A Few Words About A few words about...™ Musicals 4-Movie Collection -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[davidmatychuk]

My bad!


David M, is it too much of a drag to list the additional contents for the TE3 deluxe LD edition? As the current BDs stand, some numbers are "complete" others are not. "Mr Monotony" which is on TE 1 or 2 (can't remember) is truncated although it was never put together at the time. But the Easter Parade DVD includes a lengthy sequence of outtakes (in sequence for the lyrics) and a very well thought out and executed "Edit" of the completed number in around a dozen shots after the event that works very well indeed. Puzzlingly that footage on the DVD looks like mint IB Technicolor with gorgeous fine grain and inky blacks. But the same footage on the Blu Ray of Easter Parade looks like really poor dupe quality 480p quality Eastman.... go figure?

I don't have the "That's Entertainment! Part III" laserdisc box set, though back in the day I did rent it for a week. I looked online for some kind of link to the contents, and found that I can get one on eBay for less than ten dollars, so I'll give that a shot and get back to you, maybe in a separate forum. I can certainly scan the list of extras on the "Ultimate" set, if anyone's interested.

 

[david hare]

If you get the chance that's sounds very worthwhile. Thanks.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I have been waiting for 'The Band Wagon' for a very very long time. I think Amazon just this once could expedite delivery to overseas destinations expecially Australia so that we can open our sets on the same date that you in the States start enjoying yours.

Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan both feed my obsessions and I relish Oscar Levant's mordant contributions. And Nanette Fabray isn't a slouch either. I want them on my home cinema marching towards me singing 'That's Entertainment' every night for a year, even if it drives my beloved partner to drink.

 

[davidmatychuk]

If you get the chance that's sounds very worthwhile. Thanks.

 

[bryan4999]

Anchors Aweigh wasn't a Freed Unit production.


At any rate, I reviewed the That's Entertainment set on Blu-ray way back in 2007 as one of the first Blu-ray sets I got to review. You can read what I said about it here.

Thanks so much for this, I did a search but I must not have done it correctly because it didn't come up for me.


Thanks to everyone who commented on TE, I appreciate it!

 

[Joel Arndt]

For me a big problem with the THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT set is that they do not use the original framing for many of the films. When the first film was released it was in a 70mm blow up and for some sequences, like The Varsity Drag, A Pretty Girl, The Acheson Topeka, Million Dollar Mermaid, pretty much all of SHOW BOAT etc., they blew up the academy ratio to fill the screen. It was cool to see then, but it means these bits are particularly grainy and parts of the top and bottom of the frame are cut off. When CBS first showed the film, since everyone had a square box television in those days, these parts were reverted to their original framing. That is what I was hoping for from the blu-ray, but that is not the case, so it makes these sequences particularly soft and grainy. The DVD of GOOD NEWS looks better than the Blu-ray sequence in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, for example.


Having said all that, I got the 3 films for about $30 so it was a worthwhile investment, but be aware of this and, as others have said, the black and white from the 30's and 40's is very grainy. I have to admit to being disappointed, but the price made the pill easier to swallow.

I believe on the SD DVD of TE you have a choice of either version, one with all correct aspect ratios and the original theatrical release version with the blow-ups. I always opted for the former that had the correct aspect ratios.


I did a spot check of the blu TE this evening and the grain in the B & W sequences is overwhelming. TE3 does look the best, but it's newer by 20 years and am sure it had the advantage of restoration work completed on the original source material. TE3 was released the same year (1994) as the amazing restored LD of Ziegfeld Follies.


It would be nice to see the TE movies get some restoration work for blu, but I'm sure it's far down the priority list. And I paid $27.00 for the set using a gift card, so no loss of my money.

 

[david hare]

I have been waiting for 'The Band Wagon' for a very very long time. I think Amazon just this once could expedite delivery to overseas destinations expecially Australia so that we can open our sets on the same date that you in the States start enjoying yours.

I seem to recall Robyn hardly needed to be driven to a nice glass or three of Chardy (now another bogan girl's name over there). Not that she could hope to drink you or I under the table.
But I must remind you the Southern Pacific region of this planet doesn't solely consist of your currently beleaguered country. (Which I won't mention for reasons of decency.) Some of us live in far more enlightened places, like me. I am glad I can watch the now daily shenanigans from afar, usually with a glass of something special like a Hawkes Bay Syrah, or a Central Otago Pinot Noir.


