Busby Berkeley Collections

[Lino]

Finally gone through this set and besides being completely in love with it, I think its extras give plenty of evidence that we will see Warner revisiting the Berkeley zone in the future with these titles:

Fashions of 1934
Wonder Bar
In Caliente
Gold Diggers of 1937
Gold Diggers in Paris

There's also a documentary on Berkeley still to make its way onto DVD, so it would be nice to find it on an extra disc:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0139090/

[devlinnn]

I was surprised the doco wasn't part of the collection (Hugh Hefner may own rights (?)), but I seriously doubt a second set from Warner.

Not sure who owns the Goldwyn catalogue at the moment, but the pre-code Eddie Cantor pic The Kid from Spain should be highly sought after by all Busby buffs. All his wonderful obsessions come to the fore in opening number But We Must Rise (!) where he is allowed to do what he wants with the Goldwyn Girls in a school dorm with swimming pool.

Spoiler

It's all cleavage, calves and backsides, wet and dry, for five heavenly minutes as bobbed-haired beauties (look quickly for Paulette Godard) wake-up from silk-swanned slumber, throw on black high heels during pillow fights, climb stairs to strip into a first floor deco pool (still with black heels on), climb out ever-so-slowly to slide down (yes, slide down) to holy-cow, we can see it all see-though blinds to dry off with tiny towels and finally back to bed to lounge and compare thighs while getting dressed in all white suspenders and bras (still with black heels on).

Yes, I've had the number memorized for nearly 20 years.

Also sought after would be the delirous Hollywood Hotel from 1937. The fetish-crazed production numbers are gone, but the energy and breeze remain as we run around backstage Hollywood with the giants of Swing. Warner own this one, but is rare indeed.

[Lino]

Not sure who owns the Goldwyn catalogue at the moment, but the pre-code Eddie Cantor pic The Kid from Spain should be highly sought after by all Busby buffs. All his wonderful obsessions come to the fore in opening number But We Must Rise (!) where he is allowed to do what he wants with the Goldwyn Girls in a school dorm with swimming pool.

Spoiler

It's all cleavage, calves and backsides, wet and dry, for five heavenly minutes as bobbed-haired beauties (look quickly for Paulette Godard) wake-up from silk-swanned slumber, throw on black high heels during pillow fights, climb stairs to strip into a first floor deco pool (still with black heels on), climb out ever-so-slowly to slide down (yes, slide down) to holy-cow, we can see it all see-though blinds to dry off with tiny towels and finally back to bed to lounge and compare thighs while getting dressed in all white suspenders and bras (still with black heels on).

Yes, I've had the number memorized for nearly 20 years.

That sounds like Pre-Code Heaven to me! Would love to see it someday. BTW, can anyone kind of describe the Wonder Bar number "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" to me without spoiling it too much? I've also never seen it, plus it was conspicuously left out of the extra disc so this is now a kind of little Holy Grail to me. Anyone?

[Lino]

Here's a nice article about it:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/ ... onder.html

[Matt]

BTW, can anyone kind of describe the Wonder Bar number "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" to me without spoiling it too much? I've also never seen it, plus it was conspicuously left out of the extra disc so this is now a kind of little Holy Grail to me. Anyone?

Oh, it's so much better than David makes it out to be. Jolson, in blackface, dies and goes to Heaven. When he arrives (yes, on a mule) at "de pearly gates," heaven is populated entirely by black folks happily eating watermelon, shooting craps, and singing. This being Berkeley, you can easily imagine the chorus lines emerging from and tapdancing on oversized slices of watermelon. The finale of the 10-minute number shows at least a hundred black angels, all enjoying freedom and plenty in paradise as they float on a vast expanse of fluffy clouds.

Yes, it's offensive. Yes, it's retrograde. Yes, it's appalling. But it's not hateful. It's also a fabulously conceived piece of entertainment and, if one can get past one's white liberal guilt about enjoying a blackface performance, the absolute height of minstrelsy as an art form (though the song lyrics are pretty awful). I find Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland's blackface routine from Babes on Broadway to be much more offensive.

Although this number overshadows everything else in the movie, there is also a fine bit of pansy humor and not a little "hot-blooded Spaniard" stereotyping. It hits all the marks.

[Lino]

Don't ask me how I come up with this (let's just say serendipity is a close friend -- I go looking for one thing and I find another one even better!) but I just found out that Wonder Bar is available in Brazil on DVD! It comes as part of a second volume of films dedicated to none other than... Al Jolson! Here are the links:

http://www.2001video.com.br/detalhes_pr ... duto=13491
http://www.2001video.com.br/detalhes_pr ... duto=13490

[Matt]

Yeah, Jolson's the least interesting thing about Wonder Bar. I'm looking forward to Warners' big Jazz Singer release, but only because it will undoubtedly contain a shitload of early sound rarities. I wonder if they'll ever get around to releasing a disc of Don Juan (the first feature with a synched Vitaphone soundtrack) with the program of shorts that played with it (which were far better than the feature). I thought we'd be getting that in August since it's the 80th anniversary of the premiere, but no dice.

