Musicals: From Stage & Film to Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Doug Bull]

Good luck with the menu.
It should be a piece of cake for most, although I had trouble, but then again I did fail Rubik's Cube.

It will be great to hear your final opinion of the disc and it's tribulations.


I'm surprised the DHL driver didn't query Ike's signature.

Doug.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've got the disc in now. Won't get time to watch the entire thing tonight (I finished up A Chorus Line earlier this evening), but "so far, so good" with the menus!

I figured the first menu stop would be "Play Movie," and I was right! One for one!

Then I had to determine whether stop #2 was going to be "Settings" or "Scenes." Once I saw there were two sub-menus, I figured the first was audio and the second was subtitles. Clicked on the 2nd and found three sub-sub-menus. Again, I figured Japanese subtitles was #1 (which needed to be turned off, English subtitles #2 and "Off" was #3). Right, right and right again!

I took a stop at the first sub-menu of Stop #2 and it was audio (right again!) and switched it to PCM 5.1--just because I could!

Haven't checked Stop #3 yet (but I presume it to be "scenes)." Not exactly sure what Stop #4 will be (oh, the suspense!)

Doug: Thanks for letting me know about the availability of this Blu. It looks great so far and will be great fun to get through. I'll be sure to report back.

I asked Ike about his interaction with the delivery guy. He said he did seem a little distracted that a dog was signing for the package...so maybe that's why he didn't question that Ike was signing for Mike.

 

[Ethan Riley]

The real "Annie Get Your Gun" or the PC revisal? If the PC version -- you could call it "Annie Get Your Gun After the Background Check and Five-Day Waiting Period" -- I wouldn't be watching.

And it likely would be the PC script, probably denatured further. Musn't offend the professionally offended.

It'll be so PC they'll cut out the "Gun" altogether and just call it "Annie."

 

[Mike Frezon]

Stop #3 is, indeed, "scenes." I just watched Ulla "tidy oop!"

I'm guessing Stop #4 will be bonus features.

 

[Doug Bull]

Stop #3 is, indeed, "scenes." I just watched Ulla "tidy oop!"

I'm guessing Stop #4 will be bonus features.

I told you I failed Rubik's Cube. (not to mention Donkey Kong)


Seriously though, like you, I was able to navigate it using my amazing and astute powers of perception and my vast knowledge of the Japanese language. (disregard that last bit. It's a lie)

Doug.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Seriously though, like you, I was able to navigate it using my amazing and astute powers of perception

We should form a club! "Semi-smart guys who can sort of figure out unimportant things sometimes."

 

[JohnMor]

Wow, Mike, Ike is quite the beauty! (Not to mention clever, obviously).

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It'll be so PC they'll cut out the "Gun" altogether and just call it "Annie."

...or they could get Spielberg to direct and call it "Annie Get Your Walkie-Talkie".

 

[ajabrams]

The real "Annie Get Your Gun" or the PC revisal? If the PC version -- you could call it "Annie Get Your Gun After the Background Check and Five-Day Waiting Period" -- I wouldn't be watching.

And it likely would be the PC script, probably denatured further. Musn't offend the professionally offended.

Rick - I agree -- that re-write was awful and it changed the whole,wonderful "showbizzy" vibe of the original. I wish that the 1967 broadcast of the Lincoln Center revival with Ethel Merman was available. Sure Merman was too old for the part at that point, but who cares--she was terrific!. Unfortunately, I think it was one of those "one showing only" affairs due to union and rights agreements, etc. The earlier Mary Martin version IS out there and is very good despite it's technical limitations.
IMO, I think Betty Hutton is perfectly cast in the movie version and she is marvelous in it. Much better suited to the role than Garland would have been --and I do love Garland. It's the same kind of thing that happened with the latest revival -- Reba McIntyre was more "right" for the part than Bernadette Peters was.

 

[JohnMor]

IMO, I think Betty Hutton is perfectly cast in the movie version and she is marvelous in it. Much better suited to the role than Garland would have been --and I do love Garland. It's the same kind of thing that happened with the latest revival -- Reba McIntyre was more "right" for the part than Bernadette Peters was.

Not crazy about Betty in the role, but she was fine. I would have really loved to see Warners loan Doris Day to MGM for it (even though I'm not a fan of the later studio album she made of the score with Robert Goulet.). And I completely agree about Bernadette. I ADORE her, but she was wrong for the role, even if the Tony committee didn't think so. LOL. I would have loved to have seen Reba, just based on the reviews I've read.

 

[JohnMor]

I wish that the 1967 broadcast of the Lincoln Center revival with Ethel Merman was available. Sure Merman was too old for the part at that point, but who cares--she was terrific!. Unfortunately, I think it was one of those "one showing only" affairs due to union and rights agreements, etc.

