April 2010 The Warner Archive

April 2010: The Warner Archive

by John Gallagher

THE WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION: In my opinion the single most important development for vintage film lovers since Turner Classic Movies hit the airwaves on April 14, 1994 is the Warner Archive Collection. Each month more and more titles are added to the Archive, available in no-frills DVDs (though many include original trailers) through wbshop.com/warnerarchive, or on-demand. The goal is to eventually offer all the titles in the Warners, MGM and RKO libraries. For folks of a certain age who grew up loving movies from catching commercial-laden broadcasts from their local TV stations or at long-lost repertory houses like the Thalia, the Elgin, Theatre 80 St. Marks’ and especially William K. Everson’s long-running Friday night series at The New School, it is nothing less than a miracle of accessibility. Now, some online critics have complained that the Archive has caused Warner Home Video to cut back on their catalogue releases, but the sheer volume of titles that would have never made it to the consumer except via TCM broadcast trumps this argument. It wasn’t so long ago that you’d have to journey to the Library of Congress Motion Picture Section in D. C. to see some of these pictures -; now we can get instant gratification watching on our computers!

The Archive offers a wide variety of titles including silents, Pre-Codes, all kinds of genres, movies by great directors (Wellman, Walsh, Vidor), great stars (Gable, Crawford, Tracy), rarities, and even TV movies from the 70’s and 80’s. Raoul Walsh is well represented with titles like THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE (1941), a boisterous Gay 90’s comedy-drama starring James Cagney, Rita Hayworth and Olivia de Havilland; MANPOWER (1941), an even more boisterous comedy-drama starring Marlene Dietrich, Edward G. Robinson and George Raft; the Ida Lupino romantic drama, THE MAN I LOVE (1946) a major influence on Martin Scorsese’s NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977); the World War II Technicolor aviation drama FIGHTER SQUADRON (1948) with Robert Stack and in his first (uncredited) film, Rock Hudson (who Walsh discovered and placed under personal contract); the vastly underrated Western COLORADO TERRITORY (1949) starring Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo, a remake of Walsh’s 1941 Bogart-Lupino classic HIGH SIERRA; and the political drama A LION IS IN THE STREETS (1953), with Cagney as a political bayou demagogue.

Wild Bill Wellman is on hand with his 1926 silent comedy THE BOOB, featuring a pre-stardom Joan Crawford; his Pre-Code aviation drama CENTRAL AIRPORT (1933) with Richard Barthelmess, and, in a bit in the crash finale, John Wayne; the neglected, delightful comedy THE HAPPY YEARS (1950) starring 13-year old Dean Stockwell as incorrigible John Humperdinck Stover terrorizing the Princeton’s Lawrenceville prep school in the 1890’s; and Wellman’s last picture, the James Garner war pic DARBY’S RANGERS (1958), shot after Wild Bill’s LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE, but released first. The Archive also offers THE LAST GANGSTER (1937) starring Edward G. Robinson and a young Jimmy Stewart, based on a Wellman story, produced at MGM but looking and playing like a Warners crime saga. Wellman and Walsh both made many movies for Warner’s in the 30’s and 40s and these terrific movies will no doubt be among the Archive’s future releases.

I’ve been looking for CONVICTS 4 (1962) ever since I saw it as a little kid at the late lamented Walker Theatre on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn, and here it is in the Archive, a compelling prison picture with a powerhouse cast headed by Ben Gazzara (who I had the privilege to direct in BLUE MOON, 37 years later!) with Vincent Price, Rod Steiger, Broderick Crawford and Sammy Davis Jr. There are two lesser known films by the great King Vidor -; the exceptional H. M. PULHAM, ESQ. (1941), based on John Marquand’s novel about a Boston Brahmin going through a mid-life crisis, with Robert Young and Hedy Lamarr, and the overambitious but worthwhile AN AMERICAN ROMANCE (1944), with Brian Donlevy as an immigrant making good in the States, the third part of Vidor’s War (THE BIG PARADE), Wheat (OUR DAILY BREAD) and Steel Americana trilogy.

