Let's assume that Warner Borthers decides to follow up the excellent Warner Legends boxed set with a volume two. Note that I have no information one way or another that they will, but I'm hoping. Let's also say you're in charge of deciding what goes in it. You get three movies. What do you pick and why? And remember, you're picking three movies that are going to get a deluxe, two-disc treatment, so your goal should be a set that showcases the versatility of the Warners during the heyday of the studio era.

Here's my picks and reasons:

1. Captain Blood (1935) -- It may be a little duplicative to go back to Errol Flynn when his Adventures of Robin Hood was in the first set, but I don't care! Flynn is the definitive swashbuckler of the talkie era, and this is one of his definitive pictures. It definitely belongs in the set.

2. Stagecoach (1939) -- There's few director/actor teams more closely associated with each other than John Ford and John Wayne. Stagecoach is one of their most famous collaborations. This one's available, but it's a bare bones disc with an attorcious tranfer. That's understandable, since the DVD was one of the first Warners released, but it's been six years. Time to give this one the classic treatment!

3. Key Largo (1948) -- It's a bit indulgent to include this here, because from what I've heard, the transfer on the current release of this is pretty sharp. Then again, the one-disc Casablanca had a great transfer, and that didn't stop 'em from redoing that one, so why not! Like Casablanca, Key Largo has Bogie and Bacall, but it also has Edward G. Robinson and the late, great Lionel Barrymore, all directed by John Huston. One of the classics of film noir.

So what are your picks?

Queen Christina- Garbo
Red Dust-Gable
The Libled Lady -Powell,Loy, Tracey, Harlow


Captain blood would be a good choice too though, but i believe they are saving that for a Flynn specific box set/promotion next fall.

Casablanca didn't have Bacall.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dial M for Murder found its way into something like this. It is being re-released theatrically (in 3-D nonetheless) at the beginning of next year.

The Magnificent Ambersons would be a VERY nice addition to such a set as well.

Dan

Bogart - The Maltese Falcon Granted, there are tons of other Bogart titles that Warner owns that I would also like to see on DVD (ex. Petrified Forest) but if this had a directors commentary, a new documentary, and the other two versions of the film (Satan Met a Lady (1936) and The Maltese Falcon (1931)) and an improved transfer, it would be priceless.

Cagney - White Heat This would be a 2-disc set, followed by the rest of the Cagney gangster films in single-disc releases.

Flynn - Captain Blood This would be a 2-disc set, followed by the rest of the Flynn swashbuckler films in single-disc releases.

For me it would be:
[b]Little Giant[\b] double featured with either Little Caesar or Brother Orchid. Edward G. at his best. [b]Little Giant[\b] is only 75 minutes long or so. Therefore the disc would need a second feature. I don't know if Warner holds the DVD distribution rights to the latter two but either would be sweet.

I'd want The Sea Hawk for the Flynn swashbuckler. IMHO, it's better than Captain Blood.

and either The Roaring Twenties or Angels with Dirty Faces for the Cagney/Bogart pairing.

I can dream can't I?

Bergman, Bacall -- what's the difference!

OK, color me mortified, and chalk it up to posting late at night.

A director's commentary wqould be tough to swing, since John Huston died about 15 years ago. So unless he recorded one for a laser disc release, we're out of luck.

That's my bad, I know Huston is dead. I was meaning to say commentary from Eric Lax or Roger Ebert.

I'd love a set of these three. Not that some of the other titles aren't great, but part of what I liked about the first Warner Legends set was that, until it was released, the movies were unavailable. So I'd want a second set to also consist of movies I can't get right now.

Cagney - White Heat
Bogart - The Maltese Falcon
Wayne - Stagecoach

There are plenty of ideas I can think of for boxed sets, that IMO, are even better than any Warner Legends box could be.

A Ford/Wayne collection (Stagecoach, Searchers, Liberty Valance, and maybe Red River)

A Victor Sjostrom collection (with the Lon Chaney film He Who Gets Slapped, as well as The Scarlet Letter and The Wind, and maybe a few of his Swedish films...The Outlaw And His Wife or The Phantom Carriage?).

A King Vidor box (atleast including The Crowd and The Big Parade)

An Erich von Stroheim collection (Greed, naturally, as well as The Merry Widow and hopefully The Wedding March)

And the best idea of all...the "Oops! We Messed Up!" Chaplin Collection volume 1.

Maltese Falcon
Stagecoach
African Queen


All 2-disc SE's!

Warner Bros. doesn't own The African Queen.

Carlton owns the film and MGM would have R1 DVD rights.

Stagecoach was originally released by United Artists and was part of the Allied Artists library until WB purchased it (through Lorimar).

Sorry, my mistake.