October 14, 2025 • 43 mins
Seven new Blu-rays land for November with new 4K restorations that fix past audio issues, honor original aspect ratios, and bring back theatrical context with shorts and radio plays. We also unveil three film collections for Gene Kelly, Doris Day, and James Cagney.
• Marx Bros At the Circus with era-accurate shorts and trailer
• Powell and Loy’s I Love You Again with a Lux Radio Theater adaptation
• Bette Davis’s underrated comedy It’s Love I’m After in a fresh 4K scan
• Errol Flynn’s Silver River with corrected sound and matched cartoons
• Davis and Cagney’s The Bride Came C.O.D. plus Warner Night at the Movies
• Technicolor showcase The Iron Mistress and Alan Ladd’s studio shift
• The Miracle restored Technirama from a 6K scan
• Why film collections exist and how to use them to start or gift libraries
Pre-order links are only available for the film collections:
JAMES CAGNEY COLLECTION BLU-RAY
GENE KELLY COLLECTION BLU-RAY
DORIS DAY COLLECTION BLU-RAY
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:02):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein to announce theNovember Blu-ray releases from
the Warner Archive.
George Feltenstein (00:10):
Good morning, George.
Good morning, Tim.
An exciting day to talk aboutseven new exciting releases.
Tim Millard (00:18):
Yeah, and I was just seeing that.
Seven.
I mean, you had eight inOctober, so it's quite an
abundance of releases heretoward the end of the year.
What uh has led to that?
George Feltenstein (00:29):
Uh basically, uh, they were ready.
Uh we have so many differentfilms in different stages of
mastering production,pre-production, evaluation of
film elements, so forth and soon.
Some things get done quickerthan others.
And if it's ready, I'd like toget it out to the people so they
(00:52):
can put the discs on theirshelves.
Right.
I think it's a really niftylineup of uh good, good films.
The response uh that we'vegotten since we announced on
Friday uh has been really verygratifying and very exciting.
Tim Millard (01:09):
Yeah, yeah.
And I know that just last monthyou were telling us that there
are so many that you have beingworked on now that have been
approved.
So this is an abundance, butfans can hope uh and and look
forward to more of thiscontinuing as we go into the end
of the year and into next year.
But let's dive into thesebecause you have a lot to go
(01:32):
through.
Yeah.
And let's start off with a fewlaughs, why don't we?
Uh first up, you have a MarxBrothers film at the circus from
1939.
Uh, tell us about this film.
George Feltenstein (01:43):
Well, this is the film where Groucho
introduced one of his morefamous songs, Lydia the Tattooed
Lady.
Uh, and I think that's thething that this film is best
known for.
We released a night at theopera, we released a day at the
races a little by a little whilelater.
And uh At the Circus was almostgoing to be called A Day at the
(02:08):
Circus.
And they decided to trim thetitle so it wouldn't be a night,
a day, you know, then it theythought they were going to be
boxed in.
Right.
But this was the first MarxBrothers film that was done
without any input or directionor oversight from Irving
Thalberg.
Irving Thalberg was the reasonthe Marx Brothers came to MGM.
(02:31):
And uh he died before a day atthe races was released, but he
was involved with its earlypreparation.
Uh this went intopre-production and preparation
uh without any vestige ofThalberg.
Uh, but it has a very wittyscreenplay.
(02:52):
It also has a very brisk uhrunning time.
So we do get to have theobligatory Harpo musical number
and Chico playing the piano, uh,but there isn't that much that
takes away from the storytellingof uh the Marx brothers
(03:12):
themselves.
And of course, you have therequisite love interests of
Kenny Baker, Florence Rice.
Um, there are nice songs inthis film that were written by
staff songwriters that wereworking on another picture that
year called The Wizard of Oz.
Harold Arlin and E.
(03:33):
Y.
Yip Harburg wrote the songs forthis movie.
And uh they're mostly cute, butLydia the Tattooed Lady is the
one that went on to fame,especially since uh Groucho
would perform it here and there.
And uh, of course, theirperennial foil, specifically
(03:53):
Groucho's.
Margaret Dumont is here as partof the proceedings.
And it's just a very cute, funfilm.
And the Marx Brothers only made13 feature films, if if my
memory is serving me correctly.
And we have six in our library.
We have five from MGM and onefrom RKO.
(04:17):
So uh having it the circusready to go now was something I
was really delighted aboutbecause we know people want more
Marx Brothers, and uh we'rehappy to provide.
Tim Millard (04:32):
Yeah, that's exciting.
Last month we just talked aboutsome of the shorts that you had
put on some of the releases inOctober.
So that was kind of a nicelittle tease.
Now you're gonna get the wholething here with this release.
And what extras do you have onuh here?
Because you said the runningtime is a little shorter.
George Feltenstein (04:49):
Yeah, we have the cartoon and the short
subject that I believe we had onthe DVD.
Uh we have an argang comedyfrom 1939, Dog Days, and then we
have a 1939 black and white MGMcartoon called Jitterbug
(05:09):
Follies.
We have the audio trailer thatMGM prepared for radio stations
uh at the time.
Leo is on the air, and uhthat's on the disc, and of
course the theatrical trailer.
So it's a very neat littlepackage, but people who are
Marks Brothers diehard fans, andthere are a lot of them,
(05:33):
thankfully, still, um were happyto add another title onto the
shelf from the Marx Brothers.
Tim Millard (05:41):
Yeah, I love it.
Uh, and and just in time forthe holidays, uh, whether it's
Thanksgiving or or Christmas, soit's gonna be fun.
Everybody needs some humor intheir life, and it's great to
have the Marx Brothers comingout on Blu-ray.
So Absolutely.
Yeah.
Well, next we have I Love YouAgain from 1940.
What can you tell us about thisromantic comedy?
George Feltenstein (06:04):
Well, we know that people are pretty much
in love with the Thin Manmovies because of William Powell
and Myrna Loy.
And uh for October, we'rereleasing Manhattan Melodrama
with them, uh, which was thefirst movie they made before The
Thin Man.
Uh, but after the Thin Manmovies became a series, uh,
(06:28):
there were already three ThinMan movies made by the time they
made I Love You Again.
And this is an amnesia uhthemed comedy where Powell and
Loy are just perfect.
And uh it's hard to imaginethem ever not being perfect, but
(06:49):
the script is very witty.
Uh W.S.
Van Dyck was once again theirdirector.
He had directed them in theirThin Man movies, and it moves
along as a clip, and Powell isreally wacky in this movie, and
Loy is Loy.
And uh it's just a very popularentertainment, and it was very
(07:14):
successful at the box office andvery well received when it came
out.
So there are still other movieswith Powell and Loy that we
haven't gotten to upgrade yet,but I'm hoping that this will
continue.
So this is all very, very goodnews.
Tim Millard (07:32):
Yeah, two months in a row to get films from them
that uh, you know, people havebeen, I'm sure, eager to see on
Blu-ray with these new remastersand that you that you put out
is uh is great fun.
So uh and then what do you havefor extras on here?
George Feltenstein (07:50):
Well, we have a Lux Radio Theater
broadcast with Myrna Loy, butnot William Powell.
Cary Grant takes over theWilliam Powell role for the
radio broadcast.
It was done about close to ayear after the film was released
theatrically.
The radio show was done in1941.
There was another Luxe RadioTheater many years later with
(08:15):
William Powell and anotherfemale leading lady, that of Ann
Southern.
