The Warner Archive Collection
 

Hi,

Hope this is the right place. Have any members here bought any of the Warner Archive Collection on-demand DVD-R's. Comments on the quality of the release - including the artwork/disc - would be useful as there's a few titles I'd be interested in.

I see they're releasing Ltd Ed Blu Ray 'On Demand' titles too, come Feb. Quite excited to see what's coming.

My two cents athough it won't count for much - I haven't pick up any on-demand discs but I've heard only bad things about them - people receiving discs that were scratched and unplayable. In general I think a burned DVD has a much shorter shelf-life than a pressed-on DVD, and despite some fascinating titles made available (Green Slime, Savage Mesiah, Carny) I've never been confident enough to pick up any. The prices are expensive too...

Here's a link that might be worth reading (and not as pessimistic as my thoughts above)
Warner Archive DVDs: A hands-on evaluation

Ah, interesting link - thanks. I didn't want to fork out full price for something so so, and the fact they're burned does put me off. It's a shame they can't offer a much lower price. Also, the Warner Bros site direct doesn't seem to ship internationally - so it's Amazon or nothing.

Pah.

Don't know where Wes heard that,but it's total bollocks.
I have over 40 of these and they're all fine.
FAR superior to their vhs counterparts.

Paul @ lovelock...what's your opinion on films such as The Squeeze?

I've had good experiences and heard good things from my mate who buys loads.
BUT I think they're seriously overpriced. ;)

They are overpriced Bruno for what they are,but as this is the only way to see some classics,it's worth it.:)

Most of them are available from Amazon UK for £10-£12.

40? Jesus. Is the Amazon warehouse based in your living room, reaps?

You haven't got any for sale or trade by any chance?

Sorry mate.
They're all keepers.:)

I have at present;

LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL
RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT
NO BLADE OF GRASS
NIGHT SCHOOL
RAGE
RAZORBACK
THE SQUEEZE
BAD RONALD
FREEBIE AND THE BEAN
THE OUT FIT
VALLEY OF THE GWANGI
DREAM LOVER
CRESCENDO
COUNTDOWN
LIONHEART
THE STRANGER WITHIN
HIT MAN
BREWSTER McCLOUD
OPERATION DAYBREAK
CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD
MACABRE
CODENAME EMERALD
THE NIGHT DIGGER
HOME BEFORE DARK
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
BLACK EYE
SHAFT TV MOVIES
MOON TWO ZERO
SNOW DEVILS
HYSTERIA
KILLER PARTY
NIGHTBREED
DEMON SEED
THE PACK
SWEET HOSTAGE
PHANTOM OF HOLLYWOOD
FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
NIGHT OF THE LEPUS
TROG
7 FACES OF DR LAO
NIGHT WATCH

Glad to hear it, there are a good few titles I need to get...

I've still not bought THE SQUEEZE, Reaps, though I've watched my mates and it looks great.

I've only three of the Archive titles which I bought when they first started:

RAIN PEOPLE
GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT
CRESCENDO

I have watched a whole bunch of my mates's though and they are for re most part very good. I'm just adverse to paying top money for glorified copies.

Me too, but it seems to be the only option right now. Well, legally anyway.

So I've just gone for one - Roger Vadim's Pretty Maids All in a Row. Always wanted to see it, and after watching Arthur Penn's rather terrific Little Big Man the other day and being enamoured by a certain Aimée Eccles who plays a young Indian girl, I IMDB'ed her and discovered she was in it. How big a role she has I don't know...

I feel like I've disqualified myself from this thread with my negative comments from earlier, but let us know how it goes Delirium, hopefully it will be a good positive experience !

THE SQUEEZE
 

I've got THE SQUEEZE,in fact it's the only Warner Archive I own,been waiting so long for a release of this film,that i would of paid anything,overall pretty good PQ,and still an excelent film,done some screen grabs to give an idea of PQ quality.Its full screen,altough ive probably got the screen ratio wrong on the grabs,my bad :o

http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/atta...9&d=1356095140

What's the quality like of the paper sleeves with the artwork? I bought the MGM dvd-r of Enter The Ninja, and it was terrible quality. Looks like they took it to a bootleg printer to get it done. It looked really cheap and amateurish.

I'd not rule out buying more of them, I'm just happy to wait until I've an abundance of money or I find them a lot cheaper! To me if it's a toss up between an Archive title or something on Blu-ray the latter will always win out and I've only got a finite amount of money to spend. The days of spending £100s a month on films for my collection are well and truly over for me now! :D

THE SQUEEZE
 

Artistically the cover leaves alot to be desired,but it does seem to be printed on decent quality paper,although not the most eye catching of covers.

Attachment 94215

Really need to pick these three up:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

I currently only own The Green Slime which i'll be watching in the coming days.

These two are most likely the next ones for me along with Night School and Killer Party.

I have read that the image on Wild Wild Planet isn't great, but most likely the best we'll ever have.

