New Warners 4K releases include a true classic and a monster mash that isn'tby Jim Bray Warner Brother has two new 4K discs out, Gone with the Wind and The End of Oak Street, one of which is a gloriously restored classic and one which is an unfortunate mess. Warner Brothers is definitely on a bit of a roll with its 4K restorations of classic titles. From Ben-Hur to Amadeus, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to North By Northwest, the studio has overseen an increasing number of great older movies' new 4K releases. And now, with Gone with the Wind, they've done it again. Alas, they also inflicted The End of Oak Street on us as well. I guess you can't win them all. When I reviewed its boxed Blu-ray set, I called Gone with the Wind (released originally in 1939) a gorgeously overblown soap opera. I still think that of it, and it will never come close in my opinion to other classics such as the above-mentioned Ben-Hur (and if you haven't seen the 4K disc version of that, you're really missing a treat). That said, Gone with the Wind has been judged by movie history as one of the all-time greats and I can't argue that it's a spectacular cinematic achievement for its day. The only thing missing from this Technicolor epic is a widescreen image, and that's because there was no widescreen back then. Widescreen movies didn't become popular until the 1950's. Still, if you're a fan of classic movies, this one – Warners refers in its PR materials as "The instant classic that helped define cinema" – really does belong in your library, especially in this new 4K restoration. And other than the film being a bit of an overblown tart, this new, three-disc set (two 4K discs and a Blu-ray with supplements) does, indeed, feature a beautifully restored and remastered version of the movie that looks so good it almost seems as if it were shot yesterday. And given the movie's epic scale I suggest that you watch it on the biggest screen you can. I watched it on a 65-inch OLED I was reviewing at the time and, while it wasn't big enough, it sure did look fantastic. "GWTW" tells the tale of spoiled little rich girl Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), a woman who isn't beyond lying and cheating and manipulating other people to get by and to get her way. She's really quite a rotten, terrible person, one who should never be looked upon as a role model (unless you're looking for a horrible example of a human being. Everything is all about her, all the time. As I joked in my review of the Blu-ray, "you'd think she was Barack Obama's inspiration!" Anyway, Scarlett is also a major guy magnet, one who has to beat the fellahs off with a stick. But she has designs on Despite that, she has her sights set on a more unattainable target, Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), a neighbour who at the beginning of the Fallahs film is about to marry Melanie Hamilton (Olivia DeHavilland), a girl who's so sweet and nice you almost want to slap some sense into her. Ah, but life doesn't stand still. Along comes the U.S. Civil War that leads eventually to the end of the Civilization of the South, which suddenly finds itself gone with the wind (what a great idea for a title!). I'm not going to dwell on the plot, since by now it is so well known that it barely needs an introduction. Suffice it to say that the film is everything an epic should be, other than widescreen, with production values and performances that are second to none. The cast is outstanding, the 4K version looks like a million dollars, and you also get a terrific musical score from the great Max Steiner, whose body of work includes such other classics as King Kong and Casablanca. As an aside, it's worth mentioning that director Victor Fleming was a busy fellow in 1939. Not only did he helm this sprawling epic, which won 10 Oscars that year (including Best Picture, for some reason) but he also directed The Wizard of Oz – which is also available in a lovely 4K disc version. This version of GWTW doesn't include all the stuff that was spread over five discs in the old Blu-ray 70th anniversary boxed set, but there's still plenty to love, including three new supplements. The three new treats are:
Other special materials included on the Blu-ray consist of a variety of documentaries, featurettes, and the like. While Gone with the Wind pales in comparison to William Wyler's Ben-Hur that came 20 years later, it's still a legitimate classic and this new 4K restoration is a real eye-opener. 
Not so much for The End of Oak Street, however. This is one I imagine Warners would like to have back, since its box office performance was so strong that its quick appearance in home video formats seems like an attempt to snag some much-needed lucre. I love a good monster movie, and that's what I hoped Oak Street would be. And while the consensus from critics seems to be that it's a worthwhile 99 minutes in the home theatre, I really didn't like it. Not at all. I can only assume that Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway needed the money or were somehow bound contractually to do the film. Anyway, the story follows the Platts, a suburban family in 1982 (why it's a period piece either isn't made clear or I missed it while my flesh was crawling) whose neighbourhood suddenly and inexplicably finds itself in a new environment where dinosaurs walk the earth and, seemingly, enjoy feeding on the humans who are suddenly on hand. Think of it as Jurassic Park meets tedium. Many reviewers point out that the movie kind of hearkens back to the Spielberg catalogue from the 1980's, where he was the driving force behind such flicks as Gremlins, Arachnophobia, the Goonies, Poltergeist, etc. On the other hand, I noticed J. J. Abrams' name in the credits, and his "Bad Robot" company is one of the producers. That made more sense to me: Oak Street reminds me of other Abrams-involved flicks such as Cloverfield and Super 8, monster movies that I must admit were a lot more enjoyable (to me, anyway) than Oak Street. The performances are fine and Anne Hathaway is sexier than I've seen her in a long time. But the script, pooh! At least its comparatively short. As a 4K disc, however, it's pretty good. The picture quality is excellent, with deep blacks and great detail, as it should be. The Dolby Atmos mix is good as well, though as usual I auditioned it in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 because that's how my home theatre rolls. Extras include "Banding Together: The Making of The End of Oak Street", "Every Creature Tells a Story: The Dinosaurs of Oak Street", and "The Spinosaurus Attack: Driving Fear on Oak Street." My wife and I may be in the minority here, because we really didn't like The End of Oak Street and most of the other reviews I've seen about the film are far kinder. It's too bad. This is the kind of movie I usually enjoy, but this one is – in our never humble opinions – a real miss. And that's a shame. Copyright 2026 Jim Bray |
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