Here’s one for you. What do Rin Tin Tin, Looney Tunes, “Casablanca,” “Dirty Harry,” Superman and Harry Potter have in common?
All came to the big movie screen courtesy of Warner Bros., which turns 85 in April.
As part of a year-long birthday celebration, the studio is planning numerous new- to- DVD releases and a new multi-part documentary to premiere on PBS in September.
“This (the 85th anniversary) isn’t just another hook so we can repackage and sell some old discs like some studios do,” said George Feltenstein, senior vice president, theatrical catalog marketing of Warner Home Video, during a recent interview. “We’ll have at least 50 restored titles that will be on DVD for the first time.”
The documentary, “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story,” will be produced, written and directed by the highly respected film critic/historian Richard Schickel and narrated by Clint Eastwood. It will air in three parts on PBS’s acclaimed “American Masters” series.
“It was Richard who approached us about doing the project,” Feltenstein said. “He reminded us that we had an important anniversary coming up and he had always wanted to do a history of Warner Bros.”
Schickel’s interest is understandable. There is much to celebrate about a studio that has offered such a wide range of films and a sparkling lineup of stars for nearly nine decades.
And Warner has always been an impact player in the world of motion pictures. It was Warner Bros. that ushered in Hollywood’s sound age with the release of the first feature-length film with spoken dialogue, “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson, in October 1927. It also was Warner Bros. slightly more than 80 years later that also struck the deciding blow in the high-definition DVD war when the studio announced that it was backing the Blu-ray format. A few weeks later, rival HD-DVD waved the white flag.
In between, the studio launched its legendary crime cycle in the 1930s that led to stardom for James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart. Warner Bros. also gave us Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. In the mid-1950s, the studio made the leap into television production and other studios quickly followed.
Meanwhile, because of various mergers and other events, Warner Bros. has amassed the most impressive film library in the world. It includes not only practically every Warner film and short subject from the past 85 years, but also nearly all pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer features and shorts and most of the RKO titles, too.
Feltenstein said Jack Warner, one of the four brothers who incorporated the studio in 1923, would probably smile to know that Warner Bros. now owns so many of the MGM movies.
“There’s some irony in there because Louis B. Mayer (one of driving forces behind MGM) and Jack Warner had a genuine friendship,” Feltenstein said. Warner, the youngest of the brothers, died in 1978.
Mayer died in 1957.
“We will continue to do some films from MGM and RKO for DVD this year, but our main focus will be on the Warner titles,” Feltenstein said.
When it comes to DVD, no one has managed to do it quite as well as Warner Home Video. The company has released terrific multi-disc collections spotlighting films of Bogart, Cagney, Flynn, Davis, James Stewart, Paul Newman, John Wayne and many more. Almost every title is accompanied by “Warner Night at the Movies,” which features coming attractions, a cartoon and other short subjects from the feature film’s release year.
The obvious care given the films for DVD release is due to people in the organization such as Feltenstein, whose infectious enthusiasm for these classics is matched only by his knowledge of them.
“We are proud of our holdings,” Feltenstein said. “It is a great experience when you see these classic movies in their restored form.”
Kicking off the big 2008 wave of DVDs will be the new “Bonnie and Clyde Ultimate Collector’s Edition” (1967, $39.98) starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, scheduled for release March 25. It includes a remastered version of the film, more than two hours of extras, a History Channel documentary, a 24-page reproduction of the original press book and much more.
Also to be released March 25 is the 6-disc “Gangsters Collection Volume 3” ($59.92), which includes Cagney in “Picture Snatcher” (1933), “Lady Killer” (1933) and “Mayor of Hell” (1933); Bogart in “Black Legion” (1937); Robinson in “Smart Money” (1931); and Bogart and Robinson in “Brother Orchid” (1940).
Among the other DVD specials scheduled for the coming months are two Frank Sinatra box sets, “The Golden Years” and “The Early Years”; a Sinatra and Gene Kelly set; “How the West Was Won: Special Edition”; an Errol Flynn Western set; a Western Classics Collection, “Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory,” Volume 3; a new horror collection with Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre; and new Ultimate Collector’s Editions of all five Dirty Harry films.
Feltenstein admits to a fondness for the films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and feels driven to introduce them to new generations.
“They can’t appreciate the films if they don’t ever get a chance to see them,” he said.
There also will be new ultimate editions of such titles as “Cool Hand Luke,” “Gypsy,” “Splendor in the Grass” and “A Christmas Story.” Warner will continue to issue new titles on Blu-ray. Among them will be “Bonnie and Clyde,” “How the West Was Won” and a Batman anthology; look for some vintage classics to pop up on the new format.
For movie fans, it’s going to be a very good year, thanks to Warner Bros.
