GYPSY (1 Viewer)

The good news is it's very sharp and looks great. It's a nice big step up from the DVD and the sound is fantastic. It says 2.0 on the box, but I'm hearing stuff in the surrounds, unless my receiver is doing something weird.
And I don't care what the pundits say, I love the film. Shoot me, but I love the film. I think Miss Russell is terrific and so is Miss Wood and everyone else in the cast. It's well directed (simple is always best) and the only problem is the very low keys for Rose's songs, which does suck the life out of them.

Well, I like it, too, and will order it soon.

This was Ethel Merman's show, and a missed opportunity to film her performance as the definitive Mama Rose.
At least we have Bette Midler and some of the cast of the 1989 Broadway revival on DVD.

It looks fantastic. DVD just got sent off to dear old dad.

Agree about the low transpositions on those songs. It's distracting, but once I get into just watching the movie and accepting what it delivers, all becomes fine.

Steve Tannehill said:

This was Ethel Merman's show, and a missed opportunity to film her performance as the definitive Mama Rose.
At least we have Bette Midler and some of the cast of the 1989 Broadway revival on DVD.

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I'm of the opinion that Miss Merman would not have worked well on film and I do think she's the definitive stage Rose. And the less said about Miss Midler's version the better, IMO. I can't watch five minutes of it.

I'm rather partial to Tyne Daly as Mama Rose, who I saw in the last stop before the 1989 revival hit Broadway. I went into the show cold, knowing vaguely that it was about strippers. I laughed long and hard during You Gotta Get A Gimmick.
Doesn't the movie have the original Broadway strippers?

Forgive me, but I think the story of Gypsy Rose Lee needs to be redone in these less repressed times. There are emotional dynamics at work that beg to be explored, but aren't explored because of the time in which the film is made and the fact it's from a stage play of earlier vintage. It's not just the nudity that's missing, but the emotional interaction and facial expression that takes place while the nudity is happening. The alchemy between the stripper and audience (men and women) in front of her isn't explored, either. These people were constantly breaking through their own boundaries and social taboos. The film captures some things very well, but when I watch it I think the essence of the story is missing.

So--- is Streisand's attempt to play Mama Rose now dead? I haven't heard much about that lately. I frankly would have some trepidation with this as much I as I would like to see her take on that score. It would also be a great bookend to her career --- two great musicals with scores by Jule Styne.

Jim*Tod said:

So--- is Streisand's attempt to play Mama Rose now dead? I haven't heard much about that lately. I frankly would have some trepidation with this as much I as I would like to see her take on that score. It would also be a great bookend to her career --- two great musicals with scores by Jule Styne.

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It was never alive - a lot of press agentry in the classic Hollywood style.

Steve Tannehill said:

I'm rather partial to Tyne Daly as Mama Rose, who I saw in the last stop before the 1989 revival hit Broadway. I went into the show cold, knowing vaguely that it was about strippers. I laughed long and hard during You Gotta Get A Gimmick.
Doesn't the movie have the original Broadway strippers?

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I loved Tyne and the gal who played Gypsy, Crista Moore, who I've worked with many times. The movie has two of the three originals, I believe - Faith Dane (Mazeppa) and the gal who plays Elektra. Betty Bruce, who plays Tessie Tura, was a replacement for Maria Karnilova on Broadway - she's brilliant, but Faith Dane puts me away every time - there has never been and will never be a Mazeppa better than her.

I saw Tyne Daly on Broadway, and while her acting performance was terrific, she just didn't do justice to the music.

It's no secret here I'm a HUGE fan of the movie of Gypsy, and I think it's one of the GREAT film musicals.

Rosalind Russell kills Gypsy for me. Just like Lucy kills Mame.

Originally Posted by Steve Tannehill /t/325589/gypsy#post_4006876
Rosalind Russell kills Gypsy for me. Just like Lucy kills Mame.

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I'd agree with you IF they had used Rosalind Russell's own recordings of the songs, but I think Lisa Kirk is a brilliant voice double for Russell, and I adore her interpretations of the numbers. And the two songs where Russell's own voice was used aren't harmed by her lack of musicality.

I think Russell is great, especially in the acting of it. I've never seen any problem with her interpretation of the role.

Have to agree with all of Mr. Kimmel's comments here. Disc looks and sounds terrific, and Russell gives a knockout performance. I've never seen this film look or sound so good, and watching the Blu-ray really made me appreciate the film more than I ever had before. A wonderful release.

If the transfer is that good, regardless of the fact that it's not a "true" remastered blu, maybe they can follow up with other musicals from the Warner Archive...such as the Boyfriend or Unsinkable Molly Brown? Or--god forbid--the MGM canon (I'm not really into Warner musicals).

I'm not sure what "true remastered" means - I would find it hard to believe the master used for the DVD release was used for this. It looks like a new transfer to me.

haineshisway said:

I'm not sure what "true remastered" means - I would find it hard to believe the master used for the DVD release was used for this. It looks like a new transfer to me.

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Because on the Warner Archives page for this title, it reads:
"Important: This title has been manufactured from the best-quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored for this DVD/Digital Download release."
I don't know why they'd put that disclaimer unless they're using an old LD or dvd transfer (I've never seen the dvd). The same disclaimer does not appear on the "Deathtrap" page, which makes me think that that one was remastered especially for the blu. So they're either lying, mistaken, or that old LD transfer was really damn good and still holds up for a decent blu-ray release (which hasn't happened very often; most LD masters look poor when used for blu-rays). We'll have to get some people to compare with their old copies. But it is possible--it could have just been a really good master that didn't need much engineering, so they used it???

I don't think they're lying. But I seem to remember Mr. Feltenstein saying this was a fresh transfer for Blu-ray. I don't think a decade old master would look this good.

Well, they couldn't use the old DVD transfer for DEATHTRAP since it was an open matte presentation (well, they could have, of course, but Warners has been very good about being close to true with their aspect ratios except when they slightly open out 1.85:1 to fill the 16:9 frame).