We need more MGM musicals!! (1 Viewer)

[Corey]

Well everyone has there own personal faves and I personally love June Allyson, but she wasn't a premier star at MGM in the mold of judy garland, esther williams, lana turner, or greer garson.

 

[Corey]

And I would've never thought that Glenn Ford or Burt Lancaster would be getting their own sets too, so anything is possible. WB takes in account what we want so we may get Norma, Greer, Jane Powell, June Allyson. Heck, I'd even like to have a Marie Dressler set.

 

[Drew Salzan]

How about I Love Melvin and Athena (remixed in stereo)?

 

[Matt Hough]

I remember at a chat that GF said they weren't working on THE OPPOSITE SEX, and seems like someone at the chat asked about HIT THE DECK and it wasn't being worked on either. Both of those comments were major disappointments to me.

 

[Corey]

yeah i remember that too. someone asked about a particular musical and GF said there were like 25 musicals ahead of that one. they always change though. i've looked at past chats and they said they weren't working on that or didn't have plans for it and then the next chat they say they're working on it, so i'm wondering what musicals they are working on.

 

[Corey]

this is from the chat in 2005 regarding Two Girls and A Sailor:

[ScottMorris] Thanks for making my wish come true last time you were here, when I asked you whether the That's Entertainment movies would ever hit DVD. You guys did a terrific job with them! I wanted to ask today about Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) -- a really charming little musical with June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Van Johnson and Jimmy Durante, and featured performances by Lena Horne, Gracie Allen, Harry James and Xavier Cugat, among others.

[WarnerHomeVideo] TWO GIRLS AND A SAILOR isn't on the docket right now. There are about 25 other MGM musicals ahead of it in the conga line...and we like the movie, too!. Sorry!

We know that Goodbye Mr. Chips is being released next year in spring, but here's some info regarding The Boy Friend:


[GregM] First, thanks for fixing "Kiss Me Kate" and for releasing "Finian's Rainbow" and the others in the box set. Any plans for later MGM musicals "The Boy Friend" & "Goodbye Mr. Chips"

[WarnerHomeVideo] No plans for either in the immediate future, but eventually both will be released in proper 16x9 5.1 versions.

 

[Charles H]

An interesting double feature disc would be Deanna Durbin's IT'S A DATE (1940) coupled with Jane Powell's 1950 remake NANCY GOES TO RIO. MGM/WB owns the video rights to both pictures and Powell's career virtually portaled over from Durbin's via Joe Pasternak's influence. (You could even make it a boxset since Donald O'Connor played the Durbin/Powell part in PATRICK THE GREAT, but Universal may still own the rights to that one.)
Re June Allyson: Why don't they ever show REMAINS TO BE SEEN on TCM? It's a terrific comedy-mystery based on a Crouse/Lindsay play and co-stars Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Louis Calhern, John Beal, and Dorothy Dandredge. Is there a rights problem.

 

[Steve Armbrust]

TCM may not show Esther Williams movies weekly, but they do show a lot of them. I've seen Thrill of a Romance, Fiesta, and Andy Hardy's Double Life in the last seven months. I've also seen Neptune's Daughter, The Dutchess of Idaho, Dangerous When Wet, and Jupiter's Darling on TCM in the last year or so.

EDIT. Wait, I may be confusing Jupiter with Neptune, so maybe not Jupiter's Darling, but definitely Easy to Love.

 

[Matt Hough]

I recorded IT'S A DATE during one of its frequent TCM showings (is it public domain now?), and it looked to be in horrible shape, just filled with scratches, dirt, and hairs. NANCY GOES TO RIO looks superb on the laserdisc, but IT'S A DATE, if that's the best TCM can dredge up, looks like a fairly hopeless case, I fear.

 

[Matt Hough]

Well, we know AN AMERICAN IN PARIS is being given the Ultra-Resolution treatment. They're working on all three SHOW BOATs (the 1951 could benefit from UltraResolution, too; it's got eye-popping Technicolor). The four primary Mickey/Judys are in the loop as is THE PIRATE.

It's the second-tier musicals from Pasternack and Cummings (and I don't mean that as a slam to them) that seem to be on the back burner

 

[Corey]

Best Foot Forward and Presenting Lily Mars were being worked on that time, too. No use of even guessing the rest.

 

[Corey]

i wonder if the films featured in that's entertainment have all been restored. i could imagine those being top priority since it makes you wanna watch those films. the carmen miranda clip from nancy goes to rio featured in part 3 was dazzling, so maybe it's already been restored.

 

[Matt Hough]

And I think some of you are undervaluing Mario Lanza. THE GREAT CARUSO was a huge, huge hit in its day (and an Oscar winner for Best Sound). If the stereo sound stems for this film are still in existence, it could sound tremendous on DVD.

 

[ChrisRose]

I didn't mean to undervalue him. I just suspected that Warner Bros does. I have a feeling George has a heck of a time trying to convince the other execs that such-and-such film/star is still commercially viable. Didn't he say they're not even sure about Jean Harlow's marketability? That's a shocker, since sex symbols tend to be the easiest sells. Personally, I believe there's a huge market for all the movies we've been discussing... and after all, they can't *all* sell like The Wizard Of Oz...There's nothing wrong with making modest profits on certain titles and making smaller fanbases happy, gaining loyal customers in the process. I just don't know if Warners agrees with me there.

I realize their library of movies is huge, so maybe it's just taking longer to go through 'em. It would be nice if WB would reassure us they'll get around to everything eventually. But from articles I've read and so on, I get this bad feeling that we won't be seeing DVDs of all the movies that were on VHS/laserdisc. Sorry for being a pessimist. You know I'd love to be wrong!

 

[Matt Hough]

I'm glad TCM spent a good portion of Sunday paying tribute to June Allyson by showing some of her most famous films, but in order to do that TWO SISTERS FROM BOSTON (which I've only seen once and was looking forward to recording) was bumped from the line-up. I know June merely supported Kathryn Grayson in this film, but from what I read somewhere, the fact that she stole the picture from Kathryn at the time made MGM execs sit up and take notice of her. Hope they reschedule this soon.

 

[Mark B]

The more I ponder this, the more I think the double feature method would really be a great way to get these films to DVD. I really want to see the Marge and Gower Champion films get a release, and if they paired "Everything I Have Is Yours" with "Give a Girl a Break" I'd be thrilled.

Also, though he is only a casual musical participant, where are the Red Skelton films? "Lovely to Look At" and "Texas Carnival" fall into this category, but what about the "Whistling" films?

As far as Debbie goes, "I Love Melvin" really needs a chance at a release. Anyway, I'm just repeating other people's thoughts here, but I have a big fear that we will never see a lot of these films on DVD. I have managed to pick up most of them on LaserDisc, but many of them are inferior in print quality. "Melvin" in particular has major contrast issues, and very inconsistent color. "Everything" and "Girl" look pretty good, but "Texas" again has color inconsistencies as well as a few reels with sync issues.


I'll shut up now.