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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Bells are Ringing -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Based upon the Broadway musical, Vincente Minnelli's Bells are Ringing, is the last of those wonderful confections that came out of the Arthur Freed unit at M-G-M.

Comden, Green, Styne.

Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark, Eddie Foy, Jr., Jean Stapleton.

Another production with an image harvested from an IP, from that wonderful Eastman Color (Metrocolor) year of 1960.

Color here looks terrific. Actually, the best that I recall seeing it.

Audio, which was originally 4-track stereo, is encoded as DTS-HD MA 5.1.

Great film, and a superb musical, now released to perfection, from Warner Archive.

What else is new?


Image - 5

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
 

ajabrams

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Alan Abrams
Based upon the Broadway musical, Vincente Minnelli's Bells are Ringing, is the last of those wonderful confections that came out of the Arthur Freed unit at M-G-M.

Comden, Green, Styne.

Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark, Eddie Foy, Jr., Jean Stapleton.

Another production with an image harvested from an IP, from that wonderful Eastman Color (Metrocolor) year of 1960.

Color here looks terrific. Actually, the best that I recall seeing it.

Audio, which was originally 4-track stereo, is encoded as DTS-HD MA 5.1.

Great film, and a superb musical, now released to perfection, from Warner Archive.

What else is new?


Image - 5

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
Thanks for the great review!! I am curious to know if they included the extras from the DVD version.
 

Rob_Ray

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With GIGI's boatload of Oscars in 1958, it's often considered the Grand Finale of the legendary MGM Freed Unit. But this solid adaptation of the Judy Holliday's Broadway triumph is a winner too and unjustly overlooked. This is truly the last of the great Freed musicals.

Someday, I'd love to see THE SUBTERRANEANS, Freed's last film as a producer.
 

Everett S.

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Based upon the Broadway musical, Vincente Minnelli's Bells are Ringing, is the last of those wonderful confections that came out of the Arthur Freed unit at M-G-M.

Comden, Green, Styne.

Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark, Eddie Foy, Jr., Jean Stapleton.

Another production with an image harvested from an IP, from that wonderful Eastman Color (Metrocolor) year of 1960.

Color here looks terrific. Actually, the best that I recall seeing it.

Audio, which was originally 4-track stereo, is encoded as DTS-HD MA 5.1.

Great film, and a superb musical, now released to perfection, from Warner Archive.

What else is new?


Image - 5

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
This is a fav 4 me!
 

Joel Arndt

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With GIGI's boatload of Oscars in 1958, it's often considered the Grand Finale of the legendary MGM Freed Unit. But this solid adaptation of the Judy Holliday's Broadway triumph is a winner too and unjustly overlooked. This is truly the last of the great Freed musicals.

Someday, I'd love to see THE SUBTERRANEANS, Freed's last film as a producer.

Actually, Light in the Piazza (1962) was Freed's last work as a producer and, unfortunately, The Subterraneans can't be released due to rights issues of some sort according to a reply from WAC on FB. Looking forward to Bells. Glad it looks great.
 

Virgoan

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"Bells Are Ringing" entered my life as a hi-fi LP found in a cut-out bin in the early 60s. It sounded like a miracle. I credit Andre Previn and the MGM Studio Orchestra and chorus, not to mention a fine team of orchestrators. The sound was so stunning, the arrangements so pitch-perfect and the performances so top-notch it quickly became one of my favorite recordings. I love it to this day. Mono sound was really good back then. The stereo was even better and the CD sounds just great, too. CAN'T WAIT FOR THE BLU-RAY.
 

Joel Arndt

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"Bells Are Ringing" entered my life as a hi-fi LP found in a cut-out bin in the early 60s. It sounded like a miracle. I credit Andre Previn and the MGM Studio Orchestra and chorus, not to mention a fine team of orchestrators. The sound was so stunning, the arrangements so pitch-perfect and the performances so top-notch it quickly became one of my favorite recordings. I love it to this day. Mono sound was really good back then. The stereo was even better and the CD sounds just great, too. CAN'T WAIT FOR THE BLU-RAY.

Would love to have an expanded version of the soundtrack with the underscoring and deleted material. Looking forward to the Blu, also. WAC has been on a roll lately. Keep them coming!
 

Edward Weinman

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The MGM Studio Orchestra (which Johnny Green renamed, The MGM Symphony Orchestra) was considered at one point in it's history as one of the great orchestras in the US.
 

Rick Thompson

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I credit Andre Previn and the MGM Studio Orchestra and chorus, not to mention a fine team of orchestrators. The sound was so stunning, the arrangements so pitch-perfect and the performances so top-notch it quickly became one of my favorite recordings. CAN'T WAIT FOR THE BLU-RAY.

I saw an interview where Previn said the MGM orchestra was very humbling because it played everything "impeccably." Said Previn: "If it didn't sound right, you knew whose fault it was, and it wasn't theirs."
 

Edward Weinman

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One of the major reasons why the orchestral arrangements were so staggering beautiful and luxurious was because the orchestraters knew each musicians capabilities and arranged the scores and the accompanying arrangements for singers/dancers for them to perform/record at their highest capabilities. Besides, you had the greatest orchestrater for film musicals under contract to MGM: Conrad Salinger.
 

Edward Weinman

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I would have loved to be in on the recording sessions of that great orchestra...if nothing else, to hear and watch Johnny Green conducting his score for "Raintree County." Of course, I'm only singling out one of hundreds of other remarkable recording sessions.
 

Edward Weinman

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I know that I'm side tracking this discussion away from "Bells Are Ringing" but, just for a moment, in the 60s I was in David Raksin's USC Film Composition class for two years and I adored the man. He was not only a great musical talent but a brilliant, albeit sometimes verbal abrasive communicator. There is a remarkable soundtrack of his score to "Forever Amber" performed by the 20th Century Fox Studio Orchestra and conducted by the legendary Alfred Newman on CD. I don't know if it is still available but, for all that love film scores, this is a treasure. When the film music was planned, Fox let Newman's traditional fanfare opening go and Mr. Raksin's overture to the main titles took over. David Raksin was nominated for the Oscar that year and, I believe, he only lost because the score was so much better than the film! RCA Victor Records put out a 3 disc 78rpm album reflecting parts of the score performed by the Fox orchestra but, this time, conducted by the composer. I still have that 78rpm album which Mr. Raksin kindly annotated for me in the inside cover. I still feel deep down that he was a great humanitarian with an astounding musical talent. Note: The CD makers were clever in having as an opening the old Newman trade mark score which is distorted due to it's age at the time only to have an absolutely remarkable stereo presentation of Mr. Raksin's score. The disc is divided into four sections, or movements like a symphony, to present a cohesive symphony like presentation rather than 15 or more bits and pieces of the score.

Sorry for the side tracking!
 

Edward Weinman

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...I think that I may have stymied those of you who wanted to have your input regarding "Bells Are Ringing" and I'm sorry for the rantings of a 75 year old!...getting back to this film, what I remember most of Andre Previn and that orchestra (not to forget the MGM studio chorus) is the number "It's A Simple Little System" (at least that's what I think it's called) and the remarkable orchestration and performance...if the blu-ray does the sound track any justice, you can hear, just by that performance, what the whole MGM musical talents are all about...
 

Joel Arndt

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Edward, I don't think you've derailed this thread at all with your "rantings". Your comments are very interesting and related to music departments and their personnel and Bells Are Ringing is a musical after all, so with your insight I not only have new things to look for when I receive this disc, but new things for which to listen. Looking forward to this one.
 

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