June 9, 2025 • 44 mins
The Warner Archive Collection announces an eclectic lineup of eight Blu-ray releases coming in July, spanning multiple decades and genres with restorations from original camera negatives.
• William Conrad's "Brainstorm" (1965) starring Jeff Hunter in a psychological thriller with a new 4K scan
• Michael Curtiz's "Brightleaf" (1950) with Gary Cooper and Lauren Bacall as tobacco barons in the 1890s
• Vincent Minnelli's "The Cobweb" (1955), a controversial mental institution drama with Richard Widmark and Lauren Bacall
• "Knights of the Round Table" (1953), MGM's first CinemaScope production with Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner
• "Melinda" (1972), an African-American produced urban drama featuring a young Jim Kelly before Enter the Dragon
• "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1952), a Technicolor remake with Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, and James Mason
• "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941), the final Flynn/de Havilland collaboration with newly discovered footage
• "Two Weeks With Love" (1950), featuring Jane Powell, Ricardo Montalban, and Debbie Reynolds' breakout performance
All titles feature stunning 4K scans with various extras including period-appropriate shorts, cartoons, and interviews.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein to announce the JulyBlu-ray releases from the
Warner Archive.
Hi, george, hello Tim, how areyou?
I'm very good and I'm veryexcited to go over these July
releases with you and, from thelooks of it, we have a little
(00:22):
bigger-than-us usual bunch ofBlu-rays coming out in July.
George Feltenstein (00:27):
And an eclectic selection as well.
Tim Millard (00:30):
This should be fun, then, to go through this with
you.
And we have eight, so everybodywill want to stick around to
hear what all of them are, andwe're going to go alphabetically
, so we'll have some older onesand some more modern classics
mixed in there.
So let's start with the veryfirst one here Brainstorm, from
(00:54):
1965.
What can you tell us about thisfilm, george?
George Feltenstein (00:59):
Well, the first thing I want to say is we
have two brainstorms in ourlibrary.
First thing I want to say is wehave two brainstorms in our
library.
The more famous one is from1983, Douglas Trumbull's film.
I wanted to clarify that thatis not what this is basically
(01:29):
entrusted.
William Conrad, better known forbeing radio's Gunsmoke Marshall
Dillon, or on TV as Cannon andJake in the Fat man, he was
producing and directing.
He had taken over WarnerBrothers Television for a while
and then he produced anddirected a bunch of films for
Jack and then Flew the Coop.
But the films he made here werevery interesting and one of
them we released on Blu-ray acouple of years ago, Two on a
(01:51):
Guillotine.
But this Brainstorm, I think,is my favorite of the pictures
that he made and it's just kindof whacked out.
And Jeff Hunter, the star ofKing of Kings and the Searchers,
is involved in a kind ofillicit situation where he's
making believe that he's out ofhis mind and it's really a wacky
(02:17):
movie.
You can't really take it tooseriously, but it's a lot of fun
and it was actually quite a bigseller for us on DVD.
So to be able to go back to thecamera negative, scan it for
cake, come up with a beautifulnew master.
What could be better?
So that starts us off with a1965 release.
(02:40):
Yeah, and.
Tim Millard (02:41):
I'm thinking back.
It's been a little while maybe,since we had a film from the
60s, so fans of the 60s will beglad to hear that.
And just before we move on,there are some classic cartoons
on here that you have for extrasas well.
George Feltenstein (02:56):
Well, I picked one from 1965, which
would be typical of, like if youwent into the theater, which
we're always wanting to recreatethat theatrical experience
well-worn Daffy, which has neverhad a home video release.
At least that I could trackdown.
The later cartoons that weremade after the Warner Animation
(03:17):
Studio was shut down and theykind of sub-licensed out the
work to the Patty Frilling.
Uh, they kind of sub-licensedout the work to, uh, the patty
frilling.
Um, those cartoons have theirfollowers, um, so it's good to
make them available for thepeople that want them, but
they're just basically extras tosupplant, uh, the feature and,
(03:42):
um, I think it's just going tobe a lot of fun Definitely a lot
, and it looks amazing.
It looks better than it has theright to.
Tim Millard (03:51):
Next, we have a film from 1950, and it's a great
team up here.
You've got Gary Cooper, you'vegot Lauren Bacall, and the film
is Brightleaf.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (04:06):
Well, most important thing I can say, it is
directed by a somewhat knowndirector by the name of Curtiz.
I've heard of him, michaelCurtiz.
So 1950, michael Curtiz getstogether with Gary Cooper,
lauren Bacall, Patricia Nealthey're all under contract and
(04:30):
Cooper plays a tobacco baron,basically in the 1890s, and it's
a lush, costumey romanticpicture with strong dialogue and
strong action.
Not an action movie, but I meanin terms of the dialogue and
(04:52):
the two women vying for hisaffection and whatnot.
It's really just a classicpiece of what the studio was
turning out at that time.
And again it's getting theupgrade coming from the nitrate
gonna look terrific.
Tim Millard (05:09):
We put some 1950 looney tunes on that one, uh,
which is also very nice I seehere bunker hill bunny and
hillbilly hair in hd both ofthose but this is a terrific,
terrific cast and a terrificdirector, so that should be a
fun one coming in july and itlooks really remarkable, it's.
(05:30):
It's really quite impressivewell, next in our our march
through july, herealphabetically, I have the
cobweb and that has lauren bacalas well, so you got two coming
in july and tell us about thisfilm.
George Feltenstein (05:46):
Well, this is a film basically about a
mental institution and it wasvery controversial when it came
out.
It was partially written byWilliam Gibson, the playwright
that did the Miracle Worker.
Later on it's got a phenomenalcast Richard Widmark, lauren
Bacall, charles Boyer, gloriaGraham, lillian Gish, susan
(06:11):
Strasberg as in Daughter of Lee,oscar Levant and John Kerr, who
was the leading man in the playTea and Sympathy and did the
movie with Vincent Minnelli, whodirected the Cobweb a year
later.
This was also produced by JohnHausman, who in the 1970s would
(06:32):
have a new career as an actor inthe Paper Chase and the
television series that followedit.
It's a really well-written,well-crafted film.
I think the subject matter wasa little bit difficult for
people to digest in the 1950s,but any time you have Minnelli
behind the camera, there's goingto be amazing things going on
(06:54):
visually and this is a verydialogue-heavy film.
But the way he works with theCinemaScope frame and works with
the actors, it all isincredibly satisfying.
This film has a cult following.
We've gotten many requests forthis movie and we had put it out
(07:19):
as a DVD years ago.
That didn't look very good butwas the best that we could offer
, and now we've got coming offthe camera.
Negative looks incrediblybetter.
Early CinemaScope uh,stereophonic sound, uh, it's, uh
, it's just a really solid MGMpicture from 1955 that deserves
(07:47):
this upgrade.
And so here we have it.
One of the extras on this discis a promotional film that MGM
made in CinemaScope to kind ofcall out their 1955 films in
production, and the reason why Iput it on this disc is the
(08:08):
whole cast of the Cobweb speaksto the camera and says you know,
I'm Richard Widmark, I'm LaurenBacall, you know that kind of
thing.
They actually they took thetime to kind of call out what
this film was.
And anytime you have actorsbreaking the fourth wall,
especially in a promotional thisis the trailer.
(08:30):
It's really a 20-minute big,long trailer for all sorts of
things, but when that happens,hitchcock was great about doing
special trailers like that, andthere were other special
trailers that were done by otherpeople where they addressed the
audience directly.
But I just thought that wouldbe really cool to put on this
(08:51):
disc and add a little extra funto it, so you get to see a
little bit behind the curtain ofwhat they were doing.
Uh, houseman and minnelli workedtogether several times on
various productions and mostnotably, I think, the Bad and
the Beautiful, which we restoredand released on Blu-ray about
(09:13):
five years ago.
At this point, maybe foursomewhere between the last four
to six years I lose count,especially with the pandemic in
there, especially with thepandemic in there.
But you know we want to get moreof not just Minnelli, but all
the great filmmakers that arepart of the legacy of our
(09:33):
library want to get everythingout.
This is a pretty robust monthin terms of eight titles, but
there were many that you know Iwas hoping would be ready, that
weren't, but we had a pretty bigmonth with our June releases in
terms of quality, and I thinkthis is another month that has a
(09:56):
lot of diversity anddifferences to it.
