What's new

Astaire / Rogers Collection Vol. 1 coming from Warner in August (1 Viewer)

John Hodson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2003
Messages
4,627
Location
Bolton, Lancashire
Real Name
John
Slightly unusual; we were told by Warners that it was coming and www.davisdvd.com has the box set art...



...but no further details on the site. No release date, nothing, but you can see from the art that the titles are:

Top Hat
Swing Time
The Barkleys of Broadway
Follow the Fleet
Shall we Dance
 

Ruz-El

Fake Shemp
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2002
Messages
12,539
Location
Deadmonton
Real Name
Russell
Hmmm, can anyone comment on the quality of said titles? I still haven't watched the Broadway To Hollywood set, but I'm leaning that that set and the "That's Entertainment" box well be good enough for me and movie musicals that up until Warner put out "Singing In The Rain SE" was a genre I didn't even watch.

Of course, Warner well put on some extra features that well make me pre-order this blind anyway (like Broadway, Classic Comedy, Errol Flynn, Controversial Classics, Tarza, etc..) Damn you Warners! Why do you have to be so good at putting out classic movie boxsets!!;)
 

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy
Moderator
Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 9, 1998
Messages
67,607
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Robert

Warner knows what they're doing, especially George Feltenstein, when it comes to musicals. Without question, this is a great start as far as the first of two boxsets.





Crawdaddy
 

DeeF

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 19, 2002
Messages
1,689
Interesting... except for Barkleys (which was a later MGM, the only one of these in color), I would say the other four here are the four best.

Which means, perhaps, that Warners intends to see how this set sells before committing to the second set, which would have:

Flying Down to Rio
Roberta
The Gay Divorcee
Carefree (this is the worst one)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
 

John Stell

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 12, 2002
Messages
1,359
Location
Columbia, MD
Real Name
John Stell
Good God!! Top Hat, Swing Time, and Follow the Fleet are 4-star films, and Shall we Dance is a 3.5 film, at least according to Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Yet another Warners set I will buy. THANK YOU WB!
 

Jing_B

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Messages
156
This just made my day! I won't be picking up the boxset but I will definetly pick up Top Hat and Swing Time. They have been on my wish list for way too long.
 

Paul_Scott

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
6,545
yeah, i think i'll be skipping this set as well, however i will be anxiously looking forward to getting Swing Time.

although it has some great tunes, i've never been able to warm up to Top Hat, and the others in the set just leave me indifferent.

out of all of them, i suspect The Gay Divorcee is the only other one i'll be picking up.

still, this is great news.
 

Brandon Conway

captveg
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2002
Messages
9,623
Location
North Hollywood, CA
Real Name
Brandon Conway
For anyone wanting Swing Time and Top Hat, pick up the box anyway. If this is priced like the Film Noir Warner Box, two individual titles will be $35, and the box will be $40.
 

Ruz-El

Fake Shemp
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2002
Messages
12,539
Location
Deadmonton
Real Name
Russell
Nice, it seems like 4 of these movies are considered some of Astairs best. This is starting to get that "Warners Boxset Blind Buy" smell. And Brandon is right, the price of 2 is prety much worth the price of the box. This is what resulted in my blind buys of Errol Flynn (Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk), Broadway to holywood (Easter Parade adn The Band Wagon), Classic Comedies (Bringing Up BAby, Phillidelphia Story). And I odn't regret any of them! Well, maybe Broadway beause I haven't actually watched any of it yet (waiting for the 2 disc EAster PArade Canada got boned on) and CLassic Comedies which is on it's way with the EP disc.

Warners is repeatedly kicking my wallets ass with quality releases, it's a good thing the other studios haven't caught on, I'd have to get a second job!
 

Garysb

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Messages
5,862
This is really great news. It is interesting that they are releasing all the best Astaire/Rogers films in volume 1.
Barkleys is not really a good film but the others are WOW.
Barkleys was to star Judy Garland and Astaire as a following up to Easter Parade. It is almost a sequel with
the characters married and the wife wanting to branch out on her own as a serious actress instead of a musical comedy star. Rogers replaced Garland when Garland was too ill to continue.
My guess is that Barkleys was included because it is in color.
 

Derek Estes

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 28, 2004
Messages
178
This is greawt news! I can't wait. By the Way I haven't heard anything recently regarding the Busby Berkeley Boxed Set that Warners was planning on releasing this year, But if that does come soon I will be in a flood of several of the greatest musicals ever in a few months! I would recomend this set to anyone on the fence. Truly Classic!
 

RafaelPires

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 13, 2004
Messages
588
Yes!!!
My most anticipated box set of 2005. Can't wait for the offical news. Loved the art work.
And looking for the 2nd volume on 2006.
Thanks one more time, WB!!!
 

LaurenceGarvey

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
286
I bought the SWING TIME and TOP HAT DVDs from France a couple of years ago, and if it were possible to wear out DVDs, I would have. I'm on this new set like foam on beer.
 

Kirk Tsai

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 1, 2000
Messages
1,424
Great, great news. Despite the tremendous popularity of later musicals (and the inevitable mentions of Singin' in the Rain), to me, Astaire and Rogers are the foremost essentials in the genre (and of course, the drop dead awesome Broadway Melody of 1940).
 

Jeffrey Nelson

Screenwriter
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Messages
1,080
Location
Seattle, WA
Real Name
Jeffrey Nelson

I think CAREFREE is more of a good screwball comedy than a typical Astaire-Rogers picture. I thought the script was pretty sharp and funny.

I'm surprised they didn't release these films in chronological order in the box sets; that way they'd split up the higher-demand titles. I bet they won't sell nearly as many of the second box as the first box. But I'll be buying both, as I'm a huge fan. Unfortunately, it seems as if the Rogers-less A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS is going to be left out in the cold. A pity, because, while Joan Fontaine is no substitute for Ginger Rogers, Burns & Allen take up the slack wonderfully. They're fantastic in this picture.
 

Richard M S

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 2, 2005
Messages
1,051
I am just wondering about what the extras will be - as in commentary, trailers, etc. And will any of them be 2-disc special editions? Top Hat and Swing Time are certainly considered to be not just the best films the pair made, but they easily rank among the best films of the 1930s.
 

Steve Armbrust

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 6, 1999
Messages
374


Word from the Astaire group is that Fred's daughter Ava participated in some of the special features, perhaps commentary.

I have been waiting for these two sets since I got my first DVD player. I can't wait to get my hands on them.

As for DAMSEL IN DISTRESS, I watched it again recently on TCM. It has some interesting dance routines, and Burns and Allen are good, but there's just not enough "Fred doing Fred" in it, IMHO.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,822
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top