The Extras - Warner Archive September & October Blu-ray Reviews

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

George Feltenstein of the Warner Archive joins the podcast for a fun and informative review of three September and three October Blu-ray releases.   We review each film, provide background on the restoration and all of the extras on each release, and share our insights into why these films are worth adding to your Blu-ray collection.  Purchase on Amazon:WESTWARD THE WOMEN (1951)  SARATOGA (1937) CATS DON’T DANCE (1997) CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933) releasing October 24PALMETTO (1998) releasing October 24BEFORE NIGHT FALLS (2000) releasing October 24The Sitcom StudyWelcome to the Sitcom Study, where we contemplate the TV shows we grew up with and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify MovieZyng Affiliate The BEST place to buy all of your Warner Archive and Boutique DVDs and Blu-raysWarner Archive Store on Amazon Support the podcast by shopping with our Amazon Affiliate linkDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.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

Hi, I'm film historian and author John Fricke. I've written books about Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz movie, and you're listening to The Extras. Hello and welcome to The Extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies, and animation, and their release on digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Millard, your host. And joining me today is George Feltenstein to review the September and some early October Blu-ray

releases from the Warner Archive. Hi, George. Hey, Tim. How are you? Good. Well, I really enjoyed the variety of releases that I reviewed, three of those from September and then three from here in early October. I mean, there's a pre-code, there's a classic Hollywood drama, a Western, an animation, a neo-noir, and a biopic. That's quite the range. And then it's from 1933 all the way up to 2000. So I really enjoy variety. When I watch movies, I don't just watch one thing.

So I'm looking forward to our discussion today. As am I. It's always a pleasure to our discussion today. As am I. It's always a pleasure to be with you. And it's a very eclectic group of films. And I'm very excited to hear your thoughts on each of these. Well, I just think, you know, that just how much variety there is that really speaks to the efforts of what the Warner Archive does to meet the different needs and wants of people for the different genres and different eras and everything.

And I think this is a great representation today that we'll be talking about. If you're OK with it, I'd like to start with the oldest one first. Yes, let's do that. That was going to be my suggestion. Yeah, I have to say that Christopher Strong, 1933, I just thought this was a terrific film, very entertaining. And the story of the people behind it is fascinating as well. But before we get to, you know, the director and all of those unique elements, I think you have to talk about Katharine Hepburn as Lady Cynthia Darrington. I mean, what a great role for an actress.

And it's, what, her second film, and she's just terrific. I mean, she had made such an impact doing A Bill of Divorcement, her first film at RKO, that this was the almost immediate follow-up. And she had firmly established herself as a highly praised contender at RKO for the best pictures and the best roles. Everybody knew she was something special. And what's remarkable about this from a technical standpoint is it is a 4K scan off the camera negative. And we don't always have the camera negative to work with on RKO movies,

which is well known. And thankfully, it had not suffered from any nitrate decomposition or deterioration. And it was a painstaking restoration. But a friend of mine who's very knowledgeable and somewhat of a mentor, as far as kind of showing me the light of nitrate. He said that this was the closest you can come to watching a nitrate print made off the negative back in 1933. I think that's pretty high praise. So it's gorgeous looking, but it's ultimately about the movie. And it's a really fascinating pre-code film.

And there are some great performances, not just by Katharine Hepburn, of course, but Colin Clive, who everybody knows as Dr. Frankenstein, from the 1931 James Whale Frankenstein. People don't know him for other works, really. And he's terrific in this as is Billy Burke who most people today know only as Glinda the Witch of the North you know from The Wizard of Oz. She was a very impressive serious actress who later fell into comedy roles as she became a more supporting player. But I think the attitude of this film and the attitude of women's roles as defined by Dorothy Arzner, the director,

having such an impact on the creation of the ethos of this film, it's really remarkable. And it's something to be treasured. Yeah. The team behind the screenwriter was also a woman, Zoe Akins. And then the story of Dorothy Arzner is something that obviously should be talked about more. And I think you mentioned that too in our announcement that she really was the only woman working during that era of, what, 1927 until she was kind of done with her career in 43 in Hollywood. And that's an amazing thing to think about. And this film really shows off her prowess, I thought, in terms of, you know, not just the technical things,

but getting the performances out of these terrific actors. She was an exceptionally good director, and it is shameful, frankly, that women had their roles in the making of film diminished significantly compared to the early days of silent film when there were several important female directors. And by this point in time, it was, you know, the men making the decisions as to who did what.

