Happy Fifth Birthday to The Warner Archive Collection!

 

The final week of March, 2014 marked the fifth anniversary - or, as they called it in their ads, "fifth birthday" -- of The Warner Archive Collection. 

This "manufactured-on-demand" enterprise of Warner Home Video has been a huge favorite with me. 

Take our standard link for more detail. 

The number of Warner Archive Collection DVDs I've reviewed here at TIAH Blog should speak for itself (links below):

Humphrey Bogart:

"King of the Underworld"

"Chain Lightning"

"The Two Mrs. Carrolls"

"Conflict"

"Crime School"


James Cagney:

"Taxi"

"Jimmy the Gent"

And a few more that seem to be in a perpetual "state of preparation", including (if you can believe it) a Cagney and Bogart WESTERN! 

Other Golden Age Hollywood Greats - Edward G. Robinson, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre:

 "The Last Gangster" 

"Three Strangers"


Animation:

"The Herculoids"

"Popeye the Sailor: The 1960s Classics"


It's clear that I have great affection for -- and derive much enjoyment from -- the various products put forth by The Warner Archive Collection.

But, all is not peaches and cream, sunny days, and banana cherry cheesecake in "WAC"-ky Land...

"W-W-Warning!  What f-f-follows is culled from c-c-comments from the prev-prev-prev... LAST p-p-post!  Yeah, I'm cheat-cheat-cheat... CUTTING CORNERS!"

 For all the good emanating from the WAC over these last five years, one area in which it has FAILED to live up to its seemingly unlimited potential is animation. 

You'd think that the media giant that controls the cartoons of Warner Bros. (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), MGM, and Hanna-Barbera, would do a better job of releasing this classic material to the public! 

Every year, they seem to “shake loose” some older and more obscure Cagney or Bogart film – and I’ll always buy them, and (as seen above) review them here… BUT The Warner Archive Collection could – and SHOULD – be an ideal place to release all of the unreleased artifacts of animation that they control.  

I TOLD YA they made a western together!

Last year’s release of 1960s Popeyes (also above) was a great example of what they could do.  So, why not such Hanna-Barbera series as Wally Gator, Touché Turtle, Lippy the Lion,  Peter Potamus, Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, et al?  Aren't "limited interest" properties like these EXACTLY what The Warner Archive Collection was MADE FOR? 

 And, even if there ARE (as has been oft reported) music clearance issues with the earlier seasons of Huckleberry Hound, the Fourth Season was okay, as was the Third Season of Quick Draw McGraw.  They were short seasons, so COMBINE them into one package – to be supplemented by the extra Hokey Wolf cartoons made to replace the departing Yogi Bear segment.  That would make for a bountiful release – and there’s no reason it could not be done.

Take that WHIP to Warner Archives, Huck!

Even Hokey Wolf couldn't talk Warner into such releases!

It’s a damned shame we still don’t have an official Tex Avery MGM set.  If Warner Home Video can’t support it, why not Warner Archives?   And dare I suggest the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerrys?  I love “Dicky Moe”! 

I'm as angry as Captain Ahab, over not having my own copy of "Dicky Moe"!

Black and white Looney Tunes won’t sell?  Put them out in MOD fashion via the WAC.  I just ordered a 1932 Cagney film, “Winner Take All”, that is so obscure I never heard of it, until WAC offered it.  Also, over the past month or so, I ordered a collection of 1930s Shemp Howard Vitaphone comedy shorts. 

 
If these artifacts of early entertainment can get a Warner Archives release, why not the Looney Tunes cartoons that PLAYED ON THE SAME PROGRAM with them?    

 

So, Happy Fifth Birthday to The Warner Archive Collection...

 

And thanks for all the great stuff...  

Now, let loose of the rest of it!   

 

Ask and I Shall Receive… Again!

In out last post, I lamented the lack of any official word about the coming of the BATMAN (1966) TV series to official, non-bootleg, Warner Bros DVD, beyond an initial and isolated Tweet by Conan O’Brien.  HERE.

 

"You think YOU'VE got it tough, Conan... Try being a TEN YEAR OLD KID on TV every week since the late eighties!  Losing THE TONIGHT SHOW's a snap compared to that!"

 

Previously, I also lamented the inexplicable lack of DVDs for the 1968 Filmation BATMAN Animated Series (the immediate follow-up to the BATMAN TV series though less overtly campy and somewhat more evocative of Silver Age comic books) – HERE. 

