2016 isn't three months old yet, and already, the Warner Archive Collection has stepped up its Blu-ray game in a big way. What began a few years back with a small trickle of titles once in a while has now evolved into a steady stream of modern and classic film favorites hitting high-def for the very first time. Suspicion, Michael Collins, Susan Slept Here, and others making their Blu debuts are on deck in the coming months, but it was 2015 that truly got the ball rolling, with vintage musicals, thrillers, comedies, and more from Warner's expansive catalogue reaching the next stage of physical media. It's never too late to catch up on the oldies, which is why I chose to spotlight three of the Archive's Blu-ray releases from last year, to sample the sort of healthy genre variety and quality transfers movie buffs can expect from the label in the near future.

MURDER, MY SWEET (1944). As a private eye whose luck is mostly of the hard kind, Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) has done some things he's not proud of. If there are a couple of crumpled dollars in it for him, he's not above helping lovelorn bruisers search for their exes or serving as the middle man in blackmail payoffs. But when Marlowe's latest gig puts him on the trail of some stolen jade and, subsequently, in the crosshairs of ruthless goons, he's going to need all the good fortune he can muster to make it out alive. Second only to Sam Spade, author Raymond Chandler's Marlowe is the most beloved of cinema's classic gumshoes, and Murder, My Sweet is perhaps the character's finest outing ever. Sure, The Big Sleep is no slouch, but it was Powell's performance that Chandler himself singled out as his creation's definitive portrayal. The actor who first rose to prominence as a song-and-dance man adopts Marlowe's morally-murky persona with little difficulty, giving him a wry, self-destructive edge that renders him more fascinating than other detached silver-screen detectives. The flick as a whole is noir business as usual, although that's not to say it doesn't excell in those departments that define the genre; the script's twists are ample, the photography is pitch-black perfection, and from the thugs to the femmes fatale who come gunning for him, Powell's co-stars are as much of a treat to watch. While not heralded as often as some vintage private eye sagas are, Murder, My Sweet is an exemplary piece of work, exuding dark charm with every one of its frames. 

DEEP IN MY HEART (1954). Back in the day, many studios jumped on the musical biopic bandwagon, though not always out of a burning need to tell the stories of those figures who entertained the world. Sitting atop their to-do lists was entertaining audiences with glorified "greatest hits" medleys, as plot was nothing more than a fleeting diversion in between toe-tapping set pieces. As well-meaning as these films were, this approach made many of them come across as fairly shallow, with Stanley Donen's colorful but uninspired Deep in My Heart being counted in such numbers. Jose Ferrer portrays Sigmund Romberg, an Austrian composer whose music enthralled American theatergoers in the early 20th century. But though the success "Leg of Mutton Dance" and "I Love to Go Swimmin' with Women" brought him great financial fortune, Romberg sought artistic validation above all, a pursuit to which he would dedicate his life and career. That Deep in My Heart carries itself with good cheer helps it sidestep a good deal of narrative pitfalls. Seeing Romberg stubbornly refuse to see the bright side of his commercial success and whine about not being taken seriously as an artist would've been insufferable, so for him to have fun whipping up jaunty tunes while forlornly delaying his dream projects results in greater sympathy for the guy. Ferrer has fun with the part while still giving it some weight, and the cameo list -- which includes appearances by the likes of Howard Keel, Cyd Charisse, and Gene and Fred Kelly -- is a staggeringly impressive line-up of performers who each put on a heck of a show. Unfortunately, the picture's deck is stacked with far too many of these detours, each of which shaves off a little more meat from Romberg's story until the most tired and cliched portions are left to nibble on. Deep in My Heart's spirits indeed soar, but even with the fudging of real-life details aside, it fails to make its subject as magnetic as it seems he really was.

THE SUNSHINE BOYS (1975). For over 40 years, Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (George Burns) were the toast of vaudeville. They reigned as the funniest fellas the stage had ever seen -- until the latter called it quits, igniting a vicious feud that made the Hatfield/McCoy tiff seem like a Sunday picnic. But a decade later, Willy's nephew (Richard Benjamin) becomes bound and determined to reunite the pair for a television special, forcing Lewis and Clark to confront the real issues that inspired their split all that time ago. Written by Neil Simon, The Sunshine Boys is almost as famous for the film it nearly was as for what it eventually became. The project was originally conceived with such comedy greats as Red Skelton and Jack Benny in mind for the leads, until illness and other factors necessitated the casting of Matthau and Burns. But even though the two became famous in different eras and shared little history with one another, they display such animosity and weird respect for each other's characters through their performances that you'd swear they really have been pushing their buttons for about half a century. There are moments when the pair's bickering gets so heated that The Sunshine Boys threatens to grow too broad for its own good, but there are signs of heart and compassion littered throughout that keep things grounded in the end. Like his characters, Simon enjoys a certain distance, keeping his true emotions hidden beneath much bluster before closing on a bittersweet note about the difference between what makes a partner and what makes a friend. The insults and arguing can be a little much at times, but stick with The Sunshine Boys, and you might find it to be as wise as it is noisy.

(Deep in My Heart, Murder, My Sweet, and The Sunshine Boys are available on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection at: http://www.wbshop.com).