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Warners "CLASSIC MUSICALS FROM THE DREAM FACTORY" in 2006 (1 Viewer)

Andrew Budgell

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Just found out about this from a Judy Garland group I belong to, and thought I would pass it along:

To be released in the first half of 2006:

CLASSIC MUSICALS FROM THE DREAM FACTORY
- Till the Clouds Roll By
- Ziegfield Follies
- Summer Stock
- Three Little Words
- It's Always Fair Weather

Look's like another great set from Warner, can't wait!
 

Charles Ellis

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At last, a legit Till The Clouds Roll By! I hope Ziegfeld Follies will have the remixed stereo soundtrack that was developed a few years back. And Summer Stock- "Get Happy" alone makes it a must-buy.

To me, It's Always Fair Weather stands out as the beginning of the end of the MGM musical era. Originally planned as an On The Town sequel, there seems to be a bittersweet, sarcastic aura surrounding the film onscreen and off. For the DVD release, there should be a documentary explaining the troubled history of this film and how the longtime directing/choreography team of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen broke up over it. After this film was done, there were only a few gems left- Silk Stockings, Les Girls, Gigi, and the last Arthur Freed-produced musical Bells Are Ringing.
 

Rob_Ray

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I remember Betty Comden saying that she knew the MGM musical was finished when she saw "It's Always Fair Weather" playing in the local drive-ins on opening day. MGM didn't see the need for the exclusive first-run engagements afforded all earlier Freed unit titles.
 

Ken_McAlinden

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This is the kind of release that George Feltenstein lives for. I am sure that it will be top notch. "Ziegfield Follies" is a great candidate for DVD due to its episodic revue structure. It's sort of like one of the "That's Entertainment" anthologies except it was all produced at once.

Regards,
 

Will Krupp

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Do any of the cut numbers from ZIEGFELD survive? I kind of think we would have seen them already if they did. Wouls be nice, though.

I'm most thrilled about CLOUDS..it'll be great to see an official release of this one.
 

Conrad_SSS

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All picture elements for the many deleted sequences from ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (and several other MGM musicals such as THE PIRATE) were destroyed in a nitrate vault fire at the the studio in the 1950s. (I believe at least one person was killed in the explosion). This was explained in the (extensive) liner notes in the laserdisc boxed set.

The audio for most of the numbers survived though, and were included on the analog tracks of the laser set.
 

Charles Ellis

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I'm also hoping for something extra from Ziegfeld Follies as that production went thru a lot of changes before it hit the screens in '46, two years behind schedule as MGM's 20th Anniversary production. Many numbers were shot and cut, but I don't know if any survive. That's Entertainment III was all about deleted scenes from MGM musicals, but no mention was made of cut Ziegfeld Follies scenes. The finished film has a lot of memorable scenes, starting with the campy opening with Lucille Ball as the world's most beautiful animal tamer, immediately follwed by Miss Deadpan herself, Virginia O'Brien! Also we see Astaire and Kelly together for the first time, Cyd Charisse making her MGM debut, real-life "Funny Girl" Fanny Brice in Technicolor (though I wish they had let her do her 'Baby Snooks' character but that was cut), Lena Horne sings about 'Love', and best of all, Judy Garland invents the safety pin!
 

Charles H

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TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER also have some deleted numbers. It would be great to get surviving audio (and photos) if there is no surviving footage.
 

Sammy-G

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It's such a great time to be a classic movie fan. Once again, WB steals my heart and my wallet in one fell swoop. Can't wait for this box.
 

Doug Bull

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I will buy all but Fair Weather ( it's one of the only MGM Musicals that I dislike)

Let's hope that there's more to come.
I especially would like to see,
TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE
SUMMER HOLIDAY
BELLE OF NEW YORK
YOLANDA AND THE THIEF
BEST FOOT FORWARD
THE BOYFRIEND
DEEP IN MY HEART
THE GREAT WALTZ
HIT THE DECK
LILI
LOVELY TO LOOK AT
PAGAN LOVE SONG
RICH YOUNG AND PRETTY
SHOWBOAT (remastered in Stereo)
THE STUDENT PRINCE
WORDS AND MUSIC (with better sound than on the abysmal laserdisc)
and the two MERRY WIDOWS.

That lot should keep George busy for a while.

;)
 

Richard M S

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Me too. Though I have all of these on laser, I will buy this box set.

As Conrad_SSS mentioned, the elaborate numbers for The Pirate and Ziegfeld Follies were lost in a vault fire. I am not aware of any deleted numbers from Three Little Words. But Till The Clouds Roll Bye had many cut numbers, of which several survive : "D'Ya Love Me", sung in the circus setting by Judy Garland, and a medley of The Song Is You/I've Told Ev'ry Little Star sung by Kathryn Grayson and her then-husband singer Johnny Johnston. I hope they found a few more, but if not then the pre-recordings will do, since Rhino never got around to releasing the complete soundtrack to this film.
 

Paul Borges

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I'm a little surprised that An American Paris In Paris wasn't mentioned. That should be coming in 2006 right?
 

John Skoda

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Deleted numbers from both of these have already been released on previous laserdisc boxed sets (CLOUDS numbers on the "Composers" set and WEATHER numbers on the Gene Kelly set).
 

Ruz-El

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This looks better than the "Broadway To hollywood" set last year, which was kind of dissapointing to me.

Does anyone know if "Cabin In the Sky", and the other black musicals are being boxed? I'd love to get them, but as singles it's a little pricey to blind buy.

RG
 

Richard M S

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I too would love to know more information about this box set, have any further details been released yet?
 

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