And Dorothy Orsner was the one woman to break through that. And her career ended long before it should have, frankly. And she was really a trailblazer in a sense. But you have people, you mentioned Zoe Eakins, and in the screenwriting area, I think women had a little bit more of a chance. But this myopic view of not letting women direct films basically stayed in place with rare exception for decades. You know, I think of people like Barbra Streisand making Yentl in 1983 and how there was almost a blowback against her. How dare she direct a movie? You know, now we have people like Catherine Bigelow and Greta Gerwig. And when you talk about the most important filmmakers of our time right now,

there are many women among those discussed. There are many women among those discussed, and that makes me exceptionally happy because we need to have that kind of deserved diversity. And by that, I mean, when somebody is talented, you should support their talent, regardless of anything else. the time Dorothy Arzner was directing, it was really only a handful of people that gave her opportunities. And what is remaining is her body of work, which is very, very impressive. And this film shows it off in living black and white. Right. Well, a few of the other people behind this that I thought when I was looking were of note is, well, number one, this is from 1933. And you and I have talked about this on the podcast before. It's like, what a powerhouse year, 1933. It's pre-code. This is an RKO picture. So it's the same. This came out the same year as King Kong, you know, and then David

O. Selznick is behind this. Max Steiner does the score. I mean, it's a terrific, terrific lineup of people involved in this. And then I couldn't help but noticing the content. I mean, this is a amazingly illicit love affair, really. Right. On two, on two levels. There's the, the, the main A story between Christopher Strong and Lady Darrington. And then there's the B story of his daughter, Monica. And so the, the content is really compelling. And even today it's, it's, you know, you can really get a feel for the, you know, I'm thinking, how is the reception of a story like this shown so, you know, prominently on the big screen? How is that received? But it still really works after all of these years as a strong story.

And this is, what, a 90-year-old film? Yes. And the fact that it is still compelling speaks to its high quality. And also, you know, Hepburn is only in her second film, and she already had warranted billing above the title, Catherine Hepburn in. And Zoe Aiken's screenplay is very much, I think, feminist from its point of view. It also deals with a love triangle that wouldn't have been possible 18 months after the film was made because the production code would never have allowed adultery to be dealt with in such a fashion. And the pain that the characters deal with is very much portrayed in a realistic sensibility. You don't feel like it's stuffy and false. And I think that

is, again, another quality aspect of the film. Yeah, the whole theme of choosing to be bold in your life, you know, courage over fear, which Lady Darrington represents with her flying and setting records and doing things that nobody, male or female, has the courage to do or very few people do, is a terrific message and a very modern one. But then, as you said, the repercussions of those types of decisions, it doesn't shy away from showing that. And so it really comes off, you know, thematically very modern. And yet it's based, you know, in that 1933, that time period. So I thought it was a terrific movie. And as you mentioned, to start off the conversation, from that first shot, when you see the people getting out of the cars, I just I was like, wow, look at this restoration, another home run. It's really something to be very proud of.

And the response to the disc has been very, very encouraging in terms of the reviews that have popped up thus far. So we're really delighted to be able to bring this to Blu-ray. And anytime you can have an RKO film that comes from the camera negative, that's something to shout about. Yeah. We're very proud. We should probably talk about the extras here real quick because there are some of note that that short plain nuts with Ted Healy and his stooges, that was quite entertaining. Yes, and it gives people a chance to see the Stooges before they got to Columbia and when they were part of Ted Healy and His Stooges at MGM. And they made short subjects and occasional appearances in feature films. films but once they unloaded themselves from association with ted healy then they ended up

at columbia in 1934 and the rest is history yeah yeah yeah yeah you can see little snatches of their personality in that oh totally totally poking in the eyes and everything it just it's it's all there and yet it's within this kind of a bigger story, or actually it's like a vaudeville act. They've got those amazing like dance numbers, which, you know, in watching them, they have that feel of, you know, Busby Berkeley type choreography. And I, you know, I don't know if, if, uh, if he would have been involved because he was busy that year with 42nd Street and Gold Diggers. But it has some of those overhead shots and some of that choreography, which is really fun.

