I think you meant Berlin sued, not Gershwin for obvious reasons. Gershwin had no claim to Annie Get Your Gun - Berlin's baby. Esther Williams sued over the use of clips from her movies in That's Entertainment! too, despite it virtually resurrecting her deceased stardom. Finally, Porgy and Bess is the movie that remains in purgatory due to a 'rights' issue with the Gershwin estate.
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Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ That's Entertainment (redux) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Robert Harris
- Start date
Berlin was protective of his work. Personally, I value the artist who believes so fervently in what he has created, he is concerned about its public usage, particularly in ways not originally intended. Otherwise, you have stars like Bogart and Cagney peddling Coke with Elton John at the piano, Marilyn Monroe selling Chanel No. 5, and, Fred Astaire dancing with an Oreck vacuum cleaner.
And Berlin had a unique position in Hollywood; the only composer to get 'above the title' screen credit on the movies that contained his scores until Rodgers and Hammerstein debuted Oklahoma! This was due far more to control than vanity. It wasn't that Berlin thought too well of himself and wanted star billing.
He merely wanted audiences to know he was responsible for the musical magic about to unfurl on the screen. And producers and studios, eager to capitalize on his hits, bestowed the honor upon him.
Finally, I always remember Jerome Kern's classic line about Berlin. When asked by a reporter to address Berlin's 'place' in the pantheon of composers, Kern astutely summarized, "Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He simply is American music!"
You’re correct of course.
It really is tragic that they didn’t allow location shooting on Brigadoon. It simply doesn’t work for me on a soundstage, but Hollywood history is littered with such shortsighted cost cutting.
One of the worst in my opinion was shooting Marie Antoinette in B&W when it had been planned in color. A look at the few surviving color photos from the set as well as some of the costumes that were later reused in other productions shows what was lost from that choice.
Garysb
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It would have been better if Brigadoon had spend money on a better screenplay than location shooting. Apparently it was too expensive even to shot outdoors in California subbing for Scotland. Seven Brides may have been enhanced if filmed outdoors but it works well as it is. Bottom line filming an outdoor story on location will improve an outdoor tale but if the story is not told well, filming outdoors won't save it. It's a shame the drop in quality of Gene Kelly pictures after "Singin' In The Rain." He went to Europe to take advantage of a change in tax law that allowed a US citizen not have have to pay income tax on earnings from overseas if they stayed out of the US for 2 years. During that time he made 2 non musical films and "Invitation To The Dance." His film career didn't recover. "Brigadoon" was the first film he made when he returned to the US.
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Agree about Marie Antoinette. Had Thalberg survived, this would have been a sumptuous Technicolor masterpiece. But I think the picture still works in B&W. Perhaps, not as it would have in those blazing bursts of color. There's a great book on Adrian - Adrian: A Lifetime of Glamor, with surviving stills of some of Antoinette's costumes in color. And there's always the abysmal, Du Barry Was A Lady, which recycled sets and costumes from Marie Antoinette that shows off some of those sets in color. I think cinematographer, William H. Daniels did a spectacular job of capturing the resplendence of those Cedric Gibbons' masterpieces in Antoinette in B&W. His moodily lit garden sequences, as well as the bacchanal are mesmeric in their craftsmanship. But yes, in Technicolor - what a spectacle it might have been.
Back to That’s Entertainment.
DigniT@DigniT!
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TCM is showing THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT as well as PARTT II and PART III right now. I'm watching on a 4K set with a 4K cable box and... I don't think they are showing the same master as the recently released Blu-ray, which is stunning. This looks suspiciously like the old Blu-ray did... odd. I don't mean to bash TCM. I'm a big fan. I loved Robert Osborne and admire the new hosts and formats. Last night's New Year's Eve films were a kick!
Neil S. Bulk
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Yes, this is how That's Entertainment was intended to be shown.
Except that like everything else about the new 50th anniversary edition, these 'zoomed in' sequences now have a subtler framing that eases us into their manipulation.
As example, the original Blu sequence of A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody cuts off the top of the wedding cake edifice during the camera pull back. The new 50th keeps the top in frame until the curtain comes down, then ever so slightly reframes to show the bottom of the set, still exposed, so we get the full effect of the scene as originally shown in 1.33:1. Ditto for the Varsity Drag and Atcheston Topeka numbers.
The first Blu had some wonky cropping that occasionally cut tops of heads off, whereas the new Blu keeps the important details in frame. Again, in a digital world, such subtle corrections are possible. When That's Entertainment! was made, more primitive optical printing methods were employed. If you watch the first Blu in a side by side comparison you'll see how the new transfer greatly benefits from this very subtle massaging.
Well too bad the TCM airing was not the new version.
Anyway during the introduction by Ben Mankiewicz he reminded us that part 1 is to celebrate the first 50 years of mgm.
It was then I realized 1974 is to 2024 what 1924 is to 1974 and I feel old.
Anyway during the introduction by Ben Mankiewicz he reminded us that part 1 is to celebrate the first 50 years of mgm.
It was then I realized 1974 is to 2024 what 1924 is to 1974 and I feel old.
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dana martin
Senior HTF Member
Finally got my copy and watched it; It's beautiful and almost all of the extras carried over.
So.... the question remains... think that the same rebuilding effort will be done for Part II and Part 3?
So.... the question remains... think that the same rebuilding effort will be done for Part II and Part 3?
Neil S. Bulk
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I was thinking about this and can see that would be the immediate knee jerk reaction but there's another MGM documentary in dire need of an HD/4K rebuild. "MGM: When The Lion Roars" is a fantastic 6-hour documentary from 1992 that's stuck in SD hell.
dana martin
Senior HTF Member
Why not both
While the MGM film clips could likely be improved upon, the documentary portions were shot on videotape, IIRC, meaning that those would have to be upscaled from 480i.
Daniel_BB
Stunt Coordinator
If I had to choose between the reconstructions of TE2 and TE3 or all the musicals that are not yet available on blu-ray (Till the Clouds Roll By, A Date with Judy, The Barkleys of Broadway, Yolanda and the Thief and many others) I would choose the musicals. That’s Entertainment seems to be an open door for their future availability.
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Indy Guy
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TElll looks very good on the disc in the existing blu ray boxed set. When projected, my audience felt that it looked better overall than the new Part 1 restoration viewed back to back..
This may be that it was put together 20 years after Part 1 was originally assembled for theaters.
This may be that it was put together 20 years after Part 1 was originally assembled for theaters.
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