When please will Warner Bros release the Busby Berkeley Boxset (march 21, 2006)
04-06-05, 08:00 AM
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When please will Warner Bros release the Busby Berkeley Boxset (march 21, 2006)
In the transcription of the recent DVD Talk Warner Bros discussion, I was very disappointed to see no mention of the Special edition boxset of the classic movie musicals of the late Busby Berkeley. This has been long promised, and long awaited.
I have a "Best of Busby Berkeley" Laserdisc set of two discs with selected songs from these much loved classics, but my laserdisc player appears to have given up the ghost (in other words it is no longer working!! )
so I'll have to wait until Warner Bros gets it's act together and produces this DVD set!
I have a "Best of Busby Berkeley" Laserdisc set of two discs with selected songs from these much loved classics, but my laserdisc player appears to have given up the ghost (in other words it is no longer working!! )
so I'll have to wait until Warner Bros gets it's act together and produces this DVD set!
04-06-05, 03:11 PM
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To be fair, there were more important things to ask during the chat, like if the next season of Friends would be released.
04-07-05, 05:39 AM
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Originally Posted by William Fuld
To be fair, there were more important things to ask during the chat, like if the next season of Friends would be released.
Last edited by Deco King; 04-07-05 at 05:44 AM.
04-07-05, 05:58 AM
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DVD Talk Special Edition
Because of all the double-dipping Warners has been doing with their newly-announced box sets, I've held off buying 42nd Street in anticipation of a Busby Berkeley collection. However, I must admit that, given the choice, I'd prefer WB put out the Astaire-Rogers RKO films first, which seems to be their plan.
06-30-05, 11:07 PM
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from barrie maxwell at the bits
In other Warner news, an anticipated Busby Berkeley box set is rumoured to include at least Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, and Gold Diggers of 1935, while a proposed MGM Musicals collection is rumoured to include 'Til the Clouds Roll By, Ziegfeld Follies, Summer Stock, Three Little Words, and It's Always Fair Weather. There are no release dates for these sets as yet.
In other Warner news, an anticipated Busby Berkeley box set is rumoured to include at least Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, and Gold Diggers of 1935, while a proposed MGM Musicals collection is rumoured to include 'Til the Clouds Roll By, Ziegfeld Follies, Summer Stock, Three Little Words, and It's Always Fair Weather. There are no release dates for these sets as yet.
07-01-05, 08:13 AM
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Come on Warner Bros get your skates on like the quirky little chap in the Busby Berkeley dance routines, and BRING OUT THE BUSBY BERKELEY DVD SET NOW!!!
09-22-05, 03:07 PM
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I saw these films on the big screen in Chicago recently at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and was knocked out. So awesome. So sexy. Especially Gold Diggers of 1933.
I would buy these on DVD the day they come out.
I would buy these on DVD the day they come out.
12-02-05, 10:34 PM
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from the HTF and home media retailing
Warner is honoring that dedication to quality with painstaking restorations of Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1935, Footlight Parade and Dames, Feltenstein can take personal pride in one of the bonus features: a bonus sixth disc featuring three hours of highlights of Berkeley’s production numbers from the films featured in the set and others, which was originally compiled for laserdisc. The newly restored films will also air on Turner Classic Movies around the release date.
Warner is honoring that dedication to quality with painstaking restorations of Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1935, Footlight Parade and Dames, Feltenstein can take personal pride in one of the bonus features: a bonus sixth disc featuring three hours of highlights of Berkeley’s production numbers from the films featured in the set and others, which was originally compiled for laserdisc. The newly restored films will also air on Turner Classic Movies around the release date.
12-08-05, 02:12 AM
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From www.thedvdforums.com :
Originally Posted by siriami
From Max Preeo via the Castrec-L newsgroup - can't wait for this set personally!
Alistair:
"Come and meet those dancing feet ."
The Busby Berkeley Collection - five remastered Warner Bros. classics from one of the greatest motion picture choreographers of all time -- debuts March 21 from Warner Home Video. Titles include Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames and Gold Diggers of 1935 (all new to DVD); 42nd Street (repackaged in Amaray "keepcase" packaging ) and The Busby Berkeley Disc, a nearly three-hour compendium of the unique musical extravaganzas created by Berkeley during his Warner Bros. years.