Of course, naturally, thewhiners and complainers will
complain, that goes with theterritory.
But mostly what we receive is alot of support and I'm very
grateful for that, and we'retrying to bring as much as we
can from the different littlecorners and nooks and crannies
(10:20):
of the library out with finereleases when that maturation
point arises.
So it just so happened we wereable to get eight ready for this
month and who knows what willhappen next month.
Tim Millard (10:36):
Yeah, and to your point.
I mean you've got two LaurenBacall in the same month and
that's just.
You know it.
Just they happen to be ready togo and so they are when they're
ready to go and there's a slotfor them.
I know sometimes there's goingto be a little bit more in one
month or another, but going backto the June releases, you
actually had a robust month inJune as well, because you have
(10:57):
to end on the loony tune.
George Feltenstein (11:00):
Right, I actually did not think that we
would have as strong a July aswe did in June.
It was going to be really ahard act to follow, but I'm
happy to say that I think thisis a very solid lineup of
releases that appeals todifferent groups in different
ways, different ways.
(11:26):
There are certainly going to bethe people that will be
disappointed that there isn't ananimation release, and then
next month, if we have two, thensomebody will complain well,
you didn't do this and youdidn't do that.
We really can't focus on thosekind of thoughts.
We're just out to do the bestjob that we can in bringing as
much of the library out as wecan.
(11:47):
And I'm very happy with whatwe're talking about today
because I think it reflects alot of different periods of film
industry history and it'sinteresting to look at each film
as a little story behind it,you know, and how it came to be
and what it represented in thehistory of cinema.
(12:08):
Specifically, with the titleswe're talking about today are
MGM and Warner Brothers.
There are no RKO films thismonth, you know, or independent
films, often straddling throughthese various eras, and it makes
for interesting variety,because we're trying to serve a
(12:29):
lot of masters, so no punintended as we remaster and make
new masters.
Tim Millard (12:36):
You know, George, you said no animation this month
, but you actually have goingback to the cobweb here, this
CinemaScope cartoon, the Egg andJerry, in HD.
Now, was that on theCinemaScope release for the Tom
and Jerry's?
George Feltenstein (12:50):
Yes, that's one of the it's on our
CinemaScope Tom and Jerrycollection.
Tim Millard (12:54):
Yeah, that was a seller just out not too long ago
Very, very popular, but it wasgreat to see that on here, since
this is a CinemaScope film.
George Feltenstein (13:05):
Well, I didn't want to put a
non-cinemascope cartoon with acinemascope feature.
I wanted to keep things wide.
If people have their hometheaters and they have, uh,
masking, you know, with curtainsand you know, I I don't know
anybody who has a setup likethat, I certainly don't, but I
know there are people who do andI would love to have that
(13:26):
someday.
Uh, but you know, if you'regonna adjust your screen like a
theater would, uh, you don'twant to have to be changing
aspect ratios and curtains andso forth and so on.
Tim Millard (13:37):
So we tried to stay scope well, my point of that
was going to be that there'spretty much always something for
animation fans, because youhave so many.
George Feltenstein (13:46):
That's true?
Tim Millard (13:47):
Yes, there's no you know, just one release full of
them in July, but there's alwayssome animation there.
George Feltenstein (13:54):
But we're working on a bunch of them, just
can't talk about it right now.
Tim Millard (13:59):
Well, there's a lot of good stuff here in July, so
why don't we go on to the nextone here?
There's a lot of good stuffhere in July, so why don't we go
on to the next one here?
And that is another CinemaScopefilm, actually from 1953,
knights of the Round Table.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (14:15):
Well, this isn't just any CinemaScope movie
.
This is MGM's very firstCinemaScope film and it was shot
at the English, the MGM Britishstudios I should properly refer
to them as in 1953.
And it's beautifully shot.
And Cinemascope was so new that, as MGM entered into their
(14:45):
licensing agreement with 20thCentury Fox that owned the
technology, this was the firstCinemascope production they
planned and it was only filmedthat one way.
When they made their nextCinemascope movies, when they
made their next CinemaScopemovies, they actually shot a
bunch of them twice, once in awidescreen, which meant that
(15:05):
they were shot for a 1.75 aspectratio, and then they did a
whole separate take of everymovie in 2.55 CinemaScope.
So that happened on about sixfilms, most famously Seven
brides for seven brothers,brigadoon, uh.
Eventually Cinemascope'spopularity was cemented so that
(15:28):
they didn't have to do thatanymore.
Unlike 3d, which came and wentvery quickly, uhcope was
basically here to stay.
That aspect ratio changed alittle bit and then the
Panavision company came in withbetter lenses, but that's really
(15:51):
what we still see today, evenon films that are digitally
produced.
It's a 2.39 aspect ratio, butthe early Scope movies were 2.55
to make room for the magneticsoundtrack.
And this is again another filmthat had a four-track
(16:12):
stereophonic sound magnetictrack when it opened, and our
disc will be stereo.
I do want to call out that itis not going to be four-channel
stereo.
Unfortunately, the four-trackMagnetic Masters did not survive
over the decades and in the1980s, I believe, they created a
(16:39):
left-right stereo protectionand that's what we've been using
ever since.
We're very fortunate becausethere's virtually no, at least
on the MGM side.
There are very few films thatwere made with a stereophonic
soundtrack.
Where we don't have astereophonic soundtrack there
are a few, but on the warnerbrothers side there are many
(17:05):
that had a stereophonicsoundtrack.
Where the stereophonicsoundtrack did not survive, uh,
you know, the oxide would flakeoff the film, the magnetic, and
so a lot of the magnetic tracksdid go bad and there was a very
(17:30):
substantial effort to try andsave and preserve them in the
90s and it's because of thateffort that we have so much that
we can go back to and work withUh, but on nights, the round
table.
We don't have the four trackstereo but we have left right
stereo and if you press thatbutton on your receiver it'll
(17:54):
spread it out with surroundsthat will make it nearly as good
as the original.
But the most important thing isthat it is stereophonic.
It is not mono and this wasdesigned to be a spectacle to
show off the new technology.
It's the King Arthur story andyou've got Ava Gardner and a
(18:14):
wonderful cast of supportingplayers and it was a huge hit
for MGM.
It was big at the box office.
Robert Taylor as the lead.
He was I believe.
I've talked about this before,but his association with MGM
basically extended from 1935until 1967, like right up until
(18:41):
his death.
I don't think he was under thesame long-term contract but his
relationship with the company.
He died of lung cancer at arelatively young age because he
was a very heavy smoker and hespent more of his career at MGM
(19:02):
than virtually anybody else,with the exception of Leo the
Lion.
Mel Farrar is also in this movieand thankfully, when we were
preparing this film for DVDrelease 22 years ago, mr Farrar
was still with us.
He was in his 80s.
Years ago mr farrar was stillwith us.
(19:22):
He was in his 80s and he cameby the studio to.
I don't know if it was shothere or if it was shot at his
home, uh, but uh, your formerboss made the arrangements to
have a crew film, mr farrar, tothe to the introduction for the
DVD of this film, and we havethat intro on the new Blu-ray,
(19:45):
which is very exciting.
We also have footage of theGallup premiere of this movie.
This film was directed byRichard Thorpe, who was a
journeyman director for MGM thatcould always be counted on to
deliver every genre known tomankind and film responsibly
(20:06):
Produced by Pandrew S Berman,who started his career out at
RKO, producing the Fred andGinger movies and a lot of
wonderful comedies, and he movedfrom RKO to MGM where he spent,
I would say, the 40s, the 50s,the 60s.
Pandro Berman was at MGM andhad quite an amazing career and
(20:30):
there were very few films thathe made as a producer that were
not successful.
He really had a golden touch asa producer.
So to see this when we weredesigning the cover I wanted we
always try to use original keyart and we found a poster that
really kicked up the CinemaScopeangle and it used that phrase.
(20:54):
That uses that phrase that Ilike so much the miracle, you
see, that doesn't requireglasses, that you see without
glasses.
I paraphrased incorrectly, buta lot of people wouldn't know
what that means.
But anybody who's familiar withthe history of the time.
The thing that really kind ofkilled old-fashioned 3D was the
(21:16):
problem wearing the glasses.
It actually is a factor withthe resurgence of 3d after
avatar and suddenly everythingwas being made in 3d for the
theaters.
Uh, I know a lot of people thatcomplained about the glasses.
They never bothered me.
