COVER ART: Hello, Dolly!

Look how pissed and bewildered Walter Matthau
looks about being in this film with Babs.


Actually, he is great in it, and I'm looking
forward to this release.

That's just how he looked when he found out he had to sing.

I'll definitely be buying this no matter what the cover looks like.

Yeah, they didn't get along, I understand.

I remember seeing Walter Matthau on The Mike Douglas Show in about '74 or '75. (Am I dating myself? I was a little kid, I want you to know. ) Mike Douglas asked him, "How did you like working with Barbra Streisand?" He said, "Oh... it was..." and just trailed off, stared at the floor. Douglas and the audience laughed.

Then his gaze wandered down to his shoes, examined them. "Well, I got a new pair of shoes today," he said, which cracked everyone up even more, including my mother, though I didn't get it. I asked her about it, and she said something to the effect that Barbra Streisand was always saying stupid little trivial things such as that. Go figure.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of this movie, but one more Best Picture nominee on DVD can only be a good thing.

Thanks for posting the cover, David. I've been anxiously waiting to see what it would look like. It's not bad, but could be better. At least it's, in my opinion, better than the cover of the European release.

The big question still is - Will we get a great picture quality of the film or not? Got my fingers crossed. I'll be one unhappy Dolly fan if it's not a beautiful and rich transfer.

Thanks David for posting the cover art! I've been more than curious to see what it was going to look like and I think it looks fine.

Chris: This blurb appears on one of the Streisand websites and it seems any concerns about picture quality can be put to rest...


Widescreen, English 4.0 surround, $14.98. Special features will include a 1969 featurette, HD retrospective trailer, and Spanish trailer. **Video transfer is from newly restored print which screened in select theaters late last year.** Note: this U.S. DVD is completely different than that released in foreign markets last year and will not feature the same package art.

I'm still wondering why FOX isn't doing the FIVE STAR treatment on this one.
AMC has a lot of vault DOLLY material, including Ann-Margret's screen test for Irene Molloy; at least Annie would have been doing her own singing.
A "Backstory" on this title would be intriguing, too. Babs constantly at odds with director Gene Kelly, Matthau's "I have more talent in my tiniest fart than she has in her little finger" barb (though later in life he is seen at Barbra's post-Chernobyl concert having a gay old time); the sad fate of Danny Lockin (Barnaby Tucker), which in and of itself would make a terrific film.
With its already padded running time, I'm nearly certain that there are no deleted scenes to be added (I doubt that "Motherhood" was filmed, for like THE MUSIC MAN'S "My White Knight," was supposedly ghost-composed).
Now, if Paramount would only get off their butts and start releasing their musicals - LI'L ABNER, DARLING LILI, HALF A SIXPENCE, OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR! and ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER spring to mind. With CLEAR DAY, there are loads of deleted scenes, songs and material; while DARLING LILI could contain BOTH the original Roadshow cut as well as Blake's director's cut.

THe Version of "HD" shown late last year was a Todd-AO print and it was dazzling to say the least. Nice if they would included Ann-Margret's test although she was all wrong for the role.

And yeah Tony,

What's with Paramount, they're the only studio sitting on there musical films.

What happened to him?

Tony there is a related Paramount musicals thread under Studio and Manufacture Feedback.

Lee, Danny Lockin was murdered in the late 70's. There have been two reports on his death, one which says he was stabbed repeatedly by a man he "met" in a bar, the other says he died in a car accident also related to the man in the bar.

I saw the 70mm Todd-AO print at the Egyptian Theatre last fall. With the exception of dupe material used for opticals (credits, etc), it lookked extroadinary. Was the transfer for this video done from the 65mm neg/70mm positive print? Or from a new 35mm reduction? I know the head projectionist at the screening said the print was just finished a couple of days before the showing.

That's great news about the posting on that Streisand site regarding the restored print being used on the new DVD, Ron. Now I can breathe a little easier.

I wonder what the "Hello, Dolly! retrospective" will contain? Hope it's something in depth. Yes, Dolly does deserve the royal treatment. There is so much behind the scenes footage they could include that would be fascinating to see.

On the DVD "Hollywood Screen Tests - take 2" there is a good bit of the Dolly screen tests, much of which aired on AMC. However, on the DVD there is a couple of brief behind the scenes clips of the Dolly shooting that was not aired on the TV broadcast of "Screen Tests". One is of Barbra in her lavender costume getting her make up touched up. Another is of Gene Kelly being lifted high into the air above the parade set, seated with the Todd-AO Camera. Then there is one of Michael Kidd directing the dancers. They were only seconds each, but were thrilling too see none the less.

Speaking of Todd-AO, there is a great parody of it done by the cast of "Forbidden Broadway" ( sung to the tune of "Oklahoma") :

70mm's first big hope, deeper and clearer than Cinemascope
Yeee Haaaaaa!

OOOoooohhh, Todd - A O
you're the widest screen I've ever seen!
and the waving wheat
at fifty feet
makes a two seat surrey look obscene

...you'll notice her lipstick and rouge
and her ninety-foot boobies are huge

but if you see
this movie on TV
You'll only see our teeth
and our gums
and our tonsils
'cause Todd - A O O O 's
too wide!

Oh Todd - AO , oh Todd - AO, oh Todd - AO ! ....