May 5, 2025 • 46 mins
Warner Archive announces six spectacular Blu-ray releases for June, along with new value-priced four-film collections and the Looney Tunes Collectors Vault Vol. 1. George Feltenstein shares details about each release, including the meticulous 4K restorations from original camera negatives that bring these classics to life like never before.
• Four-film collections featuring Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, and Elizabeth Taylor are coming in June, with 24 collections planned overall
• High Society 4K street date moved to June 10th to ensure "magnificent" presentation with Dolby Atmos and original mono tracks
• Looney Tunes Collectors Vault Vol. 1 offers 50 cartoons for just $3 more than the previous single-disc releases
• The Citadel (1938) - King Vidor's critically acclaimed drama about the medical profession with Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell
• A Date with Judy (1948) - Technicolor MGM musical starring Jane Powell and a 16-year-old Elizabeth Taylor
• The Enchanted Cottage (1945) - Fantasy romance restored to its full 92-minute version after decades of circulation in a cut form
• Executive Suite (1954) - Corporate drama featuring a stellar cast including William Holden and Barbara Stanwyck, with Oliver Stone commentary
• His Kind of Woman (1951) - Noir comedy starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell with a scene-stealing Vincent Price
• Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Elia Kazan's powerful drama with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, now properly restored after years of poor transfers
Purchase links:
Clark Gable 4 Film Collection releasing June 10th
Elizabeth Taylor 4 Film Collection releasing June 10th
Gary Cooper 4 Film Collection releasing June 17th
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:06):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein to announce the JuneBlu-ray releases from the
Warner Archive.
Hi, George.
George Feltenstein (00:15):
Hello, tim, great to be with you again, as
always, my friend.
Tim Millard (00:19):
Well, this is another great month, and though
we're talking about six Blu-rayreleases today, there is more
actually that we're going totalk about, because some you
announced already previously.
So June is really a robustmonth.
So, before we talk about thesix individual Blu-rays that you
(00:41):
announced yesterday on Facebook, I did want to ask you about
this four-film collection thatyou announced just a few days
ago as well.
George Feltenstein (00:52):
Well, what we're doing is picking up
something we started a couple ofyears ago and had to put on the
side for a little while.
We had put together fourHitchcock films in a four-film
collection with a valueproposition, so that people
(01:12):
basically get four films for$39.98 SRP.
There's great value in that andit's aimed more at a casual
collector or people who arestarting out collecting, and
it's a great way to dive in andit's always been a successful
(01:36):
way of curating particulargroups of films and getting them
out to more people.
And so we did it with Bogartand Bacall, we did it with Film
Noir, we did it with Hitchcock,and I had been making the plea
that we start doing it on a morebroad basis.
(01:59):
So these first three, which areClark Gable and Gary Cooper and
Elizabeth Taylor I was tryingto remember it all in my mind
because we've actually plannedout about 24 of these, wow.
So we'll be doing two or three amonth for the ongoing future.
(02:22):
A month for the ongoing futureand, given that we're almost at
a 500 Blu-ray release count,we've got a lot of back catalog
to work with.
And I want to stress that thesecollections there will be some
that will be six film.
There's going to be one or two,that will be six, but mostly
(02:42):
there'll be four.
They won't all be star-driven,some will be theme-driven, but
they will all be previouslyreleased title.
The cool thing is that some ofthem will be films that were
(03:03):
initially released through themothership, through Warner
Brothers Home Entertainment, onBlu-ray, and I wouldn't take
just anything but if they weregood quality when they came out,
then they're going to enterthis portal so we're going to be
able to make the selections alittle more broad in their
appeal by including some filmsthat went to retail as opposed
(03:28):
through Warner Archive, but withmy filter of making sure that
some of the things that are outthere that don't look
particularly good or may havesomething wrong with them,
they're not going to be part ofthese collections.
I want these collections toreally be successful, of course,
but I also want them to be partof these collections.
I want these collections toreally be successful, of course,
but I also want them to be wellappreciated and hoping that
(03:50):
they garner new fans that willopen them up to joining the
ranks of those of us whounderstand the importance of
physical media.
Tim Millard (03:59):
Yeah, and that's a really new development to have
the Warner Brothers, themothership Warner Brothers Home
Entertainment titles in there.
Only a few.
But I like the caveat that ithas to hit that quality level
that you are creating and havecreated with this Warner Archive
(04:20):
brand and all of these amazingrestorations.
So that's great to hear Archivebrand at all of these amazing
restorations.
So that's great to hear.
I have the Thin man six filmcollection and I really, really
enjoy having that and it's greatbecause each film, each disc is
the original one you releasedwith the extras, whether it be
from the Bogie and Bacallcollection or the Noir
(04:40):
collection.
So it saves a little space.
And I like the artwork.
I just like those all around.
So sometimes I double dip, soit saves a little space and I
like the artwork, I just likethose all around.
So sometimes I double dip, sothey're great.
George Feltenstein (04:48):
Well, I hope that the fans will really enjoy
this additional method by whichthey can add films to their
collection.
Tim Millard (04:56):
Yeah, yeah, it's really great, and to hear so
many are coming and so many arebeing released each month is a
great one for the fans to hear.
Well, there was a little bit ofhousekeeping news too that I
wanted to ask you about, andthat was about the High Society
4K and Blu-ray.
George Feltenstein (05:14):
Yes, we moved the street date to June
10th because we're still workingon finishing the presentation
and we want to make sure thatit's as magnificent as it can be
.
Tim Millard (05:27):
So really, that's what like to June 10th now, is
it?
George Feltenstein (05:31):
Yeah, we moved it out two weeks and I'm
very encouraged by everythingthat's going on.
I think people who love themovie will be very pleased with
what's been going on.
And we're so fortunate to be inthe hands of David McKenzie and
(05:51):
Fidelity in Motion, who's doingthe authoring and encoding
compression of the discs,because the Blu-ray and the 4K
will both have the same content.
The 4K will obviously have moredefinition and more pixels and
(06:14):
Dolby Vision, but the Blu-ray,which will be packed in the 4K
Blu-ray combo or the Blu-raystandalone, will benefit from
having the Dolby Atmos and theoriginal MonoTracks.
I'm sure it's going to lookamazing just on Blu-ray.
So on 4K it'll be all the morebecause of VistaVision.
(06:35):
It's very exciting.
So that's moving to June 10th.
Of course, the other big news wehave in June, which we've
already talked about, is June17th the arrival of Looney Tunes
Collectors Vault, volume 1.
Is skew in the packagingindicating that it is a blu-ray
disc but not saying the blu-raydisc using the blu-ray disc
(07:10):
association's official logo andthat usually indicates bdrs and
as long as I have anything tosay about it, there will never
be a warner archive bdr.
I'm very much about thereplicated disc and the
packaging.
That was first on our Facebookpage and we're having that error
(07:32):
corrected, but as soon as I sawthat I reached out to people to
get it fixed.
Hopefully by the time peoplehear this, it will have been
fixed, but most definitely theyare discs being replicated in
Mexico as, as we speak, right.
Tim Millard (07:52):
Well, I think that was just a a good thing to let
people know in case there isconfusion out there.
So I didn't like the, the, theillustration, so I just used the
original one, cause I like thatone better anyway on our
Facebook and our social media,because it has that three
dimensional on it.
Yeah, it kind of didn't didn'tbother me because I didn't even
(08:14):
like it.
I was like something wrong withthat one and I well it's it.
George Feltenstein (08:17):
Given that it just went up for pre-order
and it's selling very well, I'mhoping that that will continue.
But I didn't want anybody to beconcerned that it was going to
be some kind of change indirection for us not after 13
years of replicated Blu-rays.
Tim Millard (08:37):
And George, I saw the price point.
It's only $3 more than the onedisc.
That's right.
George Feltenstein (08:47):
And you get 25 more cartoons.
You know, basically it's 50cents a cartoon.
I think and hope people will bepleased by the value
proposition that offers.
Tim Millard (08:55):
I don't know it's, it's terrific.
When I saw that price, I guessI was expecting it to be a
little bit higher than that.
So that puts it right in the nobrainer category, which you
pretty much already was if youwere a fan of Looney Tunes.
Puts it right in the no-brainercategory, which it pretty much
already was if you were a fan ofLooney Tunes.
But at that price point thatreally really just pushes it up
there to the.
I'm going to buy this right off.
So well, let's turn ourattention now to the individual
Blu-ray releases for June, andwe'll go alphabetically.
(09:18):
That means that first up wehave the 1938 drama the Citadel.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (09:26):
This is an exceptionally fine film and it
is from a small group of filmsthat MGM produced in England, at
(09:51):
least before World War II,where basically there had to be
a certain amount of films madein the UK in order for them to
allow films from the US or otherplaces to come in.
