DVD Extra: George Feltenstein interviewed on the Warner Archive Collection's second anniversary

4:33 PM, March 24, 2011 ι Lou Lumenick


This week marks the second anniversary of the innovative Warner Archive Collection , which has made hundreds of hard-to-find and downright obscure titles from the studio's vast library available on manufactured-to-demand DVDs. To celebrate through Monday, 766 single-disc titles are available at five for $50 -- 50 percent off the normal price. I recently spoke to Warners' tireless and super-enthusiastic George Feltenstein, who gave me a classic movie nerd's-eye view of the operation and where it's headed. Here's an edited and condensed version of our one-hour conversation:


Congratulations George. You should have 1,000 titles in circulation fairly soon.


By May or June. We currently have 120 to 150 titles in production. Nobody has any idea the amount of work that goes into these releases. We have very few people. The messenger comes to my house at 11 o'clock in the evening and tells me, "you have to watch this tonight.'' The Warner Archive Collection was intended to be one thing, a service, and it's morphing into something else. We're also getting a bird's eye view of our library -- we've probably pulled 200 film elements this year and we've noticed problems with 40 or 50. There are so many movies that we had them scheduled and found we couldn't move forward with them immediately due to quality issues. But that is the exception rather than the rule, and we've got so much good stuff coming. And imitation is the finest form of flattery when we see other people [Sony, MGM and Universal] joining us in this [manufacture-on-demand] approach.


When I spoke to you on the day WAC launched, you mentioned you had just set a release schedule through the end of 2010. Did you need to tweak that much?

It always changes. There have been times when we've gone through four or five iterations [of a transfer] and we just couldn't get it to be good enough. You keep looking for better film elements. People ask about Wheeler and Woolsey [movies] and at the present time we don't hold masters on any of their pictures which are good enough quality to release. Once again, this means looking for film elements, and those from RKO can sometime be very frightening. When we started we didn't have the [corporate] support we now have, we didn't know we could remaster movies, didn't think that would be [financially] possible. Meanwhile, our retail [DVD releases] have morphed. It's still a hugely strong category, but not for new-to-format classics. When something special comes along like "Night Flight'' [the long-available 1933 film that will make its debut on June 7 on retail DVD] it would have been feather in [WAC's] cap but it would not be the best thing for the company. When the retailers see something special they will get behind it, they will make an event out of it. Everything's gone from sour to sweet. WAC has given Warner Bros. an opportunity to re-invest in the library and is helping to contribute to our preservation activities. It is also another way of supporting the work that must go into and rights clearances. There have been so many producers and directors asking for their films to be released and we used to have to tell them we're sorry. Now, because we have a more cost-effective way to give more obscure titles a quality release, we don't have to say 'no,' we can see say yes.


One of your post popular Warner Archive categories is animation you've been releasing under the Hanna-Barbera label. Will you be bringing out the rest of the theatrical Popeye cartoons at WAC, since the series has been suspended at retail for years?

Those still need to be photochemically restored. We won't do anything with those at WAC, but we're hoping they'll be Blu-ray. We will be hopefully doing things with the made-for-TV Popeyes [at WAC], we have some very enterprising ideas for those. The H-B titles have been so extraordinary successful and die-hard animation fans appreciate the ability to now buy their rarest series and own them...and at the same time we can profitably offer up a group of films featuring talent that are ripe for rediscovery. I never would have guessed we'd have a release slate that combines Hanana-Barbera with Kay Francis, but there you have it. We really have different classifications of fans, something for everyone. That speaks to the wide variety of our library.


With such a large library, how do you go about setting priorities for releases?

We have just finished doing a gorgeous restoration and master of "The Unfinished Dance,'' which hadn't been touched since a 1988 master that looks pretty awful. I had it scheduled for later in April, but because it involved a psychotic ballet dancer we decided to move it up to March 29, the very same day that the "Black Swan" comes out [from Fox, at retail], which seemed like a great opportunity...We have upped our standards significantly for WAC. People are asking for some of their favorite [Bette] Davis or Humphrey [Bogart titles]. We won't release them unless we can remaster them. Because of the success we've had we're reinvesting in the business. We're also working more closely with other vendors that sell movies to people who don't necessarily use the Internet. We've given "The Great Caruso,'' a title that skews older, as an exclusive to Critics Choice Video. Movies Unlimited [which also operates TCM's retail site] will be getting our first two Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy titles, "Naughty Marietta'' and "Sweethearts,'' as exclusives next month.


WAC's recent release of "Don Juan'' included the Vitaphone shorts that were shown during its original engagement in 1926. Will you be offering special features on other releases?

Some of our upcoming MGM musicals will have outtake musical sequences that have never been seen -- not just recycled from other releases. We've spoken with some directors about recording commentary tracks. We feel that with certain films you just can't put them out without any kind of context. We're doing everything we can within our limited means to improve the presentation quality. We want people to really be proud they can have these movies on their shelves. We're going to be adding full four-color labels to our releases...all of those things will help to improve the consumer experience.


