It’s almost as if this month Warner Archive wants to prove that color films in various varieties can be so vibrant as to literally pop off the screen.
And they’ve succeeded.
Along with the Eastman Color Pajama Game, we now have this wonderful 1947 Arthur Freed production, directed by Charles Walters, in three-strip Technicolor from the original nitrate camera negatives.
Per the numbers, there were 29 feature films produced in 1947 in Technicolor, of which probably half a dozen or so are memorable, with 4 productions from M-G-M, and Good News being the most important.
What does it look like?
Very much akin to a 35mm dye transfer print. Perfect color representations, grain structure. Overall resolution and registration are terrific. For the record, there are a couple of sequences which appear to come from dupe records, presumably going back to the ’50s, as they match a safety print. They can be noted by an increase in contrast.
June Allyson is wonderful, while Peter Lawford is, well… Peter Lawford.
You’ll also get a good look at the talented Joan McCracken, a name you may recognize, especially for those who watched Fosse, and who was apparently the inspiration for Holly Golightly. Yet another reason to watch this wonderfully fun film.
And then, there’s King Baggot, a longtime bit player, who appears in Good News as his final film. His first – Love’s Stratagem, for IMP, and produced by Carl Laemmle – in 1909.
And don’t miss Virginia Gumm, of the Gumm Sisters. If they don’t sound familiar, best to look them up. They’re probably best known for singing La Cucaracha in the 1935 hit, La Fiesta de Santa Barbara, but by then they’d changed their stage name.
In a period when we can all use a bit of high-spirited fun, Good News fills the bill as one of the top color films of 1947.
Am I excited to see Good News arrive in all its Technicolor beauty? You ‘betcha!
Image – 5
Audio – 5
Pass / Fail – Pass
Upgrade from DVD – Yes
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
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Thomas T
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When wasn't she?
This is Good News indeed! Can't wait to get my paws on this one!
Robin9
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You'll be pleased and no doubt surprised to learn that I'm going to buy this disc. (But that's in spite of, not because of)When wasn't she?
bujaki
+1
lark144
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Make that +2
Colin Jacobson
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The movie isn't great, IMO, but it's breezy entertainment, a B-level musical.
June Allyson was about 10 years too old for the role - though Lawford was only 24 but LOOKED too old!
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She was a grad student, working toward her doctorate,
B-ROLL
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... With June Allyson - it DependsWhen wasn't she?
...
B-ROLL
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... or her MRS. degree
!
TJPC
lark144
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This wasn't myopia or confusion on MGM's part, but commercial savvy. It was aimed at late 40's teens and college students, who responded to those contemporary hairdos and orchestrations by making the film a big hit.
RPMay
Agent
This great review on GOOD NEWS is a pleasure for me. As you will remember, I was VP of Film Preservation at the time that almost all of the MGM 3-strip Technicolor movies were recombined to modern interpositives, and this one was one of the greatest successes. I don't remember what lab actually did the work, but they knew what they were doing.
Dick May
JohnMor
And it wasn’t just MGM. Warners did exactly the same a couple of years later with Tea For Two. Set in the 20’s but aimed squarely at the youth of 1950. Hardly a 20’s hairstyle in sight.
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I believe this is a new digital combine from the original nitrate negs. Do you recall dupe replacement sections or safety B roll when the analogue work was done?
RPMay
Agent
DM
Will Krupp
ahollis
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