The Warner Archive Blu-ray/DVD Thread

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

There's apparently a problem with PERFORMANCE -- it's got the US partially(?) dubbed soundtrack instead of the original UK version. WAC is looking into this, as they were under the impression it was the same as the US dvd.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

A couple interesting titles from WAC today...I've been curious about Francesco Rosi's MORE THAN A MIRACLE for quite a while, it's supposed to be a Cinderella influenced fairy tale film. It has a beautiful Piero Piccioni score (released by FSM a few years ago), the title theme is amazing.

THE BIGGEST BUNDLE OF THEM ALL (1968) Raquel Welch, Robert Wagner and Edward G. Robinson top a too-cool cast in this late Sixties, swinging caper comedy. When a crew of amateur, criminal ex-pats nab a retired Mafia overlord (neorealist auteur and actor Vittorio De Sica) they think they've hit the jackpot. Sadly, the former don's credit is worse than theirs, so they join forces to pull off The Professor's (Robinson, naturally) dream heist of a great train robbery. But the leader of the criminals (Wagner) has an acute Achilles' Heel — he's head over heels ga-ga about his real gone ladyfriend (Welch). Also stars Godfrey Cambridge. 16x9 Widescreen



MORE THAN A MIRACLE (1967) Omar Sharif is the Prince and Sophia Loren is the Peasant in this satiric, profane, earthy and sacred take on fairy tales that puts a bit of sin into Cinderella. Ill-tempered Prince Rodrigo is highly resistant to the idea of matrimony, contrary to the best efforts of his Queen Mother (A still-captivating Dolores del Rio). Fleeing her and her seven proposed princesses on horseback, Rodrigo, thanks to some magical intervention, encounters proud, stunning peasant girl, Isabella. But the stars are crossed against the temperamental pair and it will take the combined magic of witches and monks, as well as some dishwashing skills deluxe, for Isabella to become the belle of the ball and the mistress of Rodrigo's heart. Produced by Carlo Ponti. 16x9 Widescreen

LADY L (1966) Peter Ustinov directs Sophia Loren in this light-hearted look at sex from the far side of life. The titular Lady L — Lady Louise Lendale (Loren) — is an elegant, elderly Corsican, celebrating her 80th birthday in high style at a castle in Yorkshire while recounting her romantic misadventures and conquests in her rise from laundress to Lady to Sir Percy (Cecil Parker), her biographer. Among the lads she loves are Armand (Paul Newman), a thief and an anarchist, and Lord Lendale (David Niven), a suave aristocrat. Carlo Ponti produces and Ustinov appears as the princely target of Armand's revolutionary ambitions. 16x9 Widescreen


And for the 1980s cartoon junkies:

CHALLENGE OF THE GOBOTS: THE SERIES, VOLUME ONE (1985) They're mighty robots and mighty vehicles are back at last! Cy-Kill! Leader-1! Cop-Tur! Turbo! Crasher! Scooter! The noble Guardian GoBots and the nefarious Renegade GoBots continue the war begun in The Battle for GoBotron (see Challenge of the GoBots: The Original Mini-Series) across time and space in their epic 60 episode series that comes to you factory fresh and newly remastered — from the original film elements! With Earth as their chosen staging ground, the Renegades deploy Earth's worst such as the deranged Dr. Braxis (voiced by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Rene Auberjonois) in their quest to conquer Earth and GoBotron, so it's a good thing the Guardians have Matt, Nick and AJ of UNECOM on their side! This 30-Episode, Three-Disc set collects the first half of the series and finds the amazing, metamorphosing cyborgs taking their fight to Ancient Rome, lost Atlantis and back to GoBotron in a series of adventures that will leave you shouting for “MOAR”!

[Nolando Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nolando]

Holee balls - the Wind & the Lion?!? Damn thing's outta stock already, tho'...

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Some very intriguing stuff in today's new releases - including several new to home video:

TARGET ZERO (1955) Rock solid actioner depicts a squad of combat happy joes trying to make their way back to easy company while stuck miles behind enemy lines in Korea. Led by laid-back and super-steady Lt. Flagler, the boys have the backing of Sgt. Gaspari (Charles Bronson) and include radioman Pvt. Moose (Chuck Connors), cynical Pvt. O'Hara (L.Q. Jones), sharpshooting Pvt. Geronimo (Abel Ferní¡ndez) and native recruit Pvt. Sung (Richard Park) Along the way they pick up a pair of mortar men, a British tank unit led by Yank-hating Sgt.Kemsemmit (Richard Stapley) and a stranded UN biochemist (Peggie Castle). It's a good thing they do — because the squad soon find themselves with a new mission: to hold a hill against an enemy horde. 16x9 Widescreen