Well, you're 100% on target because those are actually excerpts from a film that was made two years earlier called Flying High in 1931. Okay. And the choreographer was none other than Busby Berkeley. 42nd Street in 1933 at Warner Brothers really put the spotlight on him big with his overhead shots and kaleidoscopic dance designs. But in fact, he had started exploring that in prior works, and Flying High was one of them. And they took, I think, two numbers from Flying High and cut them into this short,

along with the Stooges activity. So it makes it even more of a curio, as well as an entertainment. And what we're trying to do is recreate what the theatrical experience was by seeing a cartoon in two shorts of the era. It gives you much more of a sense of a night, the movies, and that's something we've been doing for a long time, and people really enjoy it. And then you have two other, well, you have another short,

Tomaleo with Fatty Arbuckle, and then Buddy's Beer Garden, substance of the disc as something for collectors to enjoy and make sure that they're acknowledged as part of their home libraries. We want them to have more than just the feature film. Unfortunately, there was no trailer available to us. We were offered one trailer that the quality was so, it was basically unwatchable. And as I've mentioned before, the RKO library didn't come with trailers and trailer negatives as part of the acquisition. The trailers were made by National Screen Service and RKO didn't save them.

So we decided to forego the awful looking trailer. And we're pretty open about, you know, having latitude with trailers because trailers, even in their heyday, even if you have the negative, they were not made, you know, with the same care as a feature or so forth and so on. So they never looked great. But this was unwatchable. So we did not include it on the disc. So that just explains why there isn't one. But in any event, we're very happy with Christopher Strong and we hope that people really enjoy the disc. I think it's something to be celebrated. Stay with us. We'll be right back. 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, next up we have from 1937, Saratoga, which is an important film on many levels, and it's a beloved film on many levels.

And obviously, this is the last film of Gene Harlow. And that's one of the main reasons. But it's also the sixth film that Gene Harlow and Clark Gable had done together. So those who really enjoy that team up want to finish their collection here on Blu-ray with those as well. So tell us a little bit about this. I thought it looked terrific. And it sounded terrific, as always, for your restoration and that it was a fun movie. Well, it's definitely a fun movie. Its notoriety is more for the tragedy that occurred just as they were about to complete filming. But Clark Gable and Gene Harlow had phenomenal chemistry. But Clark Gable and Gene Harlow had phenomenal chemistry. This was supposed to be the sixth of many movies that they made together because their screen teaming started back in 1931. And they had many successful pairings. And at 26 years of age, no one expected that Gene Harlow would pass away at such a young age. I think you almost have to separate yourself from that knowledge

and just enjoy the film for what it is. And it's a highly entertaining racetrack romantic comedy with a little bit of a love triangle. And you've got not only Harlow and Gable crackling at their best, you've got Lionel Barrymore and Hattie McDaniel and Una Merkel, great supporting cast, Walter Pidgeon. And it's just a lot of fun. And they were literally only a few shots away from completing the movie when Harlow passed away from uremic poisoning, kidney failure. And MGM was very much considering reshooting the film with an actress who was under contract who isn't very well known. I've read through the memos where people are

discussing that. And within two months, the film was out to the public. And you could tell from the trailer of the movie, they show all the letters pouring in, please let us see Jean Harlow in her last role. And I think they did a great job because if someone didn't know the background, they really wouldn't be able to blatantly tell that, you know, a double was used from the back and some lines of dialogue were looped by another

actress with a similar voice. They came up with a very acceptable solution to a heartbreaking problem. And it's nice to see this with a beautiful 4K scan from the preservation elements. It looks terrific. It sounds terrific. And I also want to call attention to a very special extra that's on this disc. And it was the first of many films in a series of shorts MGM made that were referred to as Romance of Celluloid Shorts. And what these were, were annual previews, if you will, that MGM put together of what their films would be in the upcoming year. We were missing the film elements for this very first Romance of Celluloid film. And it hadn't been on previous discs. It hadn't been shown anywhere, frankly,

It hadn't been shown anywhere, frankly, because it was misinventory. So we were able to find it and classify it and now get it out there. That's also in HD. What it does is it shows the process of what goes into making film. You know, you see the Kodak manufacturing plant and so forth and so on. But that leads into little snippets of films that had already been completed that they could show clips of. They also make reference to certain films that never got made. Or they refer to films that were made with different casts.

