Browse Boxed Sets. Musicals & Performing Arts

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Essential Classics - American Musicals (The Music Man / Meet Me in St. Louis / Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

Actors: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Jane Powell, Robert Preston, Shirley Jones
ASIN : B000MV9O40
Sales Rank : 1033
Director : Morton DaCosta, Stanley Donen, Vincente Minnelli
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0085391132851
UPC : 085391132851
Release Date : December 24, 2007
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 366

Description

Disc 1: THE MUSIC MAN Disc 2: MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS Disc 3: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

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This three-disc set, part of Warner's Essential Classics series, collects three truly classic films--The Music Man, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--in one inexpensive package. The drawback is you don't get the second disc of either Meet Me in St. Louis or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, so if you're a featurette junky or if you simply have to see the reshot version of Seven Brides, you'll want to stick with the individual releases. But this set does include the commentary tracks and any other material that was on the first disc of those two-disc sets (The Music Man still has everything that was on the one-disc release), and best of all, they have the great remastered pictures of the previous releases. So if you just want the movies looking better than ever with some bonus features thrown in for good measure, the price per movie makes this set an attractive bargain. --David Horiuchi

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The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection [Remastered] (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel)

Actors: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Yul Brynner
ASIN : B000HT3PGU
Sales Rank : 3139
Director : Fred Zinnemann, Henry King, Joshua Logan, José Ferrer, Robert Wise
Brand : Twentieth Century Fox
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Format : Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543382294
UPC : 024543382294
Release Date : December 07, 2006
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
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Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 956

Description

Disc 1: Carousel Special Edition Disc 2: Carousel Special Edition-Bonus Disc Disc 3: King and I Special Edition Disc 4: King and I Special Edition-Bonus Disc Disc 5: South Pacific Special Edition Disc 6: South Pacific Special Edition-Bonus Disc Disc 7: Sound of Music Special Edition Disc 8: Sound of Music Special Edition-Bonus Disc Disc 9: State Fair Special Edition Disc 10: State Fair Special Edition-Bonus Disc Disc 11: Oklahoma Special Edition Disc 12: Oklahoma Special Edition-Bonus Disc

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The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection contains film versions of the five major works by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who helped define the American musical landscape and rewrite the direction of musical theater. After enjoying extremely successful careers working with others, Rodgers and Hammerstein first teamed up in 1943 for the prairie tale Oklahoma!, with songs including "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "People Will Say We're in Love." The subsequent 1955 film starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, who teamed up again for 1956's Carousel. While that film's dark nature made it less popular than its predecessor, the score ("If I Loved You," "You'll Never Walk Alone") was Rodgers's favorite. The King and I (also 1956) featured stage star Yul Brynner as the King of Siam and Deborah Kerr as schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who must learn Asian customs even as she tries to instill some of her Western ones. The somewhat bloated version of South Pacific (1958) follows two couples during World War II and features standards such as "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" and "Some Enchanted Evening" from stars Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi. The last film, The Sound of Music (1965), proved to be the most popular, with Julie Andrews winning the hearts of seven children and their father with her blissful songs. And if the perhaps saccharine music and plot may test the patience of some, there's no doubt that songs such as "My Favorite Things" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" have charmed audiences around the world for decades. Accompanying the Big 5 in this set is the relatively minor State Fair from 1945 (though it does have "It Might as Well Be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing"). Some may expect and prefer other entries in the R&H canon such as Flower Drum Song or the television production Cinderella, but those were produced by different studios.

This 12-disc set from 2006 includes the two-disc special editions of each film, remastered and anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs (except State Fair, which was shot in traditional 1.33:1 aspect ratio). Bonus features include the Todd-AO version of Oklahoma! (which should look better than the CinemaScope version but doesn't); 40th-anniversary bonus material for The Sound of Music, including a commentary track by Julie Andrews; Lilliom, the 1934 film based on the same story as Carousel; and the 1962 version of State Fair starring Pat Boone and Ann-Margaret. --David Horiuchi

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That's Entertainment! The Complete Collection