That is not on this disc.
But uh we do have one, and it'sa pretty substantial
performance and quite enjoyable,and we always like to include
those where possible.
We also have a FitzpatrickTravel Talks short subject
(08:37):
called Cavalcade of SanFrancisco from 1940, and we have
an MGM cartoon from 1940 inhigh definition called The Milky
Way.
And there were actually two MGMcartoons nominated for Best
Animated Short for the year1940.
The other one was somethingcalled Puss Gets the Boot, uh,
(09:01):
which, as we have discussedpreviously, I would imagine
we've discussed it, uh, was thefilm that ended up launching Tom
and Jerry.
But The Milky Way won theOscar.
So that's uh a wonderful littleedition here.
And of course, we have thetheatrical trailer.
(09:23):
So it's once again a 4K scanfrom our best preservation
elements.
Uh looks terrific, it soundsterrific because everything goes
through an audio restoration aswell as remastering.
So uh this is a must add to thecollection for real hardcore
(09:43):
cinephiles.
Yeah, yeah.
Tim Millard (09:45):
Well, we have uh for our next film another
comedy, and it also has the wordlove in it.
So that uh that might be alittle bit of a theme here.
But it's the 1937 film, It'sLove I'm After.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (10:01):
This is pretty interesting in the fact
that Betty Davis had been lentto RKO in 1934 so that she could
star opposite Leslie Howard inthe very famous classic film of
(10:21):
Human Bondage.
And uh they formed an immediatefriendship, and Leslie Howard
was considered quite animportant actor from you know
the British uh theater and hadestablished himself as a
cross-continental movie star, ifyou will.
(10:42):
They made another film togetherat Warner Brothers, The
Petrified Forest, 1936, uh, withHumphrey Bogart recreating his
role as Duke Mantee.
But Betty Davis was not happywith the roles that Warner
Brothers was giving her, and shebasically went on strike.
(11:04):
And I think we may have talkedabout this in the past, but she
went to London and basically didnot win legally her case to be
off of contract.
So she returned to the studio,and she always used to say, uh,
(11:24):
I lost the battle, but I won thewar.
Because when she did come back,they had much better scripts
waiting for her.
And I believe the first filmshe made upon her return to the
studio was Marked Woman, whichis a tremendous, I think
somewhat underrated film, whereshe's magnificent and very
(11:49):
strong.
And then after that, she hadexpressed interest in wanting
more diversity uh of roles.
And this is a light comedy.
It's it's kind of got screwballaspects to it, but basically
Leslie Howard and uh Betty playan on-again, off-again romantic
(12:12):
couple in real life who areteamed together on the stage.
And it's it's a very, verywell-written and very
well-performed comedy.
And Olivia de Havilland, who isa lifelong best friend for
Betty Davis, she has a role as astar-struck uh young uh person
(12:37):
who's got a thing for LeslieHoward.
So there are various multipleromantic complications, but it's
just kind of fun to see theykind of lampoon a little bit,
you know, the the high-tone uhtheatrics of the era, especially
(12:58):
there's a scene where BettyDavis and Leslie Howard are
doing uh a scene from Romeo andJuliet.
And of course, Leslie Howardhad played Romeo about 25 years
older than uh the charactersupposed to be at MGM a year
before.
So they're having a great dealof fun, and that fun comes
through in the film, and uh fanshold this in very high regard.
(13:23):
You know, the Betty Davis uhshe's not given enough credit
for her comedic talents, and uhwe're very happy that this is a
4K scan off the camera negative.
Uh, it hasn't been mastered inabout 30 years.
(13:44):
Uh, I think it's time.
So, you know, every time we dothis, we're getting to protect
the film and as well make itlook and sound the best that it
can be.
I've always uh thought this wasa very underrated movie.
Again, you know, with a careerlike uh Betty Davis had and like
(14:07):
Olivia De Havilland had, uh,there are many times where there
are films that sometimes aren'tspoken about.
But uh this film I think hasbeen uh it's been around, it's
been on TCM, sometimes it wouldplay at revival theaters, but
(14:28):
it's not as well known as someof the others, uh, but it's also
held in very high regard.
And uh we're glad to be addingthis to the filmography of all
the individuals involved in itscreation.
Tim Millard (14:42):
Well, Betty Davis fans, you promised them that
more was coming, and so here wego.
Here's one that they can add totheir home collection.
And you have some uh HD extrason here.
George Feltenstein (14:54):
Yes, we have two Porky Pig cartoons in
Glorious Black and White,Porky's Building and Porky's Bad
Time story, both from 1937.
And we have the theatricaltrailer, and uh it's it's gonna
be a terrific disc.
Tim Millard (15:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's always great to see um forthose who pay attention to the
cartoons that you're putting onhere for the extras uh when
they're in HD.
So that's uh that's a good one.
Next we have a drama from 1948,Silver River.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (15:31):
Well, this is like a Western drama, you
know, and uh one of the things Ican say about this is that it
was the last time, pretty sureof this, that Errol Flynn and
Ann Sheridan worked together.
And Flynn was pretty much atthe top of his game when this
(15:53):
film was made, and it was quitepopular.
And uh one of the things thatwas gnawing at me about this
film is if anybody had seen theuh DVD that we put out, not only
did it not look really good,uh, it didn't, uh, but it
(16:14):
sounded really awful.
It was like warbling, wobbling.
This was in need of uhrestoration in a big way.
And we do have uh several ArrowFlynn films in various stages
of production, so people canlook forward to more Arrow Flynn
(16:37):
coming from us.
This is very, veryentertaining.
And it's Raul Walsh directing,so it's not exactly uh a chopped
liver movie, that's for sure.
And again, it's a 4K scan offthe original camera negative,
and there's some really greatperformances in this.
Ann Sheridan is she's never notgreat.
(16:58):
You know, you also have uhThomas Mitchell, who is one of
my favorite character actors,who has a pretty uh pretty
substantial role.
And there's a lot of wit tothis movie, it's very well
written, and uh I think peoplewill enjoy it greatly.
And of course, it's got themusic by Max Steiner, just to
(17:19):
put the cherry on top of theSunday, so that's exciting.
Tim Millard (17:22):
Right.
And you you just had a uh ErrolFlynn coming out in October as
well.
Master of Ballantre.
So um, again, some of the starsof Warner Brothers, the
brightest stars, you're makingsure to bring more of their
content out uh uh here towardthe end of the year, so it's
terrific.
And you have some more uh niceextras on here as well.
George Feltenstein (17:44):
We have two terrific cartoons from the same
year.
We have Rabbit Punch and TwoGophers from Texas.
And I did actually, as Iusually do, uh I try to find out
what cartoon played with aspecific feature or short and
cartoon uh and match them up soit is a little bit more
(18:09):
historically uh meaningful.
So when uh Silver River openedin Los Angeles, the ads
proclaimed it was with BugsBunny in Rabbit Punch, so Rabbit
Punch is here, and we've gotRabbit Punch and two gophers
from Texas with Macintosh, myfavorite gophers.
(18:30):
Yeah, and both cartoons are inHD, and we have the theatrical
trailer, and it's gonna be abeautiful disc.
Yeah.
Tim Millard (18:38):
Well, next we have a 1941 comedy, The Bride Came
COD.
What can you tell us about thisrelease?
George Feltenstein (18:46):
Well, this is the second and final pairing
of Betty Davis and James Cagney.
