DVD Review: TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin’ in the Rain / Easter Parade): Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly: Movies & TV
DVD Review: TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin’ in the Rain / Easter Parade): Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly: Movies & TV
Product Description
EASTER PARADE Strolling along 5th Avenue or bumming around as A Couple of Swells, Judy Garland and Fred Astaire lead a parade of music (17 Irving Berlin tunes and an Academy Award-winning adaptation score) and gotta-dance fun in this neverending delight co-starring Ann Miller and Peter Lawford. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS She’s in love with the boy next door. And movie fans are forever in love with her Judy Garland in a nostalgia and humor-filled tale of life with the Smith family in 1903 St. Louis. Songs include The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. SINGIN IN THE RAIN Considered by many to be the greatest movie musical ever! Silent movies are giving way to the advent of sound and a Hollywood matinee idol (Gene Kelly) is caught in that bumpy transition, as well as his buddy (Donald O’Connor), prospective sweetheart (Debbie Reynolds) and vocally-challenged co-star (Jean Hagen). THE BAND WAGON Fred Astaire dazzles in a train station (By Myself), a penny arcade (A Shine on Your Shoes), a back-lot Central Park (Dancing in the Dark) and a smoky café (Girl Hunt), the latter two with incomparable Cyd Charisse. Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan and Oscar Levant co-star, and as the movies hallmark song goes, That’s Entertainment!
The best of the MGM musicals at a great price,
By calvinnme “Texan refugee”
(Fredericksburg, Va) -
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)
This is one of several DVD sets that TCM/WHV is producing over the next year or so that brings the classic films to the masses at affordable prices. All of these films are available in more deluxe editions, so this is mainly for those who are not interested in extra features. Every one of these is a five star film for musical lovers.
Singin in the Rain is my favorite movie musical and perhaps the best movie musical ever made. Thrown together quickly after the success of “An American in Paris” I love it for its comedy, its timing, and its wonderful plag iarism of just about every song written for MGM movies between 1929 and 1940. If you are interested in extras this film is available as Singin’ in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition). The two disc edition has some wonderful extras about the transition from silent film to sound.
The Band Wagon is one of Fred Astaire’s best MGM musicals. Fred plays an aging song and dance man whose friends are writing a new Broadway show and want Fred to star. They enlist a Broadway headliner to help them get financial backing, but the show the veteran describes is a musical version of Faust, not the fun romp that was originally planned. This one is available in a more deluxe version as The Band Wagon (Two-Disc Special Edition).
The Easter Parade stars Fred Astaire again. After being rejected by his girlfriend/star, on a lark he offers Judy Garland a job as his partner, claiming he could make her as big a star as his ex-girlfriend. The next day he regrets his offer, but he has to go through with it when Judy shows up for rehearsal after having already quit her current job. Again, if you like extra features it is available as Easter Parade (Two-Disc Special Edition).
Meet Me in St. Louis stars Judy Garland and is about - absolutely nothing. However, this musical which has no big events and no real dramatic climax will grow on you. It is about a year in the life of an extended St. Louis family. The father has accepted a job offer in New York City, and nobody in the family is happy about it. This midwestern group does not want to give up their easy-going way of life and all of their friends for the big treeless city. Worse yet, the move is scheduled to take place at Christmas. This is available in the deluxe Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition). The best thing about this 2-disc edition is the inclusion of the 1930 Vitaphone short “Bubbles”. Besides being one of the strangest little musical shorts ever, it stars Judy Garland back when she was still one of the Gumm Sisters.
The Pinnacle of MGM Musicals…,
A Kid’s Review
Without even knowing if “TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin’ in the Rain / Easter Parade)” is offering anything in the way of Special Features, I still can wholeheartedly recommend this collection for two reasons; first, these are, arguably, the four finest examples of the Classic MGM musical (acknowledging that “An American in Paris” and “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” are equally deserving); second, that these are being ’sponsored’ by Turner Classic Movies, the premiere cable film site, and Ted Turner’s Valentine to Classic films, and all of us that love them.
Each film is magnificent; “Meet Me in St. Louis” stands, with “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Star Is Born”, as the ‘definitive’ Judy Garland films, and “Meet Me…” is the most down-to-earth and totally charming, a slice of Americana at it’s most irresistable; “Easter Parade” teams Judy with Fred Astaire, making a comeback from a brief ‘retirement’ to replace injured Gene Kelly in the lead, in a sweet, nostalgic tale flavored with Irving Berlin tunes; Fred is in top form in the autobiographical “The Band Wagon”, as a fading movie star returning to Broadway (in a hilarious send-up of the ‘New Wave’ stage shows of the era), capped by a slam-bang multiple climax finale and the fabulous “That’s Entertainment” capper; and the greatest of all MGM musicals, “Singin’ in the Rain”, the Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen masterpiece of Hollywood at the dawn of sound pictures. As Frank Sinatra once said, “They don’t get better than this!”
So, if you’ve been waiting to build your musical DVD collection, here’s a great starting point!
movie format,
By James D. Scanlon -
I wonder why they put these movies out in full screen format. All the new televisions are wide screen. With these movies being released in May you would think it would be manufactured for the new sets.
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