Warners has said that they have no plans for a set of Vitaphone shorts, that they want to keep sticking them on DVDs as supplements. I suppose that works (there are certainly discs I've held onto or even bought just because of a particular short), but they're missing a real opportunity to provide something very historically important to libraries and what not.

Anyway, a few of those black Vitaphone shorts showed up on the recent spate of black musicals (Hallelujah, Cabin in the Sky, et al) released by Warner. Hallelujah has Pie, Pie Blackbird, which is my favorite because it has Eubie Blake and his band playing inside a giant pie. It also features the Nicholas Brothers and Nina Mae McKinney. They're also in the other short on the disc, The Black Network which is good, but not nearly as amusing.

The disc of Green Pastures has Rufus Jones for President on it as well as An All-Colored Vaudeville Show (with the Nicholas Brothers again and Eunice Wilson). This is a "Vitaphone Pepper Pot" short - a titling I love but which is unfortunately no doubt inspired by the common color of pepper. Maybe I just like it because it reminds me of when the New York Post called Monica Lewinsky a "portly pepper-pot."

The disc of Astaire and Rogers' Follow the Fleet has the short Melody Master: Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra and it is blazing hot.

[Matt]

According to The Vitaphone Project (a project I adore but who site pains me), there were two LD sets, A 70th Anniversary Celebration and Swing, Swing Swing. I was a laserdisc buyer but I still never heard of these until years later. They must not have been in the Ken Crane's catalog.

[tryavna]

FWIW, TCM had an 80th Anniversary showing of the original Vitaphone premiere (Don Juan, the Will Hays prologue, and all the musical numbers). Not sure if this means anything at all, but could be that Warner might include those as extras on a Don Juan DVD -- or possibly The Jazz Singer.

BTW, I really dug Hays' delivery style -- especially the maniacal lifting of arms towards the end of his prologue. Reminded me of a Bond villain....

[Lino]

Hollywood Hotel from 1937. The fetish-crazed production numbers are gone, but the energy and breeze remain as we run around backstage Hollywood with the giants of Swing. Warner own this one, but is rare indeed.

Your wishes are granted. Here's what Warner had to say about it on this week's online chat with the folks of HTF:

Busby Berkeley Vol 2 coming in 2008. Golddiggers of 1937, Golddiggers in Paris, Varsity Show and Hollywood Hotel.

Fingers crossed for the inclusion (and possible chat ommition) of Fashions of 1934. As for Wonder Bar, my bets are that it will be included on a future Al Jolson set.

[Matt]

I know this doesn't help you, Lino, but for any basic cable-equipped Americans wondering what all the fuss is about Wonder Bar, it's getting one of its increasingly rare airings on TCM in June.

[djali999]

So my mate and I watched Wonder Bar this morning and you know what? It's pretty awesome and pretty ridiculous that such simple fun is being hidden like dirty laundry. Hardly the best of the Berkeley musicals - it's more or less on the level of Dames - but it's compact, charming and Jolson is, well unstoppable.

[Cold Bishop]

And why would that be (although I can already guess)?

[shearerchic]

And why would that be (although I can already guess)?

Going to Heaven on A Missouri Mule. That's saying a lot from me cause I usually don't find stuff like that offensive cause you have to look at it in context from that time and some of them I find amusing, but watching that number was the first time where something like that made me mad and hurt at the same time.

[Matt]

At this point, though, it's a historical artifact, and the 1930s feel about as remote and alien a time as the 1390s. Anyone associated with its creation and production is almost certainly dead, so it's like finding the Bayeux tapestry or The Canterbury Tales offensive. Can't we all just pat ourselves on the back for being so much more enlightened than our forebears and get over it?

[zedz]

At this point, though, it's a historical artifact, and the 1930s feel about as remote and alien a time as the 1390s. Anyone associated with its creation and production is almost certainly dead, so it's like finding the Bayeux tapestry or The Canterbury Tales offensive. Can't we all just pat ourselves on the back for being so much more enlightened than our forebears and get over it?

For the record, I think The Canterbury Tales is inexcusably anti-Pardoner.

