The Extras
The Extras
5 Films From the 50s: Warner Archive June Blu-ray Reviews of “Caged,” “The Damned Don’t Cry,” “Angel Face,” “Dangerous When Wet,” & "The Old Man and the Sea"
George Feltenstein of Warner Bros joins the podcast to review 5 films from the 1950s now available on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive. We discuss the merits of the films, the restoration, and all of the EXTRAS so that you can make an informed buying decision.
First up is the women's prison drama, "Caged" (1950), starring Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, and Hope Emerson. We break down the exceptional performances in this socially conscious drama that make the film still relevant today.
Next is the noir thriller "The Damned Don't Cry" (1950), featuring a powerful performance by Joan Crawford, and strong supporting performances by David Brian, Steve Cochran, Kent Smith. For years this was an underrated film, but now it has returned to its rightful place as one of Joan Crawford's best. Loaded with extras, this remastered release has never looked or sounded better.
Then put on your seatbelt, as we examine the RKO noir classic "Angel Face" (1953) starring Robert Mitchum and a dazzling performance by the beautiful Jean Simmons. A new 4K scan restores this film to its original luster making for a mesmerizing viewing experience.
Our next film is pure entertainment, as we review the 1953 MGM musical "Dangerous When Wet" starring "America's Mermaid" Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, Jack Carson, Charlotte Greenwood, and Denise Darcel. This new 4K scan of the original technicolor camera negatives plus a disk packed with Extras makes for a tremendous new release.
And we finish with a review of the lyrical classic "The Old Man and the Sea" (1958). Writer Earnest Hemingway requested star Spencer Tracy and Tracy's performance earned him another Academy Award nomination. A new 4K scan of the original color camera negative returns the film to its original beauty, and restored audio means that Dimitri Tiomkin's Oscar-winning score has never sounded better.
Purchase on Amazon:
CAGED (1950)
ANGEL FACE (1953)
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950)
DANGEROUS WHEN WET (1953)
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1958)
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Hello and welcome to the extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies and animation, and they're released on digital DVD, blu-ray and 4K or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Millard, your host, and joining me today is George Feltenstein of Warner Brothers to review the June Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive. Hi, George.
George Feltenstein:Hi Tim, how are you?
TIM MILLARD:Well, I'm excited to talk about these June releases because I really enjoyed all of them, so I'm looking forward to this. But before we dive into the first title, there was one more Blu-ray and that was pushed back to July, and that's Land of the Pharaohs. Is there any update we can give to the listeners as to why that was pushed back?
George Feltenstein:There was a production issue and we resolved it, but in order to not have people expecting it in June, when it won't be ready until July, we moved the street date to July 18. So that will give plenty of time for everybody to get their disc, and I know that title is very, very much in demand. The fans are really excited about it and it'll be worth the wait. So a couple more weeks.
TIM MILLARD:And it actually pushes the release of that one a little closer to the Helen of Troy, which I think is a little later in July. So those who are ordering one, i think, are often ordering both of those two because they fall into the same kind of epic storytelling. So they'll have a great July when those releases come out. Absolutely, yeah. Well, I'm excited to go over these releases, as I mentioned, and they're all from the 50s, which is kind of fun. The first one we were going to go into, i think, chronologically here is Caged from 1950.
George Feltenstein:Really a magnificent film and the new presentation is revelatory. Most of what we are doing lately falls into that category, So it's almost like we're spoiling everyone, but happily so, because our standards are exacting. And in the case of Caged we went back to the nitrate camera negative. And the difference between this and what was on DVD is pretty jaw-dropping and it looks amazing. And when we released this film on DVD, we released it as part of a series of films that were in little box sets called Camp Classics, And whereas this film does have a little aspect of that, that's somewhat demeaning in the sense that this film is much more a piece of serious filmmaking than it is, let's say, something like Queen of Outer Space, which falls into that other category. It was a way to get the film out and market it at the time, And that was 16 years ago. But now we have this beautiful new 4K scan of the camera negative, beautiful new Blu-ray, impressive extras and a film that was nominated for best actress for Eleanor Parker, who's sensational in the leading role, Marie Allen, the innocent young lady who is considered an accessory to a crime because her young husband was pulled out of the film.