As with WHV's original DVD release of 42nd Street several years ago, each feature film in this collection has been meticulously restored and remastered from its original nitrate camera negatives and optical soundtracks. The six-disc collection, with extensive bonus materials including five informative and entertaining new featurettes illustrating Berkeley's talent, style and technique, will sell for $59.92 SRP. While 42nd Street remains available individually for $19.97 SRP, all other content is exclusive to this boxed set.
Busby Berkeley and the Birth of the Hollywood Musical
With the arrival of Warner Bros.' landmark release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, the first film with synchronized musical numbers and dialogue, the motion picture industry was changed forever, as the studios scrambled to move from silents to talkies. Musical films were a natural to take advantage of the new technology, and the studios began grinding them out at a quick pace, often importing Broadway hits and a great deal of New York talent.
With rare exception, these musicals were basically filmed plays with no camera movement, threadbare plots and little creativity. A few years later, the genre was dead and buried.until Busby Berkeley came along. With limitless imagination and unparalleled talent, Berkeley single-handedly revived the musical motion picture and there was no turning back.
William Berkeley Enos was born in Los Angeles on November 29, 1895. He began his career in the US Army conducting and directing parades and then staging camp shows for the soldiers. After returning to civilian life, he became a stage actor and assistant director for smaller acting troupes. He found his calling when forced to take over the direction of the musical "Holka Polka"; and, with his talent for staging lavish and complex dance routines he soon became one of Broadway's top dance directors. Samuel Goldwyn brought him to Hollywood in 1930 to stage the musical numbers for several Eddie Cantor musicals but his contribution raised little awareness with audiences or the industry.
Darryl F. Zanuck, then head of production at Warner Bros., hired "Buzz" for his first huge film break -- to direct the musical numbers of Warner's latest project, 42nd Street. The studio took a huge gamble on both the property and Berkeley; but a snappy script and a story that has become the granddaddy of backstage musicals made the film a massive hit, primarily as a result of the amazing, kaleidoscopic and fascinating choreography Berkeley created for the end of the film. It wasn't long before he was given a seven-year contract at the studio.
Berkeley went on to work on almost every great Warner musical produced in the '30s, receiving three Oscar® nominations for Best Dance Direction. Using only one camera, he was fearless about getting just the right shot, even if it meant drilling holes in roofs and floors to achieve his vision. He dressed his chorus girls in outlandish costumes -- as coins or musical instruments or in nothing but wisps of gauzy material. There was no limit to his imagination.
Many studios tried to copy Berkeley's style but their efforts were pale imitations. There was only one Busby Berkeley. Although he made his last contribution to cinema more than 40 years ago, Berkeley remains an icon in American culture.
The Busby Berkeley Collection
42nd Street (1933)
This unforgettable musical classic represents Berkeley's first major cinematic masterpiece. Warner Baxter stars as stage director Julian Marsh, pressured by the threat of an impending early demise, to create one last great Broadway hit. The quintessential 'put-on-a-show' plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter with then-newcomers Ruby Keeler (her film debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. Shuffle off to Buffalo, You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the title tune still dazzle. This is the film where Baxter uttered the immortal line to understudy Keeler, (stepping in at the last minute for star Bebe Daniels, who has just broken her leg)."You're going out there a youngster.but you've got to come back a star!"
DVD Special Features
3 Vintage Featurettes:
Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer
Hollywood Newsreel
A Trip Through a Hollywood Studio
Notes on Busby Berkeley
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Gold Diggers of 1933 (New to DVD!)
Soon after 42nd Street, Warner Bros. released this sensational Depression-lifting production. Mervyn Le Roy directs the non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, including the pre-production code, sexually suggestive Pettin' in the Park, the stunning spectacle of The Shadow Waltz and the remarkably provocative and frank Remember My Forgotten Man. The film is probably best-known for opening up with a close-up of lovely Ginger Rogers and her leggy dancing chorus girls in giant coins singing We're in the Money.
DVD Special Features:
New Featurette: Good Diggers: FDR's New Deal.Broadway Bound
2 Vintage Featurettes:
Rambling 'Round Radio Row #2
Seasoned Greetings
3 Vintage Cartoons:
I've Got to Sing a Torch Song
Pettin' in the Park
We're in the Money
New Featurette: 42nd Street: From Book to Stage to Screen Vintage Featurette: The 42nd Street Special Busby Berkeley Musicals Trailer Gallery
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Footlight Parade (1933-New to DVD!)
