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Musicals: From Stage & Film to Blu-ray (5 Viewers)

Matt Hough

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As I recall, How to Succeed in Business was also a nonanamorphic DVD transfer, so a Blu-ray would be a most welcome upgrade.
 

GMpasqua

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Well since most of MGM/UA is catalog titles ..anything titles comes out will be welcome
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by MatthewA
Guys and Dolls had problems on DVD: the first one was non-anamorphic and the special edition was misframed. I hope the eventual Blu-Ray corrects that. I also imagine How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying will get some attention because of the upcoming Broadway revival with Daniel Radcliffe (although Hair, which was revived a couple years ago, is only coming now; BTW I love the cover art on that).

Since West Side Story is all but confirmed (and the fears that Fiddler would be a screw-up on BD were unfounded), I think we can rest assured that no expense will be spared in its treatment.

Is there a blessing for the Blu-Ray people at MGM?
Guys and Dolls would make the damndest bluray ever--if they did it right. Not my favorite movie musical (they changed too many songs, although I do love "Woman in Love.") But it does look lousy on dvd. And West Side is another movie they'd better get right the first time on blu; maybe whoever worked on "Fiddler" will get their hands on it
 

Matt Hough

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Originally Posted by Ethan Riley
Guys and Dolls would make the damndest bluray ever--if they did it right. Not my favorite movie musical (they changed too many songs, although I do love "Woman in Love.") But it does look lousy on dvd. And West Side is another movie they'd better get the first time on blu; maybe whoever worked on "Fiddler" will get their hands on it
I think all of us who love that film are praying that this is what will indeed happen.
 

Joe Caps

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MGM has so srewed up GUYS And DOLLS - not once, but twice on regular dvd.-
the color looks NOTHING like the film, and all of the bright brassiness of the soundtrack has been taken right out.
 

Cinescott

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West Side Story should be absolutely amazing on Blu! Just the opening shot, with the medley going on, with all its bright colors will be incredible. I've never seen a video version that didn't have at least a bit of noise. What a treat it'll be. I hope MGM goes all-out on this one.
 

MatthewA

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Originally Posted by allanfisch
Sony told me that they do not have a six track printmaster.
Edited: I wasn't sure you were still talking about "Fiddler on the Roof", as we talked about a dozen other musicals.
 

allanfisch

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No, ANNIE , sorry, i hit reply under that post and it ended up at the tail...Watching Fiddler now, i'll report back since I supervised the restoration of this back in 1996.

First impression, the sound sounds great, not sure what people are expecting or complaining about. More late.


Originally Posted by MatthewA
Edited: I wasn't sure you were still talking about "Fiddler on the Roof", as we talked about a dozen other musicals.
 

Aaron Silverman

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I haven't seen the movie of A Chorus Line, but I'd have to nominate The Producers for the lame-film-of-a-great-musical award.

(And on the flip side, IMO the movie Chicago was far superior to the stage revival.)
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by allanfisch
No, ANNIE , sorry, i hit reply under that post and it ended up at the tail...Watching Fiddler now, i'll report back since I supervised the restoration of this back in 1996.

First impression, the sound sounds great, not sure what people are expecting or complaining about. More late.
It always bothered me when ever watching "Annie" that the crowd comments are so loud and clear and almost drown out the principals. Was this an error or was this done intentionally?
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua
It always bothered me when ever watching "Annie" that the crowd comments are so loud and clear and almost drown out the principals. Was this an error or was this done intentionally?
Yeah, I asked about that too. I wonder if it sounded like that during theatrical release, or if it's just something that happened when the film started appearing on home video. Although, some of those omnies are hilarious, like "I saw his picture in the paper with President Roosevelt!" and my favorite: "Capiche, caposh!"

I'm certain that all the audible dialogue you can hear in (noisy) Annie was scripted, but I've done extra work where they've asked the extras to provide omnies. Generally, the extras behave and deliver dialogue that's pertinent to the scene, but on occasion we've been known to screw around a little. One time I was doing a movie called "Tin Cup" that Cheech Marin was in, and one of the extras kept saying "It's me, Dave! Open up the door, I've got the stuff!" Now if the sound levels had been particularly bad in Tin Cup then maybe you'd have heard some the contributions of some of the wittier extras...
 

GMpasqua

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Usually the extra's dialog is added in post production and the extras actually don't make any sound so the actors line's can be correctly recorded
They'll have people come in to record the background noise etc. in some of the scenes, you can see none of the extra's actually move their mouths

"I don't need hair on my head"

Saddly I remember the extra dialog more than the film's dialog
 

Rick Thompson

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Originally Posted by Joe Caps

MGM has so srewed up GUYS And DOLLS - not once, but twice on regular dvd.-
the color looks NOTHING like the film, and all of the bright brassiness of the soundtrack has been taken right out.

