The Extras - Warner Archive August/Early Sept Blu-ray Reviews PLUS Is This The End of Looney Tunes Releases?

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

George Feltenstein joins the podcast to review the August and early September Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. Plus, George answers if you should be worried about future Looney Tunes Blu-rays... from the Warner Archive!Have you ever wondered what makes Scooby-Doo's adventures so timeless? We promise you'll uncover the secrets behind the spooky success of "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost" and "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders." Plus, we'll take a detour to the frosty terrains of "The Alaskans," where Roger Moore's stellar performance is matched only by the show's stunning production quality. You'll also embark on a musical journey through the golden era of MGM with two fabulous Technicolor classics, "Word and Music" and "Three Little Words." Then, fasten your seatbelts as we cruise through the 1970s, celebrating the gritty impact of films like "Black Belt Jones" and "Boulevard Nights." Don't miss this eclectic mix of nostalgia, cinematic history, and lively discussion that promises to entertain and enlighten.Purchase links:THE ALASKANSWORDS AND MUSICTHREE LITTLE WORDSSCOOBY-DOO AND THE WITCH’S GHOST/SCOOBY-DOO AND THE ALIEN INVADERSBLACK BELT JONESBOULEVARD NIGHTS  The Extras Facebook pageThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog GroupOtaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm animation historian Jerry Beck, and you're listening to The Extras. Hello and welcome to The Extras. I'm Tim Larger, host and joining me is George Falmstein to review some August and September TV and film releases from the Warner Archive. Hi, George. Hello, Tim. Wonderful to be with you today. Well George, before we get into our reviews of the August and September
Starting point is 00:00:31 releases, I did want to ask you about your recent announcement here on the extras about the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice volumes 1 to 4 collection. While most people are excited to have this option, there have been some that are a little worried that it might mean the end of these Looney Tunes releases. Should they be worried? Well, they should not be worried. This isn't the end. As I was saying to someone else just yesterday, this is actually only the beginning because we're going to be expanding
Starting point is 00:01:07 our Looney Tunes efforts in such a way that I think our core collectors will be very happy about. So there's only reason to be more encouraged, not discouraged. And certainly the support of the sales of volume four and the collection will help support our intentions. But we've got some very exciting plans that I think will make the fans really happy. Because we hear you fans, we wanna do do right by you and most importantly, both Mr. Beck and I want to see more cartoons on Blu-ray ourselves. And if that can be a money-making proposition for our company, that makes our shareholders happy too. So we're certainly not coming to an end. We've got more in store to announce as the New Year dawns.
Starting point is 00:02:09 So, being a little vague on purpose, because once we formally announce what we're intending to do, we're kind of drafting the plans now, I think that all the folks that have been so supportive of us in general and specifically of the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Series will be very happy about what is to come. Yeah. And then one other thing I thought we'd clarify is, some people are like, well, why is the collection coming out at the same time as volume four? Maybe you can get a little bit into why you decided to do it on the
Starting point is 00:02:45 same day. That was a suggestion that came from one of my colleagues who has oversight of what we do with animation as a company. And they thought, well, you know, with putting these four discs together with a value proposition just in time for the holidays could really open the door for new consumers and broadening the base of collectors. I think it's kind of brilliant to have the collection coming out now because of the seasonality. That was exactly the driving point. It was like, this is a great Christmas gift. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:03:33 And the pricing is likely to open doors who maybe certain people found the cost of a single disc too high for their pocketbook. You know, everybody's dealing with different things. And if putting these four discs together in a set is going to broaden our potential group of fans, that's a great thing. And it's also a great thing if it's like something you'd give as a gift to someone who may not be familiar with all of these cartoons, especially the collector's choice releases,
Starting point is 00:04:13 don't contain the most famous Warner Brothers cartoons that have been most written about and most talked about, most seen and available. And yet within these collections, there have been a great deal of bona fide classics as well as rarities. So we're focusing on all those different points. Yeah. And the consumer might not understand, but it can take a year or two for people more mainstream, not the hardcore fans, to hear about these new collections or these new volumes, especially when they don't have the most well-known cartoons.