Actors: Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller, Mickey Rooney
ASIN : B0002OXVDW
Sales Rank : 1744
Director : Gene Kelly, Bud Friedgen, David Engel, Jack Haley Jr., Michael J. Shapiro
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780790793320
ISBN : 0790793326
UPC : 012569691520
Number Of Discs : 4
Release Date : December 12, 2004
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 374

Description

Includes That's Entertainment, That's Entertainment Part 2, That's Entertainment III, and a bonus fourth disc entitled That's Entertainment: Treasures from the Vault, available exclusively with the Giftset featuring more than five hours of exciting extras including three great documentaries, premiere night coverage and salutes to the great behind-the-camera talents, TV specials, making-of featurettes, plus an extensive video jukebox of rare, star-packed musical outtakes from classic films, and more!

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In an era when we have an unprecedented number of movies and other diversions at our fingertips, is there still a need for a clip show like That's Entertainment? Certainly, because the film series, beginning in 1974, was an unabashed peddler of glorious nostalgia, not only collecting many of the most memorable moments in the magical history of the MGM musical--and therefore in the history of film--but bringing in many of the original stars to introduce them decades later. And another few decades after the series was released, the nostalgia is that much greater since many of those stars are now gone. In addition, the sheer number and variety of clips (though they're often too short) would be hard to match in any collection or in the span of an evening's viewing. Where else could you enjoy Gene Kelly singin' in the rain and also James Stewart crooning "Easy to Love"? Or follow fun trends like the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland "let's put on a show" pictures, of which Rooney says "only our names seemed to change"? Following the surprising box-office success of the initial film, Part 2 was released in 1976 and it still had plenty of famous and obscure clips (remember Bobby Van?), and even a nod to the nonmusical films of the era such as the Hepburn-Tracy pictures. It topped everything off with the irresistible pairing of hosts Kelly and Fred Astaire, who share a dance--for only the second time in their careers--at the ages of 64 and 77, respectively (and a more graceful 77-year-old you never will see!). The third film wasn't made until in 1994 (host Kelly is strikingly older), but it offered more of the usual fare plus a variety of cut numbers by such stars as Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and Debbie Reynolds. A half-century later, Hollywood's valentine to the movie musical was still shining strong.

The DVD trilogy set offers all three films with the choice of widescreen anamorphic or full-screen formats (don't worry, the clips are in their original aspect ratio). There's also a two-sided fourth disc with supplemental material, most interestingly the "musical outtakes jukebox," a 16-song, 49-minute collection of numbers that were cut from musicals of the era. None of the selections are Great Songs, but it's hard to discount any musical number from the MGM vaults, for example, three selections by Garland and two by Horne (only one of which, Garland's "Mr. Monotony," appears in TE3, and there in a slightly shorter form). The rest of the content is behind-the-scenes documentaries, the most significant being "That's Entertainment: The Masters Behind the Musical" (37 minutes, profiling the talent behind the films such as Arthur Freed and Michael Kidd), "That's Entertainment III: Behind the Screen" (1994, 53 minutes), and vintage black-and-white footage of MGM's 25th anniversary celebration (10 minutes). Not included in the set: the 1985 compilation That's Dancing, which was released separately in 2007. --David Horiuchi

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Gene Kelly Collection (Singin' in the Rain / An American in Paris / On the Town / Anatomy of a Dancer)

Actors: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Jean Hagen
ASIN : B00006JMSZ
Sales Rank : 2192
Director : Gene Kelly, Robert Trachtenberg, Stanley Donen, Vincente Minnelli
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780790772875
ISBN : 0790772876
UPC : 085392666027
Release Date : December 24, 2002
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 400

Product Description

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2003

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The Gene Kelly Collection is an unbeatable selection of DVDs showcasing the marvelous Gene Kelly, the Pittsburgh kid whose ballet shoes burst with muscle and ambition. Singin' in the Rain (1952) is everybody's favorite musical, a sarcastic spoof of the early days of talking pictures directed by Kelly and longtime collaborator Stanley Donen. (Ah, the joys of DVD: to be able to zap into the blissful title number or Donald O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh" at the touch of a button. Plus, the 2002 special edition is exceptional.) An American in Paris (1951), a dream project for Kelly and director Vincente Minnelli, is at its best in its glorious Gershwin numbers. Kelly's lengthy fantasy ballet, drenched in all the Technicolor MGM could muster, may have you thinking that this, after all, is why movies were invented.

