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THE EPITAPH VOL. 74
GOLDEN AGE WARNER BROS. EDITION
ANNA CHRISTIE (1930) - TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) - THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) - MADAME BOVARY (1949) - JACK L. WARNER: THE LAST MOGUL (1993)
ANNA CHRISTIE (1930)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English or German DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Clarence Brown
Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion
With the introductory line of "Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side. And don't be stingy baby" silent-film star
Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion
With the introductory line of "Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side. And don't be stingy baby" silent-film star
Greta Garbo (Queen Christina) became a talkie-star, in a tale about as a disillusioned prostitute, based on Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. In it Garbo plays a former prostitute who returns home to her alcoholic father, Chris (George F. Marion, The Big House), a coal barge captain who lives on a barge in NYC. She hides her past from her gruff father, which makes her embitterment towards men a bit of mystery to him, though she finds sympathy in the alcoholic Marthy (Marie Dressler, Dinner at Eight) who sees her for the wounded soul she is. When her father saves an Irish sailor (Charles Bickford, Valley of the Giants) from drowning she nurses him back to health falls in love, and is eventually forced to reveal her secret past to both him and her father during am emotionally high-strung climax.
Audio/Video: Warner Archives offers up a gorgeous B&W presentation in 1080p HD fullscreen (1.37:1) that is free of blemish, truly wonderful. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track shows it's early talkie vintage with some inherent hiss and pops evident throughout, slightly muffled in spot but never enough to truly distract.
Extras include a alternate German language version shot on the same sets with Garbo supported by an alternate cast, technically it's a better made production and well worth a watch. We also get a 29-min Garbo career retrospective episode of the "MGM Parade" TV series; a 55-min audio-only Lux Radio Theater broadcast of Anna Christie with Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy in the lead roles, plus we get the 6-min Classic 1930 Looney Tunes cartoon "The Booze Hangs High".
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Special Features:
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Special Features:
- German-language alternate version of Anna Christie, directed by Jacques Feyder (85:53)
- Garbo early career retrospective episode of the "MGM Parade" TV series (29:23)
- 2/7/1938 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of Anna Christie with Joan Crawford (audio only) (54:52)
- Classic 1930 Looney Tunes cartoon "The Booze Hangs High" (6:11)
TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 100 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Dual-Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: W.S Van Dyke
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Neil Hamilton
The first of MGM's jungle-thrillers was this action-packed gem, starring Olympic swim champion Johnny Weissmuller (Fury of the Congo) as Tarzan, the Ape Man. In it African adventurers James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith, Queen Christina) and Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton, Madame X) embark on a quest for the legendary elephant burial grounds and their lucrative ivory tusks. At the last minute they are joined by Parker's daughter Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan, The Devil-Doll). The trio are quite unprepared for the dangers of the jungle and come under attack by wild beasts by way of hippos and crocs, stampeding elephants, and a tribe of warrior dwarfs. Of course we get some terrific feats of strength with Tarzan outswimming crocodiles, battling a gorilla in a pit, and his patented jungle-calls which I think every kid of a certain age has emulated, as well as his uncanny ability to talk to the creatures of the jungles, which includes his chimp sidekick named Cheetah and elephants that he wrangle to rescue the trio of would-be adventurers. This pre-code adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs vine-swinging ape-man still delivers the jungle thrills all these decades later, great to see it get a wonderful restoration on Blu-ray from WAC!
Audio/Video: Tarzan The Ape Man looks terrific on Blu-ray from WAC framed in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The restoration has removed any age-related wear and tear giving is a pristine image. The B&W presentation can be a bit soft and black aren't exactly reference black, but grayscale and contrast please. The uncompressed 2.0 mono DTS-HD audio is also solid, surprisingly free of hiss and other age-related anomalies, still vintage and flat sounding but otherwise age appropriate perfection.
Extras include the 80-min 2004 doc Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle, the Theatrical Trailer in HD, and the now almost standard inclusion of a couple of period appropriate Merrie Melodies toons by way of "I Wish I Had Wings" and "Moonlight for Two" from 1932.
Special Features:
- Documentary: Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (79:59)
- Classic Cartoons: Merrie Melodies Shorts "I Wish I Had Wings" (7:03) and "Moonlight for Two" (6:54)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:44)
THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: unrated
Duration: 173 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
This 1936 Best Picture Oscar winner is a lavish, over three hour long biopic about the legendary theatrical empresario Florence Ziegfeld, Jr. (William Powell, The Thin Man series) from his humble beginning starting at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair on through to a cycle of theatrical exhibition stardom, failure and stardom again. Chock full of over 20 show-stopping musical numbers the film also features Myrna Loy (The Thin Man series), as well as Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger from The Wizard of Oz, and hundreds of costumed showgirls. While not my cup of tea really I'm not a huge fan of this, an opinion bolstered by the exorbitant run time, but I can appreciate the spectacle and scale of it, and I know it has it's fan out there, so I am happy to report that is looks great on disc for you guys who might appreciate it more.
Audio/Video: Presented here in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio we get a fairly stunning monochromatic image with wonderful crisp visuals and deep black. The musical numbers and costuming look terrific. The 2.0 dual-mono DTS-HD 2.0 gets the job done, authentically vintage but mostly clean with just a tad bit of hiss in spots, optional English subtitles are provided.
