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.

Ladyhawke (1985)
Ladyhawke is the enchanting tale of a lady (Michelle Pfeiffer), a knight (Rutger Hauer) and a pickpocket known as the Mouse (Matthew Broderick). Once the knight and the lady were lovers. Now the curse of an evil bishop (John Wood) keeps them “always together, eternally apart.” By day she is a hawk, by night he is a wolf. To end the evil spell, the knight vows to break into the bishop’s stronghold. With help from the Mouse. Directed by Richard Donner and photographed by three-time Academy Award® winner” Vittorio Storaro, Ladyhawke is “the most congenial spot for happy ever-aftering since Camelot” (Rita Kempley, The Washington Post).

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards:
Best Sound
Best Sound Effects Editing

Viva Villa! (1934)
The sometimes heroic, sometimes infamous deeds of legendary Mexican bandit and patriot Pancho Villa are brought to life in this highly acclaimed blockbuster starring Wallace Beery. This stunning biography begins its story with a young Pancho, driven to repulsion of the Diaz regime when he witnesses one of its soldiers kill his father. Pancho turns against the government, becoming one of the most ruthless bandits ever known to Mexico, but eventually helping to put the honorable Francisco Madero to power. After Madero’s assasasination, Pancho himself is called upon to lead the masses, but being a better fighter than a bureaucrat, he relinquishes the presidency when he is able to restore Mexico to its people. Beery, Leo Carillo and Fay Wray being all the majesty and tragedy to the story of this larger-than-life bandito, Pancho Villa. Known to some as a patriot, to others as a savage, he will be remembered by all in this historical and spectacular film tribute.

Nominated for 4 Academy Awards:
Picture
Assistant Director (WON)
Writing Adaptation
Sound Recording

Other Films

Here are other notable film releases coming to Warner Archive Collection

John J. Malone Mystery Double Feature (1945, 1950)
Murder becomes a laughing matter in two screwball mysteries based on the comic misadventures of attorney John J. Malone, one of the most popular fictional sleuths of the ‘40s and ‘50s. The creation of famed mystery writer Craig Rice, Malone played detective in 11 novels and 39 short stories as well as on radio, TV and film, and this madcap big-screen collection spotlights two of his best. In Having Wonderful Crime (1945), Malone (Pat O’Brien) helps two zany friends (George Murphy and Carole Landis) solve the disappearance of a stage magician who vanished during his act. In Mrs. O’Malley and Mr Malone (1950), a wisecracking widow (Marjorie Main) teams up with Malone (James Whitmore) when they’re framed for his client’s murder.

Sol Madrid (1968)
An undercover narc takes on the Mafia in this “neatly crafted thriller” (The Motion Picture Guide) from director Brian G. Hutton (Where Eagles Dare), starring David McCallum, Stella Stevens, Telly Savalas and Rip Torn. When mob accountant Harry Mitchell (Pat Hingle) steals $500,000 from The Family, Interpol assigns agent Sol Madrid (McCallum) to find Mitchell and persuade him to testify. Discovering that the ex-mistress (Stevens) of mob boss Dano Villanova (Torn) has half the stolen money, Madrid blackmails her into taking him to Mitchell, who’s hiding in Acapulco. Posing as a heroin smuggler, Madrid is welcomed by the drug lord (Savalas) with whom Mitchell is staying, unaware that Villanova is enroute and plans to deal with the thieves himself.