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Second Chorus on Blu-Ray - a fan's review of Astaire film (1 Viewer)

Doug Bull

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The Dancing in the Dark sequence is one of the most sublime moments in the history of MGM Musicals.

Fred & Cyd's divine dancing on the romantically lit Central Park backlot, the unforgettable music of Howard Deitz & Arthur Schwartz superbly played by the MGM Studio Orchestra and orchestrated to perfection by the incredible Conrad Salinger.

It's interesting that MGM's Conrad Salinger was lent out to Columbia Pictures to Orchestrate the beautiful Jerome Kern numbers for Fred and Rita in "You Were Never Lovelier". I've never heard the Columbia Orchestra sound better.
Conrad Salinger also made the Paramount Orchestra sound great in Fred's "Funny Face"

On a sour note: There is one flat trumpet moment during the Dancing in the Dark sequence. I could never understand how that got through un-noticed in an otherwise flawless performance.









 

AnthonyClarke

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What a classic sequence -- and 'Band Wagon' is a favourite too for the presence of the great Jack Buchanan in his best role after the early Lubitsch appearance with Jeanette MacDonald in 'Monte Carlo'. That's a musical worth having on Blu ray too, if only for the classic sequence of Jeanette singing 'Beyond the Blue Horizon' with Lubitsch satirising the crude Soviet propaganda images of the time of happy peasants in the fields .....
 

Rob_Ray

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"Monte Carlo" is one of my favorites and, I think, somewhat underrated. Everyone complains that Jack Buchanan has none of the sly sexual appeal of Maurice Chevalier. But I think he's better suited to a role calling for the male lead to pose as a hairdresser in order to woo his leading lady.

And I love Claude Allister's riddle: "She comes from a wedding. She has nothing on. She left her husband behind. She has no ticket. She has no idea where she wants to go, and she goes to Monte Carlo. How old is the husband?"
 

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