One of Berkeley's greatest extravaganzas, the frequent Berkeley cast of stars including Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell have to take less of the spotlight due to the bravura performance of triple-threat James Cagney, making his musical film debut. Cagney was one of the hottest actors of the era, known for his portrayal of fast-talking, hard-boiled gangsters and tough guys. However, Cagney got his start in vaudeville years earlier, not only singing, but dancing in a way that was surely his own. It's that same song-and-dance style that led him to winning the Academy Award ® for Best Actor in 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy. As with all the films in this collection a bevy of hit tunes are provided by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, including the racy Honeymoon Hotel, the fascinating Shanghai Lil featuring Cagney's unforgettable tap-dance duet with Keeler, and the utterly sensational By a Waterfall, a show-stopping, imagination-bending production number that includes a revolving wedding cake fountain, an elaborate aquacade of 100 bathing-suited girls and a 20,000-gallon-per-minute waterfall.
DVD Special Features:
New Featurette: Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2 Vintage Featurettes:
Rambling 'Round Radio Row #8
Vaudeville Reel #1
2 Vintage Cartoons:
Honeymoon Hotel
Young and Healthy
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Dames (1934-New to DVD!)
Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler again star in this tale of stage hopefuls who run up against a disapproving decency group. Berkeley reinvents filmmaking with a subway dream (I Only Have Eyes for You), a staggeringly kaleidoscopic arrangement of showgirls in black tights (Dames), and other bravura imaginings. Reviewers labeled this blissful musical "Gold Diggers of 1934" because of its stars from the prior Gold Diggers movie, its showbiz story and its glorious Berkeley razzmatazz.
DVD Special Features
New Featurette: Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
3 Vintage Featurettes:
And She Learned About Dames
Good Morning, Eve
Melody Master: Don Redman and His Orchestra
2 Vintage Cartoons:
I Only Have Eyes for You
Those Beautiful Dames
Audio-Only Bonus: Direct from Hollywood Radio Promo Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Gold Diggers of 1935 (New to DVD!)
Dick Powell stars as a desk clerk who agrees to be a gentlemanly escort for the sheltered daughter (Gloria Stuart) of a wealthy widow. Considered a sequel of sorts to Gold Diggers of 1933, this film contains some of Berkeley 's most unusual and accomplished musical sequences ever -- "The Words Are in my Heart" featuring rows of twirling baby grand pianos and, what is likely Berkeley's greatest masterpiece, literally a 16 minute film-within-a film, the unforgettable LULLABY OF BROADWAY, which features vocals by Powell and Wini Shaw, and is highlighted by a heart-stopping sequence of more than 150 dancers tapping their way into musical legend.
DVD Special Features:
New Featurette: (buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style Vintage Featurette:
Double Exposure
2 Vintage Cartoons:
Gold Diggers of '49
Shuffle Off to Buffalo
Direct from Hollywood Radio promo
Gold Diggers Trailer Gallery
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
The Busby Berkeley Disc
One man. One camera. Unlimited magic. This critically-acclaimed compilation, originally conceived as a laserdisc release in 1992, now arrives on DVD as an exclusive to the set. It contains more than 20 complete musical numbers from nine Warner Bros. films of the 1930s -- numbers that established forever the genius of Busby Berkeley, and showed that 'simple' was not a word in his lexicon. Some of the rarities included here are "The Lady in Red" from IN CALIENTE (1935), and "All is Fair in Love and War," the amazing flag-waving finale from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937.
Alistair:
"Come and meet those dancing feet ."
The Busby Berkeley Collection - five remastered Warner Bros. classics from one of the greatest motion picture choreographers of all time -- debuts March 21 from Warner Home Video. Titles include Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames and Gold Diggers of 1935 (all new to DVD); 42nd Street (repackaged in Amaray "keepcase" packaging ) and The Busby Berkeley Disc, a nearly three-hour compendium of the unique musical extravaganzas created by Berkeley during his Warner Bros. years.