Browse through the Archive and discover the brilliant Rex Ingram silent swashbuckler SCARAMOUCHE (1923), a visual masterpiece like all of Ingram’s work, and Michael Curtiz’ powerful pre-Code crime drama 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING (1933), the only pairing of Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis, considered the best actor and actress of their day, with two Oscars each during the ‘30s. Here they are very early in their careers, at ages 32 and 24, respectively, superb under Curtiz’ crackling direction. There’s plenty of MGM production value and gloss in MEN IN WHITE (1934), an early forerunner of ER, starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in an adaptation of Sidney Kingsley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, directed by underrated great Richard Boleslavski (his RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS with John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore is also available in the Archive). Joan Crawford and Margaret Sullavan shine in THE SHINING HOUR (1938), directed by the great romanticist of the American cinema, Frank Borzage, a heartfelt triangle drama set in Wisconsin farmlands. Tay Garnett elicited one of Greer Garson’s finest performances in MRS. PARKINGTON (1944), a multi-generational drama teaming her with frequent co-star Walter Pidgeon. B-movie veteran Lesley Selander directs Ann Dvorak in the hitherteo hard-to-find I WAS AN AMERICAN SPY (1951), the true story of Claire Philips, a nightclub singer in the Philippines dubbed the American Mata Hari for her espionage activities against the Japanese. Budd Boetticher directed Randolph Scott in seven gritty Westerns between 1955 and 1960, all classics of the genre, and the Archive includes one of the best, 1959’s WESTBOUND, co-starring Virginia Mayo. This is just the tip of the proverbial Archive iceberg, with monthly additions to lift the hearts of movie buffs.

The success of The Warner Archive has inspired 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment to create a similar program exploiting their MGM/UA catalogue. Classic films, made-for-TV movies and television shows via CreateSpace’s DVD on Demand service. The entire collection of MGM DVD-on-Demand titles is showcased at www.amazon.com/mgmcollection, with titles like Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ THE HONEY POT (1967), his updating VOLPONE with Rex Harrison; Robert Montgomery’s THE GALLANT HOURS (1960) with James Cagney as Admiral Bull Halsey; Hal Ashby’s directorial debut THE LANDLORD (1970); and Sidney Lumet’s sublime GARBO TALKS (1984) with Anne Bancroft in one of her finest roles.

UNIVERSAL: The release of Tim Burton’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND has prompted Universal to open the vaults of their pre-1949 Paramount library and present for the first time on DVD the 1933 all-star production directed by Norman McLeod. It’s a quirky, inventive, appropriately trippy adaptation of the Lewis Carroll story, distinguished by the William Cameron Menzies (GONE WITH THE WIND) production design and Dimitri Tiomkin score (one of his first). The McLeod ALICE IN WONDERLAND boasts one of the most luminous casts of Golden Age Hollywood, almost unrecognizable in elaborate makeup and wardrobe -; W. C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty, Gary Cooper as The White Knight, Cary Grant as The Mock Turtle, Richard Arlen as The Cheshire Cat, Edward Everett Horton as The Mad Hatter, Roscoe Karns as Tweedledee, Jack Oakie as Tweedledum, Edna May Oliver as The Red Queen, Charlie Ruggles as The March Hare, Ned Sparks as The Caterpillar, Sterling Holloway as The Frog, Mae Marsh as The Sheep, Alison Skipworth as The Duchess, May Robson as The Queen of Hearts, and Billy Barty as The White Pawn. Charlotte Henry, who plays Alice, went on to star in another beloved family classic the following year, as Bo Peep opposite Laurel and Hardy in THE MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS.

