Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Volume 3 (Hit the Deck/Deep in My Heart/Kismet/Nancy Goes to Rio/Two Weeks with Love/Broadway Melody of 1936/Broadway Melody of 1938/Born to Dance/Lady Be Good)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Debbie Reynolds, Eleanor Powell, Gene Kelly, Jane Powell, Judy GarlandBrand: VARIOUS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 64845
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- HIT THE DECK - Anchors Aweigh. On the Town, Hit the Deck. Hollywood has always known what to do with sailors on leave: Give ?em some pretty girls and some great songs and watch the fans line up to enlist! Hit the Deck hits all the right notes as three sailors (Tony Martin, Vic Damone, Russ Tamblyn) and three cuties (Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller) flirt, squabble, run afoul of shore patr
Movie Reviews of Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Volume 3 (Hit the Deck/Deep in My Heart/Kismet/Nancy Goes to Rio/Two Weeks with Love/Broadway Melody of 1936/Broadway Melody of 1938/Born to Dance/Lady Be Good)
Movie Review: Fresh off the Assembly Line
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, a factory it was, with an assembly line that churned out quality products regularly, year after year, like Ford turned out automobiles, and this package provides an entertaining overview of the lesser musicals MGM marketed from the nineteen-thirties to the fifties. I'm sure they weren't meant to be 'lesser' products at the time - everything MGM produced was deemed important, but this lot were certainly overshadowed by the Freed-Kelly vehicles.
Here we see the tried and trusted employees strutting their stuff. There's Eleanor Powell, elevated to stardom and carefully presented in the "Broadway Melody" series....then reduced to playing second fiddle to Ann Sothern and Robert Young in "Lady be Good" before being dropped off the assembly line altogether after a couple of Red Skelton comedies. Eleanor's main drawback was that she was a dazzling solo dancer, but unlike Ginger, Rita, & Co. was never at her best in a duo.. In fact, in "Lady Be Good" it's not a male partner, but a cute little dog that partners her brilliantly...and sadly, just when they decided to downgrade her, she gives a far more relaxed performance than in her heyday. This collection also gives us the opportunity to watch other fresh. young talents like Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds groomed and packaged in properties designed to showcase them, while former luminaries - like Ann Sothern and Walter Pidgeon take a step back to support them.
And then there's a couple of near-misses. "Kismet" should have been great. It's not. It has a great score, fine singing and lavish production values....but one expects just that little bit extra from Vincente Minnelli. It's rumored he was too distracted by his next project ("Lust for Life") to pay much attention to this musical, which is sad. There is a 'tossed off" uncaring feeling about this one...and it deserved better. "Deep in My Heart" suffers from its leads - the volatile but charmless Jose Ferrer and the Wagnerian pudding, Helen Traubel They both do their best (and Traubel has a great voice),
but they make heavy going. Main advantage is the showcasing of many MGM stars in guest appearances....including Ann Miller, who regularly popped up on the assembly line to add pep and vitality to so many musicals.
Extras are minimal insofar as ones that relate to the actual movies. There are the usual cartoons, and short subjects, but only one interview -with Jane Powell, which is great. She's informative, charming...and towards the end she becomes endearingly emotional, and I joined her in her tears. An outtake from "Deep in My Heart" shows an extremely uncomfortable - and probably resentful - Esther Williams uneasily descending a staircase as the finale of a drab and ugly number by George Murphy. No wonder it was dropped.
I give this collection full marks, because even when its musicals dropped a little below standard, MGM still invested more talent, more inventiveness, better scripts, and creative skills into its output. Ten minutes of any one of these musicals contains more pizazz then the entire lumbering mess that was "Mamma Mia".
More Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Volume 3 (Hit the Deck/Deep in My Heart/Kismet/Nancy Goes to Rio/Two Weeks with Love/Broadway Melody of 1936/Broadway Melody of 1938/Born to Dance/Lady Be Good) reviews:
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Summary of Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Volume 3 (Hit the Deck/Deep in My Heart/Kismet/Nancy Goes to Rio/Two Weeks with Love/Broadway Melody of 1936/Broadway Melody of 1938/Born to Dance/Lady Be Good)
No Description Available.Genre: Musicals
Rating: UN
Release Date: 8-APR-2008
Media Type: DVD
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