Kelly and Donen forced MGM to let them shoot on location in New York for the exteriors of On the Town (1949), the movie that took musicals into the open air (and remained Kelly's favorite of his films). The spirited dancing and the wisecracking Comden-Green script make this an ebullient tale of three sailors on a 24-hour leave. The choreography plays multiple variations on the triangular team of Kelly, Jules Munshin, and a still-gawky Frank Sinatra. Finally, Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer (2002) is a terrific American Masters documentary, with oodles of superbly chosen (mint condition) film clips and interviews with many of Kelly's friends and colleagues. The emphasis is on how Kelly changed the image of the male dancer, complementing the aristocratic Fred Astaire with a more blue-collar, regular-Joe approach. It's an unblinking portrait, acknowledging the taskmaster behind the pearly grin. Those revelations make perfect sense when you see the astonishing dances: how could anyone this great not be a perfectionist? --Robert Horton

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Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance / The Barkleys of Broadway)

Actors: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Bill Thompson, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes
ASIN : B0009NSCR6
Sales Rank : 2322
Director : Charles Walters, Edward L. Cahn, Friz Freleng, George Stevens, Joseph Henabery
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Turner Home Ent
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780650787
ISBN : 0780650786
UPC : 053939725926
Release Date : December 16, 2005
Publisher : Turner Home Ent
Manufacturer : Turner Home Ent
Availability : Usually ships in 9 to 11 days
Label : Turner Home Ent
Running Time : 532

Description

You'll Love The Way Fred and Ginger Look Tonight in the 5-film, 5-Disc Astaire and Rogers Collection Volume One, including the highly acclaimed Top Hat and Swing Time.

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Fans of classic movie musicals will be in heaven with Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1, featuring the DVD debut of five films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the quintessential dancing duo. The two gems of the set are Top Hat (1935), generally considered their definitive movie, and Swing Time (1936), which many consider their most enjoyable. Follow the Fleet (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) fill out the set, each with its own charms.

Follow the Fleet

The Astaire-Rogers films mix light romantic comedy (usually centered around mistaken identities and ending, inevitably, in blissful wedding promises) with elegant dinner wear and surreal sets intended to transport '30s audiences away from the Depression to such locales as Rio, Paris, and Venice. The two stars are also aided by a recurring stable of RKO players such as Edward Everett Horton (master of the double-take), Eric Blore, and Helen Broderick. And then there's that sensational dancing set to great songs by the likes of Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, and Jerome Kern, numbers that are not merely entertaining but also innovative for their time in that they reveal character and advance the plot. Add it all up, and you have a recipe for an irrepressible joie de vivre that practically defines the movie musical.

With a score by Irving Berlin, Top Hat is most famous for two numbers, Astaire's definitive tuxedo setting "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails" and the feathery duet "Cheek to Cheek." But other joys include Astaire's "Fancy Free" declaration, "Isn't It a Lovely Day," and the grand finale "The Piccolino." Favorite musical moments in Swing Time include the set-piece "Pick Yourself Up," in which Rogers "teaches" Astaire to dance before they break into a spectacular number; the farewell ode "Never Gonna Dance," and the Oscar-winning "Just the Way You Look Tonight," from the team of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