Starting point is 00:04:57 You've been doing this now for a couple of years, so it's a great time to kind of aggregate it into a collection, get it out there. It's a great price point. It's the holiday season, the gift-giving season. But the hardcore fans who have been buying along the way, it also gives them the option if they want to get that collection for themselves too. It's really, I think, a win-win, but it's great that we can clarify this for people and reassure them. Hey, continue to buy these for your home collection,
Starting point is 00:05:24 whichever way you do it, and there's more to come. Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself. You said it beautifully. Well, there has just been so much going on over the last two, three months, and it feels like it's going to continue, obviously, through the end of the year, just so many releases, so many terrific titles and animation and TV and film. And we're going to kind of touch on all of those categories. So there's going to be a little something for everybody, I think in today's review podcast. But I thought we'd go back. I didn't have a chance to review the animated double feature that was released late July, early August of the Scooby-Doo films. So I wanted to talk about those first.
Starting point is 00:06:16 And I think it's actually kind of perfect timing since it's October. Because exactly, because these are a little bit on the spooky side. That's right. Scooby-Doo after all. So it's actually, I think, a little bit better to talk about them now. And especially this first one, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, I thought this is a terrific Halloween movie. I mean, the whole plot, it's set in a New England town with the horror writer, Ben Ravencroft. There's a Halloween festival.
Starting point is 00:06:46 And then you get this added bonus of a fun musical element with these hex girls. So that's a lot of fun. Yeah, I thought it was charming, frankly. And I'm delighted we were able to bring it to Blu-ray. That's the important part. Yeah, these are not that old. I guess they came out in 99 for that film and 2000 for the second one. But they have a terrific feel to them. They are paced very well. They're very entertaining.
Starting point is 00:07:19 And I just thought this one was a lot of fun. Velma kind of has a crush on this horror writers and she of course is the literary one of the group and it just was a lot of fun and I really really enjoyed it and I think people will want to pick this up for the holiday season if they haven't yet. Well this was one of four feature animation pieces with Scooby that Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers Animation at that point because they were pretty much entwined by that time were doing work with a Japanese animation studio that did a lot of the animation called MOOC animation. So it's the the four MOOC films. Now one of the MOOC films had been on Blu-ray years ago. It's Scooby-Doo and the Cyberchase. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, which we put out a little while ago and then the double feature you're talking about now.
Starting point is 00:08:28 Which is ghost and alien invaders those are all part of the four mooc animation films that were done at that period and really hold up so very well today they really do like. It's like a quadrilogy for the Scooby fans. Yeah, Zombie Island was terrific. We talked about that earlier this year. And now that you mentioned, you know, that the same studio did these, you can just feel the quality of these films. And the second one, that's a part of this double feature, the Scooby Doo and the Alien Invaders,
Starting point is 00:09:05 also terrifically fun. I love the whole kind of the Roswell references. And then you get the kind of bonus of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo having a crush in this one as well, which adds a fun element to the normal storylines. Yeah, I mean, Scooby-Doo going to Roswell, New Mexico, not unexpected, maybe. I know this is a fan favorite, so putting the two together on the same desk was a great opportunity for us. And I wanted to just underscore for those who are unsure that these
Starting point is 00:09:49 were both short enough that we could put them on a BD-50 without compromising the bitrate. So it's a very high bitrate, the quality is beautiful and we're really really very very pleased with the response that we've received for this particular double feature. People were very, very happy. Yeah. And there are some extras on there that you've carried over. So you get those.
Starting point is 00:10:18 You don't always get that when you do these double features, but to have two films and the archival extras there really is a great value. If you're a Scooby-Doo fan, you're going to want to pick this one up for sure. I would heartily concur with you, my friend. Well, that kind of wraps up the animation for our discussion today. But the other really fun area that I wanted to get into, it's been a bit of a moving target, this TV show, The Alaskans, because it was delayed. But this is a, I was so excited to finally get into this because what you did with Colt 45, I mean, I'm just enjoying kind of these shows shows I'm not familiar with at all.