As I understand it I'm notquite sure of all the
intricacies of that, not quitesure of all the intricacies of
(10:28):
that but Warner Brothers had theTeddington Studios in England
and MGM opened up a studio interms of creatives and at least
one or two actors or actressesto the UK for these kind of
productions and the effortsended up being stymied by the
start of World War II in the UK.
And then MGM picked up later,in a different way but a much
bigger way, after the war wasover.
But the first two titles, firsttwo films made at the MGM
(10:50):
British studio were A Yank atOxford with Robert Taylor and
the Citadel with Robert Donatand Rosalind Russell, and this
was directed by the great KingVidor.
He's one of the great filmdirectors of all time but
certainly his association withMGM, you know, went back to
(11:12):
films like the Big Parade in1925.
His work is quite remarkable inmy opinion.
And this is based on a verybest-selling novel of the era by
AJ Cronin and it's about themedical profession and it's a
really really well-written,finely performed drama.
(11:33):
And Robert Donat, who wouldlater go on to win the Oscar in
39 for another MGM Britishproduction.
Goodbye Mr Chips.
He stars in this movie.
Mgm British production.
Goodbye Mr Chips.
He stars in this movie.
Rosalind Russell was undercontract to MGM and went from
Hollywood to London to be inthis film and then later to be.
(11:53):
Sir Ralph Richardson is in thismovie and, of course, a very
young Rex Harrison with hair.
It's a really really compellingit's.
The story is very efficientlytold and, uh, it won, uh, the
new york film critics circlebest picture as well as the
(12:14):
national board of review bestpicture for the year and, uh, it
earned four Oscar nominations.
So MGM's efforts in the UK wereoff to a great start.
That was unfortunately put topause by World War II and after
World War II they became quiteaggressive in making a lot of
(12:37):
films at the British studio,which was basically in high
operation from the mid 40s rightup until 1970.
That was the period where MGMkind of fell apart, when Kirk
Corian became the mainstockholder and started
destroying the studio assets,and the London studio was one of
(12:58):
the ones to go, but that wasactually a different physical
studio base than this studio.
This was a different physicalstudio base than this studio.
This was a different studio andthere were only a handful of
films that came out of therebefore the war, but they were
all really really good and theCitadel, most importantly, is a
film that's looked really reallyawful until now and we have a
(13:21):
new 4K scan from ourpreservation elements and it
looks and sounds terrific.
My colleagues did a wonderfuljob.
Presentation is reallywonderful and we've put some
1938 MGM shorts on the disc andjust because it's about the
medical profession, we crossedstudios and put on a Warner
(13:44):
Brothers cartoon, the Daffy Duck, which speaks for itself and
the trailer's on there.
So it's a wonderful package.
Tim Millard (13:52):
I'm looking forward to seeing this with the
restoration, with the 4K scansof the best preservation
elements.
It was nominated for so manyawards, so I'm really looking
forward to watching this.
George Feltenstein (14:04):
The Citadel is probably the least known of
these six new June releaseswe're talking about today and
I'm hoping that with thisrelease it will become far more
popular and well-known thanks tothe quality of the Blu-ray
presentation.
Well, next up, george, is a MGMmusical.
(14:38):
A Date with Judy from 1948.
What can you goes into workingwith Technicolor negatives for
these restorations and theefforts we're able to achieve.
It almost looks like 3D.
It's just remarkable.
This is yet another one ofthose films.
(14:59):
It also happens to be a filmthat was a big box office
success when it was released andkind of an unusual thing for
the era.
It was an adaptation based on avery popular radio sitcom.
A Day with Judy was on theradio for most of the 1940s.
(15:21):
I think it ran from like 1940to 1950.
And on this Blu-ray disc we'regoing to put two episodes of the
1940s I think it ran from like1940 to 1950.
And on this Blu-ray disc we'regoing to put two episodes of the
radio show so people can hearwhat its aegis was.
But MGM thought it wasattractive enough to take some
of their I don't want to sayjuvenile, but some of their
(15:45):
teenage performers and have thembe focal points within a story.
It's quite a delightful film.
It has a lot of music in it.
I tend to think of this more asa comedy with music, because
(16:06):
there aren't that many musicalnumbers in it per se, and it
doesn't.
It's not the kind of film wherethe story is moved forward by
the music.
Music happens mostly in aperformance setting right, and
that's just.
That's fine, you know.
That's wonderful.
But it's really a very cutestory about judy foster, who's a
(16:32):
teenage girl, and her boyfriendOogie Pringle and her best
friend, oogie's sister, carol,played by Elizabeth Taylor.
Now, elizabeth Taylor was 16years old when she made this
film and she had blossomed veryquickly from an incredibly
(16:56):
gorgeous child to an incrediblybeautiful woman.
She looks like she's 22, not 16, you know, but she's also
terrific in the picture.
Everybody in the film is reallygood.
It's basically afamily-oriented sitcom and you
have the added bonus of CarmenMiranda making her journey from
(17:21):
20th Century Fox, where she hadbeen under contract, and coming
to MGM to make two films, bothof which were with Jane Powell,
the other being Nancy Goes toRio.
But Carmen Miranda along withXavier Cugay and his orchestra
they provide a lot of themusical performances, as well as
Jane Powell herself, and thisfilm is best known for the song
(17:45):
it's a Most Unusual Day, whichbecame a very big hit era of
1948.
And, most importantly, it'sjust MGM Entertainment from the
land of Pasternakia, and when Isay that, I'm referring to Joe
Pasternak, the producer, whomade more populist films with
(18:10):
music, as opposed to ArthurFreed who made the more
sophisticated musicals, andthat's why you have Carmen
Miranda and Xavier Cugat, andJane Powell will sing popular
music as well as operetta typemusic.
It's all in here and it's ahell of a lot of fun and it was
(18:31):
one of the most successfulmovies MGM had in 1948.
It was a big box office success.
And Wallace Beery, who's alwaysvery tough and gruff he
actually is softened in thismovie playing Judy's father.
He's quite funny in the movie.
It's just really a confection.
That's quite delightful, butmost importantly, it's going to
(18:54):
knock people's socks off whenthey see how gorgeous the
Technicolor looks.
Tim Millard (18:58):
Right, yeah, technicolor released by Warner
Archive, you got to own it.
If you are into musicals, sothat's a pairing that now over
the last three or four yearswe've been talking on the extras
about.
It is just always a home run.
And you have a classic Tom andJerry on here.
I can't remember if youmentioned that, so I want to
(19:19):
throw that in there.
George Feltenstein (19:20):
Professor Tom, we did carry over the same
short and cartoon that were onthe DVD, but we added the radio
shows to give it a little moreheft, and one of the radio shows
has Frank Sinatra as a gueststar, so it's really just a lot
of fun.
It should make a great disc toadd to the collections.
Tim Millard (19:44):
Well, next up, george, is the romantic film the
Enchanted Cottage from 1945.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (19:53):
Well, this is actually based on a play by
Arthur Wing Pinero and it wasfirst made into a movie in 1924
with Richard Barthelmess as thestar, but RKO decided it needed
an update for World War II.
(20:14):
This was released theatricallytoward the end of World War II,
but it was very much aworld-weary audience that was
looking for something in termsof a love story that also had a
fantasy aspect to it, and thisis the kind of film that many
(20:35):
people really loved because itwas very different.
It's a different kind of lovestory.
Robert Young plays a soldierwho comes back from World War II
with scars from the war and hebelieves, because of his
physical damage for lack of abetter word that he's no longer
(20:57):
worth being loved.
And he meets a woman played byDarth Maguire.
She also thinks that she isn'tattractive and their love story
actually blossoms into somethingquite beautiful.
I don't want to spoil the plot,but it was so infectious that
(21:23):
it was filmed, obviously morethan once, and we have on this
disc two different radiobroadcasts that kind of
consolidate the story.
The first is a Lux RadioTheater adaptation that's an
hour long that stars DorothyMcGuire and Robert Young, the
(21:45):
stars of the movie, but theother one is from 1953 and it's
half hour long from GeneralElectric Theater with all
different performers.
So it's really the underlyingplay that is kind of
transcending generations in itspopularity and this is a film
(22:10):
we've had a lot of requests for.
It was very successful for RKO.
Rko re-released the movie, Ibelieve, in the early 1950s and
they cut, I think, about 15minutes out of the negative.
So I've said that this is a 4Kscan of the original negative.
(22:32):
But the original negative wasunfortunately cut so we had to
use secondary nitrate elementsto fill in the footage that had
been cut out.
So for a long time all peoplecould see was like this 70 some
odd minute version.
This is the full 92 minuteversion as it originally
(22:55):
appeared and looking reallybeautiful and I'm just so
excited.
This is yet another that lookedawful until now and it was just
shown at the TCM Film Festival.
