Warner Catalog Titles on BD/UHD

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Beaver on the Cabaret blu. A solid report so I'm encouraged. Has anyone watched the blu who can comment on how it looks?

[Matt]

I've only skipped through it and watched a couple of musical numbers, but it looks great to me. Very film-like. My only complaints are the ugly menus (sadly standard now on Warner catalog titles) and the somewhat arbitrary chapter stops.

[John Doe]

As part of the studio’s 90th Anniversary celebration, eight of Warner Bros. Pictures’ greatest gangster films – from Edward G. Robinson’s 1931 classic Little Caesar to Martin Scorsese’s Oscar®-winning masterpiece The Departed[1] -- will now be available in two Blu-ray™ sets May 21. Released to coincide with Father’s Day gift-giving, the WB genre greats, along with one of Paramount’s best gangster films, will be offered in the Ultimate Gangster Collection: Classic and Ultimate Gangster Collection: Contemporary.



The four films in the Classic Collection have been remastered for their Blu-ray debuts. They include The Public Enemyand White Heat with the legendary performances of James Cagney; Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson as hoodlum Rico Bandello; and The Petrified Forest starring Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. The collection includes a feature-length documentary Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Drama which explores the development of the crime genre and the rise of Warner stars like Cagney, Bogart and Robinson. Also discussed are directors such as Walsh, Wellman and Curtiz; the films themselves; their influence on filmmakers worldwide; and Warner’s impact in establishing the genre.



The Contemporary Collection is a 5-disc set with five crime films that include Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas, The Departed and Mean Streets; Heat, starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer; and Paramount’s The Untouchables with Kevin Costner, De Niro and Sean Connery.



These two collections are being released in tribute to the films that remain a cornerstone in the legacy of Warner Bros. Major Hollywood studios in the ‘30s and ‘40s were each known for their distinctive styles (MGM for its musicals, Universal for its horror films, etc.). Warner Bros. was best known for firmly establishing the genre which contained socially conscious themes and a simple visual look (low key lighting and sparse sets). Nowhere were these elements more prominent than in the films featured in the Classic Edition, with the Contemporary Edition showing how a new generation of crime drama has been established.



Both Ultimate Gangster Collection: Classic and Ultimate Gangster Collection: Contemporary will include 32-page booklets with images and additional information about each film. Each of the two Collections will be offered at $49.99 SRP.The titles in the Classic Collection will be available individually as well. Each single will sell for $19.98 SRP.



Details of Ultimate Gangster Collection ClassicThe Public Enemy (1931) – Now on Blu-ray!

The Public Enemy showcases James Cagney’s powerful 1931 breakthrough performance as streetwise tough guy Tom Powers, a role Cagney won only because production chief Darryl F. Zanuck made a late casting change. Cagney had a secondary role but Zanuck soon spotted Cagney’s screen dominance and gave him the star part, even after shooting had begun. From that moment, an indelible genre classic and an enduring star career were both born. Bristling with ’20s style, dialogue and desperation under the masterful directorial eye of William A. Wellman, this is a virtual time capsule of the Prohibition era -- taut, gritty and hard-hitting. Several restored scenes (deleted from subsequent reissue versions due to enforcement of the Production code) from the original release version of the film are included -- unseen for decades until they were restored by WHV for its premiere DVD release.



Special Features:

Commentary by film historian Robert Sklar
Leonard Maltin hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1931
Featurette Beer and Blood: Enemies of the Public





Little Caesar (1931) – Now on Blu--ray!

“R-I-C-O, Little Caesar, that’s who!” Edward G. Robinson bellowed into the phone and Hollywood got the message. The 37-year-old Robinson, not gifted with matinee-idol looks, was nonetheless a first-class star. Little Caesar is the tale of pugnacious Caesar Enrico Bandello, a hoodlum with a Chicago-sized chip on his shoulder, few attachments, fewer friends and no sense of underworld diplomacy.



Special Features:

Commentary by film historian Richard B. Jewell
Leonard Maltin hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1930
Featurette Little Caesar: End of Rico, Beginning of the Antihero





The Petrified Forest (1936) – Now on Blu-ray!