George Feltenstein:Her young husband was pulling off a robbery and she was considered an accomplice. She's thrown into this woman's prison and the film is really not shy about being realistic And it's deeply disturbing in a lot of places. It's deeply upsetting to watch in a lot of places, which means it's effective filmmaking. The performances are really exceptional by everyone. The direction by John Cromwell is equally impressive and not only did Eleanor Parker get a best actress nomination, but Hope Emerson, who plays the matron of the women and she's just evil as all get out. She was nominated for best supporting actress.
George Feltenstein:1950 was a pretty tough year because you had movies like we talked about this before, movies like all about Eve and sunset Boulevard and asphalt jungle. So many great movies made 1950. So while it didn't win those coveted Oscars, it was a big hit at the box office and got unofficially remade 12 years later as House of Women with Shirley Knight, which is something one archive put out on DVD years ago. But he stands on his own two feet. And I'd be remiss if I also didn't call out the exceptional performance of Agnes Morehead as the warden, because she gives a performance that is compassionate and yet dealing with the reality of, you know, the women's prison life, And it also made me think about another title that we released, which was pre code Barbara Stanwyck. Ladies They Talked About where Barbara Stanwyck is in a women's prison And to compare the 1933 look at a women's prison Before the code versus 1950 during the code.
George Feltenstein:This pretty much pushed the code envelope because there are a lot of things in the movie, in the scenario, that are deeply disturbing and a lot of things have to be implied rather than stated outright. But the audience is smart and gets what the story is about And this is a bona fide classic and one that Warner Brothers can be very proud of. This is perfect to be in line with our 100th anniversary releases because we have, you know, we dedicated one month in April to just Warner Brothers titles And this month has several in it And next month will have several in it And the month after that will have a few in it. But you know these really important movies will be scattered throughout the year And very, very grateful that we have the opportunity to put this out.
George Feltenstein:And we threw on a Bugs Bunny cartoon called Big House Bunny, which is from the same year, but obviously as a prison theme. I thought that would work well And we also included a radio show, Screen Directors Playhouse, which features Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson, and a very brief bit of speaking after the show with director John Cromwell, So that was not on the prior DVD release. I think it's a great disc And I think people really owe it to themselves to add it to their collection. It's a very distinct upgrade from the DVD as well.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, and I've talked about this movie on several different podcasts. For those listeners who are frequent listeners And I'm a big fan of this film the performances that you just mentioned I mean some of them are nominated, so people have acknowledged how great they are. I don't know Parker. She was fairly young. I remember reading about it that she actually wanted to do this role, which you think wow. That's pretty risky for an actress who's young, but she really, i think, wanted to test out her acting chops in a role that was demanding, like this, where she really has to transform from this naive 19-year-old girl who gets caught up in this robbery into this hardened criminal over the course of time. But the other beautiful thing about this film, i think, is that it fits right into that social consciousness that Warner Brothers is so known for And that really comes across, i thought, in the trailer, which pushes the need for reform and prison and all of those issues in this movie.
George Feltenstein:I couldn't agree more. It is of its time, but there are themes in the movie that are relevant today And our penal system is still in need of help, and I think this film points out the pitfalls of it. In a way, it's a kind of a real-life horror film and the monsters are real people. I've always been impressed by it And I'm grateful that we've had the opportunity to give it the upgrade for both preservation, restoration and creating a new new release. It's in nice with the rest of the Warner Archive mission.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, the image quality is terrific. I did see this in the theater about a year ago and it was terrific to see it on the big screen at a film festival. But to see it on my 4K, it's the Blu-ray, but to see it on my 4K monitor, man, it's crisp and it looks terrific. And then, of course, i love the Big House Bunny Just such a great extra on there.
