Hello Dolly (1969) (1 Viewer)

[Mark Mayes]

Great news that this will be released. "Dr. Doolittle" has been released in Europe on blu-ray. I have it and it is a nice copy, although it doesn't dazzle with the colors or image.

 

[john a hunter]

Great news that this will be released. "Dr. Doolittle" has been released in Europe on blu-ray. I have it and it is a nice copy, although it doesn't dazzle with the colors or image.

Then I'll wait for a better transfer. As a film, it's a mess but still watchable once in a while.

 

[David Gerbrands]

He also spoke at her Friar's roast as well if you listen to the box set Just for the Record

 

[rsmithjr]

It is one of the most over-produced movies ever made but really wows you from beginning to end. Everytime I see it, I note how much extraordinary unnecessary effort was put into the film with results that really thrill you. Only 70mm presentation has done it justice for me so far, let's see what the Blu-ray offers.

 

[robbiesreels]

The blu ray of Hello Dolly is up on Amazon UK for April 1st http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hello-Dolly-Blu-ray-Barbra-Streisand/dp/B00B1UAO6S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1360312733&sr=8-2 And also announced on blu-ray.com for U.K. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Hello-Dolly-Blu-ray/64167/ Nothing on Amazon U.S. for a release here in April In fact I can't find anything about a Hello Dolly Blu ray in any google search for a U.S. release in the near future.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua
After all these years, who cares how old Streisand was - it makes no difference to the story as re-written for film and the film works regardless of her young age.
Her acting choices in the role is also not based on age but other things. She wants a husband who has money - didn't most women?
Hollywood has cast younger actors in older age roles for decades and no one seems to care.

Lucy's advanced age in Mame balances out Streisand's youth in Dolly. How much did Ernest Lehman's script change the show anyway?
I still feel the same way about the movie Dolly as I do about Huston's attempt to bring Annie to the screen: they're the most wonderfully overproduced musicals ever made. Seeing it on Blu-ray not only reminded me why I loved it as a kid (5 year-old me would have rated it a point higher than 29-year-old me did, but this has held up better than about 90% of the stuff I watched as a kid) and why it's more than just nostalgia, but why I always had certain reservations about it that were different from those the film's critics had (I agree they should have kept more of the score, but unlike some who shall remain nameless, I always assumed Warbucks' songs were lost because they were beyond Albert Finney's vocal capabilities). But my minor reservations with the film Annie relate to not to the scale of the film (compared to the overall bloated production infrastructure today, this movie's budget, whatever it actually was, seems like chickenfeed today). For years, I was wondering about the origin of all these still photos on the video box and much of the merchandise related to the film and why so many scenes not in the film. Then, once I finally saw the PBS documentary and how half of it focuses on stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor (including the first verse of "Easy Street"), it was like an "Aha" moment. Since then, I've been wondering what else was cut, who cut it, and why. I'm aware of what Ray Stark thought of the show and that, like the supposedly "right" ages of Jerry Herman's staircase-descending heroines, Hollywood's pathological desire to impose a third-hand Hero's Journey story structure on A Chorus Line, is something I've reconciled in my mind (okay not ACL, but since Dickie's still alive to tell his side of the story, what has he said over that one after 30 years of hindsight). But the fact that so many movie musicals had stuff cut that was shot, and often times, this was the stuff that could have made the difference on the films' character motivation, makes me wonder why musicals get singled out for arbitrary cuts.
The main difference between the show and the movie is their overall approach to the underlying source material. Martin Charnin wanted it not to be a cartoon, and Ray Stark apparently thought it should be more like Little Orphan Annie and more cartoon-like (even the fireworks spelling Annie's name at the end seems like a nod to Looney Tunes and "That's All Folks"). When I bought the first volume of the reprint of the comic strip, which I am still reading, I was shocked to find that it was even darker than the movie or the play. Annie is no Pollyanna, nor is she the passive Disney made her, Still, this movie the only version of Annie that embraces its cartoon roots wholeheartedly.
Maybe if Annie really had brought down Huston's career and taken Columbia Pictures down with it, it'd get a Criterion edition.

 

[ahollis]

The blu ray of Hello Dolly is up on Amazon UK for April 1st http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hello-Dolly-Blu-ray-Barbra-Streisand/dp/B00B1UAO6S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1360312733&sr=8-2 And also announced on blu-ray.com for U.K. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Hello-Dolly-Blu-ray/64167/ Nothing on Amazon U.S. for a release here in April In fact I can't find anything about a Hello Dolly Blu ray in any google search for a U.S. release in the near future.

April 2nd for the US release per Digital Bits.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Hope it's a Digibook--does Fox even make those? Do we expect many extras?