Note that Cagney gets billingover Davis.
Uh, it was unusual for Cagneyto do comedy, but he had over
the years uh made someimpressive uh comic performances
(19:11):
uh among his many others.
Here he was teamed with BettyDavis, so the sparks fly in this
uh again a romantic screwballcomedy.
From what I understand, Ibelieve that Ann Sheridan was
supposed to be who the studiochose for this movie, and uh she
(19:38):
turned it down, and Davis washappy to take up the opportunity
to do something because she wasdoing very heavy dramas one
after another, and this was anice break for her.
And you could tell thateverybody involved in the film
is having a good time, and thereare a lot of the standard
(20:01):
Warner Brothers uh supportingplayers.
It's it's just a lot of fun,and it moves at a clip, it's
very, very entertaining.
One of the things that we'vedone for this release is
replicate what we did for it uhwhen it came out as a DVD about
(20:22):
I'm saying over 20 years ago.
But we're doing Warner NightThe Movies 1941, so all the
things we had that wouldrecreate the true movie going
experience so that you can watchthe newsreel, two shorts, uh,
and on the DVD it was twocartoons.
(20:42):
We've added a third cartoon,and then finally the feature
film, so you can watch all ofthat.
We also added another cartoonwhich wouldn't fit in Warner
Night the movies because it wasmade in 1942.
So we have it as a standalonecartoon, but the reason that is
(21:03):
on here is because it was calledthe Bird Came COD.
And Warner Brothers would dothis a lot.
They would put out, you know,instead of Angels with Dirty
Faces, you got thugs with dirtymugs.
Uh they would often play on,you know, instead of All This in
(21:23):
Heaven 2, All This in Rabbits2, they made fun of their own
titles.
And so I had to put the birdcame COD on here in Hydef, which
is great.
And then we have uh a Lux RadioTheater broadcast of the Bride
came COD with Nary, a WarnerBrothers star appended to the
(21:47):
broadcast.
You have Paramount Contractplayer Bob Hope taking over for
Jimmy Cagney, and you have MGMuh glamour gal Hedy Lamarr
taking over for Betty Davis.
So it's a very different uhdynamic in the audio
presentation, which I thinkpeople will find very
(22:08):
interesting.
This is going to be a loadeddisc with a lot of fun, and uh
the film is really quitedelightful.
It's very well written, verywell paced.
Uh the Epstein brothers uhwrote the screenplay, and they
their work on so many classicWarner movies is already spoken
(22:31):
for itself.
So I don't think anybody willbe disappointed in this.
And again, like all the Warnerfilms that we've talked about
today are 4K scans from theNitrate Camera negatives.
So uh they're gonna look I I'veseen uh early versions and they
(22:51):
look tremendous, and this is noexception.
And another one desperately inneed of a new coat of paint.
Tim Millard (22:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's exciting.
Uh you get to Betty Davis nowthat we've talked about here.
Well, you have uh uh beentreating Technicolor fans with
something almost every month, uhvery often anyway.
And here in November you haveanother one: The Iron Mistress
from 1952.
So very exciting.
(23:20):
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (23:22):
Well, this is an interesting film on a lot
of levels because it basicallyis a biography of Jim Bowie, who
invented what is very famouslythe Bowie knife, which people
still use today.
Uh but this was also uh asumptuous Technicolor
(23:44):
production.
And when we do our Technocolorrestorations with our
proprietary uh equipment, theresults are pretty stunning.
And this one just looksgorgeous.
And also gorgeous is AlanLadd's leading lady, Virginia
Mayo, who he would work withagain here at Warner Brothers.
(24:05):
Uh but this film was uh the topgrossing Warner Brothers film
from 1952.
It was a really big hit when itcame out.
And uh it is Alan Ladd's firstfilm at Warner Brothers and
(24:27):
first film after a 10-yearcontracted period at Paramount,
where he had become a star uhwith his appearance in This Gun
for Hire.
And there were, I think, twofilms Ladd completed at
Paramount that were releasedafter his contract period was
(24:50):
over, most notably Shane, whichsat on the shelf for like a year
and a half before they releasedit in 1953.
But this was his first of manyfilms he made here at Warner
Brothers.
Um, and he worked at otherstudios at w as well.
He did Universal and uh Ibelieve he did uh was it UA and
(25:15):
Columbia?
He he made his way around, buthe made, I would say
post-paramount, most of his workwas here.
He had eventually had his ownproduction company working
through Warner Brothers JaguarProductions, but that was not to
happen for a few more years.
This was him basically being afree agent.
(25:36):
I think he's uh somewhatneglected and somewhat
forgotten, especially today.
Uh I think some of his otherfilms and some of the ones that
we've put out um on DVD andwhatnot, I mean, I think that
helps people realize that he wasa uh really incredible screen
(25:59):
presence and it explains hisscreen stardom that lasted for
many, many years.
He had a very uh untimely deathat a very young age, but uh his
work on the screen speaks foritself.
And uh this being a Technicolorfilm, it was certainly
(26:20):
screaming out that it needed tobe beautiful, and uh uh it
almost has a 3D appearance toit.
It's just uh it's so beautifulto look at.
And it was directed by GordonDouglas, who is a very prominent
director, not just at WarnerBrothers, but in the 50s, uh he
(26:41):
did a lot of work here at thestudio and sort of got his start
as a director, directing R Gangcomedies at Hal Roach.
And he did two of them, Ithink, when the series moved
from Hal Roach to MGM.
But it it's a greatentertaining film, a lot of fun,
beautiful production values,and uh the disc itself, again,
(27:04):
comes with two Technicolorcartoons in high definition,
Cracked Quack and Hairlift.
And I think you can figure outfrom the titles who's in those
cartoons.
Tim Millard (27:17):
Right.
And you have the uh trailerthere as well.
Of course, yes.
Yeah, this is a nice long movieat 110 minutes.
George Feltenstein (27:24):
So it's a substantial film, and it was
given, you know, a wonderfulfirst-class release by the
studio, and that's why itperformed as well as it did at
the box office.
So uh this is uh long overdueuh to get the upgrade, and uh
people who are fans of Alan Ladduh will really, really enjoy
(27:48):
this movie.
Tim Millard (27:50):
Well, next we have a very interesting film.
Uh I'm looking forward tohearing about this one, George.
It's The Miracle from 1959.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (28:01):
Well, this is a very interesting film on so
many levels.
This is based on I don't wantto really say a play, but a
theatrical spectacular that wasseen on the stage around 1911, I
(28:24):
believe.
It started in London and thenmade its way around the world
and it's a faith-based story,and it's a historical story.
And Warner Brothers announcedthat they were going to make the
film as early as nineteenforty-two, and they had the
(28:44):
rights, and it fell in and outof production for numerous
reasons over the next seventeenyears.
Finally, in nineteenfifty-nine, it went before the
cameras, and the studio wantedto create something that was
(29:07):
epic in its storytelling.
And what you see in thenineteen fifties, of course,
most famously, we have movieslike The Ten Commandments, and
even in 1959, a little later,well, it was actually
simultaneous.
Uh, MGM was releasing Ben Huraround the time that Warner
(29:30):
Brothers released The Miracle.
And they put Irving Rapper, whodirected Now Voyager at
Rhapsody and Blue, and uh he wasa Warner contract director for
a while.
He had gone to work at otherstudios.