CARY GRANT: THE EARLY YEARS is the latest from the TCM Vault Collection, with three entertaining Paramounts. When Gary Cooper rebelled against the studio bosses, the front office turned Archibald Leach into Cary Grant (flipping Coop’s initials to rename their new star). Marion Gering’s DEVIL AND THE DEEP (1932) is a vehicle for Cooper and Tallulah Bankhead, with Cary in a supporting role, but the movie is alone worth the price of this set. Living vividly in memory from WPIX telecasts in the 70s and WNET in the 80s, the picture has been MIA for too long, never released on VHS or DVD, and has never looked better. It’s a delirious potboiler most notable as the American screen debut of the inimitable Charles Laughton, who chews the scenery shamelessly as the cuckolded commandant (I love his laugh: “Ha ha ho ho hm hm”). Laughton realizes wife Tallulah is carrying on with Coop, and there is an unforgettable moment when Laughton tells him, “It must be a happy thing to look like you do. I suppose women love you.” The first half of DEVIL is faux Sternberg camp, the second half a taut psychological submarine thriller. THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK (1933) co-stars Grant with Fredric March and a gorgeous Carole Lombard, in a gripping World War One aviation drama utilizing dogfight footage from Wellman’s WINGS (1927). While the picture is credited to Stuart Walker and Mitchell Leisen, March indicated in interviews late in his life that Leisen was at the helm of the picture. It’s still powerful stuff, and certainly one of Grant’s better early performances. THE LAST OUTPOST (1935) stars Grant and Claude Rains in an adventure-with-love triangle capitalizing on the sets of Paramount’s “A” hit LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER from the same year (which ironically starred Cooper), set in Turkistan and the Sudan during World War One. It’s great fun watching Cary Grant in these early outings before he really found his screen persona working with George Cukor (1936’s SYLVIA SCARLETT, 1938’s HOLIDAY and 1940’s THE PHILADELPHIA STORY)), Leo McCarey (1937’s THE AWFUL TRUTH) and Howard Hawks (BRINGING UP BABY, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS and HIS GIRL FRIDAY in 1938, ’39, and ’40).

FLICKER ALLEY: Jeff Massino's Flicker Alley continues its dazzling line of vintage releases with Rene Clair's influential 1927 silent French comedy THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT, which Pauline Kael called "one of the funniest films ever made ... so expertly timed and choreographed that farce becomes ballet." It's a perfect description for this bourgeois satire. As with all the Flicker Alley titles (this is their 11th release) the DVD is lavishly appointed; we get a choice of two music scores, one by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, one by pianist Phillip Carli. Extras include Clair's 1928 short, LA TOUR (THE EIFFEL TOWER) and a film that inspired the director, NOCHE EN GOGETTE (FUN AFTER THE WEDDING (1907), plus essays by Iris Barry and Lenny Borger, and the complete 1851 Eugene Labische-Mark Michele play "Un Chapeau, de Paille de Italie” upon which the movie is based (included as a DVD-ROM extra). A note about the print: this release is the only complete version of THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT available in this country, mastered in hi-def from a combination British release and the original French print.

IFC FILMS/MPI MEDIA GROUP: Larry Fessenden, actor-director-producer, has

made a series of terrific indie genre movies, including THE LAST WINTER and WENDIGO. His latest picture is one of his best, the period body-snatching horror picture I SELL THE DEAD. Fessenden stars with Dominic Monaghan and PHANTASM's Angus Scrimm. The directorial debut of Glenn McQuaid, I SELL THE DEAD is witty, wicked fun in the Hammer tradition that will delight horror fans with its knowing homage to gothic cinema. Winner of the best cinematography prize at Slamdance, I SELL THE DEAD is an absolute must for discerning fright film addicts. Cedric Klapisch's PARIS was a huge hit in France, receiving three Cesar nominations with its brilliantly entertaining love letter to the City of Lights. The touching comedy-drama features some of France's finest actors -- Juliette Binoche, Eric Rohmer favorite Fabrice Luccini, Melanie Laurent (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS), and Albert Dupontel (IRREVERSIBLE). The directorial debut of John Krasinski (part of the 2009 NBR Best Ensemble for IT’S COMPLICATED), BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN is based on the short story collection by David Foster Wallace, involving a recently dumped doctorial candidate (Julianne Nicholson) interviewing random men about why they've mistreated women. The interviewees include such wonderful actors as Timothy Hutton, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Meloni, Chris Messina, Will Arnett, Frankie Faison and Krasinski, and range from the hilarious to the dark and disturbing. I SELL THE DEAD, PARIS and BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN are available on DVD and Blu-ray.

2009 NBR AWARD FILMS: Several 2009 NBR award winners are newly available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Based on the Walter Kirn novel, Jason Reitman's brilliant UP IN THE AIR (Paramount Home Entertainment), the NBR’s Best Film, features perhaps the best performance ever from George Clooney (co-winner with INVICTUS' Morgan Freeman for NBR Best Actor) and stunning work from Anna Kendrick, the NBR Best Supporting Actress (the script by Reitman and Sheldon Turner also won our Best Adapted Screenplay Prize) and Vera Farmiga. UP IN THE AIR is truly a great film, a perfect sociological mirror of our times. Extras include audio commentary and deleted scenes. Lone Scherfig's charming coming of age drama AN EDUCATION (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) is visually stunning, with superb acting from Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosemund Pike, Carey Mulligan, Dominic Cooper and Emma Thompson, and a compelling recreation of 1960's England. Bonus features include deleted scenes, production featurette, red carpet premiere footage and commentary by Sherfig, Mulligan and Sarsgaard.

