A few words about…™ Strike Up the Band – in Blu-ray

One of the miraculous Warner Archive projects, it's derived from a fine grain derived from the very worn OCN, before that element was lost in the GEH fire.
Strike Up the Band, directed by Busby Berkeley, is a wonderfully entertaining 1940 Paul Whiteman musical, from WB’s M-G-M catalog.

As a Warner Archive release, it’s also a perfect Blu-ray representation of the film.

It’s also a musical oddly stuck in a very strange time period.

It went into production in April of 1940, as war was raging in Europe, but in America “The Yanks Aren’t Coming…” was seen on placards in demonstrations around the country. It just wasn’t our war.

By the time it was released in September, things were continuing to heat up.

So what we have is a relatively still innocent Garland / Rooney / Freed production, that ends with Judy and Mickey atop a staircase while the American flag waves over them in an optical.

One of the miraculous Warner Archive projects, it’s derived from a fine grain derived from the very worn OCN, before that element was lost in the GEH fire.

But you’d never know it.

Before other begin the “why didn’t we…,,” “when are they…”

I have no idea when the other three films in the Rooney / Garland Collection – Babes in Arms, Girl Crazy and Babes on Broadway are coming, but presuming that each will require work…

Image – 5

Audio – 5

Pass / Fail – Pass

Upgrade from DVD – Absolutely

Highly Recommended

Robert has been known in the film industry for his unmatched skill and passion in film preservation. Growing up around photography, his first home theater experience began at age ten with 16mm. Years later he was running 35 and 70mm at home.

His restoration projects have breathed new life into classic films like Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, My Fair Lady, Spartacus, and The Godfather series. Beyond his restoration work, he has also shared his expertise through publications, contributing to the academic discourse on film restoration. The Academy Film Archive houses the Robert A. Harris Collection, a testament to his significant contributions to film preservation.

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lark144

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mark gross
What can I say after such a sterling few words?

A few more of my own. Though Mickey Rooney at this stage of his career makes me want to hide under the dining room table, I have this already on pre-order, as Warner Archive posted a few scenes on youtube last week and they are beyond dazzling. I've always adored Ray June's lighting schemes, and here they remind me of the texture of Ratner's cheese cake, which I used to ingest in my innocence (innocent of calories, at any rate) early Sunday mornings after seeing Jimi Hendrix at the Fillmore. (Yes, I'm dating myself, but why not?)
 

Kyrsten Brad

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This movie title bings to mind an amusing memory from my chicken-on-my knee-days of USMC youth:

Our platoon was a 8th&I concert (Usmc HQ)and the band starte to play th number 'Strike up he Band". one my fello Marines quipped 'string up the band' Becasuse their rendition was putting everyone to sleep.
 

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RichMurphy

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Any chance of getting rid of the incompatible characters in the review? Or is it my browser??
” “when are they…”
Not sure why you are seeing Unicode Decimal Codes, instead of the punctuation. The review displays correctly for me on a PC with Firefox or Microsoft Edge.
 

MoonstruckinMaryland

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Any chance of getting rid of the incompatible characters in the review? Or is it my browser??
” “when are they…”

I've been seeing the same thing for a couple weeks now. Happens on both Chrome and Safari on my Mac. Figured it was just me. Makes me pay even more attention to Mr. Harris' reviews.

Seems to start with "The Deer Hunter" review. Everything before that is normal.
 
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