They brought him back as thedirector for this, but because
of the epic and reverentialstorytelling, they decided to
(29:55):
use the technorama process.
And that's why.
We have explained uh this was a6k scan because Technorama was
similar to VistaVision in thatit ran through the camera
horizontally.
What's different about thisfrom Vista is the aspect ratio
(30:20):
is 2.35 to 1, which is whatcinemascope aspect ratio was in
1959.
So when you shot in Technorama,the release prints were
traditional scope, but youdidn't have the distortions in
the lens.
(30:40):
And there weren't that manyfilms made in Technarama, but
there were some really, reallybig ones done by Warner
Brothers.
I'm thinking the first oneprobably was a film that was
produced here and distributed byus, but it was really
independently owned.
(31:01):
Uh Sayonara with Marlon Brando,and uh the studio had a limited
term of distribution on that.
But the year after wasAnti-Mame in 1958, that was
Technarama, and the Miracle wasTechnorama in 1959, and then
(31:21):
after that, there were twopretty important musicals, Gypsy
and The Music Man, that wereshot in Technarama.
This film has not been on DVDever, so this is making the leap
from a very bad-looking VHStape to Blu-ray with a 6K scan
(31:43):
off the camera negative.
Now, I will tell you that oneof the kind of driving forces
behind Warner Archive when welaunched only with DVDs, uh, we
wanted to look at all the filmsthat hadn't been on DVD yet.
(32:04):
And so we were planning torelease The Miracle as early as
2010.
And we were kind of horrifiedbecause the only film element we
could use, because we weren'tallowed to go near the camera
negatives at that time, was aninterpositive that was cut off
on the sides.
(32:24):
It was basically prepared for185.
It was hard-matted.
So there was no way we weregonna we would not release a
film even then if it wasn't inthe theatrical aspect ratio.
So this has been sittingwaiting for someone to say, yes,
(32:46):
you can now move forward withthe miracle.
And because we have thisequipment, which we've used with
our VistaVision releases, andwe've been doing some Technorama
scanning as well, this uh wasnow ready.
One of the things that'speculiar about Technorama is
(33:07):
that it did not automatically goout with a stereophonic
soundtrack.
Uh we don't know if Anti Mameor The Miracle were ever sent
out with stereophonicsoundtracks.
All we can say is for bothfilms, there is no stereophonic
(33:30):
soundtrack that survives.
This opened at Radio City MusicHall uh in the holiday season
of 1959.
So there's nothing in any wecan't find any advertisements
that says technorama andstereophonic sound.
And if somebody finds that,it'd be great to let us know,
but there's nothing we can doabout it because there is
(33:51):
nothing that survives.
But it does sound great.
It comes from a monomagneticsource and it looks beautiful.
The leading lady is CarolBaker, and she kind of had a
little bit of a tainted uhbecause she had been in Baby
(34:11):
Doll, which was her bigbreakthrough movie.
Some people had difficulty withher in this faith-based
storytelling.
And she's basically conflictedbetween her faith and falling in
love with none other than RogerMoore.
And this is the period of timewhere Roger Moore was under
(34:33):
contract to the studio, but hadprimarily been doing television.
So it's great to see them atthis point in their career, you
know, uh starring together.
You also have uh Walter Slazak,uh, who we talked about when
the Spanish Maine when that cameout, and uh Victorio Gassman.
(34:58):
Uh so it's a good cast.
It's a beautifully mountedproduction, and it's not that
well known.
We have had people asking usliterally since the inception of
the Warner Archive, which is 16plus years, you know, when is
the miracle coming out?
(35:18):
It's only been on VHS.
Well, that time is now.
Tim Millard (35:25):
Well, that's terrific.
I love it when we get thesenever on DVD releases.
Yeah.
Because you do know that thosefans have been long suffering.
And the VHS copies by now justprobably worn out from watching
and uh are so old.
So this is terrific.
And just in time for theholidays, um, you said it's a
(35:47):
faith-based movie, so that'sperfect timing for that as well.
So and then what extras do youhave on here, George?
George Feltenstein (35:54):
Well, I wrestled with this because the
only thing we had that would beapplicable is again the 1959
cartoons.
But they're very much of adifferent mindset than the
feature itself.
But if you had gone to atheater, not Radio City Music
(36:16):
Hall, but if you were at anothertheater, certainly there would
be a cartoon and a short or twocartoons.
So we have Bonanza Bunny andHarabian Knights starring the
Oscar-winning Rabbit.
They're both in HD.
That will make for a nicepresentation.
But again, because Technoramais such a phenomenal format, it
(36:41):
will knock people's socks offwhen they see how great it looks
with the 6K scan off theoriginal negative.
Tim Millard (36:48):
Yeah.
Yeah, this the 6K scandefinitely caught my attention.
George Feltenstein (36:52):
We're we're we've been working on this one
for a long time, and uh it'sgratifying to finally release it
when we've been gettingrequests for it for so many
years.
Right, right.
Tim Millard (37:06):
Well, seven new to Blu-ray classic films make for a
terrific month.
But that's not all, folks.
To uh quote a famous uh bunny.
Uh there are more of theseclassic films collections for
November.
So I thought maybe you couldrun us through those.
(37:27):
And again, just letting peopleknow, these are previously
released on Blu-ray, but youjust happen to be collecting
them uh into these filmcollections.
Uh they're great for giftingand and and things like that.
George Feltenstein (37:42):
And and I'm probably repeating myself, but
um the reason that we've uhcreated these collections is to
find basically a value-based wayto kickstart your collection.
If you don't have uh films of aparticular star, like one of
(38:06):
the titles this month is DorisDay.
It's a four-film collection.
If you don't have any Doris Daymovies, this is a great starter
set because it also contains uha span of, I'm saying about 14
years of her film career.
And they're all great films,they're all terrific.
(38:28):
So that's what's exciting aboutbeing able to bring these out.
You know, I see people uh, youknow, excited about at the
circus.
And if they're waiting for aMarx Brothers collection, if we
ever get to the other threeMarks Brothers movies in our
library, they're not going tocome out in a collection with
(38:50):
the other three that are alreadydone.
We won't mix and match.
If you see a title coming outand you want it, buy it because
what comes in the collectionbasically represents we've
recouped our investment.
We now have a way to make theseavailable for people on a lower
(39:15):
cost per film basis.
And it's terrific for giftgiving if you already have the
films.
But, you know, I got a letteruh from a consumer the other
day, uh, you know, last week, uhsaying how much he appreciated
(39:36):
these collections because it menabled him to purchase films
that he really wanted that wasalso affordable to him.
And just they were people werereally, really generally very
positive in their response tothem.
So we've got uh Gene Kelly andJames Cagney and Doris Day for
(39:59):
this month.
Tim Millard (40:01):
Well, November is a fantastic month, George, and
the year is just ending sostrong.
So really looking forward toNovember 18th.
And as always, thanks forcoming on the podcast and
sharing these announcements withus.
George Feltenstein (40:16):
Hi, it's my pleasure, Tim, as always.
Thanks, George.
Tim Millard (40:20):
Thank you, Tim.
Well, those of you listening onthe audio podcast, I'll just
run through the names of thefilms in these collections.
For the Gene Kelly collection,you have An American in Paris,
for Me and My Gal, The Pirate,and Singing in the Rain.
For the Doris Day collection,we have Jumbo, Love Me or Leave
(40:43):
Me, Lullaby of Broadway, andRomance of the High Seas.
