goldensilents

Does it say in your manual that your burner can handle double layer discs? If you have an older model it may not. The newer burners will almost always be able to handle it. Someday I'll get around to investing in a Blu-ray machine and burner. When I win the lottery. ha!

You might want to open a Mastercard with just a small credit limit, say $500, even though they try to sell you more in most cases. That way you are more likely to pay whatever the balance is each month. It's the credit cards that have thousands of dollars of credit lines that get a lot of people into trouble today (not saying you, Jeff, but in general people just naturally will spend more if the card says, "You are our valued customer, your credit limit has been raised to $5000!" Wowee, no thank you!) lol

LOL! That is funny. I guess these really are some of the dumb questions they get. However you can still make legal backups of discs for your own personal use using DVD Shrink. Of course you shouldn't make copies to give to your Aunt Nellie, but since discs do scratch and freeze I sure as heck will make backup copies for myself of EVERYTHING I buy. If I don't want to shink the movie if it's more than 4.7 gig on the disc then I buy a double layer disc and burn a full backup, uncompressed, to the double layer disc.

Bruce on my board posted the following this afternoon. http://blogs.nypost.com/movies/archives/2009/03/new_warner_webs.html March 23, 2009 *New Warner Website Swamped With Orders for Vintage Movies* If you're having trouble ordering from Warner Home Video's new on-demand DVD and download site that I wrote about a couple of posts back, it's because the demand has far exceeded the studio's wildest expectations on opening day. I just got off the phone with a jubiliant WHV honcho George Feltenstein, who reports that within two hours of the site going live this morning, orders were placed for 140 of the initial 150 titles. "And they might have gotten orders on those other ten by now,'' he tells me. "It's more traffic than we can handle.'' He said the top-secret on-demand project was in the works for two years, "well before the retail landscape for DVDs started to shrink.'' George said the hugely ambitious goal is to make Warners' entire 5000-title catalogue, including hundreds of titles from MGM, RKO and other studios, available, a project that "may take 10 years to accomplish.'' He said the initial offering, which will be supplemented by at least 20 features each and every month -- around 450 are scheduled for the end of 2010 -- was chosen from among titles most requested by fans, as well as titles for which the studios has the good masters. "There's are at least a couple of thousand people who want each of these titles out there,'' he says,."And we wanted to put out titles that look as good as our regular commercial releases.'' He said he was particularly happy to recently discover a good widescreen transfer of Budd Boetticher's much-requested "Westbound,'' his only Randolph Scott western not available on DVD. George said that two of my most wanted titles, Michael Curtiz' "Mission to Moscow'' and Wilhelm Dieterle's "The Last Flight,'' will "probably'' be available next year. Hooray! ("Portnoy's Complaint'' is coming too). The titles in the Warner Archive program are burned rathan than pressed like WHV's regular discs, but George says tests show these discs, burned with a oropietary technology, "are as durable and playable as pressed discs. They're not like discs you burn on your home computer.'' George emphasized that these releases were intended to supplement WHV's regular retail releases, which will continue to feature supplemental features not available in the new bare-bones discs. He's going to announce some upcoming titles tonight on Home Theater Forum. "If initial sales are any indication, we're in for a long ride,'' he tells me.