George Feltenstein:It sets the tone because if you were to have seen it in the theater in 1950, it's very possible that would have been shown in the theater with it. It's very difficult to know exactly what was paired with what and we try to research that, But I thought in this case they shared the same year and, more importantly, there's a thematic tie-in And it doesn't make fun of the movie. It just kind of puts you in a good mood before you start to get really disturbed by the film itself, Right.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, i mean it gives a little counterweight to the seriousness of the movie, but it's a terrific package And I'm sure any fan of this film will want to pick up this new transfer. But I highly recommend it to those who aren't as familiar with this film. That you won't be disappointed, that's for sure. Well, next we have, i have to say, probably my favorite from this month, but that's just my own opinion.
George Feltenstein:You got good taste.
TIM MILLARD:Well, the next word is the damned don't cry from 1950. What can you tell us about this one?
George Feltenstein:Well, this is in my opinion. There were a few more that came after this, but this is the apex of Joan Crawford's tenure as a leading lady at Warner Brothers And I've always felt this is like aside from Mildred Pierce, which is in its own establishing era at the studio, this is like the penultimate zenith of Crawford at Warner Brothers And the way her character transforms and the plot is somewhat wild because it goes from so many it isn't particularly plausible, but it is basically using every device from several different kinds of portrayals that Joan Crawford had done in the past And she choose up the scenery appropriately. I think it's one of her best performances. I think the film is exceptionally well cast And it's always been a favorite, not just of mine but of many people I know who appreciate Joan Crawford's talent and artistry, and we had the great good fortune years ago of recording a commentary with director Vincent Sherman, who lived almost to the age of 100 and had perfect recall, and we had him report a commentary for this film and also appears in a little featurette that's on the disc and that adds so much gravitas to the whole presentation. This film was originally entitled The Victim, but I'm glad they changed the title to The Damn Don't Cry, because it just really hammers home What a kind of lush melodrama this is, and it's really a consummate Crawford performance.
George Feltenstein:That draws from the girl from the wrong side of the tracks And I use the term girl loosely because Crawford was about 46 or 45 when she made this film, depending. We don't quite know for sure what her actual birth year is. Some people say 1904. Some sources say 1907. I tend to believe it was 1904. And it was shooting in 1949, released in 1950. So let's say she was 46 at the time. They were already lighting her in such a way to try to hide the age. But she's very convincing as a young-ish mother who lives near the train tracks with her workaday husband and they're living in basic, close to poverty. And after a tragedy she leaves the small town, heads to the big city and won't let anything stand in her way. I don't want to give away the thought. But there are also wonderful supporting performances in this film. David Bryan is her leading man. They were reunited after making Flamingo Road the year before, which we released earlier this year. And there's also Steve Cochran, who is in Storm Warning that we talked about a couple of weeks ago. And then Kent Smith of Cat People fame has another role in the film And he really proves himself to be the man that loves Crawford's character. Crawford transforms from Doughty housewife Ethel Whitehead to Lorna Hansen, forbes Socialite. Yet no one can trace where she came from.
George Feltenstein:And I think this film is more than a guilty pleasure. It is to be enjoyed. And now I believe in recent years, it has come to be more seriously appreciated Because, let's say, 20 years ago it was pretty much forgotten And when we released it on DVD it was a very long time ago. It had never been released on VHS, never been released on Lazardis. This film was very hard to see for a long time. When we released it on DVD as part of our first Joan Crawford collection DVD set, and that was probably around 2005, i'm thinking or 2006, it was very well received And I think that helped. Usually it started being shown on television more frequently and there were theatrical retrospectives that included it in Crawford festivals And now people get to really enjoy it.
George Feltenstein:But it's a packed disc because this film was given a treatment like Cabe's that was restored from the original camera negative, which was nitrate, and given an audio restoration as well.
George Feltenstein:It's in sounds tremendous, and we have Vincent Sherman's archival commentary. We have the feature at about Crawford at Warner's that deals with the kind of roles she's playing at the studio. It's short but sweet. And then we have the radio show from screen directors playhouse but unlike Caged, Vincent Sherman is on hand with Crawford and the leading man role played by David Bryan is covered by Frank Lovejoy, who was a Warner contract player at the time, who was actually starring with Joan Crawford in a film that was being shot when the radio show was done, called Goodbye My Fancy. So the whole package works really, really well. The trailer is on there, so it's a solid package that looks and sounds great. It's a film that is very entertaining and a must for Crawford fans, and I would even say this is a film among others, that's if you're not familiar with Joan Crawford. This is a great film to start with, along with things like Mildred Pierce and Mingle Road and her early MGM work, it's really quite remarkable.