I, I love, I love the glasses,I love 3d, but, um, that's why
(21:39):
it didn't stick around as aformat, and cinemascope really
was one of the major magneticforces that gave people
something different that theycouldn't get on their little 12
inch black and white televisions.
So this film has continued tobe popular in all media.
This was out in video, cassetteand laser disc and dvd, and now
(22:02):
we have a beautiful blu-ray andwe've scanned the camera
negative at 4k and, uh, we haveour stereophonic sound, albeit
not exact to what it wasoriginally.
But we're lucky.
We have what we have, because alot of people don't have what
they had.
Tim Millard (22:18):
So I'm grateful for what we do have you have a
robust amount of uh of extras.
George Feltenstein (22:23):
You mentioned that intro and then
you've got uh newsreel footageof the gala premiere and then we
have a cinemascope cartoonthat's from later on in the 50s,
one droopy night.
Now that is more of aconnection with the thematics of
the cartoon.
This is one of the few droopycartoons that was not directed
(22:44):
by Tex Avery he was already gone, but I thought it was a good
thing to put with this.
And then I also put on awonderful musical short called
the MGM Jubilee Overture, whichis the MGM Symphony Orchestra,
as they called them in the film,playing a medley of songs that
(23:04):
were associated with the studio.
And this film went into releasewith a different CinemaScope
musical short that I tried tohave available to put on this
disc.
And we ran into some technicalissues with the film Mary Wives
of Windsor Overture.
(23:25):
That's what this movie openedwith.
So we'll just have to put thatshort on some other film when
we're able to get around thetechnical snafus that we were
facing.
So at least there's a lot inthe presentation that makes
people feel that they're goingto enjoy the disc.
Tim Millard (23:44):
Yeah, Well, it's a great cast and I'm looking
forward to seeing that one.
Well, next we jump a fewdecades to the 1970s, George,
for the urban drama Melinda from1972.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (24:04):
from 1972.
What can you tell us about thisone?
Well, this is a 1972 MGM film.
That was one of many the studiowas focusing in on the
African-American audiences.
The whole industry was, butparticularly MGM, having had
such success with Shaft in 1971.
And this film stars CalvinLockhart, rosalind Cash, bonetta
McKee and this is the firstfilm, the film debut, of Jim
(24:28):
Kelly before Enter the Dragon,and you know it's a very
action-packed thriller.
It's really really well done.
We did very well with this ondvd, um, so we thought that it
would be a good idea to bring itto blu-ray and we scan the
(24:49):
camera negative at 4k and it'sgot a really great funky score
that constantly permeatesthroughout the movie.
It's not a musical by any means, but music plays a huge role in
driving this story and peoplewho really are fans of this
(25:10):
genre really are passionateabout this film.
So we're happy to respond tothat passion by giving it a
really new, fresh presentation,which it needed, and we've done
very, very well with some of theother films in that genre that
we've released lately, and therewill be more to come.
So people will be surprised byMelinda.
(25:33):
It needs to be better known.
It's set in Chicago, not LA orNew York.
It's a little different and theperformances are really
excellent.
And what's also important aboutthis film is a lot of the
quote-unquote blaxploitation.
Movies from that period wereall made by non-African American
(25:59):
filmmakers.
This film was produced,directed and created by African
American filmmakers and MGM wasreally getting behind a lot of
people that didn't get a chanceto get behind the camera and
make a movie.
And these films were all verysuccessful at the box office
(26:20):
because they were not expensiveto make and I think people who
don't know this movie inparticular will be worth taking
the risk in buying the discbecause they'll end up watching
it a lot.
And also you have Jim Kellywith his karate.
You know like showing what'sabout to happen with the dragon.
(26:43):
And then, of course, we put outthree of the hard way just
recently, which I'm stillthrilled about.
Tim Millard (26:49):
Yeah, I think I've told you, George, each time you
put these out.
I just have a great time when Iam watching it.
I just have a great time when Iam watching it.
I just got to get my snacks, mypopcorn, and I just know I'm in
for a good night of fun moviewatching.
George Feltenstein (27:06):
Exactly, it's not serious cinema, it's
fun movie going and I thinkthat's really important.
You need to be able to have alittle bit of everything.
Yeah, and whenever you hearthat music, I'm looking forward
to hearing that music, becausethat music just takes you back
to the 70s.
(27:27):
So um the wah-wah guitar.
Tim Millard (27:27):
you know exactly.
Well, we have a couple morehere and uh, we're gonna talk
about our first technicolor filmuh of the day here and and
that's the Prisoner of Zendafrom 19.
George Feltenstein (27:39):
Boy, is it Technicolor?
Tim Millard (27:41):
What can you tell us about this one?
George Feltenstein (27:43):
Well, this is actually the second remake of
the story of the Prisoner ofZenda based on Anthony Hope's
original novel.
The first film which is on here.
We have the silent 1922 versionas an extra.
And then it was remade 15 yearslater, most famously by David O
(28:10):
Selznick in 1937 with RonaldColeman and Douglas Fairbanks Jr
, as a Selznick Internationalpicture, and it was a very big
success.
And then MGM bought the rightsto that movie and the original
film to remake it in Technicolorin 1952 with Stuart Granger,
(28:32):
who was their new swashbucklingstar.
This is almost a shot-for-shotremake of the 1937
black-and-white Selznick filmand unfortunately the 1937 black
and white Selznick film isright now in very poor shape.
(28:53):
We have been on a search forbetter elements and that's why,
unlike the DVD and the LaserDiscthat preceded it, it's not a
double feature of the 37 and the52.
And if people are saying, well,why'd they pick the remake?
Well, we can't release the 1937.
(29:27):
The 1952 remake stands on itsown because it has great
performances.
Uh, it maintains even theoriginal score by alfred newman
was re-orchestrated by I shouldsay, re-orchestrated by mgm's
genius genius of orchestration,conrad Salinger, better known
(29:48):
for his work in musicals.
Salinger took the Alfred Newmanscore for the Selznick film and
gave it the MGM sound for this1952 remake.
And you've got Deborah Carr and, of course, one of my favorites
, james Mason.
It's just a terrific, terrificcast and it's a great story.
(30:11):
And what I did to kind ofsatiate the people who are
hungering for Ronald Coleman, wehave two radio broadcasts, one
from 1939, I think, and then onefrom 1949 or 50, maybe even 51,
from Screen Directors Playhousewith Ronald Coleman and John
(30:33):
Cromwell, the director, withLewis Stone, who would later be
Andy Hardy's father, and AliceTerry, who we talked about just
a while ago because of the FourHorsemen of the Apocalypse.
But that's on here as a bonus.
(30:55):
It is standard definition.
It is not restored but it'sthere for you to see if you like
it, and we have the radio showsand we have a beautiful trailer
.
But the technicolor in this issumptuous.
(31:23):
It's one of those rare thatwe've talked about a few times,
one of those rare films with thethree-strip Technicolor where
the negatives were safety film,didn't have to bring them across
the country.
They're in our refrigeratedvault on the lot and they've
been meticulously realignedusing our patented process so
that we can have the sharpesttechnicolor known to mankind.
So I think people are reallygoing to be knocked out when
they see how great this filmlooks and sounds.
Tim Millard (31:43):
Right, yeah, and I don't know if you mentioned Jane
Greer.
She's also in here.
George Feltenstein (31:47):
I didn't mention Jane Greer, but shame on
me for not doing so, because welove Jane Greer.
Tim Millard (31:53):
Always great to see her as well.
So, what a cast.
Looking forward to that one,because I love every Technicolor
that Warner Archive puts out.
Just the best.
Every time I see Technicolor,if you're a fan of the film,
you're going to know.
Oh, I got to get this version.
George Feltenstein (32:08):
It's really exciting that we're able to do
these things.
What technology has provided usgives you a chance to see the
film even better than when itopened, because a wet lab
couldn't align the threeTechnicolor records the way we
can now.
Lab couldn't align the threeTechnicolor records the way we
(32:29):
can now, so it's sharper thanever before and the colors are
just explosive and you havethose rich blacks and beautiful
highlights and people are goingto love it.
It's gorgeous.
I've seen the test disc andit's a wow yeah.
Tim Millard (32:42):
Well, I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of
excitement for this next film.
We're going to talk aboutGeorge.
They died with their boots onfrom 1941.
What can you tell us about thisfilm of?