Swing Time

Follow the Fleet changes the pace a bit, with Astaire playing a sailor, and it suffers from making him and Rogers the second-banana couple to the dull Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard. But it still has plenty of laughs and some classic Irving Berlin numbers, including "Let Yourself Go," which Rogers sings before she and Astaire compete in a dance contest; a Rogers solo tap number; "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket," their best comic dance. The pièce de résistance is "Let's Face the Music and Dance," a show within a show in which the pair dons their customary evening formals. Effortlessly flowing from pantomime to song to dance, this sublime piece of storytelling is one of the series' defining moments. Shall We Dance has a complex plot that has Astaire and Rogers actually getting married before the final credits roll, and turns George and Ira Gershwin's brilliant "They Can't Take That Away from Me" into a heartbreaking ode. Other great songs include "Slap That Bass," "They All Laughed," and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," unforgettably performed on roller skates. The Barkleys of Broadway is the oddity, reuniting the stars 10 years after their last RKO picture when Judy Garland had to be replaced due to health problems. It's trademark MGM: splashy colors, Fred in a gimmicky solo number (playing sorcerer's apprentice to a line of unoccupied shoes), Oscar Levant providing his usual dynamic pianism and acerbic personality, and a score that is at its best when it borrows songs from a previous generation (including the big ballroom number set to "They Can't Take That Away from Me"). The film falls short of their best work, but serves as a fond remembrance of the most glorious partnership in film history. --David Horiuchi

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West Side Story (Special Edition DVD Collector's Set)

Actors: Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno
ASIN : B00008972S
Sales Rank : 2453
Director : Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Box set, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792855019
ISBN : 0792855019
UPC : 027616884343
Release Date : December 01, 2003
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 152

Description

This brilliant (The New Republic) film sets the ageless story of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in 1950s New York. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and scripted by Ernest Lehman, the film combines Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's unforgettable score ( Maria, America, 'somewhere, 'tonight ) with Robbins own exuberant choreography to achieve an exhilarating work of art (Saturday Review). A love affair is fated for tragedy amidst the vicious rivalry of two street gangsthe Jets and the Sharks. When Jets member Tony (RichardBeymer) falls for Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of the Sharks leader, it's more than these two warring gangs can handle. And as mounting tensions rise, a battle to the death ensues, and innocent blood is shed in a heartbreaking finale.

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The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, the film stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighborhoods--and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colorful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score. --Tom Keogh

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The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector's Edition)

Actors: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Dorothy Dwan, Charles Murray, Oliver Hardy
ASIN : B000ADS64E
Sales Rank : 1959
Director : J. Farrell MacDonald, Jack Haley Jr., King Vidor, Larry Semon, Mervyn LeRoy
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Restored, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781419818592
ISBN : 1419818597
UPC : 012569677050
Release Date : December 25, 2005
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 103

Description

An All-New Wizard of Oz With State of The Art Ultra-Resolution Picture Quality and Over 10 Hours of Bonus Extras.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by John Fricke and multiple cast and crew members.
Biographies:We Haven't Really Met Properly - includes 9 orginal cast biographies
Deleted Scenes:If I Only Had a Brain; If I Only Had a Heart; Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Over the Rainbow; The Jitterbug
Documentaries:L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain; Memories of Oz -2001 TCM documentary
Featurette:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook; Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz; The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz; Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz
Music Clips:Audio Vault Includes: Over the Rainbow; Munchkinland Medley Rehearsal Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Sequence Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Voice Tests; If I Only Had a Brain; We're Off to See the Wizard; If I Only Had a Heart; If I Only Had the Nerve/We're Off to See the Wizard; Emerald City/The Merry Old Land of Oz; If I Were King of the Forest; The Jitterbug; Over the Rainbow/Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Kansas Underscoring; Munchkinland Underscoring; and more
Music Only Track:Audio Vault Includes: Over the Rainbow; Munchkinland Medley Rehearsal Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Sequence Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Voice Tests; If I Only Had a Brain; We're Off to See the Wizard; If I Only Had a Heart; If I Only Had the Nerve/We're Off to See the Wizard; Emerald City/The Merry Old Land of Oz; If I Were King of the Forest; The Jitterbug; Over the Rainbow/Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Kansas Underscoring; Munchkinland Underscoring; and more
Newsreel:Cavalcade of the Academy Awards Excerpt - 1939 newsreel
Other:The Wizard of Oz - 1910 short; The Magic Cloak of Oz - 1914 short; His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz - 1914 feature; The Wizard of Oz - 1925 feature; The Wizard of Oz - 1933 animated short; and more
Photo gallery:Oz on Broadway; Pre-MGM; Sketches and Storyboards; Costume and Make-up Tests; Richard Thorpe's Oz; Buddy Ebsen; Oz Comes to Life; Behind the Scenes; Portraits; Special Effects; Post Production; Deleted Scenes; Original Publicity
TV Special:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic - 1990 TV special
Theatrical Trailer:1939 What is Oz? Teaser; 1940 Loews Cairo Theater Trailer; 1949 Re-issue Trailer; 1949 Grownup Re-issue Trailer; 1970 Children's Matinee Re-issue Trailer; 1998 Warner Bros. Re-issue Trailer; Texas Contest Winners [1939 trailer]