No extras but.... the Warner manufactured-on-demand disc is actually a considerable improvement over the PAL Metrodome release, as colors are far bolder and better saturated. Letterboxed at 1.78:1 with anamorphic enhancement, no digital clean-up has been done, so the print source still has its share of nicks and specs, but its still a pleasing image, with the grain and picture darkness witnessed in the PAL release not being a problem at all here. The mono English audio track is very impressive, with clear dialog mixed well with Paul Ferris' hip, progressive score. DVD Drive In

http://comicsworthreading.com/wp-con.../Sorcerers.png

Not at all.. you raised some valid points which echoed my concerns, and posted an interesting link. They are DVD-R's after all, professional or otherwise.

I'm sure the quality differs greatly title to title, but I shall report back on the title I picked up, with screen shots if possible. I hope the cover is well printed as I like the design. A couple of reviews suggest although there's some visible print damage, it's a perfectly decent anamorphic widescreen presentation worthy of DVD.

Buy with confidence mate.;)
This sadly,is the only way we're gonna see some of these classic movies.

I love that cover Vic!
Almost a carbon copy of the original!

Paper-wise they're far superior to those terrible MGM sleeves Stephen!

Wes.Don't be daft mate-disqualified yourself from bugger all!:)

Other titles I'd highly recommend are;
THE NIGHT DIGGER
NO BLADE OF GRASS (Surely the wrong-reel copies are gone from circulation!)
RAGE
A RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT

squeeze
 

I really like the old Warner Bros cover,but the dvd one isn't as good looking


http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/atta...cbbb6f1a_b.jpg

Not quite,but in this day of photochop shite,it's just fine imo.:)

Did Warner release YOR: HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE? I know Sony did a DVD-R of it but I'm sure I saw a Warner release too.

Only ever seen the Sony release Pete.

Ok, so got my Pretty Maids All in a Row (Roger Vadim, 1971) disc from the Warner Archive Collection. I said I'd give some feedback so here you go.

Disc and packaging presentation:

Very nice as you can see. The cover is glossy and professional standard. The back has a decent synopsis and the usual logos/studio/film info one gets. Pretty much the standard of a studio release. The amaray is one of those cheap flimsy ones.

The disc is boring, but the print is professional. Yes it's a blue bottomed DVD-R.

Menus/Transfer:

Apart from the piracy warning, it skips straight to a static menu with a picture of the DVD case. No extras of course. Functional, but I didn't expect anything else.

As for the transfer - much nicer than I was expecting! A rather handsome looking anamorphic transfer with relatively strong colours, detail and a satisfying amount of grain. There's some minor film damage - scratches & grit - but nothing you wouldn't expect considering the film's age. Although not reference quality, it's a satisfying transfer worthy of DVD and I couldn't be more happy with it. The mono audio track also sounded fine to my ears for the most part, although the volume fluctates in a couple of scenes where it sounds like overdubbing at a slightly louder volume.

The Film:

I was drawn to Pretty Maids all in a Row after discovering a rather compelling young actress called Aimée Eccles who caught my eye in a film called Little Big Man directed by Arthur Penn and starring Dustin Hoffman. Although it was only a small role, I IMDB'ed her and discovered Pretty Maids in her limited filmography. On seeing this was directed by Roger Vadim (Blood & Roses/Barbarella) with an interesting cast attached, it was a no-brainer to seek it out.

The film itself is a fluffy, uneven but extremely enjoyable high-school sex comedy given a murder mystery twist. The emphasis here is certainly on the sex as hunky student counsellor/high-school coach 'Tiger' McDrew (Rock Hudson) beds an endless array of beautiful coeds while Telly Savalas' detective hangs around on campus with a watchful eye. A side plot involves Tiger attempting to get young virginal student, Ponce (John Carson) laid; so Tiger enlists the help of sultry new teacher, Miss Smith (Angie Dickinson looking fabulous) - school was never like that in my day! It's pretty tame on all fronts, with limited flesh on display and little to chew over regarding the rather blasé whodunnit plot, but its spirited, cheery abandon and liberal sexual politics make it a joy to watch all the same. Also starring Roddy McDowall and Barbara Leigh.

Images:

Hmm. The VLC snapshots I attached were much bigger, folks.

I've no idea how to get them closer to original size..

Click on them to get the bigger pics?
Or were they even bigger?

Ok.. works better with JPGS not PNG.

So another convert then Del?

I've a STACK of these to watch!

Yeah. I'm sure the transfers will differ greatly film to film, so I'll need to do my research, but I was thrilled with this one. And I was quite happy with the overall presentation. Not too shabby at all!

I honestly ain't came across a disastrous one yet mate!

I watched The Green Slime recently.

A very good release, really enjoyable film as well. Fast paced, tons of action, daft monsters and the lovely Luciana Paluzzi - what more do you want.

I'll be checking out some of the Italian sci-fi epics soon.

A few snaps using VLC player

I've only got NO BLADE OF GRASS, but i have a list of titles that is arms length that i'm hoping to get.

LOVELY!

Anyone else a fan of Tony Scott's lavish vampire romp?

Coming soon:

http://i.imgur.com/90TlKNe.jpg