Blu-ray Review The Harvey Girls Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

George Sidney’s The Harvey Girls, here under consideration, was a glimpse at the settling and taming of the Wild West inspired by the vast success of the Broadway musical Oklahoma!



The Harvey Girls (1946)



Released: 29 Apr 1946
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 102 min




Director: George Sidney
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Western



Cast: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger, Angela Lansbury
Writer(s): Edmund Beloin (screenplay), Nathaniel Curtis (screenplay), Harry Crane (screenplay), James O'Hanlon (screenplay), Samson Raphaelson (screenplay), Kay Van Riper (additional dialogue), Samuel Hopkins Adams (novel), Eleanore Griffin (original story), William Rankin (original story)



Plot: On a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley meets a cheery crew of young women travelling out to open a " Harvey House "...

Continue reading...

 

[Reed Grele]

So glad that I ordered this! I love watching well done Technicolor film transfers, and since I've never seen this (except for the clips in That's Entertainment) I'm sure that it will be an enjoyable experience.

 

[KPmusmag]

My mother has told me about standing in a long line to see The Harvey Girls, and then buying the sheet music to play at home. An "archive" release now, but a big deal in its day.

 

[Mark B]

Not a big deal, but just wanted to point out that Sidney's commentary originated on the Judy "Golden Years at MGM" laserdisc set.

 

[Matt Hough]

You're right about Sidney's commentary. I have that set, too, and forgot all about its being on there. I'll amend the review.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

After viewing The Pirate this I must get if it looks as good as that did. Unbelievable how astonishing these look from from Waners yet Paramount gives us On a Clear Day , Popeye and from Fox we got The King and I and Sound of Music.
Uprezzed to 4K these Warner discs look unbelievable!

 

[RPMay]

Photographed in 3 strip Technicolor, so is superior to other movies mentioned that were shot in Eastman Color.

 

[Mark B]

I just returned from a zero degree, 3500 feet above sea level day in the Pitchoff Range, and this was waiting when I got home. A big flat blanky and The Harvey Girls looking amazing is going to end a really good day on a high, high note. Thank you, WAC, for finally getting around to releasing some all time favorite MGM films.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I think Sidney's commentary is one of the best extant. Rambling but total fun throughout.

 

[Reed Grele]

Just watched it. Absolutely stunning! Will be digging into the extras later.

Thanks W/B!

 

[davyblu]

Just watched it also. It's like seeing the film again for the first time. . .it really is an amazing transfer, even slightly better than The Pirate. The only thing that disappointed me a bit was that the outtake of March of the Doagies was not in HD, despite what it says here.

 

[Will Krupp]

It was also on my list for tonight as well. Very very over the moon with this disc. For the first time, I noticed that Selena Royle's lipstick is smudged during her first scene! That's SOME detail! Woo-woo!!

Great job all around!

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Can't wait. First of course I have to smuggle it into the house, and then pretend it's been lying around for a few months .. or years!! A common ploy, I'm sure.

 

[benbess]

Watching this new blu-ray now—and wow, it looks and sounds great. The young Angela Landsbury in jewels singing (although is that her voice?) is a good endorsement for this new restoration. The costumes are clearly designed to make the Technicolor pop. MGM must have spent a fortune on this tuneful cotton candy fantasy.

"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" is a popular song written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.[1] The song was published in 1944, spanned the hit chart in mid-1945, and won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Original Song,[1] the first win for Mercer.[2]
Full lyrics....

Do you hear that whistle down the line?
I figure that it's engine number forty-nine,
She's the only one that'll sound that way.
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

See the ol' smoke risin' round the bend,
I reckon that she knows she's gonna meet a friend,
Folks around these parts get the time o' day
From the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

Here she comes!
Hey, Jim! yuh better git the rig!
She's got a list o' passengers that's pretty big
And they'll all want lifts to Brown's Hotel,
'Cause lots o' them been travelin' for quite a spell,
All the way to Cal-i-forn-i-ay
on the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.

Oh, the roads back east are mighty swell,
The Chesapeake, Ohio and the ASL,
But I make my run and I make my pay
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.

Goin' back and forth along these aisles,
My land, you must've walked about a million miles.
It's a treat to be on your feet all day
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.

Here we come!
She's really rakin' down the line
Looky, look
Oh, boy, we're huffin' and a-puffin' on the forty-nine!

In this day and age girls don't leave home
But if you get a hankerin', you wanna roam
Our advice to you is run away
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.

Hey, men, did you ever see such perty femininity
arrivin' all at once in this here town?
Never saw the likes of this for miles around!

Round and round our heads are spinning,
New adventures are beginning.
What a length of calico,
It's taffet-ee and calico to really put a cowboy on the kibosh
Cowboy, kibosh
It's enough to make a fella wanna wash...