Tim Millard (23:09):
I was just going to say that when I had Scott McGee
of TCM on to talk about the TCMFilm Festival, he mentioned
that the director, john Cromwell, is the father of the actor.
Yes, james Cromwell Was goingto be at the festival to
introduce this film, and thatwas kind of interesting.
George Feltenstein (23:28):
And that's yeah, I mean.
Tim Millard (23:31):
Well, and another thing that I noticed here.
I was kind of looking at thedate of 45.
This is the 80th anniversary ofthis film.
George Feltenstein (23:40):
So yeah, we at the Warner Archive aren't
magnetized by anniversaries.
You don't need an anniversaryto celebrate a great movie.
Just happens to be the 80thanniversary.
But I think the anniversaryedition concept has been kind of
lazy marketing.
Tim Millard (23:57):
Well, we talked about this, George.
George Feltenstein (24:00):
I started it so I'm responsible for it.
I did it when nobody else didit, but that was when I was a
youthful lad.
I don't think you need to callthat out.
It's convenient, it's nice andyou know, a 50th anniversary of
something, a 25th anniversary ofsomething, that's really
(24:20):
significant.
But you know, when I see like15th anniversary, 35th
anniversary, it's like really,how about the movie?
Isn't that really what you'retalking about?
Do you need you know whatanniversary movies do we have
this year?
Tim Millard (24:34):
Yeah exactly.
George Feltenstein (24:37):
We try to aim a little higher in what we
do.
So, yes, it's an anniversary,but most importantly it's a
great movie.
And I'm glad that you broughtup John Cromwell, because he is
not that well-known pastcinephiles as a great director.
And he was a great director.
He directed many magnificentfilms and he deserves more
(25:00):
credit.
Tcm, when they were planningtheir festival this year, they
decided to have fantasy be oneof their thematics, and I knew
that they were going to show thefilm, and I was very concerned
about it because I knew thateverything we had looked like
not so nice, let's just put itthat way.
(25:21):
So I huddled with the powersthat are and said don't you
think it's time we gave a newlook to the Enchanted Cottage so
that when it shows at TCM it'lllook beautiful and we can
therefore release a new Blu-ray?
And everybody was in agreementand here we are, yeah yeah, yeah
(25:43):
, that's great.
Tim Millard (25:44):
Well, those are all side notes.
It's great that this film isfinally coming out, but it's
interesting and it's great tosee different parts of the
company working together to besure that these restorations
happen.
George Feltenstein (25:55):
I mean, that's one of the great things
that I would love to share withpeople that are listening or
watching this.
One of the really wonderfulthings that has happened at the
company that I've been kind ofjumping up and down about for
many years was we're reallyunified between divisions,
especially with TCM now havingbeen brought into Warner
(26:20):
Brothers officially and my goodfriend, Charlie Tabish, who is
TCM in a sense but is the SVP ofprogramming and has been with
the network for 25 years.
Charlie reports into MikeDeLuca and Pam Abdi, who are the
heads of Warner BrothersPictures, and to have people who
(26:46):
are making new movies, who lovemovies, and to have TCM under
their imprimatur has well, it'ssaved the network basically and
it's enabled there to be a TCMtour here on the lot, and I
myself have always been workingclosely with TCM, but now it's a
(27:11):
company-wide initiative torecognize how well we can
collaborate because we all havethe same aim and that's to
please the classic film fan and,more importantly, to cultivate
and grow new classic film fans.
Tim Millard (27:27):
Yeah, because, as we've talked about here on the
podcast before, we're already in2025.
So films before 2000 really are, you know, already 25 years old
and that's hard to imagineMatrix is 26 years old.
So it's like where do you callit classic, where everybody has
a slightly different definition,but from a just a business
(27:48):
perspective.
You know, you've got to.
You've got to introduce youngerpeople and younger fans and I
when I, I mean under 50, under40 to some of these great films.
George Feltenstein (27:58):
I'm also talking about teenagers and
people in their 20s.
If something is great, it'sgoing to transcend time and will
always capture new audiences.
They just need to be led to it.
Audiences, they just need to beled to it.
And it's hard because with eachpassing year, there are more
(28:19):
and more new films made andthere's also great television
being made, and all of thiscompetes for the eyeballs.
So we have to make sure thatpeople really take advantage of
the great library that we happento be fortunate caretakers of
here at Warner BrothersDiscovery and making it
(28:40):
available to new audiences.
Tim Millard (28:43):
Well, next we have a drama, directed by Robert Wise
, from an Ernest Lehman script.
George Feltenstein (28:51):
If you think Robert Wise and Ernest Lehman,
you're also thinking about theSound of Music and West Side
Story.
Tim Millard (28:59):
Well, I had to mention that they are teaming up
on this one.
George Feltenstein (29:02):
And the cast for this movie is pretty
remarkable, I mean the fact thatthey were able to get that many
huge stars of the era and it'sa great movie.
We're talking about ExecutiveSuite from 1954, william Holden,
june Allison, barbara Stanwyck,frederick March, walter Pidgeon
(29:23):
, shelley Winters, paul Douglasand Louis Calhoun, plus Dean
Jagger, nina Foch and even TimConsidine, who is the oldest of
the first, my Three Sons sonsand even Tim Considine, who is
the oldest of the first, myThree Sons sons.
William Holden was an Oscarwinner.
By that time.
Barbara Stanwyck had not won anOscar.
She had been nominated manytimes, but Frederick March was
(29:46):
an Oscar winner.
Shelley Winters was an Oscarwinner.
I mean, this was like a megasuper cast.
And one of the cool things aboutthis movie is when it starts
you hear the lion roar the mgmlion roar but you don't hear any
music.
There's no music through theentire movie and at the
beginning of the movie you justhear a bell ringing and, uh, our
(30:10):
DVD of this, I believe, was notin the proper aspect ratio.
This was MGM's widescreen ratio, when they weren't using
CinemaScope, of 1.75 to 1.
So this is in the proper aspectratio.
It's a 4K scan off the camera,negative.
I know that's starting to soundlike it's a repetition and I
(30:35):
speak of it with such pride eachtime, because it doesn't get
better than that.
This is a very modern feelingmovie for something that is
ostensibly over 70 years old.
It's about the drama of thecorporate world.
Corporate world has certainlybecome a lot more complex in the
(30:56):
70 years subsequent, but RobertWise was already established as
a fine film director and he didsome really good work at MGM in
the 50s and then went elsewhereto do great work elsewhere, had
a long, wonderful career.
I'm happy to say that I did getto meet him a long time ago.
Just an amazing, amazingindividual, and this film
(31:21):
deserves for people who haven'tseen it to get to see it.
If I were putting doublefeatures together, I would say
watch Executive Suite and thenwatch Network.
It know it's that kind of thing.
This has got melodrama to it.
There's love storiesintertwined.
(31:42):
I love the fact that BarbaraStanwyck and William Holden are
working together again here,because she was really
responsible for him starring inGolden Boy in 1939 in Columbia.
Columbia really didn't want togive Holden the role and she
fought for him, and there's awonderful clip from the Oscars
(32:03):
that people can see, courtesy ofthe Academy, on YouTube, where
Barbara Stanwyck was given aspecial Oscar and thanked
William Holden.
William Holden and BarbaraStanwyck was given a special
Oscar and thanked William Holden.
William Holden and BarbaraStanwyck were presenting the
year before he, of course, diedrelatively young in an accident
(32:26):
and in between him saluting heron the Oscars one year and her
getting a special Oscar the nextyear, holden had passed away.
She got her oscar and said thisis for you, my golden boy.
I get all choked up justthinking about it, but uh, I
love so many of the peopleinvolved in the making of this
(32:47):
movie and the film holds upreally well, and that's thanks
to incredible writing of ernestleman, based on a best-selling
novel at the time by CameronHawley, and Ernest Lehman was a
genius at adapting otherliterary material and this is a
perfect example of that.
(33:08):
So this is the collaboration oftwo people who brought so much
cinematic splendor to ourhistory.
I'm delighted that we're addingthis to the Warner Archive
collection in Blu-ray.
Tim Millard (33:21):
Yeah, I was looking at the cover and you can barely
fit the.
There's so many names of somany stars the promotion.
They had a hard time limitingit because it was just full of
stars both the behind and infront of the camera.
And then I noticed on here Icouldn't miss it that you have a
feature commentary.
George Feltenstein (33:40):
By Oliver Stone, yeah, who certainly has a
perspective on big business,right, you know, having made
Wall Street many years ago.
That commentary is terrific.
It was obviously created quitesome time ago for the DVD
release, but a great commentaryis forever great, like a great
(34:00):
movie is, and I think peoplereally enjoy hearing Mr Stone's
thoughts on the film.
