DVD Talk review of 'The Flying Fleet'
02-07-10 | 11:12 AM
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DVD Talk review of 'The Flying Fleet'
I read John Sinnott's DVD review of The Flying Fleet at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42101 and...
I read John Sinnott's DVD review of The Flying Fleet at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42101 and...
There needs to be some protest of the norm on these WB Archive issues. Love having the films out but for instance on the Bert Lahr "Flying High" there is persistent bobbing of the camera which would have been easy to fix. They are not charging low budget prices on these films, they could do a minimum of restoration. On "Exit Smiling" the score was TCM's from a contest, nice audition for the composer but totally inappropriate to the film - more apt for an Eisenstein Soviet protest drama. At a list of $30, just wrong. Criterion does massive restoration and extras for not much more of a list price, and doesn't do DVRs either.
I read John Sinnott's DVD review of The Flying Fleet at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42101 and...
There needs to be some protest of the norm on these WB Archive issues. Love having the films out but for instance on the Bert Lahr "Flying High" there is persistent bobbing of the camera which would have been easy to fix. They are not charging low budget prices on these films, they could do a minimum of restoration. On "Exit Smiling" the score was TCM's from a contest, nice audition for the composer but totally inappropriate to the film - more apt for an Eisenstein Soviet protest drama. At a list of $30, just wrong. Criterion does massive restoration and extras for not much more of a list price, and doesn't do DVRs either.
02-07-10 | 12:19 PM
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Re: DVD Talk review of 'The Flying Fleet'
The list price of Warner Archive titles is $19.95, not $30.
I agree that they could restore these films but they are not going to. The whole point (for them) is to make money off of films in their vaults that would otherwise be unreleased. They are simply digitizing the best print they have and putting that on a no-frills DVD. They're quite clear about that on their web page and even provide video clips to most if not all of their releases. If they were acting like many of the public domain companies and claiming that the films are 'digitally remastered!" I'd be the first one to cry foul.
Your comment about Criterion is flawed too. Criterion puts out art films and carefully selects which films they think will sell enough copies for them to turn a profit. Warners does that too. They released restored versions of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind recently. The thing is while Criterion can sell thousands of units just because of their name and the type of film they select, there aren't people who will buy "Cattletown" staring Amanda Blake and Dennis Morgan. There's just no market. That's why WB went with a burn-on-demand system. It costs more per disc than pressing 10,000 DVDs but there's not any leftover either.
I agree that they could restore these films but they are not going to. The whole point (for them) is to make money off of films in their vaults that would otherwise be unreleased. They are simply digitizing the best print they have and putting that on a no-frills DVD. They're quite clear about that on their web page and even provide video clips to most if not all of their releases. If they were acting like many of the public domain companies and claiming that the films are 'digitally remastered!" I'd be the first one to cry foul.
Your comment about Criterion is flawed too. Criterion puts out art films and carefully selects which films they think will sell enough copies for them to turn a profit. Warners does that too. They released restored versions of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind recently. The thing is while Criterion can sell thousands of units just because of their name and the type of film they select, there aren't people who will buy "Cattletown" staring Amanda Blake and Dennis Morgan. There's just no market. That's why WB went with a burn-on-demand system. It costs more per disc than pressing 10,000 DVDs but there's not any leftover either.
Last edited by John Sinnott; 02-08-10 at 09:17 AM.
