Pre-Order Bye Bye Birdie (1963) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

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[Matt Hough]

With this wonderful cast Sidney assembled (well, Janet Leigh was not felicitous casting; if they didn't want Chita, why not cast recent Oscar-winner Rita?), it pains me that they veered so much from the Broadway show deleting fabulous songs and making the plot silly with that scientific mumbo-jumbo. What they retained from the Broadway show certainly forms the highlights of the movie.

 

[Dick]

I assume this went out of print? I have a copy from years ago. In any event, pricing it at $25 for a reissue that might not even be a upgrade seems pretty steep.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Previous release of Bye Bye Birdie was on Twilight Time so it never really was "in print".

 

[Garysb]

Several previously Twilight Time Sony releases have been reissued at the $25 price point. "Oliver!" and the upcoming "Pal Joey" are two of them. I think these were called MOD but they are pressed discs. Perhaps these are limited releases meaning they don't press many copies and thus need a higher price point. Just a guess.

As for Janet Leigh as Rose they changed character's last name from Alverez on Broadway to DeLeon in the movie. They changed her ethnicity and of course cut any references to her being Hispanic including the song "Spanish Rose".



They made Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh supporting players to Ann Margaret in the movie version as the part of Kim Mcafee was built up for the film.

I do like the cover which appears to based on the movie poster.

 

[cinemel1]

Several previously Twilight Time Sony releases have been reissued at the $25 price point. "Oliver!" and the upcoming "Pal Joey" are two of them. I think these were called MOD but they are pressed discs. Perhaps these are limited releases meaning they don't press many copies and thus need a higher price point. Just a guess.

As for Janet Leigh as Rose they changed character's last name from Alverez on Broadway to DeLeon in the movie. They changed her ethnicity and of course cut any references to her being Hispanic including the song "Spanish Rose".



They made Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh supporting players to Ann Margaret in the movie version as the part of Kim Mcafee was built up for the film.

I do like the cover which appears to based on the movie poster.

There’s no doubt that Janet Leigh was lovely and pleasant in the role, but I guess they wanted to water down the film for general American audiences. Chita was special and she (or Rita) would have been great in the role! Chita’s rendition of Spanish Rose was show-stopping. I’d never seen this clip before.

 

[dukiejosh54]

Considering the twilight time version has been selling on eBay for 130 dollars for a number of years, I'd say 25 dollars is a price some people won't mind paying. It will probabaly drop to about 20 by release date.

I do enjoy this film but the main thing I dislike is most of Rose's songs being cut. the movie was changed to focus more on Ann-Marget. What did I ever see in him and Spanish rose are two of my favorite songs.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I assume this went out of print? I have a copy from years ago. In any event, pricing it at $25 for a reissue that might not even be a upgrade seems pretty steep.

Dick,

You should know better that the posted MSRP isn't the final sale price.

 

[Thomas T]

I do enjoy this film but the main thing I dislike is most of Rose's songs being cut. the movie was changed to focus more on Ann-Marget.

Janet Leigh was friends with the director George Sidney and his wife from her days at MGM. He had directed her in several films including Scaramouche. But when she saw the finished film and how it was handed over to Ann-Margret on a platter, she felt betrayed and reputedly she didn't speak to him for many years after. They reconciled eventually.

 

[Matt Hough]

I had never seen the "Spanish Rose" clip either, and thank you, Gary, for linking it. Fabulous Chita!

Every one of Rosie's songs was special in the show, and their loss lessened the film considerably. I loved "An English Teacher" because it was so ardent and filled with a depth of feeling.

Bye Bye Birdie on film for me is an afterthought musical. When I'm in the mood to watch a musical, it's an afterthought and almost never selected.

 

[Garysb]

Here are two additional clips from many years after the Broadway show with Chita and Dick and Chita alone. The clips are labeled incorrectly. The first clip is "Rosie" and the second clip is the Shriner's Meeting.

 

[roxy1927]

I worked on a high school production of BBB after of course knowing the film from seeing it repeatedly on TV. I found what had been cut to be mostly middling Broadway filler and sledgehammer satire . And it just became more tedious with every rehearing. The film keeps all the best songs and some of it is truly electrifying. I could do without the idiotic turtle bit but I love the sped up Rose Adagio(who knew that one day I would consider it to be some of the most beautiful music ever written?) the kind of stuff that on the Ed Sullivan show used to drive me crazy along with the opera singers when I was watching it for the Supremes, Stiller and Meara and the dish spinners.

I'm concerned this release is not going to be as good as the Twilight Time, which I missed, from what I've been reading about Sony. I hope Mr. Harris or Mr. Hough will be comparing it to that release.

 

[Daniel_BB]

The Twilight Time version does include the isolated score track ... I am not sure that this new version also includes it.

 

[TravisR]

The Twilight Time version does include the isolated score track ... I am not sure that this new version also includes it.

I can't say for sure but Sony's re-release of Christine didn't include the isolated score that the Twilight Time disc had so I'd imagine that Bye Bye Birdie won't have it either.

 

[Will Krupp]

I'm concerned this release is not going to be as good as the Twilight Time, which I missed, from what I've been reading about Sony. I hope Mr. Harris or Mr. Hough will be comparing it to that release.

As far as I know, I don't remember any re-releases being of lesser quality (picture wise) than their Twilight Time counterparts so I wouldn't worry.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Generally, these Sony titles retain the same transfer

 

[JPCinema]

I wish it had been one the 4K titles Sony recently announced

 

[Matt Hough]

I worked on a high school production of BBB after of course knowing the film from seeing it repeatedly on TV. I found what had been cut to be mostly middling Broadway filler and sledgehammer satire

To each his own, but I couldn't disagree more strongly. All of the cut musical numbers were fantastic songs which enhanced the characters of Albert and Rosie. Of course, maybe high schoolers would be bored by the songs which revealed depths to the adult protagonists in the show. Certainly, the producer and director of the film felt that way since by eliminating those songs, they threw the movie toward the teenagers in general and Ann-Margret in particular.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I remember losing a year of my life doing Birdie for a semester in high school ( ) - that was the most difficult production I worked on as stage manager/assistant director-type role. But I agree with Matt, the stage book and songs are rock solid and especially now are so evocative of a moment in time that has passed.

 

[roxy1927]

Maybe if I had seen the original Gower Champion production I would like those songs a lot better but I have always found Strauss/Adams scores to be half wonderful and half bad. As if there were two different songwriting teams working on the same show. Superman is a prime example of that. Now that is a Broadway show I would have loved to have seen.