Tim Millard (34:07):
Yeah, and then you have some lighter fare on there
the Tom and Jerry cartoon and aPete Smith special, and then the
trailer.
So a lot of good extras on thisone as well.
So this is a fantastic release.
George Feltenstein (34:21):
I'm looking forward to seeing it myself.
Tim Millard (34:23):
Yeah, well, next we have, I think, the only noir
for the month, but wow.
George Feltenstein (34:30):
It's the only noir for this month.
There are many more coming.
Oh, okay, yeah, just for June.
Tim Millard (34:36):
That's the 1951 RKO , His Kind of Woman.
Tell us about this one.
George Feltenstein (34:51):
Well, the most important thing about this
film is it was the first toco-star but not the last to
co-star, robert Mitchum and JaneRussell, and they clicked on
screen and made more filmstogether at RKO.
This is almost a noir comedy.
It's a very serious noir.
But Vincent Price plays a kindof crazy guy.
(35:11):
He's like this egotistical guncollector.
He's just so wacky that hebasically steals the movie.
And it's pretty hard to stealthe movie away from Jane Russell
and Robert Mitchum.
Everybody in this movie isterrific.
It's very well written.
(35:31):
We do have a commentary by filmhistorian Vivian Sobchak.
We also have a trailer.
I'll say it up front now RKOdid not have a trailer
department, so they farmed outmaking their trailers to
National Screen Service and, asa result, when the library was
sold there were no trailers.
(35:51):
That came with all the otherfilm elements.
So if we ever have a trailer onan RKO film, it's a rarity.
We do have the trailer on this,but the quality leaves a lot to
be desired.
But it's better than nothing,that's right.
So if somebody's got a bettertrailer out there, let us know.
We would love to borrow it.
(36:12):
This is a great release.
Uh, great noir.
Obviously we had it out on dvdbefore, but once again, a 4k
scan off the original nitratecamera, right, and it doesn't
just look great, it sounds great.
I have no idea whether they hadstarted recording magnetically
(36:32):
or not, because magneticrecording was just starting to
permeate Hollywood at this time,but when I saw the
preliminaries on the New Master,I was not only thrilled with
how great it looked but also howgreat it sounded.
And that benefits Jane Russell,because they always had her
(36:52):
sing a song or two in a movie.
If it's Jane Russell becausethey always had her sing a song
or two in a movie, becauseHoward Hughes, who owned RKO at
the time, he was definitely hermost ardent supporter, and I say
that only in the most honestway.
There's nothing lasciviousgoing on there.
He just believed in her andgave her a lot of great
(37:15):
opportunities and she wasdefinitely a much loved star in
Hollywood.
But her in a film noir withRobert Mitchum is magic Sure,
and I'm so glad that we'reputting this out.
Tim Millard (37:27):
And the popularity of Mitchum and Russell, you know
, jane Russell endures todaybecause they were so handsome
and beautiful and talented andeverything.
And these films are so great,especially when you get them now
restored so that they'relooking great in HD.
So looking forward to that one.
Well, we have one more film andthat is Splendor in the Grass
(37:49):
from 1961.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (37:53):
I would say this is one of the most
important films of its time.
It's directed by Ilya Kazan, itwas written for the screen.
It's not based on a play or abook, but written for the screen
by William Inge, who, of course, wrote the Dark at the Top of
the Stairs and Picnic and BusStop Incredibly talented writer
(38:17):
and for 1961, this movie wasconstricted by the production
code but it's pretty raw interms of dealing with the
complexities of the maincharacter, dini, played by
Natalie Wood.
This was really herbreakthrough performance.
(38:37):
She plays a, I'd say, highschool graduating age girl who
is tempestuously in love withher boyfriend Bud, played by
Warren Beatty, making his bigscreen debut.
Played by Warren Beatty makinghis big screen debut and under
(38:59):
the direction of Kazan, withInge's writing.
It's just an astounding filmwith great performances and
heartbreaking moments and a lotof realism, and I find the film
fascinating every time I see it.
This should have been on Blu-rayprobably 15 years ago, but we
(39:21):
had problems in those days, kindof convincing people hey, you
need to go back and remasterthis.
We have an HD master of thisfilm that was done probably I'm
going to say 15, 16 years agoand that's been circulating on
TV and streaming and it looksabsolutely awful.
(39:42):
The colors are wrong.
Scenes that are supposed to beat night are in the day.
It was very magenta tinted, itjust didn't look right.
Day it was very magenta tinted,it just didn't look right.
Now we're back to the cameranegative.
We had our best colorists andbest mastering people working on
this and it's so beautiful.
(40:11):
And, interestingly, this was notshot here at Warner Brothers,
although this is very much aWarner Brothers film.
The interiors were all shot at,I believe, the Filmways studio
it was called at the time in theupper part of Manhattan in you
know, 1960, 61 era, if peoplewanted to film in New York City
(40:31):
and needed a soundstage, thatwas one of the few places they
had, and Kazan was primarily NewYork City and needed a
soundstage.
That was one of the few placesthey had and Kazan was primarily
New York-based.
So they tell you in the creditsthat it was shot in New York
City.
Obviously the exteriors wereshot around the greater New York
area.
There's nothing that conveysNew York at all because this
(40:54):
takes place in the Midwest, butI just find it fascinating that
they were able to.
There were very few majorstudio motion pictures filmed in
New York.
At that time it was very rare.
This is really one of the greatfilms of all time, certainly one
of the great romances.
(41:15):
You ache for Natalie Wood'scharacter and you see how really
the seedlings of the starWarren Beatty was to become.
He was very young when he didthe film and I just always find
it poignant.
I've been fighting to get thisdone for a long time and finally
(41:39):
by having a 4k scan of thecamera negative and creating a
beautiful new master.
It's just astounding.
Great performances by uhsupporting, uh members from the
actress theater, people like pathing they're just remarkable.
I would assume a lot of peoplehaven't seen this movie and it
(42:01):
deserves to be better seen.
But what we have on the movie,aside from the trailer, we also
have a wonderful documentarythat was done in the mid-90s and
it's Ilya Kazan A Director'sJourney, and it's a
feature-length combination.
Ilya Kazan A Director's Journeyand it's a feature length
combination interview with Kazanas well as scenes of his works.
(42:22):
It deals with his work on thestage, but mostly his work on
the screen, and he just had suchan amazing career and influence
on so many performers.
We look at his body of workjust within our library, east of
Eden and Streetcar Named Desireand many others, america,
(42:43):
america.
He had a good tie to WarnerBrothers and to be able to take
one of his great works and giveit this kind of stellar
presentation is an honor, andthat's why I'm really delighted
we were able to add thedocumentary onto the disc.
Tim Millard (43:01):
Yeah, and you didn't mention it, but it's a 4K
scan of the original cameranegative.
So there you go again.
You know these are fantasticnew scans.
So, boy George, you had a30irties film, you have forties,
you have a fifties and you havea sixties.
You covered four decades there.
This month of June.
(43:22):
Uh, all classic films, just uh,amazing films that people are
going to really be happy to addto their collection.
So what a month.
Plus, you've got the uh fourfilm collections and then the
Looney Tunes Collectors Vault,yeah.
So what a month.
And High Society, oh yeah, andHigh Society now falling into
(43:43):
June.
So that's going to be quite themonth, Boy.
We're going to have a lot totalk about in June and July,
George.
George Feltenstein (43:49):
Yeah, we've got great stuff coming in July
that I'm working on right nowSome big surprises.
I promised people that thisyear was going to hold a lot of
things coming to fruition thatthey had been looking forward to
for a long time and being ableto put Cheyenne out on Blu-ray
and to give it a sturdy packageas well as beautiful new masters
(44:12):
McGilligurla.
You know, it's just very, verygratifying to be able to span
the library in different ways,and this is definitely a very
classics-focused month, and wewill be doing more of the same
next month, with maybe somecontemporary things mixed in as
well.
(44:33):
So lots to look forward to Lotsto look forward to.
Tim Millard (44:35):
Lots to look forward to.
And, george, sometimes you canfeel what you might call like a
momentum, and I feel like themomentum has been building this
year, actually over the last fewyears, as you've been able to
get more of these titlesapproved and restored and
everything.
George Feltenstein (44:52):
So what a great start.
I had to buy a new pair ofboxing gloves because, you know,
as I'm fighting for filmhistory, that's right.
It starts to wear out thegloves, you know.
Tim Millard (45:02):
There you go, there you go.
But I'm just saying I feel the,I feel the momentum, and I feel
it in people's comments asthey're like wow, this is coming
out and where am I going to?
You know, I got to save mypennies to get these because
I've been waiting so long forthis one and everything, and
it's just a great feeling forfans of the Warner Archive and
for physical media in general.
So thanks for coming on, asalways, and it's always a lot of
(45:23):
fun to hear what you'rebringing to the fans.