I think the Lincoln Center cast recording with Merman is still the best recording of the score, imo. Wonderful album.

 

[Doug Bull]

Like Betty Hutton or not, she was probably a better choice than Betty Garrett. (who temporarily inherited the role after Judy Garland was dropped)

I've always enjoyed the work of Garrett, but I'm not sure the film would have had the same box office success under her.

I'm with John in thinking that Doris Day would have been perfect for the part.


For it's time it certainly was..

And in my opinion it still is.

Doug.

 

[Matt Hough]

One of the biggest thrills for me of the DVD era was the release of Annie Get Your Gun after being hidden away for so many years. It was all I remembered it to be (based on seeing it in a reissue at the theater and once on Saturday Night at the Movies).

 

[Doug Bull]

One of the biggest thrills for me of the DVD era was the release of Annie Get Your Gun after being hidden away for so many years.

Matt, those were my thoughts exactly.

Doug.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Oh yeah---I'm spoiled now. I forgot that it was held up in rights hell for so many years. The only time I'd ever seen it before that was in a real crummy print that a friend screened. Thought it was lost forever. That needs to blu-rayed, pronto.

 

[MatthewA]

Since you mentioned Doris, where's Calamity Jane?

Rick - I agree -- that re-write was awful and it changed the whole,wonderful "showbizzy" vibe of the original. I wish that the 1967 broadcast of the Lincoln Center revival with Ethel Merman was available. Sure Merman was too old for the part at that point, but who cares--she was terrific!. Unfortunately, I think it was one of those "one showing only" affairs due to union and rights agreements, etc. The earlier Mary Martin version IS out there and is very good despite it's technical limitations.
IMO, I think Betty Hutton is perfectly cast in the movie version and she is marvelous in it. Much better suited to the role than Garland would have been --and I do love Garland. It's the same kind of thing that happened with the latest revival -- Reba McIntyre was more "right" for the part than Bernadette Peters was.

I remember reading about the movie's total unavailability on video in some magazine in the mid-1990s (can't recall which at the moment, it may have been Widescreen Review or Video Magazine, which I read as an adolescent), and they gave several reasons why it wasn't yet out: the Berlin estate and the un-PC Native American characters (which, frankly, aren't much better or worse than any version of Peter Pan I've ever seen, including the Disney and Mary Martin versions). The latter is part of the reason Peter Stone rewrote the libretto for the 1999 revival. Reba was pretty good in the role when I saw it (Brent Barrett was Frank Butler), but the rewritten role of the Chief (when I saw it, Larry Storch played the role) didn't seem much more enlightened than the original. What changed other than the cutting of "I'm an Indian, Too"? This new libretto probably would have been the basis of the aborted CBS TV production Reba was attached to.

When they finally released the DVD, I wanted to jump for joy. Betty Hutton did better than okay for herself in the role (not to mention Howard Keel as Frank Butler), and the transfer looked fine in its day. Even finally getting to see the Judy Garland footage didn't make me bitter about her not getting to finish the film, especially considering it could have killed her.

This and other Technicolor musicals could look pretty spectacular on Blu-ray, but Warner just hasn't gotten around to them yet.

I wonder who owns the two TV productions. There's got to be some demand for them and others like them of the era (they were common in the 1950s and 1960s but started to disappear by the mid-1970s). I wouldn't mind seeing the 1973 Hallmark Hall of Fame version of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown with some of the original Off-Broadway cast, which is a more complete version than the 1985 animated version that (IMO) should have been a movie. Some of the older 1950s ones may only exist on Kinescopes, so I wonder whether Blu-ray is an option in those cases.

What about original musicals for TV? Stephen Sondheim's original TV musical, Evening Primrose with Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr, is on DVD.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Speaking of Peter Pan, it was just announced that Peter Pan is confirmed as the next live NBC production. Good thing/bad thing, as I state that it doesn't excite me much seeing as it's been done for television already, more than once. And more PC Indians, I guess...

 

[Tom Clark]

The 1967 NBC Ethel Merman Annie Get Your Gun is no longer in existence. The story goes that in 1972, an NBC executive, in an economy move, erased all of NBC's tapes of everything so they could be reused.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The Japanese Blu of The Producers is absolutely terrific. Like Doug, I heartily recommend it.

Even though I was sitting down when I viewed it, I gave it a standing ovation...

About the only complaint I have is that the deleted scene of The King of Broadway is not presented in HD. I don't think any of the bonus features are in HD.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Speaking of Peter Pan, it was just announced that Peter Pan is confirmed as the next live NBC production. Good thing/bad thing, as I state that it doesn't excite me much seeing as it's been done for television already, more than once. And more PC Indians, I guess...

Count me among the unexcited. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.