Warner Brothers Archive Collection Blu-rays

[Red Screamer]

Wow, great set of announcements. Strawberry Blonde really is that good, effortlessly cycling through seemingly every Hollywood genre in 90 minutes with an otherworldly energy and grace. Been waiting for A Lion Is in the Streets as well.

[bad future]

What a month! Love both of those pre-codes; never seen either Walsh but Strawberry Blonde has been high on my list for a while. Storm Warning promising Ginger Rogers vs. the KKK sounds like it has to be at least novel even though I'm seeing people say it pulls all its punches.

Hmmm, speaking of Walsh and Ronald Reagan, I hope they get around to upgrading Desperate Journey (1942) which I remember being a very fun "behind enemy lines" adventure, which IIRC has a "knock out the guards and steal their uniforms" bit, which means potential Reagan in a nazi uniform? Must revisit to confirm!

[jheez]

Wow! One Way Passage is a personal favorite and I highly recommend everyone check out this romantic, pre-code gem. Hopefully we get more Kay Francis and William Powell, especially Jewel Robbery, which I think most people would find a hoot. I haven't seen A Lion is in the Streets, but I'll surely be scooping up all the others.

I'm happy for a Warner-centric lineup, as I feel the Warner titles have been neglected in comparison to MGM titles in recent years.

[Finch]

I'm in for Strawberry Blonde which I had on WB's MoD DVD, and One Way Passage which I'm getting as a Powell fan and jheez's recommendation. And it runs only 67 mins! Fabulous announcement for April, IMO the best of all labels for that month.

[soundchaser]

One-Way Passage is probably the best Kay Francis performance I've seen outside of Trouble in Paradise. She and William Powell really carry what is otherwise a fairly standard weepie. I've got the DVD but may pick up the Blu-Ray in a future sale.

[hearthesilence]

The Strawberry Blonde is a wonderful surprise. And hoping they do Blonde Crazy as well given the appearance of a new DCP. Both are possibly my favorite James Cagney films outside of White Heat.

[ryannichols7]

I really enjoyed listening to George announce the titles on the podcast. a brisk 29 minutes and full of enthusiasm. he did also note each of the titles will have extras too

admittedly never seen any of the films, but given the enthusiasm I've seen in various corners of the internet, gonna have to give each of them a shot. definitely nice to see an all-WB slate for the anniversary month

[yoloswegmaster]

MovieZyng sale starting on the 23rd.

[Matt]

I was complaining earlier this week about all the MGM titles included in the Warner Bros. tribute on the Oscars, saying “Why don’t they celebrate the actual Warner Bros. catalog like that department store movie with Warren William?” And what do you know, here comes Employee’s Entrance.

[tolbs1010]

And what do you know, here comes Employee’s Entrance.

Such a fun movie. Definite purchase for me. Warren William was the ultimate upper-crust cad on screen. His look and voice are perfect for it.

[senseabove]

And what do you know, here comes Employee’s Entrance.

Did I miss an announcement?

[swo17]

Ha, I'm pounding through the Mae West set at the moment, and just looked up who Warren William is only to realize he's the star of the movie I'm watching! Apparently I've seen him in like 10 movies but the name had never sunk in before

[FrauBlucher]

Yup, he played Caesar in DeMille's Cleopatra

[Matt]

And what do you know, here comes Employee’s Entrance.

Did I miss an announcement?

It’s in a spoiler in the post about announced titles somewhere above. Maybe not definitely coming, but definitely maybe coming.

[senseabove]

It’s in a spoiler in the post about announced titles somewhere above. Maybe not definitely coming, but definitely maybe coming.

Ah! I see. I glossed over that list because it’s been reported before that Park Circus, where it comes from, has several of those incorrectly listed, and they do not actually have new DCPs that meet WAC standards for release.

[What A Disgrace]

Glad they're finally (maybe) upgrading a bunch of those Forbidden Hollywood titles, though I'd rather they box them up again!

[domino harvey]

Storm Warning promising Ginger Rogers vs. the KKK sounds like it has to be at least novel even though I'm seeing people say it pulls all its punches.

It does. My writeup from the Noir List Project:

Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler 1951) Unfolding over a period of 24 hours, Ginger Rogers steps off the bus into a small town to visit her sister Doris Day and inadvertently witnesses the Klan executing an investigative reporter. The ensuing moral dilemmas are occasionally compelling, and the film takes a pitch black turn in its last twenty minutes as Steve Cochran refuses to let the women leave the house by any means necessary, but it's ludicrous for a film to devote so much screentime to denigrating the Klan without ever, not even once, mentioning their function as a racist organization. According to the film, the Klan is bad because they're crooked, because the members are weak and hide behind masks to feel strong, because they inspire a culture of fear and paranoia that the majority of the town reject but are incapable of fighting. All true, no doubt. But c'mon. Funnily enough, almost ten years later, the best Hollywood could do in the FBI Story was show the Klan terrorizing… Jews! I wonder, were there any post-war Hollywood anti-Klan movies explicitly dealing with their treatment of blacks before Preminger's the Cardinal? I'm sure there must be, but I'm drawing a blank

[ianthemovie]

I wonder, were there any post-war Hollywood anti-Klan movies explicitly dealing with their treatment of blacks before Preminger's the Cardinal? I'm sure there must be, but I'm drawing a blank

I can't remember if the film actually refers to them as the Klan, but there is an anti-Black lynch mob in Jacques Tourneur's Stars In My Crown (1950). They are shown terrorizing and threatening poor Black townsfolk while wearing hoods.

[ianthemovie]

(There's also the notorious raid-on-Shantytown sequence in Gone with the Wind, which is definitely about the KKK targeting Black people even though the Klan is never named as such, but it doesn't exactly fit your description because it's not a post-war film, nor can it really be called an anti-Klan film.)

[Fred Holywell]

Agree with Domino on his assessment of Storm Warning. I'd like to think that the script by Daniel Fuchs and Richard Brooks had more to offer at some point. But it's hard to expect too much from anything directed by Stuart Heisler, imo.
It is different, of course, so definitely gets points for that. The characters and setting are noticeably modeled on those in A Streetcar Named Desire, which provides another level of interest.

[Matt]

Not post-war as you specified, but Warner Bros. 1937 Black Legion, featuring a pre-stardom Humphrey Bogart, is a shockingly brutal film about a true-life competing organization to the Klan. The Klan actually had the gall to sue the studio for trademark infringement for using their logo on the bad guys’ robes.

[yoloswegmaster]

A Deadline article talking about the TCM programming dedicated to the 100th anniversary of WB reveals that recent Blu-ray HD remasters are going to be used for the screenings of 'Land Of The Pharoahs' and 'Helen Of Troy'. I would expect these 2 titles to be released in May.

[Matt]

The full schedule for the month looks incredible. All these ‘30 and ‘40s programmers runtimes under 80 minutes are like a big box of candy to me. Never been happier to be underemployed.

[starmanof51]

MovieZyng sale starting on the 23rd.

I made a little list of eight I was interested in grabbing and only one is included in the sale. Looks like only around half of the normal blus qualify. Sort of remember everything that wasn't a box or very new qualified last year.

[Matt]

Yes, I struggled to find four discs that I wanted that were included in the sale that I didn’t already have. Just decided to pass this time around.