Here are some highlights of the recent releases to the Warner Archive Collection. DVD’s and Blu-rays are manufactured on demand. They also have a streaming service. Before you visit Warner Archive to check out their selection, check out the selections below an a few of my thoughts.

Oscar Nominees & Winners

Our primary reason for highlighting each week’s selections is to showcase new and reprints of Oscar nominees and winners. Below are the Archives most recent releases in this class.

Barbary Coast (1935)
Miriam Hopkins stars in the sprawling epic about the lawless times in post Gold Rush San Francisco. Arriving in town to wed a rich saloonkeeper, Mary Rutledge assays the lay of the land and takes up with her fiancéŽs killer, the amoral Louis Chamalis (Edward G. Robinson). Mary is soon ensconced as Chamalis’ leading lady, but a chance encounter with a gold mining poet (Joel McCrea) broadens Mary’s horizons. A muscular mix of drama, romance, crime, comedy and adventure from Howard Hawks (of course).

Nominated for 1 Academy Award (Best Cinematography)

Come and Get It (1936)
Both Howard Hawks and William Wyler contribute to this cross-generational saga starring Frances Farmer in dual roles. Lumberjack Barney Glasgow (Edward Arnold) has his eyes on a timber barony, and will make any sacrifice to win it, including losing the love of his life (Farmer) to friend and rival Swan Bostrom (Walter Brennan). Reunited with Swan years later, Barney discovers that Swan’s daughter is the spitting image of her mother, rekindling emotions and regrets that Barney has long denied. Also starring Joel McCrea.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards (Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan; Best Film Editing)
Won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan

Flight for Freedom (1943)
With the war raging, and memories of missing aviatrix Amelia Earhart tied to the onset of global hostilities, RKO tapped Rosalind Russell for this aviation-a-clef. The film’s of-the-moment speculations are surprisingly on the mark, and Ms. Russell’s deft touch for comedy serves the dramatics well, as flier Tonie Carter (Russell) fights for women in the air and on the ground. While good and loyal flight instructor Paul Turner (Herbert Marshall) and soaring soul-mate Randy Britton (Fred MacMurray) skirmish for the keys to Tonie’s heart, her country tasks her with a secret mission over the Pacific. Directed by Lothar Mendes.

Nominated for 1 Academy Award (Best Art Direction)

The Goldwyn Follies (1938)
This all-star revue may hang on an outréŽ frame (a distressed movie producer hires a young girl to be “Miss Humanity” and evaluate his films from the perspective of a common lass), but the talent it assembles outshines its premise. It overflows with music from the Gershwins mixed with talent like Adolphe Menjou, Edgar Bergen, Helen Vinson, and Kenny Baker, then wrapped up in a TechniColor sheen. Songs include “Love Walked In”, “Love is Here to Stay” and “Spring Again”. Directed by George Marshall.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards (Best Art Direction, Best Music Scoring)

Sister Kenny (1946)
This biopic about the life of the crusading Australian nurse whose breakthrough techniques changed the way polio victims were treated as well as helping to pave the way for modern physical therapy, was a project near and dear to Ms. Russell’s heart. Friends with the real-life Sister Elizabeth Kenny, Rosalind Russell was careful to capture as much of Sister Kenny’s characteristics as possible within the confines of big screen biography. While out in the Australian bush, young nurse (‘Sister’ in Austro-Anglo parlance) discovers that the “useless” limbs of polio patients may be revived via simple but painstaking therapeutic techniques. Met with disdain and disbelief by the medical establishment, Sister Kenny takes her fight across the years from the bush all the way to the USA, battling for polio patients everywhere. Directed by Dudley Nichols.