George Feltenstein (32:52):
General Custer and it's the last of the
eight pairings of Errol Flynnand Olivia de Havilland, and
this is directed by Raoul Walsh.
(33:14):
It is an action-packedspectacle.
It has wonderful performances,it has magnificent music by Max
Steiner.
It's really a quintessentialWarner Brothers film from the
1940s and it's one of Flynn'sbest performances and it tugs at
your heart.
(33:34):
It is exciting and what wefound in our work on this film,
when we are working from theoriginal camera negative, very
often we find that there arecertain sections that are highly
damaged and we'll have to go toa second generation nitrate,
(33:57):
lavender, fine grain, and thisfilm was no different that we
had to go to other elements forcertain shots and what we found
were and it's not a lot, but wefound a few extra minutes of
footage that had been left outof the final release of the film
to cut it down for time.
(34:18):
So is it going to be revelatory?
Is it substantial, likerhapsody in blue?
No, um, but if you can get alittle more of Errol Flynn and
Raoul Walsh and Warner Brothersfrom 1941, you want that.
And we tried working with ourexisting safety elements on this
(34:45):
several years ago and it justwas not what it should be um.
So we stopped down and said,until we can get the negative
and until we can really restorethis to make it look spectacular
as it deserves to look, we'regoing to put this on the back
burner.
We've had to do that with a lotof films, but it's worth it
(35:07):
when we finally can do it rightand I've been very excited about
this.
It's just taken a very longtime.
One of the nice things aboutthis is that I would say going
back around 2004,.
If my memory is serving mecorrectly, that was when we
(35:30):
started doing more of the WarnerNight the movies, with my good
friend Leonard Maltin hostingand explaining to people.
You're going to be sittingthrough a newsreel, a short of
the era, a cartoon of the era, atrailer of the era, explaining
what we were doing with Warnerand I at the movies, a concept
(35:51):
that actually started not veryeffectively, but it was started
on videocassette at the veryearly 80s when Warner Home Video
was still in New York, but itwasn't followed through and
built upon and it wasn't donethe way that we could do it when
we approached it in come andcome back to the lot and host a
(36:12):
Warner Knight the movies.
Now it's Warner Knight themovies 1942.
(36:32):
But you'll see, the movie has acopyright of 1941.
It's Casablanca time.
This movie opened in New Yorkat the end of 1941 but it didn't
have its general release untilJanuary of 1942.
So it's really a 1941 movie.
That's the year of itscopyright, but most people saw
(36:55):
it in 1942.
So most of the extra materialthe shorts and the newsreels and
the cartoon and the trailer foranother movie with trailer for
All Through the night withbogart, which we hope to bring
to blu-ray soon um, it justgives you that whole sense of
(37:15):
what it was like to be at themovies 83 years ago.
And you have the choice ofwatching all the individual
pieces.
Or you can play all, and itstarts with leonard's intro,
takes you through all theindividual pieces, or you can
play all and it starts withLeonard's intro, takes you
through all the pieces, thenbrings you right to the feature.
So the disc is programmed insuch a way that people can
really choose the way they wantto watch the whole movie.
(37:39):
And this movie is two hours and21 minutes in its current form,
just about two minutes longerthan it was before we added in
the additional footage we found.
So it's a nice little, little,tiny bit more.
If you get any more of thesepeople doing what they did so
(37:59):
well, it's like a gift fromabove.
So I'm very excited that we'reable to bring this to the public
.
This is one of the big ones,and there are more of the big
ones on the way.
They just take an awful longtime to do so.
Those of you who are waitingfor those A titles underlined.
(38:20):
They're coming.
Just be patient, yeah, yeah.
Tim Millard (38:25):
Well, george, we have one more film we're going
to talk about and it's also veryexciting, and it's a
Technicolor release, that is,two Weeks with Love from 1950.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (38:39):
Well, the thing that makes Two Weeks with
Love probably most notable isthat, in a kind of important
supporting role, uh, an 18 yearold girl named Debbie Reynolds
uh, sang a song that at thatpoint was about 50 years old,
cause this is a turn of the 20thcentury movie.
(39:01):
Uh, she sang a song withCarlton Carpenter called the
Abba Dabba honeymoon, and itended up being a million-seller
single record.
It was a huge, huge hit and itput Debbie on the map at MGM
enough that that eventually ledto her getting cast as Kathy
Seldon in Singing in the Rain.
(39:22):
She was adorable as JanePowell's younger sister, and she
and carlton carpenter made awonderful pair.
So that's the magic moment fromthe movie.
But this is really janepowell's movie.
This was the first jane powellmovie where she was 20.
(39:46):
I guess she was 20 when it wasfilmed and probably 21 when it
was released, cause she was bornin 1929, I believe April 1st,
if I'm not mistaken.
I may be wrong about that, butthis was kind of like her first
more adult.
This was kind of her first moreadult, a little more adult role,
(40:09):
and her leading man is RicardoMontalban, who we had seen in
movies with Esther Williams andwe've talked more recently about
him being in Mystery Street andBorder Incident in dramatic
roles.
But MGM was building him up tobe a leading man and even though
(40:32):
he had a really good singingvoice, there is a number from
the Chocolate Soldier operettain this movie called my Hero and
the sound coming out ofRicardo's mouth is not Ricardo
singing but it's actuallyFernando Lamas, who also would
become an MGM star and wouldalso marry Esther Williams.
(40:53):
And you know there's all thisRicardo versus Fernando.
It was like a big joke at thestudio as well as among the
people.
They all got along, they werevery friendly and whatnot, but
it's Fernando's voice coming outof Ricardo's mouth for the my
Hero number.
There's a lot of really greatsongs in this movie.
It's a little bit like Meet Mein St Louis in that it's a
(41:17):
nostalgia movie, you know, goingback 50 years earlier than when
it was made.
When it was made and it has agreat cast, great supporting
cast, and it was produced by JoePasternak.
Joe Pasternak's musicals werenot as sophisticated as the ones
(41:37):
produced by Arthur Freed, butthey often did better at the box
office and they had just a muchmore populist appeal and on
this disc we're carrying over alot of the extras that we had on
the DVD because one of them isextremely important and that is
Jane Powell sitting down for aninterview with Robert Osborne.
(42:01):
I'm going to say that interviewmight be 30 years old by now.
There eventually was a serieson TCM for many years with Bob
Osborne interviewing peoplecalled Private Screenings, but
they hadn't settled on the nameyet, and so this was called Real
Memories with Jane Powell.
(42:21):
But she was.
I had the opportunity to meether a few times.
She lived in New York so Ididn't get to know her the way I
got to know most of the otherMGM alumni that lived here, but
she was a lovely, down-to-earth,warm-hearted person and she was
(42:44):
very friendly with Bob Osborne.
They were very close personalfriends.
So this interview is delightful.
We have a Tex Avery cartoon onhere, garden Gopher, which is in
HD.
We have a Pete Smith shortCrashing the Movies, and then we
have an industry short subjectcalled Screen Actors.
So it's a loaded disc with alot of fun.
But most importantly, it's aloaded disc with a lot of fun.
But most importantly, how thefilm looks now scanned in 4K
(43:09):
from the Technicolor material isjust a delight.
So that is July 29th.
It's a pretty sterling lineupof eight movies.
Tim Millard (43:20):
Yes, I love the fact that you have a lot of
variety.
You've got the 70s urban drama,you've got these highly
anticipated or long-waited-forfilms with Earl Flynn, and
you've got some different oneslike Reign Star.
George Feltenstein (43:39):
We've got two swashbucklers in one month,
yeah right, and Earl Flynn's inthe month, but he's not
swashbuckling and that's whathe's most famous for.
That's true, right.
Tim Millard (43:50):
Yeah, it's a lot of good stuff for their late July
there.
So well as always, george, it'sso much fun to hear what you
have to say about what's comingand all the extras that you load
these discs with as well.
So looking forward to it whenwe get a chance to review these
and go over them a little bitlater this summer.
George Feltenstein (44:10):
As do I.
In about six or eight weeks,we'll be talking about the
movies after you've seen them,and I always enjoy hearing what
you have to say after you'vegotten to see them all.
It's one of the most fun thingsabout how we get together and
talk about these movies, yeah,yeah.
Tim Millard (44:26):
Thanks for coming on about these movies.
Yeah, yeah, thanks for comingon, george.
George Feltenstein (44:29):
Thank you, tim, always a pleasure.