Bruce on my board posted the following this afternoon. http://blogs.nypost.com/movies/archives/2009/03/new_warner_webs.html March 23, 2009 *New Warner Website Swamped With Orders for Vintage Movies* If you're having trouble ordering from Warner Home Video's new on-demand DVD and download site that I wrote about a couple of posts back, it's because the demand has far exceeded the studio's wildest expectations on opening day. I just got off the phone with a jubiliant WHV honcho George Feltenstein, who reports that within two hours of the site going live this morning, orders were placed for 140 of the initial 150 titles. "And they might have gotten orders on those other ten by now,'' he tells me. "It's more traffic than we can handle.'' He said the top-secret on-demand project was in the works for two years, "well before the retail landscape for DVDs started to shrink.'' George said the hugely ambitious goal is to make Warners' entire 5000-title catalogue, including hundreds of titles from MGM, RKO and other studios, available, a project that "may take 10 years to accomplish.'' He said the initial offering, which will be supplemented by at least 20 features each and every month -- around 450 are scheduled for the end of 2010 -- was chosen from among titles most requested by fans, as well as titles for which the studios has the good masters. "There's are at least a couple of thousand people who want each of these titles out there,'' he says,."And we wanted to put out titles that look as good as our regular commercial releases.'' He said he was particularly happy to recently discover a good widescreen transfer of Budd Boetticher's much-requested "Westbound,'' his only Randolph Scott western not available on DVD. George said that two of my most wanted titles, Michael Curtiz' "Mission to Moscow'' and Wilhelm Dieterle's "The Last Flight,'' will "probably'' be available next year. Hooray! ("Portnoy's Complaint'' is coming too). The titles in the Warner Archive program are burned rathan than pressed like WHV's regular discs, but George says tests show these discs, burned with a oropietary technology, "are as durable and playable as pressed discs. They're not like discs you burn on your home computer.'' George emphasized that these releases were intended to supplement WHV's regular retail releases, which will continue to feature supplemental features not available in the new bare-bones discs. He's going to announce some upcoming titles tonight on Home Theater Forum. "If initial sales are any indication, we're in for a long ride,'' he tells me.

Universal is coming out with a precode set on April 7th. That's been making the news. There are a couple of titles there I haven't seen so I'm interested. The news is really getting better out there for old films! We have to support them financially with our dollars though, so the industry is encouraged to continue. No sales = no future releases.

Haven't checked. I already have about four versions of Sunrise. I am staying up to set the recorder for the Anna Magnani film at 2am on World Cinema. It's never been released on DVD and I haven't seen it since I was a teenager.

I've seen them all too, in fact I have them all recorded. But I am still excited! I'm excited they are making an effort to get these films out on legit DVD without background recording noise or TCM logo "bugs". I'm excited for other people who do not have the access we do to these fine old films. I'm excited because the success of these will make it more likely there will be additional offerings in future. Bottom line, there is now less reason to moan and complain that titles aren't being released legitimately on DVD, because some are now. I have my own order all ready to go!

I agree this site is hard to navigate. I realize many films we love are missing. But let's feel happy that at last they are trying to do SOMETHING to get some of these older titles out to the public! We were just complaining the other day that there were no legit Marion films out on DVD, now here at last we have two, and The *Patsy* will probably follow in a few months because it's in the lead on the voting! Let's see the glass as half full instead of half empty for a change and CELEBRATE OLD FILMS ON DVD! Yay!!!!!!!! It's GREAT news!!!!

Maybe the next batch of titles? At least they have *The Red Mill* and *Cain and Mabel*. It's a start for Marion anyway! That's something to cheer about. Coffeedan on my board wrote: "you can get a 25% discount off 5 titles (or any multiple of 5) if you enter the coupon code XB392 in your shopping cart." So keep that in mind if you're ordering several, you can get an even better deal. I'm still dwelling on the titles I want.

That sounds like a wonderful event and I'm glad you had a good time Scott. Someone from my board gave me the new Doug Fairbanks DVD set for the holidays as a gift and I STILL haven't started on it. I feel badly, I just have SO MANY movies backlogged. There's never enough time in the day. I STILL haven't watched more than 2 films in the Murnau / Borzage set.

I think they are going to be surprised how well many of these titles do. If certain titles do much better than expected that could lead to a general release of these same titles in future. Personally I have ALL of these titles recorded onto DVD-R from TCM and other stations (for instance *The Devil is a Sissy* I recorded from Fox Movie Channel) but with some of these titles I will pay to get a print without an annoying logo "bug" on them. I don't know why *The Torrent* is missing but maybe it will be on the next group of 150. Or perhaps they couldn't get permission from whoever did the soundtrack. Don't remember his name but I remember that soundtrack had some really pretty sections to it.

*The Single Standard* is in the list. What I'm hearing is that these will only be available for a short time, and then they retire this list and put up a new list of 150 different titles. So maybe the titles you are suggesting will be in the next list. Eventually everything is going to go digital online anyway and so you want to hold on to your DVDs. A lot of them will eventually go OOP and be worth quite a bit of money.