JUMP INTO HELL (1955) The fall of Dien Bien Phu is depicted in this tale of the doomed and valiant French troops stationed there when the Vietnam War was known as the Indochina War. With the Viet Cong overrunning the north, the fort of Dien Bien Phu sits Alamo like, surrounded by the enemy. The call goes out for volunteers and four very different men volunteer for four very different reasons. A fascinating look at the horror of war made all the more poignant by hindsight. Starring Jack Sernas, Kurt Kaszner, Peter Van Eyck and Norman Du Pont. 16x9 Widescreen



THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND (1956) The Burning Hills' pair of Natalie Wood and Tab Hunter re-team for this tale of a spoiled mama's boy journey to manhood though the military. Andy Shaeffer (Hunter) gets life spoon-fed to him by his smothering mother, while his sweetheart Susan Daniels (Wood) works her way through school. After a falling out causes Andy to flunk out of college the draft comes calling. The unwilling recruit is dismissed as worthless by his fellow troops, but some officers may just have the plan to change the boy into a man. Also stars Jim Backus, James Garner and David Janssen. 16x9 Widescreen



VIOLENT ROAD (1958) Brian Keith toplines this tense tale of wildcat teamsters taking a spin to eke out some wages of fear. Propelled by one of the most startling starts to ever begin a cinema suspenser, Violent Road sees a sextet of desperate men transporting deadly and explosive chemical ingredients for rocket fuel over abandoned road and mountain passes in a race for fortune over fatality. The ragtag team includes The Trucker (Keith), The Scientist (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), The Kid, The Mechanic, The Vet, and The Gambler. Join them on their soul-searing journey across a twisted path of noir and noise! 16x9 Widescreen

ONIONHEAD (1958) Andy Griffith stars as a Coast Guard cook in this naval comedy-drama directed by Norman Taurog (Bundle of Joy) co-starring the equally iconic and laconic Walter Matthau. Griffith plays Al Woods who enlists in the Coast Guard as a lark after a fight with his college sweetheart. Unfortunately for the tyro ship's cook, he signed up shortly before Pearl Harbor and his coming-of-age on board blends light comedy and dark drama as 'Onionhead' learns how to serve his country and his humanity. Also stars Felicia Farr, Ray Danton, Joey Bishop and Claude Akins. 16x9 Widescreen



A FEVER IN THE BLOOD (1961) Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. takes center chair as a jurist infected with higher ambitions in this courtroom drama cum political thriller cum neo-noir co-starring a bevy of the best Warner Bros. players. With a script by the great Roy Huggins (The Fugitive, The Rockford Files, 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick) and directed by Vincent Sherman (The Return of Doctor X), the central trio of A Fever in the Blood are a judge (Zimbalist), a district attorney (Jack Kelly), and a senator (Don Ameche) who all have their eye on the upcoming gubernatorial nomination. When a society girl is murdered, the trial and scandal draws their machinations out of the back room and into the courtroom. Also stars Angie Dickinson, Ray Danton and Carroll O' Connor (in his big screen debut). 16x9 Widescreen



WALL OF NOISE (1963) Bronco's Ty Hardin stars in this romance drama set amid the high stakes and fast paced world of horse racing. After a row with his best gal (Dorothy Provine), horse trainer Joel Tarrant (Hardin) takes a gig with crude contractor Matt Rubio (Ralph Meeker). Rubio's loose spouse (Suzanne Pleshette) makes a bid for Joel via prize pony Escudero, but the horse has other plans… 16x9 Widescreen


TARGET ZERO and VIOLENT ROAD sound worth seeing. I'm about due for another WAC order anyway.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

A few interesting titles from WAC yesterday - including Elmore Leonard's THE MOONSHINE WAR:


THE MOONSHINE WAR (1970) Literary crime king Elmore Leonard adapts his novel about a war of wills waged by a pair of ex-army buddies - one's a bootlegger, the other's a federal agent. Both parties bank on prohibitions repeal, and local 'shiner Son Martin (Alan Alda) is sitting on a secret stash of hundreds of barrels he cooked up with his pappy before the war. Agent Frank Long (Patrick McGoohan) is looking to score a takedown when the locals deliver one humiliation too many, and Frank makes a deal a devil (Richard Widmark) to get his hands on Son's stash. It's a deal that drags the whole town into terror. Also starring Will Geer, Harry Carey, Jr, John Schuck, Bo Hopkins, Melodie Johnson and Max Showalter. Directed by Richard Quine