George Feltenstein (45:27):
Thank you, tim, and I look forward to our
next opportunity to talk aboutthe Warner Archive collection
opportunity to talk about theWarner Archive collection.
Tim Millard (45:41):
For those who would like more information about the
films announced today, be sureto check out our Facebook page
and our Warner Archive Facebookgroup.
You can find the links forthose and all of our social
media sites in the podcast shownotes.
Facebook is also the best placeto get the pre-order links for
these titles when they becomeavailable.
If you aren't yet subscribed orfollowing the show at your
favorite podcast provider, youmay want to do that so that you
don't miss anything coming up.
(46:02):
It's a very busy summer as wego into June and July, so you
may want to do that right away.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Millard.
Stay slightly obsessed.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein to announce the JuneBlu-ray releases from the
Warner Archive.
Hi, George.
George Feltenstein (00:15):
Hello, tim, great to be with you again, as
always, my friend.
Tim Millard (00:19):
Well, this is another great month, and though
we're talking about six Blu-rayreleases today, there is more
actually that we're going totalk about, because some you
announced already previously.
So June is really a robustmonth.
So, before we talk about thesix individual Blu-rays that you
(00:41):
announced yesterday on Facebook, I did want to ask you about
this four-film collection thatyou announced just a few days
ago as well.
George Feltenstein (00:52):
Well, what we're doing is picking up
something we started a couple ofyears ago and had to put on the
side for a little while.
We had put together fourHitchcock films in a four-film
collection with a valueproposition, so that people
(01:12):
basically get four films for$39.98 SRP.
There's great value in that andit's aimed more at a casual
collector or people who arestarting out collecting, and
it's a great way to dive in andit's always been a successful
(01:36):
way of curating particulargroups of films and getting them
out to more people.
And so we did it with Bogartand Bacall, we did it with Film
Noir, we did it with Hitchcock,and I had been making the plea
that we start doing it on a morebroad basis.
(01:59):
So these first three, which areClark Gable and Gary Cooper and
Elizabeth Taylor I was tryingto remember it all in my mind
because we've actually plannedout about 24 of these, wow.
So we'll be doing two or three amonth for the ongoing future.
(02:22):
A month for the ongoing futureand, given that we're almost at
a 500 Blu-ray release count,we've got a lot of back catalog
to work with.
And I want to stress that thesecollections there will be some
that will be six film.
There's going to be one or two,that will be six, but mostly
(02:42):
there'll be four.
They won't all be star-driven,some will be theme-driven, but
they will all be previouslyreleased title.
The cool thing is that some ofthem will be films that were
(03:03):
initially released through themothership, through Warner
Brothers Home Entertainment, onBlu-ray, and I wouldn't take
just anything but if they weregood quality when they came out,
then they're going to enterthis portal so we're going to be
able to make the selections alittle more broad in their
appeal by including some filmsthat went to retail as opposed
(03:28):
through Warner Archive, but withmy filter of making sure that
some of the things that are outthere that don't look
particularly good or may havesomething wrong with them,
they're not going to be part ofthese collections.
I want these collections toreally be successful, of course,
but I also want them to be partof these collections.
I want these collections toreally be successful, of course,
but I also want them to be wellappreciated and hoping that
(03:50):
they garner new fans that willopen them up to joining the
ranks of those of us whounderstand the importance of
physical media.
Tim Millard (03:59):
Yeah, and that's a really new development to have
the Warner Brothers, themothership Warner Brothers Home
Entertainment titles in there.
Only a few.
But I like the caveat that ithas to hit that quality level
that you are creating and havecreated with this Warner Archive
(04:20):
brand and all of these amazingrestorations.
So that's great to hear Archivebrand at all of these amazing
restorations.
So that's great to hear.
I have the Thin man six filmcollection and I really, really
enjoy having that and it's greatbecause each film, each disc is
the original one you releasedwith the extras, whether it be
from the Bogie and Bacallcollection or the Noir
(04:40):
collection.
So it saves a little space.
And I like the artwork.
I just like those all around.
So sometimes I double dip, soit saves a little space and I
like the artwork, I just likethose all around.
So sometimes I double dip, sothey're great.
George Feltenstein (04:48):
Well, I hope that the fans will really enjoy
this additional method by whichthey can add films to their
collection.
Tim Millard (04:56):
Yeah, yeah, it's really great, and to hear so
many are coming and so many arebeing released each month is a
great one for the fans to hear.
Well, there was a little bit ofhousekeeping news too that I
wanted to ask you about, andthat was about the High Society
4K and Blu-ray.
George Feltenstein (05:14):
Yes, we moved the street date to June
10th because we're still workingon finishing the presentation
and we want to make sure thatit's as magnificent as it can be
.
Tim Millard (05:27):
So really, that's what like to June 10th now, is
it?
George Feltenstein (05:31):
Yeah, we moved it out two weeks and I'm
very encouraged by everythingthat's going on.
I think people who love themovie will be very pleased with
what's been going on.
And we're so fortunate to be inthe hands of David McKenzie and
(05:51):
Fidelity in Motion, who's doingthe authoring and encoding
compression of the discs,because the Blu-ray and the 4K
will both have the same content.
The 4K will obviously have moredefinition and more pixels and
(06:14):
Dolby Vision, but the Blu-ray,which will be packed in the 4K
Blu-ray combo or the Blu-raystandalone, will benefit from
having the Dolby Atmos and theoriginal MonoTracks.
I'm sure it's going to lookamazing just on Blu-ray.
So on 4K it'll be all the morebecause of VistaVision.
(06:35):
It's very exciting.
So that's moving to June 10th.
Of course, the other big news wehave in June, which we've
already talked about, is June17th the arrival of Looney Tunes
Collectors Vault, volume 1.
Is skew in the packagingindicating that it is a blu-ray
disc but not saying the blu-raydisc using the blu-ray disc
(07:10):
association's official logo andthat usually indicates bdrs and
as long as I have anything tosay about it, there will never
be a warner archive bdr.
I'm very much about thereplicated disc and the
packaging.
That was first on our Facebookpage and we're having that error
(07:32):
corrected, but as soon as I sawthat I reached out to people to
get it fixed.
Hopefully by the time peoplehear this, it will have been
fixed, but most definitely theyare discs being replicated in
Mexico as, as we speak, right.
Tim Millard (07:52):
Well, I think that was just a a good thing to let
people know in case there isconfusion out there.
So I didn't like the, the, theillustration, so I just used the
original one, cause I like thatone better anyway on our
Facebook and our social media,because it has that three
dimensional on it.
Yeah, it kind of didn't didn'tbother me because I didn't even
(08:14):
like it.
I was like something wrong withthat one and I well it's it.
George Feltenstein (08:17):
Given that it just went up for pre-order
and it's selling very well, I'mhoping that that will continue.
But I didn't want anybody to beconcerned that it was going to
be some kind of change indirection for us not after 13
years of replicated Blu-rays.
Tim Millard (08:37):
And George, I saw the price point.
It's only $3 more than the onedisc.
That's right.
George Feltenstein (08:47):
And you get 25 more cartoons.
You know, basically it's 50cents a cartoon.
I think and hope people will bepleased by the value
proposition that offers.
Tim Millard (08:55):
I don't know it's, it's terrific.
When I saw that price, I guessI was expecting it to be a
little bit higher than that.
So that puts it right in the nobrainer category, which you
pretty much already was if youwere a fan of Looney Tunes.
Puts it right in the no-brainercategory, which it pretty much
already was if you were a fan ofLooney Tunes.
But at that price point thatreally really just pushes it up
there to the.
I'm going to buy this right off.
So well, let's turn ourattention now to the individual
Blu-ray releases for June, andwe'll go alphabetically.
(09:18):
That means that first up wehave the 1938 drama the Citadel.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (09:26):
This is an exceptionally fine film and it
is from a small group of filmsthat MGM produced in England, at
(09:51):
least before World War II,where basically there had to be
a certain amount of films madein the UK in order for them to
allow films from the US or otherplaces to come in.
As I understand it I'm notquite sure of all the
intricacies of that, not quitesure of all the intricacies of
(10:28):
that but Warner Brothers had theTeddington Studios in England
and MGM opened up a studio interms of creatives and at least
one or two actors or actressesto the UK for these kind of
productions and the effortsended up being stymied by the
start of World War II in the UK.
And then MGM picked up later,in a different way but a much
bigger way, after the war wasover.
But the first two titles, firsttwo films made at the MGM
(10:50):
British studio were A Yank atOxford with Robert Taylor and
the Citadel with Robert Donatand Rosalind Russell, and this
was directed by the great KingVidor.
He's one of the great filmdirectors of all time but
certainly his association withMGM, you know, went back to
(11:12):
films like the Big Parade in1925.
His work is quite remarkable inmy opinion.