The announcement was planned for Monday's chat between Warner Home Video and the Home Theater Forum, but information is already available on WB's website: a new line of DVDs, entitled Warner Archive, will soon be launched, and it will focus on lesser-known titles owned by WB that probably wouldn't be economical to give a full-scale release. Thus, *these DVDs will be pressed according to demand* and are available only through WB's website. *They will be sent only to U.S. addresses*. 150 titles are included in the first batch, including some silents. Below are all the pre-1940 titles in the listings: Scaramouche (1923) Souls for Sale (1923) The Red Lily (1924) Exit Smiling (1926) The Temptress (1926) Love (1927) The Red Mill (1927) Marion Davies! Spring Fever (1927) William Haines! The Smart Set (1928) more William Haines! The Trail of ?98 (1928) The Kiss (1929) The Single Standard (1929) Wild Orchids (1929) The Big House (1930) Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) Laughing Sinners (1931) Possessed (1931) Private Lives (1931) The Beast of the City (1932) Emma (1932) Rasputin and the Empress (1932) Strange Interlude (1932) Chained (1934) The Church Mouse (1934) Laura La Plante! Forsaking All Others (1934) Men in White (1934) Ah, Wilderness! (1935) Cain and Mabel (1936) more Marion Davies! The Devil Is a Sissy (1936) Love on the Run (1936) The Toast of New York (1937) The Citadel (1938) Mannequin (1938) The Shining Hour (1938) The Shopworn Angel (1938) Three Comrades (1938) Too Hot to Handle (1938) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939) Idiot?s Delight (1939) On Borrowed Time (1939) The official site: http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/ARCHIVE,default,sc.html

The announcement was planned for Monday's chat between Warner Home Video and the Home Theater Forum, but information is already available on WB's website: a new line of DVDs, entitled Warner Archive, will soon be launched, and it will focus on lesser-known titles owned by WB that probably wouldn't be economical to give a full-scale release. Thus, *these DVDs will be pressed according to demand* and are available only through WB's website. *They will be sent only to U.S. addresses*. 150 titles are included in the first batch, including some silents. Below are all the pre-1940 titles in the listings: Scaramouche (1923) Souls for Sale (1923) The Red Lily (1924) Exit Smiling (1926) The Temptress (1926) Love (1927) The Red Mill (1927) Marion Davies! Spring Fever (1927) William Haines! The Smart Set (1928) more William Haines! The Trail of ?98 (1928) The Kiss (1929) The Single Standard (1929) Wild Orchids (1929) The Big House (1930) Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) Laughing Sinners (1931) Possessed (1931) Private Lives (1931) The Beast of the City (1932) Emma (1932) Rasputin and the Empress (1932) Strange Interlude (1932) Chained (1934) The Church Mouse (1934) Laura La Plante! Forsaking All Others (1934) Men in White (1934) Ah, Wilderness! (1935) Cain and Mabel (1936) more Marion Davies! The Devil Is a Sissy (1936) Love on the Run (1936) The Toast of New York (1937) The Citadel (1938) Mannequin (1938) The Shining Hour (1938) The Shopworn Angel (1938) Three Comrades (1938) Too Hot to Handle (1938) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939) Idiot?s Delight (1939) On Borrowed Time (1939) The official site: http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/ARCHIVE,default,sc.html

I am sure I'd love his talkies too. In fact I've really fallen in love with Japanese films in general. They have a gentleness and bittersweetness often lacking in American films.

I watched the third film in the Ozu Silent Japanese set, *I Was Born, But ...* (1932) and really enjoyed it again, especially the new digital print which was clearer than the old VHS release. Ozu was such a brilliant director in a quiet but self-assured way. Each scene paints a unique picture which adds to the overall story. This is very intuitive directing and the camerawork is completely professional, with tracking shots and close ups and an eye for stark backgrounds and sets which add to the flavor of the films, helps draw us in and makes us care about the characters. Ozu must have been like Griffith in some ways, carving out new roads for films in Japan, using the same ensemble of actors for many of his films. By the third film in this set you start to recognize faces, especially the brilliant little boy actor Hideo Sugowara, who is in all three films, and comic actor Takeshi Sakamoto, also in all three films. Each film touches on tensions between older and younger generations. Each film showcases how hard it was to make a good economic living in Japan at the time. Each film honors the nuclear family. Each film shows how important education was to the Japanese. This Criterion set is an excellent one and highly recommended if you are interested in Japanese silents. I am kind of sad I'm done with it -- I wish there were more than 3 silents in the set!