As with WHV's original DVD release of 42nd Street several years ago, each feature film in this collection has been meticulously restored and remastered from its original nitrate camera negatives and optical soundtracks. The six-disc collection, with extensive bonus materials including five informative and entertaining new featurettes illustrating Berkeley's talent, style and technique, will sell for $59.92 SRP. While 42nd Street remains available individually for $19.97 SRP, all other content is exclusive to this boxed set.
Busby Berkeley and the Birth of the Hollywood Musical
With the arrival of Warner Bros.' landmark release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, the first film with synchronized musical numbers and dialogue, the motion picture industry was changed forever, as the studios scrambled to move from silents to talkies. Musical films were a natural to take advantage of the new technology, and the studios began grinding them out at a quick pace, often importing Broadway hits and a great deal of New York talent.
With rare exception, these musicals were basically filmed plays with no camera movement, threadbare plots and little creativity. A few years later, the genre was dead and buried.until Busby Berkeley came along. With limitless imagination and unparalleled talent, Berkeley single-handedly revived the musical motion picture and there was no turning back.
William Berkeley Enos was born in Los Angeles on November 29, 1895. He began his career in the US Army conducting and directing parades and then staging camp shows for the soldiers. After returning to civilian life, he became a stage actor and assistant director for smaller acting troupes. He found his calling when forced to take over the direction of the musical "Holka Polka"; and, with his talent for staging lavish and complex dance routines he soon became one of Broadway's top dance directors. Samuel Goldwyn brought him to Hollywood in 1930 to stage the musical numbers for several Eddie Cantor musicals but his contribution raised little awareness with audiences or the industry.
Darryl F. Zanuck, then head of production at Warner Bros., hired "Buzz" for his first huge film break -- to direct the musical numbers of Warner's latest project, 42nd Street. The studio took a huge gamble on both the property and Berkeley; but a snappy script and a story that has become the granddaddy of backstage musicals made the film a massive hit, primarily as a result of the amazing, kaleidoscopic and fascinating choreography Berkeley created for the end of the film. It wasn't long before he was given a seven-year contract at the studio.
Berkeley went on to work on almost every great Warner musical produced in the '30s, receiving three Oscar® nominations for Best Dance Direction. Using only one camera, he was fearless about getting just the right shot, even if it meant drilling holes in roofs and floors to achieve his vision. He dressed his chorus girls in outlandish costumes -- as coins or musical instruments or in nothing but wisps of gauzy material. There was no limit to his imagination.
Many studios tried to copy Berkeley's style but their efforts were pale imitations. There was only one Busby Berkeley. Although he made his last contribution to cinema more than 40 years ago, Berkeley remains an icon in American culture.
The Busby Berkeley Collection
42nd Street (1933)
This unforgettable musical classic represents Berkeley's first major cinematic masterpiece. Warner Baxter stars as stage director Julian Marsh, pressured by the threat of an impending early demise, to create one last great Broadway hit. The quintessential 'put-on-a-show' plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter with then-newcomers Ruby Keeler (her film debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. Shuffle off to Buffalo, You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the title tune still dazzle. This is the film where Baxter uttered the immortal line to understudy Keeler, (stepping in at the last minute for star Bebe Daniels, who has just broken her leg)."You're going out there a youngster.but you've got to come back a star!"
DVD Special Features
3 Vintage Featurettes:
Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer
Hollywood Newsreel
A Trip Through a Hollywood Studio
Notes on Busby Berkeley
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Gold Diggers of 1933 (New to DVD!)
Soon after 42nd Street, Warner Bros. released this sensational Depression-lifting production. Mervyn Le Roy directs the non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, including the pre-production code, sexually suggestive Pettin' in the Park, the stunning spectacle of The Shadow Waltz and the remarkably provocative and frank Remember My Forgotten Man. The film is probably best-known for opening up with a close-up of lovely Ginger Rogers and her leggy dancing chorus girls in giant coins singing We're in the Money.
DVD Special Features:
New Featurette: Good Diggers: FDR's New Deal.Broadway Bound
2 Vintage Featurettes:
Rambling 'Round Radio Row #2
Seasoned Greetings
3 Vintage Cartoons:
I've Got to Sing a Torch Song
Pettin' in the Park
We're in the Money
New Featurette: 42nd Street: From Book to Stage to Screen Vintage Featurette: The 42nd Street Special Busby Berkeley Musicals Trailer Gallery
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Footlight Parade (1933-New to DVD!)
