Posted Tue May 28, 2024 at 04:45 PM PDT by Tom Landy
The Warner Archive Collection has announced and detailed their next batch of Blu-ray releases. They are Northwest Passage (1940), Idiot's Delight (1939), Harum Scarum (1965), Marie: A True Story (1985), The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), War of the Buttons (1994), and an animated double-feature - Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost/Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (1999/2000). All will be available for purchase on July 30.
First up we have King Vidor's classic 1940 adventure Northwest Passage starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, and Ruth Hussey.
Northwest Passage (1940) - Warner Archive Collection
Spencer Tracy and a stellar supporting cast grab muskets, gun powder and knives, and head out for adventure in Northwest Passage, a lavish Technicolor® retelling of French and Indian War heroics, based on Kenneth Roberts’ best seller. Tracy plays a true-life explorer Major Robert Rogers, the intrepid leader of the celebrated Roberts’ Rangers fighting force that took on one of the most challenging expeditions in military history. Tracy’s portrayal brilliantly captures the American pioneering spirit, but he had to muster up his own will to carry it off. “It isn’t exactly fun to work in bitter cold and be sloshing through mud all day” he said. For twelve grueling weeks of location shooting, he endured trapsing through swamps, crossing rapids, and climbing mountains. Of this rousing epic (released shortly after Gone With the Wind), The New York Times wrote, “Now that the ‘Wind’ has stopped ruffling your hair, you can have it lifted, scalp and all in Northwest Passage. With stellar direction by thr great King Vidor, this new Blu-ray presentation, derived from 4K scans of the original nitrate Technicolor® negatives provides a revelatory viewing experience of an all-time classic adventure!
BD-50
COLOR
Running time: 128 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 1.37:1
English SDH
Audio: DTS HD MA 2.0
Special features: Vintage promotional featurette: NORTHWARD, HO!
Original Theatrical Trailer
Next is another classic, Clarence Brown's 1939 romantic comedy Idiot's Delight starring Norma Shearer and Clark Gable.
Idiot's Delight (1939) - Warner Archive Collection
M-G-M legends Norma Shearer and Clark Gable star in Clarence Brown’s smashing adaptation of Robert E. Sherwood’s Pulitzer prize-winning play. They first meet in Omaha. They meet again years later at the Swiss border…and at the edge of World War II. Gable as smalltime hoofer Harry Van and Shearer as his one-time honey Irene, now passing herself off as a Russian aristocrat and clinging to the arm of a munitions baron who strike sparks in this witty, cogent clash of love and war, which was one of M-G-M’s many 1939 instant classics. Idiot’s Delight, released in the same year as Gone with the Wind, shows Gable at his rakish, manly, movie-star best. The most memorable scene features Gable’s performance “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, a wise-guy song-and-dance routine to the Irving Berlin classic that ends with the King leaping gracefully into the arms of a chorus line of peroxide cuties. Lucky girls!
The Blu-ray will feature a NEW 2024 1080p HD Master from 4K Scan of Best Preservation Elements
BD-50
Running Time: 105 Minutes
16x9 1.37:1 with side mattes
DTS-MA HD 2.0 MONO
English SDH
NOT RATED
SPECIAL FEATURES: Classic cartoons: THE GOOD EGG (HD) and IT’S AN ILL WIND (HD)
Original Theatrical Trailer
The 1965 musical comedy Harum Scarum directed by Gene Nelson and featuring Elvis Presley and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley.
Harum Scarum (1965) - Warner Archive Collection
“Go East, Young Man“ sings showbiz star and martial arts wizard, Johnny Tyrone. To hear is to obey. A clandestine group of called the Assassins kidnaps Johnny and whisks him to a remote Arabian realm isolated from the world for 2,000 years. Sheik meets desert chic when Elvis Presley plays Johnny and teams with former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley (Presley‘s Girl Happy co-star) in this tuneful frolic, partially shot on the original set built for Cecil B. DeMille’s 1927 epic King of Kings and directed by music movie musical veteran Gene Nelson. The kidnappers want Johnny to use his fighting finesse to kill a desert king. Johnny a hitman? No, he’s a hit, man, a top singer of songs like Kismet, Harum Holiday and nine more, all part of the jammin’, scamming, swashbuckling fun of Harum Scarum.
The Blu-ray will feature a 1080p HD master from 4K Scan of the original negative.
BD-50
COLOR
16x9 1.85:1
DTS HD MA 2.0
English SDH
Running time: 95 Minutes
NOT RATED
Special Features:
TOM AND JERRY CARTOONS: "The Cat's Me-Ouch" (HD) and "Of Feline Bondage (HD)
the original theatrical trailer.
Roger Donaldson's Marie: A True Story (1985) starring Sissy Spacek, Jeff Daniels, and Morgan Freeman is also on the way.
