Alice Faye Collectiom

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I haven't seen many FOX musicals, so I'm glad they're putting some of these movies back in circulation for newbies like me, and the next generation of movie fans to discover.

I don't mind the price of their boxsets one bit - I figure you gotta pay extra for beautiful poster art on the covers, nice restorations, and the cool extras. FOX seem to be one of the few studios still regularly including audio commentaries...even on their lesser known films. When I think of how many famous classics don't get commentaries (Universal's DVD of "The Heiress" for instance...what a shame!) - well, I really appreciate FOX taking the time to find scholars/critics willing to contribute. I just love learning behind-the-scenes stuff.

I plan to buy every FOX box I can, even for stars like Alice Faye or Tyrone Power, who I'm not really familiar with. Especially because I'm not familiar with them! There's so much to discover when you're a movie lover. (Er, make that "addict")

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Serena, I totally agree with you. But even for those who complains about the price, that's good news that the Alice Faye Colletion comes with a list price cheaper than the standard 4 disc box sets that Fox usually put out on the market (U$ 50,00 against U$ 60,00 from the Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto and Will Rogers collections). So this is news and I hope people start to support sales instead of encouraging others not to buy the box sets (what is very upseting. If you don't want to buy, just don't. No need for advise others not to buy either). Fox is doing a great job in releasing more titles in 2007 than Warners (that I can't get without).
And even better is that Fox is still reducing the price for the Tyrone Power box set: U$ 50,00 for 5 titles. This put Fox titles in the same league as WB collections. And I'm sure this will increase sales significantly.
Can't wait for my Alice Faye box set to arrive! I really hope it sells well, so we can get more Fox musicals (specially Margie, Centennial Summer and Three Little Girls in Blue, 3 underated movies that cry for dvd releases).
And Serena, have seeing 3 of the 4 tiles included on the box set, I'm sure you won't regret buying the collection, It's pure entertainment.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Dvd Beaver did a great review for the Alice Faye box set:

According to the reviewer:
"Fox has really put together a special package here - obviously a lot of care went into this DVD collection production. Good transfers and audio and extensive supplements make this Fox's best DVD Boxset in a long while. A strong recommendation! I can't see anyone not enjoying this to some degree."

Great to know about that.
And the screens captures just made me more anxious to put my hands on the discs.
So far Fox is doing a great job with classic movie dvds in 2007. And, in my opinion, at this point, though very early to say it yet, is the best studio pf the year, in that subject. Yes, we'll get in the next months Michael Shayne, Shirley Temple, Hemingway, more war classics, 3 Literary classics, 3 marquee musicals, Tyrone Power...and hopefully, more noir, more Charlie Chan, more Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Tyrone Power and who knows, Sonja Henie, Loretta Young and Maureen O'Hara.
In second place comes Universal, with all those announcements (Universal cinema classics, westerns, WC Fields, Pirates of golden age).
And I don't understand why WB is so shy with its releases. Very glad with Literary Classics, Errol Flynn, Doris Day, James Cagney, but in May just the Hepburn collection?? WB used to put out 3 or 4 boxes for month...so, I have to put Warner on 3rd place, though I can't forget that because of Mr. Felteinstein (incredible job, always), the other studios began to look for their vaults.
Still, I'm waiting for Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, Ginger Rogers, more Crawford, Davis, musicals, Gable, Noirs, pre-codes...

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I noticed the lower price for the ALICE FAYE COLLECTION immediately and consequently ordered. To be honest, I bought MR. MOTO 2 used because I felt it was overpriced, but I had no problem with the Faye collection price. I hope Fox will price its subsequent sets as fairly.

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I love the supplements! In the prior press releases I read there was no mention of outatkes being included! This looks like the best DVD box set released in a long time for me.

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I can't wait to get mine! FOX is currently my favorite studio for DVD releases too... don't forget those audio commentaries! I wish Warner was less "shy" too, RafaelPires - I buy just about every classic movie they release, but I'm eager to buy more, more, more!

I kinda wish FOX owned some of the MGM musicals that Warner seems uninterested in... considering that FOX is paying tribute to Alice Faye (not exactly well-known by the masses today)...it stands to reason they'd probably also "take a chance" on releasing boxsets for stars like Jane Powell, June Allyson, Jeanette MacDonald, etc, if they could. Ditto for Deanna Durbin, who Universal seems to have abandoned.

If Warner ever releases their remaining, less famous films with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland...and if the DVDs get half the kind of stellar treatment FOX gave the "lesser" Astaire and Garland films they own (Daddy Long-Legs, Pigskin Parade - now there's a film I never expected would get a featurette or audio outtakes!), well I'll be just thrilled.