So it's really kind of fascinating. But we were delighted to be able to add that to this disc and makes it extra special. Yeah, I really enjoyed it to all the points that you just said, kind of the sneak peek. And then the other extra on here, you actually have the theatrical trailer, and it really does point to the fans asking for this film and they really promote that in that trailer so that's a really interesting piece of film history to watch absolutely and you know when i was going through the production files on this picture i actually saw some of the letters i don't know if they're the same ones in the trailer, but I actually saw, you know, letters from the public written to Louis B. Mayer saying, please let us see Jean Harlow.

It was a way of people expressing their grief because she was so beloved by audiences and she was beloved by all the people at MGM and in the industry in general. She was, from all accounts, a very down-to-earth, lovely person. And she was born the same year, I believe, as Lucille Ball. So think about what would her career have been like, you know? She started so young. She started as a teenager doing bit parts in movies, including a short with Laurel and Hardy when I think she was about 18 or 19. No, yeah, about 19 years old, 18.

And her rise to fame happened somewhat quickly. She was a big movie star at 21, you know. So we're just grateful that her legacy lives on. 86 years later, we're looking at this movie and it's highly entertaining. And everyone in it is wonderful. And I highly recommend it. One last little thing of note that you had mentioned previously that I thought we should mention again is the teaming also that Hattie McDaniel is in here with Clark Gable. And in real life they were, I believe good friends.

And then of course they teamed up later on in a very famous movie gone with the wind. Yeah. I mean, you can see the chemistry right there and, and, uh, she's terrific in this. I think she's terrific in everything she ever did, regardless of how or who, what, when or why. And she was another beloved member of the Hollywood community among actors. They really adored working with her and she was highly respected. And it's always wonderful to see her do something, especially since this was made two years before the whole pairing in Gone with the Wind. All of her scenes with Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind are are quite memorable. And you get to see kind of the seedlings of that here in Saratoga. The next film is a Western. And I know you had said you were

curious to see my response to watching this one. And that's Western with the Women. And I have a one word response. Wow. This is terrific. I mean, the cinematic experience here that you receive when you're watching this film and your transfer. I mean, tell us a little bit about it, but this is a fabulous film. I couldn't agree with you more. I don't think I saw this film in my youth when I was trying to see every film possible. This film was somewhat elusive. I don't think I saw it until early adulthood But when I did see it I was blown away by it Because it was so unlike most films of the era

And it is a testament to female empowerment And also doesn't have any dated elements in the storytelling It's almost like a documentary, really. In many sense, there are some scenes that feel like they're taken out of a documentary as opposed to a narrative film. The story was written by the great Frank Capra, and he wanted to direct the movie. And I don't know the exact circumstances that led to him not doing it. But having one of my favorite directors, William Wellman, at the helm, I just think it's a miraculous film in that the characters go through hardship of enormity, and making this film itself was filled with hardship.

And some of it is chronicled in the featurette Challenge Wilderness, which really was a rarity that MGM would make a film chronicling the filmmaking. Now it's commonplace. In 1951, it wasn't. So I don't think Robert Taylor was ever better. I think it is a film that deserves reappraisal. And even in the audio commentary from the great Scott Iman, the film historian and author who writes magnificent books and someone I've known a very long time and have the greatest respect for, his commentary speaks directly to the fact that the film isn't appreciated enough.

isn't appreciated enough. And from our perspective, we released it on DVD, and it's one of the top five DVDs from the Warner Archive ever. We had tremendous sales success, and I'm hoping people will make that upgrade to Blu-ray because it's very significant. It looks sensational, and it is a testament to everybody who was involved in making this movie. It deserves to be seen. And I think it's a very inspiring