And this is based on a verybest-selling novel of the era by
AJ Cronin and it's about themedical profession and it's a
really really well-written,finely performed drama.
(11:33):
And Robert Donat, who wouldlater go on to win the Oscar in
39 for another MGM Britishproduction.
Goodbye Mr Chips.
He stars in this movie.
Mgm British production.
Goodbye Mr Chips.
He stars in this movie.
Rosalind Russell was undercontract to MGM and went from
Hollywood to London to be inthis film and then later to be.
(11:53):
Sir Ralph Richardson is in thismovie and, of course, a very
young Rex Harrison with hair.
It's a really really compellingit's.
The story is very efficientlytold and, uh, it won, uh, the
new york film critics circlebest picture as well as the
(12:14):
national board of review bestpicture for the year and, uh, it
earned four Oscar nominations.
So MGM's efforts in the UK wereoff to a great start.
That was unfortunately put topause by World War II and after
World War II they became quiteaggressive in making a lot of
(12:37):
films at the British studio,which was basically in high
operation from the mid 40s rightup until 1970.
That was the period where MGMkind of fell apart, when Kirk
Corian became the mainstockholder and started
destroying the studio assets,and the London studio was one of
(12:58):
the ones to go, but that wasactually a different physical
studio base than this studio.
This was a different physicalstudio base than this studio.
This was a different studio andthere were only a handful of
films that came out of therebefore the war, but they were
all really really good and theCitadel, most importantly, is a
film that's looked really reallyawful until now and we have a
(13:21):
new 4K scan from ourpreservation elements and it
looks and sounds terrific.
My colleagues did a wonderfuljob.
Presentation is reallywonderful and we've put some
1938 MGM shorts on the disc andjust because it's about the
medical profession, we crossedstudios and put on a Warner
(13:44):
Brothers cartoon, the Daffy Duck, which speaks for itself and
the trailer's on there.
So it's a wonderful package.
Tim Millard (13:52):
I'm looking forward to seeing this with the
restoration, with the 4K scansof the best preservation
elements.
It was nominated for so manyawards, so I'm really looking
forward to watching this.
George Feltenstein (14:04):
The Citadel is probably the least known of
these six new June releaseswe're talking about today and
I'm hoping that with thisrelease it will become far more
popular and well-known thanks tothe quality of the Blu-ray
presentation.
Well, next up, george, is a MGMmusical.
(14:38):
A Date with Judy from 1948.
What can you goes into workingwith Technicolor negatives for
these restorations and theefforts we're able to achieve.
It almost looks like 3D.
It's just remarkable.
This is yet another one ofthose films.
(14:59):
It also happens to be a filmthat was a big box office
success when it was released andkind of an unusual thing for
the era.
It was an adaptation based on avery popular radio sitcom.
A Day with Judy was on theradio for most of the 1940s.
(15:21):
I think it ran from like 1940to 1950.
And on this Blu-ray disc we'regoing to put two episodes of the
1940s I think it ran from like1940 to 1950.
And on this Blu-ray disc we'regoing to put two episodes of the
radio show so people can hearwhat its aegis was.
But MGM thought it wasattractive enough to take some
of their I don't want to sayjuvenile, but some of their
(15:45):
teenage performers and have thembe focal points within a story.
It's quite a delightful film.
It has a lot of music in it.
I tend to think of this more asa comedy with music, because
(16:06):
there aren't that many musicalnumbers in it per se, and it
doesn't.
It's not the kind of film wherethe story is moved forward by
the music.
Music happens mostly in aperformance setting right, and
that's just.
That's fine, you know.
That's wonderful.
But it's really a very cutestory about judy foster, who's a
(16:32):
teenage girl, and her boyfriendOogie Pringle and her best
friend, oogie's sister, carol,played by Elizabeth Taylor.
Now, elizabeth Taylor was 16years old when she made this
film and she had blossomed veryquickly from an incredibly
(16:56):
gorgeous child to an incrediblybeautiful woman.
She looks like she's 22, not 16, you know, but she's also
terrific in the picture.
Everybody in the film is reallygood.
It's basically afamily-oriented sitcom and you
have the added bonus of CarmenMiranda making her journey from
(17:21):
20th Century Fox, where she hadbeen under contract, and coming
to MGM to make two films, bothof which were with Jane Powell,
the other being Nancy Goes toRio.
But Carmen Miranda along withXavier Cugay and his orchestra
they provide a lot of themusical performances, as well as
Jane Powell herself, and thisfilm is best known for the song
(17:45):
it's a Most Unusual Day, whichbecame a very big hit era of
1948.
And, most importantly, it'sjust MGM Entertainment from the
land of Pasternakia, and when Isay that, I'm referring to Joe
Pasternak, the producer, whomade more populist films with
(18:10):
music, as opposed to ArthurFreed who made the more
sophisticated musicals, andthat's why you have Carmen
Miranda and Xavier Cugat, andJane Powell will sing popular
music as well as operetta typemusic.
It's all in here and it's ahell of a lot of fun and it was
(18:31):
one of the most successfulmovies MGM had in 1948.
It was a big box office success.
And Wallace Beery, who's alwaysvery tough and gruff he
actually is softened in thismovie playing Judy's father.
He's quite funny in the movie.
It's just really a confection.
That's quite delightful, butmost importantly, it's going to
(18:54):
knock people's socks off whenthey see how gorgeous the
Technicolor looks.
Tim Millard (18:58):
Right, yeah, technicolor released by Warner
Archive, you got to own it.
If you are into musicals, sothat's a pairing that now over
the last three or four yearswe've been talking on the extras
about.
It is just always a home run.
And you have a classic Tom andJerry on here.
I can't remember if youmentioned that, so I want to
(19:19):
throw that in there.
George Feltenstein (19:20):
Professor Tom, we did carry over the same
short and cartoon that were onthe DVD, but we added the radio
shows to give it a little moreheft, and one of the radio shows
has Frank Sinatra as a gueststar, so it's really just a lot
of fun.
It should make a great disc toadd to the collections.
Tim Millard (19:44):
Well, next up, george, is the romantic film the
Enchanted Cottage from 1945.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (19:53):
Well, this is actually based on a play by
Arthur Wing Pinero and it wasfirst made into a movie in 1924
with Richard Barthelmess as thestar, but RKO decided it needed
an update for World War II.
(20:14):
This was released theatricallytoward the end of World War II,
but it was very much aworld-weary audience that was
looking for something in termsof a love story that also had a
fantasy aspect to it, and thisis the kind of film that many
(20:35):
people really loved because itwas very different.
It's a different kind of lovestory.
Robert Young plays a soldierwho comes back from World War II
with scars from the war and hebelieves, because of his
physical damage for lack of abetter word that he's no longer
(20:57):
worth being loved.
And he meets a woman played byDarth Maguire.
She also thinks that she isn'tattractive and their love story
actually blossoms into somethingquite beautiful.
I don't want to spoil the plot,but it was so infectious that
(21:23):
it was filmed, obviously morethan once, and we have on this
disc two different radiobroadcasts that kind of
consolidate the story.
The first is a Lux RadioTheater adaptation that's an
hour long that stars DorothyMcGuire and Robert Young, the
(21:45):
stars of the movie, but theother one is from 1953 and it's
half hour long from GeneralElectric Theater with all
different performers.
So it's really the underlyingplay that is kind of
transcending generations in itspopularity and this is a film
(22:10):
we've had a lot of requests for.
It was very successful for RKO.
Rko re-released the movie, Ibelieve, in the early 1950s and
they cut, I think, about 15minutes out of the negative.
So I've said that this is a 4Kscan of the original negative.
(22:32):
But the original negative wasunfortunately cut so we had to
use secondary nitrate elementsto fill in the footage that had
been cut out.
So for a long time all peoplecould see was like this 70 some
odd minute version.
This is the full 92 minuteversion as it originally
(22:55):
appeared and looking reallybeautiful and I'm just so
excited.
This is yet another that lookedawful until now and it was just
shown at the TCM Film Festival.
Tim Millard (23:09):
I was just going to say that when I had Scott McGee
of TCM on to talk about the TCMFilm Festival, he mentioned
that the director, john Cromwell, is the father of the actor.
Yes, james Cromwell Was goingto be at the festival to
introduce this film, and thatwas kind of interesting.
George Feltenstein (23:28):
And that's yeah, I mean.
Tim Millard (23:31):
Well, and another thing that I noticed here.
I was kind of looking at thedate of 45.
This is the 80th anniversary ofthis film.
George Feltenstein (23:40):
So yeah, we at the Warner Archive aren't
magnetized by anniversaries.
You don't need an anniversaryto celebrate a great movie.
Just happens to be the 80thanniversary.
But I think the anniversaryedition concept has been kind of
lazy marketing.