Starting point is 00:11:06 And it appears from what people are saying, many others barely remember or don't remember these either. But it was really fun to dive into the Alaskans once I finally got it. That's starring Roger Moore, Dorothy Provine, and Jeff York. And similar to the Cult 45. It looks amazing, sounds amazing and the episodes when you watch one or two or three, they're very entertaining. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
Starting point is 00:11:37 Hi, this is Tim Millard, host of The Extras Podcast and I wanted to let you know that we have a new private Facebook group for fans of the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers catalog physical media releases. So if that interests you, you can find the link on our Facebook page or look for the link in the podcast show notes. Well, they're very well produced. And again, I've spoken about this before, they had the resources of the whole Motion Picture Studio which is primarily engaged in creating programming for ABC and they used all the different departments within the
Starting point is 00:12:21 studio whether it be set construction, costumes, makeup, whatever. These are really kind of like feature film, black and white feature film, quality production values, good writing. Some of the scripts were actually recycled from other Western shows and then just put into the Alaska Yukon thematics. But the performances are great. Roger Moore is, this is really the first time he had a chance to be a focal point because prior to coming to Warner Brothers, he had been under contract to MGM and had some very not particularly good for his career supporting roles.
Starting point is 00:13:15 They weren't taking advantage of you know his wit and his joie de Vivre. This series captures what made him become a star, first in the Saint television series, and then thereafter, of course, when he took over as James Bond. But there are a lot of people out there that love Roger Moore, and having this series is a great thing. Because it only ran one season, it had a very limited life in syndication.
Starting point is 00:13:50 And even the evil pirates and evil bootleggers didn't have full seasons to commit copyright infringement. You know, our release finally makes all these things available. You couldn't even get them illegitimately. So now you can get them legitimately with great product. It's nine discs. A lot of work went into this to say the least because we were scanning the original negatives and finding the original sound pieces.
Starting point is 00:14:23 And I'm really glad that we were able to leave in some of the commercials, which is a hell of a lot of fun and really gives you the full feel of what watching this program would have been like during the 1959, 1960 season. And I've gotten so many messages on our Facebook page or emails, whatever, from various different people just saying how much they were blown away by what unexpected fun this series was because it's
Starting point is 00:14:56 basically been unseen for 60 plus years. So that's always part of our mission statement, rare and hard to find. And this certainly was rare and hard to find if even the thieves didn't have it. Yeah. Well, the co-stars I thought were a lot of fun too. Dorothy Provine, she sings in each episode, has a little number. and she has a nice chemistry there with Roger Moore in their scenes. And Jeff- Oh, they're terrific, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:33 And then you have all these terrific array of guest stars and that's something that was a part of the TV opportunities. You get to bring in guest stars each week, but you got James Coburn, you've got Lee Van Cleef, you've got Alan Hale. There's just a ton of big names of guest stars that are in these episodes. So it's fun to see them pop up as well. Absolutely, and a lot of those people
Starting point is 00:15:58 were unknown at the time. Right. They hadn't really become as famous as they would in years later. So that's particularly rewarding. I think the, I keep kind of putting the Cold 45 and this one together. I think these two on the shelf are actually both one years, but they both have that feel for that era of Warner Brothers television and the style of TV of that era and everything. And so I think if you've been enjoying Colt 45, you're gonna enjoy the Alaskans and vice versa. So it's a really fun one and highly recommended. Well you have two terrific MGM musical biopics that we're gonna talk about next. They were released in early September. And
Starting point is 00:16:47 kind of like I just did with the, you know, with the TV shows, putting them together, these actually you put in the same month. I'm sure you did that on purpose, but these are both fantastic. Let's talk about words and music first since it's the oldest. What a lineup and what a film. It's just really enjoyable and looks great. The most important thing is these films were all built around technicolor production design and by using our process of working with the technicolor negatives, it's unparalleled in the quality of the color and the sharpness and the alignment. It's really quite remarkable. It makes the films seem like you've almost never seen them
Starting point is 00:17:35 before. It's that big of a difference. It actually had not been my intention to release these two at the same time. I would wanted them released at a different time, uh, to spread them out. Gotcha. Because we are constantly having to deal with things being shifted, moving out. There are certain things taking longer. I mean, we're going to be talking about three little words and a minute work on three little words began probably six to nine months earlier. Then work on words and music and we wanna make sure we get the colors exactly correct and for words and music. Words and Music, as well as Three Little Words, we used archival dye transfer technicolor prints which don't fade and give us a pretty exact reference of what the color is supposed
Starting point is 00:18:34 to be. And we're speaking specifically right now about Words and Music. This was one of the many productions of Arthur Fried, who was the preeminent musical producer at MGM. There were three MGM producers who primarily did musicals. Arthur Fried was literally at the top, and the other two were Joe Pasternak and Jack Cummings. But a Fried production always had that extra level of excellence. And this is an alleged biography of Richard Rodgers and Lawrence Hart.
