A Few Words About A few words about... Fox's "Marquee Musicals" (1 Viewer)

[Joe Caps]

Carmen Miranda was a very smart gal. She had it in her fox contract that you could not cut away from her while she was singing a number. She knew this was how numbers were often shortened.

 

[Richard M S]

It is bizarre that Fox did not mention the Betty Grable outtake of "This Is It" in their press release but whatever, I am just glad to have it included on the DVD. For those of you who have never seen it, it is a very fun song. I have to agree with Joan Collins who introduces it on the tape I have of "Hidden Hollywood" that it certainly would have hit the "top of the Hit Parade."

 

[Greg_M]

I'm still waiting for "Can-Can" I had the widescreen laserdisc in my hands for $6.00 but I figured I would wait for the DVD, that was 7 years ago.

 

[Luis Esp]

I have Daddy Long Legs on laserdisc, unfortunately it has now subccumbed to laser rot, so when I heard it was being released on dvd it made my day.

Watching Astaire's "Slew Foot" routine shows you just what a real cool cat he was.

 

[BrianHass]

I just received Daddy Long Legs and it has only 1 Lobby Card. I wanted to check with others if their dvd contained more than 1. The other Classics that came out last month had 4 or 5 Lobby cards I believe.

 

[alistairKerr]

I was about to ask the same question, except I have "Weekend In Havana" - and that only came with 1 lobby card in an envelope too!

Alistair

 

[Will Krupp]

I only have one in my copy of "Weekend in Havana." LOVE the packaging, though...great little slip case (what a surprise that was.)

Funny, though...Best Buy in Cambridge had DADDY LONG LEGS and PIN UP GIRL, but not HAVANA (the one I really wanted.) They also weren't planning to carry it.

Borders next door had them all and at a FANTASTIC 50% off retail. Woohoo!

 

[BrianHass]

Yeah, thought it was kind of funny that the envelope reads Lobby Card(S) and only has 1 card. As long as I'm not missing anything I'm not upset. Nice package.

 

[BrianHass]

Anyone else buying these? Can you confirm the number of Lobby cards in each release?

 

[David Mahlan]

Only one Lobby Card in my copy of "Daddy Long Legs"...

 

[David Grove]

I don't know if it is temporary, or not, but I just bought all three of these titles today at Costco for $8.99 each.

DG

 

[Marc^H]

Thanks for the Costco tip! I'm going there today.


And if I may add my two cents on THE GANG'S ALL HERE. I caught it at the Film Forum in NYC last year--the theater was completely sold out, and that was an early matinee. Every newspaper in town featured an enthusiastic article on it. This film has a HUGE following and will no doubt be a very successful DVD release.

Print quality was a bit scary--scratches galore and dropped dialogue, though the color was spectacular as ever. I wonder if a lack of decent elements has been the reason this has been missing from the home video market for so long?

 

[Joe Caps]

No offense, but Gangs All Here has NOT been missing from the home vid market for so long. It had a wonderful looking release on Laserdisc.

 

[Sylvia*ST]

Regarding the missing lobby cards for Pin Up Girl, Daddy Long Legs and Week-End in Havana, mine arrived yesterday with only 1 out of the 4 in each title. Fox is aware of the problem, is correcting it, but has offered no solution for people who have already purchased the defective titles. I returned mine to amazon, so if anyone manages to get a set with full lobby cards, please let us know where they came from. Obviously, you must open them to know if it's wrong, which means you cannot return them to some sellers.

I wrote the captions for the lobby cards and there should definitely be four in each title. I did all the copy for The Gang's All Here, but it was pulled, for legal reasons I think, and Pin Up Girl was the substitute.

 

[RafaelPires]

If there were legal problems concerning the Gang's All Here dvd release, I just hope they are solved. It's a wonderful movie, and can't be missed on dvd. Does anyone have any information about that?

 

[Will Krupp]

I'd love THE GANG'S ALL HERE on dvd. By the way, Fox Movie Channel is showing it next week.

I bought PIN UP GIRL even though I didn't really want it (HAVANA was the one I was desperate for) I just wanted to support the new line in hopes of seeing more. I saw it for the first time and it's really quite HIDEOUS!! I can also believe that it was a last minute replacement as the source print seems rather bland and soft looking, as though there wasnt much done to it before it was transfered to dvd.

As for the missing lobby cards, I can't get quite worked up enough about them to worry about getting replacements.

 

[Patrick Mason]

I just picked up Daddy Long Legs and just wanted to express my amazement at its rich and razor-sharp transfer. I'm usually a very tough critic on video transfers but this is one of the best looking catalog titles in recent memory. A fine film, too...

Hopefully future entries in Fox's Marquee Musicals line live up to this level of quality (and of course avoid the very disappointing treatment of Pin-Up Girl.)


Patrick

 

[Simon Howson]

I greatly enjoyed Daddy Long Legs as well. I tend to find films directed by Jean Negulesco annoying, but DLL was a welcome surprise. Perhaps the presence of Leslie Caron had something to do with that.

Anyway, one production design touch I quite liked was the inclusion of a projection screen in Fred Astaire's office that closely approximated the ratio of the CinemaScope screen. Surely an in joke given that 'Scope was still relatively new. See the image at the link below.

 

[Charles H]

Negulesco directed one of the earliest CinemaScope films HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, and no less a critic than Andrew Sarris felt that CinemaScope (and the awkward staging) became Negulesco's downfall. I concur, but I do recommend that you catch the pre-CinemaScope Negulesco on dvd: HUMORESQUE, JOHNNY BELINDA, TITANIC (1953). THREE CAME HOME (1950) with a brilliant performance by Claudette Colbert is available in a dubious Alpha dvd print. It and JOHNNY BELINDA are Negulesco's masterpieces and Fox should release it in an official print. I also recommend ROAD HOUSE, THE MUDLARK (a wonderful movie that mandates a dvd release), PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER, NOBODY LIVES FOREVER, and DEEP VALLEY. The black-&-white/full framers that he directed are all marvelous and the melodramatics are sincere and more focussed than the posh soap operas of the post-1953 era.

 

[Robert Harris]

Three strip Technicolor elements on these particular films will seldom have the overall resolution and clarity of an Eastman color. Daddy Long Legs is Eastman.