Tim Millard (23:57):
Well, we talked about this, George.
George Feltenstein (24:00):
I started it so I'm responsible for it.
I did it when nobody else didit, but that was when I was a
youthful lad.
I don't think you need to callthat out.
It's convenient, it's nice andyou know, a 50th anniversary of
something, a 25th anniversary ofsomething, that's really
(24:20):
significant.
But you know, when I see like15th anniversary, 35th
anniversary, it's like really,how about the movie?
Isn't that really what you'retalking about?
Do you need you know whatanniversary movies do we have
this year?
Tim Millard (24:34):
Yeah exactly.
George Feltenstein (24:37):
We try to aim a little higher in what we
do.
So, yes, it's an anniversary,but most importantly it's a
great movie.
And I'm glad that you broughtup John Cromwell, because he is
not that well-known pastcinephiles as a great director.
And he was a great director.
He directed many magnificentfilms and he deserves more
(25:00):
credit.
Tcm, when they were planningtheir festival this year, they
decided to have fantasy be oneof their thematics, and I knew
that they were going to show thefilm, and I was very concerned
about it because I knew thateverything we had looked like
not so nice, let's just put itthat way.
(25:21):
So I huddled with the powersthat are and said don't you
think it's time we gave a newlook to the Enchanted Cottage so
that when it shows at TCM it'lllook beautiful and we can
therefore release a new Blu-ray?
And everybody was in agreementand here we are, yeah yeah, yeah
(25:43):
, that's great.
Tim Millard (25:44):
Well, those are all side notes.
It's great that this film isfinally coming out, but it's
interesting and it's great tosee different parts of the
company working together to besure that these restorations
happen.
George Feltenstein (25:55):
I mean, that's one of the great things
that I would love to share withpeople that are listening or
watching this.
One of the really wonderfulthings that has happened at the
company that I've been kind ofjumping up and down about for
many years was we're reallyunified between divisions,
especially with TCM now havingbeen brought into Warner
(26:20):
Brothers officially and my goodfriend, Charlie Tabish, who is
TCM in a sense but is the SVP ofprogramming and has been with
the network for 25 years.
Charlie reports into MikeDeLuca and Pam Abdi, who are the
heads of Warner BrothersPictures, and to have people who
(26:46):
are making new movies, who lovemovies, and to have TCM under
their imprimatur has well, it'ssaved the network basically and
it's enabled there to be a TCMtour here on the lot, and I
myself have always been workingclosely with TCM, but now it's a
(27:11):
company-wide initiative torecognize how well we can
collaborate because we all havethe same aim and that's to
please the classic film fan and,more importantly, to cultivate
and grow new classic film fans.
Tim Millard (27:27):
Yeah, because, as we've talked about here on the
podcast before, we're already in2025.
So films before 2000 really are, you know, already 25 years old
and that's hard to imagineMatrix is 26 years old.
So it's like where do you callit classic, where everybody has
a slightly different definition,but from a just a business
(27:48):
perspective.
You know, you've got to.
You've got to introduce youngerpeople and younger fans and I
when I, I mean under 50, under40 to some of these great films.
George Feltenstein (27:58):
I'm also talking about teenagers and
people in their 20s.
If something is great, it'sgoing to transcend time and will
always capture new audiences.
They just need to be led to it.
Audiences, they just need to beled to it.
And it's hard because with eachpassing year, there are more
(28:19):
and more new films made andthere's also great television
being made, and all of thiscompetes for the eyeballs.
So we have to make sure thatpeople really take advantage of
the great library that we happento be fortunate caretakers of
here at Warner BrothersDiscovery and making it
(28:40):
available to new audiences.
Tim Millard (28:43):
Well, next we have a drama, directed by Robert Wise
, from an Ernest Lehman script.
George Feltenstein (28:51):
If you think Robert Wise and Ernest Lehman,
you're also thinking about theSound of Music and West Side
Story.
Tim Millard (28:59):
Well, I had to mention that they are teaming up
on this one.
George Feltenstein (29:02):
And the cast for this movie is pretty
remarkable, I mean the fact thatthey were able to get that many
huge stars of the era and it'sa great movie.
We're talking about ExecutiveSuite from 1954, william Holden,
june Allison, barbara Stanwyck,frederick March, walter Pidgeon
(29:23):
, shelley Winters, paul Douglasand Louis Calhoun, plus Dean
Jagger, nina Foch and even TimConsidine, who is the oldest of
the first, my Three Sons sonsand even Tim Considine, who is
the oldest of the first, myThree Sons sons.
William Holden was an Oscarwinner.
By that time.
Barbara Stanwyck had not won anOscar.
She had been nominated manytimes, but Frederick March was
(29:46):
an Oscar winner.
Shelley Winters was an Oscarwinner.
I mean, this was like a megasuper cast.
And one of the cool things aboutthis movie is when it starts
you hear the lion roar the mgmlion roar but you don't hear any
music.
There's no music through theentire movie and at the
beginning of the movie you justhear a bell ringing and, uh, our
(30:10):
DVD of this, I believe, was notin the proper aspect ratio.
This was MGM's widescreen ratio, when they weren't using
CinemaScope, of 1.75 to 1.
So this is in the proper aspectratio.
It's a 4K scan off the camera,negative.
I know that's starting to soundlike it's a repetition and I
(30:35):
speak of it with such pride eachtime, because it doesn't get
better than that.
This is a very modern feelingmovie for something that is
ostensibly over 70 years old.
It's about the drama of thecorporate world.
Corporate world has certainlybecome a lot more complex in the
(30:56):
70 years subsequent, but RobertWise was already established as
a fine film director and he didsome really good work at MGM in
the 50s and then went elsewhereto do great work elsewhere, had
a long, wonderful career.
I'm happy to say that I did getto meet him a long time ago.
Just an amazing, amazingindividual, and this film
(31:21):
deserves for people who haven'tseen it to get to see it.
If I were putting doublefeatures together, I would say
watch Executive Suite and thenwatch Network.
It know it's that kind of thing.
This has got melodrama to it.
There's love storiesintertwined.
(31:42):
I love the fact that BarbaraStanwyck and William Holden are
working together again here,because she was really
responsible for him starring inGolden Boy in 1939 in Columbia.
Columbia really didn't want togive Holden the role and she
fought for him, and there's awonderful clip from the Oscars
(32:03):
that people can see, courtesy ofthe Academy, on YouTube, where
Barbara Stanwyck was given aspecial Oscar and thanked
William Holden.
William Holden and BarbaraStanwyck was given a special
Oscar and thanked William Holden.
William Holden and BarbaraStanwyck were presenting the
year before he, of course, diedrelatively young in an accident
(32:26):
and in between him saluting heron the Oscars one year and her
getting a special Oscar the nextyear, holden had passed away.
She got her oscar and said thisis for you, my golden boy.
I get all choked up justthinking about it, but uh, I
love so many of the peopleinvolved in the making of this
(32:47):
movie and the film holds upreally well, and that's thanks
to incredible writing of ernestleman, based on a best-selling
novel at the time by CameronHawley, and Ernest Lehman was a
genius at adapting otherliterary material and this is a
perfect example of that.
(33:08):
So this is the collaboration oftwo people who brought so much
cinematic splendor to ourhistory.
I'm delighted that we're addingthis to the Warner Archive
collection in Blu-ray.
Tim Millard (33:21):
Yeah, I was looking at the cover and you can barely
fit the.
There's so many names of somany stars the promotion.
They had a hard time limitingit because it was just full of
stars both the behind and infront of the camera.
And then I noticed on here Icouldn't miss it that you have a
feature commentary.
George Feltenstein (33:40):
By Oliver Stone, yeah, who certainly has a
perspective on big business,right, you know, having made
Wall Street many years ago.
That commentary is terrific.
It was obviously created quitesome time ago for the DVD
release, but a great commentaryis forever great, like a great
(34:00):
movie is, and I think peoplereally enjoy hearing Mr Stone's
thoughts on the film.
Tim Millard (34:07):
Yeah, and then you have some lighter fare on there
the Tom and Jerry cartoon and aPete Smith special, and then the
trailer.
So a lot of good extras on thisone as well.
So this is a fantastic release.
George Feltenstein (34:21):
I'm looking forward to seeing it myself.
Tim Millard (34:23):
Yeah, well, next we have, I think, the only noir
for the month, but wow.
George Feltenstein (34:30):
It's the only noir for this month.
There are many more coming.
Oh, okay, yeah, just for June.
Tim Millard (34:36):
That's the 1951 RKO , His Kind of Woman.
Tell us about this one.
George Feltenstein (34:51):
Well, the most important thing about this
film is it was the first toco-star but not the last to
co-star, robert Mitchum and JaneRussell, and they clicked on
screen and made more filmstogether at RKO.
This is almost a noir comedy.
