Mother of mercy -- is this the end of classic-era Hollywood moves on remastered, bonus-packed, high-quality DVDs?
That paraphrase of Edward G. Robinson's dying lament at the end of "Little Caesar" perhaps sums up some of the more extreme reaction to Warner Home Video's launch earlier this year of the "Warner Archive Collection," a new method of bringing vintage films from the Warner Bros., RKO and MGM vaults to fans and collectors in manufactured-on-demand editions.
A Golden Age-of-Hollywood devotee with a less pessimistic nature, however, might respond to the Warner Archive initiative with the words of Scarlett O'Hara: "I'll never go hungry again" -- not with new-to-disc titles from the silent era through the early 1980s being made available at the rate of at least 20 per month.
Launched in March with a menu of 150 movies that since has grown to some 400 titles, the Warner Archive Collection has been perhaps the hot topic of 2009 for classic-movie fans. (And since it's now December, we might point out that it's a good source of holiday gift ideas for film enthusiasts.)
Go to film critic John Beifuss' blog thebloodshoteye.com to read the rest of this entry, including an interview with Warner Home Video's George Feltenstein, the senior vice president for marketing in charge of the company's back catalog.
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