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When it was released during Hollywood's golden year of 1939, The Wizard of Oz didn't start out as the perennial classic it has since become. The film did respectable business, but it wasn't until its debut on television that this family favorite saw its popularity soar. And while Oz's TV broadcasts are now controlled by media mogul Ted Turner (who owns the rights), the advent of home video has made this lively musical a mainstay in the staple diet of great American films. Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her dog, Toto, and her three companions on the yellow brick road to Oz--the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)--have become pop-culture icons and central figures in the legacy of fantasy for children. As the Wicked Witch who covets Dorothy's enchanted ruby slippers, Margaret Hamilton has had the singular honor of scaring the wits out of children for more than six decades. The film's still as fresh, frightening, and funny as it was when first released. It may take some liberal detours from the original story by L. Frank Baum, but it's loyal to the Baum legacy while charting its own course as a spectacular film. Shot in glorious Technicolor, befitting its dynamic production design (Munchkinland alone is a psychedelic explosion of color and decor), The Wizard of Oz may not appeal to every taste as the years go by, but it's required viewing for kids of all ages. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
The Wizard of Oz DVD released in 1999 was loaded with extra features, but it's now safe to throw away that version in all its cardboard-package glory in favor of the new three-disc edition. First things first: All the bonus material from the earlier disc is there. That includes the Angela Lansbury-hosted documentary The Making of a Movie Classic; the outtakes and deleted scenes, including Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" reprise and the home-movie recording of "The Jitterbug"; the sketches and stills and composer Harold Arlen's home movies; the audio underscores and radio programs; the 1979 interviews with Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, and Jack Haley; and other items too numerous to mention. (Some text introductions to the features have been replaced by narration by Lansbury, for whatever reason.) Brand-new to the 2005 edition is a sharp restoration using Warner's Ultra Resolution process and an accompanying featurette on how it's done. The technicians also discuss how the sound was remixed, though that would have been more effective had it included surround-sound demonstrations (the featurette is in 2.0). Other features on the new set include a commentary track by critic John Fricke supplemented by vintage cast interviews (he offers a lot of trivia, and debunks the myth that Shirley Temple was ever close to getting the Dorothy role); profiles of nine cast members and clips of other movies they appeared in (including Toto); a lightly animated 10-minute storybook again narrated by Lansbury; 2001 and 2005 behind-the-scenes featurettes; and a 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast.

The 1999 disc also included one-minute excerpts of three early treatments of The Wizard of Oz. The third disc of the three-disc collector's edition includes the complete versions of those treatments and more. They are four silent films: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1910, 13 min.), "The Magic Cloak of Oz" (1914, 38 min.), His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914, 59 min., written and directed by Baum himself), The Wizard of Oz (1925, 72 min., Larry Semon). The fifth treatment is Ted Eshbaum's 1933 Technicolor cartoon short which has songs and sound, and is the first depiction of Kansas in black and white and Oz in color. The third disc also has a 38-minute biography of L. Frank Baum, and collector's-edition supplements include a gorgeous set of photo cards among other materials. --David Horiuchi

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Special Edition)

Actors: Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Benny Hill, Gert Fröbe
ASIN : B0000C2IQD
Sales Rank : 1883
Director : Ken Hughes
Brand : CHITTY, CHITTY, BANG, BANG - SPECIAL EDI (DVD
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792858843
ISBN : 0792858840
UPC : 027616898159
Release Date : December 25, 2003
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 144

Description

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls start your engines. You're about to take an incredible ride with one of the most wonderful family films of all time! Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has never looked or sounded better. Dick Van Dyke stars as eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, who creates an extraordinary car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It not only drives but also flies and floats as it leads him, his two children and his beautiful lady friend, Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), into a magical world of pirates, castles and endless adventure.