Anthony I don't know if you use them but I find importcd now much more reliable and cheaper than Amazon, and mail times here are around 7 to 9 calendar days. Used to be same to Sydney or Melballoons.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

thanks for the tip, David ... I'll give importcd a go. And when you gaze out to sea and remember the West Island, raise your Syrah or Pinot Noir and I'll toast you back with a nice dry Manzanilla.....robyn will stick with her favourite Marlborough Sav Blanc....

 

[Ejanss]

thanks for the tip, David ... I'll give importcd a go. And when you gaze out to sea and remember the West Island, raise your Syrah or Pinot Noir and I'll toast you back with a nice dry Manzanilla.....robyn will stick with her favourite Marlborough Sav Blanc....

(While everyone else in the upper hemisphere right now is hearing

Spoiler

)

 

[Robin9]

Doesn't the DVD release of Band Wagon have a DD5.1 track? (Yes, just checked) as well as the original Mono DD. And of course the commentary track with Liza and Michael Feinstein.


I recall George Feltenstein saying at the time of the DVD release they had devised the 5 track DD from the original mono rather than from stems (assuming there weren't any available), and while it's not "authentic" I found myself usually listening to it if only for the increased presence on those sublime Conrad Salinger orchestrations (with the horn section over strings that frankly rivals Bruckner for lyrical expressiveness.)


Even the lossy mono still sounded good but the thought they have found some original stems makes the hair on my arms stand on end. I consider Salinger's orchestration of this great score the finest musical achievement of the whole Arthur Freed era. And probably the whole American Musical Film canon. (This is my all time favourite musical.)


I cannot wait for these to arrive!!!! GRRRRRRRRR/

When Cole Porter died in 1964, Andre Previn participated in a TV show about Porter. (Previn, of course, had worked on Kiss Me Kate and had met Porter) During the discussion, Previn said " . . . for instance, of all the arrangers who did that kind of music, my absolute idol was a man called Conrad Salinger."


Andre Previn later became one the world's leading conductors of "classical" music.

 

[Robin9]

 

[Robert Harris]

thanks for the tip, David ... I'll give importcd a go. And when you gaze out to sea and remember the West Island, raise your Syrah or Pinot Noir and I'll toast you back with a nice dry Manzanilla.....robyn will stick with her favourite Marlborough Sav Blanc....

Love some of your Marlboroughs. Unique in their citrus.

 

[verneaux]

I would love to see WB release more "4-movie collections" on blu-ray. For instance, "Danny Kaye The 4-Movie Collection" would be a lot of fun. Actually, I think you'd need two volumes. Vol. 1 might be Up in Arms, Wonder Man, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and A Song is Born, while Vol. 2 might be White Christmas, The Court Jester, Merry Andrew, and The Five Pennies. But ok, if you had to do one volume of Kaye movies that haven't yet been released on blu-ray, perhaps Up in Arms, Wonder Man, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and The Court Jester.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a WB set mixing titles from Goldwyn and Paramount...

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Just in case the 2-D myth is repeated with the upcoming blu-ray release of KISS ME KATE, here's the true story on the VERY wide 3-D release in 1953/54.


http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/kiss-me-kate-3-d-release

 

[ABaglivi]

I saw it first run IN 3D at the Loew's 46th Street Theater in Borough Park Brooklyn, New York. It was a Sunday afternoon and the place was packed.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Thanks, Anthony.


TCM has recently repeated the myth that KATE had very few 3-D playdates. Sigh.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I am disappointed and cannot understand why Vera-Ellen's name is not on the On the Town blu-ray cover instead of Betty Garrett.

 

[Gary16]

I am disappointed and cannot understand why Vera-Ellen's name is not on the On the Town blu-ray cover instead of Betty Garrett.

Vera-Ellen was not top billed in the movie. Betty Garrett and Ann Miller were both billed above her.

 

[aPhil]

I notice that Kiss Me Kate is playing TCM again in March — I hope they correct the mistake Ben Mankiewicz made in his intro to the film. They were showing the movie in 1.37 when I saw it and heard his intro.


I really like the http://www.3dfilmarc...ate-3-d-release page.


Is there any breakdown of final percentage of boxoffice gross that was 3D vs flat (besides the early 40% in favor of 3D) ?

 

[Bob Furmanek]

I don't have access to the final breakdown on grosses.

I can say for the record that every major city I researched opened it in 3-D. In Los Angeles, it changed to flat for the final week of the engagement and in Chicago, it played mostly flat in the neighborhood theaters.


I just tweeted the article to Mr. Mankiewicz...