E1: THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES COLLECTOR’S EDITION is a fantastic nine-DVD collection of one of the most beloved programs in TV history. A huge influence on SEINFELD, the show takes place in an often surreal urban neighborhood world inhabited by out of work actors Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, landlord Sidney Fields, policeman Gordon Jones, and 40-year old Joe Besser in Little Lord Fauntleroy garb as the unforgettable Stinky. Bud and Lou recycled dozens of their vaudeville and motion picture skits for the half hour series, which has been beautifully restored and remastered. This set features a 44-page book on the history of the show by Ron Palumbo, an introduction by Lou's daughters Chris and Paddy, archival documents and photos, and a complete episode guide. There are also four photo postcards from the original publicity. The three hours of bonus features include a 1978 tribute hosted by Milton Berle, a classic routines reel, home movies from the Costello family, interviews with Chris and Paddy Costello, and the restored 1948 short 10,000 KIDS AND A COP about Lou's charity work.

LORBER: Serge Bozon’s extraordinary LA FRANCE (2007) is one of the most original works of the last few years, a hybrid war film and musical, by turns emotionally affecting and, in the four musical sequences, deliriously poetic. The only movie that it can be remotely likened to is Richard Attenborough’s OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR (1968), also set during World War One, but LA FRANCE is far more delicate and ephemeral. Beautifully directed, gorgeously photographed (by Bozon’s sister Celine) in the French countryside, and wonderfully acted (especially by Sylvie Testud as a young woman who leaves her provincial town to search for her soldier husband), LA FRANCE is an unheralded gem, and highly recommended.

OLIVE FILMS: Frank Tarzi's Olive Films bursts onto the scene with a baker's dozen of international independent films. Gary Walko's NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND (1995) is an adaptation of the Dostoevsky classic staring Henry Czerny, Sheryl Lee, Jon Favreau and Seth Green; Pavel Chukhraj's THE THIEF, set in post-WWII Russia, was a 1997 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film; Iranian filmmaker Marzieh Makhmalbaf's THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN (2000) won three awards at the Venice Film Festival including Best First Film and the Discovery Award at Toronto; James Merendino's AMERIKANA (2001) is a Dogme road movie; Florian Habicht's WOODEN HEAD (2003) is a twisted fairy-tale fantasy from New Zealand; Stuart Main's 50 WAYS OF SAYING FABULOUS (2005) is a lovely New Zealand coming of age story about a teenage boy's gay awakening; Aku Louhimies' FROZEN LAND (2005) a Bergmanesque drama from Finland; Marius Holst's MIRUSH (2007) a poignant story about a 15 year old boy from Kosovo who travels to Norway in search of his father; Jose Joffaly's WHO KILLED PIXOTE? (1996) the heartbreaking bio-pic of Fernando Romes Da Silvo, the non-actor picked by Hector Babenco to star in PIXOTE and the tragedies that later befell him; and Kate Fitzgerald's IN PASSING (2006) a lesbian love story perfectly acted by Vanessa Kelly and Julia Garrison. Olive also releases superior documentaries: Ernesto Ardito and Verna Molina's RAYMUNDO: THE REVOLUTIONARY FILMMAKERS STRUGGLE (2002) about Raymundo Glezer, the Argentine filmmaker kidnapped and murdered by the country’s military dictatorship in 1976; Ben Wright's ZIZEK: THE REALITY OF THE VIRTUAL (2004), from Great Britain, documenting a lecture by the renowned political thinker; and Masoud Raouf's THE TREE THAT REMEMBERS (2002), the story of a young Iranian student, a refugee from the Ayatollah's regime, who hanged himself on the outskirts of a small Ontario town. These are fascinating works that will be new to most viewers and are highly recommended for connoisseurs of art cinema. Olive's appearance on the DVD stage is welcome indeed; they have struck a licensing deal with Paramount that will see the releases of a score of much desired titles like Nicholas Ray's THE SAVAGE INNOCENCTS (1971) with Anthony Quinn and Peter O’Toole, and Otto Preminger's long unseen HURRY SUNDOWN (1967) and SKIDOO (1968). More on these as they’re released.

