Warner Archive News

Terrific news for fans of Joel McCrea and Jacques Tourneur: a remastered print of STARS IN MY CROWN (1950) will be released next week by the Warner Archive.

The highly regarded film about a Western preacher costars Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell, James Mitchell, and Lewis Stone.

The Archive has also remastered McCrea's THE OUTRIDERS (1950), a Civil War film costarring Arlene Dahl, James Whitmore, Barry Sullivan, and Claude Jarman Jr.

I was really delighted to learn that one of my favorite Robert Taylor Westerns, 1950's AMBUSH (reviewed here) is being released.

AMBUSH has some excellent location shooting and particularly good performances by Taylor and John McIntire as a pair of army scouts. The deep cast includes Arlene Dahl, John Hodiak, Jean Hagen, Don Taylor, and Leon Ames.

The DVD cover art for AMBUSH is fantastic! Kudos to the Archive for dropping the bland blue covers of their initial releases and designing attractive, eye-catching cases. I've been delighted to see the Archive respond to consumer requests with the regular releases of remastered titles along with the greatly improved cover art.

Now if only there were a way they could affordably include chapter stops, especially for musicals...and drop the prices. I'd be purchasing Archive DVDs at a much faster rate if they had a lower price point.

Returning to the upcoming releases, the Archive is also releasing Taylor's RIDE, VAQUERO! (1953) which costars Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, and Anthony Quinn.

Last year Moira Finnie wrote an excellent essay on the film for the TCM Movie Morlocks blog.

I'm delighted by the significant number of Taylor films now available from the Archive -- and hope ROGUE COP (1954) is coming soon.

But wait...there's more!

How about Tim Holt Western Classics, Vol. I? The set includes 10, count 'em, 10 of Holt's classic "B" Westerns, and is described by the archive as "first in a continuing series."

The Archive is having a sale this weekend for President's Day. It's not the most generous sale they've ever had -- $10 off a $50 order -- but heads up for anyone who would like to take advantage of the opportunity for some savings. The coupon code is "PREZ."

Update: Be sure to read Glenn Erickson's review of the recent Archive release of SUSAN SLEPT HERE (1954); he gives raves to both the movie and the print.

His comments on the Archive DVD-R: "The 'remastered' transfer is terrific! One couldn't ask for anything better in a standard DVD release, as the picture is a knockout, with colors that leap off the screen...it's almost educational to see something so bright and gaudy, yet original and exciting looking. It's like seeing your first candy apple red hot rod, with lime green upholstery: now you know what was cool about the 1950s."

The entire review is very entertaining and certainly made me anxious to take a look at the copy I got last Christmas. Two more reviews of the DVD were linked in a roundup post last month. My 2009 review of the film is here.

Update: From Toby at 50 Westerns from the 50s: "I’m practically giddy as I type this. Just saw what’s coming from Warner Archives on Tuesday." He goes on to say of STARS IN MY CROWN, "I can’t recommend this picture highly enough. If I won the lottery, I’d buy you all a copy."