Starting point is 00:19:16 And as I said before, the story of the real Rodgers and Hart and the story in this film are almost, it's almost fictitious. Right. There are just a few little remnants of truth sprinkled across. But the main thing about this film are the musical numbers and the people performing in them. And you've got Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney performing together for the last time and for the first time in color.
Starting point is 00:19:48 And you've Lena Horne and June Allison and Anne Southern. And then of course an amazing Slaughter on 10th Avenue ballet with Gene Kelly and Vera Allen. These are spectacular numbers. Sid Shirees and Dee Turnel performing On Your Toes. It's so gorgeous to look at. Lena Horne is sizzling in two songs. And then there's also Perry Como, who really never made it in movies.
Starting point is 00:20:23 He was much more comfortable in recordings and radio and television, but he has some big production numbers in this movie. And there was a lot of music recorded for the film that never actually got filmed. And we have a lot of those pre-recordings in the bonus section of the disc. Then we also have two outtakes,
Starting point is 00:20:48 the song Lover and how it was supposed to open up the film with Perry Como singing. We have alternate takes from the shooting of that, which is really cool for people to see. They ended up using this song just orchestrally without Perry Como's vocal in the final film. And then there's another song, Your Mirror, which Perry Como sings in a scene and that was cut out of the film as well. So you get
Starting point is 00:21:20 to see visual outtakes with, of course, the raw audio. And then you get to hear, I'd say, at least eight or nine pre-recordings of songs that didn't make it into the film. We have a documentary about a little feature that was created for the DVD about the film film that's quite honest in dealing with how unrealistic the plotline is compared to the real life stories of Richard Rodgers and Lawrence Hart and their partnership. Mickey Rooney does give a fine performance as Lawrence Hart in my opinion. I wholeheartedly agree on that. He's kind of the thread that keeps, might not be that close to the truth, but it keeps the story kind of going through
Starting point is 00:22:13 while you see all these different musical numbers. He did a great job. Well, in real life, Lawrence Hart suffered from terrible alcoholism. That's not really dealt with in the film. He was gay, which wasn really dealt with in the film. He was gay, which wasn't dealt with in the film at all, and no film could even go near something like that in 1948. And Richard Rogers' brother-in-law was actually engaged to be a consultant.
Starting point is 00:22:42 I think they even credited him, but he was basically there to make sure that nothing untoward was in the screenplay that would be demeaning or problematic. And this was a huge, hugely expensive film, but that's the way Arthur Fried was. He wanted to create films that would just knock your socks off in terms of the talent. No other studio had that kind of talent like MGM did when it came to musicals. If the plot is something people can muddle through in between numbers, it's worth it because one number is better than the other and it's just so enjoyable. But what makes it enjoyable particularly is the Technicolor and how great it looks on this new Blu-ray. Yeah and to what you just said about all of these performances and I
Starting point is 00:23:41 mean so many stars in this one And just thinking back to all of those performances, the Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland song, she of course lights up the screen every time you see her. I mean, you could just buy this film just for her. If you're a fan of Judy Garland, I'm sure many people will. But that's just one of, I mean, I'm a big Perry Como fan in terms of his music and that the Lena Horne performances, I mean, she leaves it out there. I mean, as she always does, just puts it out there and they're so good. But then you also have the Gene Kelly, Vera, Ellen, Slaughter and Tenth Avenue. That, that by itself, unbelievably fantastic.