BEAR MANOR MEDIA has a simply incredible catalogue of pop culture books, incredible for digging far deeper into film, TV and radio history than any major publisher would ever dare. Take for example David W. Menefee’s biography George O’Brien: A Man’s Man in Hollywood, a thorough examination of the life and career of this great silent star, the leading man of Murnau’s epochal SUNRISE (1927). O’Brien had a special relationship with John Ford, and was his favorite pre-John Wayne leading man, starring in the Master’s first smash hit, THE IRON HORSE (1924), and THANK YOU (1925), THE FIGHTING HEART (1925), 3 BAD MEN (1926), THE BLUE EAGLE (1926), and the early talkies SALUTE (1929) and THE SEAS BENEATH (1931). O’Brien loved doing outdoors pictures and happily starred in dozens of B Westerns during the 30s before being cast by Ford in FORT APACHE (1948) and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1939). O’Brien would also appear in Ford’s final Western, CHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964). Menefee has done his research here, accessing the O’Brien estate, and loading the book with great graphics and rare photos. O’Brien was the son of the Chief of Police of San Francisco, and the author does a particularly excellent job in recreating the details of the 1906 earthquake and fire, which the O’Brien family survived.

The great and prolific film historian Anthony Slide’s Frank Lloyd: Master of Screen Melodrama pays long overdue tribute to the director of CAVALCADE (1933) and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935), both Oscar Best Picture winners, one of the top filmmakers of his day, and all but forgotten today. His career spanned from 1913 through 1955 and included one of the first versions of OLIVER TWIST (1922), the first THE SEA HAWK (1924), BERKELEY SQUARE (1933) with Leslie Howard, UNDER TWO FLAGS (1936) with Ronald Colman and Claudette Colbert, IF I WERE KING (1938) with Colman, and THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA (1940) with Cary Grant, all reflecting the filmmaker’s interest in the drama inherent in historical themes. In the first five years of the Academy Awards, Lloyd actually won two Best Director Oscars for THE DIVINE LADY and CAVALCADE, clearly a major talent, and extend gratitude to Tony Slide for commemorating his screen accomplishments.

Sarah Baker achieves the same distinction with Lucky Stars: Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell (with a foreword by director Allison Anders), a dual bio of two of the most important and popular starts of the late silent/early sound era. Immortalized by Frank Borzage in the extraordinary 7th HEAVEN (1927), STREET ANGEL (1928), and LUCKY STAR (1929) Gaynor and Farrell were screendom’s greatest romantic team during this period, and under his exquisite direction touched the hearts of an entire generation. While they made eight other films together with such directors as David Butler and Raoul Walsh, it is the three Borzages that represent their penultimate collaboration, three movies that represent the great artistic heights possible during the late silents. All three titles are available in 20th Century-Fox’s Borzage/Murnau set from a couple of years ago and endlessly reward the viewer. In Lucky Stars the author includes previously unpublished interviews with Gaynor and Farrell, over 100 photographs, and has drawn upon the Fox Archives at UCLA, among others.

George Raft: The Man Who Would Be Bogart by Stone Wallace is another exceptional study of an important star. Wallace details the myths and the realities about Raft’s mob ties, his ladies’ man reputation, and especially the Hollywood legends about turning down HIGH SIERRA, THE MALTESE FALCON (both 1941)and CASABLANCA (1943), hence making Bogie a star and relegating himself to a catch-as-catch-can career for the next 25 years. While no one will claim that Raft was a great actor, he was certainly a fascinating screen personality, always fun to watch. Many directors did bring out his best, including Hawks in Raft’s breakthrough picture SCARFACE (1932), Tay Garnett in SHE COULDN’T TAKE IT (1935), Frank Tuttle in THE GLASS KEY, Henry Hathaway in SOULS AT SEA (1937) and SPAWN OF THE NORTH (1938), Fritz Lang in YOU AND ME (1938), William Keighley in EACH DAWN I DIE (1939) and especially Raoul Walsh in THE BOWERY (1933), THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940) and MANPOWER (1941).

Bear Manor Media is doing a great job filling in the gaps in our pop culture history Visit their website at http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com; you’re guaranteed to find something to intrigue you, as well as audio books, DVDs, t-shirts and much cool stuff.

John Gallagher

jgmovie@gmail.com