A rundown diner bakes in the Arizona heat. Inside, fugitive killer Duke Mantee sweats out a manhunt, holding disillusioned writer Alan Squier, young Gabby Maple and a handful of other hostages. The Petrified Forest, Robert E. Sherwood’s 1935 Broadway success about survival of the fittest, hit the screen a year later with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart magnificently recreating their stage roles and Bette Davis ably reteaming with her Of Human Bondage co-star Howard. The film presented Bogart with his first major starring role and helped launch his brilliant movie career.



Special Features:

Commentary by Bogart biographer Eric Lax
Leonard Maltin hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1936
Featurette The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert



White Heat (1949) – Now on Blu-ray!

Playing a psychotic thug, Cody Jarrett, devoted to his hard-boiled “Ma,” James Cagney gives a performance to match his electrifying work in The Public Enemy. Tightly directed by Raoul Walsh, this fast-paced thriller tracing Jarrett’s violent life in and out of jail is among the most vivid screen performances of Cagney’s career.



Special Features:

Commentary by Film Historian Drew Casper
Leonard Maltin hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1949
Newsreel
The Fountainhead theatrical trailer
Comedy short So You Think You’re Not Guilty
Cartoon Homeless Hare
1949 Trailer Gallery
White Heat: Top of the World

[captveg]

The titles in the Classic Collection will be available individually as well. Each single will sell for $19.98 SRP.

So, other than being a bit pricier to buy them separately, you also lose out on the 5th disc with Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film, which is presumably the same DVD that has been released on the DVD Vol. 4 collection and DigiBook Blu-ray of GoodFellas.

[captveg]

5/7

Sparkle (1976)

[zedz]

5/7

Sparkle (1976)

I only know this from the Curtis Mayfield / Aretha Franklin soundtrack. Does anybody have a recommendation for the actual film?

[John Doe]

9/3

The Fugitive (Remastered)

[felipe]

Should I just assume Enter the Dragon, Mad Max and the James Dean collection were all delayed to Q3?

[Forrest Taft]

The Mad Max collection is coming out in four weeks!

[Matt]

And Enter the Dragon comes out the week after.

[onedimension]

This is the first mention I've seen of those James Dean films on blu, especially Ray's "Rebel Without A Cause"...

[domino harvey]

Another Oceans trilogy and A Christmas Story Blu-ray set? Thank God, said no one.

[zedz]

And yet another rerererereissue of The Wizard of Oz. If anybody buys this, the terrorists win.

At least there's The Big Parade. Maybe.

[mfunk9786]

This one's in *sigh* 3D.

[felipe]

The Wizard of Oz's new edition:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Wizar ... ray/72225/

[willoneill]

I have resigned myself to live in a world of multiple reissues, but multiple $50+ memorabilia-filled collectors sets of the same film? Fuck off, Warner Bros.

[Matt]

4GB Wicked Witch of the East Flash Drive

I'll never stop laughing at that (though it is more useful than a Casablanca luggage tag).

[andyli]

Wait until you see the artwork they put up (for now) for the regular blu-ray edition:


:-&

[hearthesilence]

"That's fucking ugly."

"No, it's not, it's clever! See the ruby red?"

[Donald Brown]

Looks like an HD-DVD.

[zedz]

4GB Wicked Witch of the East Flash Drive

I'll never stop laughing at that (though it is more useful than a Casablanca luggage tag).

Well, now we know her address (anybody know what number East Flash Drive she is?) we can drop a fucking house on her.

[manicsounds]

House Of Wax 3D (1953) BD announced

It will include the DVD features (newsreel, trailer, the 2-strip technicolor 1933 original "Mystery Of The Wax Museum") plus a new featurette and a new commentary. Yes! Although I'm doubtful of the 1933 film being HD remastered.

[captveg]

The delayed The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) is back on the schedule for a 9/3/13 release.

[domino harvey]

In the Mouth of Madness Oct 15

[John Doe]

The Haunting original - October 15