Idea for Barrymore mixed set on Warner Archive

[sepiatone]

just a thought of releasing the remaining J. Barrymore Warner talkies to dvd but with a variance. It would consist of the silent GENERAL CRACK, the talkie MOBY DICK, an audio option for the entire soundtrack of THE MAN FROM BLANKLEYS and the talkie THE MAD GENIUS. Just in time for Christmas I was thinking!

[CoffeeDan]

Oh shoot, there are enough unreleased John Barrymore films in the Time Warner library in better shape that, taken together, would make a great box set. Think of it -- SVENGALI, THE MAD GENIUS, ARSENE LUPIN (with brother Lionel), TOPAZE, and LONG LOST FATHER would make a great collection. (Add REUNION IN VIENNA if the rights issue can be solved.)

I've never cared much for MOBY DICK, and it's a shame that THE MAN FROM BLANKLEY'S is unavailable. (There used to be an interesting review on the IMDb from a gentleman who claimed to have seen BLANKLEY'S on two separate occasions -- he watched the film without the soundtrack, and listened to the soundtrack discs without the film!) But every film that Barrymore made from 1931-34 is definitely worth seeing. Heck, Warner Archive just released the balance of William Powell's Warner Bros. films as a box set -- why not a John Barrymore collection?

[Harold Aherne]

Any possible Barrymore set wouldn't include Topaze, as it was sold to David O. Selznick (along with a few other RKOs like A Bill of Divorcement). The Selznick library--the films that hadn't gone elsewhere, anyway--was acquired by ABC in 1966 and became part of the Disney library 30 years later. One telling indication is that Topaze was issued on VHS and laserdisc by CBS/Fox (which had the Selznick licence at the time), not by Turner Entertainment.

-HA

[sepiatone]

Oh shoot, there are enough unreleased John Barrymore films in the Time Warner library in better shape that, taken together, would make a great box set. Think of it -- SVENGALI, THE MAD GENIUS, ARSENE LUPIN (with brother Lionel), TOPAZE, and LONG LOST FATHER would make a great collection. (Add REUNION IN VIENNA if the rights issue can be solved.)

I've never cared much for MOBY DICK, and it's a shame that THE MAN FROM BLANKLEY'S is unavailable. (There used to be an interesting review on the IMDb from a gentleman who claimed to have seen BLANKLEY'S on two separate occasions -- he watched the film without the soundtrack, and listened to the soundtrack discs without the film!) But every film that Barrymore made from 1931-34 is definitely worth seeing. Heck, Warner Archive just released the balance of William Powell's Warner Bros. films as a box set -- why not a John Barrymore collection?

I like MOBY DICK mainly for it's rustic photography by Robert Kurrle. It gives an indication of what his camerawork must have looked like on other lost silent productions ie ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT (1923).

In checking the 'Lost Film' entry on the Wikipedia, it's stated that early sound films made by First National and Warners, their chances of survival plummeted if they were not extant when tv prints were being prepared in the 1950s. So Im guessing this was the fate of THE MAN FROM BLANKLEY'S even though intriguing stills survive. On IMDb the trivia section has posted that some footage from '..BLANKLEY'S' survives at UCLA, but I've only seen this at IMdb.

[IA]

Oh shoot, there are enough unreleased John Barrymore films in the Time Warner library in better shape that, taken together, would make a great box set. Think of it -- SVENGALI, THE MAD GENIUS, ARSENE LUPIN (with brother Lionel), TOPAZE, and LONG LOST FATHER would make a great collection. (Add REUNION IN VIENNA if the rights issue can be solved.)

That would be a lovely thing to behold. Arsene Lupin isn't a great film, but it's an enjoyable acting contest between the brothers. Reunion in Vienna is a glittering hidden gem, even if it slightly bowdlerizes the Sherwood play it's based on. Topaze is perhaps the most perfect film of the bunch, though apparently the rights are a problem.

it's a shame that THE MAN FROM BLANKLEY'S is unavailable. (There used to be an interesting review on the IMDb from a gentleman who claimed to have seen BLANKLEY'S on two separate occasions -- he watched the film without the soundtrack, and listened to the soundtrack discs without the film!)

That gentleman's name wasn't F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, was it? He was notorious for making up reviews of lost or hard-to-find silent films he'd never seen, complete with elaborate explanations of how he was able to view them. The poor devil committed suicide three years ago.