I have read on another website that Warners is going to open their vault and sell DVD's of most of their Classics directly to the customers and bypass the stores. I think they are calling it THE WB ARCHIVE. Right now they are releasing 150 Films from their collection (Warner, MGM, RKO, Monogram, Allied Artists). I am hoping this will mean that Warner will be releasing its Monogram Charlie Chans as well as the Allied Artists Bowery Boys. Has anyone heard of THE WB ARCHIVES? Rush? Steve O? Anyone? Also I have heard these will be "Burned DVD-R's" rather than "Pressed And Authored DVD's".
Good news....Warner stated yesterday that a RETAIL (not Archive) set of Monogram Chans is coming in early 2010.
These are restored from the original nitrate 35mm negatives which means they will look as good as new. No more copies of copies of a beaten 16mm print.
No official word yet on which titles are being included in this set but the idea of seeing these films in high quality transfers for the first time has me very excited.
Yes, I've heard of the Archive. It's a great program I think. IMO too much is being made of these being burned rather than pressed. Warner is using new technology which will make these discs comparable to retail releases. These are not the same type of discs that you would burn on your home PC.
The goal is to eventually make their entire 6,000 film library available to consumers which is a wonderful thing.
Yes, the Bowery Boys were discussed and are coming. No timeframe given but they've actively been working on this project for several years.
Like the later Chans, these were Monogram films and because there were so many BB films (48) Warners has had a hard time finding release quality prints on all of these films. They've found a number of them though so progress is definitely being made.