TIM MILLARD:Well, that's surprising to hear, George, that it had kind of fallen off the radar for some people because I mean, it's a tour de force. I thought She plays this just powerhouse. Once she kind of decides that her old life is going to be in the rearview mirror And she drives this movie. I think your friend Glenn Erickson. He says in that feature ad that this is a very Warner Brothers film. I mean it moves, the time flies in this because the action just goes, it goes, it goes, it goes.
TIM MILLARD:And Joan is in the center of probably almost every scene And her character and the transition that she develops through the course of the film is really just you can't take your eyes off her because she really has that force of nature in a kind of man's world obviously. Yet she's pulling a lot of the levers and driving a lot of the men through this. So it's a terrific noir in that sense. And of course Sherman does an amazing job directing the action and the actors And I thought this, this foursome of Crawford, bryan, cochran and Smith were terrific together.
George Feltenstein:Yeah, they really are, and you know. To talk about its lack of availability, this was a film. Let's say we go back to the 1970s. Maybe you'd see this film in syndication on a television station, cut up with commercials, and God knows how awful it would have looked. But it wasn't available for like film societies to show in film series. There were no 16 millimeter non-theatrical prints circulating at that time. And again in the 80s even harder to see was never on VHS, it was the DVD. And also after the DVD it started to be shown on to the classic movies because we had a new master that we made for the DVD, which pales in comparison to the master we have now, but at the time it was a big step forward and it got the film out there.
George Feltenstein:Ironically I don't know if there's any tie to this at all, but there's a music group whose name is The Damned Don't Cry. I don't know if it's a punk group or what, but every time I'm looking up stuff about this movie, sometimes it'll cross up in a Google search and pop up about the music group. I think it's really cool. But I can't say enough good things about this movie. It is one of my favorites of the Prophet films, and there are many favorites.
TIM MILLARD:And Joan is so associated with the golden era of Warner Brothers and this we've talked about, this Warner Brothers 100 celebration. I think this is one of those hey, which movie should I buy? that are coming out this year. I think this is one you're like hey, The Damned Don't Cry, buy that one. It's got one of the major stars of Warner Brothers and it's a great picture and it looks great. The new transfer if you've never seen the film, you're going to watch it and it just looks so great. And if you've only seen it, as you mentioned, on TV all cut up or some of the previous places, it's going to be a major jump for you in your enjoyment. I think of this film And it's just packed with extras.
George Feltenstein:There's one more film she made at Warner Brothers, which was the film that followed Novi Pierce, and it's a tour de force triumph, and that's Humoresque. That's the one that I think is next in our restoration preservation program. No work has begun on it, so I don't want to mislead people into thinking it's coming just around the corner. But I'm certainly fighting for that to happen because it's too important a film not to be available. But the two films she made after this at Warner Brothers before leaving the studio would buy my fancy and This Woman is Dangerous are not as strong as the run up between Bill Dupier and Damned don't Cry. All those other pictures Humoresque, Flamingo Road, Damned Don't Cry, along with Mildred Pierce. They're really sensational and she's terrific in them.
TIM MILLARD:People mentioned that film Humoresque as one of their favorites, so I'm sure there's a lot of listeners who are excited to hear you. You mentioned that, though, as you say, not coming soon necessarily, but in the queue, so to speak.
George Feltenstein:But again, this is a very long process and we're constantly battling when do we bring the elements in? This is another one where the nitrate is across country and budgets need to be approved and P&Ls need to be approved and people look at the performance of how these films are selling. That's why it's so important that people who are on the fence but want to see more of these kind of films, their support is a direct line to more to follow, and if something doesn't perform well, it kind of cabaches the likelihood of more of the same coming their way, because we have to be able to defend every new prospective release with data that shows that like titles have performed properly. And such is the life of business and the constant battle between art and commerce.