 

[haineshisway]

Great news that this will be released. "Dr. Doolittle" has been released in Europe on blu-ray. I have it and it is a nice copy, although it doesn't dazzle with the colors or image.

Sorry, I have to speak out: The Doctor Dolittle Blu-ray is one of the worst and ugliest Blu-rays ever - maybe the worst for a film shot in large format. The color is completely brown, it hasn't the detail of a large format film, and it's just grotesque. Purchase at your own peril.

 

[willyTass]

a slight exageration from hainesmyway . I doubt any money was spent "restoring " doolittle but at least its not DNR'd like the original Patton. .One can do far worse

 

[OliverK]

Sorry, I have to speak out: The Doctor Dolittle Blu-ray is one of the worst and ugliest Blu-rays ever - maybe the worst for a film shot in large format. The color is completely brown, it hasn't the detail of a large format film, and it's just grotesque. Purchase at your own peril.

One Eyed Jack has them all beat but it is hard for me to decide between El Cid, Spartacus, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Fall of the Roman Empire and Dr. Dolittle so there are plenty of candidates for second worst, hard to pick one. If I had to pick worst from a major studio I'd probably say that Spartacus is in the lead as it is insulting to try and freshen up an ancient master and feed it again to us on Blu-Ray, at least with Dr. Dolittle and TGSET the studios were honest and gave us what they had without heaps of DNR and boosted colors.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Hope it's a Digibook--does Fox even make those? Do we expect many extras?

Please, God: No -- not unless we get a standard packaging option too. Those digibooks are a royal pain with little added value and less disk protection.

 

[willyTass]

El Cid is so bad that Dr Doolittle looks like Lawrence of Arabia in comparison , lol !

 

[OliverK]

El Cid is so bad that Dr Doolittle looks like Lawrence of Arabia in comparison , lol !

Dr. Dolittle belongs to a major studio so it is judged harshly - more harshly than I hope you can imagine Yes, Dolittle looks a bit more natural but it also has extremely dull colors which really is annoying for a movie that was so colorful upon its release.

 

[Everett S.]

I feel the same way. I know it was a sorta-bomb in its day, but that's because people were complaining about its excess. Well, the film is paid for by now, so have nothing left except a rather good movie musical; it's excessive still, but so is my very large television screen. My current tv can take spectacle! And also, it's not like Babs is no longer a star; she's still around, folks! I just hope that Fox thinks of this blu-ray as a special event, rather than a regular catalog release. I hope it's packed with extras.

Well I saw the RoadShow 3 times @ the New Theatre in Baltimore, Md., and the place was packed. That was a 2000 seat house!!! It, is also on Vudu for rent or buy!!! I own it, and still plan to buy it. Blu is just a little bit sharper then HDX. Funny Girl is up at Amazon UK!

 

[Everett S.]

Looking forward to the three titles mentioned. Pity Hello Dolly won't have Walter Matthau slapping Streisand's face in real live anger but I guess it was not filmed accidently. Michael Crawford said it was well-deserved. Walter had had enough. I knew a man who Crawford consulted in certain matters, in early 1971, who told me at a silent film screening in little London flat in Kentish Town that night.  

I saw Mr.Matthau on the Mike Douglas Show, he was promoting it and he said Ms. Streisand hit him in the eye, and you can see it under the makeup in the midway point! I never could see his black eye even in 70mm !!!

 

[Everett S.]

I consider this film one of the all-time great Hollywood musicals, and as a whole I'd rank it only a cut below the Big 4 Best Pictures of the decade. Even if, as Rob_Ray pointed out and I can't really argue with, the production overwhelms the story, what a production! It's an idealized 1890s New York in the way only Hollywood could in its Golden Age (it'd make quite a dissonant double feature with the New York-set film that beat it for Best Picture, Midnight Cowboy). In the context of the film, Streisand's age was never an issue inasmuch as the whole film is an anti-realistic, large-scale romantic fantasy and the film never mentions her age (IIRC, the play and The Matchmakerdescribed her as "a woman of a certain age"). It certainly earned its technical Oscars and then some.

I thought "Oliver" won best picture.

 

[Mark-P]

I thought "Oliver" won best picture.

Oliver! beat Funny Girl, but Midnight Cowboy beat Hello, Dolly! I don't think a lot of people even realize that Hello, Dolly! was a best picture nominee.

 

[rsmithjr]

I thought "Oliver" won best picture.

Oliver! won for 1968 and Midnight Cowboy won for 1969. Hello Dolly! was also nominated in 1969. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture

 

[Matt Hough]

I thought "Oliver" won best picture.

I feel sure he's talking about the four musicals that won Best Picture Oscars: West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, and Oliver!.