The home video business continues to putter along with Warner Archive, Kino-Lorber, and the Criterion Collection being the primary caretakers of classic films on Blu-ray and UHD 4K while the major studios release much less of their current product in the formats.

The business model today is theatrical release – video on demand – streaming and a home video release only if demand is there. Some films don’t get more than a quick theatrical release in a handful of theatres followed by streaming and nothing else.

As we end the year, I thought it might be a good idea to take another look at what Warner Archive sent our way in 2025.

Here then are the ten most surprising releases that Warner Archive gave us this year:

1. High Society (1956) – Charles Walters’ musical version of The Philadelphia Story with Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra given a spectacular upgrade from DVD to both Blu-ray 4K UHD.
2. Intruder in the Dust (1949) – Clarence Brown’s look racial prejudice in a small Mississippi town as a young boy (Claude Jarman, Jr.) and an old lady (Elizabeth Patterson) avert the lynching of an innocent Black man (Juano Hernandez).
3. 7 Women (1965) – John Ford’s last film pitted a tough female doctor (Anne Bancroft) and a group of missionaries (Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Anna Lee, Sue Lyon) against a Chinese warlord in 1935.
4. Lili (1953) – Charles Walters’ whimsical musical about a naïve French girl who believes that puppets can really talk gave Leslie Caron an enchanting role opposite Mel Ferrer. Jean-Pierre Aumont, and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
5. The Enchanted Cottage (1945) – John Cromwell’s film of Arthur Wing Pinero’s play gave us Robert Young as the disfigured war hero and Dorothy McGuire as an extremely plain maid brought together by landlady Mildred Natwick.
6. The Citadel (1938) – King Vidor’s film of A.J. Cronin’s classic novel gave us Robert Donat in one of his greatest roles as the crusading doctor who loses his way and finds it again with the support of Rosalind Russell as his wife.
7. On Borrowed Time (1939) – Harold S. Bucquet’s film of Paul Osborn’s play is a heartrending fable about an old man (Lionel Barrymore) and his grandson (Bobs Watson) who keep Death (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) at bay up a tree.
8. The Cobweb (1955) – Vincente Minnelli’s film from William Gibson’s novel with Richard Widnmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer, Lillian Gish, John Kerr, and Susan Strasberg is about a psychiatric clinic where the doctors are crazier than the patients.
9. The Valley of Decision (1945) – Tay Garnett’s film of Marcia Davenport’s novel gave us Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Gladys Cooper, Donald Crisp, Lionel Barrymore, Dean Stockwell, and Jessica Tandy in 1880s Pittsburgh.
10. The Miracle (1959) – Irving Rapper’s film set during the Napoleonic era in Spain gave us Carroll Baker as a postulant whose place is taken in her convent by the Virgin Mary as she searchers for Roger Moore as the soldier she is infatuated with.

Warner Archive has also put together packages of previously released films on Blu-ray at $39.39 per 4-film collection and $59-99 per 6-film collection or just under $10 per film to provide newcomers with a cost-effective way of starting their collections.

4-Film Collections include:

Gary Cooper – Sergeant York, Friendly Persuasion, Love in the Afternoon, The Hanging
Tree

Clark Gable – Mutiny on the Bounty, San Francisco, Wife vs. Secretary, Idiot’s
Delight

Bette Davis – Jezebel, Dark Victory, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The
Letter

Joan Crawford – Grand Hotel, The Women, Possessed, The Damned Don’t Cry

James Stewart – The Shop Around the Corner, The Mortal Storm, The Naked Spur,
How the West Was Won

Judy Garland – Strike Up the Band, Meet Me in St. Louis, In the Good Old Summertime,
A Star Is Born

Gene Kelly- An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, For Me and My Gal, The Pirate

Fred Astaire – Easter Parade, The Band Wagon, Silk Stockings, Finian’s Rainbow

6-Film Collections include:

Errol Flynn – The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, Santa Fe Trail, Objective
Burma, Edge of Darkness, Adventures of Don Juan

Broadway Musicals – Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, The Boy Friend, Brigadoon, Damn Yankees,
The Pajama Game

Happy viewing.