A Few Words About A few words about…™ Good News – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

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…...

Continue reading...

 

[Thomas T]

June Allyson is wonderful, while Peter Lawford is, well… Peter Lawford.

When wasn't she? This is Good News indeed! Can't wait to get my paws on this one!

 

[Robin9]

When wasn't she? This is Good News indeed! Can't wait to get my paws on this one!

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)

 

[bujaki]

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)

+1

 

[lark144]

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)

Make that +2

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I also think this is a terrific transfer - very impressed!

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!

 

[Robert Harris]

I also think this is a terrific transfer - very impressed!

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!

She was a grad student, working toward her doctorate,

 

[B-ROLL]

When wasn't she? This is Good News indeed! Can't wait to get my paws on this one!

... With June Allyson - it Depends ...

 

[B-ROLL]

She was a grad student, working toward her doctorate,

... or her MRS. degree !

 

[TJPC]

I have always really enjoyed this movie, although it is quite amusing to see what people at MGM thought the 1920s looked like, or was this portraying a college where every one had late '40s hairdos, and orchestrations?

 

[lark144]

I have always really enjoyed this movie, although it is quite amusing to see what people at MGM thought the 1920s looked like, or was this portraying a college where every one had late '40s hairdos, and orchestrations?

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.

 

[Gerani53]

Said it before, I'll say it again... WB's stunning process of combining three-strip Technicolor negatives miraculously replicates the flavors of dye-transfer, providing us with the equivalent of brand new, mint IB prints... only better. I will happily purchase every single film prepared in this fashion, from classic musicals (THE HARVEY GIRLS, GOOD NEWS) to turgid war movies (FLYING LEATHERNECKS). Tech. IB is its own reward, an instant time machine, and we retro-movie buffs are being rewarded grandly with these exciting new releases. I for one wait in giddy anticipation of the new WB Archives announcements every month... what might be next? THE TOAST OF NEW ORLEANS? SLIGHTLY SCARLET? THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX? The mind boggles, the mouth waters, and unexpected greatness continues. Just... wow.

 

[RPMay]

Hello Bob,
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]

I have always really enjoyed this movie, although it is quite amusing to see what people at MGM thought the 1920s looked like, or was this portraying a college where every one had late '40s hairdos, and orchestrations?

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.

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.

 

[Robert Harris]

Hello Bob,
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

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]

No, it is too far back to remember such details.
DM

 

[roxy1927]

Arlene Croce the great dance critic of the New Yorker writing about MGM musicals wrote that Good News was one of the few she felt that worked all the way through. I hadn't seen it but that certainly piqued my interest so I went to see it at Radio City in the late 70s. Unfortunately it was shown on the magnascope screen and the resolution was considerably less than ideal. It was kind of like what the DVD looks like on a large TV screen. Oh to have seen it at the Music Hall where it had its premiere along with the Christmas show.

 

[PMF]

I'm going to buy this disc.

+1

Make that +2

+3, 4, 5...

 

[Will Krupp]

Well, despite Amazon telling me I wouldn't get the disc until February 3rd, I got a shipping notice from them that I'll have it tomorrow. That's "Good News" indeed (sorry, but I couldn't resist!)

 

[ahollis]

All four WAC discs will be here tomorrow. I’m so happy.