*Heroes for Sale* is probably Richard Barthelmess' best talkie. His character must suffer through every societal ill that people suffered between the end of WW One and the Great Depression! They throw everything at the poor guy! lol My personal favorite Richard B. precode however will always be *Central Airport*. The character he falls in love with is named Jill (played by Sally Eilers) and there is this great scene where he runs and kisses her and cries "Jill! Jill! Jill!" How can I not love that scene? I can imagine it's me. :)

I loved *Woman in the Moon*, it was funky and fun. I was enchanted tonight watching another Japanese Ozu silent in that Criterion Collection, this time *Tokyo Chorus* (1931), about a middle class family whose father becomes unemployed, which causes strain and adjustments to family life. The same little boy actor who was in *Passing Fancy* was in *Tokyo Chorus*. I can see why Ozu used him a lot; he was very expressive, especially in scenes where he had to be ornery for the camera. I was sad to read that the actor who played the father died of TB only 3 years later. What a shame. Those were the days before antibiotics, of course, so if you got it you probably didn't stand much chance. The biggest delight I had was I immediately recognized Hideko Takamine as the little daughter! Here she was seven years old and already acting in first rate films. She played the exquisite Japanese teacher in my favorite Japanese film *Twenty-Four Eyes* in 1954! Even though I hadn't read the credits on the IMDb or the DVD box I immediately knew who she was, such was the power she had in front of the camera. I love these films! At the heart of them is love for the family, which is so endearing to me.

Go for it, whistling! My vintage still collection gives me so much pleasure. After awhile you tend to forget what you've spent and simply enjoy the photos over and over again. I uploaded a clip of Pola singing "Paradise" from *A Woman Commands* (1932) onto YouTube a week ago, if anyone wants to see Pola in action. Jack, I think Polish girls just naturally have nice complexions. When I was a teen we had a Polish exchange student named Anna come and stay with us for a week. This was back when Poland was still behind the Iron Curtain but the travel restrictions were slowly letting up. This girl had the most beautiful skin. The poor thing had no clothes except for jeans and t shirts though. She went absolutely nuts in our American stores, she couldn't believe the riches. I'll never forget her reactions. I had taken it all for granted. Oh yeah, the mall, so what? to a young girl who had nothing it was like heaven. She didn't have much money so my mother ended up buying her some nice dresses out of the kindness of her heart.

Have you seen the DVD of *The Wildcat* yet, MissGulch? Pola is hilarious in that. It's a good print in the Lubitsch collection too. Apparently it was a bust when it came out but I thought it was hysterically funny, one of those movies which improves with time, like *Bringing Up Baby*. Here's a portrait of Pola I bought two months ago. It's from her sound film *A Woman Commands*.

Hahahahaha!!! The Patsy. Better Than Prozac.

The way I look at it though it doesn't have to be 1920's style music because the story of *The Patsy* is timeless and universal. Sibling rivalry, parents choosing one child over another in their affections, stress in the marriage because of it, sisters vying for the same men, stuff like that went on in the 1920's and it goes on in today's families. So if you look at it that way the music fits because it suits the quirkiness yet universality of the story. A bunch of 1920's music would just be a bunch of 1920's music, not necessarily reflecting the characters or storyline.

Growing up on the Gold Coast of Long Island there were mansions all around us. Across the street from my home there was a huge three story mansion that was used for at least two movies that I know of - *The Group* and *Little Gloria, Happy At Last* (I watched that being filmed and got to meet Christopher Plummer, who signed autographs before a helicopter landed on the property and took him away). I used to babysit the owner's children all the time. They had a kitchen that looks JUST like that kitchen in that picture. And the maids' quarters were right around it and above it on the next floor. That photo brought back a flood of memories.

That wasn't a roar, it sounded like a muffled moan. Too weird for me. I edited it out for my DVD-R.