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 Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, the studio with the world's largest film library, is beginning an exciting new partnership with the authority in classic film, Turner Classic Movies. The two companies - sister divisions of Time Warner - plan to introduce the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection, starting in early 2009. The partners will release a collection of 60 top films in 15 themed groups. The films will be available on DVD and promoted on TCM, starting February 3 with the first of four waves
The launch of the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection stands as the largest-ever partnership between Warner Home Video and TCM. The initiative combines the strengths of the companies in serving both serious film buffs and a new generation of movie lovers. The TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection is meant to whet the appetite of a wide range of film fans, giving them an easy way to build a personal library of classic films.
For the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection, Warner Home Video has selected some of the greatest American films from the past 85 years and grouped them by themes. The films are packaged in four-title sets with each set affordably priced at $27.92 SRP.
The first installments in the collection arrive February 3, 2009, with three genres timed to coincide with Valentine's Day and the Oscar season. They are:
 Romantic Dramas (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden);
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE In one of the most influential performances in movie history, James Dean plays the new kid in town whose loneliness, frustration and anger mirrored those of postwar teens and still reverberate today. Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo were Academy Award nominees for their achingly true performances.
EAST OF EDEN A wayward Salinas Valley youth (James Dean) vies for the affection of his hardened father (Raymond Massey) with his favored brother (Richard Davalos). Julie Harris and 1955 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Jo Van Fleet co-star in this adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel.
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Tennessee Williams Pulitzer Prize play thunders across the screen in a powerful film adaptation starring Elizabeth Taylor as frustrated Southern belle wife Maggie the Cat and Paul Newman as her disillusioned ex-athlete husband.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE: THE ORIGINAL DIRECTORS VERSION Four Academy Awards including three for acting! Elia Kazan directs the landmark movie of Tennessee Williams Pulitzer Prize play about the clash between brutish Stanley Kowlaski (Marlon Brando) and his dreamy sister-in-law Blanche Dubois (Vivien Leigh).
 Romantic Comedies (A Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, Adam's Rib, Woman of the Year);
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY - Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Best Actor Academy Award winner James Stewart star in the tale of a faultfinding, bride-to-be socialite who gets her come-uppance. George Cukor directs this screen pinnacle of sophisticated romantic comedy.
BRINGING UP BABY - When scatterbrained heiress Katharine Hepburn meets mild-mannered museum curator Cary Grant, the results are riotous. Howard Hawks directs a giddy romp thats been hailed as the most glorious laughter-inducing movie ever!
ADAMS RIB - Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play a married prosecutor and defense attorney assigned to the same sensational attempted-murder trial in this clever courtroom battle of the sexes. Judy Holliday co-stars and George Cukor directs.
WOMAN OF THE YEAR - Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn show what chemistry is all about as George Stevens directs this witty Oscar winner about the bumpy romance of a meat-and-potatoes sportswriter and a world-renowned political pundit.
Best Picture Winners (Casablanca, An American in Paris, Gigi, Mrs. Miniver).
CASABLANCA - Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) "sticks his neck out for nobody." Then she (Ingrid Bergman) walks back into his life...with her Resistance-leader husband. "Our candidate for the best Hollywood movie of all time" (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide), directed by Michael Curtiz.
MRS. MINIVER - One of Hollywood's most memorable spirit-lifters about an idealized England confronting the terror of World War II. Greer Garson (a formidable Oscar-winning title-role performance), Walter Pidgeon and Teresa Wright star; William Wyler directs.
GIGI - Thank heaven for the bubbly fun and glorious Lerner and Loewe music! Gigi (Leslie Caron) goes from girlishness to glamour and desires more than the lush life of suitor Louis Jourdan. With Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS - Gene Kelly plays an ex-GI who loves Paris and an alluring (but engaged) shop clerk (Leslie Caron in her beguiling screen debut). Dazzling dances and a stunning ballet finale are spun around songs and music by the Gershwins.
The 12 films in these three debut sets have been honored with 32 Oscar wins. Featured stars include James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Caron. The films are bundled in premium keepcase packaging. Orders are due December 30.
Later in 2009, the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection will grow to include many other genres, including musicals, westerns, war films, mysteries, science fiction, horror, holiday and family films. A complete listing is included below.
Warner Home Video, which owns the world's largest film library, has more Best Picture Oscar wins (22) than any other studio and its films have garnered more than 300 Academy Awards.
Turner Classic Movies is currently seen in more than 80 million homes and will support Warner Home Video and the new collection with extensive marketing. TCM's marketing plan includes on-air promotional spots, coverage during TCM Classic Movie News and TCM Shopping, print ads in TCM's popular Now Playing guide, and ads at tcm.com. TCM's on-air mentions will include the network's renowned primetime host, Robert Osborne.
The TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection builds on the success of previous joint initiatives between TCM and Warner Home Video, including the TCM Archives series and the TCM Spotlight series. The launch of TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection promises to be successful, thanks to the considerable resources offered by both partners.
"Research confirms that 70% of catalog buyers are positively influenced to buy a DVD after seeing the movie on television, so we feel this partnership with our terrific sister company is a natural," said Jeff Baker, Warner Home Video's executive vice president and general manager, theatrical catalog. "TCM's airings and promotions reach a broad audience and will most definitely boost awareness of DVD availability. Also, because catalog titles are often purchased in multiples, this will be a great opportunity for classic film fans to build their libraries relatively inexpensively and quickly."
Molly Battin, senior vice president of brand development and digital platforms for TCM and sister networks TNT and TBS, said the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection is a great way to serve film fans and to enhance the network's history of collaboration with Warner Home Video. "TCM reaches an audience of film lovers that includes longtime fans and newcomers," Battin said. "Warner Home Video's expertise will be a huge plus as we introduce this new collection to our viewers."
PR release courtesy of WHV & TCM
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