Tim Millard (44:37):
For those who would like more information about the
films announced today, be sureto check out our Facebook page.
In our Warner Archive Facebookgroup, you can find links to
those and all of our socialmedia sites in the podcast show
notes.
Facebook is also the best placeto get pre-order links for
these titles when they becomeavailable, and if you aren't yet
subscribed or following theshow at your favorite podcast
provider, you may want to dothat so that you don't miss all
(44:58):
of the great releases that theWarner Archive has coming up
Until next time.
You've been listening to TimMillard.
Stay slightly obsessed.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein to announce the JulyBlu-ray releases from the
Warner Archive.
Hi, george, hello Tim, how areyou?
I'm very good and I'm veryexcited to go over these July
releases with you and, from thelooks of it, we have a little
(00:22):
bigger-than-us usual bunch ofBlu-rays coming out in July.
George Feltenstein (00:27):
And an eclectic selection as well.
Tim Millard (00:30):
This should be fun, then, to go through this with
you.
And we have eight, so everybodywill want to stick around to
hear what all of them are, andwe're going to go alphabetically
, so we'll have some older onesand some more modern classics
mixed in there.
So let's start with the veryfirst one here Brainstorm, from
(00:54):
1965.
What can you tell us about thisfilm, george?
George Feltenstein (00:59):
Well, the first thing I want to say is we
have two brainstorms in ourlibrary.
First thing I want to say is wehave two brainstorms in our
library.
The more famous one is from1983, Douglas Trumbull's film.
I wanted to clarify that thatis not what this is basically
(01:29):
entrusted.
William Conrad, better known forbeing radio's Gunsmoke Marshall
Dillon, or on TV as Cannon andJake in the Fat man, he was
producing and directing.
He had taken over WarnerBrothers Television for a while
and then he produced anddirected a bunch of films for
Jack and then Flew the Coop.
But the films he made here werevery interesting and one of
them we released on Blu-ray acouple of years ago, Two on a
(01:51):
Guillotine.
But this Brainstorm, I think,is my favorite of the pictures
that he made and it's just kindof whacked out.
And Jeff Hunter, the star ofKing of Kings and the Searchers,
is involved in a kind ofillicit situation where he's
making believe that he's out ofhis mind and it's really a wacky
(02:17):
movie.
You can't really take it tooseriously, but it's a lot of fun
and it was actually quite a bigseller for us on DVD.
So to be able to go back to thecamera negative, scan it for
cake, come up with a beautifulnew master.
What could be better?
So that starts us off with a1965 release.
(02:40):
Yeah, and.
Tim Millard (02:41):
I'm thinking back.
It's been a little while maybe,since we had a film from the
60s, so fans of the 60s will beglad to hear that.
And just before we move on,there are some classic cartoons
on here that you have for extrasas well.
George Feltenstein (02:56):
Well, I picked one from 1965, which
would be typical of, like if youwent into the theater, which
we're always wanting to recreatethat theatrical experience
well-worn Daffy, which has neverhad a home video release.
At least that I could trackdown.
The later cartoons that weremade after the Warner Animation
(03:17):
Studio was shut down and theykind of sub-licensed out the
work to the Patty Frilling.
Uh, they kind of sub-licensedout the work to, uh, the patty
frilling.
Um, those cartoons have theirfollowers, um, so it's good to
make them available for thepeople that want them, but
they're just basically extras tosupplant, uh, the feature and,
(03:42):
um, I think it's just going tobe a lot of fun Definitely a lot
, and it looks amazing.
It looks better than it has theright to.
Tim Millard (03:51):
Next, we have a film from 1950, and it's a great
team up here.
You've got Gary Cooper, you'vegot Lauren Bacall, and the film
is Brightleaf.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (04:06):
Well, most important thing I can say, it is
directed by a somewhat knowndirector by the name of Curtiz.
I've heard of him, michaelCurtiz.
So 1950, michael Curtiz getstogether with Gary Cooper,
lauren Bacall, Patricia Nealthey're all under contract and
(04:30):
Cooper plays a tobacco baron,basically in the 1890s, and it's
a lush, costumey romanticpicture with strong dialogue and
strong action.
Not an action movie, but I meanin terms of the dialogue and
(04:52):
the two women vying for hisaffection and whatnot.
It's really just a classicpiece of what the studio was
turning out at that time.
And again it's getting theupgrade coming from the nitrate
gonna look terrific.
Tim Millard (05:09):
We put some 1950 looney tunes on that one, uh,
which is also very nice I seehere bunker hill bunny and
hillbilly hair in hd both ofthose but this is a terrific,
terrific cast and a terrificdirector, so that should be a
fun one coming in july and itlooks really remarkable, it's.
(05:30):
It's really quite impressivewell, next in our our march
through july, herealphabetically, I have the
cobweb and that has lauren bacalas well, so you got two coming
in july and tell us about thisfilm.
George Feltenstein (05:46):
Well, this is a film basically about a
mental institution and it wasvery controversial when it came
out.
It was partially written byWilliam Gibson, the playwright
that did the Miracle Worker.
Later on it's got a phenomenalcast Richard Widmark, lauren
Bacall, charles Boyer, gloriaGraham, lillian Gish, susan
(06:11):
Strasberg as in Daughter of Lee,oscar Levant and John Kerr, who
was the leading man in the playTea and Sympathy and did the
movie with Vincent Minnelli, whodirected the Cobweb a year
later.
This was also produced by JohnHausman, who in the 1970s would
(06:32):
have a new career as an actor inthe Paper Chase and the
television series that followedit.
It's a really well-written,well-crafted film.
I think the subject matter wasa little bit difficult for
people to digest in the 1950s,but any time you have Minnelli
behind the camera, there's goingto be amazing things going on
(06:54):
visually and this is a verydialogue-heavy film.
But the way he works with theCinemaScope frame and works with
the actors, it all isincredibly satisfying.
This film has a cult following.
We've gotten many requests forthis movie and we had put it out
(07:19):
as a DVD years ago.
That didn't look very good butwas the best that we could offer
, and now we've got coming offthe camera.
Negative looks incrediblybetter.
Early CinemaScope uh,stereophonic sound, uh, it's, uh
, it's just a really solid MGMpicture from 1955 that deserves
(07:47):
this upgrade.
And so here we have it.
One of the extras on this discis a promotional film that MGM
made in CinemaScope to kind ofcall out their 1955 films in
production, and the reason why Iput it on this disc is the
(08:08):
whole cast of the Cobweb speaksto the camera and says you know,
I'm Richard Widmark, I'm LaurenBacall, you know that kind of
thing.
They actually they took thetime to kind of call out what
this film was.
And anytime you have actorsbreaking the fourth wall,
especially in a promotional thisis the trailer.
(08:30):
It's really a 20-minute big,long trailer for all sorts of
things, but when that happens,hitchcock was great about doing
special trailers like that, andthere were other special
trailers that were done by otherpeople where they addressed the
audience directly.
But I just thought that wouldbe really cool to put on this
(08:51):
disc and add a little extra funto it, so you get to see a
little bit behind the curtain ofwhat they were doing.
Uh, houseman and minnelli workedtogether several times on
various productions and mostnotably, I think, the Bad and
the Beautiful, which we restoredand released on Blu-ray about
(09:13):
five years ago.
At this point, maybe foursomewhere between the last four
to six years I lose count,especially with the pandemic in
there, especially with thepandemic in there.
But you know we want to get moreof not just Minnelli, but all
the great filmmakers that arepart of the legacy of our
(09:33):
library want to get everythingout.
This is a pretty robust monthin terms of eight titles, but
there were many that you know Iwas hoping would be ready, that
weren't, but we had a pretty bigmonth with our June releases in
terms of quality, and I thinkthis is another month that has a
(09:56):
lot of diversity anddifferences to it.
Of course, naturally, thewhiners and complainers will
complain, that goes with theterritory.
But mostly what we receive is alot of support and I'm very
grateful for that, and we'retrying to bring as much as we
can from the different littlecorners and nooks and crannies
(10:20):
of the library out with finereleases when that maturation
point arises.
So it just so happened we wereable to get eight ready for this
month and who knows what willhappen next month.
Tim Millard (10:36):
Yeah, and to your point.
I mean you've got two LaurenBacall in the same month and
that's just.
You know it.
Just they happen to be ready togo and so they are when they're
ready to go and there's a slotfor them.
