Valley and Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls DVDS on June 13th See Post #23 (1 Viewer)

[AlanP]

Garland would have been so much better as LAWSON, Hayward is a great actress. However, there is NO COMPARISON. I remember, when they announced the cast. There was a photo in the newspaper, of the cast and Garland was in the photo with Parkins, Duke, Tate, and Lee Grant, and others.
Trivia, Grant and Parkins were both on "PEYTON PLACE" together the year before it was filmed. And Grant won an emmy for her role.

 

[Brent Avery]

I had to wait until last night before finally checking out Valley Of The Dolls through a projector - and it looks very good on the big screen, to my eyes it had that wonderful film like appearance. Another great transfer from Fox. Overall it was clean, sharp and colors looked pretty good too. The soundtrack was quite nice as well, I had the volume up to a decent level for the opening theme music and it was great, dialogue was clear too making for another enjoyable release to dvd.

On a final note, the animated menus are a nice touch. When it first comes up there is an image of Barbara Parkin's face simulated ( second disc - the first disc uses Sharon Tate ) with multi colored pills which than fades into the actual photograph -
nice touch. And regarding Judy Garland - the Hollywood BackStories had some interview material and still shots which were interesting and informative, sad that she was not able to work in the film.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

They are - we get a few looks at Garland...

 

[Joe Caps]

For Film Music Collectors - the song I'll plant My Own Tree was originally recorded by Garland, then Susan Hayward, then the dubber Margaret Whiting, then Eileen wilson for the soundtrack album.
Does the DVD have good sounding versions of the Garland and Susan Hayward versions as extras ?

 

[Brent Avery]

I see DVD Beaver has a review up for Valley Of The Dolls.

 

[Alejandro]

According to dvdbeaver, there aren't.

You can check it out, there are screenshots of the dvd "screen tests" menu and Garland's are nowhere to be found.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

They are found in the documentaries.

 

[Richard M S]

I saw that menu listing about Garland's screen tests and it always seemed "wrong" to me. Garland may have had her problems at that time and was not the box office success she was in the 1940's, but she was still a big star and based on everything I read, she did not have to take a screen test. The wardrobe tests she had to do of course, and they exist. She kept the costume and used it in her concerts. I hope these tests are included in their entirety.

Regarding that costume, as of 10 years ago, it still existed and was on display at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center.

 

[Charles Ellis]

I do think that all of the existing Garland material should have been included as an extra by itself! And another thing: while negotiating the movie rights, Jacqueline Susann decided to 'sweeten the pot' by hiring Bob Gaudio from The Four Seasons to compose a theme song for the film. That song was never used, but the DVD producers should've contacted Mr. Gaudio (who is very much alive) to use his demo of the unused theme as a DVD extra.

 

[AlanP]

How was HAYWARD as a vocalist, I do not ever recall hearing recordings from her from any films ???

 

[John Skoda]

I've seen the "Backstory" featurette on DOLLS (included on the DVD) and it contains the first bit of Garland's "I'll Plant My Own Tree" recording, and in full stereo. But then, frustratingly, narration covers the rest.

From the menus shown on DVD Beaver it looks like the complete contents of the original soundtrack LP are included in the extras.

 

[Eric Vedowski]

Hayward did her own singing in "I'll Cry Tomorrow."

 

[Jon Martin]

Can anyone guess what Ebert and Roeper's Video Pick of the Week was on the show this weekend?

Have both on order. Have never seen VALLEY.

 

[Joe Caps]

Hayward was an okay vocalist. The only time her voice was used on a soundtrack was in the film I'll Cry Tomorrow.
Hayward did NOT do her own singing in Valley of the Dolls. The dubber is big band vocalist, Margaret Whiting. It was later found that Whitings voice could not be used on the soundtrack album, so her voice was replaced with dubber Eileen Wilson. Contractually, Dionne warwick could not be used on the album, so she was replace by lyricist Dory previn on the record.
In both film and album, Patty Duke was dubbed by Gail Heiderman.

 

[Alejandro]

I thought Valley was a melodramna but you guys keep talking about songs and the stars using their voices...

So, is this movie really a musical?

 

[Charles Ellis]

Not really. In both films music was incidental to the plot since some of the characters were singers (Neely, Tony and Helen in VD, "The Carrie Nations" in BVD). Of course the style of music was different- the first film is rooted in Broadway showtunes, while the second film is basically L.A.- based rock of the time period. For Beyond the Valley Of the Dolls, Lynn Carey (daughter of actor Macdonald Carey of Shadow of a Doubt and Days of our Lives fame) provided the vocals for "The Carrie Nations" (apparently for all three girls!) in the film, but like Valley, I believe another vocalist was used for the LP/CD release.

 

[DeeF]

I always thought Lillian Roth herself provided the vocals for Hayward in I'll Cry Tomorrow.

 

[DeeF]

The Garland footage may be seen (with a press interview) in the Backstory documentary.

There is no audio of her version of the song, though.

 

[Matt Hough]

No, Susan Hayward did her own vocals in I'LL CRY TOMORROW.

Margaret Whiting is an excellent singer, but I've always preferred Eileen Wilson's vocals on the soundtrack album to Whiting's in the film.

I'm a huge Judy Garland fan, but she was not in good voice when she recorded "I'll Plant My Own Tree."

 

[Richard M S]

I read somewhere that Dory Previn - who co-wrote the song with then-husband Andre Previn - said Judy's version was pieced together from many different takes. I have it on LP somewhere, it was released on a compilation album called (as I remember) "CUT! - OUTTAKES FROM HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS" on a record label called Outtake Records, and it turns up on EBAY every so often.