Blu-ray Review Take Me Out to the Ball Game Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

A jaunty baseball musical comedy with nifty tunes and the slimmest of plots, Busby Berkeley’s Take Me Out to the Ball Game is remembered now as the genesis of the great directing team of Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly.



Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)



Released: 01 Apr 1949
Rated: Approved
Runtime: 93 min




Director: Busby Berkeley
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance



Cast: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly
Writer(s): Harry Tugend, George Wells, Gene Kelly



Plot: Two turn-of-the-century baseball players, who work in vaudeville during the off-season, run into trouble with their team's new female owner and a gambler who doesn't want them to win the pennant.



IMDB rating: 6.7
MetaScore: 66





Disc Information



Studio: Warner...

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[M90GM]

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Great to hear A EXPECTED THIS IS ANOTHER TOP NOTCH TRANSFER. Where are The Student Prince & Interrupted Melody? Two major M-G-M early Cinemascope/stereo musicals that sorely need an upgrade - the Archive DVD's are poor. Both had major commercial & critical acclaim and would be spectacular at 2.55 & 5.1. We have received many B grade musicals (like Athena) yet we still await as well, High Society!!

 

[Joe Caps]

Could also use royal wedding.

 

[Matt Hough]

Could also use royal wedding.

I bought the HD Royal Wedding on iTunes streaming, and it looks beautiful. A Blu-ray would probably knock all of our socks off.

 

[SFMike]

Where are The Student Prince & Interrupted Melody? Two major M-G-M early Cinemascope/stereo musicals that sorely need an upgrade - the Archive DVD's are poor. Both had major commercial & critical acclaim and would be spectacular at 2.55 & 5.1. We have received many B grade musicals (like Athena) yet we still await as well, High Society!!

I'll second that request for The Student Prince as the current available DVD is pretty pathetic. This film is high on my wish list and hope it gets a new transfer.

 

[MarkA]

I find that it is a great transfer of a very so-so film. I am very surprised that Gene Kelly is third in the billing!

 

[cinemel1]

I find that it is a great transfer of a very so-so film. I am very surprised that Gene Kelly is third in the billing!

This is a second tier MGM musical. The plot is quite weak, but the Technicolor transfer is superb. The musical numbers are quite good, especially Take Me Out to the Ball Game and O’Brian to Ryan to Goldberg. Sinatra’s solo ballad to Williams is also lovely. The deleted songs Boys & Girls Like You and Me and Baby Doll are in excellent conditions, not like many deleted scenes in supplements to old films. I guess Sinatra was pretty hot in 1949 and Kelly hadn’t yet made a big splash with Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris so he was billed 3rd. Jules Munshin and Betty Garrett bring welcome humor to the proceedings.

 

[Will Krupp]

I am very surprised that Gene Kelly is third in the billing!

I guess Sinatra was pretty hot in 1949 and Kelly hadn’t yet made a big splash with Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris so he was billed 3rd.

You know I have to admit that I never noticed that before! Interestingly, ON THE TOWN, released later in the same year, bills Kelly OVER Sinatra. I wonder if it was some sort of contractual wrangling? Gene Kelly made his MGM debut in 1942 (FOR ME AND MY GAL) and summer of 1949 (when ON THE TOWN was filming) is just about seven years later, the standard length of a studio contract. It's just a guess, but could future on-screen billing have been a part of re-upping with Metro?

 

[John Skoda]

I find that it is a great transfer of a very so-so film. I am very surprised that Gene Kelly is third in the billing!

I just noticed that! Billing is Frank Sinatra first, Esther Williams second, and Gene Kelly third.

 

[Rob W]

Hey Matt - you left out Jules Munshin who was also a carryover to On The Town.

 

[Matt Hough]

Hey Matt - you left out Jules Munshin who was also a carryover to On The Town.

Reread the review; I didn't leave him out. I just mentioned he was a part of the film a little later in the review.

 

[OLDTIMER]

Just received my copy. The video (by and large) represents the very best of what three-strip Technicolor from the 1950s can produce. It's magnificent! Unfortunately the sound is a little peaky. It benefits from some treble cut (if your amplifier is capable), then it's very good.
Nice to see that the picture quality of the extras is excellent , even the cartoon.