LOLLY MADONNA XXX (1973) A crew of acting titans and future superstars unite in this adaptation of Sue Grafton's The Lolly Madonna War. Two families, the Feathers and the Gutshalls, once close but now ripped apart by a rivalry over a rural Tennessee meadow that erupts in an escalating war of wills. Season Hubley plays innocent girl Roonie Gill who, thanks to a phony postcard, is mistaken for Lolly Madonna, the imaginary intended of a Gutshall lad. With Feather patriarch Laban (Rod Steiger) refusing to believe she is not the mythical Lolly Madonna, Gutshall patriarch Pap struggles with his own unruly clan in a bid to protect the innocent girl. At times lyrical and allegorical, at others savage and unsettling, all the players in the feud are etched with sympathy by the superb cast which includes Jeff Bridges, Scott Wilson, Ed Lauter, Kiel Martin, Gary Busey and Randy Quaid. Directed by Richard Sarafian.

NASTY HABITS (1977) A distaff staff of acting all-stars shine in this Watergate satire set amongst the confines of a convent. Glenda Jackson plays the tricky nun, who will tape at nothing to ensure her succession to the power of a superior mother. Melina Mercouri plays the foreign born master of statecraft, while Sandy Dennis delights as the dean of truth tellers among the sisters. Anne Jackson, Geraldine Page, and Ann Meara are also found wearing wimples, while their real-life spouses Eli Wallach, Rip Torn, and Jerry Stiller are also on hand and clearly having a blast. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, from the stage play by Robert Enders adapted from the novel The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Bunch of intriguing westerns in today's new releases from WAC, including Corbucci's RINGO AND HIS GOLDEN PISTOL. I have Franco Cleef's disc, might have to get this. Also a new-to-dvd Nicholas Ray.



RINGO AND HIS GOLDEN PISTOL (AKA JOHNNY ORO) (1966) Mark Damon stars as Johnny Oro aka Ringo, the laughing daredevil of Spaghetti Westerns, a good-hearted mercenary ruled by a gold-plated set of ethics - he only draws his golden pistol if he's paid. Confronting a group of outlaws, "Ringo" lays them all low, save for the one that doesn't have a price on his head. The survivor vows vengeance and a law-abiding sheriff may pay the price when he refuses to hand Ringo over. But Ringo has more than gold up his sleeve. Directed by master of the genre, the great Sergio Corbucci, Ringo and his Golden Pistol is Spaghetti Western as its maddest, mondo-est, brashest and bravura fun-est. Assisted directed by Ruggero Deodato, with a sweeping score by Carlo Savina. 16x9 Widescreen

THE LUSTY MEN (1952) WARNER ARCHIVE SHOP EXCLUSIVE! Nicholas Ray's noir-tinged dark fable about a bronco-buster lassoed by fate makes its DVD debut at last, and is newly remastered! Exiled from the heaven of the circuit, famed rodeo rider Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) wanders through ranch-hand purgatory and into the lives of Louise (Susan Hayward) and Wes (Arthur Kennedy) Merritt who are doing their honest best to raise enough dough to make a down payment on the now-desiccated and deserted ranch McCloud grew up on. Setting his eye on McCloud, Wes sets out to use the rodeo as a shortcut to security thanks to Jeff's coaching. But the rodeo life is a seductive one, and Jeff may just have his own plans where Louise is concerned. Destiny, in turn, has another. Fabular, gritty, elegiac, The Lusty Men, like most of Nicholas Ray's oeuvre, rewards every viewing with new layers and elements coming to the fore. One of Mitchum's most iconic (and laconic) performances, aided by the superlative Susan Hayward and Arthur Kennedy's copious character skills. Note: For the next few months, this DVD will be exclusively available at Warner Archive and WBshop. Newly Remastered

RATON PASS (1951) A femme fatale sashays into town and promptly swindles the hacienda out from under the favored scion in this Warner Bros. Western Noir. Patricia Neal, fresh off The Breaking Point, captivates as the antagonistic embodiment of avarice and amor that propels the action, while Steve Cochran is yet again a superb cinema snake. Dennis Morgan plays the rube that gets taken, and then must re-take the town for its people. Edwin L. Marin directs.