And then for the James Cagneycollection, there are four
films, Angels with Dirty Faces,The Public Enemy, White Keith,
and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
So three terrific collectionsso that you can look for those
(41:04):
coming November 18th.
If you want more information onthese and all the films that
we're discussed today, you canalways check out our Facebook
page and our Facebook group.
And the links for that are inthe podcast show notes.
And if you haven't yetsubscribed, you may want to do
that because there is a lot oftidy podcasts coming in the
future.
Until next time, you've beenlistening to Tim Live today.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein to announce theNovember Blu-ray releases from
the Warner Archive.
George Feltenstein (00:10):
Good morning, George.
Good morning, Tim.
An exciting day to talk aboutseven new exciting releases.
Tim Millard (00:18):
Yeah, and I was just seeing that.
Seven.
I mean, you had eight inOctober, so it's quite an
abundance of releases heretoward the end of the year.
What uh has led to that?
George Feltenstein (00:29):
Uh basically, uh, they were ready.
Uh we have so many differentfilms in different stages of
mastering production,pre-production, evaluation of
film elements, so forth and soon.
Some things get done quickerthan others.
And if it's ready, I'd like toget it out to the people so they
(00:52):
can put the discs on theirshelves.
Right.
I think it's a really niftylineup of uh good, good films.
The response uh that we'vegotten since we announced on
Friday uh has been really verygratifying and very exciting.
Tim Millard (01:09):
Yeah, yeah.
And I know that just last monthyou were telling us that there
are so many that you have beingworked on now that have been
approved.
So this is an abundance, butfans can hope uh and and look
forward to more of thiscontinuing as we go into the end
of the year and into next year.
But let's dive into thesebecause you have a lot to go
(01:32):
through.
Yeah.
And let's start off with a fewlaughs, why don't we?
Uh first up, you have a MarxBrothers film at the circus from
1939.
Uh, tell us about this film.
George Feltenstein (01:43):
Well, this is the film where Groucho
introduced one of his morefamous songs, Lydia the Tattooed
Lady.
Uh, and I think that's thething that this film is best
known for.
We released a night at theopera, we released a day at the
races a little by a little whilelater.
And uh At the Circus was almostgoing to be called A Day at the
(02:08):
Circus.
And they decided to trim thetitle so it wouldn't be a night,
a day, you know, then it theythought they were going to be
boxed in.
Right.
But this was the first MarxBrothers film that was done
without any input or directionor oversight from Irving
Thalberg.
Irving Thalberg was the reasonthe Marx Brothers came to MGM.
(02:31):
And uh he died before a day atthe races was released, but he
was involved with its earlypreparation.
Uh this went intopre-production and preparation
uh without any vestige ofThalberg.
Uh, but it has a very wittyscreenplay.
(02:52):
It also has a very brisk uhrunning time.
So we do get to have theobligatory Harpo musical number
and Chico playing the piano, uh,but there isn't that much that
takes away from the storytellingof uh the Marx brothers
(03:12):
themselves.
And of course, you have therequisite love interests of
Kenny Baker, Florence Rice.
Um, there are nice songs inthis film that were written by
staff songwriters that wereworking on another picture that
year called The Wizard of Oz.
Harold Arlin and E.
(03:33):
Y.
Yip Harburg wrote the songs forthis movie.
And uh they're mostly cute, butLydia the Tattooed Lady is the
one that went on to fame,especially since uh Groucho
would perform it here and there.
And uh, of course, theirperennial foil, specifically
(03:53):
Groucho's.
Margaret Dumont is here as partof the proceedings.
And it's just a very cute, funfilm.
And the Marx Brothers only made13 feature films, if if my
memory is serving me correctly.
And we have six in our library.
We have five from MGM and onefrom RKO.
(04:17):
So uh having it the circusready to go now was something I
was really delighted aboutbecause we know people want more
Marx Brothers, and uh we'rehappy to provide.
Tim Millard (04:32):
Yeah, that's exciting.
Last month we just talked aboutsome of the shorts that you had
put on some of the releases inOctober.
So that was kind of a nicelittle tease.
Now you're gonna get the wholething here with this release.
And what extras do you have onuh here?
Because you said the runningtime is a little shorter.
George Feltenstein (04:49):
Yeah, we have the cartoon and the short
subject that I believe we had onthe DVD.
Uh we have an argang comedyfrom 1939, Dog Days, and then we
have a 1939 black and white MGMcartoon called Jitterbug
(05:09):
Follies.
We have the audio trailer thatMGM prepared for radio stations
uh at the time.
Leo is on the air, and uhthat's on the disc, and of
course the theatrical trailer.
So it's a very neat littlepackage, but people who are
Marks Brothers diehard fans, andthere are a lot of them,
(05:33):
thankfully, still, um were happyto add another title onto the
shelf from the Marx Brothers.
Tim Millard (05:41):
Yeah, I love it.
Uh, and and just in time forthe holidays, uh, whether it's
Thanksgiving or or Christmas, soit's gonna be fun.
Everybody needs some humor intheir life, and it's great to
have the Marx Brothers comingout on Blu-ray.
So Absolutely.
Yeah.
Well, next we have I Love YouAgain from 1940.
What can you tell us about thisromantic comedy?
George Feltenstein (06:04):
Well, we know that people are pretty much
in love with the Thin Manmovies because of William Powell
and Myrna Loy.
And uh for October, we'rereleasing Manhattan Melodrama
with them, uh, which was thefirst movie they made before The
Thin Man.
Uh, but after the Thin Manmovies became a series, uh,
(06:28):
there were already three ThinMan movies made by the time they
made I Love You Again.
And this is an amnesia uhthemed comedy where Powell and
Loy are just perfect.
And uh it's hard to imaginethem ever not being perfect, but
(06:49):
the script is very witty.
Uh W.S.
Van Dyck was once again theirdirector.
He had directed them in theirThin Man movies, and it moves
along as a clip, and Powell isreally wacky in this movie, and
Loy is Loy.
And uh it's just a very popularentertainment, and it was very
(07:14):
successful at the box office andvery well received when it came
out.
So there are still other movieswith Powell and Loy that we
haven't gotten to upgrade yet,but I'm hoping that this will
continue.
So this is all very, very goodnews.
Tim Millard (07:32):
Yeah, two months in a row to get films from them
that uh, you know, people havebeen, I'm sure, eager to see on
Blu-ray with these new remastersand that you that you put out
is uh is great fun.
So uh and then what do you havefor extras on here?
George Feltenstein (07:50):
Well, we have a Lux Radio Theater
broadcast with Myrna Loy, butnot William Powell.
Cary Grant takes over theWilliam Powell role for the
radio broadcast.
It was done about close to ayear after the film was released
theatrically.
The radio show was done in1941.
There was another Luxe RadioTheater many years later with
(08:15):
William Powell and anotherfemale leading lady, that of Ann
Southern.
That is not on this disc.
But uh we do have one, and it'sa pretty substantial
performance and quite enjoyable,and we always like to include
those where possible.
We also have a FitzpatrickTravel Talks short subject
(08:37):
called Cavalcade of SanFrancisco from 1940, and we have
an MGM cartoon from 1940 inhigh definition called The Milky
Way.
And there were actually two MGMcartoons nominated for Best
Animated Short for the year1940.
The other one was somethingcalled Puss Gets the Boot, uh,
(09:01):
which, as we have discussedpreviously, I would imagine
we've discussed it, uh, was thefilm that ended up launching Tom
and Jerry.