TIM MILLARD:Right. Well, i'm hoping for good things for the release of this one, because I thought it was a terrific film. In the next film we're going to talk about, i also really enjoyed a lot the 1953 noir thriller, angel Face.
George Feltenstein:This is a very interesting film because there's so many great things you can say about it. RKO borrowed Otto Preminger, who sealed his noir au tour place in film history with Laura in 1944 at Fox, and RKO borrowed Otto Preminger from Fox to make this film. And you've got Robert Mitchum, who is always great, giving a wonderful performance, and Gene Simmons with a knockout performance Yes, the leading lady And Herbert Marshall and Mona Freeman. It's a great cast. It's a very tightly told story. The film is also one of these films that is often referred to with two years, because it was given a general release in 1953. I believe it opened in Los Angeles in 1953. But it was copyrighted in 1952 and I believe it had an initial engagement in 1952. So people refer to it as from either 1952 or 1953 and neither of them are wrong. This is a case where we went back to the original elements and that ended up creating this beautiful master. And how did you think the film looked?
TIM MILLARD:Well, there were only a few instances where I thought maybe it was a little soft, but I thought it looked terrific.
George Feltenstein:Yeah, it's a quantum leap from where we came, but therein lie or lay a problem that we were not aware of and hadn't had encountered before. We have a commentary for this film done by the great Eddie Muller, who's now a superstar on television thanks to Laura Alley on Turner Classic Movies. But at the time he was a star amongst a smaller group of people who followed his activities in the Film Noir Foundation. He's always been a good friend to us and he recorded the commentary for this film. So when we went to use the commentary recorded for this film for its DVD release, it couldn't sink and we didn't understand why. And I couldn't release this without his commentary. So we found out that there were frames left out of the fine grain that was used for the prior standard definition transfer that were in the materials that were used for the new fluke A-Scan. So as a result, that's why the commentary kept going out of sync. So the only way to save it was we presented on the disc along with the old standard definition master so that you can watch the film, albeit with lesser quality. But here Eddie's great commentary. Ideally it had been our intention and preference to want to have the commentary be with the feature in Blu-ray and from this wonderful new master made from the 4K scan. But we couldn't get it to sync because of how it was created And at the time the commentaries weren't archived without a mixed track. They were archived as they were recorded with the film as it was released on DVD, so we couldn't separate them And we were forced into this compromise. While not ideal, it saves the commentary and gives the person the ability to watch the film. They want to watch the film looking beautiful and amazing. They can't listen to the commentary, but if they want to hear what Eddie has to say, they can at least use the other version, which is of lesser quality but certainly watchable as a reference. And, given it's an Eddie Moller commentary, it's filled with incredible information on the film. So it is exciting.
George Feltenstein:And we were able to add the trailer to this, which wasn't on the DVD. RKO trailers are few and far between because they did not make their own trailers the way Warner Bros and MGM did. They were made by National Screen Service, so when the library was sold, trailers didn't go with it. So we've had to go to all sorts of lengths to get a trailer and we have one here. So that is good news for fans of the film. But this is a very brutal noir. It's just luscious And I think it looks great.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, and just to go to the trailer, it's not on the packaging that the trailer was on there, so I was pleasantly surprised when I went to the extras to see it there And it was fun to watch that. But I suppose with Eddie's expertise at noir, that having his commentary on here does he see this as one of the very fine noirs that are out there.
George Feltenstein:Yeah, he did several commentaries for us, but this was one that he was all over, and once you hear his commentary, you see the film in a whole different way, which is what a good commentary does. So I'm grateful that it's there, and I'm grateful that the new master is so superior to what we had before, and the RKO films are always a challenge, and this one now looks terrific, as it rightly should.
TIM MILLARD:Well, I thoroughly enjoyed this, George. It's a good watch, I mean. It's got everything that you expect out of a noir. It's got the man caught up in these circumstances and it slowly pulls him in. And Gene Simmons wow, what a performance by her. She's fantastic as this young heiress and just the kind of the web she weaves throughout the film, And we're not going to give anything away, but it's fantastic. I thought her performance was outstanding.