Special Features:
- Ziegfeld on Film (13:24)
- The Great Ziegfeld Premiere Newsreel (4:03)
- Vintage Cartoon: Toytown Hall (13:24)
- Audio-only Leo Is On The Air Radio Promotional Program (14:25)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3:33)
- Song Selection
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 114 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Louis Jourdan, James Mason
Directed by Vincente Minnelli (The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Father's Little Dividend) Madame Bovary (1949) is an adaptation of the classic 1857 novel of the same name by Gustave Flaubert, that has an interesting framing device, that of the book's author Flaubert (James Mason, Salem's Lot) being brought before a Paris court in the year 1857 to defend the publication of his book Madame Bovary against obscenity charges. This bookend framing device dissolves into the story proper with Flaubert narrating the story of tormented Emma Bovary (Jennifer Jones, The Towering Inferno), an adulterous wife, which was apparently not only controversial at the time of it's publication, but also when it was filmed! Emma is unhappy in her life even though married to the devoted rural doctor Charles Bovary (Van Haflin, Airport) with whom she has a daughter, and carries on a series of affairs with several mean, among them bachelor Rodolphe Boulanger (Louis Jourdan, Swamp Thing), her dreams of a more elegant and extravagant eventually dashed by reality of her situation, and a pile of debt she has amassed in her pursuit of the fancy life, with a tragic end. An elegantly crafted film that beautiful, tender and quite tragic on many levels, highly recommended.
Directed by Vincente Minnelli (The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Father's Little Dividend) Madame Bovary (1949) is an adaptation of the classic 1857 novel of the same name by Gustave Flaubert, that has an interesting framing device, that of the book's author Flaubert (James Mason, Salem's Lot) being brought before a Paris court in the year 1857 to defend the publication of his book Madame Bovary against obscenity charges. This bookend framing device dissolves into the story proper with Flaubert narrating the story of tormented Emma Bovary (Jennifer Jones, The Towering Inferno), an adulterous wife, which was apparently not only controversial at the time of it's publication, but also when it was filmed! Emma is unhappy in her life even though married to the devoted rural doctor Charles Bovary (Van Haflin, Airport) with whom she has a daughter, and carries on a series of affairs with several mean, among them bachelor Rodolphe Boulanger (Louis Jourdan, Swamp Thing), her dreams of a more elegant and extravagant eventually dashed by reality of her situation, and a pile of debt she has amassed in her pursuit of the fancy life, with a tragic end. An elegantly crafted film that beautiful, tender and quite tragic on many levels, highly recommended.
Audio/Video: Another stellar WAC Bu-ray presentation in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio offering a pristine visual experience with excellent contrast and black levels. The DTS-HD 2.0 dual-mono audio is likewise unblemished and sounds wonderful, highlighting the fantastic Miklos Rozsa (Eye of the Needle) score.
Extras include a 25th anniversary celebration clip-show of MGM films hosted by Lionel Barrymore that runs about 42-minutes, a classic Tom & Jerry cartoon, and the Theatrical Trailer.
Special Features:
- MGM Short: Some of the Best (1949) (42:18)
- MGM Cartoon: Tom & Jerry "Love That Pup" (1949) (7:37)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3:07)
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JACK L. WARNER: THE LAST MOGUL (1993) 30th Anniversary (MOD) Blu-ray Edition
Label: Vision Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: G
Duration: 101 Minutes
Audio: English 2.0 and 5.1
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director:
Cast: Jack Warner, Shirley Jones, Debbie Reynolds, Sheila MacRae, Jack Warner, Jr., Neal Gabler, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
A fascinating 1993 doc about studio mogul Jack L. Warner produced by his grandson, one of the three brothers founded Warner Bros. Studios, who presided of WB for fifty years, from the golden age of the flickering silents to wide-screen color epics JLW was at the top of it all. This family insider's account of the man is now available on Blu-ray for the first time in a extras-laden 30th Anniversary Edition, ironically not from Warner Bros. but on a MOD Blu-ray release from Vision Films. The handsome doc narrated by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (the voice of Alfred Pennyworth from Batman: The Animated Series) features film clips, personal home movies, and interviews with those who knew Jack Warner best, including family members and Hollywood legends. The doc seems well-balanced, being sure to point out his shortcomings as a family man, rivalries with his siblings, and how once he stepped down as head of the studio sort of disappeared altogether. So many great film clips, trade paper headlines, scandals, and some great anecdotes about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans from the golden age of Hollywood. If you're a film buff this is a must-watch.
A fascinating 1993 doc about studio mogul Jack L. Warner produced by his grandson, one of the three brothers founded Warner Bros. Studios, who presided of WB for fifty years, from the golden age of the flickering silents to wide-screen color epics JLW was at the top of it all. This family insider's account of the man is now available on Blu-ray for the first time in a extras-laden 30th Anniversary Edition, ironically not from Warner Bros. but on a MOD Blu-ray release from Vision Films. The handsome doc narrated by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (the voice of Alfred Pennyworth from Batman: The Animated Series) features film clips, personal home movies, and interviews with those who knew Jack Warner best, including family members and Hollywood legends. The doc seems well-balanced, being sure to point out his shortcomings as a family man, rivalries with his siblings, and how once he stepped down as head of the studio sort of disappeared altogether. So many great film clips, trade paper headlines, scandals, and some great anecdotes about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans from the golden age of Hollywood. If you're a film buff this is a must-watch.
Special Features:
- Jack L. Warner Testifies before HUAC - October 27, 1947 (8:35)
- Filmmaker Interview with Gregory Orr - June 1, 2023 (17:22)
- Launch of SS Benjamin Warner - June 13, 1944 (1:34)
All of these titles are available from www.MovieZyng.com