Warner Archive Weekend Sale (and Reviews, Too!)

A heads up for my fellow classic film fans: the Warner Archive is having a pretty good sale this weekend, with a buy two, get one free deal. That takes the price per DVD to about $13.33. There's also free shipping.

The sale runs through February 28th.

I strongly suspect there are many of us out there who are going to make one of this week's releases, Joel McCrea's STARS IN MY CROWN (1950), one of the Archive's all-time bestsellers. (Update: See final paragraph...although not immediately apparent, it turns out this title isn't on sale.)

Here's a roundup of some recent reviews of Archive DVDs:

...Glenn Erickson reviewed PRINCESS O'ROURKE (1943) in his DVD Savant column. Erickson writes of writer-director Norman Krasna's movie: "Krasna scores on several levels of comedy and romantic feeling...PRINCESS O'ROURKE is a gem of an Olivia de Havilland picture, and one of leading man Robert Cummings's best -- the New York Times reviewer thought Cummings was a new James Stewart in the making."

Erickson goes on to say it's "a classic screenplay in every sense" and "The restaurant-dance club scene is a beauty," giving the picture a big thumbs up. As for the print, it's "an unrestored but acceptable transfer."

My review of PRINCESS O'ROURKE is here. Highly recommended.

...SUNDAY IN NEW YORK (1963) also had a Norman Krasna screenplay.

It was recently reviewed by Jack Goodstein, Mike McGranaghan, and Joe Meyers. The consensus is that the newly remastered widescreen print looks great.

My review is here. I'm looking forward to the chance to see this DVD since the print I previously reviewed was a pan and scan copy.

...Mike Clark reviewed the late Anne Francis in a remastered widescreen print of GIRL OF THE NIGHT (1961).

In Laura Wagner's excellent profile of Francis in FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE (No. 55, Winter 2008-09), she says that though the film was "little appreciated or seen at the time," it was Anne Francis's favorite of all her performances. Francis said, "GIRL OF THE NIGHT is special to me because it was such a demanding role. It really was a tour de force..." Wagner's biography of Francis is due in late May.

...Mike Clark also reviewed THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958), saying "it's handsomely remastered." THE RELUCANT DEBUTANTE is one of several recent releases which were directed by Vincente Minnelli.

My review of the film is here.

For information on the most recent Archive releases, please visit my post of last Saturday. There's also lots of info on new titles of the last few months in posts of December 5th, January 17th, and February 10th.

Update: I always have the world's worst time getting logged in with my password at the Archive. I don't have this problem at any other shopping site... What gives? It usually accepts it on about the third try.

Also, apparently the sale is not good for the latest releases. Although the fine print simply says it excludes value packs and pre-orders -- with the brand-new releases displayed immediately underneath said fine print -- the sale price did not pop up when I tried to place an order including STARS IN MY CROWN and AMBUSH. When you click the "Shop Sale" button, a list of titles comes up without the most recent releases. The existence of sale restrictions beyond value packs and pre-orders really should be clarified front and center on the website...I wanted to order February 22nd releases, which don't constitute pre-orders. A disappointment.