 

Then, almost immediately, I learned that the 1968 Filmation BATMAN Animated Series IS indeed coming to Warner DVD during 2014 – HERE.

 

Even The Joker is pleased at the news!

And, in keeping with that “immediate gratification thing” concerning Batman DVDs, commenter “Rusty” informed me that Warner DID include a significant mention of BATMAN (1966) DVDs in an announcement made last week – just one day AFTER my Blog post wondering why there was no word from Warner. 

"No Word" is NOT "Good Word", Old Chum!

Here’s a quote pulled from the announcement: 

 

“*Home Entertainment – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will bring fans an array of new Batman titles throughout the year, including the highly anticipated release of the Batman ’66 TV series for the first time ever. Other new releases include animated films Son of Batman (May 6) and Assault on Arkham (summer 2014). Additionally, a 25th Anniversary Edition of Tim Burton’s Batman feature film will be released in the fall.”

     
Oddly, they DON'T explicitly reference the 1968 Filmation series in the announcement! Go fig!

And HERE’S THE LINK to the announcement itself. 

"Holy Rain Check, Batman!  Let's get to the retailer of our choice, before it's SOLD OUT!"

 

The Joker's happy about THIS NEWS, too!

I kinda like having Warner make announcements in response to my Blog posts… So, while I’m on a roll I’ll ask where Seasons 2-4 of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW are. 

 

And, QUICK DRAW McGRAW, PETER POTAMUS, ATOM ANT, and SECRET SQUIRREL. 

(…And, what the hey, while we’re at it… the Hanna-Barbera ABBOTT AND COSTELLO and LAUREL AND HARDY cartoons, too!) 

 

All the Tex Avery MGM cartoons. 

 

 Completing TAZ-MANIA and THE SYLVESTER AND TWEETY MYSTERIES.    

Where are the color theatrical POPEYEs?

And more LOONEY TUNES – and the continuation of the LOONEY TUNES and TOM AND JERRY Blu-ray series! 

Hey, I can dream (of more immediate gratification), can’t I?  

Let's hope it's NOT "The End" for all these!

 

Same Bat-Lie? Same Bat-Channel (…our Frustrations)!

This past January 15, we were "walking on air" or, like the Dynamic Duo above, "running on enthusiasm"! 

Why?  Because of THIS POST, that seemed to herald the coming of the 1966 BATMAN TV Series to DVD, at long last! 

Now, TEN WEEKS LATER, we're "running on fumes", because there has been NO ADDITIONAL word of this long-awaited Bat-event, from any news source of which I'm aware. 

I keep looking for NEWS... but I don't find any!

Was the whole thing merely a prank on the part of Bat-Mite? 

Would I prank MY IDOL, on such a serious matter, Batman?

Maybe it was all a plot by the nefarious, mind-controlling Emperor Joker? 

...Could be?

That'll teach me to put stock in a Tweet from former SIMPSONS writer Conan O'Brien -- with nothing more to back it up! 

Don't have a Bat-Cow, man!

I guess I'll just have to accept the possibility that we'll never have BATMAN 1966 in all its full-color Bat-Glory, on officially released, non-bootleg DVD. 

Is Batman doing the Bat-tusi... or is he silently wiping away his tears? 

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day – 2014!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all! 

And, around here, that would mean a visit from Good Leprechaun “Patrick Moore O’Shaughnessy”!  You DO know where he first appeared, don’t you? 

Patrick and I also wish to take this occasion to engage in my never-before-evoked, self-imposed Rules of Blogger Etiquette.  The first Rule of which is to never go more than two weeks without an update – or a post noting that updates have been lacking, and that they may temporarily be somewhat slow in coming. 
 

Apologies to all who have visited here for the past 14 days, only to find the same old Russell Johnson / Roger Corman post.  A lengthy and disruptive event (now over – and in no way injurious to me, my loved ones, or property) has resulted in LOTS of my work piling up, along with a number of domestic obligations.  Both are being caught-up on as I write this.  Blogging will be among the last things to finally normalize. 

Russell Johnson was hoping things would "normalize" for him too!

 

But, it will “normalize” soon.   Swear on the spirit of a Good Leprechaun! 

Let’s just hope his evil brother “Mickey” doesn’t show up!