I know sometimes there's goingto be a little bit more in one
month or another, but going backto the June releases, you
actually had a robust month inJune as well, because you have
(10:57):
to end on the loony tune.
George Feltenstein (11:00):
Right, I actually did not think that we
would have as strong a July aswe did in June.
It was going to be really ahard act to follow, but I'm
happy to say that I think thisis a very solid lineup of
releases that appeals todifferent groups in different
ways, different ways.
(11:26):
There are certainly going to bethe people that will be
disappointed that there isn't ananimation release, and then
next month, if we have two, thensomebody will complain well,
you didn't do this and youdidn't do that.
We really can't focus on thosekind of thoughts.
We're just out to do the bestjob that we can in bringing as
much of the library out as wecan.
(11:47):
And I'm very happy with whatwe're talking about today
because I think it reflects alot of different periods of film
industry history and it'sinteresting to look at each film
as a little story behind it,you know, and how it came to be
and what it represented in thehistory of cinema.
(12:08):
Specifically, with the titleswe're talking about today are
MGM and Warner Brothers.
There are no RKO films thismonth, you know, or independent
films, often straddling throughthese various eras, and it makes
for interesting variety,because we're trying to serve a
(12:29):
lot of masters, so no punintended as we remaster and make
new masters.
Tim Millard (12:36):
You know, George, you said no animation this month
, but you actually have goingback to the cobweb here, this
CinemaScope cartoon, the Egg andJerry, in HD.
Now, was that on theCinemaScope release for the Tom
and Jerry's?
George Feltenstein (12:50):
Yes, that's one of the it's on our
CinemaScope Tom and Jerrycollection.
Tim Millard (12:54):
Yeah, that was a seller just out not too long ago
Very, very popular, but it wasgreat to see that on here, since
this is a CinemaScope film.
George Feltenstein (13:05):
Well, I didn't want to put a
non-cinemascope cartoon with acinemascope feature.
I wanted to keep things wide.
If people have their hometheaters and they have, uh,
masking, you know, with curtainsand you know, I I don't know
anybody who has a setup likethat, I certainly don't, but I
know there are people who do andI would love to have that
(13:26):
someday.
Uh, but you know, if you'regonna adjust your screen like a
theater would, uh, you don'twant to have to be changing
aspect ratios and curtains andso forth and so on.
Tim Millard (13:37):
So we tried to stay scope well, my point of that
was going to be that there'spretty much always something for
animation fans, because youhave so many.
George Feltenstein (13:46):
That's true?
Tim Millard (13:47):
Yes, there's no you know, just one release full of
them in July, but there's alwayssome animation there.
George Feltenstein (13:54):
But we're working on a bunch of them, just
can't talk about it right now.
Tim Millard (13:59):
Well, there's a lot of good stuff here in July, so
why don't we go on to the nextone here?
There's a lot of good stuffhere in July, so why don't we go
on to the next one here?
And that is another CinemaScopefilm, actually from 1953,
knights of the Round Table.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (14:15):
Well, this isn't just any CinemaScope movie
.
This is MGM's very firstCinemaScope film and it was shot
at the English, the MGM Britishstudios I should properly refer
to them as in 1953.
And it's beautifully shot.
And Cinemascope was so new that, as MGM entered into their
(14:45):
licensing agreement with 20thCentury Fox that owned the
technology, this was the firstCinemascope production they
planned and it was only filmedthat one way.
When they made their nextCinemascope movies, when they
made their next CinemaScopemovies, they actually shot a
bunch of them twice, once in awidescreen, which meant that
(15:05):
they were shot for a 1.75 aspectratio, and then they did a
whole separate take of everymovie in 2.55 CinemaScope.
So that happened on about sixfilms, most famously Seven
brides for seven brothers,brigadoon, uh.
Eventually Cinemascope'spopularity was cemented so that
(15:28):
they didn't have to do thatanymore.
Unlike 3d, which came and wentvery quickly, uhcope was
basically here to stay.
That aspect ratio changed alittle bit and then the
Panavision company came in withbetter lenses, but that's really
(15:51):
what we still see today, evenon films that are digitally
produced.
It's a 2.39 aspect ratio, butthe early Scope movies were 2.55
to make room for the magneticsoundtrack.
And this is again another filmthat had a four-track
(16:12):
stereophonic sound magnetictrack when it opened, and our
disc will be stereo.
I do want to call out that itis not going to be four-channel
stereo.
Unfortunately, the four-trackMagnetic Masters did not survive
over the decades and in the1980s, I believe, they created a
(16:39):
left-right stereo protectionand that's what we've been using
ever since.
We're very fortunate becausethere's virtually no, at least
on the MGM side.
There are very few films thatwere made with a stereophonic
soundtrack.
Where we don't have astereophonic soundtrack there
are a few, but on the warnerbrothers side there are many
(17:05):
that had a stereophonicsoundtrack.
Where the stereophonicsoundtrack did not survive, uh,
you know, the oxide would flakeoff the film, the magnetic, and
so a lot of the magnetic tracksdid go bad and there was a very
(17:30):
substantial effort to try andsave and preserve them in the
90s and it's because of thateffort that we have so much that
we can go back to and work withUh, but on nights, the round
table.
We don't have the four trackstereo but we have left right
stereo and if you press thatbutton on your receiver it'll
(17:54):
spread it out with surroundsthat will make it nearly as good
as the original.
But the most important thing isthat it is stereophonic.
It is not mono and this wasdesigned to be a spectacle to
show off the new technology.
It's the King Arthur story andyou've got Ava Gardner and a
(18:14):
wonderful cast of supportingplayers and it was a huge hit
for MGM.
It was big at the box office.
Robert Taylor as the lead.
He was I believe.
I've talked about this before,but his association with MGM
basically extended from 1935until 1967, like right up until
(18:41):
his death.
I don't think he was under thesame long-term contract but his
relationship with the company.
He died of lung cancer at arelatively young age because he
was a very heavy smoker and hespent more of his career at MGM
(19:02):
than virtually anybody else,with the exception of Leo the
Lion.
Mel Farrar is also in this movieand thankfully, when we were
preparing this film for DVDrelease 22 years ago, mr Farrar
was still with us.
He was in his 80s.
Years ago mr farrar was stillwith us.
(19:22):
He was in his 80s and he cameby the studio to.
I don't know if it was shothere or if it was shot at his
home, uh, but uh, your formerboss made the arrangements to
have a crew film, mr farrar, tothe to the introduction for the
DVD of this film, and we havethat intro on the new Blu-ray,
(19:45):
which is very exciting.
We also have footage of theGallup premiere of this movie.
This film was directed byRichard Thorpe, who was a
journeyman director for MGM thatcould always be counted on to
deliver every genre known tomankind and film responsibly
(20:06):
Produced by Pandrew S Berman,who started his career out at
RKO, producing the Fred andGinger movies and a lot of
wonderful comedies, and he movedfrom RKO to MGM where he spent,
I would say, the 40s, the 50s,the 60s.
Pandro Berman was at MGM andhad quite an amazing career and
(20:30):
there were very few films thathe made as a producer that were
not successful.
He really had a golden touch asa producer.
So to see this when we weredesigning the cover I wanted we
always try to use original keyart and we found a poster that
really kicked up the CinemaScopeangle and it used that phrase.
(20:54):
That uses that phrase that Ilike so much the miracle, you
see, that doesn't requireglasses, that you see without
glasses.
I paraphrased incorrectly, buta lot of people wouldn't know
what that means.
But anybody who's familiar withthe history of the time.
The thing that really kind ofkilled old-fashioned 3D was the
(21:16):
problem wearing the glasses.
It actually is a factor withthe resurgence of 3d after
avatar and suddenly everythingwas being made in 3d for the
theaters.
Uh, I know a lot of people thatcomplained about the glasses.
They never bothered me.
I, I love, I love the glasses,I love 3d, but, um, that's why
(21:39):
it didn't stick around as aformat, and cinemascope really
was one of the major magneticforces that gave people
something different that theycouldn't get on their little 12
inch black and white televisions.
So this film has continued tobe popular in all media.
This was out in video, cassetteand laser disc and dvd, and now
(22:02):
we have a beautiful blu-ray andwe've scanned the camera
negative at 4k and, uh, we haveour stereophonic sound, albeit
not exact to what it wasoriginally.
But we're lucky.
We have what we have, because alot of people don't have what
they had.
