Here is some info I dug up from the digital bits site on the net concerning some Duke and John Ford movies. This is quotes from Warner Bros:

Are there any plans to revisit The Searchers or any of your other Ford titles as Special Editions? How about Hawks? Also, when can I expect Bad Day at Black Rock?

THE SEARCHERS is getting a full photochemical film restoration followed by a new transfer. We will release it, along with other Wayne and Ford pictures in 2006 for THE SEARCHERS 50th ANNIVERSARY. Yes, there are more Hawks films coming, and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK will be out in the near future


Referring to an earlier post, it was said Bonnie and Clyde, Bullitt, and Streetcar Named Desire were in for future releases, do you mean future release like An American In Paris (2006) or do you mean earlier like this year? And on a side note I recently bought Stagecoach and Strangers on a Train Dvd and noticed they are in need of a major restoration, is there any plans for that and if so when can we expect new addition?

[warnerbros] We work very far in advance, so if we let you know what we're working on, ya gotta be patient! Those titles are all in place for various times over the next two years. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN is getting a film restoration as we speak. STAGECOACH will be revisited in the future!

So it looks like The Searchers SE, some other JW movies not mentioned will not be out till 2006 and Stagecoach is getting redone/restored.

Also on a side note, WB is planning on a special edition of The Wild Bunch as a Sam Peckinpah promotion along with some of his other films.

So if you are interested in owning any of these films you might want to wait till the cleaned up versions are released.

Originally posted by SXViper@Mar 10 2004, 11:51 AM
Here is some info I dug up from the digital bits site on the net concerning some Duke and John Ford movies. This is quotes from Warner Bros:

Are there any plans to revisit The Searchers or any of your other Ford titles as Special Editions? How about Hawks? Also, when can I expect Bad Day at Black Rock?

THE SEARCHERS is getting a full photochemical film restoration followed by a new transfer. We will release it, along with other Wayne and Ford pictures in 2006 for THE SEARCHERS 50th ANNIVERSARY. Yes, there are more Hawks films coming, and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK will be out in the near future


Referring to an earlier post, it was said Bonnie and Clyde, Bullitt, and Streetcar Named Desire were in for future releases, do you mean future release like An American In Paris (2006) or do you mean earlier like this year? And on a side note I recently bought Stagecoach and Strangers on a Train Dvd and noticed they are in need of a major restoration, is there any plans for that and if so when can we expect new addition?

[warnerbros] We work very far in advance, so if we let you know what we're working on, ya gotta be patient! Those titles are all in place for various times over the next two years. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN is getting a film restoration as we speak. STAGECOACH will be revisited in the future!

So it looks like The Searchers SE, some other JW movies not mentioned will not be out till 2006 and Stagecoach is getting redone/restored.

Also on a side note, WB is planning on a special edition of The Wild Bunch as a Sam Peckinpah promotion along with some of his other films.

So if you are interested in owning any of these films you might want to wait till the cleaned up versions are released.
I already have most of those films on disc that you mention, Viper, and don't think the versions I have are all that bad. Of course, I'll admit I'm not a film purist - I'm most interested in the story itself and not the extras or super-duper quality of the transfer, i.e., Superbits or whatever it's called.

My concern is that I bought my DVD of The Searchers back in December 1997. I've had that movie for a long time, and now they are re-releasing it again as a Special Edition SE sometime in the near future. I'd like to have the latest version, but I don't want 12 different versions of the same movie. I think that is a big problem with studios in way of getting more money off you. They did that to Lord of the Rings for the last two movies, and I'm sure they will do it again in the last of the three.

Don't like it at all.

Cheers, Hondo B)

Originally posted by Hondo Duke Lane@Mar 10 2004, 04:49 PM
My concern is that I bought my DVD of The Searchers back in December 1997.* I've had that movie for a long time, and now they are re-releasing it again as a Special Edition SE sometime in the near future.* I'd like to have the latest version, but I don't want 12 different versions of the same movie.* I think that is a big problem with studios in way of getting more money off you.* They did that to Lord of the Rings for the last two movies, and I'm sure they will do it again in the last of the three.

Don't like it at all.

Cheers, Hondo* B)
I wholeheartedly agree, Hondo. The studios are constantly releasing "new" versions of various movies and just as you say, it's merely to extract more money from film lovers like us. So far, I've only came across one DVD (out of 322) that dissatisfied me insofar as the picture and sound quality was concerned. That was one issued by Madacy but from what I've seen, almost all their releases are of lousy quality. I won't buy any more of their DVDs. Once burnt, twice shy, says I.

Originally posted by Hondo Duke Lane@Mar 10 2004, 01:49 PM
. . . The Searchers . . . and now they are re-releasing it again as a Special Edition SE sometime in the near future.
I'm wondering if the Special Edition will include some of the special features that I have on two different VHS versions (which is why we own two - different features on each tape). One has the feature "The Turning of the Earth" which was well worth what we spent to have a second copy of The Searchers. Our other copy is part of a boxed set called John Wayne Western Greats and includes Rio Bravo, The Searchers, and Stagecoach. That copy has the following text on the back of the box -

Only a handful of Westerns towers as tall, powerful and mythic as the American Cowboy. Among them are Stagecoach, High Noon and Shane. And The Searchers, the film that gave John Wayne his favorite role.
Working together for the 12th time, Wayne and director John ford forged The Searchers into an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, a believer more in bullets than in words. He's seeking his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive five-year quest, Ethan encounters something he didn't expect to find: his own humanity.
The Searchers has been digitally mastered with restored picture and sound. Following the movie are four behind-the-scenes segments from the "Warner Bros. Presents" TV series and the original 1956 theatrical trailer.

Both special features mentioned above are very interesting, although I think I like "The Turning of the Earth" a little better.

Chester :newyear: