Busby Berkeley Collections
- Jeff
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
- Location: Denver, CO
Busby Berkeley Collections
March 21, 2006
Six-Disc Set
MSRP $59.92
* Gold Diggers of 1933
* 42nd Street
* Gold Diggers of 1935
* Footlight Parade
* Dames
* Bonus disc "featuring three hours of highlights of Berkeley's production numbers from the films featured in the set and others, which was originally compiled for laserdisc"
More details to follow. Article with Feltenstein comments here.
Six-Disc Set
MSRP $59.92
* Gold Diggers of 1933
* 42nd Street
* Gold Diggers of 1935
* Footlight Parade
* Dames
* Bonus disc "featuring three hours of highlights of Berkeley's production numbers from the films featured in the set and others, which was originally compiled for laserdisc"
More details to follow. Article with Feltenstein comments here.
- Derek Estes
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:00 pm
- Location: Portland Oregon
- Jeff
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
- Location: Denver, CO
Specs courtesy of DVD Times. 42nd Street is the original disc repackaged in an Amaray case, and is the only title to be available separately.
[quote]42nd Street (1933)
This unforgettable musical classic represents Berkeley's first major cinematic masterpiece. Warner Baxter stars as stage director Julian Marsh, pressured by the threat of an impending early demise, to create one last great Broadway hit. The quintessential ‘put-on-a-show' plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter with then-newcomers Ruby Keeler (her film debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. Shuffle off to Buffalo, You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the title tune still dazzle. This is the film where Baxter uttered the immortal line to understudy Keeler, (stepping in at the last minute for star Bebe Daniels, who has just broken her leg)…“You're going out there a youngster…but you've got to come back a star!â€
[quote]42nd Street (1933)
This unforgettable musical classic represents Berkeley's first major cinematic masterpiece. Warner Baxter stars as stage director Julian Marsh, pressured by the threat of an impending early demise, to create one last great Broadway hit. The quintessential ‘put-on-a-show' plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter with then-newcomers Ruby Keeler (her film debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. Shuffle off to Buffalo, You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the title tune still dazzle. This is the film where Baxter uttered the immortal line to understudy Keeler, (stepping in at the last minute for star Bebe Daniels, who has just broken her leg)…“You're going out there a youngster…but you've got to come back a star!â€
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
Wow! That is hands down the best looking boxset artwork Warner has produced 'til now. Seems like they have learned a few things about simple and effective imagery - though I still have problems with the spines. Why do they feel the need to display the covers in there? They could have done that in the back cover and be away with it. The only example where it does work is in the first Kubrick boxset (the white one) but only because the original posters were great.
Seems like a great set, though!
Seems like a great set, though!
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
Some info I dug up about the bonus disc:
http://www.dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=14961
http://www.dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=14961
The Busby Berkeley Disc
(LaserDisc Review)
The disc is a three-sided, three-hour collection of the greatest Busby Berkeley routines created during his stay at Warner Bros. from 1933 to 1937, and is a surprisingly coherent piece of entertainment. Because virtually all of the songs on the disc were written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, the numbers are very cohesive--not only chord progressions, but also rhymes and phrases are repeated with slight variations and advancements throughout the show. Berkeley also strove repeatedly to top himself, so that his stagings on the somewhat chronologically organized disc become more sophisticated as it advances--you can see him return to a previously explored idea with a bigger budget and a smoother, more confident execution. Equally fascinating are the endless close-ups of otherwise anonymous chorus girls, encouraging the viewer to ponder, if only momentarily, what sort of life each one ended up having.
Without the personalities of the characters at the forefront of the viewer's mind, the numbers are approached from a different perspective. Even if a fan is fanatical enough to have collected Gold Diggers of 1935, for example, The Busby Berkeley Disc is still a must, for it removes that film's musical numbers from their dramatic context and makes them part of the anthology's climax instead. Ultimately, however, it is Berkeley's unstoppable vision, assuaged by the music, which makes the disc so entertaining. The disc is both a sampler and a celebration, and will appeal to anyone who loves the articulation of imagination on film. There are twenty-two numbers, including the major sequences from 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, and Dames, along with a pair of excerpts from Gold Diggers of 1935 and Wonder Bar (part of The Al Jolson Collection ) and single excerpts from Fashions of 1934 , In Caliente , and Gold Diggers of 1937 . Every number is a legitimate highlight, but a consensus probably would identify the innovative "42nd Street" number, the campy "By a Waterfall," the blasphemous "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule," and the cumulative "Lullaby of Broadway" as the pinnacles of the pinnacles. The picture and monaural sound quality is manageable throughout the disc, though there seem to be more weak moments than exceptional ones in the transfers. The audio track on the clips from Footlight Parade is unusually scratchy and the contrasts are so out of balance on the "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" number that facial details, such as they are, blend into the backgrounds.
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
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- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
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- Lino
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- carax09
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:22 am
- Location: This almost empty gin palace
No, I don't see it on there.
42nd Street: Young And Healthy/Shuffle Off To Buffalo/42nd Street
Gold Diggers '33: We're In The Money/Pettin' In The Park/Shadow Waltz/
Remember My Forgotten Man
Footlight Parade: Sittin' On A Backyard Fence/Ah, The Moon Is Here/
Honeymoon Hotel/Shanghai Lil/By A Waterfall
Fashions of 1934: Spin A Little Web Of Dreams
Wonder Bar: Don't Say Goodnight
Dames: The Girl At The Ironing Board/I only Have Eyes For You/Dames
Gold Diggers of '35: The Words Are In My Heart/Lullaby Of Broadway
In Caliente: The Lady In Red
Gold Diggers of '37: All Is Fair In Love And War
42nd Street: Young And Healthy/Shuffle Off To Buffalo/42nd Street
Gold Diggers '33: We're In The Money/Pettin' In The Park/Shadow Waltz/
Remember My Forgotten Man
Footlight Parade: Sittin' On A Backyard Fence/Ah, The Moon Is Here/
Honeymoon Hotel/Shanghai Lil/By A Waterfall
Fashions of 1934: Spin A Little Web Of Dreams
Wonder Bar: Don't Say Goodnight
Dames: The Girl At The Ironing Board/I only Have Eyes For You/Dames
Gold Diggers of '35: The Words Are In My Heart/Lullaby Of Broadway
In Caliente: The Lady In Red
Gold Diggers of '37: All Is Fair In Love And War
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
I would hope that Wonder Bar, the film from which "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" is taken, will be released in a package supplementing the eventual release of The Jazz Singer. If it's not released then, it surely never will be.davidhare wrote:I hope they eventually release Wonder Bar - it's the first non "backstage" plot driven Berkeley, and as a verge of code pic it includes the scene with Jolson cackling "boys will be boys - whoopee!" as two fey looking guys in tuxedos go off and dance together.
- Brian Oblivious
- Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2004 4:38 pm
- Location: 'Frisco
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I haven't seen Wonder Bar but Roman Scandals was originally released a few months earlier, and it's definitely a non-"backstage" Berkeley.davidhare wrote:I hope they eventually release Wonder Bar - it's the first non "backstage" plot driven Berkeley
I saw the latter at the Castro theatre's Berkeley mini-fest last December. It was the only pre-code film in the series not contained in this box set. A very nice-looking print, perhaps it will be in an upcoming box.
- htdm
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:46 am
I wonder. I thought the same thing until several years ago when nearly all of Eddie Cantor's films were released on Laserdisc.
I was hopeful when Sony announced Kid Millions last year but then it got delayed...so at least there seems to be some interest in the films. I wouldn't be surprised if Whoopee was the first one to get a DVD release.
I was hopeful when Sony announced Kid Millions last year but then it got delayed...so at least there seems to be some interest in the films. I wouldn't be surprised if Whoopee was the first one to get a DVD release.
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
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- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
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