SHOOT OUT AT MEDICINE BEND (1957) Rejoice, Randolph Scott fans! With this release, we finally finished making our share of Scott's Westerns available to you, and what a send-off! Scott plays an ex-Army captain that leads a pair of ex-Civil War compatriots (Gordon Jones and a fresh-on-the-scene and already fascinating James Garner) undercover inside a sinister town run by a syndicate responsible for a raft of crimes, including the death of his brother. Robbed of gear, clothes, and cash, the trio pose as religious Brethren to crack the crime ring. Both a throwback to the classic B-Westerns of a generation prior, and a pre-cursor to the adult TV Westerns about to take the nation by storm, Shoot Out at Medicine Bend packs charm aplenty, including Angie Dickinson. Directed by Richard L. Bare and also starring James Craig. 16x9 Widescreen

THE YOUNG GUNS (1956) Allied Artists picks up Russ Tamblyn to lead the gang in this transgressive genre-bender that combines Western and Juvenile Delinquency pictures for a side-west story. Tully (Tamblyn), trapped in a town that refuses to accept him because of his outlaw heritage, alights for the siege-proof mountain outlaw sanctuary of Black Crater. Here, teens have been left alone by their outlaw parents for so long a new kind of gang has emerged. A gang that Tully will lead on a different path, or die trying. Also stars Gloria Talbott and Perry Lopez. Directed by future B-Movie king Albert Band. 16x9 Widescreen



OREGON PASSAGE (1957) Although Allied Artists may be best remembered as the A-studio of the B-listers, there's nothing B about this A effort, save its lack of big names. John Ericson and Edward Platt lead the cast as an experienced frontier vet and the jealous martinet put in authority above him. As renegade Shoshoni warrior Black Eagle (H. M. Wynant) unites the tribes against frontier forces set up in forts along Oregon's cascades, Lt. Ord (Ericson) must also contend with the attentions of Little Deer (Toni Gerry), the Native American refugee girl he rescued from Black Eagle. When an old flame (Lola Albright) arrives to the fort recently married to the commanding officer (Platt) dedicated to breaking him, Ord may have faced his last uprising. Part Fort Apache, part Beau Geste, Oregon Passage is top-tier. 16x9 Widescreen

GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON (1958) After a pair of siblings are forced to watch their father hang for horse-theft, they set out on two very different paths. Older brother John renounces his father and becomes Marshall John Brazos (Forrest Tucker), while younger brother Jed (Mark Stevens) embraces his path as a "Chip" off the old thieving Coburn stock. Following a stretch in the pen thanks to his self-righteous older bro, Chip is framed for murder courtesy of a deadly land developer. So naturally, his brother comes gunning for him... Also starring Gale Robbins and Gail Kobe. Directed by Thomas Carr. 16x9 Widescreen

GUNFIGHTERS OF CASA GRANDE (1964) Five desperadoes under the laughing leadership of the arch arch-villain Joe Daylight (Alex Nicol) take possession of the Casa Grande, a hacienda south of the border, in lieu of their ill-gotten riches. Daylight has a bigger scheme - the grandest cattle theft ever attempted. There's only one hitch - Rojo, the bandito that stands between them and their theft, is preying on all the local ranchers. Daylight decides to make his men play hero in a bid to unite the locals against Rojo, but sometimes an actor loses himself in a role... Also starring Jorge Mistral. Directed by Roy Rowland. 16x9 Widescreen

SON OF A GUNFIGHTER (1965) You met him and his daughter, Daughter of A Son of a Gunfighter in Django, Unchained - now see where it all began! Russ Tamblyn stars as Johnny Ketchum on a quest for vengeance against the gunman that killed his mother - his father, Ace Ketchum (James Philbrook). Coming to the aid of a lawman (Ralph Browne), Johnny's path twists between revenge and redemption as he ends up caught between his father and an even badder man, Juan Morales (Aldo Sambrell). Also stars Fernando Rey. Directed by Paul Landres. 16x9 Widescreen

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

WA just announced this one....

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Sort of an odd choice for a BD, unless the film is more popular than I realize. It's not bad, a noirish drama about the jazz age. Good cast but it's not one I like enough to need an upgrade from the DVD. I wish they'd release more of their classic noirs on BD instead. Some of those films in the great Noir Collection box sets they were doing would be sweet.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Looks like they're releasing Wicked, Wicked too... but DVD only.

Sad face.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

Picture Of Dorian Gray on bd too.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Just saw that. Nice cover.

[Jason C Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jason C]

5 for $50 is back on until Oct 26th.

I wish I could come up with 5 titles. They don't seem interested in 70's/80's exploitation and horror anymore.

When is Wicked, Wicked expected?

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

I'm trying to order 5 dvds through the 5 for $50 and it keeps wanting to charge me $84. Anybody else have the same problem? There doesn't seem to be a coupon code as far as I can tell.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Had an email from them yesterday saying the 5 for 50 problem was fixed but I haven't tried to order recently.

[C.D. Workman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close C.D. Workman]

The Warner Archives used to release a decent haul of Halloween titles each October, but what are we getting this year? Anything other than the PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY BD? (Which, don't get me wrong, I'm excited about.)

For some reason, since I moved from one town to another, when I click on the Warner Archives site, it gives me an older version of the site from back in May, with no new updates.