Wash your face and hands, we hope you'll never be afraid of soap!
Button shoes and powdered chalk and fancy smells and baby talk-
It's awful what a gal will stoop to do!
Even so, we aim to say we love to honor and oh-
Baby, are there any more at home like you?

Hand me my hair combed and my slicker,
Gonna get spruced up and I'll --- her.
Put on the dog and I'll city-slick her,
Mr. Harvey, Mr. Harvey,
Fred Harvey knows exactly how to pick 'em!

We come from Dubuque, I-O-Way,
That's where the tall, tall, tall corn grows.
We come from Louisiana,
That's where the Mis-is-is-is-isippi flows.

I was the Lilian Russell of Cherryville, Kansas,
But they never gave me a chance.
I finished high school in Providence, Rhode Island,
And Providence, Rhode Island is where dance.

(Virginia O'Brien)
Oh, I'm from Chillicothe-Ohio!
My middle name's Hi-a-wath-ee -Ohio!
I'm gonna git the gold in them thar hills,
So I said good-bye-o, Ohio!

We were school marms from Grand Rapids, Mich.
But reading, writing, 'rithmetic were not our dish.

(Ruth Brady)
I was born in Paris,
I was raised in Paris,
Went to school in Paris, Where I met a boy
I was married in Paris,
Almost buried in Paris,
But I finally left Paris-
Paris, Illinois!

(Ray Bolger)
So this is the wild and woolly west!
Give me my chaps and my checkered vest.
Give me a girl and a holster for my hip!
Bang, bang! Yip, yip!

What a lovely trip
I'm feeling so fresh and alive
And I'm so glad to arrive
It's all to grand
It's easy to see, you dont need a palace
To feel like Alice in Wonderland

Back in Ohio, where I come from
I've done alot of dreamin' and I traveled some
But I never thought, I'd see the day
When I ever took a ride on the Santa Fe
Wanna take a ride on the Santa Fe
I would lean across my window sill
And hear the whistle echoin' across the hills

Then I'd watch the lights as they fade away
On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe
What a thrill
What a great big wonderful thill
With the whistle singing westward ho!
Right from the day I heard them start
'Cross the Kansas plains through New Mexico
I guess I've got a little gypsy in my heat
When I'm old and gray and settled down
If I ever get a chance to sneek away from town

Then I'll spend my busman's holiday
On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe
All aboard!!
I can't believe we're here at last
I can't believe that anything would go so fast
Then your pullin' throtle, whistle blows
A-huffin' and a-puffin' and away we go
All aboard for Californi-a
On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe

 

[Mikey1969]

Looking forward to this. The George Sidney commentary is indeed quite good. Despite being quite old at the time of recording, he is engaging and his memory is very sharp. He's also had quite an interesting life and was involved in many interesting projects in and out of the industry. Apparently he was set to record a commentary for the DVD of Annie Get Your Gun when it was finally released in 2000 but fell ill shortly beforehand.

 

[Will Krupp]

"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" is a popular song written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.[1] The song was published in 1944, spanned the hit chart in mid-1945, and won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Original Song,[1] the first win for Mercer.[2]

For years I was only familiar with the song as it appeared in the movie. I knew there were other versions recorded by a series of other artists but I really didn't pay them all that much mind. It wasn't until the Judy Garland boxset of Decca masters was released on CD that I was even AWARE that she recorded a "Single" version (for lack of a better term) with the Merry Macs for Decca. It's both awful (in its kitschy "pop" arrangement) and wonderful (Judy) but undeniably charming in any event.

 

[Mark B]

For years I was only familiar with the song as it appeared in the movie. I knew there were other versions recorded by a series of other artists but I really didn't pay them all that much mind. It wasn't until the Judy Garland boxset of Decca masters was released on CD that I was even AWARE that she recorded a "Single" version (for lack of a better term) with the Merry Macs for Decca. It's both awful (in its kitschy "pop" arrangement) and wonderful (Judy) but undeniably charming in any event.

I love that arrangement. But, I am a sucker for those big band tunes with the vocal trio/quartet backup singers.

 

[benbess]

Bing Crosby also had a hit version of the song....

 

[Matt Hough]

For years I was only familiar with the song as it appeared in the movie. I knew there were other versions recorded by a series of other artists but I really didn't pay them all that much mind. It wasn't until the Judy Garland boxset of Decca masters was released on CD that I was even AWARE that she recorded a "Single" version (for lack of a better term) with the Merry Macs for Decca. It's both awful (in its kitschy "pop" arrangement) and wonderful (Judy) but undeniably charming in any event.

Thanks for providing that, Will. On the Decca Meet Me in St. Louis/The Harvey Girls LP, Judy basically sings her verse of the song as she did in the movie. I had heard this pop version before but a long, long time ago.

 

[Matt Hough]

Bing Crosby also had a hit version of the song....

If I remember from my research long ago, Bing's version is the one which hit #1 on the Hit Parade. I think Judy's only got to #6.