Actually, it was screwed up from the word "action" -- in other words, when it was made in the first place. If you're going to cast Sinatra, he should be Sky Masterson, not Nathan Detroit. As Nathan, he's all wrong because Nathan's a mug and Frank isn't. (But I have to admit that Marlon Brando was surprisingly good as Sky!) That doesn't even count cutting the show's biggest hit -- "A Bushel and a Peck" -- because Jack Warner didn't like it. At bottom, GUYS AND DOLLS was denatured and white-breaded to death.
 

ahollis

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Originally Posted by Rick Thompson

Actually, it was screwed up from the word "action" -- in other words, when it was made in the first place. If you're going to cast Sinatra, he should be Sky Masterson, not Nathan Detroit. As Nathan, he's all wrong because Nathan's a mug and Frank isn't. (But I have to admit that Marlon Brando was surprisingly good as Sky!) That doesn't even count cutting the show's biggest hit -- "A Bushel and a Peck" -- because Jack Warner didn't like it. At bottom, GUYS AND DOLLS was denatured and white-breaded to death.
I think you mean Samuel Goldwyn and not Jack Warner. Warner had nothing to do with GUYS AND DOLLS. They cut five songs from the Broadway play and added three. This was the norm for musicals that were transferred from Broadway to film. I also think that the biggest hits from the play were "Luck Be A Lady" and "Sit Down Your Rocking The Boat." Even the great Rogers and Hammerstein had a song added in SOUTH PACIFIC and songs cut from CAROUSEL and THE KING AND I, let alone the compete rearrangement of the songs in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. HELLO DOLLY had one song cut and one song added. Not sure it was because someone did not like a song.
 

MatthewA

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Ethan Riley said:
for the lame-film-of-a-great-musical award.
I have heard that The Producers shot but cut "King of Broadway", and that exacerbated the film's supposed problems (never saw the show or film).

I also heard that The Fantasticks movie, which about five people have seen (of which I am not one) and all of them hated it, was much better before they brought in Francis Ford Coppola to re-edit it. MGM was in limbo yet again, and they shelved the film for five years.
 

MatthewA

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua
Usually the extra's dialog is added in post production and the extras actually don't make any sound so the actors line's can be correctly recorded
They'll have people come in to record the background noise etc. in some of the scenes, you can see none of the extra's actually move their mouths
The one place it's the most obvious in any film I've seen is in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In "Portobello Road," Carrie is trying on a pair of earrings and a tiara and a lady vendor yanks the earrings off her ear screeching "who do you think you are, the Queen of Sheba?" And her lips don't move. At all. If she didn't make it selling old jewelry she could always make it as a ventriloquist.
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by MatthewA
Actually, Hello Dolly (the movie) replaced "I Put My Hand In" with "Just Leave Everything To Me", added "Love is Only Love" (the melody was cut from "Mame", but the lyrics are new), and cut the "Motherhood March" (whether they shot it or dropped it in preproduction I have no idea).
I have heard that The Producers shot but cut "King of Broadway", and that exacerbated the film's supposed problems (never saw the show or film).

I also heard that The Fantasticks movie, which about five people have seen (of which I am not one) and all of them hated it, was much better before they brought in Francis Ford Coppola to re-edit it. MGM was in limbo yet again, and they shelved the film for five years.

I don't think they actually shot "Motherhood March" because it surrounds the action of trying to hide the two guys from Vandergelder, and that's all in the movie.

I'm not sure why everyone considers Producers to be such a flop; I have it and don't have a problem with it. The loss of "King of Broadway" was enormous though. And also I actually know one of the bit players from that movie, a man who also did all the male chorus numbers on the soundtrack. I asked him why they cut King of Broadway; he guesses it's because of the F-Bomb, but that could have easily been cut out or redubbed. Either that or, he guesses, it may have been too much of a show-stopper so soon in the picture. Whatever the reason, it was a stupid decision.

The Fantasticks movie?? Uh, they cut out the show's most enduring number "Do You Remember." That one leaves me shaking my head. And all the edited footage is in the dvd extras; I'd guess that it was a far superior cut before FFC got his hands on it. If they'd re-edit it, it'd probably be a decent adaptation.

And while we're waiting for that, I also have to add that they need to put Bye Bye Birdie on bluray, but they'd better do a ton of restoration work, because I'm watching it as we speak, and that is one lousy-looking movie as an upconvert. I know there's got to be a better print somewhere in this world.

Shee-oot, now I'm talking about Bye Bye Birdie. Should we start a general musicals thread???
 

benbess

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Originally Posted by Ethan Riley

I don't think they actually shot "Motherhood March" because it surrounds the action of trying to hide the two guys from Vandergelder, and that's all in the movie.

I'm not sure why everyone considers Producers to be such a flop; I have it and don't have a problem with it. The loss of "King of Broadway" was enormous though. And also I actually know one of the bit players from that movie, a man who also did all the male chorus numbers on the soundtrack. I asked him why they cut King of Broadway; he guesses it's because of the F-Bomb, but that could have easily been cut out or redubbed. Either that or, he guesses, it may have been too much of a show-stopper so soon in the picture. Whatever the reason, it was a stupid decision.

The Fantasticks movie?? Uh, they cut out the show's most enduring number "Do You Remember." That one leaves me shaking my head. And all the edited footage is in the dvd extras; I'd guess that it was a far superior cut before FFC got his hands on it. If they'd re-edit it, it'd probably be a decent adaptation.

And while we're waiting for that, I also have to add that they need to put Bye Bye Birdie on bluray, but they'd better do a ton of restoration work, because I'm watching it as we speak, and that is one lousy-looking movie as an upconvert. I know there's got to be a better print somewhere in this world.

Shee-oot, now I'm talking about Bye Bye Birdie. Should we start a general musicals thread???
Yes! I love musicals, but there are so many I don't know. And all of these stories are fascinating. What about maybe making it chronological and starting back in the 30s?
 

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