Warner Licenses 74 From Goldwyn

[John Hodson]

From Home Media Magazine; Warner Licenses 74 From Goldwyn -

With the largest share of catalog titles in the home entertainment business, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group isn’t usually looking for more.

“Generally speaking, we’re not interested in acquisitions,” said Jeff Baker, EVP and GM of theatrical catalog for Warner.

The studio made an exception March 30, when it licensed 74 titles from The Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. Family Trust, covering nearly every film from producer Samuel Goldwyn, including some that have never seen a home entertainment release.

The agreement includes North American distribution and covers disc, electronic sellthrough and transactional VOD. Warner said it could release titles from the agreement as soon as the fourth quarter of 2012. The Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of Our Lives, Wuthering Heights, Guys and Dolls, Hans Christian Andersen and The Bishop’s Wife are some of the notable titles under the agreement.

“The acquisition of the stellar Samuel Goldwyn library reaffirms WBHEG’s commitment to the classics and ownership through physical and digital distribution to consumers,” Baker said, noting that the acquisition of The Best Years of Our Lives, the 1946 Best Picture winner, gives the studio 22 films with that honor.

Warner’s catalog already boasts The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and Casablanca.

Baker said many of the Goldwyn films would be included in future TCM Turner Classic Movie DVD collections, which feature four films in one packaged, grouped by actor or theme. Others, “where practical in terms of restoration,” Baker said, can expect a Blu-ray Disc release. And others, particularly the 14 silent films included in the deal, would likely see a release via Warner Archive, the studio’s DVD manufacture-on-demand service, Baker said.

Sam Goldwyn Jr. said it was Warner’s reputation “back to the days of my father” that sealed the distribution deal.

“I could not be more pleased to have our library in such esteemed and capable hands,” he said. “The idea that our treasured titles such as Wuthering Heights, The Best Years of Our Lives and dozens of others will be handled with such passion and care could not make me happier.”

Samuel Goldwyn Films Library:
The Adventures Of Marco Polo
Arrowsmith
The Awakening*
Ball Of Fire
Barbary Coast
Beloved Enemy
The Best Years Of Our Lives
The Bishop’s Wife
Bulldog Drummond
Come And Get It
Condemned
The Cowboy And The Lady
Cynara
Cytherea*
Dark Angel*
Dead End
The Devil Dancer*
The Devil To Pay!
Dodsworth
Edge Of Doom
Enchantment
The Goldwyn Follies
Guys And Dolls
Hans Christian Andersen
His Supreme Moment*
In Hollywood With Potash & Perlmutter*
The Hurricane
I Want You
The Kid From Brooklyn
The Kid From Spain
Kid Millions
The Little Foxes
The Magic Flame*
The Masquerader
My Foolish Heart
Nana
The Night Of Love*
One Heavenly Night
Our Very Own
Palmy Days
Partners Again, With Potash & Perlmutter*
Potash And Perlmutter*
The Pride Of The Yankees
The Princess And The Pirate
Raffles
Raffles (1930)
The Real Glory
The Rescue*
Roman Scandals
Roseanna McCoy
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
Secrets
A Song Is Born
Splendor
Stella Dallas
Stella Dallas (1925)*
Strike Me Pink
Tarnish*
These Three
They Got Me Covered
They Shall Have Music
A Thief In Paradise*
This Is Heaven*
Two Lovers
The Unholy Garden
Up In Arms
We Live Again
The Wedding Night
The Westerner
Whoopee!
The Winning Of Barbara Worth*
Woman Chases Man
Wonder Man
Wuthering Heights

*Silent Film

There's a possibility The Westerner might make it to Blu, but I'm not hopeful of many more. I'd kill for a BD box of the Danny Kaye films, but sadly...

[nebiroth]

What a shame it went to Warner instead of an independent like Olive. Virtually guarantees the majority will be buried in the Archive.

[Livius]

These days, the news of anything acquired by Warners is pretty much bad news from a collector's point of view.

[zacharysmith]

The original US dvd's of Wonder Man and The Bishops Wife were very good so unless they plan a Bluray upgrade neither of those will be worth looking at

[johncitylit]

Warner Archive Collection DVD, just now seem don't offer english subtitles for Hard of Hearing, anyone who can explain why?

[Julian K]

Only Warners can explain why, but I suggest it's because - as always - subtitling DVDs adds considerably to the authoring costs. Adding subtitles on marginal titles like these wouldn't be cost effective: you'd spend hundreds (possibly thousands) of dollars, but you'd only see a very small increase in the number of discs sold.