story. Yeah. I mean, I'm a big fan of Westerns and you've been releasing, it feels like a Western a month or so, which has been fun, but a lot of them have been more of your traditional, you know, Westerns. And this might fall into that category, but it's not of the shoot them up type. It's of these kind of the pioneers, the trailblazers who came West. You've got a bunch of men out here in California who don't have wives. And so Robert Taylor plays the scout to go back to Chicago to lead these 200 women or however many women there is on that 2000 mile journey from Chicago to California. And it's got all the prerequisite drama, like you said, of the real life, you know, all of the dangers and things that they had to learn and overcome. And that actually gives it that power. The fact that you have people from the city who have to learn and overcome. And that actually gives it that power,

the fact that you have people from the city who have to learn. They weren't necessarily trained or didn't know how to do all of these things, just from simply driving a mule train or the wagon train of mules to fixing broken axles, going downhills. So it has all that really built-in drama. And it's really great. Robert Taylor, of course, he's a real force in this. But the actresses, Denise Darcelle, Hope Emerson, Julie Bishop are all fantastic. I wonder if the title throws some people off. I don't know. Westwood the Women.

But it really is a terrific, terrific story. I don't know what else they could have called it. I mean, the title is exactly what I thought, you know. And I just can't say enough good things about it. And I was hopeful we'd be able to make that leap to HD and make it into a beautiful Blu-ray, be able to use Scott's commentary, the feature ad. You know, we added some appropriate H.D. Tom and Jerry cartoons in there. It's a really loaded disc, and the presentation is something we're very proud of.

I hope people will step up to the plate, buy this film, support this film, and enjoy it. I can't imagine anyone watching this film and not being captivated by it. It's really remarkable. Right, right. Yeah, for sure. Hey, I did have one question that somebody had about these Lux radio theater broadcasts, of which you have one included on here.

How are those kind of chosen and how are they put on as extras? Well, not all of them exist. Some of them don't. But generally, when we have those to use, I think it is a very entertaining bonus because you don't have to be paying attention to your screen. You can be, you know, running the commentary from another room and, you know, doing your dishes. It's also interesting to see how they would take a cinematic work and translate it to radio. And they did a great job, and the series ran on radio for a long time. It was on the air, I think, from 1934 to 54 or 55. The studios all supported Lux Radio Theater, and the actors loved doing it.

and the actors loved doing it. And almost always it was an iteration of a film, sometimes with the original cast or certain original cast members. And I think there were several series of radio programs that did Hollywood adaptations, but I think without question Lux Radio Theater was the best. And it was very very very well remembered they had a live audience in the theaters and the actors really enjoyed doing them

and so whenever there is one available we try to make it included in the disc MGM decided to start doing syndicated radio programming just as television was coming in. So their timing was a little off, but they created something called MGM Theater of the Air, and that came out of New York. So most of the people on those adaptations

were people from the New York stage. Occasionally there's someone who was attached to the movie that did the film version, but a lot of them were done based on properties that were filmed 10, 15 years earlier. But we've used those. We've used the Screen Guild Theater Playhouse. We've used Screen Directors Playhouse. Anytime there's a radio show version of one of our films that's worth presenting to the public as extra content, we do try to do that. And we've been doing that for over 20 years. So did all of those assets were then included with the purchase of the library back in the Turner days? Well, there were a lot of radio materials that were transferred to quarter-inch tape,

and that was one of my many excavation projects. And there's still a lot more of that to go through, because that is also how we found episodes of the Andy Hardy radio series that Mickey Rooney did as he was in his late 20s, early 30s. There is a Dr. Kildare radio series that MGM did, Ritter Syndication. It's quite fascinating to look at that because it's not something that's been really talked about or written about. And it certainly is reflective of how Hollywood used radio. Very often, the studios would allow these radio versions to be broadcast as a lux radio theater and then mention that, you know if it was with clark gable for example they'd say uh clark gable appears as a courtesy by metro golden mayor whose latest film

is with you know and then they would mention whatever his new film was so it's considered promotional advertising i think it's always a real plus when we present one of those things. And I think it does kind of set the extras that you guys put on the Warner Archive releases apart from some of the releases that are done by some of the other studios. I don't see stuff like that quite so often. I'm not saying you don't see it, but I'm just saying I think you put it on a more regular basis or you try to. We certainly do. And we're very, very happy about that. Yeah. Well, that kind of puts the, uh, the black and white films we're going to talk about, uh, in the rear view mirror, and we're going to jump forward to 1997 and a very luscious looking Cats Don't Dance.