But The Milky Way won theOscar.
So that's uh a wonderful littleedition here.
And of course, we have thetheatrical trailer.
(09:23):
So it's once again a 4K scanfrom our best preservation
elements.
Uh looks terrific, it soundsterrific because everything goes
through an audio restoration aswell as remastering.
So uh this is a must add to thecollection for real hardcore
(09:43):
cinephiles.
Yeah, yeah.
Tim Millard (09:45):
Well, we have uh for our next film another
comedy, and it also has the wordlove in it.
So that uh that might be alittle bit of a theme here.
But it's the 1937 film, It'sLove I'm After.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (10:01):
This is pretty interesting in the fact
that Betty Davis had been lentto RKO in 1934 so that she could
star opposite Leslie Howard inthe very famous classic film of
(10:21):
Human Bondage.
And uh they formed an immediatefriendship, and Leslie Howard
was considered quite animportant actor from you know
the British uh theater and hadestablished himself as a
cross-continental movie star, ifyou will.
(10:42):
They made another film togetherat Warner Brothers, The
Petrified Forest, 1936, uh, withHumphrey Bogart recreating his
role as Duke Mantee.
But Betty Davis was not happywith the roles that Warner
Brothers was giving her, and shebasically went on strike.
(11:04):
And I think we may have talkedabout this in the past, but she
went to London and basically didnot win legally her case to be
off of contract.
So she returned to the studio,and she always used to say, uh,
(11:24):
I lost the battle, but I won thewar.
Because when she did come back,they had much better scripts
waiting for her.
And I believe the first filmshe made upon her return to the
studio was Marked Woman, whichis a tremendous, I think
somewhat underrated film, whereshe's magnificent and very
(11:49):
strong.
And then after that, she hadexpressed interest in wanting
more diversity uh of roles.
And this is a light comedy.
It's it's kind of got screwballaspects to it, but basically
Leslie Howard and uh Betty playan on-again, off-again romantic
(12:12):
couple in real life who areteamed together on the stage.
And it's it's a very, verywell-written and very
well-performed comedy.
And Olivia de Havilland, who isa lifelong best friend for
Betty Davis, she has a role as astar-struck uh young uh person
(12:37):
who's got a thing for LeslieHoward.
So there are various multipleromantic complications, but it's
just kind of fun to see theykind of lampoon a little bit,
you know, the the high-tone uhtheatrics of the era, especially
(12:58):
there's a scene where BettyDavis and Leslie Howard are
doing uh a scene from Romeo andJuliet.
And of course, Leslie Howardhad played Romeo about 25 years
older than uh the charactersupposed to be at MGM a year
before.
So they're having a great dealof fun, and that fun comes
through in the film, and uh fanshold this in very high regard.
(13:23):
You know, the Betty Davis uhshe's not given enough credit
for her comedic talents, and uhwe're very happy that this is a
4K scan off the camera negative.
Uh, it hasn't been mastered inabout 30 years.
(13:44):
Uh, I think it's time.
So, you know, every time we dothis, we're getting to protect
the film and as well make itlook and sound the best that it
can be.
I've always uh thought this wasa very underrated movie.
Again, you know, with a careerlike uh Betty Davis had and like
(14:07):
Olivia De Havilland had, uh,there are many times where there
are films that sometimes aren'tspoken about.
But uh this film I think hasbeen uh it's been around, it's
been on TCM, sometimes it wouldplay at revival theaters, but
(14:28):
it's not as well known as someof the others, uh, but it's also
held in very high regard.
And uh we're glad to be addingthis to the filmography of all
the individuals involved in itscreation.
Tim Millard (14:42):
Well, Betty Davis fans, you promised them that
more was coming, and so here wego.
Here's one that they can add totheir home collection.
And you have some uh HD extrason here.
George Feltenstein (14:54):
Yes, we have two Porky Pig cartoons in
Glorious Black and White,Porky's Building and Porky's Bad
Time story, both from 1937.
And we have the theatricaltrailer, and uh it's it's gonna
be a terrific disc.
Tim Millard (15:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's always great to see um forthose who pay attention to the
cartoons that you're putting onhere for the extras uh when
they're in HD.
So that's uh that's a good one.
Next we have a drama from 1948,Silver River.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (15:31):
Well, this is like a Western drama, you
know, and uh one of the things Ican say about this is that it
was the last time, pretty sureof this, that Errol Flynn and
Ann Sheridan worked together.
And Flynn was pretty much atthe top of his game when this
(15:53):
film was made, and it was quitepopular.
And uh one of the things thatwas gnawing at me about this
film is if anybody had seen theuh DVD that we put out, not only
did it not look really good,uh, it didn't, uh, but it
(16:14):
sounded really awful.
It was like warbling, wobbling.
This was in need of uhrestoration in a big way.
And we do have uh several ArrowFlynn films in various stages
of production, so people canlook forward to more Arrow Flynn
(16:37):
coming from us.
This is very, veryentertaining.
And it's Raul Walsh directing,so it's not exactly uh a chopped
liver movie, that's for sure.
And again, it's a 4K scan offthe original camera negative,
and there's some really greatperformances in this.
Ann Sheridan is she's never notgreat.
(16:58):
You know, you also have uhThomas Mitchell, who is one of
my favorite character actors,who has a pretty uh pretty
substantial role.
And there's a lot of wit tothis movie, it's very well
written, and uh I think peoplewill enjoy it greatly.
And of course, it's got themusic by Max Steiner, just to
(17:19):
put the cherry on top of theSunday, so that's exciting.
Tim Millard (17:22):
Right.
And you you just had a uh ErrolFlynn coming out in October as
well.
Master of Ballantre.
So um, again, some of the starsof Warner Brothers, the
brightest stars, you're makingsure to bring more of their
content out uh uh here towardthe end of the year, so it's
terrific.
And you have some more uh niceextras on here as well.
George Feltenstein (17:44):
We have two terrific cartoons from the same
year.
We have Rabbit Punch and TwoGophers from Texas.
And I did actually, as Iusually do, uh I try to find out
what cartoon played with aspecific feature or short and
cartoon uh and match them up soit is a little bit more
(18:09):
historically uh meaningful.
So when uh Silver River openedin Los Angeles, the ads
proclaimed it was with BugsBunny in Rabbit Punch, so Rabbit
Punch is here, and we've gotRabbit Punch and two gophers
from Texas with Macintosh, myfavorite gophers.
(18:30):
Yeah, and both cartoons are inHD, and we have the theatrical
trailer, and it's gonna be abeautiful disc.
Yeah.
Tim Millard (18:38):
Well, next we have a 1941 comedy, The Bride Came
COD.
What can you tell us about thisrelease?
George Feltenstein (18:46):
Well, this is the second and final pairing
of Betty Davis and James Cagney.
Note that Cagney gets billingover Davis.
Uh, it was unusual for Cagneyto do comedy, but he had over
the years uh made someimpressive uh comic performances
(19:11):
uh among his many others.
Here he was teamed with BettyDavis, so the sparks fly in this
uh again a romantic screwballcomedy.
From what I understand, Ibelieve that Ann Sheridan was
supposed to be who the studiochose for this movie, and uh she
(19:38):
turned it down, and Davis washappy to take up the opportunity
to do something because she wasdoing very heavy dramas one
after another, and this was anice break for her.