Nominated for 1 Academy Award (Best Actress, Rosalind Russell)

Other Films

Here are other notable film releases coming to Warner Archive Collection
The Stranger Collection (1967, 1968, 1974)
Meet the other Man With No Name! While Spaghetti Westerns were burning up the global box-office, a no-named Stranger, quite unlike another no-named pasta pistolero, was played by Tony Anthony. He’s more beholden to the antics of the Native American trickster god Coyote, more fallible than flawless and more likely to get ensnared by his own schemes – not to mention he can’t even roll a cigarette properly! But that’s just about when you need to duck, because the Stranger just comes up shooting! Simultaneously satirical and straight up revenge rousers, the Stranger series of Westerns deserve a familiar reception from film fans the world over. Collection contains:

• A Stranger in Town (1967) The Stranger helps steal a shipment of US Army gold with bandito Aguila, only to get cheated of his share. And now, the Stranger aims to even the score.
• The Stranger Returns (1968) Impersonating a dead postal inspector, the Stranger gets caught up in a twisted scheme to steal a stagecoach.
• The Silent Stranger (1974) The Stranger comes into possession of a Japanese scroll worth $20,000 which lands in the midst of a Samurai war on another continent.

The Velvet Touch (1948)
A noirish backstage murder “whydunnit” places Rosalind Russell inside a cracked cinematic mirror playing a Broadway comedy queen yearning to escape her straight jacket of popular culture expectations by taking on the title role in Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. But her manager/ex-beau Gordon Dunning (a suitably oily Leon Ames) pegs her for a more profitable part in a piece of fluff. After an argument escalates to a fatal conclusion, another lass (Claire Trevor) looks to be fitted for the frame until intrepid detective Captain Danbury (a captivating Sidney Greenstreet) takes the case. Directed by Jack Gage.

The Wedding Night (1935)
King Vidor directs Gary Cooper and Anna Sten in this tale of middle-aged crisis and young passion. Successful New York novelist Tony Barrett (Cooper) has hit a dry spell – both in his work and in his marriage to Dora (Helen Vinson). Forced by financial circumstances to relocate to the wilds of Connecticut, Tony’s fortunes get a boost thanks to his new neighbors, especially young Manya Novak (Sten). After his wife heads back to The Big Apple, Tony starts a new novel about a middle-aged man re-discovering love. But as Tony and Manya draw closer, so too does her arranged wedding to Fredrik Sobieski (Ralph Bellamy)…

Television

The occasional television program or series is released in Warner Archive Collection. Here are this week’s offerings.
Growing Pains: The Complete Fourth Season (1988-89)
The more things change, the more the Seavers stay the same! The fourth season of the beloved family favorite sees Mike (Kirk Cameron) starting college, Carol (Tracey Gold) starting to get cynical, Ben (Jeremy Miller) starting to date and Maggie (Joanna Kerns) about to give birth! While Jason (Alan Thicke) does his best to keep the family grounded, he finds his clan starting to chafe at their old roles – like when Jason tries to actually ground the ‘grown-up’ Mike. Later, Maggie confronts her fears about labor and Ben has to deal with his new baby sister not only stealing his birthday but his junior place in the family. The whole clan confronts new challenges along with some special co-stars such as Jane Powell, Matthew Perry, Dick Van Patten, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Brad Pitt!

Wanda at Large: The Complete First Season (2003)
Wanda Sykes stars as an irreverent comic turned television personality in this no-holds-barred series of hard-hitting hilarity. Wanda Hawkins (Sykes) is a struggling standup comic who suddenly finds herself in the spotlight when she is hired as an on-air correspondent on a political talk show. Her best friend and segment producer Keith (Dale Godboldo) is thrilled but her mouthy, tell-it-like-it-is style infuriates the talk show’s buttoned-down moderators, Bradley (Phil Morris) and Rita (Ann Magnuson). But as far as the station manager, Roger (Jason Kravits), is concerned, Wanda is exactly what the show needs. At home, Wanda must deal with her no-nonsense sister-in-law and neighbor, Jenny (Tammy Lauren) who, after the death of her husband, is raising her two children on her own–with a little unsolicited advice from Wanda. And now Wanda At Large is truly large а as the series is now in widescreen, as it was meant to be seen!