I mean, when you put it in, it does have all the vibrant colors and it's really fun that way. And we talked a month or so ago about Gay Paris and I was saying that I watched it with my daughter. I was curious to get her take as an 11 year old now. And so we watched this one together and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

She had a great time. It's not too long of a movie. So it really sped by and it had a fun plot that's kind of geared around Hollywood and characters and of course the animals and everything. So it was a lot of fun. What can you tell us a little bit about this release? Well, this was the first and last production made by Turner Feature Animation. This went into production years before Turner Broadcasting was purchased by Time Warner.

By the time this film was completed, it was released by Warner Brothers, since Turner was a sister company. since Turner was a sister company. And it has been implied by a lot of people in the animation fan community that Warner Brothers didn't do enough to promote this movie. I think that a lot of people had difficulty understanding what this film was intended to do. And the film was intended to be an homage to Hollywood lore and Hollywood tropes, if you will. And I know that for a fact and was aware that my friend who was ailing at the time, Gene Kelly,

was brought on as an advisor to help with designing the choreography. And there is a very moving testament to him because by the time the film was released, Gene had passed away, I think, a year and a half before. But he most definitely was involved. And although his last years were very difficult health-wise, his mind was sharp as a tack. And the same incredible mind that created all those magnificent cinematic works was something he was very honored to contribute to the animators and the creative staff behind this movie.

And he's not the only notable person who lended their talents to this. I mean, you've got Jasmine Guy, who was a dancer as well, and her voice is lovely playing the character. And he speaks her character, but the singing voice of her character is the great Natalie Cole. Right. You've got a lot of music. The soundtrack of the film just keeps pounding along, and I think its very brief length means they really were thinking about the attention span of young children and hopefully making something that would also be appreciated by adults.

We knew people wanted this movie. I think I may have spoken about this when we announced it. But the response that we received through social media was unprecedented in terms of the support for the film. And while the film was not a success at the box office, And while the film was not a success at the box office, the film garnered a designed for the Walmart shopper and were 4x3, not honoring the theatrical aspect ratio. So early on, when we didn't have the abilities we have now to remaster for Blu-ray with the best possible quality, we did make a 16x9 widescreen DVD available for people who understood how important that was.

But to be able to do this and have it look so magnificent and the power of the 5.1 soundtrack is just a terrific way to showcase the talents of, as you mentioned, Jasmine Guy and Scott Bakula as Danny. He voices Danny both in dialogue as well as singing. Scott Bakula is a great singing voice. And the music's by Randy Newman. Scott Bakula has a great singing voice.

And the music's by Randy Newman. And the way it pokes fun at Hollywood is really quite funny and very charming. And it looks terrific. And this is just at the time where they were experimenting with the digital aspect of animation, but it was basically hand-drawn. There are some parts you can tell were very, I don't want to say prehistoric, but very early generation digital animation was somewhat involved, but it was mostly hand-drawn. And the net result is something that is quite impressive and has a very, very strong fan base.

And you kind of kept that Hollywood theme with the extras that you put on here of these classic cartoons, Daffy Duck in Hollywood, Showbiz Bugs, What's Up Doc, A Curtain Razor. These are all really terrific and a lot of fun and just kind of extend that whole theme of the Hollywood. really terrific and a lot of fun and just kind of extend that whole theme of the Hollywood. Well, that exactly was the intention. We wanted to have supporting animation that was reflective of the subject matter. Obviously, it wasn't like, what was it like when you went to see this movie in a theater? Now, to be fair, when Warner Brothers did release this film theatrically, it was with a new Warner Brothers cartoon called Bullet Surprise. And we had wanted to include it in this release because it was what played with it in the theaters. We did not have a high definition master.

We didn't want to put it on in standard definition, and it would have taken a lot more time and delayed the release if we had tried to do that. But the cartoons we selected thematically have that showbiz theme to it, and I thought that would really be a nice way to support it. And hopefully we'll be able to make more of those more recent Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons like Bullet Surprise available on other releases. So it wasn't that we didn't know. Of course we knew. But we weren't able to make it possible and do it with the same level of quality that people come to expect. All the cartoons on this disc are in high definition.