Tim Millard (22:18):
So I'm grateful for what we do have you have a
robust amount of uh of extras.
George Feltenstein (22:23):
You mentioned that intro and then
you've got uh newsreel footageof the gala premiere and then we
have a cinemascope cartoonthat's from later on in the 50s,
one droopy night.
Now that is more of aconnection with the thematics of
the cartoon.
This is one of the few droopycartoons that was not directed
(22:44):
by Tex Avery he was already gone, but I thought it was a good
thing to put with this.
And then I also put on awonderful musical short called
the MGM Jubilee Overture, whichis the MGM Symphony Orchestra,
as they called them in the film,playing a medley of songs that
(23:04):
were associated with the studio.
And this film went into releasewith a different CinemaScope
musical short that I tried tohave available to put on this
disc.
And we ran into some technicalissues with the film Mary Wives
of Windsor Overture.
(23:25):
That's what this movie openedwith.
So we'll just have to put thatshort on some other film when
we're able to get around thetechnical snafus that we were
facing.
So at least there's a lot inthe presentation that makes
people feel that they're goingto enjoy the disc.
Tim Millard (23:44):
Yeah, Well, it's a great cast and I'm looking
forward to seeing that one.
Well, next we jump a fewdecades to the 1970s, George,
for the urban drama Melinda from1972.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (24:04):
from 1972.
What can you tell us about thisone?
Well, this is a 1972 MGM film.
That was one of many the studiowas focusing in on the
African-American audiences.
The whole industry was, butparticularly MGM, having had
such success with Shaft in 1971.
And this film stars CalvinLockhart, rosalind Cash, bonetta
McKee and this is the firstfilm, the film debut, of Jim
(24:28):
Kelly before Enter the Dragon,and you know it's a very
action-packed thriller.
It's really really well done.
We did very well with this ondvd, um, so we thought that it
would be a good idea to bring itto blu-ray and we scan the
(24:49):
camera negative at 4k and it'sgot a really great funky score
that constantly permeatesthroughout the movie.
It's not a musical by any means, but music plays a huge role in
driving this story and peoplewho really are fans of this
(25:10):
genre really are passionateabout this film.
So we're happy to respond tothat passion by giving it a
really new, fresh presentation,which it needed, and we've done
very, very well with some of theother films in that genre that
we've released lately, and therewill be more to come.
So people will be surprised byMelinda.
(25:33):
It needs to be better known.
It's set in Chicago, not LA orNew York.
It's a little different and theperformances are really
excellent.
And what's also important aboutthis film is a lot of the
quote-unquote blaxploitation.
Movies from that period wereall made by non-African American
(25:59):
filmmakers.
This film was produced,directed and created by African
American filmmakers and MGM wasreally getting behind a lot of
people that didn't get a chanceto get behind the camera and
make a movie.
And these films were all verysuccessful at the box office
(26:20):
because they were not expensiveto make and I think people who
don't know this movie inparticular will be worth taking
the risk in buying the discbecause they'll end up watching
it a lot.
And also you have Jim Kellywith his karate.
You know like showing what'sabout to happen with the dragon.
(26:43):
And then, of course, we put outthree of the hard way just
recently, which I'm stillthrilled about.
Tim Millard (26:49):
Yeah, I think I've told you, George, each time you
put these out.
I just have a great time when Iam watching it.
I just have a great time when Iam watching it.
I just got to get my snacks, mypopcorn, and I just know I'm in
for a good night of fun moviewatching.
George Feltenstein (27:06):
Exactly, it's not serious cinema, it's
fun movie going and I thinkthat's really important.
You need to be able to have alittle bit of everything.
Yeah, and whenever you hearthat music, I'm looking forward
to hearing that music, becausethat music just takes you back
to the 70s.
(27:27):
So um the wah-wah guitar.
Tim Millard (27:27):
you know exactly.
Well, we have a couple morehere and uh, we're gonna talk
about our first technicolor filmuh of the day here and and
that's the Prisoner of Zendafrom 19.
George Feltenstein (27:39):
Boy, is it Technicolor?
Tim Millard (27:41):
What can you tell us about this one?
George Feltenstein (27:43):
Well, this is actually the second remake of
the story of the Prisoner ofZenda based on Anthony Hope's
original novel.
The first film which is on here.
We have the silent 1922 versionas an extra.
And then it was remade 15 yearslater, most famously by David O
(28:10):
Selznick in 1937 with RonaldColeman and Douglas Fairbanks Jr
, as a Selznick Internationalpicture, and it was a very big
success.
And then MGM bought the rightsto that movie and the original
film to remake it in Technicolorin 1952 with Stuart Granger,
(28:32):
who was their new swashbucklingstar.
This is almost a shot-for-shotremake of the 1937
black-and-white Selznick filmand unfortunately the 1937 black
and white Selznick film isright now in very poor shape.
(28:53):
We have been on a search forbetter elements and that's why,
unlike the DVD and the LaserDiscthat preceded it, it's not a
double feature of the 37 and the52.
And if people are saying, well,why'd they pick the remake?
Well, we can't release the 1937.
(29:27):
The 1952 remake stands on itsown because it has great
performances.
Uh, it maintains even theoriginal score by alfred newman
was re-orchestrated by I shouldsay, re-orchestrated by mgm's
genius genius of orchestration,conrad Salinger, better known
(29:48):
for his work in musicals.
Salinger took the Alfred Newmanscore for the Selznick film and
gave it the MGM sound for this1952 remake.
And you've got Deborah Carr and, of course, one of my favorites
, james Mason.
It's just a terrific, terrificcast and it's a great story.
(30:11):
And what I did to kind ofsatiate the people who are
hungering for Ronald Coleman, wehave two radio broadcasts, one
from 1939, I think, and then onefrom 1949 or 50, maybe even 51,
from Screen Directors Playhousewith Ronald Coleman and John
(30:33):
Cromwell, the director, withLewis Stone, who would later be
Andy Hardy's father, and AliceTerry, who we talked about just
a while ago because of the FourHorsemen of the Apocalypse.
But that's on here as a bonus.
(30:55):
It is standard definition.
It is not restored but it'sthere for you to see if you like
it, and we have the radio showsand we have a beautiful trailer
.
But the technicolor in this issumptuous.
(31:23):
It's one of those rare thatwe've talked about a few times,
one of those rare films with thethree-strip Technicolor where
the negatives were safety film,didn't have to bring them across
the country.
They're in our refrigeratedvault on the lot and they've
been meticulously realignedusing our patented process so
that we can have the sharpesttechnicolor known to mankind.
So I think people are reallygoing to be knocked out when
they see how great this filmlooks and sounds.
Tim Millard (31:43):
Right, yeah, and I don't know if you mentioned Jane
Greer.
She's also in here.
George Feltenstein (31:47):
I didn't mention Jane Greer, but shame on
me for not doing so, because welove Jane Greer.
Tim Millard (31:53):
Always great to see her as well.
So, what a cast.
Looking forward to that one,because I love every Technicolor
that Warner Archive puts out.
Just the best.
Every time I see Technicolor,if you're a fan of the film,
you're going to know.
Oh, I got to get this version.
George Feltenstein (32:08):
It's really exciting that we're able to do
these things.
What technology has provided usgives you a chance to see the
film even better than when itopened, because a wet lab
couldn't align the threeTechnicolor records the way we
can now.
Lab couldn't align the threeTechnicolor records the way we
(32:29):
can now, so it's sharper thanever before and the colors are
just explosive and you havethose rich blacks and beautiful
highlights and people are goingto love it.
It's gorgeous.
I've seen the test disc andit's a wow yeah.
Tim Millard (32:42):
Well, I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of
excitement for this next film.
We're going to talk aboutGeorge.
They died with their boots onfrom 1941.
What can you tell us about thisfilm of?
George Feltenstein (32:52):
General Custer and it's the last of the
eight pairings of Errol Flynnand Olivia de Havilland, and
this is directed by Raoul Walsh.
(33:14):
It is an action-packedspectacle.
It has wonderful performances,it has magnificent music by Max
Steiner.
It's really a quintessentialWarner Brothers film from the
1940s and it's one of Flynn'sbest performances and it tugs at
your heart.
