Warner Home Video will be releasing one of the more important classic collections of 2007 tomorrow.
I received a copy today, and couldn't wait to preview them.
The first thing that became obvious is the extremely high quality of the packaging, which only tells the most basic story of the planning, time and care that made this release possible.
But then comes a problem of marketing reality.
As shelf space, ever at a premium, gets used more and more by HD, BD and the annual multiple dip re-issues of Ferris Bueller, I don't want this set to become lost.
Just as important, with huge amounts of dollars going into cleaning up these films, the studio needs to make their investment back...
or we're not going to see more.
The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection was a long time coming.
With no extant original negatives (GEH fire - 1978), poor condition masters, and in the case of Babes in Arms, an even worse dupe, we're extremely lucky that this set has made it.
While the quality of all four films are perfectly satisfactory, they are not pristine glorious black & white examples of the cinematographic art, and never will be again. They simply do not exist in any finer state. They have been beautifully cleaned, buffed and grain reduced (necessary in some cases). An occasional scratch is still in evidence. The tracks are fine.
As an aside, the cut "My Day" sequence from Babes in Arms has been re-instated from 16mm source material, and it works beautifully.
But what is important is that finally the home theater community has the ability to take home all four Rooney / Garland musicals -- some of the most important and highest grossing films of their day.
Babes in Arms (1939), Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941) and Girl Crazy (1943) make up the basic package.
Add to that a wondeful mixture of extras, as well as a single disc with 25 of the most important Judy Garland musical numbers. Not a CD, but 25 songs on video.
The price of admission?
$35 on Amazon.
If one ignores all of the extras, this works out to under $8 per title.
So here's the pitch.
You can help film restoration; help these releases keep coming; help Warner's classic wonderkind George Feltenstein sleep through the night; and generally make yourself feel better about life.
Did I mention that your friends will like you better?
Offers of steak knives and toasters? Sorry.
Those cinephiles who know what these films are, and have viewed the dynamics of the players and the music in the past will have them tomorrow.
I'm concerned about those who are sitting on the fence about this release, and have never seen them before.
All I can tell you is that these are terrific upbeat musicals from the classic era. So please get off the fence and grab a copy.
Because if Mickey & Judy don't sell in reasonable numbers, it can be virtually guaranteed that you won't be seeing any of the secondary titles any time soon.
This is a great release of four terrific and important films.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
I received a copy today, and couldn't wait to preview them.
The first thing that became obvious is the extremely high quality of the packaging, which only tells the most basic story of the planning, time and care that made this release possible.
But then comes a problem of marketing reality.
As shelf space, ever at a premium, gets used more and more by HD, BD and the annual multiple dip re-issues of Ferris Bueller, I don't want this set to become lost.
Just as important, with huge amounts of dollars going into cleaning up these films, the studio needs to make their investment back...
or we're not going to see more.
The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection was a long time coming.
With no extant original negatives (GEH fire - 1978), poor condition masters, and in the case of Babes in Arms, an even worse dupe, we're extremely lucky that this set has made it.
While the quality of all four films are perfectly satisfactory, they are not pristine glorious black & white examples of the cinematographic art, and never will be again. They simply do not exist in any finer state. They have been beautifully cleaned, buffed and grain reduced (necessary in some cases). An occasional scratch is still in evidence. The tracks are fine.
As an aside, the cut "My Day" sequence from Babes in Arms has been re-instated from 16mm source material, and it works beautifully.
But what is important is that finally the home theater community has the ability to take home all four Rooney / Garland musicals -- some of the most important and highest grossing films of their day.
Babes in Arms (1939), Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941) and Girl Crazy (1943) make up the basic package.
Add to that a wondeful mixture of extras, as well as a single disc with 25 of the most important Judy Garland musical numbers. Not a CD, but 25 songs on video.
The price of admission?
$35 on Amazon.
If one ignores all of the extras, this works out to under $8 per title.
So here's the pitch.
You can help film restoration; help these releases keep coming; help Warner's classic wonderkind George Feltenstein sleep through the night; and generally make yourself feel better about life.
Did I mention that your friends will like you better?
Offers of steak knives and toasters? Sorry.
Those cinephiles who know what these films are, and have viewed the dynamics of the players and the music in the past will have them tomorrow.
I'm concerned about those who are sitting on the fence about this release, and have never seen them before.
All I can tell you is that these are terrific upbeat musicals from the classic era. So please get off the fence and grab a copy.
Because if Mickey & Judy don't sell in reasonable numbers, it can be virtually guaranteed that you won't be seeing any of the secondary titles any time soon.
This is a great release of four terrific and important films.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
), until Warners did "Singing In The Rain" and I was curious to check out what the fuss was after reading your coloum on it, so thanks for that. 
These are indeed unforgettable films featuring some of THE greatest musical numbers ever put on film. Garland and Rooney remain my favorite musical twosome to this day. 