Starting point is 00:24:32 And all of these put together looking like this, sounding like this. All of these extras that you've put on here, it's just a terrific, terrific release. And one you can watch over and over and over again. Absolutely. Especially since it's really the structure of these films is really like a musical cavalcade. There's plot in between just to take you through to the next number. But I think really the only big musical star that was at MGM at the time that isn't in this movie is Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra.
Starting point is 00:25:11 Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire are the only two that I can think of who could have been in the film but weren't. What Gene Kelly did with the Slaughter on 10th Avenue Ballet was just part of his evolution coming into his own as a choreographer and that would lead to his becoming a director. And there are some interesting camera angles in the way that number is shot, which are completely antithetical to the MGM house style. And I find that particularly fascinating. But if you think of the artistic contributions
Starting point is 00:25:55 that people made to this film, and what it leaves behind as a legacy, as pretty much everybody associated with the film has passed away, it stands as a vital memory of their exceptional talent. And that goes for every member of the MGM Orchestra, every person who is doing set design, costume design, hairstyle. I mean, it's a mega production. And I do think this does great service
Starting point is 00:26:32 to the work that went into the film. And I hope people really enjoy it. Well, you just mentioned Fred Astaire not being in this film, but he is in the next one we're gonna talk about. Absolutely. That's three little Words from 1950. In terms of a film and the storyline, I really enjoyed this one probably a little bit more
Starting point is 00:26:52 than the other. And it's got a little bit more feel good, maybe from the storyline, but it's a fantastic film. I just really, really, really enjoyed it. Well, this too is a songwriter biography, song cavalcade, except the songwriters here, Burt Kalmar and Harry Ruby, were not of the renown of a Gershwin or a Porter or a Rodgers and Hart or Jerome Kern, the kind of people that they were making films about. They were lesser known as a songwriting team, but yet of course they wrote a lot of wonderful
Starting point is 00:27:34 songs. This was not an Arthur Freed production. This was a Jack Cummings production. And Jack Cummings was L.B. Mare's nephew. And Jack Cummings is kind of the unsung hero of a lot of MJ musicals. To name just a few that he was responsible for producing, Kiss Me Kate in 3D, no less. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Bathing Beauty, and then years later Viva Las Vegas, which I think is the best Elvis movie that was made at MGM. Cummings was a terrific producer,
Starting point is 00:28:16 and Three Little Words is a very affecting story because there are truthful elements in the story more so here in that Fred Astaire's character Bert Kelmer, he was a dancer, he was a magician, he wasn't necessarily comfortable just being a song plugger, if you will. And the real Harry Ruby did have an obsession with baseball. So all those things are put into the scenario. But what's really nice is this is a film where Red Skelton's comic mugging is minimal. He's very touching in his performance. This is the film I appreciate him most in because I really like the way he works with the stare, their teaming.
Starting point is 00:29:22 They got along very well on the production the production was a cost half of what words and music cost. Add me when i'm to be extremely profitable words and music cost i think over three million dollars and did not earn a profit. and did not earn a profit until it ended up getting sold to television. It was ultimately a profitable film, but not in its theatrical run. Three Little Words got great reviews, did great business, it was very profitable. And here again, we mentioned her earlier, Vera Ellen is Fred Astaire's dance partner. It's absolutely sublime. The two of them together are just magnificent. Vera Ellen is not given enough credit.