(33:34):
It is exciting and what wefound in our work on this film,
when we are working from theoriginal camera negative, very
often we find that there arecertain sections that are highly
damaged and we'll have to go toa second generation nitrate,
(33:57):
lavender, fine grain, and thisfilm was no different that we
had to go to other elements forcertain shots and what we found
were and it's not a lot, but wefound a few extra minutes of
footage that had been left outof the final release of the film
to cut it down for time.
(34:18):
So is it going to be revelatory?
Is it substantial, likerhapsody in blue?
No, um, but if you can get alittle more of Errol Flynn and
Raoul Walsh and Warner Brothersfrom 1941, you want that.
And we tried working with ourexisting safety elements on this
(34:45):
several years ago and it justwas not what it should be um.
So we stopped down and said,until we can get the negative
and until we can really restorethis to make it look spectacular
as it deserves to look, we'regoing to put this on the back
burner.
We've had to do that with a lotof films, but it's worth it
(35:07):
when we finally can do it rightand I've been very excited about
this.
It's just taken a very longtime.
One of the nice things aboutthis is that I would say going
back around 2004,.
If my memory is serving mecorrectly, that was when we
(35:30):
started doing more of the WarnerNight the movies, with my good
friend Leonard Maltin hostingand explaining to people.
You're going to be sittingthrough a newsreel, a short of
the era, a cartoon of the era, atrailer of the era, explaining
what we were doing with Warnerand I at the movies, a concept
(35:51):
that actually started not veryeffectively, but it was started
on videocassette at the veryearly 80s when Warner Home Video
was still in New York, but itwasn't followed through and
built upon and it wasn't donethe way that we could do it when
we approached it in come andcome back to the lot and host a
(36:12):
Warner Knight the movies.
Now it's Warner Knight themovies 1942.
(36:32):
But you'll see, the movie has acopyright of 1941.
It's Casablanca time.
This movie opened in New Yorkat the end of 1941 but it didn't
have its general release untilJanuary of 1942.
So it's really a 1941 movie.
That's the year of itscopyright, but most people saw
(36:55):
it in 1942.
So most of the extra materialthe shorts and the newsreels and
the cartoon and the trailer foranother movie with trailer for
All Through the night withbogart, which we hope to bring
to blu-ray soon um, it justgives you that whole sense of
(37:15):
what it was like to be at themovies 83 years ago.
And you have the choice ofwatching all the individual
pieces.
Or you can play all, and itstarts with leonard's intro,
takes you through all theindividual pieces, or you can
play all and it starts withLeonard's intro, takes you
through all the pieces, thenbrings you right to the feature.
So the disc is programmed insuch a way that people can
really choose the way they wantto watch the whole movie.
(37:39):
And this movie is two hours and21 minutes in its current form,
just about two minutes longerthan it was before we added in
the additional footage we found.
So it's a nice little, little,tiny bit more.
If you get any more of thesepeople doing what they did so
(37:59):
well, it's like a gift fromabove.
So I'm very excited that we'reable to bring this to the public
.
This is one of the big ones,and there are more of the big
ones on the way.
They just take an awful longtime to do so.
Those of you who are waitingfor those A titles underlined.
(38:20):
They're coming.
Just be patient, yeah, yeah.
Tim Millard (38:25):
Well, george, we have one more film we're going
to talk about and it's also veryexciting, and it's a
Technicolor release, that is,two Weeks with Love from 1950.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (38:39):
Well, the thing that makes Two Weeks with
Love probably most notable isthat, in a kind of important
supporting role, uh, an 18 yearold girl named Debbie Reynolds
uh, sang a song that at thatpoint was about 50 years old,
cause this is a turn of the 20thcentury movie.
(39:01):
Uh, she sang a song withCarlton Carpenter called the
Abba Dabba honeymoon, and itended up being a million-seller
single record.
It was a huge, huge hit and itput Debbie on the map at MGM
enough that that eventually ledto her getting cast as Kathy
Seldon in Singing in the Rain.
(39:22):
She was adorable as JanePowell's younger sister, and she
and carlton carpenter made awonderful pair.
So that's the magic moment fromthe movie.
But this is really janepowell's movie.
This was the first jane powellmovie where she was 20.
(39:46):
I guess she was 20 when it wasfilmed and probably 21 when it
was released, cause she was bornin 1929, I believe April 1st,
if I'm not mistaken.
I may be wrong about that, butthis was kind of like her first
more adult.
This was kind of her first moreadult, a little more adult role,
(40:09):
and her leading man is RicardoMontalban, who we had seen in
movies with Esther Williams andwe've talked more recently about
him being in Mystery Street andBorder Incident in dramatic
roles.
But MGM was building him up tobe a leading man and even though
(40:32):
he had a really good singingvoice, there is a number from
the Chocolate Soldier operettain this movie called my Hero and
the sound coming out ofRicardo's mouth is not Ricardo
singing but it's actuallyFernando Lamas, who also would
become an MGM star and wouldalso marry Esther Williams.
(40:53):
And you know there's all thisRicardo versus Fernando.
It was like a big joke at thestudio as well as among the
people.
They all got along, they werevery friendly and whatnot, but
it's Fernando's voice coming outof Ricardo's mouth for the my
Hero number.
There's a lot of really greatsongs in this movie.
It's a little bit like Meet Mein St Louis in that it's a
(41:17):
nostalgia movie, you know, goingback 50 years earlier than when
it was made.
When it was made and it has agreat cast, great supporting
cast, and it was produced by JoePasternak.
Joe Pasternak's musicals werenot as sophisticated as the ones
(41:37):
produced by Arthur Freed, butthey often did better at the box
office and they had just a muchmore populist appeal and on
this disc we're carrying over alot of the extras that we had on
the DVD because one of them isextremely important and that is
Jane Powell sitting down for aninterview with Robert Osborne.
(42:01):
I'm going to say that interviewmight be 30 years old by now.
There eventually was a serieson TCM for many years with Bob
Osborne interviewing peoplecalled Private Screenings, but
they hadn't settled on the nameyet, and so this was called Real
Memories with Jane Powell.
(42:21):
But she was.
I had the opportunity to meether a few times.
She lived in New York so Ididn't get to know her the way I
got to know most of the otherMGM alumni that lived here, but
she was a lovely, down-to-earth,warm-hearted person and she was
(42:44):
very friendly with Bob Osborne.
They were very close personalfriends.
So this interview is delightful.
We have a Tex Avery cartoon onhere, garden Gopher, which is in
HD.
We have a Pete Smith shortCrashing the Movies, and then we
have an industry short subjectcalled Screen Actors.
So it's a loaded disc with alot of fun.
But most importantly, it's aloaded disc with a lot of fun.
But most importantly, how thefilm looks now scanned in 4K
(43:09):
from the Technicolor material isjust a delight.
So that is July 29th.
It's a pretty sterling lineupof eight movies.
Tim Millard (43:20):
Yes, I love the fact that you have a lot of
variety.
You've got the 70s urban drama,you've got these highly
anticipated or long-waited-forfilms with Earl Flynn, and
you've got some different oneslike Reign Star.
George Feltenstein (43:39):
We've got two swashbucklers in one month,
yeah right, and Earl Flynn's inthe month, but he's not
swashbuckling and that's whathe's most famous for.
That's true, right.
Tim Millard (43:50):
Yeah, it's a lot of good stuff for their late July
there.
So well as always, george, it'sso much fun to hear what you
have to say about what's comingand all the extras that you load
these discs with as well.
So looking forward to it whenwe get a chance to review these
and go over them a little bitlater this summer.
George Feltenstein (44:10):
As do I.
In about six or eight weeks,we'll be talking about the
movies after you've seen them,and I always enjoy hearing what
you have to say after you'vegotten to see them all.
It's one of the most fun thingsabout how we get together and
talk about these movies, yeah,yeah.
Tim Millard (44:26):
Thanks for coming on about these movies.
Yeah, yeah, thanks for comingon, george.
George Feltenstein (44:29):
Thank you, tim, always a pleasure.
Tim Millard (44:37):
For those who would like more information about the
films announced today, be sureto check out our Facebook page.
In our Warner Archive Facebookgroup, you can find links to
those and all of our socialmedia sites in the podcast show
notes.
Facebook is also the best placeto get pre-order links for
these titles when they becomeavailable, and if you aren't yet
subscribed or following theshow at your favorite podcast
provider, you may want to dothat so that you don't miss all
(44:58):
of the great releases that theWarner Archive has coming up
Until next time.
You've been listening to TimMillard.
Stay slightly obsessed.
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