George Feltenstein:Well, she was really a magnificent actress and her tenure at RKO was a little bit compromised by the fact that Howard Hughes was running the studio at the time. He wanted the women under contract to behave a certain way, whether it's on screen or off screen, and that made things very difficult for a lot of actresses, including Gene Simmons during this film. But the net result of it is a cinema classic And it's such a wonderful thing to be able to add this in Blu-ray to the noir archive collection.
TIM MILLARD:And she was married to an actor that we highlighted last month in King Solomon's Mind, and that's Stuart Granger right.
George Feltenstein:Yes, yes, they were married. And then, after their divorce, she was married for a very long time to a great director and screenwriter, richard Brooks, who directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from so many wonderful films, and they ended up, i believe, getting divorced in the 1970s. But that was a much happier marriage for her. I think she had a life where she wasn't appreciated enough for her abilities as an actress And she gave so many wonderful performances. I just think anytime you get an opportunity to put out wonderful films in which you got a chance to really give a great performance and there's so many of those we're very fortunate and Mitcham and Simmons together under the direction of Auto Premature, it's just a winner every inch of the way.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, i think this is a must-own for noir fans For all the reasons you just specified the acting, the script, the directing and then the extras that you have on here. It's terrific. One last thing, george I love the packaging on this one as well.
George Feltenstein:Yeah, the great artwork for sure. We had a lot of different pieces to choose from what the cover art would be, but this was hands down. I'm pretty sure that's what we used on the DVD as well. It's wonderful art And the RKO Art Department really did a slam bang job promoting this film, and we're very delighted that it looks so great and the packaging is so attractive. It's a winner.
TIM MILLARD:Well, the next film we're going to talk about. I also love the packaging on that one, and that's Dangerous When Wet, from 1953.
George Feltenstein:I think I had that poster years ago.
George Feltenstein:I don't think I still do, but it's a great poster. But more importantly, this is a very charming musical comedy from Esther Williams And it's a little different from a lot of her films because there's no huge water ballet spectacle, it's just a sweet little story, really good original songs And there's obvious chemistry between Esther Williams and Fernando Lamas which led to them getting married in real life. Almost a decade later They got together. I think they got married even later than that, but they were together about 1962 or 1963. They obviously had an attraction to each other but they were right to other people. But their chemistry on screen was terrific. And there's also a great supporting cast in this movie Charlotte Greenwood, walter Demerist, denise Darcel, who appeared at MGM in movies like Battleground And she never really became a star but she had some interesting roles. You also have Jack Carson who's usually found it at Warner Brothers in Warner Brothers movies, but he went to MGM to do this. And there are songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Arthur Schwartz. But the technicolor restoration here again off the original camera, negatives, re-registered is just luscious.
George Feltenstein:The thing that sets this film into a special realm is the idea they had to create a sequence where Esther would swim with Tom and Jerry, and that was coming about seven or eight years after Jerry the Mouse danced with Gene Kelly in Anchors Away. This film is also unique in being an MGM musical that wasn't produced by her usual or most prolific film producer, joe Pasternak. Joe Pasternak would make these musicals that would stop the plot in order to have novelty acts performed. So you know, like in her first movie, bathing Beauty, the movie stopped so that Ethel Smith can play the organ. The story stopped so Xavier Kugat can do a few musical numbers. And this film doesn't have that padding. It's got a nice brisk running time. It tells its story very sweetly, it's got some great songs in it, the Tom and Jerry sequence in it, and a lot of people are always very affectionate towards this film and refer to it as one of their favorites. And having known Esther, i know that she had particular affection for this movie, especially because she made it with Fernando and their marriage ended with his very premature death at a relatively young age And she basically retired from the public eye to be married to him And he was very much in her memory. And so this was among the favorites of her films because they performed together. But audiences generally are great fans of this film and it was quite a brisk seller in previous iterations. But it looks terrific, it sounds great.
George Feltenstein:We have a deleted musical number on the disc. We have another Dick Simmons, esther Williams radio promotional interview. We've got a Tom and Jerry cartoon. We've got a Pete Smith short.