In essence I guess I'm crazy about FOX right now 'cause they seem to lavish such attention and care, restoration and loads of extras, on every film they release. Not just on special editions of super-popular titles, but pretty obscure movies too. I'm sure every lesser known film has fans who'd be grateful for this loving attention to detail... I really appreciate the way FOX has been treating their films (and thus, us, the customers) lately.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I'm a big fan of Fox films period. They have always been my favorite studio.
they are starting an experiment to see if the consumer will be interested in hearing raw recording sessions of music from Fox films. Not just musicals but background scores too. The upcoming box of Tyrone Power includes the scores to Son of Fury, Captain from castille, and Prince of Foxes. Since Pigskin Parade, has raw sessions, I'm hoping it will include the unheard Garland number, Hold that Bulldog, cut from the film.
I jumped at the review in dVD beaver and it says the Faye box has great extras, thendoesn't really tell us what they are!! It says there are cut scens from some of th ilms, but doesn't tell us if they are cut musical numbers.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I hope they include some of the Herrmann scores when they finally release Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, Garden of Evil, Prince of Players, Hatful of Rain, King of the Khyber Rifles etc.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Joe, if you want to know the extras, go to dvdempire and see the back cover of the films, all the extras are listed there.
I know that the deleted scene from That Night in Rio is "Chica Chica Boom" number sung by Don Ameche and Alice Faye. I'm very curious to watch that.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Can hardly wait to get this collection. All 4 films are winners, my favorite of the 4 is actually Lillian Russell (40), to me Miss Faye was never lovelier than in this one, singing great old standards and making one forget some of the ponderous parts of the story. A film with immense charm.

Like you Serena, I am so thrilled that Fox lavishes so many efforts on their titles, providing many hard-to-find films along the way with extras galore to boot. It goes to show that if there can be an Alice Faye Collection, there is certainly as much interest for a Jane Powell or Eleanor Powell collection.

MoviesUnlimited said more Alice FAye films would be coming this year, so here's looking forward to Hello Frisco Hello (43), Rose of Washington Square (39), The Great American Broadcast (41) and the very delightful Sally, Irene and Mary (38)!

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

In my opinion, Fox still has a long way to go before they reach the gold standard set by Warners. However they are making great progress in becoming a bona fide player in the classic films market. I was happy to read that this Faye collection will use slim cases in addition to all the supplements. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. If they are truly lowering the price of their sets that should help sales quite a bit. The $60 MSRP for 4 films was just out of line and too unrealistic and was the reason I passed on several of their releases that I normally would have snapped up. Perhaps they'll reissue the Grable, Rogers, et al boxes in slim cases at a lower price point.

Here's hoping the Faye and Power collections do well so Fox is encouraged to do more of the same.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Steve, no contest for me either that Warner leads the way every which way. Just happy to see Fox really getting on the Classic DVD band wagon

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I agree that in the whole process, WB stands as the absolute and undeniable number 1. It was the pioneer with classic releases, showing that there is a market for old movies on dvd, releasing a lot of wonderful collections, with precious care opening the eyes for other studios. I always be grateful to WB for it, specially, Mr. George Felteinstein whose hard and courageous work, I think, we will never forget.
But if you analize 2007 alone, I think Fox is, so far, the number 1 studio. And by telling this I am not, in any way, depreciating WB. I am only praising the great job done by another studio, that followed the same line done by WB. Here's hoping all of them mantain this level. All classic movie buffs will be delighted.

And CineKarine I would add to your list of Alice Faye vehicles, at least, Tin Pan Alley and Sing Baby Sing.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Rafael, how could I forget TIN PAN ALLEY!!!!! We have two good chances this might come, either in the next Grable set or in the next Faye set! This is one of my all-time favorite Fox musicals!

And SING, BABY, SING is a great showcase too, ditto with YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING. I would also vote for the non-musical LITTLE OLD NEW YORK.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Absolutely, Rafael!! This shouldn't be a contest about which studio wins and which loses. It's about getting all of them to do right by their classic catalog. If marketed correctly it will be a win win for everyone, the studios and the consumers. Warners has deservedly received praise for leading the way. However there is no reason that Fox, Universal et al can't share in the glory. Universal finally dumped their double sided discs which many found problematic and Fox may have finally gotten their hint their pricing structure was out of whack. Unfortunately, some other studios still hold to the Steve Beeks (LionsGate/Hallmark) theory that the only B&W films that sell are John Wayne titles.

Warners has the adavantage of an extremely deep and marketable library of titles to choose from which means they can keep releases coming for years. I'm not concerned at all about their 2007 output. It's only February 19 and we've heard just a smattering of their 200+ titles to be released in 2007. The chat at the end of the month will no doubt give more clues as to what is in store.

It's too bad Fox doesn't do HTF chats anymore. The team they have in place now (Steve Feldstein, Mike Dunn) seem to be a lot more serious about exploiting their back catalog and doing a bang up job at it. It would be nice to know what we can look forward to.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

No need to get up in arms. I wasn't knocking George Feltenstein, god forbid! Or disagreeing about Warner being DVD pioneers. I only meant that I've been most impressed by FOX lately. I'm sure they were inspired by Warner's success, and that's great...competition creates better products for us, right? Wouldn't be a bad thing if Warner got a little jealous of FOX now and took things to an even higher level.