[Ashirg]

Busby Berkeley Collection Volume 2 announced here:

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of the Busby Berkeley Collection Volume 2 on 16th September 2008. The collection features four more Berkeley classics which are new to Region 1 DVD including Gold Diggers of 1937, Gold Diggers in Paris, Hollywood Hotel and Varsity Show. Following in the dancing footsteps of Warner’s successful 2006 collection, this second spectacular volume from one of the greatest motion picture choreographers of all time also includes musical shorts, featurettes and classic cartoons. Each feature in the collection has also been painstakingly restored from its original camera negative for this new DVD collection.

The 4-disc giftset will sell for $39.92 SRP and the single titles will be available for $19.97 SRP.

The Films

Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
Dick Powell plays an insurance agent with musical ambitions while Joan Blondell is a showgirl who gives up spangles for a stenographer’s pad. But the plot is secondary as dance creator Busby Berkeley turns a garden party into a tap-happy romp, and Blondell leads leggy soldiers in a banner-waving, precision-formation rendition of “All’s Fair in Love and War” that’s Berkeley spectacle at its showy best. Berkeley received an Academy nod for Best Dance Direction.

DVD Special Features:

* 1997 documentary Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
* Technicolor historical short The Romance of Louisiana
* Classic cartoons Plenty of Money and You and Speaking of the Weather
* Two excerpts from 1929’s Gold Diggers of Broadway
* Theatrical trailer

Gold Diggers in Paris (1938)
The Gold Diggers are headed for Paris, bringing their feathers, frills, and ballet shoes. A French diplomat has mistaken 43rd Street’s Club Ballé for the American Academy Ballet, and the chorus cuties aren’t going to turn down a free trip to the City of Light over such a tiny misunderstanding. Rudy Vallee stars as the club’s impresario and Busby Berkeley creates and directs the inventive musical numbers, both ‘magnifique’ and loaded with moxie.

DVD Special Features:

* Two Broadway Brevities musical shorts: The Candid Kid and Little Me
* Classic cartoon Love and Curses
* Theatrical trailer

Hollywood Hotel (1937)
The plot about a Hollywood newcomer (Dick Powell) caught between a spoiled star (Lola Lane) and her likeable look-alike (Lola’s look-alike sister Rosemary Lane) is secondary to watching Busby Berkeley’s ace direction – and music, music, music. The film opens with the jubilant debut of Tinseltown’s unofficial anthem Hooray for Hollywood. The jaunty Let That Be a Lesson to You shows off Berkeley’s mastery of editing and camera angles. And Benny Goodman and his Orchestra -- with Harry James on trumpet and Gene Krupa on drums – swing, swing, swing into Sing, Sing, Sing.

DVD Special Features:

* Technicolor historical short The Romance of Robert Burns
* Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy comedy short Double Talk
* Classic cartoon Porky’s Five & Ten
* Theatrical trailer

Varsity Show (1937)
Broadway impresario Chuck Daly (Dick Powell) leads an A+ cast of coeds and their guys, including film-debuting sisters Priscilla and Rosemary Lane and fluty-voiced comic character star Sterling Holloway, in this exuberant college musical. Oscar nominated for his dance direction in this film, Berkeley creates and directs a rah-rah, football-themed finale featuring high-style overhead shots, kinetic camerawork and hundreds of dancers on a 50 ft. by 60 ft. staircase.

DVD Special Features:

* Musical short Flowers from the Sky
* Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy comedy short A Neckin’ Party
* Classic cartoon Have You Got Any Castles
* Theatrical trailer

I guess they are saving Wonder Bar and Caliente for Volume 3 (Yeah, right!)

[htdm]

box artwork

[MadJack]

[sarcasm] What a great selection of films [/sarcasm]

[shearerchic]

This doesn't make sense. Why didn't Warner just put 2 other films in the set?? It would've been better had they included Wonder Bar and Fashions of 1934.

[domino harvey]

"Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" is up on YouTube in two parts. I was like, "Well, this isn't any more racist than usual"... and then I got to the pork chop trees and dancing watermelons. Still nothing that can't be properly contextualized and dealt with.

[Lino]

This doesn't make sense. Why didn't Warner just put 2 other films in the set?? It would've been better had they included Wonder Bar and Fashions of 1934.

Yeah, it looks very squalid to my eyes, too. Let's only hope they include Wonder Bar on a future Al Jolson set. Still, don't forget we're getting a full length documentary on Busby in the set. This (almost) makes it up for the lack of feature films in comparison with the first set released last year.

The trouble is, Warner set the bar too high with last year's set and we're left expecting much more than we're being offered here. Hey, even I was expecting something more akin to the treatment they gave to Astaire & Rogers, with the Ultimate Collection. But maybe that was asking too much, I guess.

[Lino]

Singles artwork.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Those covers are pure class. I love that WB uses the original poster art.

[htdm]

Just got this and disappointed to find that a big reason for my buying the set, the documentary "Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof" is not on it as originally announced.

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