They look great. They sound great. And we're very proud of the release. And it's doing very well. Well, we'll jump ahead now to 1998 to our next film. And that's Palmetto. And I had seen this one in the theaters back in 98 when it came out, but I hadn't seen it since then. And I'd kind of, you know, kind of forgotten a little bit about this one. But it's a kind of what a neo-noir, I guess, thriller with Elizabeth Shue and Gina Gershon. And of course, starring Woody Harrelson. And I thought this was an entertaining thriller. And it might not be at the top level, but it's a good representation, I think, of that era. And a lot of the films that were coming out kind of a little bit independent minded, and yet focusing on the noir thrillers. So I thought this was very entertaining. I agree with you. And the neo-noirs are terrific when they're done well. I think of movies like Body Heat, which was done probably about, oh, I'm thinking almost 20 years earlier.

You know, that was 1981, I believe. This is 1998. was 1981, I believe. This is 1998. You've got a great filmmaker here, Volker Schlorendorff, who is probably best known for films like The Tin Drum. There is such great care in composing the photography for this movie, in crafting the characters. It's really very compelling. crafting the characters. It's really very compelling. And what we often try to do is look for films that, you know, as we used to say more often, rare and hard to find. Well, this film wasn't on anyone's radar,

and we felt it deserved to be. The Panavision photography is really quite remarkable. It's a beautiful looking film. And the characterizations are vivid. And it is, I think, an exquisite presentation. And very much a riveting story with some definite red herrings, if you will, in the storytelling, where you think it's going to go one way and it goes another. Yeah, and another thing is, you know, when you're talking about trying to bring films from certain actors, too, like of that era, I mean, this is a terrific cast.

And we're talking about actors that were just very, very busy at that time in their careers with Elizabeth Shue. I mean, she is coming off of The Saint the previous year. She had done Leaving Las Vegas in 95. And there she had played a role. I mean, here she's playing a femme fatale. There she had played the role of a prostitute.

And even though she had kind of earlier films where she was a little bit more of the, you know, not the bad girl, so to speak, she had started to do more edgy fare. And so when she plays this, she comes across and does the femme fatale quite well. And Gina Gershon, she had been in a lot of indie films at that time. And she plays actually the good girlfriend in this one and plays a little against type, I thought, a little bit of what I expected in this film. But those three actors, it's great to see them from the prime part of their career. And then you've got early Chloe Sevigny and Michael Rapaport. I mean, it's a great lineup of actors from the 90s, 2000s. Absolutely. I don't even think of this as a 90s movie, but it very much is.

Yeah. But 1998 really was, you know, the beginning of the 21st century cinema that started to explode with the change of the millennium and whatnot. It's a very modern feeling movie. Certainly doesn't feel like a 25-year-old movie. I hadn't seen it in a while when we started working on it. And it was just as entertaining and fascinating to me as we were working on it, as I remembered when I saw it in the theater. So we've gotten a lot of very supportive comments about this, and I assume that consumers will be very happy with it. And I think to your point we were talking about earlier of trying to bring out these films, these smaller films, maybe somewhat forgotten films of an era to meet the needs and wants of people who, you know, want these films from the 90s. To bring a film out like this is terrific, and I really enjoyed it.

these films from the 90s to bring a film out like this is terrific. And I really enjoyed it. So I hope, as you say, that we can get the word out for all those fans who enjoyed the films of those 90s and that genre as well. So, well, that leads us to the final film that we're going to talk about today, George. And this is from 2000. And I mean, I think this is a tour de force, And I mean, I think this is a tour de force before Night Falls starring Javier Bardem. I mean, I hadn't seen this movie in years, maybe since I saw it in the theaters. But I remember being blown away when I saw it then. And I had the same reaction now. And I love the look and transfer on this.