Were VHS sales figures useful in predicting popularity of titles, or has the demographics and tastes of buyers changed significantly since then?

We're putting out a lot of things that were never out on VHS. Monogram cowboy sets, more Vitaphone [shorts], Pete Smith, Fitzpatrick TravelTalks. There will be more TV series, but we have to go back into the files and research every episode for music clearances and other rights. The classic WB TV series are among the most frequently requested titles from our library. Even my colleagues in other divisions at the studio will often call to ask when their favorite classic Warner series are coming out.


What else is on tap?

We are always looking to make things better. We've already remastered a handful of our original releases [from two years ago]. We will make special arrangements for consumers who supported us to obtain the remastered versions at a very minimal price in about a month. There are 8 or 10 of them coming. We're going to let people travel into our vault. Our next Podcast will be a very rare radio presentation of "Yolanda and the Thief.'' We're going to be putting cool things out on on discs and podcasts.


Is that you speaking as the voice of WAC on its Facebook page?

I am one of several people that have administrative privileges. I'm the only person who can speak to the rights and film element information. Fans are very passionate about what they want, and everybody wants everything now. We try to shine a light on the process that goes into bringing out these releases, so that people will understand the significant amount of work behind the scenes that results in the release of this film, or that TV series and so forth. Social media allows the opportunity to discuss with fans what's coming and what may take a while because of issues with the film elements or the rights issues. It used to be that once a year we'd have a chat on the Home Theater Forum. Now we can communciate withc consumers directly, and get to do so in an environment where people are respectful of the opportunity they have to be acknowledged. We have very ambitions plans that we hope can expand our use of Facebook.



What about WAC's Twitter feed? Whoever is doing that is very funny.

One of my colleagues is quite a humorist. The Twitter is so much about providing information as engaging with people.


The last time I spoke with you, around a year ago, you were introducing remastered titles. The Facebook page has recently mentioned that some titles like "Vivacious Lady'' and "Five Came Back'' were undergoing photochemical restoration as well. When will those start coming through?

"Five Came Back'' has been in the lab for three years and we still have problems. If it's not top quality, it's going to stay in the vault until we can rectify that. Ned Price's team does great photochemical restoration as part of the company's ongoing efforts in this area.


The Facebook page mentioned that "The Unsinkable Molly Brown,'' which had been available at retail and is now out of print, will be coming back via the Archive. Will there be other OOP titles like "The Crimson Pirate''?

There are right issues on "The Crimson Pirate,'' but there are 200 other out-of-print titles we will now be able to bring back with the same features as the original retail releases. We're now using some dual-layer discs that give us a good bit rate for longer titles. In the past, we were limited by he space on DVD 5s and on some titles, we had to leave the trailers off because it would drop the bit rate. Now that is no longer a problem.


There are still some very highly sought, high profile titles not released on DVD -- like "Northwest Passage,'' "A Guy Named Joe,'' "Viva Villa,'' "Ceiling Zero,'' the 1939 "The Great Waltz.'' Will those all eventually turn up at WAC or is there some chance they may go retail?

Some of them may be available at retail. It's up in the air. "Ceiling Zero'' has rights issues.


What about the long-discussed set for Jean Harlow's centennial this year?


I'm not commenting on our Harlow plans. We have something special in mind. We've gotten too many kicks in the butt when we've been honest and open [in the past] and things changed.


What about speculation that "Red Dust'' and "Bombshell'' might be debuting on Blu-ray?

Not true.


There's a rumor going around that WHV will be licensing "The Magnificent Ambersons'' to Criterion.

Not true.


You've been reissuing some retail evergreens with fresh DVD covers -- "Auntie Mame" and "The Great Ziegfeld,'' for instance. Would the present climate support Blu-ray releases?

Maybe 2013 for "Auntie Mame.'' Consumer acceptance of classics on Blu-ray is painfully limited. That breaks my heart. We've put out a lot of great titles that have not performed particularly well. Nobody wants to hear the scenario is tough within the retail marketplace. All of our releases have been profitable but it takes a lot longer to get there. One of the biggest retailers just cut their space for catalogue titles by 30 percent. The fact is, we have to be accountable for profitability, so the challenges in the marketplace make this a difficult area in which to succeed. Nevertheless, our commitment to do so remains strong and we have a very robust schedule for classics. We thought we'd have some Marx Brothers titles [on Blu-ray] by now, but they still need work.


Warners recently cleared the rights to another long-unavailable title, "The Constant Nymph,'' which will premiere at next month's TCM Classic Film Festival. When will that be available on DVD?

The ink on the "Night Flight'' deal wasn't dry when I came to work in January and heard that "Constant Nymph'' had been cleared as well. We tried to get a video master going right away, but there were problems with the film elements. We're making new ones off the original camera negative. Within a year, there will be a very nice DVD. I'm not sure if it will be at the Warner Archive Collection or at retail.