Marie: A True Story (1985) - Warner Archive Collection
Pay the man, get out of prison. It’s a sweet deal for the Tennessee officials who let killers and rapists go free for a price. And who would have the guts to defy the state’s power elite? No one, except a courageous single mom named Marie Ragghianti. Masterful director Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Thirteen Days) helmed this gripping film which tells the true story of a woman who became the head of the Tennessee parole board, then stood up to lies, threats, and murder to blow the whistle on her bosses – and send many of them, including the Governor, to the pen. Sissy Spacek brings luminous intelligence to the role of Marie, and the remarkable supporting cast includes Morgan Freeman, Jeff Daniels, and screen-debuting Fred Thompson (later a Tennessee Senator) playing himself as Marie’s real – life attorney.
BD-50
COLOR
16x9 2.39:1 Letterbox
DTS HD MA 2.0
English SDH
Running time: 112 Minutes
Contains the original theatrical trailer
The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995) from director James Keach and produced by Clint Eastwood is next - starring Robert Duvall, Aiden Quinn, Francis Fisher and Brian Dennehy.
The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995) - Warner Archive Collection
Texas 1935. It’s a time of boomtowns or bust for oil wildcatters and, repeatedly, derby-topped Mr. Cox has come out flat busted. Not to worry. Mr. Cox has a mule – headed optimism. He’s sure as the sunrise that near the town of Henrietta on a cotton farm that raises more dust than bolls, there’s black gold beneath the barren sod. From Clint Eastwood‘s production company, The Stars Fell on Henrietta is a sweet – natured tail of hope and redemption. As Mr. Cox, Robert Duvall has another acclaimed performance to his gallery of great roles. And Aiden Quinn, Francis Fisher and Brian Dennehy shine as Lone Star denizens, not so much swayed, as gradually infected by Cox’s unflagging will. That optimism, you’ll discover, is catching. Are a doodlebug rod, tasting the soil, or even tossing the cat and marking where it lands unusual way to find oil? Yes. Are they hopeless? Never. Or, as Mr. Cox might say, “You’ve got to hitch your wagon to a star, sweetheart.“
The Blu-ray includes a NEW 2024 1080p HD Master
BD-50
COLOR
16x9 2.39:1
DTS HD MA 5.1 Surround
English SDH
Running time: 109 Minutes
RATED PG
Contains the original theatrical trailer
Yann Samuell's 1994 comedy-drama War of the Buttons starring Gregg Fitzgerald and Gerard Kearney is coming in July as well.
War of the Buttons (1994) - Warner Archive Collection
No stones in slingshots. No skirmishes too late in the day. They are the rules of war for the youngsters of two neighboring Irish villages. And here’s another rule: if you spit shake on something you better follow through. Kids will be kids. But sometimes they, in their own fanciful ways, will be adults. What’s unique and marvelous here Oscar®-winning Chariots of Fire screenwriter Colin Welland says “is that it’s not an adult view of childhood at all, but a child’s view of adulthood“ Welland joins fellow Chariots of Fire Academy Award® winner David Putnam for a winning tale in which buttons are the gods of a would-be war. The rival teens are screen newcomers, but you wouldn’t know it from their seasoned performances. And if you don’t know why Ireland is the Emerald Isle, this scenic charmer is breathtaking proof.
BD-50
COLOR
6x9 1.85:1
DTS HD MA 2.0
English SDH
Running time: 94 Minutes
RATED PG
Contains the original theatrical trailer
And finally, there's usually some Hanna-Barbera goodness popping out of the collection and here we have the animated double feature Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost and Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders.
The world's most lovable mystery-solving dog, along with best friend Shaggy and the rest of the gang, bring on the laughs and adventures on this double-feature Blu-ray™ release! In Scooby-Doo and The Witch's Ghost, Scooby, Shaggy and co. get tied up with bumbling mummies and monster turkeys when famous fright-writer, Ben Ravencroft, invites the gang to his hometown for the Autumn Harvest Festival. There, they learn that Ben's ancestor, Sarah, haunts the place, and they set out to uncover the ghostly Ravencroft secret that will prove her either a good-hearted healer or a spell-casting witch. In Scooby-Doo and The Alien Invaders, Scooby, Shaggy and the Mystery, Inc. are stranded in a desert town where they soon discover a plethora of flying saucer buffs, secretive scientists and less-than-friendly extraterrestrials! But after aliens chase and beam them aboard a UFO, clues to the mystery of the alien invaders lead the gang from a top-secret government research base to an intricate network of caves hidden under the town, the race to crack the case redefines the term "far out" in this hilarious space-capade. Dedicated Scooby fans can now rejoice having these two fan favorite features on this new release, both for the first time on Blu-ray™.
BD-50
COLOR
16x9 1.33
DTS HD MA 5.1 Surround
English SDH
Running times:
Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost-66 Minutes
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders-74 Minutes
Special features: Making-of featurettes, promotional trailers
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