It's a very serious noir.
But Vincent Price plays a kindof crazy guy.
(35:11):
He's like this egotistical guncollector.
He's just so wacky that hebasically steals the movie.
And it's pretty hard to stealthe movie away from Jane Russell
and Robert Mitchum.
Everybody in this movie isterrific.
It's very well written.
(35:31):
We do have a commentary by filmhistorian Vivian Sobchak.
We also have a trailer.
I'll say it up front now RKOdid not have a trailer
department, so they farmed outmaking their trailers to
National Screen Service and, asa result, when the library was
sold there were no trailers.
(35:51):
That came with all the otherfilm elements.
So if we ever have a trailer onan RKO film, it's a rarity.
We do have the trailer on this,but the quality leaves a lot to
be desired.
But it's better than nothing,that's right.
So if somebody's got a bettertrailer out there, let us know.
We would love to borrow it.
(36:12):
This is a great release.
Uh, great noir.
Obviously we had it out on dvdbefore, but once again, a 4k
scan off the original nitratecamera, right, and it doesn't
just look great, it sounds great.
I have no idea whether they hadstarted recording magnetically
(36:32):
or not, because magneticrecording was just starting to
permeate Hollywood at this time,but when I saw the
preliminaries on the New Master,I was not only thrilled with
how great it looked but also howgreat it sounded.
And that benefits Jane Russell,because they always had her
(36:52):
sing a song or two in a movie.
If it's Jane Russell becausethey always had her sing a song
or two in a movie, becauseHoward Hughes, who owned RKO at
the time, he was definitely hermost ardent supporter, and I say
that only in the most honestway.
There's nothing lasciviousgoing on there.
He just believed in her andgave her a lot of great
(37:15):
opportunities and she wasdefinitely a much loved star in
Hollywood.
But her in a film noir withRobert Mitchum is magic Sure,
and I'm so glad that we'reputting this out.
Tim Millard (37:27):
And the popularity of Mitchum and Russell, you know
, jane Russell endures todaybecause they were so handsome
and beautiful and talented andeverything.
And these films are so great,especially when you get them now
restored so that they'relooking great in HD.
So looking forward to that one.
Well, we have one more film andthat is Splendor in the Grass
(37:49):
from 1961.
What can you tell us about thisone?
George Feltenstein (37:53):
I would say this is one of the most
important films of its time.
It's directed by Ilya Kazan, itwas written for the screen.
It's not based on a play or abook, but written for the screen
by William Inge, who, of course, wrote the Dark at the Top of
the Stairs and Picnic and BusStop Incredibly talented writer
(38:17):
and for 1961, this movie wasconstricted by the production
code but it's pretty raw interms of dealing with the
complexities of the maincharacter, dini, played by
Natalie Wood.
This was really herbreakthrough performance.
(38:37):
She plays a, I'd say, highschool graduating age girl who
is tempestuously in love withher boyfriend Bud, played by
Warren Beatty, making his bigscreen debut.
Played by Warren Beatty makinghis big screen debut and under
(38:59):
the direction of Kazan, withInge's writing.
It's just an astounding filmwith great performances and
heartbreaking moments and a lotof realism, and I find the film
fascinating every time I see it.
This should have been on Blu-rayprobably 15 years ago, but we
(39:21):
had problems in those days, kindof convincing people hey, you
need to go back and remasterthis.
We have an HD master of thisfilm that was done probably I'm
going to say 15, 16 years agoand that's been circulating on
TV and streaming and it looksabsolutely awful.
(39:42):
The colors are wrong.
Scenes that are supposed to beat night are in the day.
It was very magenta tinted, itjust didn't look right.
Day it was very magenta tinted,it just didn't look right.
Now we're back to the cameranegative.
We had our best colorists andbest mastering people working on
this and it's so beautiful.
(40:11):
And, interestingly, this was notshot here at Warner Brothers,
although this is very much aWarner Brothers film.
The interiors were all shot at,I believe, the Filmways studio
it was called at the time in theupper part of Manhattan in you
know, 1960, 61 era, if peoplewanted to film in New York City
(40:31):
and needed a soundstage, thatwas one of the few places they
had, and Kazan was primarily NewYork City and needed a
soundstage.
That was one of the few placesthey had and Kazan was primarily
New York-based.
So they tell you in the creditsthat it was shot in New York
City.
Obviously the exteriors wereshot around the greater New York
area.
There's nothing that conveysNew York at all because this
(40:54):
takes place in the Midwest, butI just find it fascinating that
they were able to.
There were very few majorstudio motion pictures filmed in
New York.
At that time it was very rare.
This is really one of the greatfilms of all time, certainly one
of the great romances.
(41:15):
You ache for Natalie Wood'scharacter and you see how really
the seedlings of the starWarren Beatty was to become.
He was very young when he didthe film and I just always find
it poignant.
I've been fighting to get thisdone for a long time and finally
(41:39):
by having a 4k scan of thecamera negative and creating a
beautiful new master.
It's just astounding.
Great performances by uhsupporting, uh members from the
actress theater, people like pathing they're just remarkable.
I would assume a lot of peoplehaven't seen this movie and it
(42:01):
deserves to be better seen.
But what we have on the movie,aside from the trailer, we also
have a wonderful documentarythat was done in the mid-90s and
it's Ilya Kazan A Director'sJourney, and it's a
feature-length combination.
Ilya Kazan A Director's Journeyand it's a feature length
combination interview with Kazanas well as scenes of his works.
(42:22):
It deals with his work on thestage, but mostly his work on
the screen, and he just had suchan amazing career and influence
on so many performers.
We look at his body of workjust within our library, east of
Eden and Streetcar Named Desireand many others, america,
(42:43):
america.
He had a good tie to WarnerBrothers and to be able to take
one of his great works and giveit this kind of stellar
presentation is an honor, andthat's why I'm really delighted
we were able to add thedocumentary onto the disc.
Tim Millard (43:01):
Yeah, and you didn't mention it, but it's a 4K
scan of the original cameranegative.
So there you go again.
You know these are fantasticnew scans.
So, boy George, you had a30irties film, you have forties,
you have a fifties and you havea sixties.
You covered four decades there.
This month of June.
(43:22):
Uh, all classic films, just uh,amazing films that people are
going to really be happy to addto their collection.
So what a month.
Plus, you've got the uh fourfilm collections and then the
Looney Tunes Collectors Vault,yeah.
So what a month.
And High Society, oh yeah, andHigh Society now falling into
(43:43):
June.
So that's going to be quite themonth, Boy.
We're going to have a lot totalk about in June and July,
George.
George Feltenstein (43:49):
Yeah, we've got great stuff coming in July
that I'm working on right nowSome big surprises.
I promised people that thisyear was going to hold a lot of
things coming to fruition thatthey had been looking forward to
for a long time and being ableto put Cheyenne out on Blu-ray
and to give it a sturdy packageas well as beautiful new masters
(44:12):
McGilligurla.
You know, it's just very, verygratifying to be able to span
the library in different ways,and this is definitely a very
classics-focused month, and wewill be doing more of the same
next month, with maybe somecontemporary things mixed in as
well.
(44:33):
So lots to look forward to Lotsto look forward to.
Tim Millard (44:35):
Lots to look forward to.
And, george, sometimes you canfeel what you might call like a
momentum, and I feel like themomentum has been building this
year, actually over the last fewyears, as you've been able to
get more of these titlesapproved and restored and
everything.
George Feltenstein (44:52):
So what a great start.
I had to buy a new pair ofboxing gloves because, you know,
as I'm fighting for filmhistory, that's right.
It starts to wear out thegloves, you know.
Tim Millard (45:02):
There you go, there you go.
But I'm just saying I feel the,I feel the momentum, and I feel
it in people's comments asthey're like wow, this is coming
out and where am I going to?
You know, I got to save mypennies to get these because
I've been waiting so long forthis one and everything, and
it's just a great feeling forfans of the Warner Archive and
for physical media in general.
So thanks for coming on, asalways, and it's always a lot of
(45:23):
fun to hear what you'rebringing to the fans.
George Feltenstein (45:27):
Thank you, tim, and I look forward to our
next opportunity to talk aboutthe Warner Archive collection
opportunity to talk about theWarner Archive collection.
Tim Millard (45:41):
For those who would like more information about the
films announced today, be sureto check out our Facebook page
and our Warner Archive Facebookgroup.
You can find the links forthose and all of our social
media sites in the podcast shownotes.
Facebook is also the best placeto get the pre-order links for
these titles when they becomeavailable.
If you aren't yet subscribed orfollowing the show at your
favorite podcast provider, youmay want to do that so that you
don't miss anything coming up.
(46:02):
It's a very busy summer as wego into June and July, so you
may want to do that right away.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Millard.
Stay slightly obsessed.
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