And you could tell thateverybody involved in the film
is having a good time, and thereare a lot of the standard
(20:01):
Warner Brothers uh supportingplayers.
It's it's just a lot of fun,and it moves at a clip, it's
very, very entertaining.
One of the things that we'vedone for this release is
replicate what we did for it uhwhen it came out as a DVD about
(20:22):
I'm saying over 20 years ago.
But we're doing Warner NightThe Movies 1941, so all the
things we had that wouldrecreate the true movie going
experience so that you can watchthe newsreel, two shorts, uh,
and on the DVD it was twocartoons.
(20:42):
We've added a third cartoon,and then finally the feature
film, so you can watch all ofthat.
We also added another cartoonwhich wouldn't fit in Warner
Night the movies because it wasmade in 1942.
So we have it as a standalonecartoon, but the reason that is
(21:03):
on here is because it was calledthe Bird Came COD.
And Warner Brothers would dothis a lot.
They would put out, you know,instead of Angels with Dirty
Faces, you got thugs with dirtymugs.
Uh they would often play on,you know, instead of All This in
(21:23):
Heaven 2, All This in Rabbits2, they made fun of their own
titles.
And so I had to put the birdcame COD on here in Hydef, which
is great.
And then we have uh a Lux RadioTheater broadcast of the Bride
came COD with Nary, a WarnerBrothers star appended to the
(21:47):
broadcast.
You have Paramount Contractplayer Bob Hope taking over for
Jimmy Cagney, and you have MGMuh glamour gal Hedy Lamarr
taking over for Betty Davis.
So it's a very different uhdynamic in the audio
presentation, which I thinkpeople will find very
(22:08):
interesting.
This is going to be a loadeddisc with a lot of fun, and uh
the film is really quitedelightful.
It's very well written, verywell paced.
Uh the Epstein brothers uhwrote the screenplay, and they
their work on so many classicWarner movies is already spoken
(22:31):
for itself.
So I don't think anybody willbe disappointed in this.
And again, like all the Warnerfilms that we've talked about
today are 4K scans from theNitrate Camera negatives.
So uh they're gonna look I I'veseen uh early versions and they
(22:51):
look tremendous, and this is noexception.
And another one desperately inneed of a new coat of paint.
Tim Millard (22:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's exciting.
Uh you get to Betty Davis nowthat we've talked about here.
Well, you have uh uh beentreating Technicolor fans with
something almost every month, uhvery often anyway.
And here in November you haveanother one: The Iron Mistress
from 1952.
So very exciting.
(23:20):
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (23:22):
Well, this is an interesting film on a lot
of levels because it basicallyis a biography of Jim Bowie, who
invented what is very famouslythe Bowie knife, which people
still use today.
Uh but this was also uh asumptuous Technicolor
(23:44):
production.
And when we do our Technocolorrestorations with our
proprietary uh equipment, theresults are pretty stunning.
And this one just looksgorgeous.
And also gorgeous is AlanLadd's leading lady, Virginia
Mayo, who he would work withagain here at Warner Brothers.
(24:05):
Uh but this film was uh the topgrossing Warner Brothers film
from 1952.
It was a really big hit when itcame out.
And uh it is Alan Ladd's firstfilm at Warner Brothers and
(24:27):
first film after a 10-yearcontracted period at Paramount,
where he had become a star uhwith his appearance in This Gun
for Hire.
And there were, I think, twofilms Ladd completed at
Paramount that were releasedafter his contract period was
(24:50):
over, most notably Shane, whichsat on the shelf for like a year
and a half before they releasedit in 1953.
But this was his first of manyfilms he made here at Warner
Brothers.
Um, and he worked at otherstudios at w as well.
He did Universal and uh Ibelieve he did uh was it UA and
(25:15):
Columbia?
He he made his way around, buthe made, I would say
post-paramount, most of his workwas here.
He had eventually had his ownproduction company working
through Warner Brothers JaguarProductions, but that was not to
happen for a few more years.
This was him basically being afree agent.
(25:36):
I think he's uh somewhatneglected and somewhat
forgotten, especially today.
Uh I think some of his otherfilms and some of the ones that
we've put out um on DVD andwhatnot, I mean, I think that
helps people realize that he wasa uh really incredible screen
(25:59):
presence and it explains hisscreen stardom that lasted for
many, many years.
He had a very uh untimely deathat a very young age, but uh his
work on the screen speaks foritself.
And uh this being a Technicolorfilm, it was certainly
(26:20):
screaming out that it needed tobe beautiful, and uh uh it
almost has a 3D appearance toit.
It's just uh it's so beautifulto look at.
And it was directed by GordonDouglas, who is a very prominent
director, not just at WarnerBrothers, but in the 50s, uh he
(26:41):
did a lot of work here at thestudio and sort of got his start
as a director, directing R Gangcomedies at Hal Roach.
And he did two of them, Ithink, when the series moved
from Hal Roach to MGM.
But it it's a greatentertaining film, a lot of fun,
beautiful production values,and uh the disc itself, again,
(27:04):
comes with two Technicolorcartoons in high definition,
Cracked Quack and Hairlift.
And I think you can figure outfrom the titles who's in those
cartoons.
Tim Millard (27:17):
Right.
And you have the uh trailerthere as well.
Of course, yes.
Yeah, this is a nice long movieat 110 minutes.
George Feltenstein (27:24):
So it's a substantial film, and it was
given, you know, a wonderfulfirst-class release by the
studio, and that's why itperformed as well as it did at
the box office.
So uh this is uh long overdueuh to get the upgrade, and uh
people who are fans of Alan Ladduh will really, really enjoy
(27:48):
this movie.
Tim Millard (27:50):
Well, next we have a very interesting film.
Uh I'm looking forward tohearing about this one, George.
It's The Miracle from 1959.
What can you tell us about thisfilm?
George Feltenstein (28:01):
Well, this is a very interesting film on so
many levels.
This is based on I don't wantto really say a play, but a
theatrical spectacular that wasseen on the stage around 1911, I
(28:24):
believe.
It started in London and thenmade its way around the world
and it's a faith-based story,and it's a historical story.
And Warner Brothers announcedthat they were going to make the
film as early as nineteenforty-two, and they had the
(28:44):
rights, and it fell in and outof production for numerous
reasons over the next seventeenyears.
Finally, in nineteenfifty-nine, it went before the
cameras, and the studio wantedto create something that was
(29:07):
epic in its storytelling.
And what you see in thenineteen fifties, of course,
most famously, we have movieslike The Ten Commandments, and
even in 1959, a little later,well, it was actually
simultaneous.
Uh, MGM was releasing Ben Huraround the time that Warner
(29:30):
Brothers released The Miracle.
And they put Irving Rapper, whodirected Now Voyager at
Rhapsody and Blue, and uh he wasa Warner contract director for
a while.
He had gone to work at otherstudios.
They brought him back as thedirector for this, but because
of the epic and reverentialstorytelling, they decided to
(29:55):
use the technorama process.
And that's why.
We have explained uh this was a6k scan because Technorama was
similar to VistaVision in thatit ran through the camera
horizontally.
What's different about thisfrom Vista is the aspect ratio
(30:20):
is 2.35 to 1, which is whatcinemascope aspect ratio was in
1959.
So when you shot in Technorama,the release prints were
traditional scope, but youdidn't have the distortions in
the lens.