Starting point is 00:30:17 She had a very short film career. She struggled with anorexia and died relatively young and has never been appreciated in my eyes for the not only great dancer that she was, she was a remarkable dancer, but she also really was a fine actress. She could be funny, she could handle dramatic scenes, she's very beautiful. I just think it's terrific when somebody like Fred Astaire, who makes any partner look good or better, but she's so wonderful. The two of them dancing together have a wonderful elegance to it. Particularly, there's a number in the film, Thinking of You, where they're basically dancing
Starting point is 00:31:09 around the living room that I think is amazing in its choreography, the camera work, and the orchestration. Just absolutely sensational. And the other thing that's notable for this film is we see a very young Debbie Reynolds. She's barely 20 years old in this film playing Helen Kane, who introduced I Want to Be Loved by You. Helen Kane was the original boop-boop-boop-boop girl.
Starting point is 00:31:42 That figure is into the plot and they brought in Helen Kane to record the vocal that Debbie Reynolds mouths to as she's paired with Carlton Carpenter for that number. It's highly entertaining. And then another MGM co-star who isn't talked about very much and deserves to be is Gloria Dehaven. She has a brief appearance in this film singing the very famous song Who's Sorry Now and the irony of that was very intentional. That song was introduced on the stage by her mother, Mrs. Carter Dehaven. Her mother was on the set when she found the number. The film is filled with a lot of wonderful wonderful songs.
Starting point is 00:32:30 What is very strong in terms of tying it together. And there are no massive huge production numbers like you see in words and music. I also would be remiss if I didn't mention Arlene Dahl, who is one of the great beauties of MGM and Technicolor. She does a song called I Love You So Much with a bunch of guys on a staircase hall in top hats. That's quite elegant and delightful. And that's also supposed to be like
Starting point is 00:33:07 the filming of a musical number. She plays Eileen Percy, who I believe would later go on to marry Harry Ruby in real life. So Ruby and Kalmar signed with MGM to have their life story made and before the production really got started Bert Kalmar passed away so he never got to live to see this. Whereas Harry Ruby was on the set advising them. It's just a very happy
Starting point is 00:33:39 experience for everyone involved and again Technicolor is just luscious. You want to eat it off the screen. It's so gorgeous. We're very proud of this as well. Well, George, to wrap up our discussion, we're jumping to the 1970s. You know, so many people asked for more 70s films, and you gave them to in August there and they're you know they fall into this modern genre classics and we'll start with Black Belt Jones from 1974 starring Jim Kelly. This is a highly entertaining film and I think it's a must-buy for any collector of these early martial arts films. Well know, for every genre, there are films that have a place in that genre's history in terms of representing a particular event. And Black Belt Jones was a follow-up, if you will,
Starting point is 00:34:38 to the enormous success of Andrew the Dragon. Jim Kelly, who stars in Black Belt Jones, of Andrew the Dragon. Jim Kelly, who stars in Black Belt Jones, had a supporting role in Andrew the Dragon, but his exceptional martial arts techniques were on full view in that film and many of the same creative people involved with bringing Andrew the Dragon to the screen went to Warner Brothers and said we want to build a film around Jim Kelly to solidify him as a box office draw. And they did that successfully with Black Belt Jones. You know, whenever people say, oh, you're not releasing anything that's not from the 30s or 40s. Well, this film from the 70s happens to be now gulp 50 years old.