George Feltenstein:We have audio demo recordings of songs written for the movie with very different lyrics performed by the lyricist, johnny Mercer. That was applying when we found that audition disc And it has a song on there called Fifi, which is in the movie very briefly. Fernando sings it as he's like getting dressed. He sings a few bars of it. It was supposed to be a big production number, so you get to hear Johnny Mercer do this longer version And the song that opens up the movie. I got out of bed on the right side. It was a very catchy tune. He had written very different lyrics for the film that were more about basically having gotten drunk the night before And that was not quite appropriate what the MGM wanted to do. This film was made on a modest budget and was very profitable when it was released, and it's remained very popular whenever we've released it in a new format And this being a restoration from the original negative and perfect alignment of the technical negatives, it looks and sounds terrific and very great. Please that we're adding it to the collection.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, it really does look great. You know it's fun because it starts off with her and her family in Arkansas And that song just fits the mood. You know they're going out, they're going swimming in the river or lake or whatever that pond or reservoir is near their home. It sets up the family as this very athletic, positive, can-do attitude, and so that's really fun. And then it transitions, you know, because they go over to swim the channel, to this more international And you get the flavor of the athletes from the other countries And of course Fernando he's supposed to be French And this wealthy Frenchman with the sailboat. It really takes a few fun twists and turns, keeps you interested. It's got the swimming of the channel, kind of to push the action, and then it's got the songs intertwined, so and then you just really packed it with all of these extras and they're a lot of fun.
George Feltenstein:Absolutely, and we're, as I said you know, i'm hoping that we will have more of Esther's films in the future, because there's so many good ones we haven't gotten to yet. But these Technicolor restorations are really like restoring three movies. So you've got three layers of negative that need to be aligned with our proprietary technology, and that takes a lot of time, but then that results are worth it And we're very proud of the movies.
TIM MILLARD:Well, the last film we're going to talk about also takes place on the in water George, Interestingly enough, but totally different obviously, with the old man and the sea from 1958 starring Spencer Tracy.
George Feltenstein:Well, what's interesting about this film is it's based on a novella by Ernest Hemingway, who of course was very much attached to the water and was a seafaring fellow. And you know we've had other films based on Hemingway works that are water bound, like to have and have not, but the old man in the sea. He specifically wanted Spencer Tracy to take on that part And it gave Tracy an opportunity to be reunited with his director from the bad day at Black Rock, john Sturges, who later went on to great greater fame with films like the Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. John Sturges was a sensational director. So for Sturges to reunite with Spencer Tracy and do this basically one man film I mean there are brief shots of other people in certain sequences but it's almost like a soliloquy in the sense And it's really a work of art. We've gotten so many requests for this movie. There are people that just love the movie And I think, a lot of people who are seafaring fellows and seafaring ladies. They have a special place in their heart for this film. And Tracy got nominated for an Oscar one of his many nominations. But the film did win the Oscar for Dimitri Tiomkin's amazing musical score. So it is really many great artists coming together to create this very specific and unique kind of filmmaking experience.
George Feltenstein:And we do have a little extra on there. We call it a documentary. It's really footage from a documentary that was never completed. That was made by a young filmmaker and he brought the footage to us in the 90s And it was crafted into a little piece that was on prior iterations and is now being carried over to the blue light. But it gives you a sense of some of the fun that they had and it just adds a little flavor. And you can also tell by the trailer which is on the disc that this was quite a prestigious movie to Warner Brothers and the kind of filmmaking that Jack Warner really focused on in the 50s and 60s, you know, films based on great pieces of literature or great works of the stage. That was his primary focus for big pictures And this certainly was a very prestigious release for Warner Brothers in 1950.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, that trailer is really unique. It's got the artwork and then you turn the page, so to speak, into another painting And it's really fun. But, as you say, it's gone with the prestige element, the literary element, in pushing the film. And I recall watching this, i think in high school, when we read the book and you know, in literature class, red Hemingway I mean I absolutely adored the book and I thought the movie was fantastic. But it's been many years and to see it looking like this because it is in color, i couldn't take my eyes off of the images.