(30:40):
And there weren't that manyfilms made in Technarama, but
there were some really, reallybig ones done by Warner
Brothers.
I'm thinking the first oneprobably was a film that was
produced here and distributed byus, but it was really
independently owned.
(31:01):
Uh Sayonara with Marlon Brando,and uh the studio had a limited
term of distribution on that.
But the year after wasAnti-Mame in 1958, that was
Technarama, and the Miracle wasTechnorama in 1959, and then
(31:21):
after that, there were twopretty important musicals, Gypsy
and The Music Man, that wereshot in Technarama.
This film has not been on DVDever, so this is making the leap
from a very bad-looking VHStape to Blu-ray with a 6K scan
(31:43):
off the camera negative.
Now, I will tell you that oneof the kind of driving forces
behind Warner Archive when welaunched only with DVDs, uh, we
wanted to look at all the filmsthat hadn't been on DVD yet.
(32:04):
And so we were planning torelease The Miracle as early as
2010.
And we were kind of horrifiedbecause the only film element we
could use, because we weren'tallowed to go near the camera
negatives at that time, was aninterpositive that was cut off
on the sides.
(32:24):
It was basically prepared for185.
It was hard-matted.
So there was no way we weregonna we would not release a
film even then if it wasn't inthe theatrical aspect ratio.
So this has been sittingwaiting for someone to say, yes,
(32:46):
you can now move forward withthe miracle.
And because we have thisequipment, which we've used with
our VistaVision releases, andwe've been doing some Technorama
scanning as well, this uh wasnow ready.
One of the things that'speculiar about Technorama is
(33:07):
that it did not automatically goout with a stereophonic
soundtrack.
Uh we don't know if Anti Mameor The Miracle were ever sent
out with stereophonicsoundtracks.
All we can say is for bothfilms, there is no stereophonic
(33:30):
soundtrack that survives.
This opened at Radio City MusicHall uh in the holiday season
of 1959.
So there's nothing in any wecan't find any advertisements
that says technorama andstereophonic sound.
And if somebody finds that,it'd be great to let us know,
but there's nothing we can doabout it because there is
(33:51):
nothing that survives.
But it does sound great.
It comes from a monomagneticsource and it looks beautiful.
The leading lady is CarolBaker, and she kind of had a
little bit of a tainted uhbecause she had been in Baby
(34:11):
Doll, which was her bigbreakthrough movie.
Some people had difficulty withher in this faith-based
storytelling.
And she's basically conflictedbetween her faith and falling in
love with none other than RogerMoore.
And this is the period of timewhere Roger Moore was under
(34:33):
contract to the studio, but hadprimarily been doing television.
So it's great to see them atthis point in their career, you
know, uh starring together.
You also have uh Walter Slazak,uh, who we talked about when
the Spanish Maine when that cameout, and uh Victorio Gassman.
(34:58):
Uh so it's a good cast.
It's a beautifully mountedproduction, and it's not that
well known.
We have had people asking usliterally since the inception of
the Warner Archive, which is 16plus years, you know, when is
the miracle coming out?
(35:18):
It's only been on VHS.
Well, that time is now.
Tim Millard (35:25):
Well, that's terrific.
I love it when we get thesenever on DVD releases.
Yeah.
Because you do know that thosefans have been long suffering.
And the VHS copies by now justprobably worn out from watching
and uh are so old.
So this is terrific.
And just in time for theholidays, um, you said it's a
(35:47):
faith-based movie, so that'sperfect timing for that as well.
So and then what extras do youhave on here, George?
George Feltenstein (35:54):
Well, I wrestled with this because the
only thing we had that would beapplicable is again the 1959
cartoons.
But they're very much of adifferent mindset than the
feature itself.
But if you had gone to atheater, not Radio City Music
(36:16):
Hall, but if you were at anothertheater, certainly there would
be a cartoon and a short or twocartoons.
So we have Bonanza Bunny andHarabian Knights starring the
Oscar-winning Rabbit.
They're both in HD.
That will make for a nicepresentation.
But again, because Technoramais such a phenomenal format, it
(36:41):
will knock people's socks offwhen they see how great it looks
with the 6K scan off theoriginal negative.
Tim Millard (36:48):
Yeah.
Yeah, this the 6K scandefinitely caught my attention.
George Feltenstein (36:52):
We're we're we've been working on this one
for a long time, and uh it'sgratifying to finally release it
when we've been gettingrequests for it for so many
years.
Right, right.
Tim Millard (37:06):
Well, seven new to Blu-ray classic films make for a
terrific month.
But that's not all, folks.
To uh quote a famous uh bunny.
Uh there are more of theseclassic films collections for
November.
So I thought maybe you couldrun us through those.
(37:27):
And again, just letting peopleknow, these are previously
released on Blu-ray, but youjust happen to be collecting
them uh into these filmcollections.
Uh they're great for giftingand and and things like that.
George Feltenstein (37:42):
And and I'm probably repeating myself, but
um the reason that we've uhcreated these collections is to
find basically a value-based wayto kickstart your collection.
If you don't have uh films of aparticular star, like one of
(38:06):
the titles this month is DorisDay.
It's a four-film collection.
If you don't have any Doris Daymovies, this is a great starter
set because it also contains uha span of, I'm saying about 14
years of her film career.
And they're all great films,they're all terrific.
(38:28):
So that's what's exciting aboutbeing able to bring these out.
You know, I see people uh, youknow, excited about at the
circus.
And if they're waiting for aMarx Brothers collection, if we
ever get to the other threeMarks Brothers movies in our
library, they're not going tocome out in a collection with
(38:50):
the other three that are alreadydone.
We won't mix and match.
If you see a title coming outand you want it, buy it because
what comes in the collectionbasically represents we've
recouped our investment.
We now have a way to make theseavailable for people on a lower
(39:15):
cost per film basis.
And it's terrific for giftgiving if you already have the
films.
But, you know, I got a letteruh from a consumer the other
day, uh, you know, last week, uhsaying how much he appreciated
(39:36):
these collections because it menabled him to purchase films
that he really wanted that wasalso affordable to him.
And just they were people werereally, really generally very
positive in their response tothem.
So we've got uh Gene Kelly andJames Cagney and Doris Day for
(39:59):
this month.
Tim Millard (40:01):
Well, November is a fantastic month, George, and
the year is just ending sostrong.
So really looking forward toNovember 18th.
And as always, thanks forcoming on the podcast and
sharing these announcements withus.
George Feltenstein (40:16):
Hi, it's my pleasure, Tim, as always.
Thanks, George.
Tim Millard (40:20):
Thank you, Tim.
Well, those of you listening onthe audio podcast, I'll just
run through the names of thefilms in these collections.
For the Gene Kelly collection,you have An American in Paris,
for Me and My Gal, The Pirate,and Singing in the Rain.
For the Doris Day collection,we have Jumbo, Love Me or Leave
(40:43):
Me, Lullaby of Broadway, andRomance of the High Seas.
And then for the James Cagneycollection, there are four
films, Angels with Dirty Faces,The Public Enemy, White Keith,
and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
So three terrific collectionsso that you can look for those
(41:04):
coming November 18th.
If you want more information onthese and all the films that
we're discussed today, you canalways check out our Facebook
page and our Facebook group.
And the links for that are inthe podcast show notes.
And if you haven't yetsubscribed, you may want to do
that because there is a lot oftidy podcasts coming in the
future.
Until next time, you've beenlistening to Tim Live today.
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