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This 1968 kiddie-car caper is flawed but solid family fare. It retains a quaint charm while some of the songs--including the title tune--are quite hummable. A huge plus is Dick Van Dyke, who is extremely appealing as an eccentric inventor around the turn of the century. With nimble fingers and a unique way of looking at the world, he invents for his children a magic car that floats and flies. Or does he? The special effects are tame by today's standards, and the film is about 20 minutes too long--but its enthusiasm charms. The script was cowritten by Roald Dahl and based on the novel by Ian Fleming, best known for his James Bond adventures. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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The Busby Berkeley Collection (Footlight Parade / Gold Diggers of 1933 / Dames / Gold Diggers of 1935 / 42nd Street)

Actors: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Warren William
ASIN : B000E0OE1M
Sales Rank : 5802
Director : Bernard Brown, Busby Berkeley, Earl Duvall, Friz Freleng, George Bilson
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012569678460
UPC : 012569678460
Release Date : December 21, 2006
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video

Description

The Busby Berkeley Collection is a 6-disc compilation of five remastered Warner Bros. classics from one of the greatest motion picture choreographers of all time.

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The Busby Berkeley Collection celebrates the work of one of the most visually inventive director-choreographers in the history of film. The centerpiece is of course 42nd Street (1933). This is the quintessential backstage musical in which young Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) goes from wide-eyed chorus girl to leading lady, urged by Warner Baxter, "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" A cast that also includes Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers (when she was an RKO contract player and before she teamed up with Fred Astaire) performs "Shuffle Off to Buffalo, " "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me," and the title tune, in which Keeler tap-dances on a black surface that turns out to be the roof of a car. Berkeley's numbers are known for their kaleidoscopic patterns, their stark black-and-white contrast, and their sheer sense of spectacle. But more than anything, they're known for their celebration of women. By the dozens, they dance, play pianos, frolic in waterfalls, and, in some of the most overtly sexual numbers, stand spread-eagled in a line as the camera passes through their legs. In many ways, the title song from Dames sums it up best: "What do you go for / to see a show for? / Tell the truth, you go to see those beautiful dames."

While Berkeley choreographed and directed the musical sequences in these films, the plot sections were generally directed by others such as Lloyd Bacon. Keeler and Powell were the most frequent headliners, supported by character players such as Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, and Ned Sparks, and most of the songs were contributed by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. The stories aren't much, usually revolving around the putting-together of a musical show as well as the lives and loves of chorus girls. The term "gold diggers," which is the source of the title of two of the films included in this set, refers unflatteringly to chorus girls in search of wealthy husbands.

Gold Diggers of 1933 opens with a justly famous shot of Ginger Rogers wearing an outfit of coins and singing "We're in the Money" first in English then in pig Latin. Gold Diggers of 1935 is capped by "The Lullaby of Broadway," a 14-minute story-within-a-story that seems one of the inspirations for Singin' in the Rain's "Broadway Melody." Dames (1934) has the aforementioned title tune as well as "I Only Have Eyes for You" (with Powell singing to dozens of Keeler faces). Footlight Parade changes things up a bit by starring James Cagney as a producer desperately cranking out musical numbers. Keeler and Powell emerge from their bit-character roles to headline two of the big productions stacked together at the end, while Cagney replaces Powell in the third, showing off the vaudeville hoofing skills he would use later in 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy.

DVD supplements are generous. The sixth disc is the 163-minute Busby Berkely Disc, a former laserdisc program that collects just the musical numbers from nine films without the plot filler. Most of the numbers are already included in the films in this collection, but there are also one number each from Fashions of 1934, Wonder Bar, In Caliente, and Gold Diggers of 1937. Also on the discs are new and old featurettes (one tracks the development of 42nd Street from book to screen to stage), and vintage cartoons and shorts (one promotional short has Berkeley on-screen talking up Dames). Picture quality is about the same as on the Astaire and Rogers Collection, Vol. 1: good for the age of the material, but with noticeable fuzz and print damage. --David Horiuchi

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