Starting point is 00:35:33 So I still refer to it as a modern classic because really the whole style of this isn't the old Hollywood style of filmmaking. style of this isn't the old Hollywood style of filmmaking. This is representing when filmmaking was becoming less structured in the old Hollywood method. There was a lot more freedom in camera work and storytelling. There was no more censorship. There is a huge fan base, not only for martial arts films,
Starting point is 00:36:06 but particularly for these films that also have urban action of the 70s as a backdrop for the scenario. And so we were very pleased to be able to bring this out. And yes, there will be more of the same coming in the future. Well, that's terrific news. I know there are so many people who, like myself, enjoy films from every era, from the silent eras, the ones that you've put out to the MGM musicals,
Starting point is 00:36:41 to the noir, to the martial arts of the 70s, and of course more recent as well. But it's great to see these with, and this one you did a 4K scan of the original camera negative. So it looks great, but it still has that look of that 70s, you know? Well, yeah. You put it in and you know the era. And I'm happy to say there is film grain there. Yes. You put it in and you know the era. I'm happy to say there is film grain there because there was film grain in the negative
Starting point is 00:37:10 and we don't want to play with that. That's part of the organic nature of the film. It shouldn't look like a film that was made 30 years later. It should look as it did when it was projected on the screens in 1974. And we're very happy with it. Yeah. So that's a terrific, terrific release. And let's see. And then the last film, also from the 70s, 1979, is Boulevard Nights. Now, I'm watching this and I felt kind of like I did when I watched the recently released Stand and Deliver. Just really good storytelling. And this one, of course, has this realism, this kind of like grittiness that I know it's known for, but it also has an emotional base
Starting point is 00:38:06 of these two brothers. Like it has that rooting the film as well. This is a terrific film, George. Absolutely. And then I'm proud to say that this film was inducted into the National Film Registry was inducted into the National Film Registry several years ago because of its importance in dealing with telling stories about the Latino community in Los Angeles at that time. There were many kind of gang-related films. There was the Warriors and the Wanderers. They all came out around that same time. Boulevard Nights was not as successful at the box office, but to the Latino community,
Starting point is 00:38:59 this film is of enormous importance. And I think I may have mentioned this when we talked about the announcements, but we had put this out as a Warner Archive DVD when we started the Warner Archive DVD program. And I was urged by several colleagues from that community that you have to put out Boulevard Nights. You really need to give this film its due because it hadn't been on DVD and the VHS was long gone. So we did and we got a great response to it but now again as with Black Belt Jones, as with Words and Music, as with everything, we went back to the original negative, 4K scan, brand new master, and the cinematographer John Bailey,
Starting point is 00:39:57 he had come to me a couple of years ago really wanting to see the film restored. He was the head of the board of governors at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And I really wanted to see this get done. And very sadly, he passed away before the film was released. He knew we were scanning the negative. He knew we were working on it before he died. But I'm just really thrilled that we're able to bring this out.
Starting point is 00:40:28 The executive producer was Tony Bill, who was a former actor who had had great success as a producer with films like The Sting. So he was able to come to Warner Brothers, where this is still the era of Ted Ashley and Frank Wells and John Kelly. They were making films that were on the cutting edge. They would also make delightful entertainments that had no social message, but they also were not afraid to take on stories that reflect the time. That's why this film got entered into the National Film Registry, because it's a very
Starting point is 00:41:13 specific representation of a period of time. In the location of Los Angeles, it has a very, very strong fan base and they're very happy with it. I've gotten a few emails from people saying how much they were grateful for its release and how much they were blown away by how great it looks. And I hope John Bailey would feel the same since, you know, it was his artistry as a cinematographer that contributed to that. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:47 Well, it's so powerful in its storytelling because of that emotional core that it has. That's what helps a film to endure. It can't just be about a group. It has to have something that can pull you in when you don't know anything about that group or that area or that city or that decade. And it does that. So if you've never seen it, if you don't know anything about it, you watch it, it's a story of two brothers. And that is always powerful when done well. And this looks terrific. And it's a great addition to the Warner Archive collection. So George, this conversation today, such a great representation of what you're doing there at the Warner Archive.
Starting point is 00:42:32 You know, you've got classic TV, you've got Scooby-Doo animation, you've got two MGM musicals that are as good as any of these Technicolor musicals. And then we've got 1970s cult classics. So it's been a lot of fun talking to you about these films and I enjoyed all of them. Well, the pleasure is mine as well. It's always great to talk to you and share our thoughts with the people out there
Starting point is 00:42:58 so they can learn more about these films and hopefully put them on their shelves where no one can ever take them away from them. That is the importance of physical media. I will stress it over and over again. As always, there are purchase links in the podcast show notes and on our website for those interested in purchasing the TV and film releases that we reviewed today. And if you are enjoying the podcast, please think about following the show or leaving us review wherever you listen to The Extras.
Starting point is 00:43:30 Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed. The Extras is a production of Otaku Media, producers of podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connects creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals at www.otakumedia.tv or look for the link in the show notes.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.