Warner Bros on Ambersons

[Jeff Wilson]

At a chat on the Home Theater Forum web site, reps of Warner Bros stated that an Ambersons release on DVD had "no scheduled date" but that they "hope to release in the near future." It sounds like nothing special is planned for the title, which really doesn't shock me at all, given the film's low profile compared to Kane. It also sounds as if they aren't going to bother with much restoration, if any. But we will see.

[Narshty]

Don't worry - Warner Bros are the best at restoring their classic films next to Criterion. Look at even low-key releases like The Women and Now, Voyager to see how gorgeous their monochrome transfers are. Besides, it can't be worse than the cropped, bleary, analog-NTSC-converted-to-PAL mess that is the French disc.

[edmoney]

You can find the Warner Brothers chat transcript at www.digitalbits.com. My reading of the part relevant to Ambersons, which actually doesn’t consist of any more than what Jeff already stated, is different. On the good side, I don’t think that there’s any implication that little or no restoration will be done. Elsewhere in the transcript the Warner reps indicate their concern for the state of the RKO film library and that they “are very active in seeking out the finest film elements to resolve this issue.” While this doesn’t say anything about restoration, it does show their concern (if only for purposes of appearance) for presenting the films in good condition and not simply dumping them “as is” on the market. On the not so good side, their vagueness and ambiguity about when Ambersons might be released won’t cause me to hold my breath. While one can differentiate between “hope to release it in the near future” and “no plans at the present time” (which they use several times when referring to other releases), it still isn’t the same thing as when they declare that a release is planned for later this year or next year (which they also say several times when referring to other releases). In short, I don’t think their mention of Ambersons really says anything new … sad to say.

[edmoney]

In the "Entertainment & the Arts" section of The Seattle Times (7/1/03) there is an article about films missing on DVD. Among the films listed is The Magnificent Ambersons with the following comment:

"Warner is searching for the best film elements for a restoration of Orson Welles' famously butchered opus. But 'there's absolutely no way the cut footage exists. Everybody always asks that.'"

Although basically killing any possible hope for seeing the lost footage, perhaps it shows that Warner is treating the eventual DVD release with a bit more care than what some of us previously thought?