TIM MILLARD:And then that very naturalistic, understated acting that Tracy does for this, i mean he just carries it And of course the music really accentuates the drama and being on the ocean and the weather and everything, i mean the time flew by, i thought. Just the combination of everything makes this film, i think, a terrific one to have on Blu-ray for fans of the film, fans of the book, fans of Tracy I mean there's fans of Tiompkins There's just a lot of reasons to get this Blu-ray and I really enjoyed it.
George Feltenstein:And this is yet another 4k scan off the camera negative And it was shot in watercolor So you do have those opticals that are doops that unfortunately degrade the picture you're in there. But we did our best to minimize those problems And this is the best I've ever seen the film look. They really did a wonderful job at one of those motion picture engine bringing out the color and having it not be, like you know, with the yellow tint to it, as I'm used to seeing. It would always be grimy and yellow and ugly. And now it's really like Yeah, blues really pop. I thought The blues in the sea really pop, and it's the blue channel that usually is the first to go when the yellow layer on the original negative starts to collapse on these Eastman color films made in the second part of the 1950s. So we were very lucky that we were able to use the camera negative, and the result is a gorgeous disc.
TIM MILLARD:I'm just reminded there's the VO when it's talking about the old man and it says the old man with his blue eyes And that shot right there. I mean to just talk about the transfer you have. I mean the blue of Tracy's eyes just pops in that shot as they're talking about it and the detail and everything. I thought, wow, this is a terrific transfer you guys came up with And I did notice that, you know, there were a few times maybe wasn't quite as sharp, but overall it was fantastic looking and it sounds so good Yeah and Tiongkin's score plays an integral part, is almost another character in the movie.
George Feltenstein:There's Tracy's there, all by himself, and there's the language of Hemingway that screenwriter Peter Vietel translated into cinema, but it's a lot of Hemingway's own language. This is a very personal project, with Hemingway's involvement and for Tracy to be his personal pick and Sturges behind the camera, and Leland Haywardy, a very respected stage and screen producer, produced this movie for Warner Brothers and it's just the first class production all the way through, and another way to celebrate the hundred years of Warner Brothers with a classic from is fast.
TIM MILLARD:Yeah, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, George, another great month. I thought the releases for June are just so strong, And so I think there's a lot that fans have to look forward to. I would recommend buying all five of them that we talked about today, because I think they look so good and the movies are just so good, But for those who have their favorites, I think they're gonna really enjoy what they get this month.
George Feltenstein:I hope so, and we've already announced our July titles and they are all on their way. I'm expecting to see finished discs pretty soon on the Broadway melody Simeron 1931, the Very Was A Lady, the Fast Disc and Alive Helen of Troy and The Last Time I Saw Paris. But when we next speak we'll also be talking about The Land of the Pharaohs, since that got pushed into July. So we'll actually have seven titles in July.
TIM MILLARD:Well, thank you so much as always for coming on to share with the fans all of your knowledge about these films and the restorations and what fans have to look forward to with all the extras here on this blue race.
George Feltenstein:Oh, it's always a pleasure, tim, and thank you for the opportunity to share background of these movies with our dedicated customers, who we appreciate their support of every day.
TIM MILLARD:Well, it's always great to have George Felmsden on to talk about the Warner Archive releases.
TIM MILLARD:June is a very strong month and a great follow-up to the eight blue rays released in May And, just as a reminder, you can go back and listen to the May and previous months reviews at any time. Just look for those in our podcast archives. And for those of you interested in ordering the films we discussed today, there are links in the podcast show notes and on our website at wwwtheextrastv, so be sure and check those out. If you're on social media, be sure and follow the show on Facebook or Twitter at TheExtrasTV or Instagram at TheExtrastv to stay up to date on our upcoming guests and to be a part of our community. And you're invited to a new Facebook group for fans of Warner Brothers films called the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers catalog group. So look for that link on the Facebook page or in the podcast show notes. And for our long-term listeners, don't forget to follow and leave us a review at iTunes, spotify or your favorite podcast provider. Until next time you've been listening to Tim Malart, stay slightly obsessed.