WHV Press Release: TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams Volume 2

 

It's strictly a guess, but I'd guess the Archive release will be mono. They did similar processing on AN AMERICAN IN PARIS in the TE movies, but the entire film showed up on DVD and Blu-ray in mono only (and low bitrate mono at that).

MGM was often recording their musical numbers in stereo for better flexibilty in making the final mono mix heard in theatres.  But it's rare that an entire stereo track still exists for any of these films, which were released to theatres in monaural only.  For example, "Achison, Topeka and Santa Fe" exists in stereo from "The Harvey Girls" but little else from the film does.  So while these tracks were utilized in the "That's Entertainment!" films whenever possible, they are rarely used when the films themselves hit DVD because the full, true stereo coming in and going out would be distracting.  The Rhino soundtracks on a lot of these films labelled which tracks were stereo and which weren't and gave an interesting overview of the source materials used in the transfers.

Joe Caps can correct me, but I would be very surprised if "Easy to Love" had been released in stereo, being an Academy-ratio 2-D standard 1952 release.

MGM didn't release a film in 3 channel, interlock magnetic stereo until the summer/fall of 1953.

Easy to love was not a stereo film. 

MGM did quite a few interlock stereo films in 1953.  Sadly, because these are some of the worlsds oldest mags,  many just rotted away and no longer exist. Some films were only partially stereo.  For example,  All the Brothers were Valiant had only reel one, the opening of the film - reel four a and b  the Whale Chase scene,  and the final reel of the film in stereo,  the rest was mag mono.   But NONE of this track exists now.

MGM also had Valley of the Kings in true stereo on fim in 1954, but that seems to be lost too.

MGM's music recording facilities were converting over to recording in true stereo on magnetic tape around this time.  I don't think it was ever stereo in theaters, but the Rhino soundtrack CD from THE BAND WAGON said that all the music for that film was recorded in true, magnetic stereo.  None of those recordings exist today.

So, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the EASY TO LOVE original recordings are stereo.  But I would be REALLY surprised if they remixed the whole film for stereo for the DVD.

"Did'ja Ever?" with Tony Martin is on Disc 6 of the first edition of the THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! CD boxed set; "Easy to Love," also Tony Martin, is on the disc HOLLYWOOD'S BEST: THE FIFTIES; both from Turner/Rhino. Both are mono. Have any other tracks made it to CD?

I love the film Pagan Love Song.   I am glad they are releasing the outtakes from this film.

It would be nice to see the following done
1. they are releasing the outtake Why is Love so Crazy  sung by Esther Williams.
This was released before on a lserdisc set with Esther accompanied by Piano.  However the orchestra track for this DOES exist.  Once this is joined to the track, this should be connected to Howards version of the song in the film, as it was meant to be one long number.

Oh that's interesting; I have seen that Why is Love so Crazy outake as well as the Sea of The Moon outtake on the That' Entertainment bonus disc and without a doubt those Pagan Love Song outakes are one of the main reasons I am looking forward to this set.

I see the Warner Horror set, also out the same day (10/6), has been reviewed. Any Reviews of Esther Williams Volume 2 yet?

I have not received a review copy of either set as of this instant (haven't gotten home to see if the Fedex fairies have visited my house today or not.)

Regards,

I received my review copy of the set late yesterday along with the Karloff/Lugosi set and two other titles.  I may have a tough time getting through it all before street date, but in the meantime, I would be happy to answer any questions in this thread.

Regards,

Hello
I'd like to know if the pictures have subtitles in French or English
Thanks

Hello
Could you tell me if the movies are subtitled in French or English ?
Thanks

 All six films have English SDH and French subtitle streams.  No subtitles on the vintage shorts, though.

Regards,

Thanks very much

Here is my in-progress update (pre-review?), having watched the first four titles in the set so far [Thrill Of A Romance (1945), Fiesta (1947), This Time For Keeps (1947), and Pagan Love Song (1950)]. All are of reasonable quality for vintage Technicolor sourced materials. Thrill of Romance is by far the best of the bunch with deeply saturated colors, nicely balanced contrast, and only a few shots where regstration is a tiny bit off. Fiesta is the most visually problematic of the four, although it is by no means a disaster. It looks like a lot of work went into it, with different source issues noticeable to critical viewers depending on what reels you are watching. The first reel is the closest to unacceptable as there is unusually heavy high contrast edge ringing (not limited to titles/opticals) that does not look source-related. Fortunately, this does not continue through the rest of the film. This Time for Keeps is very good although not as consistent in its color and density as Thrill of Romance. Pagan Love Song is not quite as sharp as the others with possibly a bit more fading.

Audio wise, they all sound pretty similar (non-mag sources with light sporadic crackling and only mild noise reduction artifacts) except that there is a lot of "optical crackle" during portions of the first reel of Pagan Love Song, including during Howard Keel's first "House of Singing Bamboo" musical number. It sounds like they had to go with a lower generation source for this part of the film.
 
Regards,
Edited by Ken_McAlinden - 10/5/09 at 9:42am

I am looking forward to your full review; thanks. I am especially interested in how MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID looks.

MDM is next in the queue, so I will let you know after watching it tonight.

Million Dollar Mermaid looks very good, although the image is a touch softer, the grain is a bit coarser, and there are more (although not excessive) apparent instances of film element damage than for Thrill of Romance.   Audio is the best so far.

Regards,

Easy to Love turned out to be one of the best looking titles in the set.  There is a hint of contrast manipulation, but nothing severe.  There were a couple of shots that looked like they had very slight "fringing".  I may be wrong, but I do not think this was a three-strip Technicolor production. Those may be shots where YCM protection elements were used.  The sound was the least noisy in the set.  The high end sounds slightly rolled-off, and some of the musical numbers were recorded "hot" so you get some distortion when they get loud, but it is otherwise very good.

I will try to get the review written up by tomorrow (Thursday).

Regards,

This is good news for Easy To Love.  I always thought the laserdisc looked dull and washed out  I look forward to seeing it in a better presentation as this film is in my top three Esther Williams movies along with Million Dollar Mermaid and Dangerous When Wet.

 

Thanks for your observations.
 

This leaves DUCHESS OF IDAHO, SKIRTS AHOY!, TEXAS CARNIVAL, and JUPITER'S DARLING with THE HOODLUM SAINT as a bonus for Volume III?

Also A GUY NAMED JOE, ANDY HARDY'S DOUBLE LIFE.

 

I really hope volume 3 will be available next year, I think the Esther William's movies are very popular.

 

Daniel.

Here is the Amazon rankings as of 4:45 on Wednesday:


#165 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#1 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Classic Comedies
#1 in	Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Ballet & Dance
#1 in	Movies & TV > Boxed Sets > Musicals & Performing Arts

I sure hope Volume 3 emerges soon; the 2 films I really want are DUCHESS OF IDAHO and JUPITER'S DARLING.

In regard to Volume 2, from this general fan's perspective, the films look and sound better than I have ever seen them, and the outtakes are really fascinating. This weekend I hope to watch the 2 films I have never seen, FIESTA and EASY TO LOVE.

I finally got my review posted.  It should show up as a "related thread" and on the "related gear" page, both linked on the right side of this screen.

Regards,
Edited by Ken_McAlinden - 10/9/09 at 1:27pm