One of Berkeley's greatest extravaganzas, the frequent Berkeley cast of stars including Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell have to take less of the spotlight due to the bravura performance of triple-threat James Cagney, making his musical film debut. Cagney was one of the hottest actors of the era, known for his portrayal of fast-talking, hard-boiled gangsters and tough guys. However, Cagney got his start in vaudeville years earlier, not only singing, but dancing in a way that was surely his own. It's that same song-and-dance style that led him to winning the Academy Award ® for Best Actor in 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy. As with all the films in this collection a bevy of hit tunes are provided by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, including the racy Honeymoon Hotel, the fascinating Shanghai Lil featuring Cagney's unforgettable tap-dance duet with Keeler, and the utterly sensational By a Waterfall, a show-stopping, imagination-bending production number that includes a revolving wedding cake fountain, an elaborate aquacade of 100 bathing-suited girls and a 20,000-gallon-per-minute waterfall.
DVD Special Features:
New Featurette: Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2 Vintage Featurettes:
Rambling 'Round Radio Row #8
Vaudeville Reel #1
2 Vintage Cartoons:
Honeymoon Hotel
Young and Healthy
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Dames (1934-New to DVD!)
Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler again star in this tale of stage hopefuls who run up against a disapproving decency group. Berkeley reinvents filmmaking with a subway dream (I Only Have Eyes for You), a staggeringly kaleidoscopic arrangement of showgirls in black tights (Dames), and other bravura imaginings. Reviewers labeled this blissful musical "Gold Diggers of 1934" because of its stars from the prior Gold Diggers movie, its showbiz story and its glorious Berkeley razzmatazz.
DVD Special Features
New Featurette: Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
3 Vintage Featurettes:
And She Learned About Dames
Good Morning, Eve
Melody Master: Don Redman and His Orchestra
2 Vintage Cartoons:
I Only Have Eyes for You
Those Beautiful Dames
Audio-Only Bonus: Direct from Hollywood Radio Promo Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
Gold Diggers of 1935 (New to DVD!)
Dick Powell stars as a desk clerk who agrees to be a gentlemanly escort for the sheltered daughter (Gloria Stuart) of a wealthy widow. Considered a sequel of sorts to Gold Diggers of 1933, this film contains some of Berkeley 's most unusual and accomplished musical sequences ever -- "The Words Are in my Heart" featuring rows of twirling baby grand pianos and, what is likely Berkeley's greatest masterpiece, literally a 16 minute film-within-a film, the unforgettable LULLABY OF BROADWAY, which features vocals by Powell and Wini Shaw, and is highlighted by a heart-stopping sequence of more than 150 dancers tapping their way into musical legend.
DVD Special Features:
New Featurette: (buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style Vintage Featurette:
Double Exposure
2 Vintage Cartoons:
Gold Diggers of '49
Shuffle Off to Buffalo
Direct from Hollywood Radio promo
Gold Diggers Trailer Gallery
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)
x x
The Busby Berkeley Disc
One man. One camera. Unlimited magic. This critically-acclaimed compilation, originally conceived as a laserdisc release in 1992, now arrives on DVD as an exclusive to the set. It contains more than 20 complete musical numbers from nine Warner Bros. films of the 1930s -- numbers that established forever the genius of Busby Berkeley, and showed that 'simple' was not a word in his lexicon. Some of the rarities included here are "The Lady in Red" from IN CALIENTE (1935), and "All is Fair in Love and War," the amazing flag-waving finale from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937.
12-09-05, 12:30 AM
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I saw all five of these movies on the big screen at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, and the visuals of the musical sequences just knocked my socks off. They are not like the later musicals of the 40's and 50's. This crazy filmmaker actually created kaleidascopes of girls in bathing suits (no special effects, just unbelievable choreography and camera technique) that just keep getting more and more psychedelic from one film to the next. Plus, they're pre-code (except for gold-diggers of 35).
I'll buy this set the day it comes out.
I'll buy this set the day it comes out.
12-09-05, 06:29 AM
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The Busby Berkeley Boxset sounds like a winner!!
Wonderful news!! The forthcoming Busby Berkeley boxset sounds as if it will be well worth the long wait!!