Slim cases? Oh no. I guess I'm in the minority but I prefer regular sized cases... the slim cases I own are far more flimsy (for instance Warner's Legends Of Horror set - my discs all arrived loose and I notice they just won't stay in securely, the center holder thingy isn't strong enough)

I also like larger spines, easier to read for blind-as-a-bat folks like me. I actually thought FOX resisting the slim case trend was another point in their favour. Too bad they had to follow Warner's example there too.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Speaking of Fox musicals, the 4 Grable films from last year's box set plus Daddy Long Legs, Weekend in Havana and Pin-Up Girl are being released as the Marquee Musicals box set on March 1. Pre-orders on Amazon are $69.99.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Oh that's good. I never purchased any of them and now i can but them all at once. I actually won the Betty Grable set for $20 and Weekend in Havana for $6 brand new, but when I was going to pay, the seller no longer had an account. i was pretty bummed out.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Haven't had a chance to pick up my copy of the collection yet, but can anybody address the perceived video issues with The Gang's All Here? Dave Kehr over at The New York Times wrote a severely disappointed piece last week claiming that the elements used were in poor shape. Anyone comment on this?

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

You know, I just don't know. It looked OK to me, but I have to admit that my expectations weren't of the highest because, well, because as Kehr says, the original Technicolor separations are lost. It looks like they did an all right job with what's available.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I watched both of the Technicolor titles in this set and was amazed at the excellent color registration throughout both films. Registration was as good or better than even the Ultra Resolution transfers.

Great job on these titles, Fox!!!

Ted

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I've never seen these movies before, but the DVDs looked great to me. I hope sales are good enough to warrant a Vol. 2! (Have they totally given up plans for more Betty Grable?)

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

The transfer is a lot darker than the previous laserdisc transfer and the colors are much more subdued. If you have nothing to compare it to, it doesn't look too bad, but it looks nothing like the eye-popping Technicolor prints I used to see in revival houses years ago. The bananas on this transfer aren't ripe yet.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Rob Ray is 100% on the money. The GANG'S DVD looks nothing like the film looked in its original Technicolor. The last Technicolor prints were made in 1971 or so for the film's theatrical re-release, and continued to be shown in revival houses on occasion. They were like 3-D. The DVD is dull and on the brown side.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I haven't watched THE GANG'S ALL HERE yet, but the DVD-R I burned a year ago off the Fox Movie Channel was indeed lackluster.

THAT NIGHT IN RIO, which I did watch last night, was superb, very deeply saturated and looking quite marvelous.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

The level of innovation on the Special Features alone is amazing. On the Faye box, ALICE'S LAST MOVIE is a surprising addition to THE GANG'S ALL HERE. The feature-length documentary on Will Rogers Collection: Volume I is worth the price of admission alone. There was an enormous amount of creativity in the Chan and Moto sets including a Mexican version of Charlie Chan Carries on and THE RETURN OF MR. MOTO. Who would have guessed a Griffith silent on MOVE OVER, DARLING or an audio commentary on CAPRICE? Talk about making a sil purse out of a sow's ear! Fox has always been remarkably candid and self-depracating about their own history: Witness the Raquel Welch/Michael Sarne commentary on MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, the documentary on CLEOPATRA and the Marilyn Monroe set. The commentaries are frankly superior to WBs: The Maureen O'Hara commentaries, Eddie Mueller, Chris Mankiewicz, Daryl Hickman on LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, Dana Andrews' daughter on FALLEN ANGELS. Then there is the Restoration Comparisons. But most of all, Fox releases the most new-to-home-video products. Next week alone: Hemingway's ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN, THE SUN ALSO RISES, UNDER MY SKIN, JOHN AND MARY, THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES, and a non-pd SNOWS OF KILLIMANJARO.

I love WB (the Mitchum, Reagan, Flynn, Bogart, McQueen sets and the Minnelli musicals and any film with a Vincent Sherman commentary or kinescopes from early tv are essential), but I was very, very disappointed with the first "Forbidden Hollywood" set. For a starter kit, they need to give some sense of historical context, and the inclusion of two BABY FACES is meaningless unless they explain why. I understand the brouhaha over BABY FACE caused Daryl Zanuck to leave WB and go to Fox. Apparently, WB will correct this with further volumes, but it was a very inauspicious debut.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I still had that FMC version on my Dish PVR and it looks much better than the dvd....brighter (if a bit too bright) and more colorful, and more detailed. I have a feeling that it is the same basic element, but they really messed up something on the dvd with the brightness.....it's just too damned dark.

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Volume 2. This is the best box set I bought so far this year!

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

A Volume 2 would be most welcome with:

-Sing, Baby, Sing
-Hello, Frisco, Hello
-Rose of Washington Square
-Tin Pan Alley

Re: Alice Faye Collectiom

Or her two films with Shirley Temple though I suspect those will be in Temple box sets to come. Really looking forward to those.