WB Archive Collection: Discs On Demand!

[droosan]

WA's final '4 for 44' sale is on .. now, through the end of this week.

Some of the H-B 'SatAM' titles I'd hoped to grab didn't make the '4 for 44' list, though.

But there are still some gems to be had .. I'm gonna add to my Joan Blondell and Carole Lombard movie collections, for sure.

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For those who haven't yet gotten 'em, the Tex Avery and Popeye 1940s cartoon sets are on the '4 for 44' sale list. As are Cats Don't Dance and Twice Upon A Time.

[Randall]

I need to grab Tex Vol. 2, and will likely also get the Space Ghost and Josie Blu-rays, even though they're not on sale, being multi-disc sets. I already sold those DVDs for decent money, so I'm ready to upgrade. Lots of musicals available too, and I'll be grabbing a few of those, like Pajama Game and Million Dollar Mermaid. I may spring for Damn Yankees while I'm at it, though it's a new release and not on sale; I'm just excited to have it, and may not see a much better price for a while. Oh, and nice to see Curse of Frankenstein be included, even though it's a two-disc'er!

4 for 44 may be no more after this , but maybe DeepDiscount or another retailer will be home to new WA promotions in the future.

[Ben]

Man, I splurged.

Would love to add Cats Don’t Dance to my shelf, but WB's disc is DVD only, and 4:3 cropped, so it’s still just the LD for me until they update it.

I have a feeling that other sales will come when they sort out their new distribution plans.

[Dacey]

I kept hoping the Archive would do a widescreen Powerpuff Girls Movie, which I guess will never happen now.

[Randall]

Discount code for 15% off!

SHOPWB15

[EricJ]

Bill Hunt raised a debate as to whether the Archive's "Final 4" sale was a March Madness tie-in, despite Warner's own warning that "All sales were final". I'm more inclined to believe the latter.

Although I put this more in the category of Warner eliminating Filmstruck so they could circle the HBOMax wagons:
I like to stay optimistic and say that Warner wouldn't DARE mess with online Archive sales when they know that's the only golden goose keeping their hopes of a Hanna-Barbera name brand alive...They can brag that it's All About Streaming all they want, but they know that we in the online Physical community have got them by the Banana Splits.

I'm guessing we'll get a rebranding, first a halfhearted one as the Archive first started out, and then a little more exposure as they discover the Physical fans are the ones organizing online and the HBOMax fans aren't, but we can expect more repackaging and less quality remastering until they do.

[Randall]

I think I have this right: The Warner Shop (independently owned and operated) is closing down, but Warner product - including Warner Archive - will naturally still be sold elsewhere. Fortunately, Warner Shop has not been the exclusive distributor of Warner Archive for some time. Warner Archive will continue putting out releases for at least the next year. Bill Hunt claimed that most of their staff have been laid off, but others who should know claim that the line is not being shuttered. George Feltenstein is still there as a consultant, though admittedly that could be just to get final titles out the door.

I look forward to getting definitive word on the future of the line. But at least for now, they are pumping out some great discs. I picked up 17 today, mostly sale items, but I did also nab Damn Yankees and My Dream is Yours (for the Bugs cameo). That extra 15% off discount code helped a lot.

And as I said before, another retailer, like DeepDiscount, may pick up the slack later on with other sales promotions. And we may yet see a different online presence emerge, possibly related to Warner's deal with Universal.

[Daniel]

Tweety also has a cameo in that dream sequence from My Dream is Yours. Nice choice. So many tempting titles.

[Dacey]

Would love to add Cats Don’t Dance to my shelf, but WB's disc is DVD only, and 4:3 cropped, so it’s still just the LD for me until they update it.

According to Amazon reviews, the Archive release is in widescreen:


https://www.amazon.com/review/R1B4G2DY9 ... B01LTHXLX0

[droosan]

Yes; CDD from Warner Archive is 'widescreen' .. but the WBHV commercial-release DVD of CDD from 2002 is 'full screen' (4:3) only. So, def go for the WA release.

Even so .. a Blu-ray of CDD would be nice to see, someday.

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Thanks for the discount code, Randall..! I used it to snag Funky Phantom and Goober, after all.

I limited myself to eight '4 for 44' titles last night; mostly Blondell, Lombard and Eddie Cantor movies .. along with George Pal's Tom Thumb.

[EricJ]

I limited myself to eight '4 for 44' titles last night; mostly Blondell, Lombard and Eddie Cantor movies .. along with George Pal's Tom Thumb.

Tom Thumb, oyy...Another reason for me to cross fingers and hope the Archive stays active juuuuust long enough to release that rumored long-awaited widescreen restoration of the George Pal Cinerama Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm that's supposedly coming by the end of the year, and headed only for a collector market.

(If anyone wonders, that's my favorite movie of all time, and I'm afraid to play my 30-yo. VHS anymore, thinking the next viewing could be the last. )

[Randall]

I have it on very good authority that Grimm is well on its way to being restored, and it should be ready for release by year's end (though given the state of things these days, some delay would be understandable). It's an open secret, though, as an article appeared about it last October. It's well worth a look:
https://www.in70mm.com/news/2020/grimm/ ... JTxFyq5xg8

As the article says, it will also be shown at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood (well, maybe depending on the pandemic). Personally, I wouldn't mind taking a trip to Seattle again to see it in their lovely Cinerama Theater sometime, maybe after visiting relatives in Victoria, BC. Seattle normally holds a Cinerama Festival in the fall, but the theater is closed altogether right now and for "the foreseeable future."

And after the big money that went into the restoration, I'd say there's no way that Warner wouldn't put it on disc one way or another. Maybe it'll even get them to do tom thumb and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao on Blu-ray, too (only a hopeful guess).

I do have a European widescreen DVD version of Grimm that actually ain't too bad, but the HD restoration will blow it out of the water. It's not my favorite film like it is Eric's, but any Barbara Eden in HD is sure to be somethin'! Plus, Puppetoons!

Glad you could use the coupon, droo! I sure made good use of it, taking also a couple of seasons of Black Lightning to go with all the films and cartoons. The most prominent name from the films that I got was Doris Day.

[Dacey]

Someone recently sent me some extra cash, so I was able to buy a few sales titles, although my budget was somewhat limited.

Still, I was able to get...

Flight of the Dragons
Cats Don't Dance
Heidi's Song
My Dream is Yours
And...um...Rover Dangerfield.

Thanks to the sale and Rand's code, though, I was able to get them all without spending a lot of money at all. So thanks, Rand! You're the hero of this thread at the moment.

[Daniel]

Love Rover Dangerfield. I tell ya it doesn't get no respect.

[ShyViolet]

Plus no regard...or esteem either!

https://youtu.be/4ZCHH3swvxs