert Taylor.
So maybe you could tell us alittle bit about those.
George Feltenstein (44:29):
Well, I feel badly that people have
forgotten Robert Taylor.
You know, he first burst uponthe scene in an MGM short in the
mid-30s, and soon thereafterwas the leading man for Garbo
and Camille, and he could doeverything.
And one of the last things heever did was a maid for
(44:53):
television, but of theatricalquality movie called Return of
the Gunfighter in 1967.
He died of lung cancer, veryyoung, heavy smoker, and he died
at a time where people werejust becoming aware of the
dangers of cigarette smoking andcancer, and um the tragedy of
(45:16):
his early death, relativelyearly death, kind of made an
impact on a lot of people.
But the screen career that hehad as a leading man, the 30s,
the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, quiteremarkable.
And this four-film collection,which I've talked about the
film, the multi-film collectionsbefore, they're not designed
(45:39):
primarily for our core WarnerArchive consumers, because our
core Warner Archive consumersand collectors will have likely
bought some or all of the filmsin these collections.
They're designed to provide avalue proposition to build your
(46:00):
library if you're missing onething or the other, one
performer, one director, onegenre, and be able to affordably
a four-film collection is$39.98.
That's a very attractive price.
Sometimes they get discounted.
So I'm very, very excited aboutthe Robert Taylor collection.
(46:20):
Uh, some of the films in therewe've talked about here on this
podcast.
Yes.
I think the most recent uhrelease included in this
collection is Devil's Doorway,which we just talked about last,
but it's it's a greatcollection.
And then for Jimmy Stewart,four film collection spans from
1940 to 1962, because we haveThe Shop Around the Corner,
(46:49):
which is a beloved romanticcomedy directed by Ernst
Lubitsch.
The Blu-ray we released, Ithink four or five years ago.
Uh, it's a perennial Christmasfavorite.
It was the basis uh for remakefor In the Good Old Summertime
with Judy Garland and VanJohnson, and You've Got Mail
with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
(47:10):
So it's a wonderful love story,and this is the original film.
And the same year, JamesStewart co-starred in Shop
Around the Corner with MargaretSullivan.
He also co-starred withMargaret Sullivan in The Mortal
Storm, which was really one ofthe first MGM films to address
(47:31):
fascism and the coming threat ofthe Nazis in 1940, and uh is a
film that definitely deserves tobe seen more.
Then you move into 1953, andyou've got The Naked Spur,
directed by Anthony Mann, one ofour Technicolor Restorations,
(47:53):
that is one of the many westernsStuart made with Anthony Mann,
and it's a terrific film.
And then the set climaxes withan all-star film that was shot
in the Cinerama process,released here in the United
States in 1963, but it wasreleased in Europe in 1962, so
(48:19):
that's the actual release year,and that's how the West was won.
And it's an all-star cast withthree separate stories telling
the settling of the West.
But James Stewart really had apivotal role in the film.
I would say he and DebbieReynolds probably have the most
(48:42):
significant amount of screentime.
So we thought it would be a anice addition to this four-film
selection because it's a nicediversity of storytelling.
I think people will reallyenjoy it, especially if they
don't own the majority or any ofthe films in these collections.
That's what these collectionsare for, and there will be more
(49:05):
of them released each monththroughout the year.
Tim Millard (49:08):
Yeah, that's uh it's a fantastic two collections
for January.
And like you said, I own mostof them, but for those who
don't, this is a terrific value.
And uh just the amount of starsyou have there at Warner
Brothers that you can put thesecollections together around is
fantastic.
George Feltenstein (49:27):
Uh and and genres and directors, and
there's all there are gonna besome surprises.
Uh we will have some four filmcollections and some six film
collections, but they're allbased on giving the consumer an
opportunity to build or add totheir collection with a very
(49:52):
reasonable retail price.
And uh I hope people areenjoying them.
Yep.
All indications are that theyare.
Tim Millard (49:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fantastic.
I know I am.
Well, George, a great month ofJanuary to kick off 2026.
Uh, how do you do it?
I don't know how you do it eachmonth pulling together so much
variety, pleasing so manypeople, and uh it's just a it's
just a fantastic way to startthe year.
So as always, thank you forcoming on and and sharing.
George Feltenstein (50:20):
Thank you, Tim, and thank you to everybody
out there that supports theWarner Archive Collection.
We really appreciate it.
Tim Millard (50:29):
Well, it's another terrific month, and it's a great
way to start 2026 with all ofthese fantastic releases from
the Warner Archive.
Now, it's a little unusual, butthe pre-orders for all of these
releases are available.
So I do have those in the shownotes so that you can order
those right away.
That includes the two filmcollections that we talked about
(50:52):
as well.
And I just want to clarify forthose of you who are interested
in the film collections that wementioned what was on the James
Stewart collection, but didn'tgo through the titles on the
Robert Taylor.
So let me do that real quick.
And that's Devil's Doorway,West World The Women, Ivan Hope,
and the last five.
So those are the four films onthe fourth film collection of
(51:14):
Robert Taylor.
Those are fantastic films, bythe way.
So what a great collection forthose of you who do not have
these Robert Taylor films.
As always, if you haven't yetsubscribed, you do ask me to do
that.
Help this show, and of course,the picture that you get these
episodes right away.
Whether you're an animation fanor tactical film fan, or just a
fan of the one architect ingeneral.
(51:36):
The rest of 2026 is alsolooking very robust, and I know
you won't want to miss any ofthose episodes when they come
up.
There's just a lot of greatstuff in the community.
Until next time, you've beenlistening to Tim Light today.
Slightly.
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