Warner Bros boxsets are usually the best in the business! I hope that they're winning the industry plaudits (??) George Feltenstein deserves an honorary Oscar for all his hard work!!
Warner Bros boxsets are usually the best in the business! I hope that they're winning the industry plaudits (??) George Feltenstein deserves an honorary Oscar for all his hard work!!
12-09-05, 12:31 PM
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Gotta agree about Warners getting some kind of recognition for their restorations and DVDs. They're beginning to rival Criterion in quality and extras. But, I'm still pissed that they aren't making Eyes Wide Shut available in the U.S. (that butchered version doesn't count).
12-09-05, 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by lamphorn
I'm still pissed that they aren't making Eyes Wide Shut available in the U.S. (that butchered version doesn't count).
As for the Busby Berkeley set, I've been enjoying the laserdisc for over a decade, but I'll be there the day the DVD set comes out!
12-09-05, 04:24 PM
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Originally Posted by lamphorn
Gotta agree about Warners getting some kind of recognition for their restorations and DVDs. They're beginning to rival Criterion in quality and extras.
12-10-05, 12:41 AM
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Until a few years ago, Warners had less than a handful of classics in release. Their library is unparalleled in its greatness, and they were more concerned about POKEMON than the classics.
And indeed it was around the time (3 yrs ago?) of WARNER LEGENDS and the CASABLANCA 2 disc that suddenly the releases began to be numerous, and exceptionally assembled.
Now, they are heads and tails the best of all DVD labels, even the respectable (but highly over-praised) Criterion can't compare to what Warner does.
Just this year they gave us sensational sets with GANGSTERS, MUSICALS, COMEDIES, ASTAIRE/ROGERS, THIN MAN, VAL LEWTON, McQUEEN, DEAN and most recently the spectacular OZ 3 disc and KONG tin.
Hearing about Berkeley, Agatha Christie, and the Tennessee Williams set (read about that in USA TODAY this morning) means they have a dynamite year ahead for us in 2006.
I don't care if they bankrupt my credit card...they make me happy and their releases are so reasonably priced, too! My only sadness is the demise of the Digi-Packaging for their superb 2 disc series.
And indeed it was around the time (3 yrs ago?) of WARNER LEGENDS and the CASABLANCA 2 disc that suddenly the releases began to be numerous, and exceptionally assembled.
Now, they are heads and tails the best of all DVD labels, even the respectable (but highly over-praised) Criterion can't compare to what Warner does.
Just this year they gave us sensational sets with GANGSTERS, MUSICALS, COMEDIES, ASTAIRE/ROGERS, THIN MAN, VAL LEWTON, McQUEEN, DEAN and most recently the spectacular OZ 3 disc and KONG tin.
Hearing about Berkeley, Agatha Christie, and the Tennessee Williams set (read about that in USA TODAY this morning) means they have a dynamite year ahead for us in 2006.
I don't care if they bankrupt my credit card...they make me happy and their releases are so reasonably priced, too! My only sadness is the demise of the Digi-Packaging for their superb 2 disc series.
12-10-05, 05:58 PM
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Yup, Warners is the best hands down when it comes to classics. No one is even close. There is good work being done elsewhere, but Warners has raised the bar so high that the best the others can hope to achieve is #2 status.
In addition to the praise listed above, I'll add that they price their product very reasonably. Their box sets often work out to be less than $8 per title.
In addition to the praise listed above, I'll add that they price their product very reasonably. Their box sets often work out to be less than $8 per title.
12-11-05, 02:22 AM
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Agreed that the WB box sets are the best in terms of both quality and price. last year, i bought a bunch of these sets, every film sight-unseen, based upon the solid reputations fo the movies, and the GREAT reviews of the set. I tried to pass up the GARBO & ASTAIRE & ROGERS sets - nope! Just got TARZAN for around $20, and am currently enjoying the VAL LEWTON set. That GANGSTERS set early this year still stands as one of the most important and best sets of the year, and FINALLY the long awaited PECKINPAH set is on the way. (Seem like I've been waiting forever for that!) This BERKELEY set has been high on my list as well, and I can't wait to go into debt for it, even though yet again, I've yet to actually see an entire one of these films! But it doesn't matter, I've not been disappointed with any of these sets yet. 
12-15-05, 11:57 PM
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Dvd Active has just posted cover art.
