WB Archive Collection: Discs On Demand!

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Randall » March 1st, 2022, 12:21 am

Oh, I'm all over that, man! Preordered it weeks ago. Can't wait.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by EricJ » March 1st, 2022, 12:51 am

droosan wrote:
February 28th, 2022, 11:46 pm
Coming to Warner Archive on March 29th ..
George Pal's The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, in a 2-disc Blu-ray set! :D
When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I always say Xanadu, just to P them off. :P (It's actually only 3rd or 4th.)
Truth is, I grew up with the old Brothers Grimm story-and-songs LP since I was a kid, and it was already my favorite movie of all time before I even got to SEE it in a matinee reissue.


For a while, it seemed almost impossible that this movie would ever be restored--which is why it never came out on DVD--and I was slavishly following every Home Theater Forum article on the festival restorations, and whether it would ever even survive the changing fortunes of Warner Archive's status at the company, let alone actually come out in a Cinerama Smilebox print.

I'd literally been afraid to play my old 80's VHS one more time, fearing that the next play would be its last, and I wasn't wrong--Digging out the tape only last week on hearing the announcement, I discovered the Gray Menace of VHS rot had finally claimed one of my last remaining undisced commercial tapes. :cry:

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Ben » March 1st, 2022, 3:24 am

Rand and I both have DVDs of this (I think Rand may have sold his off on this announcement). It was an import, sure, but in widescreen, uncut, with the original English track and removable subtitles. I also had, for years, an off-air pan-and-scan of a TCM showing…better than nothing!

But as y'all have been saying, I’ve also been following the progress on this, ever since How The West Was Won came along and this was mooted next. Really great news last year to hear that it had been secretly being worked on, and an even greater surprise early this year to have the "sudden" disc announcement.

Now, just like any current age person when presented with the fulfilment of a holy grail, I’ll now move on to the next one and ask where "tom thumb" is on Blu…along with every other as-yet non-released Pal classic!?

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by EricJ » March 1st, 2022, 3:48 pm

The P&S was the reason we never saw anything other than the VHS--Every time fans asked where the widescreen 35mm Grimm was, Warner said that they didn't consider the flat 4:3/letterboxed TV print of the anamorphic Cinerama-squash "good enough" for that future disc restoration someday...

Btw, how many other "non-released" Pals are there? Think "The Power", "Doc Savage" and that other "Atlantis: the Lost Continent" are already available on Archive MOD, and "Destination: Moon" should be out there.

(As for Tom Thumb...wow, was that a rough first-draft for Brothers Grimm. I can't recall the experience of actually feeling sorry for Peter Sellers.)

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Ben » March 1st, 2022, 8:03 pm

Doc Savage is on Blu, as are a fair few others via the Imprint label. Destination Moon is still in limbo after an initial Image DVD release.

I’ve always hugely enjoyed tom thumb, perhaps even moreso than Grimm, since it had more animation and songs, and wasn’t bogged down by the massive static cameras and "realistic" settings. Both films are very much of a part, though, and I can’t wait to see Grimm in all its splendor…I still can’t quite believe it’s coming and we’re getting it in such quality.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Randall » March 1st, 2022, 11:53 pm

I did sell my region 2 DVD of Grimm recently, a DVD which was of questionable origin (purchased on Amazon Italy). For anyone curious of the video quality, I did capture some screenshots for my auction:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/275165074668
Not the best, but not too bad, considering it was the only way to see it at the time. I also sold my old VHS a few months ago. The Blu-ray should knock both out of the water.

According to my shelf, five theatrical Pals remain without a Blu-ray: tom thumb, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Atlantis The Lost Continent, The Power, and Destination Moon. The first four of those are Warners', and Wade Williams has the other. Williams is just lately starting to license some of his films again, like Robot Monster, so there may be hope.

I'm quite pumped about Grimm. It'll be nice to have completed my Cinerama collection, and of course I'm a big Pal fan. Grimm isn't really a "great" film, but it is impressive and even unique.

I think that Pal-booster Arnold Leibovit played a role in getting Warner Bros. and the Cinerama company together to co-fund the restoration. It would have been plenty expensive, and may not make money for them, but I'm glad they did it! It was simply the right thing to do!

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by EricJ » March 2nd, 2022, 12:23 am

Randall wrote:
March 1st, 2022, 11:53 pm
According to my shelf, five theatrical Pals remain without a Blu-ray: tom thumb, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Atlantis The Lost Continent, The Power, and Destination Moon. The first four of those are Warners', and Wade Williams has the other. Williams is just lately starting to license some of his films again, like Robot Monster, so there may be hope.
Well, there was hope for Robot Monster: :mrgreen:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/3d ... ay-and-dvd

As for Grimm, unlike certain network TV shows, or sellouts by pretentiously artsy ex-animator directors, it's nice to see a movie that actually addresses the Brothers as historians and researchers, rather than "writing the stories themselves".
There's a brief mention at the end of their being linguistic experts at Serbian, and that's one thing that may have gotten them the job researching German folktales to begin with...But we'll go with the movie's artistic license of Laurence Harvey being a giddy family man.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Randall » March 2nd, 2022, 12:34 am

There "was" hope for Robot Monster? Why the past tense? It's still happening. I supported that KS, by the way.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Daniel » March 4th, 2022, 2:46 pm

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm includes an 8 page booklet:

Image

It's a partial replica of the original souvenir program. Pretty neat!

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Ben » March 4th, 2022, 5:38 pm

Yeah, both Rand and I were pretty excited by that earlier this week. Shaping up to be a really nice release! Not long now!

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by EricJ » March 4th, 2022, 6:55 pm

If only the Archive could afford Digibooks again, or at least if Warner hadn't Warnered themselves out of the idea years ago.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Ben » March 4th, 2022, 6:59 pm

Actually, the Archive has never issued a digibook; but they remain a regular Warner Home Video staple, if only on very select titles thesedays.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Daniel » March 31st, 2022, 3:25 pm

Glowing review.

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Ben » March 31st, 2022, 7:40 pm

I did see this the other day. I love the Smilebox format and how it straightens out the curvature of the Cinerama screen and, on a large screen projector, you really get the feeling of the size and, no pun intended, scope. Can’t wait for my in transit copy to arrive!

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Re: WB Archive Collection: DVDs On Demand!

Post by Randall » March 31st, 2022, 8:40 pm

Mine is also en route.

Meanwhile, we have two vintage Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde films coming from WA, with the Spencer Tracy one coming next month, and the Fredric March one coming in October! Finally, I can sell my old snapper case double feature! Not too many snappers left in the ol' Collection.

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