I mean, I was kind of certain that he was going to win the Oscar after he was nominated. I was kind of surprised that he didn't, because that is a tour de force performance. And this is also indicative of the kind of filmmaking that a studio in this case, it was New Line Cinema's Fine Line Films Division, which was kind of their art house division. This was an acquisition that was done before the film was completed. The concept of the film was enough to get New Line slash Fine Line to get behind it. And director Julian Schnabel did an amazing job of dealing with very difficult subject matter. There's a lot of heartbreak to this movie on multiple levels. The performances are terrific,

and we can't forget to mention Johnny Depp in a supporting role that is kind of showing how he was very much able to craft so many different kinds of characters. And I think he makes a very strong impression here. And while he was doing these big budget, you know, Hollywood epics, at the same time, he was very committed to making appearances in low budget art house films. And this is indicative of that. He's sort of a chameleon of sorts. But I think everything about this film, again, another film that made noise at the time of its release, the Oscar nomination for Javier Bardem, the importance of the social messaging. It's been dwarfed over the last 15 years, somewhat forgotten, I would say. So we wanted to shine a light on this really remarkable motion picture and give it the

best presentation we could. We're very happy with it. Yeah, I agree that I think I thought Javier Bardem would win the Oscar that year. I mean, just it's hard to portray in a film the full life of a person. And they start off from childhood with the voice over here at the beginning of this film. And Julian Schneibel, as the painter turned director, he's able to tap into that artistic sensibility from the get-go. And it just has this seamless, poetic drive narrative, but has a real poetry to the visuals, to the story, to everything that is representative of the writing. And to do that, that's so difficult of a task, so difficult of a task. And to have that backdrop of the Cuban Revolution, it's really quite a masterpiece, really, I think, of filmmaking in so many levels.

And of course, you were talking about Johnny Depp. That's my favorite decade of Johnny Depp, which is the 90s, when he was doing more independent fare and he was doing interesting different things in movies. And you wanted to see what he was doing more independent fare and he was doing interesting different things in movies and you wanted to see what he was going to bring to a role. It's got a great cast and it's got a great reputation, I guess. And people who haven't seen it, I hope will see and pick up this Blu-ray and see it, you know, just in the quality that it needs to be in and to have it to own for their collection. For certain. I mean, that was the whole thinking behind, hey, we have to get behind this movie. People have forgotten about it. It's a very important film. It's got a very timely message

about, you know, prejudice and hatred, frankly, and lack of social justice. And all of this is conveyed in a very humanistic way. And it's made from the heart. You can tell that the filmmakers are very passionate about the subject. And I highly recommend it. I think people are going to be very, very happy to have the experience of seeing such artistry in their Blu-ray collection. And one of the nice things about the newer movies sometimes is that you can get these audio commentaries with the directors and with the actors talking about it while it was still recent for them. And so that's on here as an extra where you have the director and actor and screenwriter, composer, and co-director of photography.

So that's quite a lineup in that audio commentary. And then I was watching some of the documentary shorts, the excerpts from the Improper Conduct 1983 interview with Rinaldo Arianez, the writer that this story is about, that was quite fascinating. Then you had the behind-the-scenes home movie and the stuff with Julian Schnabel. And then you have the trailer. So you have a robust amount of extras with this one, which makes for a terrific package. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I thoroughly agree with everything you said. And yes, without question, being able to get all those creative people together when it was a brand new movie, have them record that commentary, that's a precious way to carry through to a new

generation what their reflections were with the release that came out at the dawn of the new millennium in 2000. It's quite remarkable and a time piece yet very, very much

contemporary in its style of filmmaking. And I do hope people really give this serious consideration. It's a wonderful thing to have in your library. Well, George, as always, it's great to have you on to talk about these films. I so enjoy watching these and then being able to discuss them with you. And for those films that I, you know, hadn't seen before, to be exposed to such wonderful films like West with the Women, Saratoga, and of course, Christopher Strong, which I just really enjoyed as well. I mean, it's a terrific lineup of older

and newer and animation and everything. So thanks for coming on to talk about these. Oh, it's my pleasure. and everything. So thanks for coming on to talk about these. Oh, it's my pleasure. As I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, these six releases really represent the mission of the Warner Archive to support and release a wide variety of films in the Warner Brothers, MGM and RKO catalog. You may not personally be interested in every one of these films, but there are many, many others out there who are. I will post more information on these releases on our Facebook page and in our Facebook group called the Warner Archive and the Warner Brothers Catalog group.

So look for all those links in the podcast show notes. And just as a reminder, I'll be speaking with George before too long to discuss the Warner Archive releases for November and December. So be sure to subscribe or follow at your favorite podcast provider so that you don't miss those upcoming episodes. 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.